Where Is Your Bookmark? (04/29/2014)

Illness hit again last week.  This time it was my turn.  Fortunately, it was not drawn out, and I am feeling better now.  We had a fairly quiet weekend with our usual visit to the park and library after Mouse's soccer class.  I did a little unofficial cheerleading for Dewey's Readathon.  Reading the tweets and blog posts for the readathon always make me wish I could participate.  Someday perhaps I will be able to.  Sunday we went to see the movie Rio 2 in the theater.  Mouse had really liked the first Rio movie.  This time around, she wasn't quite as attentive as she had been for Frozen.  Although, Mouse did say Rio 2 was her "most favorite movie ever" as the movie was ending.  Don't believe her.  She said that about Bambi too when we loaned our copy to her best friend.  Mouse hasn't even seen Bambi yet.  I have a feeling it will be awhile before we attempt another movie in the theater.

The first anniversary of my dog Riley's death is coming up later this week.  As a result, I have been feeling more emotional lately.  He was such a big part of my life, and I loved him dearly.  They say time makes it easier, and in some ways that is true.  In others, not so much.  It probably has not helped that a friend has been trying to convince me to adopt another dog, be it the stray she encounters on her walk or a dog she finds on the shelter website.  I really miss having a dog.  The timing isn't right for another one yet.  It's really Riley I want.  And there are practical reasons too.  Bringing a new dog into the family is not a decision to be made lightly.

As an effort to help keep me distracted and to perk me up, my husband, Mouse and I will be using the second half of our two day pass to Disneyland this week (we used the first for Mouse's birthday).  It should be fun.  We may use the pass for Disney's California Adventure as Mouse has never been there.  Mouse has no idea yet.  I am sure she'll be excited once she finds out.

Moving onto the topic of books . . .

After finishing Mona Simpson's Casebook for my upcoming tour date, I wasn't quite ready to pick Blind Assassin back up again, and so I polished off Avenge Me by Maisey Yates, the first romance novel in the Fifth Avenue trilogy.  Something must be in the air because I have been craving romance recently.  It isn't my usual reading fare, but it is a nice diversion once in a while.

I had every intention of getting back to Blind Assassin, when I received a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman in the mail on Friday.  I could not resist opening the book to the first page . . . the next thing I knew, I was well and good into the novel.  I just had to finish it after that.

Margaret Atwood and I are getting acquainted again in Blind Assassin at last.  It is about time, wouldn't you say?  Carrie, I really do mean to finish the book.  

Looking ahead in May, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed already.  I do not like to plan my reading too much as I am easily distracted and like to leave wiggle room to read randomly, but this next month seems to be one I managed to plan rather strictly without meaning to.  We shall see if my best laid plans work out.  If not, that's okay.  There's always June.

In the immediate TBR pile (or at least what I hope to read in May):

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Good House by Ann Leary

The Book of You by Claire Kendal

Terminal City by Linda Fairstein

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Since I am diving back into Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood again, a book I've already featured here, I thought I would share the opening of a book I finished over the weekend.  Here's a taste from Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

It was only a duck pond, out at the back of the farm.  It wasn't very big.

Lettie Hempstock said it was an ocean, but I knew that she was silly.  She said they'd come here across the ocean from the old country.

Her mother said that Lettie didn't remember properly, and it was a long time ago, and anyway, the old country had sunk. 

Old Mrs. Hempstock, Lettie's grandmother, said they were both wrong, and that the place that had sunk wasn't really the old country.  She said she could remember the really old country. 

She said the really old country had blown up.

 Would you continue reading?

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Thoughts: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

A great city is nothing more than a portrait of itself, and yet when all is said and done, its arsenals of scenes and images are part of a deeply moving plan. ~ Opening from Winter's Tale

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Mariner Books, 2005

Fantasy; 768 pgs

From the Publisher: 

New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake, orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.  

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.  

 Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and besieged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

I am sorely tempted to say this is an impossible book to review.  It doesn't help that I have waited nearly a month after reading the book to finally sit down and write my review (and it's taken me over two more months to rework and post it).  This book is not what I expected.  The description above does not really describe what this book is about.  It is barely the tip of the iceberg.  Winter's Tale is a love story on one hand, and also an adventure tale on another.  It is the story about life, about good versus evil, about balance, about justice, and above all hope.  It sounds wonderful doesn't it?

I so wanted to love this book.  I read the novel at the perfect time--as a good part of the U.S. was buried in snow.  The author, Mark Helprin, brought New York City to life.  Anyone can tell how much he must love the city (I admit there were times I wondered if the real love story in the novel involved the city itself).  My favorite parts of the book were not the descriptions of the setting, however; although, the author did a good job of making the setting a living and breathing character.  I was enamored by the characters--and not just the elusive Peter Lake and the brief appearance of Beverly Penn.  I was actually more taken with other, sometimes more prominent characters in the book.  That of Virginia and Hardesty, characters that appear later in time (and later in the book), long past Beverly and Peter's time.  Their journeys into the City especially captivated me.  I longed to join them and experience life along side them.  Fortunately, for a short time, I was able to.

Of all the characters, though, my favorite has to be Athansor, the white horse, who the reader is introduced to on the very first page of the novel.  It's clear from the start there is something special about Athansor, and as the story unfolds, his story is both joyous and sad.  He's such a strong and resilient animal.  He is a symbol of hope, in many ways.  I longed for news of him when the story was focused elsewhere and I ate up every moment he appeared. 

There was much I did not understand about this novel.  I felt like there was a deeper meaning I was missing the entire time I read.  I also had a hard time getting a feel for exactly what this book was supposed to be about exactly.  The greatest love story of all time as was advertised?  I didn't come away from the book with that feeling at all.  Could it be the book was simply about a man's love for a woman across time, even after death?  A book about justice and good versus evil?  Maybe, but even that story line seemed incomplete to me.  I wondered at times if this book was about the circle of life--how life repeats itself.  Or about how good and bad are necessary in order to keep balance.  A book about magic and miracles?  There was definitely some of both.

The book's ending left me with mixed feelings.  There were many questions answered, some in unexpected ways.  And in other instances, some of the threads were left dangling and were more ambiguous.  I can live with both.  I just wish there had been more.  It was a bit anticlimactic in places I thought should have been given more attention.

I was eager to see the movie, hoping it might answer some of the questions I had upon completion of the book. Fortunately, the movie did have a few answers.  The movie is a mere shadow of the book. So much of what I loved about the book was cut from the movie.  Entire characters and their histories were missing.  And not just one or two.  It really is a very different type of story, I think, the one in the movie as compared to the book.  And yet, I found that the movie did confirm some of my assumptions that I felt were a little murky in the book. To be more specific might be too much of a spoiler.

As poorly reviewed as the movie was, I actually liked it to some degree.  It did seem as if it were two different movies put together--but that can be said about the book too, given all the stories told there.  I thought the early portions of the movie, the scenes with Beverly and Peter, were the better ones.  The second half of the movie seemed to come out of nowhere and the tie ins which are so clear in the book are practically nonexistent in the movie. Still, it was a sentimental story, one that can pull at the heart strings.

Winter's Tale is well loved by many and I can see why.  It isn't a book I loved, however much I tried.  This is the type of book I wish I had read as part of a book club or buddy read.  I wonder if I would have gotten more from it in that sort of setting.

Rating:   (Fair +)

You can learn more about Mark Helprin and his books on the author's website. 

Source: I purchased a copy of this e-book with my own hard earned money.

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where Is Your Bookmark? (04/22/2014)

One day last week, Mouse and I broke with our usual evening routine.  Instead of going straight inside where we would feed the cats and do a little straightening before worrying about dinner, Mouse and I headed straight for one of the trees in our front yard.  We each got a leaf, thanked the tree for sharing, and proceeded to enjoy the last of the sunshine as we waited for Anjin to come home from work.

We laid on the grass and gazed at the moon, which was visible despite the daylight hour.  We watched the clouds slowly float by and then excitedly pointed to the big airplane as it flew higher into the sky in the distance.  We played "I spy" and watched the ants climb up our other tree.  We spun around until we fell to the ground (okay, so maybe only Mouse did the falling).  We waved to the neighbors and shushed each other once the next door neighbor's dog settled down to sleep just inside his gate. He must have realized we weren't going anywhere soon.  

Mouse and I soaked up the sun, accidentally swallowed grass (Mouse), took pretend naps on the grass and then on the driveway (because the concrete is "soft", according to Mouse), and put on a circus show.  When Anjin arrived home, we all went into the house together. 

I felt refreshed.  

Mouse singing Little Bunny Foo Foo

I am continuing to make progress in Blind Assassin, but realized I have a tour coming up and hadn't yet read the book for that. As a result, I have set Blind Assassin aside for the time being, but will return to it soon.

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

I am going to cheat with my First Chapter First Paragraph Intro this week.  I began reading Casebook by Mona Simpson yeseterday, which is evidently one of the "must read" books for this spring season.  The opening of the novel actually opens with a "Note to the Customer", which begins:

The book you now hold in your hands is our first venture into the old long-form technology that our pay-to-print machine in the back room has made possible.  The manuscript for this experiment was delivered to me by a hand by a young employee I first met when he wore board shorts and flip flops and came into the store, Neverland Comics, to read for free during the long afternoons of summer vacation.

The paragraph goes on to explain more about this "book" the narrator wrote along with the help of his friend. I am a huge fan of such fictional disclaimers and introductions.  They can really set a tone for a book.

And then, the book continues with chapter one:

I was a snoop, but a peculiar kind.  I only discovered what I most didn't want to know.

The first time it happened, I was nine.  I'd snaked underneath my parents' bed when the room was empty to rig up a walkie-talkie.  Then they strolled in and flopped down.  So I was stuck.  Under their bed.  Until they got up.

 Would you continue reading?

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Thoughts: Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke

She woke up late that morning, and knew:

Something had followed them home from Russia. ~ Opening Sentence from Mind of Winter

Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke

Harper, 2014

Fiction; 288 pgs

Mind of Winter is one of those novels that creeps up on you, page by page, the story building, the layers being pulled off very precisely, one at a time.  The novel is subtle in its intensity, especially in the beginning, making it all the more a worthwhile read

Holly Judge and her husband Eric adopted a Russian girl thirteen years ago.  They fell in love with her the moment they saw her on that Christmas Day long ago.  It was not an easy process.  Adoption never is.  And when adoption in another country brings with it its own challenges.

Waking up from a fitful night's sleep, still groggy from a not so good dream, Holly begins her day.  Her husband rushes off to pick his parents up from the airport and Holly goes to see what is keeping her teenage daughter, Tatiana (Tatty), in bed so late.  Haunted still from her nightmare, "Something followed them from Russia," Holly begins to really question events from the past: the seemingly innocent accidents, the growth on her husband's hand, the fate of Sally the chicken, the scratched CD's, and her daughter's ever growing dark mood.

What follows is a day in the life type story, set in the middle of a blizzard on Christmas Day.  Although written in third person, the story is told strictly from the perspective of Holly, as she remembers the past--the adoption process--and as she goes through the motions of the present day.  The entire book is told in one long narrative.  There are no chapters, with only the occasional section break.

When I think back to reading this novel, I find myself amazed at how well-crafted the story is, how every little detail was carefully placed, and, yet, it wasn't something I noticed so much as I read.  It was in hindsight I could see it most.  And aren't those among the best books?

I admit I wasn't overly fond of Holly.  I actually felt bad at times for her daughter because of Holly's constant questioning of Tatty and felt some of the mother's anger at her daughter was overblown or misplaced.  It was in part because of this I was not sure I would like the book initially, and yet something about the story kept me reading.  Perhaps it was the sense of foreboding that something bad was about to happen.  By the end of the novel, I felt a wide range of emotions.  The ending is what made the book for me.

This is very much a book about grief, regret, failures. It is one of denial and fear.  Mind of Winter is so much more than it seems at first.  Picture a small crack in a car's windshield.  If left unfixed, that crack will spread out, splintering off into various other fractures.  That is much how Mind of Winter plays out.  

Rating:   (Very Good)


To learn more about  Laura Kasischke, and her books, please visit the author's website.

I hope you will check out what others had to say about Mind of Winter on the TLC Book Tours route!

Many thanks to the TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to be a part of this book tour. E-copy of Mind of Winter provided by publisher.

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where Is Your Bookmark? (04/15/2014)

I begged and pleaded with my husband a couple of weeks ago for us to attend this year's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.  The last time we went was before my daughter was born.  It was one of my favorite bookish events.  I used to sign us up for every possible author panel we could fit into our schedule, often leaving very little time to actually peruse the booths.  This year I knew there would be no panels.  And I knew we wouldn't be able to attend both days of the festival.  I figured we could go for a couple hours or so, look around, and then head home.  I just wanted to take in the atmosphere.  The event is free with the exception of parking.  It would be worth it, I told him.  And it was.

My three year old, husband and I all had a fun time.  We took in a performance by the L.A. Opera at the Children's Stage and caught a demonstration of teen poetry slam (it was really awesome).  Mouse met a young author who isn't much older than her (well, closer to her age than mine--I don't think the girl is a teenager yet).  She also met Llama Llama, who was much taller in person than I imagined he'd be.  I got to meet mystery author Kwei Quartey, who is just as nice as can be.  He writes the Darko Dawson series set in West Africa.  I also saw T. Jefferson Parker, Cara Black, Denise Hamilton, Marissa Meyer, and Sarah J. Maas, among others.  Mouse was surprisingly patient.  Or maybe it was just because her dad was really good at keeping her entertained.  It might have involved a few tosses in the air, hanging upside down, and being chased around a tree several times.

I am glad we were able to go this year, and I hope I can drag my husband and daughter back again next year.  

I finished Shanghai Girls by Lisa See just in time for my online book group discussion, which started yesterday.  What a book it was! It took a lot of restraint not to dive straight into Dreams of Joy, Lisa See's sequel to Shanghai Girls. If there is any hope I can finish Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood before the end of the month as planned, however, I knew I needed to get started on that one.  I may still start Dreams of Joy yet though.  Who says I can't read more than one book at a time?   

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

At the moment, I am working my way through Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, a novel my husband recommended to me years ago, but I am only just now getting to. It's already proving to be a quite complex read.  Take a look at the first paragraph:

Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove her car off a bridge.  The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign.  The care fell a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom.  Chunks of the bridge fell on top of it.  Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens.  

Would you continue reading?

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Thoughts: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Poor, poor Pandora.  ~ First Sentence of The Husband's Secret

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Penguin, 2013
Fiction; 416 pgs

From the Publisher: 

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something so terrible it would destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive . . . 

Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's devastating secret.

I was excited when this won the poll as my online book group's February discussion book.  After reading so many great reviews last year, this proved a great excuse to move it up in my TBR stacks.

The Husband's Secret began like I would expect many women's fiction novels to.  You have the female character whose life seems too perfect to be true--you just know something is about to happen to derail all that--in this case a secret coming to light.  Then there's the female character whose marriage is falling part in another, more predictable way.  Also, there is an elderly woman who is still mourning the loss of her daughter, and who may soon lose her grandson, her only reason for living, when her son and his wife move away.

Liane Moriarty does a wonderful job of creating interesting and in depth characters, who are going through varying degrees of crises in their lives.  The three women, Rachel, Cecilia and Tess, all know each other and live in the same community, and yet they really don't know each other on a more intimate and personal level, something that will quickly change as the events in the novel unfold.

I wasn't as surprised by many in my group as to what was in that letter Cecilia's husband didn't want her to open until after his death.  It seemed kind of obvious to me, especially once everyone's stories had more of less been set up.  Maybe it's because I read so many mystery novels.  Anyway, my lack of surprise hardly took away from the suspense of the situation, nor the dire conflict Cecilia suddenly finds herself suffering. Cecilia wasn't especially a character I liked right out of the gate, but I came to really care about her.  About all the women in the novel, really.  I would never want to be in Cecilia's shoes.  This book reminded me in some ways of The Deepest Secret, which I read in December of last year.  Just how far will a mother go to protect her family?

Rachel's story is the most heartbreaking in many ways, from the loss of her daughter all those years ago to the distance she feels between she and her son and his wife.  She lives for her grandson, and with him about to move across the ocean, she feels her life line is slipping away.  The loneliness and grief and guilt she feels is palpable on the pages.

Then there is Tess who is lost in her own way.  Her husband has just revealed his big secret and it has torn their family--and life--apart.  Tess never saw it coming.  She returns to her mother's home to think things through, taking her son with her.  She has her own decision to make, her own re-evaluating of her life to do.

These three women are very different and yet they each have much in common.  Liane Moriarty is able to take each of their stories and weave them together in a way that will leave the reader breathless and not just a little bit shocked.  The Husband's Secret was heart-wrenching at times.  And it is certainly a novel that makes one think.

One of Cecilia's daughter's is studying the fall of the Berlin Wall throughout the novel, and I especially loved the juxtaposition that particular story line created in terms of the lives of the three women.  The symbolism, especially in terms of the walls we put up to protect ourselves and our secrets, was hard to miss.

I quite enjoyed The Husband's Secret, and hope to read more by Liane Moriarty in the future.

Rating of Book:  (Good +)

You can learn more about Liane Moriarty and her books on the author's website.

Source: I purchased the e-copy version of this book for my own reading pleasure.  

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Where is Your Bookmark? (04/01/2014)

I  have only ever played one April Fool's joke on my blog.  I had hoped to make it an annual event, but it was extremely time consuming to set up and I never managed to recreate it.  It was the day my dog, Riley, took over my blog.  The anniversary of his death is coming up in another month, and I found myself giggling at the fun we had that one day in 2010.  Despite the name of my blog, this was also very much Riley's blog during his life.  He had such personality. If you have time, I hope you will take time to re-visit Riley's exploits on April 1, 2010.  Think of this as my flashback Thursday on a Tuesday.

A Page in the Life with Riley 

A Review by Riley

There will be no April Fool's jokes today.  At least not from me.  I would like to hear from you, however. What are some of your favorite April Fool's jokes?  Do you like to pull pranks on people in honor of the day?

As for books, I recently read the first Rachel Morgan book by Kim Harrison called Dead Witch Walking. 

All these years people have told me I would love the books, and yet I let the book sit on my shelf and collect dust.  Yeah.  So now I am kicking myself for not listening to all of you who told me to read it sooner.  

Yesterday I began reading Lisa See's Shanghai Girls, another book I should have read a long long time ago.  My online book group is reading it this month.  I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the only other book I have read by the author.  So far, I am really enjoying Shanghai Girls.

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood is on my April must read list. My husband has been trying to convince me to read the book for years.  It's the next book up on Carrie's "I've Always Meant to Read That Book!" Challenge list.  I hope you will consider joining us.  If you have read the book already, feel free to join in on the discussion.

What are you reading at the moment?  Is it something you would recommend?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is a historical novel about two sisters who travel from Shanghai to Los Angeles  with their husbands from arranged marriages during the 1930's: 

"Our daughter looks like a South China peasant with those red cheeks," my father complains, pointedly ignoring the soup before him.  "Can't you do something about them?"

Mama stares at Baba, but what can she say? My face is pretty enough--some might even say lovely--but not as luminescent as the pearl I'm named for.  I tend to blush easily. Beyond that, my cheeks capture the sun.  When I turned five, my mother began rubbing my face and arms with pearl creams, and mixing ground pearls into my morning jook--rice porridge--hoping the white essence would permeate my skin.  It hasn't worked.  Now my cheeks burn red--exactly what my father hates.  I shrink down in my chair.    

Would you continue reading?

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© 2014, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.