My Best Books of 2016

I should start with a disclaimer. I spent a lot of 2016 reading pure escapist, fluff fiction. I didn't want to think deep thoughts. I didn't want to read about other people's tragedies. I wanted happy endings and light adventures and cozy mysteries.  So my list might look a little different from the year end lists you may see elsewhere.  At any rate, here are a few of my favorites:

I've loved very one of the Dublin Murder Squad novels by Tana French, and The Trespasser was among my favorites for the year. Each of the books in the series is different -- and you don't need to read them in any order. This newest mystery had the same characteristics of the others, though: a rich plot with unexpected twists and turns, an engaging narrator, and rich characterizations. If you're in the mood for an engrossing mystery, this (and any of the others) won't fail you.

Jodi Picoult is another reliably good writer. Her books start with a subject matter that is currently topical, and they explore the theme from the perspectives of everyone involved. Lone Wolf  addresses issues around life and family: what does being on life support mean? What is brain dead? And how does a family member go about deciding to withdraw life support? These hard issues arise in the context of a family where the father is a renowned wolf expert who has left his family to live among wolves, so questions of what is family, what is each member's role, how do family members take care of each other are all in play, too. It's a rich story with unusual themes. Picoult handles them well, as always.

I love it when I pick up a book found in some random place and it turns out to be wonderful. This was my experience with Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. The book is the first in a series about St. Mary's, a site for historical research in England which just happens to involve a bit of time travel so historians can go back in time to observe key events. This first book follows a new recruit, Max, as she learns that ins and outs of St. Mary's, pops between 11th Century London, the first world war, dinosaur viewing in the Cretaceous Period, and the Alexandrian library. Finding this was such a delightful surprise. The writing is strong, the characters entertaining, the whole novel is smart and funny and full of unexpected wry humor. I've already read the second in the series, Symphony of Echoes, and I loved that too.

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton was another excellent book that surprised me. I'd read a previous novel by Lupton (Sister, which was very good) so I gave this a try. And what an intriguing, unusual story.  The novel follows Yasmine and her deaf daughter Ruby as they travel through Alaska to find out what happened to their husband/father. It's a very original psychological thriller that uses darkness and silence and snow and uncertainty so effectively. I especially loved the sections of the novel narrated by Ruby, reflecting on her own silence, using sign language, and what family means to her. I happened to read this during a very hot stretch in the summer, and reading about blinding, deadly arctic chill truly transported me.

Well, there you have it. No life changing, deep novels, but some truly enjoyable books anyway. If you have any wonderful novels to share, please post them in my comments -- I'm always eager to find new books. And if you'd like to see what else I read (good, bad and mediocre) and follow what I'm reading, you can check out my Goodreads book list.

Happy reading! It's a wild, rainstorm day here in Northern California -- perfect weather for curling up with a good book. So that's what I'm going to do right now.

Keeping Myself in Books

 

You all know that I'm an avid reader.  I read fast, and I read a lot. If I had to buy every book I read, I'd be broke. But I have a few good ways to keep books coming for not very much money. So here are my tips on how to do that.

1.  I use the library.  This is a no-brainer, people!  A whole building full of books, available to you for free!  And really, not just one building.  A whole county's worth!  And counties beyond that! Once you start using your inter-library loan system, you can read pretty much anything you  like for free, if you're willing to wait a bit.

When I hear about or see a book I'd like to read, I go straight to my computer and go to the library's online catalog. My library's site shows me books all around my county as well as what's at my local branch. If it's at my branch, I can put it on hold and go down and get it. If it's not at my branch or if it's checked out, I can request it and I get an email when it comes in.

Somehow, a bunch of requested books always seem to come in at the same time. Don't ask me why, but they just do.  It's like how you can go into the library on one day and find little that appeals, and then on another day everything on the shelf looks great and it's a struggle to get the "bring home" pile down to a reasonable size.

2.  I use the Wishlist on Amazon.com as a way to remember books to request from the library.  I suppose the Wishlist is intended as a way to tell  people gifts you'd like, but that's not how I use mine. I keep it private, and for me it functions as a virtual "to be read" list.  When I see a book that looks good, I put it on the wishlist.  Every once in a while, when my library request/hold list isn't long, I'll open two windows on my computer: one with the Amazon wishlist up, and the other with the library's online catalog up.  I'll go through and see if I can find the books on my wishlist at the library, and then request them.  (Be sure to take them off the wishlist when you've requested them, to keep things current.)  Then it feels like I've shopped, and have new books coming to me, without spending a penny.  Shhh, don't tell Amazon!

3.  I check to see which books on my Amazon Wishlist are on sale. Have you ever noticed that every once in a while, the Kindle edition of some current, full-priced book will be on sale for a day or two for $1.99?  Sometimes the first book in a series will be $1.99, I suppose in the hope that it'll hook readers on the series and they'll buy at full price. Every once in a while, I'll go to the Amazon wishlist, and click on the "Filter & Sort" tab to sort by price, low to high. The books on my list will be sorted and if any have had huge price drops, they will show up at the new bargain price.

I did this just today and ended up buying 3books for $1.99 each that are current books and retail for $12.99.  Bargain!  I always figure if the price is what I'd pay if I found the book on a table at my library's book sale, then I'll do it on the Kindle.

You want to know what I got, don't you? You don't even have to ask.

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

 Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart. ($2.99, which seemed reasonable using my "library book sale table rule.)

The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo.

By the way, you can sort your Wishlist items by "price drops" and that'll show you the biggest price drops first.

Oh, and one more Amazon Wishlist tip: you can create different lists for different purposes. So you can keep one list for books, a list for other Amazon stuff, a different list you keep for friends and family to show them stuff you want, etc. I keep a separate list of Kindle Unlimited books because my sister gave me a Kindle Unlimited membership for Christmas last year, and so when I stumble onto a K.U. book, I'll put it onto that list for when I'm next looking for something to read.
(I guess Kindle Unlimited is another sort of bargain way to get books. I'm iffy on it and I have to admit that I wouldn't have subscribed on my own. The K.U. books seem to be "B list" sorts of books, with a lot of self-published stuff. I won't resubscribe when my gift subscription is up.)

4.  Bookbub.com.  Have you heard of this? It's exclusively for ebooks.  And it's totally free.  You sign up to a mailing list, and are asked to identify what sorts of books you like.  Based on your preferences, you'll receive a regular email identifying books in your categories that are free or under $3.00 for a limited period of time. The list often has popular books by excellent authors. It can be hit and miss, but I've found great books on there. They have kids' books and nonfiction, as well.

I hasten to add that I have two really lovely bookstores in my little town, and I try to patronize them too. I buy from them when I can. A reader can't have too many books, can she?

The Best of What I've Read Lately

Have you read anything really good lately? During the last month I was afflicted with some weird fluey bug that made me feel tired and draggy and achy a lot of the time... so what's a girl to do?  Curl up and read, that's my solution.  Actually, that's my solution to a whole lot of things.  So what'd I read, you ask?

I have loved every single thing I've read by Marisa de los Santos, and I can highly recommend her newest, "The Precious One."  It's told by two half-sisters who share an eccentric and intense father.  One sister felt abandoned when he left her mother and started a new family; the other sister, growing up being the apple of his eye, lives under his demanding scrutiny.  As with all of de los Santos' novels, there was great writing, wonderful wit, characters to love. 

I will confess that I put this book on my Kindle because it was $1.99 and sounded interesting. (If you have an ereader and haven't discovered Bookbub yet, go sign up right now.  It's free.  It's great.  Go ahead, I'll wait.)  But I loved "History of the Rain" by Niall Williams, I totally loved it.  It's told by Ruth, a young bed-ridden girl who reflects on her life and her small town in Ireland and most especially on her father, who is best known to her through the books he has left behind.  This isn't a fast plot -- in fact, one friend who loved it too described it as a book without a plot. But there is a thread and wonderful, lyrical writing, and so many gorgeous ideas about books and family and community.  I discovered after I read it that it was long-listed for the Booker Prize in 2014.

These days, John Green is best known for "The Fault in Our Stars", which was a lovely, unexpected sort of book.  "Paper Towns" is another of those.  It's the story of Quentin, a teen whose last high school year is unexpectedly enlivened by an enigmatic girl named Margo.  She enlists him in an unusual adventure, and then when she disappears later, Quentin makes it his mission to find her.  (Spoiler alert: no one in this book has cancer, in case you were worried about that.)  Green has a way of writing about teens that is true without being at all condescending, and he evokes that sense of being on the edge of adulthood, the confusion and freedom so beautifully.  This was delightful and thought-provoking.  Don't let the Young Adult billing put you off. (Added later:  I just saw a commercial on TV last night for the upcoming movie from this novel.  Hmm.  Read it first, that's my advice.)

I'm a sucker for books about books and bookstores.  And "The Moment of Everything" by Shelly King is another good one. Maggie, recently laid off from the Silicon Valley start-up company she co-founded, spends her now-plentiful free time hanging out at her favorite used book store.  She gets involved in running a book club for high-powered Silicon Valley women, discovers some old love letters in an old copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover, and starts making the bookstore life her own. It's a pleasant novel -- not earth shattering or deep, but fun and interesting and heck, it's about a bookstore.  What's not to like?

And you, what have you read lately that you loved?

Life is a Readathon

You all know that I'm an avid reader, right?  But I never used to read for leisure in the middle of the day.  I guess it's the result of student life and then working life for so many years, but I tended to read in the "in between" times -- essentially, in bed before falling asleep, or if I was eating a meal alone, or if I was waiting somewhere, or -- as a big luxury -- sitting in bed with a big mug of coffee on Sunday mornings.  Reading during the day was appropriate vacation behavior, but otherwise, reading in the middle of the day felt like decadence.

It's silly isn't it? I value reading hugely.  I firmly believe that reading is never a waste of time.  If someone else told me that they sat and read in the middle of the afternoon, say, I would been impressed and even envious, probably. And yet the thought of just sitting and reading in the middle of an afternoon provoked a little puritanical voice in my head that scolded me and told me I should be doing something PRODUCTIVE.

Somewhere along the way, a few years back, it occurred to me that the prohibition was silly and pointless. And since then, from time to time, I'd let myself read a bit in the afternoon.  It was like taking a short nap, but better.  My favorite place is the living room couch, stretched out with a view out the window and dappled shadows from the leaves outside dancing along wall.  It is the ultimate treat, to just sink into my comfy couch and open a book.

At one point, reading Mary Ann Moss's blog (oh how I adore her), I stumbled onto an entry in which she described taking herself off on a reading retreat. I'd never thought about it -- although I suppose many of my vacations could be considered reading retreats, I hauled so many books along.  Mary Ann referenced an article in Salon magazine that talked about reading retreats, too.  What a concept!  The thought of dedicating an entire vacation to reading just delighted me.

So far, I've only done it for part of a weekend -- a day and a bit more. Even so, it felt like the ultimate luxury, to let myself just read fiction and do nothing else.  Even in my own home, with the laundry piled up in the laundry room and dust settling on the blinds in the family room, it felt like a mini-vacation.

Earlier this week, I came across a blog that talked about an entire "readathon" week, where people sign up to read intensively (or as intensively as their lives will allow, I guess) for an entire week.  It's coming up, and runs from May 11 to May 17, 2015.  I have to confess that I had to hunt around to find out what the point of a readathon was -- and it looks like it's designed to get people to commit to reading for a week, and to post their progress on a daily basis as a motivation to read.  One can set goals, or not, and there are even prizes.

Perhaps your average non-reader type needs a reason to read -- and maybe "Sorry, honey, I can't cook dinner tonight, I have to read my novel for the readathon" is a good enough reason to stop everything and just get lost in a novel or two or three.

Me, I think life is a readathon.  During the day, even!  Shall I print a t-shirt?

 

Book Review: Deep, Down, Dark

One of my goals this year is to add some non-fiction to my reading.  I tend to read fiction almost exclusively, and somewhere along the way I realized that I'm probably missing out on some good reading -- and learning.  I'm trying to broaden my reading horizons a bit this year.  So I've set myself the goal of reading a nonfiction book each month, roughly.

And then at some point recently I heard Ann Patchett interviewed on National Public Radio.  NPR's Morning Edition has started its own book club, in which they plan to have a well-known writer choose a book he or she loved.  Ann Patchett's pick for January is Deep Down Dark:  The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free, by Hector Tobar.

I should probably add that I'm a wimp when it comes to reading about certain difficult things.  (I avoid things about the Holocaust and incest like the plague, for example.)  And reading about miners and mining, let alone miners trapped underground for weeks, is hardly something I'd normally choose.  But as I listened to Ann Patchett's interview (you can hear it here), I was reminded of how enthralled I was watching news footage as the miners emerged, one by one, from the mine.

On that day in October, 2010, I was at the quilt retreat I often attend.  One friend had her Ipad sitting on her table, streaming the live coverage of the rescue.  We gathered around as the "Fenix" rescue pod brought each man up to the surface, and we cheered and hugged.  There we were, miles and miles away, a group of financially secure, middle-aged white woman, cheering and wiping tears from our eyes as men whose lives we couldn't even imagine were rescued from an ordeal we had even less ability to conceive of.  Over the course of that night, we continued to watch and cheer and feel such joy as each man emerged from the mine. It was a funny sort of bonding experience, but I think it made each of us feel connected to the events unfolding in Chile in an unusual way.

When I started the book, to my surprise I found that it was hard to put down.  This book is one of the few inside accounts of those 69 days in the mine, because the miners banded together and agreed that they'd tell their story together.  Tobar's writing is very good, and he personalizes it all by telling each man's individual story.  You get a sense of each man's life and personality, both before the mine collapse and as the story unfolds. There's a bit of history about the area in Chile, about the mining company that owned the mine and the mine operations.  There are stories about the miner's families, how the rescue operations unfolded, and how politics and egos affected things.  All of the pieces are woven together skillfully to tell an amazing story.  Gripping, I'd even say.  I had a hard time putting this book down.

But what comes through is how these ordinary men coped in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.  They weren't perfect -- they struggled.  They felt and expressed fear and anger.  I found it especially interesting to hear how the men have fared since their rescue. Hailed as heroes, they were thrust into a spotlight that was freakishly strange to all of them.

Watching each man emerge from the mine back in October, 2010 made me feel a bit connected to the experience, but reading this book showed me so much more about each of those men, and about the human spirit.  I'm really glad I read it, and I'd recommend it.

I think my nonfiction reading plan is off to a very good start.   

Catching Up on This and That

I seem to have lost my blogging rhythm.  Where did it go?  Well, I will settle back in at some point.  Perhaps I need to set myself a schedule. Or not.  See? I can't even commit to the idea of a schedule.  I figure that this period of my life is about finding New Normal, so you'll just have to bear with me.

So far, New Normal has involved reconnecting with some friends, which has been lovely.  I've picked up my ink pen and paintbrush and I'm getting reacquainted with how it feels to look and see and draw and paint. Online classes with Jane LaFazio and Val Webb have provided great inspiration and instruction -- not to mention some deadlines to push me forward.

New Normal meant getting back into my sewing room to make a new art quilt too.  Yee haw!  That felt good!  I'm afraid I can't show it to you, as it is for an exhibit which prevents publication before a certain point, but here's one of the several inspiration photos that led to the piece I made.
 

I've been reading a lot, too -- we've had some gray rainy days that required just curling up on the couch with the novel du jour. Some of the better books I've read are:

 

Families and Other Nonreturnable Gifts, by Claire LaZebnik,

 

Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman, and

The Tragedy of Arthur, by Arthur Phillips. 

Of course, there has been real life work, and household stuff, and the homeschooling adventure... but I feel like I'm starting to feel like ME again. 

My year in books

I've read a lot of books this past year, some better than others. As I look over my reading list, I see that I read more chick lit and light fluffy fiction than I usually do -- which correlated to some of the complicated real-life stuff we were coping with here. Nothing like good girly escapism to relieve a bit of life stress, I say. Here are some of the books I read in 2010 that I'd recommend (and most of these are not chick lit):

The Gift by Cecelia Ahearn
Roses by Leila Meacham
The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault
The Last Time I was Me by Cathy Lamb
A Year on Ladybug Farm and At Home on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer
Flying Changes by Sarah Gruen
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
Faithful Place by Tana French
The English American by Alison Larkin
The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

I hope 2011 brings us all great reading discoveries!

(By the way, I am enjoying the discovery of pretty blog backgrounds for a fun and temporary change.  Here's the January New Year decoration, courtesy of Shabbyblogs.com.)

It's a Real Book!

Exciting news!  My friend and fellow Twelve Brenda received the very first advance copy of our Twelve by Twelve book (due out in March, 2011).  She has held it in her hands, flipped the pages, and even filmed a reenactment of herself opening the package! (You can see it here.)  So it's coming! It's real!

Can you hear the champagne corks popping?!  You can preorder a copy from Amazon or Barnes and Noble (which has such a ridiculously low price that I can't figure how they do it, but in any event, it's a great deal).

Book Review: Collage + Cloth = Quilt

I haven't posted a book review here for a long time -- did you think that meant that I wasn't looking at (or buying) new books?!  Au contraire!  I continue my love affair with books and even when I'm not spending much time with fabric or my sewing machine, I'm always looking and reading and gathering inspiration.

So here's a book I've added to my collection recently. It's Collage+Cloth=Quilt: Create Innovative Quilts from Photo Inspirations by Judi Warren Blaydon (C&T Pub. 2010).  Because of the subtitle, I wondered when I first picked this book up whether it'd be another book on using photos transferred to fabrics.  But no, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.  The main idea of the book involves choosing a few photographs, cutting them up to assemble a pleasing collage, and then using the collage as the basis for a quilt.

It's a great concept, and I'm impressed at how beautifully this book works through the process.  It makes the process of moving from images to collage to quilt very accessible and quite do-able.  There's a good discussion about choosing photographs for scale and composition.  There is a very useful connection shown between various collage arrangements and quilt formats.  The brilliance of this concept, of course, is that cutting up photos and arranging elements for a collage feels much less intimidating than cutting fabric and designing an art quilt.  So really, once you've got your collage set up in a way that excites and interests you, translating that into fabric feels like an easy jump.  You've already designed your quilt.

As is often the case with me, my favorite part of the book is the gallery at the back, which shows photo collages by various people (the author's students) and the quilts that resulted.  It's a very inspirational set of work.  I'm all set now to scour my photos to play with this idea. 

If you're looking for a new way to jump start your art quilting, this could be a fun new approach.

It just has to get better

I am in a place of despair these days, and I can't seem to get myself out of it.

It started, I think, when I read "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult. She's one of my favorite authors and I usually leap on each new book of hers as it comes out. But this one I delayed, because I knew that it was the story of a young man with Aspergers who is accused of a crime... and there are times when I just can't read any more Aspergers stuff. We LIVE Aspergers stuff, and sometimes I just don't need more. Anyway, I read it, finally ... and while the writing was up to Picoult's usual excellence and the story was engrossing, I just found it a bit too gut-wrenching to read a novel with example after example of how that character's Asperger's traits were misunderstood with dramatic consequences. It got me spinning around the usual cycle of doubts and anxieties I carry as the mom of a teen with Aspergers -- are we doing enough? Would additional interventions help? Are we doing so much that the number of people she sees in a month make her feel like there is something wrong with her? I usually keep these worries in check, and feel confident that we're doing the right things, but sometimes the doubts are worse than others.

I've also been reading Aspergers in Pink by Julie Clark, an excellent look at how Aspergers presents so differently in girls and why it is so frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed in girls. The book is written by a parent who details her Aspie daughter's experiences through 6th grade, which were largely characterized by school officials and teachers who refused to accept the careful diagnosis of medical professionals and instead chose to believe that the child's behaviors were the result of "spoiling" and bad parenting, and who simply weren't able or willing to provide the careful support that the child needed. It didn't exactly mirror our experiences with our daughter, but it was similar enough to cause more stomach-twisting.  It reminded me of  how it felt to be treated as the problem parent, asking for more help for a child who felt lost and unsupported at school, and how often I went in for meetings or to check in with teachers after school try to help them understand what my daughter faced in school each day. The book ends with the daughter in 6th grade, with an unusually good teacher and some helpful support people -- but I had this sense the whole time of "just wait until middle school."  Classes get bigger.  Teachers get, I think, less connected to the kids.  The social world gets far more complicated, and some kids get so much meaner.  I worry about that little girl, and I've never even seen her.

And then there was the horror of Tyler Clemente's suicide, after being cyberbullied and outed as gay by college peers. Fortunately, the swell of support and concern and awareness-raising going on has provided a positive response to an intolerable situation (not the least of which is the wonderful "It Gets Better" campaign started on YouTube by writer Dan Savage).  Still, each time I hear a reference to this poor young man, or to any of the other teens and young adults who have struggled with (or succumbed to) suicide because they were taunted about their differences, I want to cry. 

So I am feeling just heartsick these days.  I read blogs from parents of kids with Aspergers, and by teens and adults who have Aspergers or other autism spectrum issues, and I follow forum discussions that address how to help kids, how to get them through school, and more.  I am looking for support, I know, and hope, and a sense that things will get better.

But you know?   Lately all I seem to read are message from parents struggling to get teachers to understand, fighting to get special ed services for their kids, even litigating in some situations to have their children provided appropriate educational services.  I've read horror stories -- more than you can imagine -- of elementary school teachers calling the police when an 8 or 9 year old boy is having a meltdown -- which meltdown often resulted because the staff didn't understand how overwhelmed and mishandled the poor kid was in the first place. Sure, I'm finding stories of wonderful occupational therapists and amazingly sensitive teachers, and miraculously kind peers who accept kids no matter what.  But I tell you, lately those good stories seem few and far between.  I've had to back away from those lists and websites for a bit,  because I just can't take any more right now.   

Just this past week, my daughter revealed some bullying incidents that happened two years ago.  We've suspected that some of that had been taking place, but it's only now, two years later, that she could bear to talk about it.   She's held those in all this time, and she's internalized some of the mean and hurtful things that were said to her, in ways that will take a long time to heal.  It's why, she's revealed, there are kids she doesn't want to see around town, why she doesn't want to go to the barn on Saturdays to groom horses with girls who used to be in her class, and why she refuses to even consider taking a class at the local high school.

My daughter is doing pretty darn great, all things considered.  But the whole situation makes me so angry, especially when I think of all of the times I sat down with a certain 7th grade teacher to talk about how unhappy my daughter was, how she said repeatedly that she didn't feel safe in class, and how the teacher didn't intervene when the kids treated each other badly.  I think about how surprised the principal was when I went in to complain about things I'd personally witnessed -- kids throwing pencils at each other in class, one kid wrestling another kid to the ground to get a paper away from him -- in the classroom, in front of the teacher -- And all of that was in a theoretically exclusive private school where there were TWELVE kids in the class. Twelve -- that's all that teacher had to keep her eye on.  Lord, it makes me want to spit.  Or vomit. Or something.  We took our daughter out of there midyear, by the way. 

So I have found myself feeling just sick over the last few days. Why do the so-called professionals we trust with our children's formative years have so little understanding of how important it is to honor the differences in every child?   What is it about the way our society is raising children, that so many of them learn that differences are to be mocked and excluded and demeaned?  Why are our schools so entrenched in doing things the way they have always been done, even when it's clear that those patterns don't work for so many kids?  Why are parents who go into schools with concern about their child and asking for help from teachers and staff, treated with suspicion and disregard? 

I know I will feel differently in a few days, more hopeful, more positive about any new awareness helps, and how many bright, caring, tuned-in people there are who are trying to make changes.   I know that our daughter is doing beautifully these days, and she's blossoming and becoming more independent and capable every day.

But I tell you, it all makes me feel very sad.  Kids are so precious -- we not only need to take care of them, but we also need to teach them to take care of each other.

Ta dah!

Coming soon to a bookstore near you!  Well, March, 2011.  Six months.  Not like I'm counting days or anything...

Good Reading Alert: The Forgery of Venus

If you're looking for some good summer reading, you might check out this novel: The Forgery of Venus: A Novel by Michael Gruber.  I finished it recently, and found it one of the most interesting novels I've read in a long time.

On the surface, it tells the story of a talented painter who is working as a commercial artist when he is approached with a proposal to restore an old master painting on the damaged ceiling of a Venetian palazzo.  The money is good, the painter needs money, and he's always felt that his talent belongs in an earlier century.  As the story unfolds, the painter starts to question his sanity.  Is he truly crazy? Or is he being manipulated for nefarious purposes?  There is much fascinating reflection on art and painting and history in this -- and lots of twists and turns that leave you uncertain about what will happen next.  Gruber's a very talented writer, and there is a lot of depth to this.

If you're looking for something a little different, a mystery/thriller that goes a little deeper than the typical book, then you might give this a try.  I enjoyed it enormously.

Reading for the start of summer

Here it is Memorial Day already, which is officially the start of summer, yes?  Which means it's summer reading season!  I thought I'd share a few books I've really enjoyed recently:

The Book of Air and Shadows
by Michael Gruber

      This isn't a new release, but it's one I bought some time ago and finally got around to reading.  What a delight!  It's about the discovery of a manuscript that hints at the existence of an undiscovered Shakespeare play, with a lot of wonderful stuff about old books and Shakespeare himself.  This was quite well-written and with a fair amount of humor -- the narrator never took himself too seriously, which I liked.  So think literary mystery/thriller, vaguely in the DaVinci Code style but without the sap, the improbable religious stuff, or bizarre demonic villains.

A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents
by Liza Palmer

  Admittedly, the title may be a bit off-putting (especially, if like me you're dealing a death in the family).  But truly, don't let that stop you.  It's worth getting past that.  This is the story of a smart-alecky woman, long estranged from her family and avoiding the pain of a childhood in which her father left them.  Required to reconnect with her siblings when her father suddenly becomes ill, she has to face all of the family drama she's been avoiding.  This story is beautifully written, and I loved the humor in this.  (And don't we all have family dysfunction that allows us to appreciate other families' dysfunction?)  It was a different sort of book, but just lovely.  Very worth reading.

No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club: Diary of a Sixtieth Year
by Virginia Ironside

I stumbled on this at the library last week and I loved this book.  It's the diary of Marie, just turning sixty, and her delight in finally being "old" so she has the excuse to just do what she wants.  No, she won't start learning a foreign language or take a cooking course or join a book club.  She's honest and very funny and struggling with aspects of getting old that (I'm afraid) I'm starting to relate to -- feeling stylish and then catching a glimpse of oneself in a mirror and seeing reality, discovering a disconnect with what the "young people" like these days, etc.  It's quite charming.

What's on your summer reading list?  What have you read lately that is worth finding?

What's been on my nightstand

What with this bad headcold and a resulting lack of energy, I've been reading a lot lately.  What have I been reading?  Nothing serious or heavy, but a lot of entertainment and light reading:

The Last Time I was Me by Cathy Lamb. The funny but moving story of a woman assigned by court order to an anger management class (because of a little incident involving superglue, a condom, and her cheating ex-boyfriend), and the relationships that develop among the class members.  I love this author's writing.

A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball.  Pure, fun escapist reading, about three women who pool their resources and buy a dilapidated farm and mansion in Virginia.  Made me want to move to the country to bake scones, plant green beans and raise sheep.

Brain Storm by Richard Dooling (which I pulled off of the shelf at the library because of the colorful cover and spine -- repeated images of brain scans on a black background!)  A legal thriller with cutting edge brain research thrown in.  Interesting and entertaining, if a bit macho at times.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman.  Sort of like Harry Potter for grown-ups -- actually, the story wove together aspects of magic in fiction that connected Harry Potter's Hogwarts world and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but from a cynical realistic view of a depressed 17 year old kid.  Definitely unusual and worth reading, with some thought-provoking ideas about what role magic plays in the world.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.  The story of three women whose lives intersect, alternating between WWII in London and small town American life in the present.  Enjoyable but not devastatingly great.  If you can find it at the library, go for it.

The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen. A better-than-average chick lit novel about two sisters, and how the childhood roles they'd had (the smart one, the pretty one) follow them and affect then in adulthood.  Easy entertainment.

Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches.  A chick lit version of heaven where God is female (and sounds just like Bette Midler), this story follows a new Heaven "greeter" and what happens when she falls in love with an Earth-bound guy.  Charming and light.

First Class Killing by Lynne Heitman.  One in a series of mysteries in which our heroine is a former airline manager turned private detective.  Well-written, with interesting inside glimpses of airport life.  Better than average mystery/thriller.

What have you read lately?

Perhaps a librarian could help

Today was re-entry after a blissful few days off on quilting retreat. After several days of uninterrupted creative time, lovely friends, lots of laughter, all punctuated by regular delicious meals which I did not have to cook, there's always a bit of a thud returning to the reality of home. (Not that home isn't lovely, but landing back amid piles of laundry and catalogs and Work To Be Done and miscellaneous Things to Be Put Away is always a bit of a shock. You know, "Who ARE these people and how to they manage to make such a mess?!")

So, naturally, I took myself out to run errands. I dropped by the fabric store (not having had enough fabric time despite 12 hours per day of it over the last several days), and picked up some groceries, and visited the library to pick up some of the books they'd found for me.

One of my favorite things about my local library system, by the way, is that I can look things up online in the library's county-wide catalog, "request" them with the click of a button, and they magically appear on the "hold" shelf sometime later. It's like Amazon.com but without the
less fun result when the credit card bill comes.

I'm in and out of the library frequently, and I have come to the conclusion that people who become librarians do so because they like books more than they like people. (Excuse me if you are among the rare breed known as Friendly Librarians -- I don't see them often in my bibliographic forest.) Gradually, my extreme charm and sparkling wit are winning these reserved folk over -- some days I get a timid smile and on a really good day I'll get a compliment about my just-for-library-books basket.

Today, as the librarian was sliding my books past the magic magnetic thingie, she looked up with a broad smile. "Oh, I never read books, but I read THAT one and it was really good."

You got that? "I never read books." I replied that I was very glad to hear the book was worth reading, and we resumed our exchange in silence while I pondered how it was she came to choose her career.

This reminded me of an incident some years back with my favorite front-desk librarian, a slim blond woman with perpetually wispy hair and bright pink lipstick smeared crookedly across her lips.

She sighed as she started in processing the stack of novels I'd placed on the counter. "You read so many books! I wish I could find a good novel to read."

What does one say to that, standing in the middle of a library? "Well, what sort of things do you like?" I asked.

"I don't know how to find books about the things I like," she replied with a shrug, and then went on to tell me that she preferred to read the astrology columns in newspapers. I suggested that she search the online catalog for books about astrology, and threw out the name of an author who writes mysteries featuring astrological topics. She looked astonished at my cleverness. "I never thought of that!"

Of course, this was the same woman who announced once as she took my library card, "we have the same name!"

"Oh, you're Diane too?" I replied (brilliant, yes?)

"No, my name is Cynthia." Said brightly, as if perfectly logical.

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to reply. "We're both goddesses!" she exclaimed.

Note to self: don't try to engage the librarians in conversation. It will only cause more furrowed brow lines of confusion, of which I have plenty already.

Where ever you go, there you are.

And look, there I am, the gold car reflected in that huge shiny truck! (I took this at a long stoplight, by the way -- do you think I would try to snap photos while driving?!) I feel like I have been on the road for the last several weeks. Homebody that I am, I am not used to living out of suitcases. But this is our last excursion for a while, so I am looking forward to getting home on Saturday and staying there.

This week, I am on the SF peninsula, staying with my mom and dad so Caroline can attend a week-long computer technology day camp at Stanford. They live just 15 minutes away from Stanford, so it's quite convenient. It's lovely to get some leisurely time with my parents, Caroline is enjoying the camp enormously, and I'm having fun spending time alternately roaming and hanging out at the house.

Yesterday was a roaming day. I delivered Caroline into the custody of the enthusiastic camp counselors (who, in age-old camp tradition have nicknames like "Beep," "Peep," "Danger," and "Fridge." Question for the day: What would your camper nickname be this summer? I'm thinking I'd be "Snap" because I've had my camera with me all the time, taking pictures where ever I go.) And then I headed off to roam through some favorite stores.

I had a lovely time cruising around one of my favorite independent bookstores, Books, Inc. in Palo Alto. I found a great book on making digital art with Photoshop that will be fun to explore. I strolled down University Avenue, the funky main street in downtown Palo Alto, and found myself in the Borders bookstore which took over the big old movie theater. It's a wonderful use of the space, really, and there is something I like about climbing up to the balcony level to look at the kids' books.

I was delighted to find the new Somerset publication "Art Quilting Studio":



I haven't even peeked inside yet -- I'm saving that for when I can sit with it for a hunk of time ... perhaps later this evening.

And then there's Somerset's Artful Blogging magazine, which provides wonderful blogging inspiration:



The only danger about that magazine, I find, is that I end up with a list of new blogs to track down and read, and I have a massively long list of favorite blogs at it is!

I don't often take the time to just roam around when I'm at home. It's lovely play time -- I must remember to do this when I'm at home when I'm in need of a mental break.

When you have time to wander, where do you go? Art galleries? Wilderness? Shopping?