Sunday Salon ~ bookstore bounty

BOOKS

After lunch last Sunday, Donna and I went to the bookstore in sight of Applebee's door.  As a matter of fact, when she told me to pick a restaurant, I chose that one for its proximity to the bookstore.  After all, I'm a bookie, aren't I?  Bookie, bookaholic, book blogger, something like that, all of that.  Anyway, I rarely walk away with nothing, and that visit was about average.  Donna got five or six books, so I think I was entirely circumspect in going home with only two young adult novels.

Patience, Princess Catherine ~ by Carolyn Meyer, 2004, YA fiction (England)

Catherine of Aragon grew up expecting she would someday become the queen of England — not a dejected teenage widow.  But that is exactly what happens when fragile Prince Arthur, to whom she has been betrothed since the age of three, dies only months after their wedding.  Her power now obsolete, Catherine is exiled to a dank castle in a remote part of the country.  She is stranded there for years with little money and no control over her own fate.  The one ray of light in her lonely life is her friendship with handsome Prince Henry, her deceased husband's younger brother.  A marriage to Henry could elevate Catherine from her precarious position and give her the crown that she was once promised.  But will Henry take the risk of making the destitute princess his queen?

Mary, Bloody Mary ~ by Carolyn Meyer, 1999, YA fiction (England)

Mary Tudor is a beautiful young princess in a grand palace filled with servants.  She is accustomed to sparkling jewels, beautiful gowns, and lavish parties.  Then, suddenly, she is banished by her father, King Henry VIII, to live in a cold, lonely place without money, new clothes, or even her mother.  At first it seems like a terrible mistake.  Even when her father has a public and humiliating affair with a bewitching woman, Mary remains hopeful.  But when he abandons her mother, marries his mistress, and has a child with her, Mary begins to lose faith.  And now, dressed in rags, she is summoned back to the palace to be a serving maid to her new baby half sister.  Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, is a servant in her own home.  Believe it or not, it's all true.

I had checked out six books about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who married into the Plantagenet dynasty.  So these Tudor princesses, one the mother of the other, moved me on down the line of English royalty into a later century or two.  Although these books may be in my public library, buying them as remaindered books makes sense to me.
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STATS

Just finished:  Defending Jacob ~ by William Landay, 2012, fiction (Massachusetts), 8/10

Currently reading:  American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation ~ by Jon Meacham, 2006, politics and religion

Up next, or actually, also currently reading:  Ninety Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life ~ by Don Piper, 2004, memoir

Totals for 2012:  15 finished + 1 DNF (did not finish) + 9 reviews

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LIFE

Three years ago today, I had quadruple bypass surgery.  Talk about life-changing!  I was missing from the blogging scene for weeks, with only two possts between mid-December and mid-March.  I returned with a post I called "Ya gotta have heart."  Then no more posts for a couple of months.  Since I "started over," I consider this my new birthday.  That means I'm three years old today!

I actually had a first birthday party, which I dubbed my rebirthday, inviting my post-surgery support group to party with me.  We played games — well, only the pin-the-tail game shown here, which had special rules for the elderly, meaning (in this case) anyone over ten.  And for you youngsters who don't know, the ancient technology in this photo is called a record player — it plays vinyl records, which I still have in two heavy boxes.  The very first song on the first album picked by one of my friends that day was Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" from her Tapestry album — "Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?"  How appropriate was that?

Raegan, my 2-year-old great-granddaughter, is very proud of her artwork.  Good job, Raegan!

Visit the Sunday Salon's Facebook page for links to more posts.

Dead ~ at the beginning

Ninety Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death and Life ~ by Don Piper, 2004, memoir

I died on January 18, 1989.

Paramedics reached the scene of the accident within minutes.  They found no pulse and declared me dead.  They covered me with a tarp so that onlookers wouldn't stare at me while they attended to the injuries of the others.  I was completely unaware of the paramedics or anyone else around me.

While I was in heaven, a Baptist preacher came on the accident scene.  Even though he knew I was dead, he rushed to my lifeless body and prayed for me.  Despite the scoffing of the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), he refused to stop praying.

At least ninety minutes after the EMTs pronounced me dead, God answered that man's prayers.

I returned to earth.

This is my story.

I've already started reading this book -- today -- almost as soon as I left the library with it.  I'll probably have it finished before my library loot is posted on Wednesday.

 If you want to share the first lines of a book you are reading, click on the link and visit Katy at A Few More Pages.  (Today's list.)

Browse there to find interesting books for your own reading list.  And don’t forget that Katy and all the contributors to this meme (including me) love comments.

Quote from Plato

"The wise* talk because they have something to say;

fools, because they have to say something."

— Plato

* "Wise men" is the way it was translated from the original Greek, but I want to include women among those who are wise and foolish.

Thinking cap ~ a new feature

Let's do something a little different today.  But first, don your thinking cap and get ready.  Yes, thinking.  That's today's game plan.  Do we need a little practice before we get into the heavy stuff?  Okay, I won't make this hard since it's your first day on this particular playing field.  Ready?  Time to use your noggin.

Which is correct?  (Or better, which makes more sense to you?)


One is half of two.

-or-

Two are halves of one.


The conversation is HERE.




To access all my "thinking cap" posts, click HERE.

Library Loot ~ February 15-21

A Long, Long Sleep ~ by Anna Sheehan, 2011, YA fiction

It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep.  But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone — and her future full of peril.  Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss.  Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew.  Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose — hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire — is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.  Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh.  But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes — or be left without any future at all.

Alyce @ At Home with Books is giving away a copy of this book, which sounded to interesting that I went ahead and reserved it at the library.   Even if I win it, I can go ahead and start reading now.

Defending Jacob ~ by William Landay, 2012, fiction (Massachusetts)

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years.  He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob.   But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next:  His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.  Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy.  Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him.  Andy must.  He’s his father.  But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own — between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.  Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis — a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control.

Sheila @ Book Journey listed ten books she had heard were "the best of February."  Defending Jacob was fifth on the list, but one she herself was considering.  After clicking her link and reading about it, I agreed and reserved it at the library.  She said,

"I have read none of these.  Have you?  Out of the list two interest me… maybe three.  Defending Jacob sounds pretty good..."

Ninth Ward ~ by Jewell Parker Rhodes, 2010, YA fiction (Louisiana), 9/10

I rarely re-read books, and this is one I read less than a year ago -- in May.  So why this book, and why now?  Because I'm reading it during February as the book chosen for the online African American Read-In.  To read a summary of the book and learn more about the read-in, click here.

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 the loot you brought home.  You may submit your link any time during the week.

Valentine's Day

You should read The True Hero of Valentines Day by Ben Bishop.

Since I sent out several Valentine cards this year, I would have included one for Charlie Brown, if I'd known his mailing address.  Do you want me to write a letter to you?  Do I have your address?  Email it to me at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.  For now, here's my valentine to you:

Can you find joy in this valentine?  How about hug?  And love?  I found a dozen words (two go together).  And one more thing:

Charlie Brown, wherever you are, this one's for you!

Sunday Salon ~ book pairs

What do these pairs of books have in common?

1

Moby Dick by Herman Melville ~ Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

2

The story of Jacob in the Bible ~ The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

3

King Lear by Shakespeare ~ A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

4

Macbeth by William Shakespeare ~ Lady Macbeth by Susan Frasier King

5

The Odyssey by Homer ~ The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

6

The Iliad by Homer ~ The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

7

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory ~ The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The answer:  "HIS" are on the left, and "HERS" are on the right.

1. Melville gives us Ahab's story about the hunt for Moby-Dick, and Naslund presents his wife's point of view.
2. The Bible tells us about Jacob and his sons, while Diamant gives us the perspective of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter.
3. Shakespeare tells us what King Lear and his three daughters said and did, but Smiley's 20th-century characters show us possible reasons for what the three daughters did.
4. While Shakespeare focuses on Macbeth, King's focus is on his wife, the last female descendant of Scotland’s royal line.
5. Homer gives us the story of Odysseus, who finally makes it home to Penelope and promptly kills her suitors and twelve of her maids.  Atwood lets Penelope and her twelve hanged maids tell the tale as a 21st-century retrospective by the ghost of Penelope.
6. Homer tells us the story of the Trojan Wars, with all the "heroes" fighting.  Bradley shows us how it was lived by Cassandra, one of the many daughters of King Priamus of Troy.  Cassandra was a psychic and unmarried, thus "making" her unpopular with the men.
7. The legend of King Arthur recounts the battles of the knights of the Round Table, while Bradley's version is told from the perspective of powerful women characters like Morgaine, more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh spelling of Guinevere.

So the answer to my question is that the second of each pair of stories gives us the women's viewpoint. And the stories change greatly when viewed through the eyes and experiences of women. His and hers stories.  Do you know any other pairs of stories like these?
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STATS

Just finished:  The House on Olive Street ~ by Robyn Carr, 1999, fiction, 9/10

Currently reading:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ~ by Sherman Alexie, 2001, YA fiction (Washington state)

Up next:  Inside Out and Back Again ~ by Thanhha Lai, 2011, children's (Alabama)

Totals for 2012:  13 finished + 1 DNF (did not finish) + 9 reviews

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