One Book Meme

Just saw this at The Striped Armchair. Looked like fun.

One book you’re currently reading: The Secret Scriptures by Sebastian Barry-It's excellent reading.
One book that changed your life: The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer-It taught me a whole new way of looking at self education.
One book you’d want on a deserted island: Norton Anthology of English Literature-So I would never run out of great books to read.
One book you’ve read more than once: 1984 by George Orwell -Hated it the first time, loved it the second.
One book you’ve never been able to finish: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-I tried to read it several times when I was a teenager but I haven't tried lately.
One book that made you laugh: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde-If you haven't read Wilde yet you really should. He's hilarious.
One book that made you cry: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton-You can read my review here.
One book you keep rereading: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis-It's a family tradition to read the series every 4 or 5 years.
One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent-It sit on my shelf patiently waiting it turn.
One book you believe everyone should read: the Bible-It's pretty self evident why.

Finally, Grab the nearest book. Open it to page 56. Find the fifth sentence:
"He went over the day before in his mind, the two officials, not impolite, and the pink, yellow, and white copies of the receipt they had produced." It's from The Vagrants by Yiyun Li, a new novel just sent to me by Random House for review.

If this meme looks interesting please tag yourself. And let me know so I can check out your answers.

Arrested Over a Library Book

A woman in Iowa was arrested for failing to return a library book. Read the whole article here. It says she had to pay a $250 bond over a book worth $13.95. What the article doesn't tell us is why the woman won't return the book or pay its value. What's her side of the story? I'm a little suspicious and I'll tell you why. My family has a small issue with our library right now. Here's what happened:

I homeschool my kids so we use the library weekly, even during the summer. My son, who is 15, worked as a volunteer at the library a couple of years ago so we are on a first name basis with several of the librarians. They know all of us and they know that my son is a quiet and well behaved kid. So in the fall I got an email about some books that were overdue. I asked my son about them and he said he hadn't checked anything out since the spring. I keep the library cards in my purse so I knew that was true. But when I looked for the card it wasn't in my purse. It wasn't in the car; it wasn't in his bedroom; it wasn't anywhere. So I went to the library to find out about these books and report the missing card. The four books were a month overdue and had accrued fines of $28. When we saw the titles I knew that someone else had used my son's card. Two of the books were expensive game manuals for Play Station 2. We don't own any video games. The other two books were manuals for role playing games, one of them being the book my son last checked out, in May. What I figured what happened was that my son used his library card as a bookmark. When the book was reshelved, the next person to look through it found his card and decided to steal some books he wanted.

The librarians were gracious enough to take the first two books off our account but because my son has a history of checking out role playing manuals they will not take the other two books off his account. The $14 that are owed for those books put us over our fine limit meaning he cannot check out any new books until the fine is paid. But I refuse to pay for books we didn't check out.

Now I can see the library's point of view to a degree. They can't know that we didn't steal the books and if we don't pay for them then they have to pay for them. But we have a history with this library. We go through about 40 books and movies in a two week period. In the years that we have used this library I have lost one book, which I told them I lost and I paid for it. When I return books late I pay my fines. I think this ought to count for something. I think that based on this and my relationship with these librarians I shouldn't be responsible for these fines. But I am. My son, who has done nothing wrong, cannot use his library card until he or I pay for books we never even saw. I'm obviously very upset by this whole thing.

Could this woman's story be similar to my own? Could I be arrested because I refuse to pay for these two books? And one more thought provoking question for you: if you were going to steal a $14 book, would you take it from the library?

The Sunday Salon

The great thing about reading goals is they give you structure and focus. They give you something to attain and a sense of accomplishment once attained. They are a great motivation when you find yourself in a reading slump. Or, if you're like me, they give you something to thumb your nose at while yelling "Nanny nanny poo poo" when you totally ignore them to read something entirely different.

Last week I was all set to read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. Instead I picked up The Cranberry Queen but I didn't like the narrative voice. So I picked up Aspects of the Novel but I wasn't sure I was ready for a nonfiction book. So I went to the library (ignoring all the beautiful, painstakingly collected novels on my shelves) where I came across Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture. If it sounds familiar that's because it made it onto the Man Booker 2008 short list. So far the writing is lovely, as I would expect. I'm not sure where the story is going yet but I plan to find out by the week's end.

I also plan to finish listening to Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and Home by Marilynn Robinson. I started the former several months ago and the latter over the Christmas holiday. Expect a week of reviews.

To celebrate the return of Lost I have decided to break my reading challenge fast. I have signed up for the LOST Books Challenge. Have you ever noticed the number of book references on the show? They are there on purpose. You can go here for official book club information, including a complete list of books, and then go here to sign up for the challenge hosted by My Friend Amy, et al. It looks like a lot of dystopian literature but there are a few authors I love in there, like Dickens and Agatha Christie. Let me know if you join so we can cheer each other on.

Review: Delicate Edible Birds

Delicate Edible Birds
by Lauren Groff
(author of The Monsters of Templeton)

The first thing I noticed in this story collection when I received it was the beautiful cover. The color of my graphic to the left is more of a sky blue but the cover I have has more of a pale green mixed in with it. "My gosh!" I thought. "This book was made to sit on my coffee table." (Let's just forget that I don't have a coffee table for the moment, shall we?) My living room is currently being redone in shades of pale blues, greens and very dark browns and blacks, with a bird theme. And I love black metal scroll work with all its whirlygigs. So this book got a high mark from the get go for matching my decor.

Then I read it.

Wow! I have a serious crush on Lauren Groff and her magic pen or laptop or whatever. Her descriptions are imaginative and unique. She is most certainly not cliché. She is original and dynamic. Her words have force and depth. She can give you a fully developed story with history and dimension in just a few pages. Most writers would take 300 pages to develop a story to equal what Groff writes in just 30 pages. I can say with all sincerity that this is my favorite short story collection. Here's the rundown of stories:

Lucky Chow Fun - Groff has revisited the small town of Templeton to share how a teenage girl experiences the uncovering of a terrible town secret.

L. DeBard and Aliette - My favorite story in the collection, I believe it to be a love story to rival Romeo and Juliet. It's that good.

Majorette - The unfolding of a girl's life and the influences that shape the woman she becomes.

Blythe - This woman has a serious case of Manic Depressiveness going on. People are held captive as Blythe spirals into creative catastrophe.

The Wife of the Dictator - the woman whose quiet agonies inspire a man of war.

Watershed - a woman tells the story of how she wins and loses the love of her life. Very heartbreaking.

Sir Fleeting - a frumpy farm girl attracts the notice of a gorgeous playboy but neither of them can fulfill each others deepest needs.

Fugue - a teenager is sent to live with a family in the country and learns a little about the messiness of life.

Delicate Edible Birds - Can a woman of no morals give up on her principles?

Every time I started a story I knew I had to read to the end. And each ending brought a flood of emotions, whether good or bad, confusion or clarity. It's a short story collection for the true lover of character but it has enough story for everyone. I very highly recommend this book, and not just because it's beautiful to behold. More because it contains so much beauty.

Preorder this book at Amazon.

The Sunday Salon

When I was a girl my grandparents bought a little Casio keyboard for my sister and I to share. We spent hours playing with that keyboard, probably driving my Mom crazy with the constant repetitions of Heart and Soul that we played; and Chopsticks; and that one song with the words "We all drink Beer on Sundays." I'm sure Mom loved that one. But now my house is filled with the beautiful sounds that a real piano makes. Yesterday a friend brought us a piano to store and use and ever since there is hardly a minute that goes by without one of the kids or myself playing on it. Even the cat has played a few notes. None of us really knows how to play (especially the cat) but we are all eager to learn. I'm dusting off those old memories to try to teach the old tunes to my children, all but the song "Beer on Sundays."

In reading news this week, I am striving to finish 2 books a week and I met that goal again this second week of the year. Yesterday I was looking for a new book to read. I started a couple of them but I'm just not interested in anything much. Today I started yet another book but I've only read the preface so far. And I found a quote that draws a beautiful picture in my mind.

"I believe, to be sure, that any man who reached Heaven will find that what he
abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the High Countries'."

C.S. Lewis is about to teach me something about the glories I will find in Heaven when I seek it as my home instead of looking to a fallen Earth for some kind of fulfillment. The book is The Great Divorce and I do believe I will see what insights lay hidden within its covers.

I also plan to finish the short story collection I started over the Christmas break called Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff. You may recognise her as the author of The Monsters of Templeton. I'm halfway through, having read the first 4 stories, and already in love with her storytelling abilities. The story entitled "L. DeBard and Aliette" is a love story to rival Romeo and Juliet. Look for that review this week.

Aw, there is nothing like listening to Jingle Bells and contemplating the splendid reading for the upcoming week on a leisurely Sunday evening.

Review: Tender Grace

Tender Grace
by Jackina Stark

There are certain books out there that no matter what the writing is like you just love it for the story. I've heard this over and over again about Harry Potter and the Twilight series(I wouldn't know as I haven't read either of them). Tender Grace is that for me. There's not much to the book but it was refreshing and I liked it despite its little imperfections.

This is the story of Audrey Eaton. Fifteen months earlier her husband of 30 years died and she has still not recovered. Depressed and unmotivated to do anything but watch TV all day long, Audrey decides she needs something to snap herself out of this "living death" she is going through. So she packs her bags and her husband's old Bible and takes a road trip from Missouri to northern CA; no plans, no agenda, just an unrushed trip to see what there is to see. As she slowly sheds her grief she comes to realise a truth she had forgotten, that God is there with her during her hardest struggles and will bring her through even this.

The writing is not spectacular and the characters are a bit too perfect but I really liked this story. I said it once already but the word that keeps coming to mind is "refreshing." Of the four books I've read so far this year this is the third one dealing with death and grief but it was the most pleasant one. As Audrey writes in her diary daily she slowly reveals what she misses about her old life with Tom and why she finds it so hard to move on but as she meets new people and experiences life without her beloved husband she sort of remembers what it was like to be just Audrey without being attached to anyone else.

As Audrey makes this journey she reads from Tom's old Bible. When he died he was going through the gospel of John so Audrey goes through it too a little each day, stretching it out over her 6 week trip. She reflects on the holy words of God and they end up corresponding with her experiences. As a Christian woman I appreciated seeing Scripture handled tenderly and not mutilated to fit an agenda. While the book is non judgemental it's definitely intended for a Christian audience.

So if you are having a rough time of it, like I was today, you might try this one. From the title to the cover art to the content, I really enjoyed it and can recommend it as a non offensive, light hearted, peaceful read.

Review: Breathing Out the Ghost

Breathing Out the Ghost
by Kirk Curnutt

"What had being the parent of a murdered child taught her? Nothing--nothing except the inexhaustibility of her own anger, anger at constantly being reminded of what she'd lived through, what she'd always be living through, and most of all anger at the presumption that she should be over it, that she should have proved that life goes on, if not for her sake then for the sake of those around her. That was never the hard part, Sis thought. Life went on anyway, whether you wanted it to or not. The hard part was being left behind to breathe out the ghost of the one who'd gone on."

This beautifully tailored quote encapsulates the heart of this book. It is a book about the soul rending grief that each person struggles with in a different way. Those of us who have not suffered such a loss cannot fathom the anguish of a parent too soon separated from their child. One cannot possibly know how grief affects a person until they have suffered it for themselves. Oh, how I pray to never be put in a position of finding out for myself.

The characters in this book are so well drawn you will feel like they couldn't possibly have come from Mr. Curnutt's imagination. Each person is different as can be from the next, yet they all embody deep inner lives, some filled with despair, some with a need to be a savior, some with the tender touch that draws other sufferers like bees to a Spring blooming flower.

Breathing Out the Ghost is not a pleasant ride. You don't read it for pleasure, rather you read it to remember that there was still deep and powerful feelings within yourself, the most powerful being that of powerlessness. You read it to remember that deep inside the most self-destructive of men is a hurt soul trying to find succor by any means. It is the story of St. Clair, the father of a kidnapped boy who has abandoned his family in search of his son because he cannot stand to sit at home doing nothing. It is also the story of Heim, the former private investigator who lost his license trying to help St. Clair find his son but now is just trying to save him from self-destruction. And lastly it is the story of Sis, the mother of a murdered daughter who cannot avoid the pit of despair that is St. Clair because she understands all too well what drives him. There is violence and ugliness enough to go around and several distasteful scenes that made me want to turn aside. But ultimately it is a wonderfully written book that shows us the different faces of grief and how suffering affects different people differently.

I have one complaint. I'm just an average reader who doesn't usually pay much attention to grammatical errors because my own writing wouldn't hold up to scrutiny very well. Simply stated, this book is in need of an editor. Seriously. Look at this sentence: "I suppose I could have to gone to pieces like this friend of yours..." This type of mistake along with missing punctuation marks and a name misspelled was made often enough to be a serious distraction. A book like this deserves better care than that. I hope the publisher has corrected these mistakes already.

I'd like to say a great big thank you to Kirk Curnutt who graciously sent me a second copy of his book when the first one mysteriously disappeared in the mail. (I'm convinced the post office is littered with readers when I hear how often books disappear in their care.) You can find his website here. Sir, I have read all your guest posts and interviews and I believe you succeeded admirably. Very good job.

And thank you again to TLC Book Tours for trusting me with another tour stop. I can't wait to see what the next one will be. Visit the rest of the stops along the tour:

Monday, January 5th: Diary of an Eccentric Excellent review and interview!
Tuesday, January 6th: Ramya’s Bookshelf Guest post by author
Wednesday, January 7th: The Sleepy Reader Another great guest post by author
Thursday, January 8th: Crime Ne.ws, formerly Trenchcoat Chronicles
Monday, January 12th: Savvy Verse and Wit Review, interview & giveaway!
Tuesday, January 13th: Educating Petunia Hi! It's me! :-)
Wednesday, January 14th: Michele- Only One ‘L’ Review
Thursday, January 15th: Book Nut
Friday, January 16th: Anniegirl1138
Monday, January 19th: Caribou’s Mom
Tuesday, January 20th: Lost in Lima, Ohio
Wednesday, January 21st: A Novel Menagerie
Monday, January 26th: Catootes
Wednesday, January 28th: Bloody Hell, it’s a Book Barrage!
Thursday, February 12th: She is Too Fond of Books

Buy this book at Amazon.

Review: The Shack

The Shack
by William P. Young

I warn you up front that there was spoilers so if you want to read this book without any knowledge of where it's going then stop reading this review now.

A few weeks ago my mother was reading The Shack while on the road to her vacation. As she finished the book and absorbed its meaning her car was sideswiped, sending it spinning into oncoming traffic and landing it on its side. Thankfully no one was hurt. In fact, mom continued with her vacation plans and told me about the car accident the next day as she walked through the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. But she will never forget this book and told me that I had to read it. Apparently reading the book and then getting in a car wreck was giving her the chills. So I read it over New Year's.

The Shack is apparently the true story of Mack as retold by his friend Willie, the author. Mack was the church going husband and father of five. When his youngest daughter was kidnapped and murdered his faith is left on shaky ground. Three years after the death of his daughter Mack receives a letter in the mail to go to the shack where his daughter was murdered, signed by Papa, the affectionate name his wife refers to God as. So Mack goes to meet God, thinking he is likely insane. What takes place over the next three days changes his life forever, as an encounter with God would. But the part of the book that most stuck with Mom was that at the end of the weekend, as Mack is driving home to tell his family what has happened, he is in a terrible car accident. He survives but people now doubt his story because the car accident took place on Friday, before he spent the entire weekend with God.

First I will say that I was greatly moved by this story and close to tears at several points. It is an inspiring tale and a well laid out one. Knowing ahead of time that Mack is a real person and that he truly believes this to be his experience is a literary device that works here. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

But...

the theology is so messed up I don't know where to begin. According to this book rules and institutions (like church) are an evil device used by men to make themselves feel powerful and in control and have nothing to do with God. The problem with this idea is that it has to ignore all of the Old Testament and a large portion of the New Testament to get there. If you believe, as I do, that the Bible is the living word of God then you cannot find yourself in the theology of The Shack. If we throw out the Bible as an authority on God then we are left with nothing to determine about God but whatever we feel like at the time. If you have ever made a bad decision based on how you felt at the time then you will know why this way of thinking is wrong and possibly dangerous.

I must be careful here. I am not saying that Mack did not actually have this experience; he believes it and it thoroughly changed his life, that's for sure. But I do not believe that God is anything that Mack's experience says he is. Jesus is all the prophet I need and his account is much different than Mack's.

That is all the theology I will hit you with. Let me just say, if you are reading this as a guide to tell you who God is and how he wants you to live then you should choose a different book. Try the Bible. Or Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. But if you are looking for a moving and well written story where redemption and forgiveness are the main point then go for it. Just be sure to keep the tissues close.

Buy this book at Amazon.

Masterpiece News You Don't Want to Miss

If you know me well you know that I have a special passion for reading the classics. I have a bookshelf devoted to just them and I have a shelf on my DVD rack just for adaptations. PBS's show Masterpiece is a great place to find adaptations of all my favorites. I have watched or *own:

Cranford
*Sense and Sensibility
*Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
*Pride and Prejudice
*Jane Eyre
Under the Greenwood Tree
*Bleak House
Wuthering Heights
Middlemarch
*Wives and Daughters
The Railway Children

That's quite a list. You can purchase all of these and more at the Masterpiece Shop online. Most of them are worth owning and all of them are worth watching if you love the classics.

Recently Masterpiece has been making some really great new adaptations but I've been unable to watch them without going on the long waiting list at Netflix. This year that has changed. For a limited time you can watch Masterpiece movies streaming on the web shortly after they have aired. Last Sunday saw the first half of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. You can go ans watch it now until Jan. 19th. Go here and select if you want to watch Part 1 in whole or broken down by chapters. That's it. I have super excited about this.

And while you're there, sign up for the book giveaway for Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Wuthering Heights, their next new release airing Jan. 18-25.

Books Read in 2008

Don't mind me. Just making a record of my 2008 books before I restart my sidebar.

71.The Reptile Room
70.The Bad Beginning
69.Of Mice and Men
68.Durable Goods
67.The Christmas Quilt
66.The Fireman's Wife
65.The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
64.Sarah's Key
63.The Believers
56-62.The Chronicles of Narnia
55.The 19th Wife
54.Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
53.Blankets
52.Tomato Girl
51.The Triumph of Deborah
50.My Father's Paradise
49.The Complete Persepolis
48.Down to a Sunless Sea
47.The Icy Hand
46.The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
45.Into the Wild
44.Rain
43.The Complete Maus
42.A Fatal Waltz
41.The Joy Luck Club
40.The Awakening
39.Writer to Writer
38.Mere Christianity
37.Amsterdam
36.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
35.The Painted Veil
34.Chocolat
33.Shakespeare: The World as Stage
32.I Capture the Castle
31.Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
30.Admit One
29.The Sword in the Stone
28.The Story Girl
27.On Chesil Beach
26.Chronicles of Avonlea
25.The Namesake
24.The Wednesday Sisters
23.The Woman Who Wouldn't
22.A Wonder Book
21.The Prize Winner of Defiance, OH
20.Child of My Heart
19.Much Ado About Nothing
18.The Children
17.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
16.Slurp: Drinks and Light Fare
15.The Princess Bride
14.Love in the Time of Cholera
13.Six Weeks
12.Persuasion
11.Austenland
10.Firefly Lane
9.Buccaneers
8.The Inferno of Dante
7.Peter Pan
6.The Tale of Despereaux
5.Taming of the Shrew
4.In the Heart of the Sea
3.Medea
2.The Old Man and the Sea
1.Atonement

Free Book Online

Are you a fan of Alexander McCall Smith, author of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency? Then you may be interested to know that his latest book, Corduroy Mansions, is being released one chapter per day in both written and audio versions here. I received a very kind heads up from PR Consultant Lauren Fisher. Thanks Lauren!

A Few Mini-Reviews

It's been over two weeks since I was last seen in the Blogosphere. I went south for Christmas with Mom and east for New Years with Sis. But I am back in my comfortable old spot on the love couch (as my MonkeyBoy calls it) and ready to post a few "best of 2008" and "goals for 2009" posts. But this post is about a few of the books that I squeezed in at the 11th hour.

Durable Goods by Elizabeth Burg

Burg is one of those writers that I just knew I would love based on her titles and their cover designs. I have collected several of her books already but had not yet read any of them. Finally I picked up Durable Goods. I didn't love it but I did like it a lot. It's the story of a young girl trying to grow up without a mother and with an abusive father. The abuse wasn't horrible or graphic. The father is portrayed as damaged and hurting too so the reader can sympathize with him by the end. It was a good weekend book.


Of Mice and Men by John Steirnbeck (audio)

There are two actors with distinct voices that I never tire of hearing. One is Jeremy Irons and the other is Gary Sinice, who narrates this book. He had starred as George in the 1992 movie, which he also directed. He reads this book to perfection. This classic touches me deeply.


A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Books 1 & 2 (audio)

For the long drive from Southern CA to Texas I brought these two audio books to listen to. I have read the first book before but I thought the kids would like them. They did, and so did my Mom and step-Dad. Read by Tim Curry, these two books were fun and engaging. If you haven't read the series yet, I recommend the audio books.