It's MLB playoffs. What are you reading?

Recommended reading during the World Series playoffs:

Wait Till Next Year, Doris Kearns Goodwin (earned one of my only Goodreads' five stars this year)
This Dark Road to Mercy, Wiley Cash (earned one of my only other Goodreads' five stars this year)
Calico Joe, John Grisham
The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, Howard Bryant
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, Josh Hamilton

What other baseball books have you read?

And, Go Cubs!

Book Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

So many people have asked me for my take on Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman: A Novel that I figured I'd just write about it.

The short version:  I really, really enjoyed it. I started it almost as soon as it arrived Tuesday a week ago and finished it about 48 hours later.

The long version:  To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book. Ever. When that is where the bar is set, everything else falls short of it. GSW is not TKM. But, it's a story that helped me feel satisfied, for the most part, about how characters turned out (GSW is set about 20 years after TKM in the 1950s). The best part about getting to revisit some of American literature's most memorable characters is that we get to see what tomboyish, precocious Scout is like as an adult. The best parts about her haven't changed. She's still sassy and she's still thinking for herself.

Scout's heart is still the same, but when she returns home for a long visit to Maycomb, Alabama, from New York City, she's aghast that it's not the same place she remembers from growing up there (Thomas Wolfe, anyone?). That's something I can relate to. After almost three decades in one county in North Carolina, I relocated to suburban Atlanta. My visits back were often at first, but since the first couple of years, the time between visits has increased. Now I go back once or twice a year. Something amazes me each time. Downtown Raleigh has become a place with great restaurants and other places to go after work and on the weekends instead of the ghost town it was after 5:00 15 years ago. The nearby town where I went to elementary, middle and high school has changed dramatically. Young families actually move there from Raleigh because it's a great place that's tripled in population size since I was in high school. I could go on.

What some readers and critics have focused on is the difference we see in Atticus, who is, in GSW an elderly man who has passed the torch on to another, younger lawyer but still shows up to his law firm most days. He's still a pillar in the community. Just as Scout sneaked up to the courthouse balcony to watch her father defend Tom Robinson, she finds her same spot one afternoon to see where all the men in town have gone. As it turns out, it's a meeting that has a pro-segregation bent to it.

Don't many of us have an idealized notion of who are parents are and what they stand for when we're kids? At some point, for most of us, that changes. Suddenly, we find out that our parents are real people. And most of the time, real people are complicated. Discovering who are parents actually are as people is a big part of what it means to grow up.

Seeing Scout as a grown up is my favorite thing about GSW.      

It's Monday! What are you reading? (Holiday week edition)

 

It's a short week around here, which gives me a little more time for reading. I'm feeling ambitious. Here's what I'm reading this week:

In the car on audiobook: The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant.

On my iPod: On Folly Beach by Karen White.

For review (coming soon): 

The Awakening of Miss Prim: A Novel by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera (in time for its publication date July 8)

Wedding in Provence: A Novel by Ellen Sussman (publication date July 15)

And pulled from my stack that I've been looking forward to reading:

Hiding Edith by Kathy Kacer

Call me Zelda by Erika Robuck

Guests on Earth by Lee Smith

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

What are you reading?

This event is hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. 

Recent Reread: Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera is hands down one of the best books ever written. Everything about the story and the writing evokes beauty. I just reread it over the weekend in light of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's recent passing. I read a lot of it while at the neighborhood pool. Who needs a romance novel when you can read something like this, right?

I had taught all day the day that happened, and strangely enough, I had a conversation with a student about him. She's from Colombia and loves his writing just like I do. Then, later that evening I got a news blast that he'd died in his home in Mexico City. 

A few days afterward, I got word that a celebration of Marquez's life was planned in Decatur near Atlanta: 100 people would read aloud his 100 Years of Solitude in an event called, appropriately, 100 Readers of Solitude (clever!). I thought about going. Then my husband broke his collarbone and I honestly forgot all about it. I'm sure it was a great even though, and I hope I'll be able to go to another read-along event again.

USA Today published a story that Garcia Marquez has an unfinished manuscript that may be published. Here's hoping!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

My summer has begun! Late last week I wrapped up my spring semester at an Atlanta-area homeschool group where I teach middle school American history, and high school American literature and advanced literature and composition. These past two semesters have had me reading a lot to keep up with them. Now that school is out for me until the fall, I've got an ambitious reading list planned for the summer. Here's what's at the top of my stack:

In the car on audiobook: I'm waiting for one of several options to come up for me at the library. So for now, just a lot of 90s on 9.

On my iPod: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel by Fannie Flagg

For fun (and variety): 
Jason Priestley: A Memoir by Jason Priestley
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power by Jimmy Carter

What are you reading?

This event is hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Go check out her blog.

To Read: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter

I recently complained about a book I picked up at Atlanta's High Museum's exhibit this summer of "Girl with a Pearl Earring (Vermeer) and other Dutch painters. I visited Paris on Peachtree: The Art of the Louvre's Tuileries Garden two weeks ago and picked up a book from the shop that I can't wait to get into, and I hope it will measure up to my expectations. (By the way, the exhibit's last days are now. It ends on January 19, so go if you're going.) Doesn't this book look wonderful?

Downton Abbey: Pre-reading for Season Four

I love Downton Abbey. I've always been a sucker for most anything on PBS but Downton just takes it to a whole new level. Even my parents have gotten in on the fun. While I was home for Christmas I joined them in rewatching several season three episodes so everyone's up to snuff for the big premiere tonight of season four.

Luckily, a friend loaned me just the right book to read this week leading up to the new season: While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax. The book takes place in an apartment building in Midtown Atlanta and follows three female neighbors, all from different walks of life, who come together over Sunday night episodes of Downton arranged by their building's concierge. Besides just Downton, the women share each other's joys and secrets, struggles and plenty of wine.

It's chick lit and it's good. The unnecessary stuff is kept to a minimum so readers can focus on getting to know Samantha, Claire and Brooke, their concierge Edward, and all the other characters that make for a good story. I like that it's primarily about friendship rather than romantic pursuits or career aspirations (though both factor in in places). Really, it's just a fun read, and made more fun because I read it this week.

Recent Read: The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick

Have you ever had really high hopes for a book and are so disappointed when that book doesn't meet your expectations? It happens.

This summer I went to Atlanta's High Museum's exhibit, "Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshaus." It featured 35 paintings by Dutch artists of centuries past including Vermeer and Rembrandt. I enjoyed it. I loved the beautiful colors and the simple lives portrayed in many of the works. Then, the last painting of the exhibit was "Girl with a Pearl Earring," and seeing it in person was fantastic.

Years ago I read Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and saw the movie. It's the kind of historical fiction I just love.

Then shortly before I visited the High this summer I read the New York Times story, "Report of Nazi-Looted Trove Puts Art World in an Uproar" and was fascinated. This summer in Austria and Germany my family and I learned about the treasures Adolf Hitler and his cronies stored up during the Third Reich.

After that news story I was ready to read The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick, a book I'd bought at the exhibit this summer. I was excited about reading it on my Thanksgiving break. I didn't finish it until the day after Christmas (yes, it's completely unheard of for it to take me a month to read a book). Part of the reason is because I had a busy work life wrapping up 2013. The other reason it because I just plodded through it. It didn't hold my interest and was really a disappointment considering how I'd worked it up beforehand.

The book focused nearly entirely on the forger, Han van Meegeren, a Dutch painter who found he could make more money forging the work of the famous Dutch painters of the previous centuries than selling his own original works. Long story short, the book focused way too much, for my taste, on the specifics of how van Meegeren pulled one over on the art world and not nearly enough time talking about the Nazi party officials and their desire to get their hands on the artistic and cultural works of the countries they occupied, and how he was finally found out. Admittedly, I don't have much of a background in art but I do enjoy it. I also enjoy a good story that's told well. If it's historical nonfiction it needs to keep my interest and unfortunately this just didn't measure up.

Book Review: Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen

Published by: Gallery Books

Published on: October 1, 2013

Page Count: 336

Genre: Historical fiction, mystery

My Reading Format: ARC provided by Netgalley

Available Formats: Hardcover, Kindle and Audible editions

My Review:

I have to confess I haven't read much Poe. I have the general feel of how his writing is and know some of his biographical highlights. I'd heard that he married his much younger cousin, so it intrigued me when I came across this historical fiction book about a love triangle (or square really) involving Edgar Allan Poe.

The narrator is Poe's "other" woman, the narrator Frances Osgood, herself a writer, and the whole book is written from her perspective. Instead of getting the wife's side of the story, we hear of Poe's dark moods and flighty, sickly wife from Frances' perspective, which really made the book interesting.

Frances has been abandoned by her husband Samuel and is struggling to make a living as a writer to support their two daughters. The three have moved in with friends the Bartletts at their New York City home. Poe's reputation, of course, has preceded him, and Frances is intrigued by him even before they meet. What begins as friendly conversations between two writers turns into an attraction that Frances and Poe seem to have no control over. Frances' path keeps crossing with Poe's and they are soon trying hard to hide the undeniable chemistry between them. In the same circle of friends, many of whom are writers and artists, the two keep attending the same parties. Before long Poe is leaving his wife and mother-in-law at home regularly to meet Frances at friends' gatherings.

John and Eliza Bartlett support Frances in her writing but disapprove of her relationship with Poe. This is all complicated by the fact that Poe is married to a cousin ten years his junior who is frail and sickly, but desires a friendship with Frances, and John Bartlett and Poe have a professional relationship. As Frances and Poe fall more deeply in love with each other, Poe's wife Virginia is growing increasingly ill but still demands Frances' friendship, even when she appears to have caught on to her husband's relationship. 

 

There is an abrupt resolution to the storyline, something that was a big jarring to me as a reader. While I realize this sort of thing happens in mysteries, the story got resolved much quicker and neater than I anticipated. There were, however, a couple things that I didn't see coming, and I enjoyed the surprise.   

Besides the creepy feeling (in a good way!) some of the characters gave me, my other favorite part of this book was the narrator's point of view. I haven't read too many books where the narrator is the "other" woman. I loved seeing her side of things as she grew increasingly powerless to resist Poe's charms and tried to maintain a friendship with Poe's wife Virginia. It was such a strange balance to strike that I couldn't put the book down. 

Four out of five stars

If you liked Mrs. Poe, you’ll like Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, and Z by Therese Anne Fowler (but all of these are from the wife's perspective).

Decatur Book Festival 2013

This morning I headed for the Decatur Book Festival to see my graduate school professor Author Elaine Neil Orr, whose fiction debut, A Different Sun, I reviewed a couple months ago. She was paired with Margaret Wrinkle, whose book Wash I purchased (as well as several other things).

The pair discussed writing about slavery and spirituality, as both of their books include these two themes. I can't wait to read Wash and feel already that I need to reread A Different Sun afterward.

 

The Wren's Nest and KIPP Strive Academy debuted their latest collection, Into Bright Tomorrows, this morning at the Festival, and I picked up a copy.

So it appears the summer is over since it's Labor Day weekend. Here's to lots of happy reading this fall!

Silver Linings Playbook and Building My Own Syllabus

Last week I was putting together my syllabus for a year-long American literature course I'll be teaching to ninth and tenth graders at a homeschool co-op starting in the fall, my favorite genre. There are so many wonderful things I've considered including that I needed advice and perspective from others to help me make sure I wasn't overloading the class. So I tossed the question out on Facebook to find out people's favorite and least favorite books they read in high school. For my purposes this time I threw out everything that wasn't American lit and made my choices from the feedback I got.

Did you see Silver Linings Playbook a few months ago when it was out? I loved the complex characters, plot and the balance between funny and serious moments throughout the film. I thought Bradley Cooper as the main character Pat was wonderful. While I liked him just fine in The Hangover and Wedding Crashers, I loved seeing what else he could do.

I just read the book version by Matthew Quick earlier this week. There are some big differences between the book and the movie, but I liked each of them for different reasons. In both the book and the movie Pat is trying to win back his ex-wife by getting in shape and reading everything she has put on the syllabus for her high school English students. Though he doesn't love what she's selected, he plows through them, looking forward to the day when he'll be reunited with his ex-wife and they can discuss the novels.

Two-thirds of the books Pat reads are ones I've chosen for my syllabus: The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms, The Scarlet Letter and Huckleberry Finn. The two Pat read that I didn't pick are The Catcher in the Rye (which almost made it on to the syllabus. If I teach this class again I might teach this one.) and The Bell Jar. 

Here are the rest of the novels that made it in: My Antonia, Of Mice and Men and The Color Purple. We'll also read A Streetcar Named Desire and bits and pieces of Phyllis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet, Thoreau, Whitman, Emerson, Sandburg and Dickinson. I'm looking forward to rereading all these classics myself to prepare.

Have I missed anything What other books do you consider to be important to American literature?

DYI Redecorating on a Budget: Miss Mustard Seed

My husband and I are on plan B of living in our house a lot longer than we originally thought when we bought it in 2007. As it turns out, I can't imagine living on any other street. We've got friendly neighbors who have relocated from other parts of Georgia and all over the world. When I work with my office window open in the evening, I can hear children riding their bikes up and down our street and laughing. I know where I can go to borrow a cup of sugar (yep, I've actually done that), park an extra car or share a meal. As a result of living in this house longer than we thought we would, we've been in the process for over a year now to redecorate the living room. What felt like an easy project in the beginning has been slower going than I thought, but we're nearing the end of the journey. Only a few things (mostly pictures for the walls) are left to complete the project.

Knowing that, my in-laws gave me a book for Christmas that speaks to this process and how to do it on a budget (an important part of why it's taking so long to get it done). The book, Inspired You: Breathing New Life into Your Heart and Home, came out of a blog by Marian Parsons aka Miss Mustard Seed. It's full of great ideas for things to do, both big and small, to change up your living space from a DYI, budget-friendly way.

Here's what I most liked. Parsons makes no bones about the fact that yes, the pictures in the book are of her own home. That she lives in. All the time. With a husband and children. And, no, it's not that clean all the time. She's brave enough to include a few photos of how lived-in it looks when the art directors and photographers aren't around, and real life is happening.

Author Appearance: Jill McCorkle

Tuesday night I visited the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta to hear Jill McCorkle, who is on a book tour to promote her most recent novel, Life After Life. In case you missed my review, I absolutely loved the book. I'm always fascinated when an author can skillfully create so many voices in one book. I don't think I could ever keep all that straight.

I think books really come alive when they're read by their authors. McCorkle read from several passages, covering three or four voices at various places in the novel, giving those in the audience who haven't yet read the novel some background information and then intimate looks at several characters.

She took questions after she read her selections. That's also something I think is very brave. Opening up the floor to questions from strangers who love your work has to be a little nerve-racking. I remember a couple years ago I went to hear Frances Mayes talk. When she took questions, a woman went off on a tangent and practically invited herself to vacation with Mayes at her Italian home. Mayes graciously deflected by diverting our attention to other related topic. She was poised and handled it very well.

McCorkle didn't have any weird questions like that, but it was still fascinating to hear the questions she was asked and how she answered them. Some of those questions, like what inspired her to write the book and what her writing process is like, she's probably gotten a million times before, but other unusual questions still got an interesting answer.

I chatted it up with the woman sitting next to me who had not yet read the book. For all of you like her who haven't read it yet, do. It's wonderful.

Eudora Welty Exhibit

Last week I went to the Atlanta History Center to check out the Eudora Welty exhibit that's moving on May 8. Eudora Welty: Exposures and Reflections was a room full of her beautiful, telling photography taken all across Mississippi during the Great Depression while Welty was employed by the Works Progress Administration. I remembered many of the photographs from seeing them during a memoir class in graduate school when I read Welty's wonderful One Writer's Beginnings. The timing of this exhibit was great for me since only a month ago or so I was touring her Jackson, Mississippi, home and driving all over her hometown. It's a great exhibit and I'm glad I got the chance to see it. If you're in the Atlanta area and can make it before it moves on in three weeks, go.

Book Review: Chattahoochee by J. Randolph Cooper

 

Published on: November 2010
Page Count: 275
Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller (Fiction)
My Reading Format: PDF provided by the author
Available Formats: E-book for Kindle


Atlanta native, food critic and first-time author J. Randolph Cooper has recently published Chattahoochee, a mystery novel with Georgia's best-known river as a central character. Cooper calls it a "watery serpent...unconcerned with its destination yet savoring the journey." As each chapter unfolds, it is only the river that knows who murdered several young women.

Detective Craig Dvorak is part of the team searching for the killer, and as the story progresses, his search for a better life is in full swing too. Dvorak is an interesting, multi-dimensional character, foiled well by his detective partner, Tyra Washington, who never deviates from the straight and narrow. Though Dvorak isn't the kind of person I'd personally be interested in spending a whole lot of time with, he has one big quality that I found admirable: his honesty. He's both haunted by the female victims he investigates and all over the place on how he feels about women who are living (his mother, his sometimes-dating partner, his psychologist, his partner at work). Does he love women or hate them? It seems like both to me, yet that didn't bother me as a reader. Aren't humans all this confused and hypocritical?  

Besides Dvorak, Cooper has developed an interesting array of characters representing different races, nationalities, gender preferences, career paths and other demographics. Cooper is particularly skilled at writing dialogue that provides insight into characters (Dvorak's lieutenant is a New Yorker, Father O'Connor is an Irishman).

Though in places I found Cooper's writing style to be abrupt, which was sometimes jarring to me as a reader, I realized partway through the book that Cooper's writing style matches perfectly the personality of his main character. Though Dvorak is brash, rude, sexist and sex-starved, he also is quite human. He desires his life to be as good as it can be, he wants the best for his son, and he wants to be a good person. What Dvorak wants out of life is little different from what we all want out of life.  

Author Q&A: J. Randolph Cooper

I recently interviewed Atlanta writer and first-time novelist J. Randolph Cooper about his new book, Chattahoochee. He was nice enough to give me a review copy of his book, which I've read. A review is forthcoming in the next few days. 

Thoughts from a Bibliophile: What made you want to write this book?
J. Randolph Cooper: I’ve been interested in crime fiction and legal thrillers for most of my adult life. I wanted to write a book that was based around the places that I grew up around and to illustrate to the public the pressures of this line of work.

TFAB: What is your writing background?
JRC: Gee, not much. My background is primarily IT but much of my work over the last 15 years has been development of public-facing websites and thus the need for something that resembles literacy.

TFAB: Is this your first book? Do you have other books in the works?
JRC: Yes, this is my first book. I do have another one nearing completion that has more twists and turns.

TFAB: How do you view the changes in Craig [the main character] throughout the novel?
JRC: I love to see the changes in Craig, which mirrors many of us. I believe if there’s something you don’t like
about yourself, whether that be a character flaw or a trait that drives you (and others) nuts, CHANGE IT! Our problems sometimes seem insurmountable but if we write them down and think logically how to solve them (do you see the programmer in me coming out?) then we can change our lives in a positive way.

TFAB: What is your relationship with the Chattahoochee River like?
JRC: The Chattahoochee was our playground for decadence growing up. There was NOTHING illegal or immoral that could take place at the river because there was no law and no rules. Of course, nothing could’ve been further from the truth but that was the way we lived. The 70s were awesome!

TFAB: Where can one purchase your book?
JRC: The book is available in electronic formats only and may be purchased either via Amazon or Smashwords (for reader formats other than Kindle). The easiest way is just to go to www.jrandolphcooper.com and go from there.

TFAB: Where can one find more of what you've written?
JRC: The other writing that I’ve done has been as a food critic at http://atlanta-food-critic.com.

The Help

I'm a magazine junkie. I have so many that I'm usually behind. Right now I'd love to be reading about Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes I might like to try, but I'm still working through the October magazine pile. One of my new favorite magazine subscriptions is Atlanta Magazine. It's a fun read each month, telling me all the places in Atlanta I should be eating and all the other great things the city has to offer that I should take advantage of.

I recently read the September issue and was pleased as punch to see a Q&A with Kathryn Stockett, Atlanta resident and author of one of my favorite reads this year, The Help. There is even more good news associated with this bestseller: filming for the movie has begun in Mississippi, Stockett is considering writing a short story prequel to her novel, and she's at the beginning stages of writing a second novel. Hooray!

Stella!!!

The 24th annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival ended last week. This is an event I'd love to attend one day (or for that matter, just visit New Orleans at any time), but for now I'll have to settle for watching online videos of the Stella Shouting Contest, which is pretty great. Here's the link.

I've finally finished reading a book I mentioned over a month ago, Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family by Gary Pomerantz. It was pretty interesting with lots of good information, but DENSE. It took me a lot longer to read than most other books, but it was worth it. I learned a lot about Atlanta, which is great, since I really didn't know enough before. I'm happy I read it, but also happy to move on to something else. Tomorrow I'll be starting Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which I'm very excited about because I hope to visit her childhood home in Columbus, Georgia, later this month. I'll keep you posted.