Sunday Salon ~ Kiki misses me

LIFE

Babe

I'm house-sitting again, which also means cat-sitting with Babe, who likes to come inside through one door and rush to another door meowing to be let out.  The first day here (this time), she meowed to go outside and I went to the kitchen to let her out through the garage, where she has a cat door to the outside.  No, she sat at the other end of the kitchen, refusing to go that way.  When I closed that door, she marched through the den to go out by way of the deck.  That takes her right back past her cat door to the garage, but it's what she preferred, thank you very much.  It's her favorite game, in one door, out another, refuse to do what's expected.  Kiki has spoiled me, good cat that she is.

Kiki

Speaking of Kiki, the first night I was here at Jane's, my roommate Donna got up in the middle of the night and found Kiki waiting for me by the door, in the dark.  Since Kiki usually sleeps curled up next to me, for at least part of the night, she misses me.  I'm only a couple of miles away, but she doesn't know that.

BOOKS

I should call this "the Luke Tull" edition.  Do you know Luke?  I've been reading Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler's 1982 novel about the Tull family.  Each chapter is narrated by a different family member:

1.  Pearl Tull, the mother
2.  Cody Tull, her oldest son
3.  Jenny Tull, her daughter
4.  Ezra Tull, her youngest son, who is Pearl's favorite
5.  Cody Tull, again
6.  Pearl Tull, again
7.  Jenny Tull, again, now Dr. Tull, a pediatrician
8.  Luke Tull, son of Cody

There are two more chapters, but I don't know who narrates them.  Not yet, anyway.  Ezra has a restaurant he named the Homesick Restaurant.  Cody moved as far from family as possible, taking along his wife Ruth and son Luke.  That's how far I got before the library informed me they had my book on hold for me:  The Beginner's Goodbye, Anne Tyler's 2012 novel.  It's a new book, so I'm limited to seven days.  I put aside one book and started the other.  I was reading along and got to page 57, where I read this:

Not half an hour later, the phone rang again.  This time it was TULL L.  I answered, but I was warier now.  All I said was, "Hello?"

"Hi, Aaron, it's Luke."

Wait!  "Tull L." on the caller ID is Luke.  That would be Luke Tull.  That's when I made the connection that these two novels are by the same author.  That's when I realized both novels are set in Baltimore, Maryland.  That's when I remembered I don't usually read two novels at the same time.  But I did, and now the same character is in both books.  But there's a 30-year gap between books, and I haven't finished the first one.  I haven't even finished Luke's chapter!  In Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, chapter 8 starts with Luke in his early teens:

The summer before Luke Tull turned fourteen, his father had a serious accident at the factory he was inspecting.

In The Beginner's Goodbye, Luke owns a restaurant.  Wait!  How'd that happen?  Luke's uncle Ezra owned a restaurant in the earlier book.  Is this the same one?  A different restaurant?  Now I wonder if I should finish the earlier novel before continuing this new one.

And then I made another connection.  The wife of Aaron, the main character in The Beginner's Goodbye, is/was a pediatrician.  (The book starts with her death, so "was" a pediatrician is correct.)  Jenny Tull, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, is a pediatrician.  Is that how they know each other?  Is that how they became friends, through Luke's aunt Jenny and Aaron's wife?

I don't know if Luke Tull is merely a minor "friend" of this protagonist (Aaron) or if he's important to the story.  Does it matter?  Maybe not, but it's a curious problem to encounter.

Here's my solution.  With about 80 pages to go, I think I'll finish the earlier novel.  Then I'll finish the 2012 novel.  What do you think?

[CORRECTION, afternoon:  I stand corrected by today's New York Times review of the new book.  Aaron's wife Dorothy was an oncologist, a cancer doctor, not a pediatrician.  The two novels have already blurred in my mind.  I've been reading the earlier one today and will finish it soon.]

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A penny for your thoughts

A penny for your thoughts.

I'm thinking my thoughts ought to be worth more than that!

Beginning ~ with a return from the dead

The Beginner's Goodbye ~ by Anne Tyler, 2012, fiction (Maryland)

The strangest thing about my wife's return from the dead was how other people reacted.

Oh, yeah, that one grabs me.  His example of people's reaction, still on the first page, is running into their "old next-door neighbor."  The poor man wouldn't look at Dorothy, after having visibly reacted to seeing her, and he spent the rest of the conversation trying not to look in her direction.

I've got to go now, so I can keep reading.  The book is due back at the library in less than a week.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click here for today's Mister Linky.

Write It Right ~ rain, rein, reign

Rain is that wet stuff that falls out of the sky, when rainy days and Mondays really get you down.

A rider uses reins to guide a horse and to rein her in when he wants to stop.

A queen reigns over her subjects.  Long may she reign!  Queen Elizabeth knows how to rein in her horse as well as how to reign over her subjects.  I don't know whether she rides in the rain.

Your choice

This post was prompted by an online article quoting a pastor giving parental advice about a daughter:  "reign [sic] her in."  He was giving parents some really awful advice, like to "punch" their children, and his misuse of the word reign makes him look ignorant.  Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to correct his spelling.  In the comments, tell us whether he should have used rain, or rein, or reign.  (Too bad we can't enlighten him on raising children.)

Armchair BEA ~ June 4-8 this year

Armchair BEA ~ sign ups start on Monday, May 7th

Schedule

Monday, June 4:  Introductions First!

During the last two years our interview swaps have been one of most enjoyable aspects of Armchair BEA, with one exception ... simply too little time to get to know everyone!  This year we're changing it up and asking you to answer five questions we'll be providing and then run to visit as many participant blogs as you possibly can.  Sound like fun?  We thought so!  We'll have a link-up post for you on the day of the event.

Tuesday, June 5:  Giveaways Everywhere!

Tuesday is Armchair BEA’s big Giveaway Day!  We’ll be doing giveaways all week here, but if you’re hosting a giveaway for Armchair BEA-goers on your own site, this is the day to post about it there and link it up here!  And if you’re not hosting a giveaway, today’s suggested posting topic is “Best of 2012”:  share some of your favorite books so far this year, and/or the the books being promoted at BEA that you hope will end up among your favorites for the year!

Wednesday, June 6:  Networking...In Real Life?!

Have you ever wondered how bloggers get so involved outside the nuts and bolts community of book blogging?  Well, now's your chance to learn from the experts!  From partnering with their local indie bookstores to coordinating events at their local libraries, we've got tips to share with you to help you become more involved with your local bookish community.  Today's suggested writing topic ... we'd love for you to share a positive "real life" experience with books!  Either by way of your own partnerships in your community, a book signing you went to or possibly even a get together with fellow book bloggers.  Tell us all about it!

Thursday, June 7:  Beyond the Blog

So, you enjoy writing do you?  Would you like to be involved elsewhere on the interwebs or possibly start writing for your local paper?  Perhaps you'd simply like to start drawing an income from your blog?  Today we will be sharing tips that will help you move your blog forward or perhaps your own personal goals of writing and making an income from what you love to do.  Today we'd love you to share your top tips for getting beyond your blog!  Have you done any freelance writing?  Are you monetizing your blog and how so?  How do you make connections outside the book blog community on the internet?  If none of these apply we'd love for you to share a fun aspect about your blog or life that may be completely separate from books!  We'll have another link-up this day as well.

Friday, June 8:  The Future of Book Blogging

It's the final day of Armchair BEA and we want you to keep your passion for books and blogging about them going long after we've closed the event.  Today we'll be sharing tips on keeping book blogging exciting and unique to your vision for your blog.  Our suggested post for today is "Ask the Experts."  If you have any burning questions for your fellow participants about book blogging now is the time to ask, and if you don't we'd love for you to share your own personal tips about book blogging!  Again, we'll have a link-up post for you on the day of the event.

Library Loot ~ May 2-8

The Beginner's Goodbye ~ by Anne Tyler, 2012, fiction (Maryland)

Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him.  So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, self-dependent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air.  Unhesitatingly he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage.  But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever.   Only Dorothy’s unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace.  Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family’s vanity-publishing business, turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trials of life, that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye.

Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings ~ edited by Marcus Borg, 1997, religion

Juxtaposing passages from the New Testament and ancient Buddhist scriptures, this book illuminates the striking similarity between the lives, deeds, and teachings of the two prophets.  It uncovers the strange and unexplained parallels between Jesus's sermons, Buddha's sayings, and the koans of Zen Buddhist masters. The sayings of Jesus and Buddha are often nearly identical. At the heart of these amazing parallels lie two mysteries. How could Jesus, living 500 years after Buddha in a land 3,000 miles from India, teach the same ideals?   Some historians believe that Buddhist principles were known throughout the Roman Empire, other theorists claim that Jesus was trained in Buddhism, and some even think he visited India.

This one relates to the book I checked out last week:  Living Buddha, Living Christ.  Three of us plan to discuss that book, and I want to read more on the subject.  It's kind of like being in school, studying the subject as well as reading the main book.  I enjoy that sort of thing.  Do you?

 Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Marg @ The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share titles of books they’ve checked out of the library. To participate, add your post to their Mister Linky any time during the week. And check out what others got from their libraries this week.

Oh, this English language!

* The dumpster was so full we had to REFUSE more REFUSE.

* Sadly his insurance was INVALID even though he was an INVALID.

* See how the buck DOES prance when the DOES arrive.

* If I could PRODUCE more PRODUCE we’d eat better.

* The DOVE DOVE into the bushes.

* I will PRESENT the PRESENT in the PRESENT, rather than wait ‘til tomorrow.

* My HEIR is out getting some AIR; he will be here ERE long.

* The COLONEL picked the KERNEL from his teeth.

 — borrowed from Goldendaze-Ginnie