Thanksgiving 2012

Hello to anyone who might read this blog!  Today is absolutely a day to be thankful and to count one’s blessings.  I certainly am thankful for the traditional things: family, health, job, cat, Faith and Church, and what goodies (foodwise and other) I’m blessed with.  Interestingly, one of the commentators for ESPN’s Monday Night Football (and I’m not sure who, as I really don’t catch it that often…) said something like being thankful sometimes for the opportunity to only worry about things like football.  And Glenn Swartz, the meteorologist, put on his blog following his heart attack that in recovery after surgery, he was glad to have the opportunity to go through that pain and recuperation.

These thoughts give a different take on being thankful – sometimes we might be thankful for what we DON’T have to worry about or sometime for even what seems to be a real problem!

So here, somewhat tongue in cheek, is a take on Thanksgiving, 2012 style:

I’m thankful to have the opportunity to only worry about who is the better rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin III or Andrew Luck.

I’m thankful to have the opportunity to only worry about how many minutes of walking will burn off that Thanksgiving dinner.

I’m thankful to have the opportunity to only worry about the sexiest man alive being young enough to be my….. um, younger brother (yeah, that’s it…).

I’m thankful to have the opportunity to only worry about where my keys are and not where my head is (thankfully  it’s attached to the rest of me).

I’m thankful for the opportunity for the steep learning curve involved in using my new tablet.

I’m thankful for the many opportunities to learn patience while dealing with these customer service phone systems.  Guess this is a lesson I’m still learning…

I’m thankful for the opportunity, and often challenge, of finding topics to blog about!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving. Hope you all have something to be thankful for!

 

Summer Reading II, 2012: On Reading Mom’s Novel

What can I say about being able to read the novel one’s Mother wrote back in the 1940′s? It was quite an experience.

I knew she wrote this novel, titled Shades of Yellow (referring to people of mixed-race ancestry). We ran across it (the typewritten manuscript) together while working in a closet many years ago.  I always said I would read it – someday.  Of course we know that someday can often take a long time coming.  Mom died in 2002 and I still hadn’t gotten around to reading it. 

But I hadn’t forgotten it, and still vowed to read it – again, someday.  Well, last year after an aborted attempt at slogging through Julia Quinn’s Mr Cavendish, I Presume, I figured the time was finally getting right, so I VOWED to read it THIS summer. I finally finished it last night.

It really is a treasure to have this manuscript (it wasn’t published) that she indeed wrote.  It’s quite a window into the time (takes place in 1942) and the mores of her and her close contemporaries back then. 

The most positive aspect of the writing is that Mom did know how to move the story along; I felt as though I were marching through it, not slogging through it as I tried with the aforementioned aborted reading.  She also can get you with the characters.

It’s also a very Christian novel.  Many characters are always prayng, and the main family members are definitely Episcopalians!

The two negative aspects: I didn’t care for most of the male characters; I found them a blt condescending or something.  Kinda surprising for her, as Mom was surely no shrinking violet. Anyway, that made me glad she chose Dad. And there was a plot development I definitely DID NOT CARE FOR – one of the characters gets killed in a car crash.  I don’t know, but the older I get, the less I like plot developments like that (well, whodunits excluded, I guess); i. e., I haven’t watched Castle since they decided they would kill off a steady character (turned out to be the captain). 

Her writing could also be a bit preachy at times.  But I think a good editor or mentor could guide her through rewriting a bit to make it stronger.  She already seems to know how to do a good story which is something I don’t know if anyone can be “taught”.

All in all, I am glad I finally read it, but maybe it’s better waited.  I may have really taken her to task on that one plot development!  The fact that she actually did such a project, got it on paper is a cool thing as so many potential authors never finish that novel.  Well, she did and good for her!

 

 

 

Summer Reading 2012 – I

Hope someone is still out there!

I just finished the first book in my summer reading.  It was Civil War Wives by Carol Berkin.  This looks at the lives of three women who were at the heart of the events surrounding the Civil War.  They were: Angelina Grimke Weld, a noted abolitionist, Varina Howell Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Julia Dent Grant, wife of victorious Civil War General  and U.S. President, Ulysses. S. Grant.

The writing is ok. Berkin’s main thread is to examine these women from the standpoint of the established roles for women accepted at that period.  Where Angelina challenged, she ultimately played more of a traditional role once married.  Varina had a task to be  “good wife” that Davis wanted (one who definitely followed her husband’s lead) but at times her own intelligence and resourcefulness surfaced.  Julia Grant was certainly a very traditional wife, but even she could challenge things at times and was used to getting her way; she was her father’s favorite, and Ulysses was a fairly indulgent husband.

It wasn’t quite as compelling a read at times as I’d hoped, but when I did pick it up it did prove interesting. I’d heard of Angelina; a history teaching colleague spoke of her in a talk to our local AAUW group.  But I didn’t know much about her or her sister Sarah, and I had never heard of her husband, another noted abolitionist, Theodore Weld.  So it was enlightening to read about them. Also frustrating, as Angelina’s adherence to being a traditional wife (Theodore was somewhat “liberated”  but never did get the idea of an equal division of household labor) didn’t help her health.  As to the Davises – I knew next to nothing about Jefferson and had never even heard of Varina!  Turns out her grandfather used to live in MY very county here in NJ and took part in the Greenwich, NJ Tea Party in Revolutionary times (He was also an NJ Governor). Jefferson wasn’t a very sympathetic character to me(slaveholder, male chauvinist, too!) and Varina not much more (still supported slavery) sympathetic.  However, it still was sad they lost so many of their children so young.  I also had no idea that they also had many health problems.  Julia was an interesting character – still, I have to take her to task as a slaveholder!  It was quite nice to read how devoted the Grants were to each other.  The story of how Uylsses worked on his memoirs even while afflicted with terminal cancer to ensure provisions for his family was remarkable.  Julia wrote her memoirs later with help from a son.  Turns out they were never published though, until 1975!   It was also interesting to find out Julia and Varina met (later in life) and actually became friendly.

Not a bad read all in all.

Next up:  the novel my Mother wrote!  I will finally be getting around to reading this.

One-Third Book Review

It’s been a while again, but I guess I have an inner curmudgeon and she’s egging me on to write tonight.

Some time ago I ordered some Regency romances.  I generally like romances and the Regency era is a great setting for them.  In my order were two volumes of three short novellas each: Autumn Kittens and Valentine Kitttens. I guess you all know I’m a cat lover so you can imagine the attraction.  I’ve read one story in Autumn Kittens (“Cat’s Cradle” by Shannon Donnelly) which was quite good.

However, I just finisted the first story in Valentine Kittens and it was a real disappointment.  “Belling the Cat” by Jo Ann Ferguson held a lot of promise.  The hero and heroine meet at an inn when three kittens shred the heroine Amaris’ gown.  The hero, Jason, vows to have it reparied.  This all leads into complications when Jason finds out she’s almost engaged to the fellow (Raymond) his sister Olivia loves.  On top of that, he starts falling for Amaris.  

The story is fine for the first six chapters.  Jason has to put up Amaris and her servant at his manor which causes tension when he has to tell his sister about the impending engagement. And at the end of Chapter 6, Raymond is supposedly telling Jason why he didn’t invite Olivea to be his special guest at his Valentine Ball.

Then comes Chapter 7 and sends the whole shing crashing. ( SPOILER:

Not that things don’t end as they should (jason and Amaris will be together, so will Raymond and Olivia.)

END SPOILER

But the author doesn’t make much of the tension that could have made a much better next chapter or two.  Instead we have a really bad Chapter 7 with Amaris seeking (supposedly) some solitude inJason’s boathouse when he comes along and  – well;, I see him as just being obnoxious to her – I wouldn’t want to be treated that way by someone who supposedly had – fellings for me?  Anyway, it made him look much less likable to me - and - that scene supposedly solved everthing?  I would like to have seen the four of them struggle to untangle things and draw the tenision out a bit more – maybe things could have been sorted out during the Ball or something.

Anyway – what had been a good run up just turned into a real waste of the tension and a lost chance to do a bit more with Raymond and Olivia.

There are two more stories in the book.  The next story I’ll read in this volume I think will be “The Birthday Kitten” by Cynthia Pratt.  That got a good review by a reader online. I hope this one will pass.

Summer Reading 2011, III

Just finished a third book!  I had picked up a copy of Melba Patillo Beals’ White is a State of Mind a few years ago and finally decided to read it.  It was excellent, though not quite what I expected.  This book is a sequel to her first book Warriors Don’t Cry, which covers her junior year integrating Central High in Little Rock. This book picks up with her anticipation of her senior year, then covers the closing of the Little Rock high schools to try to stop integration and her personal events that year, Beals moving to California for her safety, and her subsequent life there as she reaches adulthood.

It was beautifully written and I wondered if Ms. Beals had some background in English.  Indeed she has a background in journalism (Columbia grad!).  It gave me an opportunity to review briefly the Little Rock 9 and their place in history (I’d heard of them, but knew none of the names).

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was different!  It was a very spiritual book. She was quite upfront on her Christian upbringing and wanting to please God, often praying or journaling to Him.  It was also more of a “coming of age”  tale than I would have thought.  It did hold my interest and was inspirational at times.

The only – and small – critique – I have is that a lot of the chapters seem to end on cliffhangers.  I’m just not that keen on them  (they make me feel manipulated) and this was a good story anyway; even if the chapter didn’t have a cliffhanger, I still wanted to continue reading (even if it had to be the next day…).

It is also a very honest book; she really lays bare her challenges and feelings – as well as her victories.

Anyway, this is one I can definitely recommend!

Next up:  I will probably go with a historical romance.  Ok, not that substantive probably, but I do like variety and not necessarily weightiness all the time!

Summer Reading II, 2011

I just finished The Nanny Diaries.  To be honest, I didn’t like it.  I didn’t like the way Mrs. X became more and more virulent.  No one should be treated the way she treated Nan on that awful trip to Nantucket.  I didn’t like the ending (more about that in a moment…) The writing itself was not bad, and it did have some funny moments, but I was hoping for something a bit lighter after Volunteer Slavery, and the deteriorating behavior of the Xes just made me cringe at how awful they were.  Not that I had expected them to be so wonderful, but they really blackened what I’d hoped would be a different reading experience.

I didn’t like the ending for several reasons: 1) the book jacket’s description made it seem as though Nan would somehow hold out until getting her post-college job – either that – or I thought maybe she might be fired, but with not quite such hate (more in the line of what happened to Caitlin); 2) Mrs. X is just so hateful to Nan I’d like to have seen her get her comeuppance; 3) being a good cat lover, I couldn’t help but wonder how Nan’s cat George will react to dog Grace.

Then there’s number  4).  I wanted to see Nan and H. H. (really Ryan it turns out)still together, see Nan start her first job…maybe have her see Grayer at his high school graduation or something.  Well, I almost didn’t write this as the authors actually wrote a sequel, Nanny Returns, which goes into Nan’s life 12 years after the end of The Nanny Diaries.  When I checked on Amazon.com prior to this, I found it in the listings and read some reader reviews.  It certainly doesn’t sound like anything I would like to read.  To me it sounds as though the authors should have left well enough alone, although, I think that with a different ending they could have tied up the loose ends in that first book.  BTW – a Nanny named Nan? Come on!  And they didn’t even give Ryan a name until the second book?  And would have it have been so hard to pick a last name for the Xes?  It IS fiction, after all, right?

Anyway, this was definitely not the book I was hoping for.  Now I have to search my shelves (The Good Lord knows they’re not empty of books, for sure) for something to “clear the palette.”

Music – My Top Bands

I’ve long loved music.  I’m really a classic/progressive rock sort of gal, although I do appreciate classical music and listen or go to classical concerts sometmes.

If I were to name my top bands they would be:

1. The Moody Blues
I certainly knew of the Moody Blues before they became one of my big faves. I knew “Nights in White Satin” of course and “Tuesday Afternoon.”  But in an old notebook I kept where I wrote down “favorite stuff” I saw I’d included “Voices in the Sky”! I really didn’t remember that – and didn’t remember the song from back then. I went through a period where I didn’t like them (‘breathe deep…’ gave me the creeps when I was in college) but when I heard “THe Voice” I thought, ‘ok they’re not so bad.’ And when I saw the video for “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” and how handsome Justin was…well, that sealed the deal. The first album I bought was Sur La Mer, maybe not their best album, but a great introduction.  From there I was hooked.  Their music and lyrics are just outstanding and have such personal meaning for me. I have seen them in concert quite a few times! Favorite MB songs:  “Question” (My absolute fave MB song), “The Land of Make-Believe”, “Dawning is the  Day”, “One More Time to Live”, “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere”, “The Balance”.  Favorite MB album:  without a doubt it’s A Question of Balance.

2.  The Beatles
I think almost anyone of my generation (yea, Boomers!) would have The Beatles on their list. Their music is just so great on so many levels and of course has set the standard.  Favorite Beatles song: “In My Life.”  I also like “Here, There, and Everywhere”(Mom liked that one), “Yesterday”, “Eight Days a Week”, “You Never Give Me Your Money/Golden Slumbers” (I think the two were “together”). Favorite Beatles Album: hmmmm to be honest I know the individual songs better than the album groupings (don’t ask…) so maybe Revolver as that one has “In My Life” on it, right?

3. Argent
I liked the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” and somehow got onto Rod Argent’s new band. Loved them from the start. Wonderful music and lyrics, and I did get to see them in concert (and I met Rod and Bob!). Favorite Argent songs: “Hold Your Head Up” of course, “Dance In the Smoke”, “Be Free”, “I Don’t Believe in Miracles”. And can I include the Russ Ballard penned “Winning”?  favorite Argent album: Argent.

4. Crosby, Still, and Nash (and occasionally, Young)
Another band that’s a generational icon. Their music is just so accessible and meaningful. favorite CSNY songs: at the top would be “Our House” and “Carry On”, also “Woodstock”, “Just a Song Before I Go”. Favorite CSNY album, probably CSNY.

5. U2
I don’t know quite as much about U2 as the other bands, but I really like a lot of their songs. Haven’t had the opportunity to see them in concert, though. I Became aware of them because a couple of undergrads at U. Del. were into them the year I was there doing graduate work. Favorite U2 songs: “All I Need is You”, “Beautiful Day”, “With You or Without You”, “Pride (In the Name of Love).”  Favorite U2 album: probably The Joshua Tree.

6. The Goo Dolls
I heard their songs on the radio (and why aren’t they on the airwaves more now, may I ask?) and really like many of them. Haven’t had an opportunity to see them in concert either, sigh. Favorite GGD songs: “IRIS”, “Stay with You”, “Let Love In”, “Better Days”, “Black Balloon.” Favorite GGD album: either A Boy Named Goo or Let Love In.

7. Badfinger
This may seem a curious choice, but in spite of the name,they did many great positive songs. Haven’t seen them in concert, either, but Joey (I think it was) was here in my home town, but I couldn’t make his performance that night. Favorite Badfinger songs: “Carry On ‘Till Tomorrow” is my very favorite Badfinger song, and I find it quite inspirational; also “No Matter What”, “Sympathy”, “Day After Day.” Favorite Badfinger album: Airwaves (Mom gave it to me one Christmas).

8. Little River Band
While double checking songs and albums for this post, my eyes came across them in my list of faves; how could I have forgotten them? Their tunes are catchy and the lyrics memorable. Favorite LRB songs: “Hang On, Help is On the Way”, “Happy Anniversary”, “Lady”, “Reminiscing.”  Favorite LRB album: Diamantina Cocktail.

Whew!  I’m exhausted from all of those great songs now running through my head.  So I’d better wrap up and get some rest for ‘tomorrow.’  Hope I have some readers and please don’t be shy about commenting and sharing your faves!