Teaser from the Midwest

The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg, 2005

"I had been right to want to drive to the Midwest, taking only the back roads.  Every time my husband, John, and I had taken a trip more than a few miles away, we'd flown, and had endured the increasingly irritating airport protocols.  I'd finally begun to wear what amounted to pajamas so that I wouldn't have to all but strip before security guards who seemed either worrisomely bored or, equally worrisome, inflated with a mirthful self-importance.  It was hard to believe that air travel had ever been considered glamorous, when now what most people felt was a seesawing between anxiety and exasperation" (p. 3).

After reading this, I had to find out where she was going -- and why. This is a great book beginning. It kept me reading.

On the home front
Yesterday, I stretched out on the bed to read, and Kiki joined me.  She looked at me with begging eyes, realized I didn't plan to jump up and feed her, turned around to snuggle her back up against me, and fell asleep with her head on my extended arm.  I love how she hugs my arm and loves me even when she is "starving."  Yes, I read where she posted that "I'm suffering" plea on Caturday because she's on an unwanted diet.  She sits by her food dish and gazes longingly at the cabinet up above, apparently wondering if the cupboard is empty.  But she still hugs my arm.  (It's hard to get a good photo with a cell phone, when I'm guessing at the angle.)

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, who says it's "where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list."

This is the first time I've joined the fun, and I like the way Helen of Helen's Book Blog lists her books in three categories.

Books read last week

• My Name Is Memory ~ by Ann Brashares, 2010, fiction, 8/10 
• Noah's Compass ~ by Anne Tyler, 2009, fiction, 7/10 
• True to Form ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2002, fiction, 9/10 (teaser, pp. 76-77) 
• Twenty and Ten ~ by Claire Huchet Bishop, 1952, children's, 9/10 
• The Art of Racing in the Rain ~ by Garth Stein, 2008, fiction, 10/10 
• City of Light, City of Darkness: A Comic-Book Novel ~ story by Avi, art by Brian Floca, 1993, graphic novel, "nah" 
• YHWH Is Not a Radio Station in Minneapolis ~ by Craig McNair Wilson, 1983, religion/humor, 8/10 
• Things Not Seen ~ by Andrew Clements, 2002, YA fiction, 9/10

Books currently reading 

• The Summer Book ~ by Tove Jansson, 1974, fiction
• The Year of Pleasures ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2005, fiction
• The Last Time I Saw You ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2010, fiction

Books waiting in the wings

• Original Sinners: Why Genesis Still Matters ~ by John R. Coats, 2009, religion
• Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Bible Stories ~ by Stephen Mitchell, 1996, religion
• In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis ~ by Karen Armstrong, 1996, religion

Bookstore booty

Today's books all came from an independent bookstore.  I support independent bookstores.  The big chain stores can undersell the small indies, but owners are more likely to be book lovers who can tell you something about any book in the store.  Tell me about your favorite independent, owner-operated bookstore.



Three books by Caroline B. Cooney ~ Out of Time (1996) and Prisoner of Time (1998) are about time travel, which fascinates me.

Synopsis of Whatever Happened to Janie? (1993): "No one ever paid attention to the faces of missing children on milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the little girl who had been taken twelve years ago, she recognized that little girl -- it was herself."


Face to Face ~ by Marion Dane Bauer, 1991

Bauer's On My Honor is one of my favorite YA novels, so I'm excited to find another.  Synopsis of this one:  "Picked on at school by bullies, 13-year-old Michael confronts his fears during a trip to Colorado to visit his father, a whitewater rafting guide whom Michael hasn't seen in eight years."


Things Not Seen ~ by Andrew Clements, 2002

Synopsis:  "Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can’t see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming—Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby’s new condition; even his dad the physicist can’t figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He’s a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She’s blind, and Bobby can’t resist talking to her, trusting her. But people are starting to wonder where Bobby is. Bobby knows that his invisibility could have dangerous consequences for his family and that time is running out. He has to find out how to be seen again—before it’s too late."



South of Resurrection ~ by Jonis Agee, 1997

This is a collection of short stories about "people who love, lose, and try again." I don't know what attracted me to this one, since I don't often read story collections.



City of Light, City of Darkness is a graphic novel (1993).  The story is by Avi (an author I have met), and the art is by Brian Floca.  I probably won't review this book because it simply seemed silly to me.  There's no depth, and I couldn't figure out why people would do the things they did.



The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs ~ by David Pryce-Jones, 1989.

Synopsis:  "This important book explains how Arabs are closed in a circle defined by tribal, religious, and cultural traditions. David Pryce-Jones examines the tribal forces which, he believes, drive the Arabs in their dealings with each other and with the West. In the postwar world, he argues, the Arabs reverted to age-old tribal and kinship structures, a closed circle from which they have been unable to escape, and in which violence is systemic. A healthy corrective, a thought-provoking study." -- David K. Shipler, New York Times Book Review



And finally, a little religious humor with YHWH Is Not a Radio Station in Minneapolis by Craig McNair Wilson, 1983.  "YHWH" are the Hebrew letters for the name of God.  This book plays with the alphabet, like a children's book of ABCs.

TALK BACK

Do you ever shop at independent bookstores?  If so, tell me about your favorite independent, owner-operated bookstore.

Book Beginnings ~ on a Caturday

Some of my best friends were dogs, when I was growing up in a family with three horses, a couple of dogs, a bird in a cage, and various other animals, including my kittens.

See the dog on the cover of my newest book?  His name is Enzo, and he tells this story.  Enzo has some of the same problems I have trying to communicate with humans (though I talk better than he does).

"Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature.  And while I occationally step over the line and into the world of the melodramatic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively.  In order to make my point understood without question.  I have no words I can rely on because, much to my dismay, my tongue was designed long and flat and loose, and therefore, is a horribly ineffective tool for pushing food around my mouth while chewing, and an even less effective tool for making clever and complicated polysyllabic sounds that can be linked together to form sentences.  And that's why I'm here now waiting for Denny to come home -- he should be here soon -- lying on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor in a puddle of my own urine."

Uh-oh!  This doesn't sound good at all.  I got online to learn more about this book and found out I was right to be worried about this dog.

"On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through ... Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man."

I think I'm going to like this book. Enzo sounds like an intelligent fellow, like me, but it also sounds like Enzo suffers.  I empathize with him.  I'm suffering right now.

In most of my photos, it's hard to see much more than my face.  But the truth is that I'm ... uh ... overweight.  No, let me put it plainly:  I'm a fat cat.  Yesterday, the vet put me on a diet.  I love canned cat food, but last night Bonnie fed me a smidgen of dry food.  And that's all.  I thought it was my appetizer!  But she was relentless.  I'm suffering, I tell you!

Kiki Cat, signing off

Oh, yeah, the book is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  Bonnie always adds the date a book was published, so I will too.  It's 2008, though I doubt if you care.

Frindle Friday

Frindle by Andrew Clements (1996) is one of the "funnest" books I've ever read.  Here's how it begins:

If you asked the kids and the teachers at Lincoln Elementary School to make three lists -- all the really bad kids, all the really smart kids, and all the really good kids -- Nick Allen would not be on any of them.  Nick deserved a list all his own, and everyone knew it.

Was Nick a troublemaker?  Hard to say.  One thing's for sure:  Nick Allen had plenty of ideas, and he knew what to do with them.

This book is about words, and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I'm a wordsmith.  From the back cover:

When Nick learns some interesting information about how words are created, suddenly he's got the inspiration for his best plan ever ... the frindle.  Who says a pen has to be called a pen?  Why not call it a frindle?

If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages.  Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading.  (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.)  Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

My library is closed ~ Feb 3-8

So I had to check out lots of books to tide me over.


Fair Weather ~ by Richard Peck, 2001

In 1893, thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago to visit Aunt Euterpe and attend the World's Columbian Exposition which, along with an encounter with Buffalo Bill and Lillian Russell, turns out to be a life-changing experience for everyone.  (Set in Illinois)


Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy ~ by Gary D. Schmidt, 2004

In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers – and Turner's – want to change into a tourist spot.  (Set in Maine)


The Summer Book ~ by Tove Jansson, 1974

This novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia’s grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland.  I'm reading it for the Nordic Challenge.  (Set in Finland)


Twenty and Ten ~ by Claire Huchet Bishop

During the German occupation of France, twenty French children were brought to a refuge in the mountains.  One day they were asked to take in, and hide, ten Jewish refugee children.  But how would they hide the ten children if the Nazis came?  (Set in France)


The Guns of August ~ by Barbara W. Tuchman, 1962

I got this book to read the first chapter – ONLY the first chapter.  I don't want to read the history of the First World War, but Borg and Crossan mentioned (in their book The First Christmas) that Tuchman used a technique they called an "overture."


Noah's Compass ~ by Anne Tyler, 2009

Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn't bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged.  (Set in Maryland)


Range of Motion ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 1995

As Jay lies in a coma, his young wife, Lainey, is the only one who believes he will ever recover. When his doctors try to reach him, Jay does not respond. Yet Lainey believes he knows when she is there, and is stimulated by the gifts of ordinary life she brings him: sweet-smelling flowers, his children's drawings, his own softly textured shirt.



Open House ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2000

After divorce, a woman opens up her house and her heart.  Samantha's husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany's, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money.


Never Change ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2001

Myra, at 51, has endured being alone by doting on her dog and immersing herself in her career as a visiting nurse.  And it has been enough – until Chip Reardon, the golden boy she adored from afar, is assigned to be her new patient. Choosing to forgo invasive treatment for an incurable illness, Chip has returned from Manhattan to the New England home of his childhood to spend what time he has left.


True to Form ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2002

Katie moved to Missouri two years ago, after her mother died.  Lonely, she forges alliances when and where she can:  with a fellow misfit named Cynthia, with the old couple down the road, and with the three little boys she babysits for. When Katie tries to move up in her social world, she ends up losing her closest friend and learns some very hard lessons about herself.



Say When ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2003

Griffin is a happy man.  Settled comfortably in a Chicago suburb, he adores his daughter and his wife.  But when he wakes one morning to hear of his wife’s love affair with another man and her request for a divorce, Griffin’s view of life is irrevocably altered.


The Year of Pleasures ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2005

Betta Nolan moves to a small town after her husband dies, to try to begin anew.  She is determined to find pleasure in her simply daily routines.  Among those who help her are the 10-year-old boy next door, three wild women friends from her college days, a 20-year-old who is struggling to find his place in the world, and a handsome man ready for love.


We Are All Welcome Here ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2006

Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy, Paige Dunn is nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter, Diana, in the way she sees fit – with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie.  (Set in Mississippi)


The Last Time I Saw You ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2010

As onetime classmates meet up for their fortieth high school reunion, they discover things that will irrevocably affect the rest of their lives. Four decades melt away: desires and personalities from their youth reemerge, and new discoveries are made.


Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Claire has the Mister Linky this week, if you'd like to share a list of the loot you brought home.

You may be a bookaholic ... (#4)

... if you carry a book in your glove compartment for emergencies.