Mighty Pen

Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish made a number of the "Best of 2014" lists but I've only discovered it this morning via a news peruse as Mr. Lish has just won the 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.  The Guardian has a nice write-up as well for this debut novel.  It looks like a good title for your summer reading list.

Women, Grammar, Brothers, and Commas

I loved everything about this NYT piece by Sarah Lyall.*  Mary Norris' Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen will need to find a place beside some of the other unique grammar titles on my shelf after its release next Monday.

Last night during dinner conversation, I asked a friend if she was the "oldest child".  She responded that indeed she was the "eldest child" (with slight emphasis on the adjective) of her family.

I wonder what Ms. Norris would have to say about that.

*especially the bit about pet peeves

Out Like a Lion

A visit to the neighborhood is not complete until you ask and answer, "So what are you reading?"  I always enjoy thumbing through the books that GBC P@1ge has on her kitchen table.

Next up for the GBC is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.  I'll try to squeeze in The Secret History of Wonder Woman for April as well.

Ice Ice Baby Too

Concrete, Ice, Concrete, Fence
March 2015

Hope the winter blues don't have you down. Next up for March GBC reading:  A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.

Training, Train, Plane

It's a weekend of a long run, sand between the toes, and guilty pleasures reading.  To this end, I've downloaded the last of the Divergent series books by Veronica Roth.  I finished the first one over three airports and two flights and the second one last weekend between two panels of knitting.  [Obviously, the knitting knocks me out of the target audience group.]

Both titles were quick reads and the stories were easy to fall into.  It will be interesting to see what Allegiant holds (though I am betting on Tris to do something solo and irrational). Ms. Roth's blog says she likes puns, trains, and Chicago.  That's a trilogy after my own heart.

Seasons of Love

With vegetation again visible beneath the melting snow, it seems especially appropriate to highlight one of neighborhood's own book releases this week.  Kate O'Neill's Surviving Death: What Loss Taught Me about Love, Joy, and Meaning is now available on Amazon,  Kate is an optimist, a linguist, and a host of other "ist"s that fall on the side of characteristics of people you are happy you know.  She has a beautiful writing style that works well in media ranging from a 140 character limit to long blog posts.  Of course I've added this title to my reading list.

Thanks for being courageous, Kate.  I hope your story touches and helps a host of others.  Much love to you.

Next Reads

If you've managed to stay on schedule with the GBC, you should have recently finished Stones for Ibarra and should be working your way down into Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar.  Morning Edition recently featured Mr. Tobar here as part of the Morning Edition Reads book club (which likely differs from ours in the reading water category).  Nashville's own Ann Patchett selected this title as the club's first read.  I'm looking forward to venturing in.

Hope you had a good weekend and happy reading.

Mockingbird Serenade

In a city four hours south of me, an 88 year old woman made an announcement that rattled the world. [Okay, so technically her publisher made the announcement through various media sources but it's much more romantic to imagine that it happened in Monroeville. Also, was it necessary for the news channels to mention her hearing and eyesight?  Is that really relevant?]   I scrolled through twenty pages of Google results on the book title and found the name Harper Lee on each one.  Set to be released July 14, 2015, I would imagine first day sales will rival a Ms. Rowling opener.  Amazon could do a little more work on it's book promotion with:

A wonderful new novel from one of America's bestselling authors. Exploring the tensions between a local culture and a changing national political agenda; family arguments and love: an instant classic.

but I suppose they have a little time.

I haven't yet read if she's taken the title from Isaiah 21:6 but I think it's also fitting:

For thus the Lord said to me:  "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees."

Breaking the Chain

With the news of the day, I'd like to highlight No Fear For Freedom by Kimberly P. Johnson.  This children's book tells the story of the Friendship Nine who were arrested after a sit-in in 1961 in Rock Hill, South Carolina and left with the option to serve 30 days on a chain gang or pay a $100 fine.  Today (nearly 54 years later), the story gets a happier ending.

“We cannot rewrite history, but we can right history,” said the judge, John C. Hayes III, the chief administrative judge for South Carolina’s 16th Judicial Circuit. “Now, as to the Friendship Nine, is the time and opportunity to do so. Now is the time to recognize that justice is not temporal, but is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

- Richard Fausset, New York Times, January 28, 2015

Now You Sea Me

I'm working my way to the end of Seabiscuit and will be a little sad to let him go.  It's been an interesting look at the sport and to continue put a bit more context around the 1930s.  My next read will bring me a little closer to the present day with Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder.  This was a title suggested recently by a colleague after talking about The Boys in the Boat.  The lead character is an engineer. And there's buried treasure.  Sounds like a fun combination.

Monday to Sunday

I've been a bit off schedule this week with heavier than normal demands. [Work hours that rhyme with Katy, for $100, Alex.]  This morning, in my horizontal reading of news and email before coffee, I was happily surprised to read this NPR headline which made the rounds this week: 'As You Wish': Take A Peek At The Making Of 'The Princess Bride'.

As You Wish by Cary Elwes made its hardcover release on the 14th and this is a title I'll definitely need in book form.  It will take a slight re-arranging to get it to sit beside my anniversary edition of The Princess Bride but I'm always game for a challenge.

I've already shared that I'm fond of the book, but I honestly cannot count the number of times I've seen the movie or listened to Mark Knopfler's original score.  I'd put both in a Top 10 category.

Hope your weekend was restful, that you didn't need to use Bonetti's Defense, and that if you were scheduled to marry someone who didn't hold your heart, a pirate, a Giant and a dueling Spaniard came to your rescue.

So InKlined

Autumn begins for me when I start to hear the local high school band drum core in the evenings, when I want to run outside again after the breathless heat of summer, and when my reading lists shift to biographies instead of quick reads.  This evening I checked all three fall items.

For those reading along, our October read is The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Cline.    Ms. Kline will also make an appearance at the Southern Festival of Books on October 10th if you're in the area.

Light to Dark

Sunny late summer morning
A balcony
Two cups of coffee
A banana

Dark Places*
e-reader
Park tickets
Sunscreen

Hoping that this quiet morning of reading (or the coffee) gives me the courage for an afternoon water park. Have a great Sunday adventure.

* I'm not sure this Flynn novel was the right one to read in an unfamiliar dark room.

No Crossing the Lines

The cover caught my eye, so I asked GBC P@1ge about it.  Her side table book was The Interestings by Meg Worlitzer.  It's always fun to know what she's reading because frequently her books end up on my reading list (pending her review).

Hope you've had a great weekend full of music, books, and friends that make you happy.  

25 is Alive

I really like this list of 25 Books to Read Before you Die (though I'm not crazy about the title) by Powell's Bookstore.  One of my favorites, Geek Love, made the list and GBC P@1ge would be pleased for a little Margaret Atwood.  The HHGTTG is there and so is Zinn's A People's History of the US.  (Every adult should go back and read this every few decades.)  Two of the titles sit side by side on my bookshelf:  Gilead and Never Let me Go, and there are a few that I am not familiar with at all.  I might suggest A Confederacy of Dunces as an addition to the list.  Any you think are missing?

It's a Cover Up

I loved this article in particular because of my recent discussion with 16 fourteen year old girls about the book cover to The Unwanteds.

In books, like wine, the label sometimes sells.

Peter Mendelsund (whose name was not known to me before today) has designed numerous book covers (including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and is soon to publish his book What We See When We Read.   The NYT has the story.

In the Summertime II

I got hooked on volunteering a few years ago and have been fortunate this year to support a great organization called Girls' Inc.  This summer's project has included a book club for a group of 18 young ladies preparing them for next year's school session by completing their summer reading assignment.  Our book is The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann.  We will finish up the session this week (which means I have a lot of reading to do to catch up with them)!  

Have a great weekend!  

Rusty Nails and Marigolds

If you've got four minutes to spare, it's worth the time to listen to Linda Wertheimer's voice from Sunday's  Weekend Edition.  She interviews Ms. Fornari about her new book, Coffee for Roses: ...and 70 Other Misleading Myths About Backyard Gardening. My favorite snippet from a review is "it's an argument settler."

Happy gardening!

Choosing Hope

I hope everyone had a fantastic long holiday weekend and avoided sunburns, poison ivy and water-ski injuries.  I hope you laughed with old friends, made new friends, and enjoyed moments alone when you needed them.  I hope you had cupcakes and reading water as a splurge dinner while you made cookies (though this is not recommended as a nightly activity).  I hope car trips were filled with great shuffles of random bands and that all are safe and happy.

We're not far away from the July read The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  I hope you're making great progress.

Two Ferns

The Kindle App is brilliant for the last minute flight with hardly any time to pack.  This scenario resulted in my starting We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler.  I'm a few months later than the GBC with this one and am probably the only reader in the group who didn't guess where the plot was headed with Fern.  I'm just over the halfway mark and wondering what's happened to Lowell.  (Don't tell me.)

Since starting the book, I've also not been able to shake the title Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  It's another book turned movie and I think one of the earliest titles to make me cry from reading (and watching the film).