Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Year End Wrap Up

Totals: 163 books; 54,490 pages

TOP FICTION:
Rated 5
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, 350 pages 1/10 rating: 5
12. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, 528 pages, 1/23 rating: 5
32. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell, 249 pages, 3/21, rating 5
33. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon , 636 pages, 3/26. rating 5
38. Atonement by Ian McEwan, 351 pages, 4/14, rating 5
67. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 401 pages, 6/13, rating: 5
86. Infected by Scott Sigler, 342 pages, 7/6, rating: 5
87. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, 414 pages, 7/9, rating:5
92. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, 294 pages, 7/19, rating: 5
114. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 288 pages, 9/11, rating: 5
128. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson, 211 pages, 10/8, rating: 5
129. A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan, 195 pages, 10/8, rating: 5
135. The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan, 229 pages, 10/21, rating: 5
136. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan, 146 pages, 10/21, rating: 5

Rated 4.5
7. Run by Ann Patchett, 295 pages, 1/15 rating: 4.5
9. Blasphemy by Douglas Preston, 415 pages, highly recommended 1/18, rating:4.5
14. Duma Key by Stephen King, 609 pages, 1/31, 609 pages, rating:4.5
16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 226, pages, 2/7. rating 4.5
54. Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead, 212 pages, 5/17, rating: 4.5
99. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, 269 pages, 7/29, rating: 4.5
117. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, 313 pages, 9/18, rating: 4.5
118. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland, 249 pages, 9/19, rating: 4.5
119. The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich, 389 pages, 9/22. rating: 4.5
120. Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan, 517 pages, 9/25. rating: 4.5
132. The Good Wife by Stewart O'Nan, 312 pages, 10/15, rating: 4.5
130. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall, 423 pages, 10/11, rating: 4.5
138. Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan, 305 pages, 10/28, rating: 4.5
145.Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 307 pages, 11/17, rating: 4.5
146. Plainsong by Kent Haruf , 301 pages, 11/18, rating: 4.5

TOP NONFICTION:
Rated 5
37. A Sense of the World by Jason Roberts, 402 pages, 4/11 rating:5
41. The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, 294 pages, 4/20, rating: 5
80. The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, 301 pages, 7/1, rating: 5
115. The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans, 274 pages, 9/12, rating: 5
137. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin, 719 pages, 10/25, rating: 5
156. Precious Dust: The Saga of the Western Gold Rushes by Paula Mitchell Marks, 448 pages, 12/6, rating: 5

Rated 4.5
4. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, 207 pages, 1/8, rating 4.5
6. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn, 513 pages, 1/13, rating: 4.5
34. The Secret Life of Lobsters by David Corson, 306 pages, 3/30, rating 4.5
61. The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby, 308 pages, 6/3, rating:4.5
127. Stiff by Mary Roach, 294 pages, 10/7, rating: 4.5
143. Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig, 246 pages, 11/12, rating: 4.5

BOTTOM:
60. Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon, 150 out of 356 pages, 6/1, rating: 0
Although a 0 rating means I did not finish the book, I skimmed through this whole book
106. Fairies by Janet Bord, 242 pages, 8/24, rating:1
123. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, 340 pages, 9/30, rating: 1
8. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris, 196 pages, 1/16 rating:2
51. The Gathering by Anne Enright, 261 pages, 5/13, rating: 2
13. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, 326 pages, 1/27 rating:2.5
17. The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits, 325 pages, 2/10, rating: 2.5
45. Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio, 204 pages, 4/29, rating: 2.5
48. How the Dead Live by Will Self, 404 pages, 5/8 rating: 2.5

===========
141.The Ideal, Genuine Man by Don Robertson, 276 pages, 11/6, no rating
As I said in my review, this is either a great book or a horrendous book
===========


Monthly list of books, pages, date reviewed, rating:

January -14 books; 4720 pages
1. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, 284 pages 1/1 rating:4
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry, 180 pages, 1/2 rating: 4
3. Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser, 293 pages, 1/6 rating: 4
4. Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, 207 pages, 1/8, rating 4.5
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, 350 pages 1/10 rating: 5
6. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn, 513 pages, 1/13, rating: 4.5
7. Run by Ann Patchett, 295 pages, 1/15 rating: 4.5
8. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris, 196 pages, 1/16 rating:2
9. Blasphemy by Douglas Preston, 415 pages, highly recommended 1/18, rating:4.5
10 A Child Called "It" by David Pelzer, 184 pages 1/19 rating: 3
11. The Lost Boy by David Pelzer, 340 pages 1/19 rating:3
12. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, 528 pages, 1/23 rating:5
13. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, 326 pages, 1/27 rating:2.5
14. Duma Key by Stephen King, 609 pages, 1/31, 609 pages, rating:4.5

February - 9 books; 3814 pages
15. Einstein by Walter Isaacson, 675 pages, 2/6, rating: 3.5
16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 226, pages, 2/7. rating 4.5
17. The Effect of Living Backwards by Heidi Julavits, 325 pages, 2/10, rating: 2.5
18. The Swarm by Frank Schatzing 881 pages 2/15 rating: 4
19. & 20 Obernewtyn & The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody, 440 pages, 2/18, rating: 3
21. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, 280 pages, 2/21, rating: 4
22. The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty, 335 pages, 2/23, rating: 3.95
23. The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty, 303 pages, 2/25, rating: 4
24. The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits, 354 pages, 2/27, rating 2.9

March - 11 books; 4475 pages
25. Firestar by Michael Flynn, 573 pages, 3/6, rating 4
26. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 352 pages 3/8
27. Life and Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee, 184 pages, 3/9, rating 4
28. Rogue Star by Michael Flynn, 570 pages, 3/12, rating 3.5
29. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, 447 pages 3/14, rating 4
30. Lodestar by Michael Flynn, 365 pages, 3/16 rating 3.5
31. Falling Stars by Michael Flynn, 414 pages, 3/18, rating 4
32. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell, 249 pages, 3/21, rating 5
33. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon , 636 pages, 3/26. rating 5
34. The Secret Life of Lobsters by David Corson, 306 pages, 3/30, rating 4.5
35. The Culled by Simon Spurrier, 379 pages, 3/31

April - 10 books, 3167 pages
36. Event by David Lynn Golemon, 482, 4/4
37. A Sense of the World by Jason Roberts, 402 pages, 4/11 rating:5
38. Atonement by Ian McEwan, 351 pages, 4/14, rating 5
39. Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica) by James A. Owen, 326 pages, 4/16
40. The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen, 371 pages, 4/18
41. The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, 294 pages, 4/20, rating: 5
42. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier, 253 pages, 4/22, rating: 4
43. Dahlia's Gone by Katie Estill, 239 pages, 4/24, rating: 3.5
44. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell, 245 pages, 4/27, rating: 4
45. Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio, 204 pages, 4/29, rating: 2.5

May - 14 books, 4824 pages
46. The Maytrees by Annie Dillard , 216 pages, 5/5, rating: 4
47. The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel , 272 pages, 5/6
48. How the Dead Live by Will Self, 404 pages, 5/8 rating: 2.5
49. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland, 371 pages, 5/11, rating: 3.9
50. Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis, 299 pages, 5/12,
no rating
51. The Gathering by Anne Enright, 261 pages, 5/13, rating: 2
52. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, 193 pages, 5/14, rating: 4
53. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, 370 pages, 5/16. rating: 3.5
54. Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead, 212 pages, 5/17, rating: 4.5
55. The Terror by Dan Simmons, 769 pages, 5/20, rating: 4
56. The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald, 722 pages, 5/23, rating 4
57. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris, 137 pages, 5/25, no rating
58. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, 372 pages, 5/29, rating 4
59. Born On A Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, 226 pages, 5/30, rating 3.5

June - 20 books, 6094 pages
60. Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon, 150 out of 356 pages, 6/1, rating: 0
61. The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby, 308 pages, 6/3, rating:4.5
62. The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, 236 pages, 6/5, not rated
63. A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews, 237 pages, 6/6, rating: 4
64. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, 246 pages, 6/8, rating: 4
65. The Ruins by Scott Smith, 319 pages, 6/9, rating: 3.9
66. Plague Year by Jeff Carlson, 292 pages, 6/11, not rated
67. Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 401 pages, 6/13, rating: 5
68. Blindsight by Peter Watts, 384 pages, 6/14, rating: 3
69. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich, 321 pages, 6/15, rating: 2.9
70. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich, 313 pages, 6/16, rating: 2.9
71. High Five by Janet Evanovich, 317, 6/17, not rated
72. Goodnight, Irene by Jan Burke, 351 pages, 6/19, not rated
73. Liar by Jan Burke, 388 pages, 6/20, not rated
74. Undercurrents by Ridley Pearson, 100 pages (reread/ didn't finish) 6/21, no rating
75. Bone Cold by Erica Spindler, 506 pages, 6/22, not rated
76. Dead Run by Erica Spindler, 466 pages, 6/24, not rated
77. Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Perry, 308 pages, 6/25, not rated
78. Blood Money by Thomas Perry, 371 pages, 6/27, not rated
79. In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming, 358 pages (read 80) 6/29, not rated

July - 20 books, 6197 pages
80. The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, 301 pages, 7/1, rating: 5
81. Peoples of the World by Mirella Ferrera, 320 pages, 7/2, not rated
82. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, 315 pages, 7/3, rating: 3
83. Cold Plague by Daniel Kalla, 335 pages, 7/4, rating: 4
84. World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler, 317 pages, 7/5, rating: 3.5
85. Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh, 306 pages, 7/5, rating: 4
86. Infected by Scott Sigler, 342 pages, 7/6, rating: 5
87. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, 414 pages, 7/9, rating: 5
88. The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard, 390 pages, 7/10, rating: 4
89. The Sugar House by Laura Lippman, 42 pages - did not finish.
90. Bloom by Wil McCarthy, 310 pages, 7/14, rating: 3.5
91. Pandemic by Daniel Kalla, 407 pages, 7/17, rating: 4
92. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, 294 pages, 7/19, rating: 5
93. Lullaby Town by Robert Crais, 317 pages, 7/21, rating: 4
94. Free Fall by Robert Crais, 288 pages, 7/22, rating: 3.9
95. Voodoo River by Robert Crais, 383 pages, 7/23, rating: 4
96. Indigo Slam by Robert Crais, 307 pages, 7/24, rating: 4
97. The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais, 356 pages, 7/25, rating: 4
98. Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner, 184 pages, 7/28, rating: 2.9
99. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, 269 pages, 7/29, rating: 4.5

August - 10 books, 3666 pages
100. Critical Judgment by Michael Palmer, 450 pages, 8/1, rating:3.9
101. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg, 365 pages, 8/7, rating:3.75
102. Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley, 561 pages, 8/17, rating: 4
103. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, 282 pages, 8/18, no rating
104. Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz, 292 pages, 8/20, rating:4
105. The Sea by John Banville, 195 pages, 8/22, rating: 4
106. Fairies by Janet Bord, 242 pages, 8/24, rating:1
107. San Francisco Is Burning by Dennis Smith, 294 pages, 8/27, rating: 4
108. Last Orders by Graham Swift, 295 pages, 8/28, rating: 4
109. Desperation by Stephen King, 690 pages, 8/31, rating: 4

September - 14 books, 4372 pages
110. Goodnight, Nebraska by Tom McNeal, 314 pages, 9/2, rating: 4
111. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, 290 pages, 9/4, rating: 4
112. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, 219 pages, 9/6, rating: 3
113. Getting Stoned with Savages by J. Maarten, 239 pages, 9/9, rating: 4
114. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 288 pages, 9/11, rating: 5
115. The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans, 274 pages, 9/12, rating: 5
116. The Keep by Jennifer Egan, 255 pages, 9/15, rating 3.5
117. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, 313 pages, 9/18, rating: 4.5
118. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland, 249 pages, 9/19, rating: 4.5
119. The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich, 389 pages, 9/22, rating: 4.5
120. Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan, 517 pages, 9/25. rating: 4.5
121. In the Woods by Tana French, 429 pages, 9/27, rating: 3.9
122. 20th Century Pop Culture by Dan Epstein, 256 pages, 9/29, not rated
123. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, 340 pages, 9/30, rating: 1

October - 16 books, 5129 pages
124. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford, 375 pages, 10/2, rating: 3.9
125. Independence Day by Richard Ford, 451 pages, 10/5, rating: 4
126. What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire, 295 pages, 10/5, rating: 3.9
127. Stiff by Mary Roach, 294 pages, 10/7, rating: 4.5
128. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson, 211 pages, 10/8, rating: 5
129. A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan, 195 pages, 10/8, rating: 5
130. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall, 423 pages, 10/11, rating: 4.5
131. The Speed Queen by Stewart O'Nan, 212 pages, 10/13, rating: 3.9
132. The Good Wife by Stewart O'Nan, 312 pages, 10/15, rating: 4.5
133. All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland, 279 pages, 10/17, rating: 4
134. Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland, 311 pages, 10/19, rating: 3.9
135. The Night Country by Stewart O'Nan, 229 pages, 10/21, rating: 5
136. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan, 146 pages, 10/21, rating: 5
137. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin, 719 pages, 10/25, rating: 5
138. Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan, 305 pages, 10/28, rating: 4.5
139. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson, 372 pages, 10/30, rating: 3.5

November - 13 books, 4703 pages
140. The Physician's Tale by Ann Benson, 655 pages, 11/3, rating: 4
141.The Ideal, Genuine Man by Don Robertson, 276 pages, 11/6, no rating
142. The Genesis Code by John Case, 435 pages, 11/10, Rating: 4
143. Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig, 246 pages, 11/12, rating: 4.5
144. The Names of the Dead by Stewart O'Nan, 399 pages, 11/14, rating: 4
145.Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 307 pages, 11/17, rating: 4.5
146. Plainsong by Kent Haruf , 301 pages, 11/18, rating: 4.5
147. Eventide by Kent Haruf, 300 pages, 11/18, rating: 4
148. The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, 374 pages, 11/20, rating: 4
149. Extremes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, 373 pages, 11/22, rating:4
150. Buried Deep by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, 372 pages, 11/24, rating: 4
151. Old Man's War by John Scalzi, 318 pages, 11/26, rating: 4
152. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, 347 pages, 11/29, rating: 3.9

December – 11 books, 3329
153. Plague War by Jeff Carlson, 289 pages, 12/1, no rating
154. Federal Bodysnatchers and the New Guinea Virus by Robert S. Desowitz, 242 pages, 12/1 rating: 3.9
155. The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, 302 pages, 12/4, rating: 5, (re-read)
156. Precious Dust: The Saga of the Western Gold Rushes by Paula Mitchell Marks, 448 pages, 12/6, rating: 5
157.The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips, 90 pages, Rating: 0
158. The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle, 476 pages, 12/9, rating: 4.5, (re-read)
159. The Secret River by Kate Grenville, 334 pages, 12/12, rating: 4
160. Esther by Leonard Sanders, 294 pages, 12/16, rating: 3.5
161. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, 305 pages, 12/19, rating 4
162. The Used World by Haven Kimmel, 308 pages, 12/24, rating: 3
163. Children of Men by P.D. James, 241 pages, 12/30, reread

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Children of Men


The Children of Men by P.D. James was originally published in 1992. My hardcover copy has 241 pages. I originally read The Children of Men when it was first published. The reread was well worth my time. Recently there was a movie released based on this novel. I have not seen the movie and have no plans to do so because I can't imagine a movie capturing the nuances in the book. Excellent novel and highly recommended.

Synopsis from cover:
The year is 2021, and the human race is - quite literally - coming to an end. Since 1995 no babies have been born, because in that year all males unexpectedly became infertile. Great Britain is ruled by a dictator, and the population is inexorably growing older. Theodore Faron, Oxford historian and, incidentally, cousin of the all-powerful Warden of England, watches in growing despair as society gradually crumbles around him, giving way to strange faiths and cruelties: prison camps, mass organized euthanasia, roving bands of thugs. Then, suddenly, Faron is drawn into the plans of an unlikely group of revolutionaries. His passivity is shattered, and the action begins.
Quotes:

"Early this morning, 1 January 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl in a suburb of Buenos Aires, aged twenty-five years, two months and twelve days." first sentence

"All over the world nation states are preparing to store their testimony for the posterity which we can still occasionally convince ourselves may follow us, those creatures from another planet who may land on this green wilderness and ask what kind of sentient life once inhabited it. We are storing our books and manuscripts, the great paintings, the musical scores and instruments, the artefacts." pg. 4

"Twenty years ago, when the world was already half-convinced that our species had lost for ever the power to reproduce, the search to find the last known human birth became a universal obsession, elevated to a matter of national pride, and international contest as ultimately pointless as it was fierce and acrimonious." pg. 4

"We are outrages and demoralized less by the impending end of our species, less even by our inability to prevent it, than by our failure to discover the cause. Western science and Western medicine haven't prepared us for the magnitude and humiliation of this ultimate failure." pg. 5

"The year 1995 became known as the Year Omega and the term is now universal." pg. 6

"I wasn't an easy child to love. And how could we have communicated? The world of the terminally ill is the world of neither the living nor the dead. I have watched others since I watched my father, and always with a sense of their strangeness. They sit and speak, and are spoken to, and listen, and even smile, but in spirit they have already moved away from us and there is no way we can enter their shadowy no-man's-land." pg. 25

"We know it's a risk but it's one we have to take. Please meet us. Please at least hear what we have to say." pg. 42

"Ageing is inevitable but it is not consistent. There are plateaux of time stretching over years when faces of friends and acquaintances look virtually unchanged. Then time accelerates and within a week the metamorphosis takes place." pg. 45

"The fact is that the Warden runs Britain as his private fiefdom. The Grenadiers are his private army and the State Security Police are his spies and executioners." pg. 65

Monday, December 29, 2008

Creature from the Black Lagoon




We watched this and some more X-Files last night.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

movies

We've been busy....




Santa was very, very good to us.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS


from my home to yours


Santas courtesy of Just Me

The Used World


The Used World by Haven Kimmel was originally published in 2007. My hardcover copy is 308 pages. Kimmel is a talented writer and that is evident in The Used World. It is a multi-layered story, however, it didn't quite measure up to her previous fiction and nonfiction books. There were portions of the story that became awkward and unclear. For me, personally, I felt that her characters this time were all stereotypes of characters we have seen before, and none of them were all that compelling. I pretty much knew where the story would end from the start. Although The Used World was good, it wasn't great. Only because Kimmel can write, the rating is a 3.


Synopsis from Cover:
....Hazel Hunnicutt's Used World Emporium is a sprawling antique store that is "the station at the end of the line for objects that sometimes appeared tricked into visiting there." Hazel, the proprietor, is in her sixties, and it's a toss-up as to whether she's more attached to her mother or her cats. She's also increasingly attached to her two employees: Claudia Modjeski -- freakishly tall, forty-odd years old -- who might finally be undone by the extreme loneliness that's dogged her all of her life; and Rebekah Shook,
pushing thirty, still living in her fervently religious father's home, and carrying the child of the man who recently broke her heart. The three women struggle -- separately and together, through relationships, religion, and work -- to find their place in this world. And it turns out that they are bound to each other not only by the past but also by the future, as not one but two babies enter their lives, turning their formerly used world brand-new again.

Astonishing for what it reveals about the human capacity for both grace and mischief, The Used World forms a loose trilogy with Kimmel's two previous novels, The Solace of Leaving Early and Something Rising (Light and Swift). This is a book about all of America by way of a single midwestern town called Jonah, and the actual breathing histories going on as Indiana's stark landscape is transformed by dying small-town centers and proliferating big-box stores and SUVs. It's about generations of deception, anguish, and love, and the idiosyncratic ways spirituality plays out in individual lives.
By turns wise and hilarious, tender and fierce, heartrending and inspiring, The Used World charts the many meanings of the place we call home.
Quotes:
"Claudia Modjeski stood before a full length mirror in the bedroom she'd inherited from her mother, pointing the gun in her right hand - a Colt .44 Single Action Army with a nicked finish and a walnut grip - at her reflected image." opening sentence

"Rebekah Shook lay uneasy in the house of her father, Vernon, in an old part of town, the place farmers moved after the banks had foreclosed and the factories were still hiring."pg. 2

"Only Hazel Hunnicutt slept soundly, cats claiming space all around her." pg. 3

In the Used World Emporium itself, nothing lived, nothing moved, but the air was thick with expectancy nonetheless." pg. 3

"It was mid-December in Jonah, Indiana, a place where Fate can be decided by the weather, and a storm was gathering overhead." pg. 3

"It's the countless unseen singing things that announce by the vacuum they leave that some momentous condition is on its way." pg. 12

"But she knew for certain that women free of fathers speak one way and they make a world that tastes of summer every day, and when the men come home after winning the war - or even if they don't come home - the shutters close, the lipstick goes on, and it is winter, again." pg. 17-18

"Someone should have pointed out to Rebekah that it's the summit of foolishness to feel pride for what you lack." pg. 30

Monday, December 22, 2008

bad news/good news

Bad news: I'm having a difficult time getting back into reading a new book.

Good news: We are watching the last of the James Bond movies

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Santa movie night

Triple feature movie night:
We watched:
Santa Claus (our DVD has the first cover, but the second is more representative of the movie.)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Teenagers from Outer Space

I know Teenagers (the oldest looking teenagers you've ever seen) From Outer Space has nothing to do with Santa, but sometimes you just have to watch a classic.)




Friday, December 19, 2008

Angry Old Women

Wonder Boy had his last final this afternoon so I drove him in, dropped him off and ran errands today.

My current no car during the day for Lori routine is hard going. I've done it in the short term but never for this long. Man, I don't know how people do it, other than, like me, if you have no choice, you deal with it. But it is wearing on me... especially when family members ask if I have picked up (fill in the blank) and they know I couldn't have because I have no way to get it and in fact, it would be easier for them to stop and pick up (fill in the blank) because they were in town, in a CAR.
Whew! Glad I got that off my chest.

Anyway, I dropped Wonder Boy off and headed off to a grocery store. It all went well. The store was busy, but not crazy - until I was done and on my way out to the car. It was at that point I encountered the first angry old woman.

As I stepped out of the store and headed for my car I heard all this honking. Naturally, I looked. There was this old woman in a little compact car honking her horn, yelling, making all sorts of hand gestures and in general throwing what could be an actual conniption fit. The object of her ire was a car full of students driving the wrong way in the parking lot. The parking lot is directional, with arrows and diagonal parking so it's pretty clear which way you need to be going down each lane. I'm not sure it was worth that much yelling, honking and gesturing. The students actually had pulled over as far as they could and knew they were in the wrong. After that fit, a truck came down the same lane, and, yes, the wrong way and she started in again only this time the students in the truck were honking and gesturing back at her.

After almost a constant blare of honking since I first stepped out the door of the store, I was glad to have my cart unloaded and get into my car. The angry old woman parked next to me, and she was still yelling out loud, to herself, and gesturing wildly. I backed out as slowly and smoothly as possible and got the heck out of there. As I left, I looked back. The angry old woman was out of her car, muttering, and looking through the parking lot for the truck full of students.

This should have left me prepared for the rest of the day, a day full of angry old women. I'm thinking that there must be some kind of lesson in this, like: "Do not shop on the Friday of the weekend before Christmas. That's when the angry old women are out." If I hadn't been so happy and giddy to be out with the car during the day, I might have become an angry old woman myself by the end of the day.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence


I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris was originally published in 2006. My trade paperback edition was released in October 2008 from the Hachette Book Group and is the book I won from a blog give away. It is 305 pages, including the index. The first pesky detail that needs to be covered is the question: is this a cook book on entertaining or is this a humorous book that just happens to have entertaining as it's main subject? It is full of recipes, some of which I will definitely try, but, in reality, you need to consider this book as humorous look at entertaining. It seems the reviewers who want I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence to be a cookbook are disappointed in it.

I Like You has a retro look and feel to it. If you grew up in the 60's and 70's you are going to know exactly what I mean. Some of the photos could have almost have been taken right out of books and magazines during that time. The content, though, is definitely not retro. I am sure that many people could find some of Sedaris' jokes offensive. She is wickedly funny, though, so if you can laugh at politically incorrect and inappropriate jokes about drug addicts, alcoholics, old people, and personal hygiene, for example, you will like this book. Included among all the fun are delicious, accurate recipes and (often kitchy) decorating tips. There were a few jokes that went over the line and were too much for me to handle. Rating: 4 (with an adult humor warning)

From the Publisher:
Are you lacking direction in how to whip up a swanky soiree for lumberjacks? A dinner party for white-collar workers? A festive gathering for the grieving? Don't despair. Take a cue from entertaining expert Amy Sedaris and host an unforgettable fete that will have your guests raving. No matter the style or size of the gathering--from the straightforward to the bizarre--I LIKE YOU provides jackpot recipes and solid advice laced with Amy's blisteringly funny take on entertaining, plus four-color photos and enlightening sidebars on everything it takes to pull off a party with extraordinary flair. You don't even need to be a host or hostess to benefit--Amy offers tips for guests, too! Readers will discover unique dishes to serve alcoholics (Broiled Frozen Chicken Wings with Applesauce), the secret to a successful children's party (a half-hour time limit, games included), plus an appendix chock-full of arts and crafts ideas (a mini pantyhose plant-hanger), and much, much more!
Quotes:

" 'Hello, and I like you.' This is what you're saying when you invite somebody into your home, without having to hear yourself say it outloud." pg. 10

"I also think it is worthwhile to create a party log because it would be a wonderful item for someone to find after you die. I'd buy that at a flea market." pg. 19

"If all the guests have the same kind of job, the result can be geeky shoptalk, and that's not a party - that's called a convention. Make sure your guest list isn't always the same - that's a club." pg. 20

"A guest shouldn't bring over anything that isn't assembled....or anything that needs to be put in the oven for a long time or needs room in the freezer." pg. 24
(I've actually have had or observed guests doing all of these things!)

"Never try to out dress the hostess unless you are the guest of honor, or a transvestite." pg. 25

"Cashiers will notice patterns like ice cream at midnight three days in a row. The same is true for liquor. Rotate your stores." pg. 29

The day of the party is also the time when I go around the house organizing my sale items. I may have failed to mention earlier, but I like to make money from my party guests." pg. 32

"Don't start cleaning up while your guests are leaving, save it for later. I actually love nothing more than doing my dishes after a party because it gives me time to reflect." pg. 37
(I feel the exact same way. I like to clean up afterwards, by myself.)

"Don't make the mistake of telling people you collect something specific like frogs or Star Trek paraphernalia because once you do you'll get them for the rest of your life. Most collectors like to seek things out for themselves. That's the fun of collecting." pg. 191

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Santa Claus


Santa Claus is a 1959 movie starring Cesareo Quezadas and Jose Elias Moreno. It was made in Mexico.

This movie has become a (bad) Christmas tradition at our house. We first saw it on a late night horror movie show that featured a host who made fun of the movies. His show was bad. The movies featured were bad. But this movie.... this movie is a diamond in the rough, very rough. It became an immediate favorite to watch and laugh hysterically over every Christmas. Oh how we love to make fun of it! (Even with all the hilarious parts, actually the full version has a good Christmas message.)

Make plenty of popcorn (Orville Redenbacher's SmartPop!) for everyone and let's look at some special parts of this little gem:

Santa Claus features a horrible politically incorrect section of stereotypes of different children from around the world, singing in a trance-like state. Santa's helpers seem to be the children, so he was the first one to use children as slave labor. Santa also has Merlin the wizard and a very special, manly blacksmith to help him prepare. His sleigh is powered by creepy looking reindeer. Santa lives in a castle in the clouds where he plays bad music and spies on children around the world using a special machine that features a huge ear, lips, and an eye on various parts of it.

But the main focus of the movie is that satan has sent his devil Pitch to make trouble for Santa.... yes, Santa vs Satan. Pitch focuses his energy on three wicked brothers, one sad, rich boy, and a poor little girl named Lupita who is desperate to get a doll for Christmas.

While this movie could easily give young children nightmares, older teens will delight in the maniacal, inappropriate laughter by Santa. They will roll on the floor laughing over Santa spying on kids, drugging parents, s-l-o-w-l-y climbing the ladder up to his sleigh, his freaky, hairy blacksmith, the dancing scene in hell, the dancing dolls that come out of coffins (poor little Lupita!), Merlin the wizard, the wind-up reindeer that will turn to dust if the sunlight hits them, and Santa's trials delivering presents to, what, maybe 4 houses in Mexico City. It's one bad movie!


Now it's your turn! Share your favorite Christmas movies!
My Friend Amy is having a contest that offers four readers a month's supply of
Orville Redenbacher's SmartPop! popcorn and a popcorn bowl to go with it!
The contest will run one week

Christmas Baking

Bethany at http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/ has some give-aways that prompted me to share these recipes as well as give you an idea of what I've been doing this week.

Peanut Butter Balls
2 Tbs margarine or butter, softened
1 C peanut butter
1 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 C Rice Crispies
(1/2 C chopped walnuts - optional)

Mix. Roll into balls and chill.
(I put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and set it in the freezer.)

Melt together:
1 package of chocolate chips
a small bit of paraffin (about 1x3 inches)
Dip balls into melted chocolate. Cool.

This is one recipe that I have to make every year for Christmas, usually in a quadruple batch. I know there are other peanut butter ball recipes out there, but for ALL the men in the extended family (sons, brothers, fathers, nephews) these are THE peanut butter balls they expect and consume almost compulsively. You can't make too many; if you need to cut off the peanut butter ball supply from the addicts, they freeze beautifully.

********

Once we moved back to the Midwest we were able to find cherry chips again. This Christmas candy treat is similar to Cherry Mash or Cherry Bing candy bars. Extras will also freeze nicely.

Cherry Bing Bars
2/3 C evaporated milk
2 C sugar
15 marshmallows (approximately 2 cups little ones)
1/2 C butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 10 oz. pkg cherry chips
9-10 oz peanuts, chopped (I used about 2 cups)
3/4 C peanut butter
1 - 12 oz pkg chocolate chips

Mix evaporated milk, sugar marshmallows and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Boil 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cherry chips and vanilla. Stir.
Pour into 9X13 well sprayed pan. Let cool.

Melt chocolate and peanut butter. Add peanuts. Spread over cherry mixture. Chill. Cut into bars.

This year I spooned cherry mixture into little mini-muffin cups and then spooned the chocolate-peanut mixture on top of that. They turned out much prettier, I think, than the little squares, but it was also more work.

********


Baby Ruth Bars
! C light corn syrup
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C peanut butter
7 C cornflakes
1 C salted peanuts
some chocolate to melt on top

Butter a 9x 13 pan and set aside.
Mix the Corn flakes and peanuts in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix the corn syrup, sugar, and brown sugar into a pot. Bring to a boil, but do NOT boil. On low heat mix in the peanut butter. Pour sugar mixture over the cornflakes and peanuts and mix well, coating everything. Put the mixture into the pan and flatten. Melt chocolate and drizzle on top. Let cool and cut into pieces.

This is another big favorite of the men in my life. I tried something different and used about 5 1/2 C corn flakes and 1 1/2 C crispy rice cereal. Everyone liked it better with some Rice Crispies so that is what I'll be doing in the future. I also don't drizzle anything here - I spread melted chocolate over all the bars. When you cut them, we have found that a rectangular candy bar shape, say 1"X2" is better than a square because they are dense and chewy. These also freeze like a charm.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Esther

Esther: Her Murder Haunts a Small Town in Oklahoma by Leonard Sanders was originally published in 1994. My hardcover copy has 294 pages. This is a competent account of a1987 murder in a small town in Oklahoma. It covers the investigation, eventual apprehension of two suspects, and the trial. The larger picture shows the loss of the illusion that the small Oklahoma town was a safe, innocent place to live and questions who, of the two, actually is responsible for the murder and rape of Esther Steele. Rating: 3.5
From Publishers Weekly
In 1986, Esther Steele, a 73-year-old resident of Granite, Okla., was raped and murdered in her bed. The case was not difficult to solve as members of the State Bureau of Investigation fixed on two ne'er-do-wells, each of whom still claim that the other had entered the victim's home alone and killed her. Bugs Adams pleaded guilty and testified against Wayne Sadler; both were sentenced to life. While Sanders's ( Hamlet Warning ) primary focus is on the slaying, he also shows how the murder opened a Pandora's box of revelations about drug trafficking in Granite and led to the appointment of Charles Jones as police chief; he was determined to enforce every law. He did not last long but helped dispel residents' illusions that Granite was an idyllic village.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Quotes:
"A cold norther had struck earlier in the evening, and as Charles Horton brought his sermon to a close strong gusts battered the brick walls of the church." opening sentence

"At seventy-three...Esther was one of the most active people Daisy knew. Esther maintained a busy schedule with responsibilities and interests that took her all over the state." pg. 4

"Only a few weeks ago Esther had awakened one night just as someone stepped into her bedroom." pg. 5

"In large cities, the full cost of murder in human terms tends to be obscured. Each death sinks into a morass of ongoing crimes. But in Granite, where everyone knows everyone, the ripple effects of Esther Steele's murder are laid bare. The workings of the erratic, balky machinery of justice can be followed in detail.
Granite, forced to take a hard look at what it once was - and what it has become - perhaps serves as a microcosm of a nation in search of solutions." pg. 14

"The news continued to spread. Within an hour virtually everyone in the community knew that Esther Steele had been murdered in the bedroom of her home. More and more people came and stood in front of her house, as if by their presence they somehow could express their shock and dismay." pg. 23-24

" 'The crime scene is totally destroyed,' he told Goss. 'The victim's purse, everything the killer might have handled, has been handled by others. People have been going in and out the doors. They've been into every drawer in the house hunting a flashlight, hunting her billfold. at least twelve or fifteen people have been in the house. Maybe more. God knows how many were in the bedroom. People have been all over the grounds, front and back.' " pg. 31

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pirates of the Caribbean

Last night was a movie marathon night with my nephews, Movie Dude and Cool Man, and Wonder Boy. Just Me was at a Christmas party and didn't get back until the third movie.
It was pirates night. We watched all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies:
The Curse of the Black Pearl
At World's End
Dead Man's Chest

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Secret River


The Secret River by Kate Grenville was originally published in 2005. My paperback copy has 334 pages. Wonder Boy was assigned this last year in one of his college honor's English classes and I nabbed it out of his "to be sold" pile in order to read it for myself. First I must say it is a well written novel with a compelling story. As a winner of the Orange Prize, 2006 Commonwealth prize, and 2006 Man Booker finalist, Grenville certainly has the literary awards to back up the accolades for her work. The Secret River is apparently based on the story of Grenville's ancestors. The novel is divided up into six parts: Part one, London; Part two, Sydney; Part Three, A Clearing in the Forest; Part Four, A Hundred Acres; Part Five, Drawing a Line; Part Six, The Secret River and Mr. Thornhill's Villa.

History is said to be composed of various groups of people conquering other groups of people. While atrocities were committed and have been committed around the world everywhere during various conquests, it is troubling when they are judged and evaluated using modern values and beliefs. Time changes the way we view things and many of our current, well intentioned actions today could very well be viewed as barbaric in the future. It's for that reason that I don't appreciate novels that politicized historical events.

Grenville does walk a fine line near what could very easily be described as some minor revisionist history when, while explaining the actions and motives of her character, she bases his actions on current values. I would have respected her more as a writer if she had simply stated the facts and had Thornhill act as a man in his position at that time would have acted, sans any inner turmoil. I fully believe that at that time in history Thornhill would have done anything to protect his family and his claim on the land. Even the publisher pandered to revisionist, politicized history when they describe Thornhill as having to, "ally himself with the most despicable of the white settlers". This leaves me feeling conflicted. While Grenville wrote a fine, noteworthy novel in The Secret River, I'm not too keen on even any minor "preaching after the fact" in a novel. It is for this reason alone that I am giving The Secret River a rating of 4.5.

Synopsis from cover:
In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal's deep love for their small exotic corner of the new world, and William's gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a magnificent, transporting work of historical fiction."
Quotes:

"The Alexander, with its cargo of convicts, had bucked over the face of the ocean for the better part of a year." opening sentence

"He had died once, in a manner of speaking. He could easily die again. He had been stripped of everything already: he had only the dirt under his bare feet, his small grip on this unknown place." pg. 6

"In the rooms where William Thornhill grew up, in the last decades of the eighteenth century, no one could move an elbow without hitting the wall or the table or a sister or a brother." pg. 9

"He heard her humming as she went about her tasks. She could not keep a tune, but for Thornhill that wavering melody became the sound of his new life." pg. 40

"What point could there be to hoping, when everything could be broken so easily?" pg. 45

"Meaning that your wife has the pleasure of a voyage along with you, Thornhill....And may God have mercy on her soul!" pg. 71

"It was a sad scrabbling place, this town of Sydney. The old hands called it The Camp, and in 1806 that was pretty much still what it was: a half-formed temporary sort of place." pg. 75

"He knew he would make a good rich man, having so much practice as a poor one." pg. 87

"Tales came back of men speared, their huts robbed, their fields burnt. The Gazette had a handy expression that covered all the things the blacks did, and suggested others: outrages and depredations." pg. 95

"He saw that her dreams had stayed small and cautious, being of nothing grander than the London they had left. Perhaps it was because she had not felt the rope around her neck. That changes a man forever." pg. 111

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Road to Wellville


The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle was originally published in 1993. My paperback copy has 476 pages. My copy of The Road to Wellville was a great find in a used books clearance section. I had read The Road to Wellville years ago when it was originally published and was looking forward to reading it again. It was just as good the second time around. Actually it might be interesting to read a biography of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. This book is very highly recommended. Rating: 4.5

Synopsis from cover:
Will Lightbody is a man with a stomach ailment whose only sin is loving his wife, Eleanor, too much. Eleanor is a health nut of the first stripe, and when in 1907 she journeys to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's infamous Battle Creek spa to live out the vegetarian ethos, poor Will goes too.

So begins T. Coraghessan Boyle's wickedly comic look at turn-of-the-century fanatics in search of the magic pill to prolong their lives - or the profit to be had from manufacturing it. Brimming with a Dickensian cast of characters and laced with wildly wonderful plot twists, The Road to Wellville is a "marvel, enjoyable from beginning to end," wrote Jane Smiley in the New York Times Book Review.
Quotes:

Opening quote: "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death. - Sylvester Graham, A Lecture on Epidemic Diseases"

"Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of the corn flake and peanut butter, not to mention caramel-cereal coffee, Bromose, Nuttolene and some seventy-five other gastrically correct foods, paused to level his gaze on the heavyset woman in the front row." opening sentence

"It was a typical Monday night at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, bastion of right thinking, vegetarianism and self improvement, citadel of temperance and dress reform, and, not coincidentally, the single healthiest spot on the planet." pg. 6

"Preaching dietary restraint and the simple life, he eased overweight housewives and dyspeptic businessmen along the path to enlightenment and recovery. Severe cases - the cancerous, the moribund, the mentally unbalanced and the disfigured - were rejected. The San's patients tended to be of a certain class, and they really had no interest in sitting across the dining table from the plebeian or the pedestrian or those who had the bad grace to be truly and dangerously ill." pg. 7

"And he [Dr. Kellogg] found the juice of each of those oysters to be almost identical to a teaspoon of, well, human urine." pg. 21

"While Eleanor was preaching the virtues of pure food and the simple life to a gaggle of her reform-minded friends....she was drugging her own husband. Sears' White Star Liquor Cure..." pg. 28-29

"No one got the better of John Harvey Kellogg, no one. He was the master of all he surveyed, Chief, king, confessor and patriarch to his thousands of dyspeptic patients and the forty-two children he and Ella had adopted over the years." pg. 37

"Dr. Kellogg, tidy son of a broom maker, not only believed in a diet rich in bulk and roughage to encourage the bowels to exonerate themselves, but he was a strict adherent to the five-enema-a-day regimen as well." pg. 62

"Twice a day, in addition to your postprandial enemas, you'll be getting a colonic injection of whey and Lactobacillus bulgaricus - that is, the yogurt bacterium, collected in Bulgaria expressly for the Sanitarium and available only here." pg. 118

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Egyptologist


The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips was originally published in 2004. My hardcover copy has 400 pages. This book was given to me. From the description and the reviews, I thought I would enjoy it. For example, the review from From Publishers Weekly at Amazon:
His story, set mostly in Egypt in the early 1920s, stars Ralph Trilipush, an obsessive Egyptologist. Trilipush is more than a little odd. He is pinning his hopes on purported king Atum-hadu, whose erotic verses he has discovered and translated; now he must locate his tomb and its expected riches. Meanwhile, an Australian detective, for reasons too complicated to go into, is seeking to unmask Trilipush, who may have had some relationship with a young Australian Egyptologist who died mysteriously. Trilipush and the detective are two quite unreliable narrators, and the effect is that of a hall of mirrors. Where does fact end and imagination, illusion and wishful thinking begin? Phillips is a master manipulator, able to assume a dozen convincingly different voices at will, and his book is vastly entertaining. It's apparent that something dire is afoot, but the reader, while apprehensive, can never quite figure out what. The ending, which cannot be revealed, is shocking and cleverly contrived.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Alas, I just couldn't get into the book. At around page 90, I gave it up. I will never know if the twist at the end was truly shocking and clever. I think that I am not the target audience for this book and others will finish it and enjoy it. Rating: 0

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Precious Dust


Precious Dust: The Saga of the Western Gold Rushes by Paula Mitchell Marks was originally published in 1994. My paperback copy is 448 pages, including the notes, bibliography, and index. In the opening of her book, Marks tells us that: "In tracing the impact of this experience on the seekers, the book also traces some of the broader implications of the gold rushes that galvanized western communities, whole regions, and the nation itself for over half a century....In addition, this narrative shows how the rushes both contributed to a distinctive frontier culture and exposed some of the tensions and paradoxes in American culture." pg. 14

There is also a special note about how Marks has chosen to organize her book:
"The first chapter provides a chronological overview of the rush decades. Then, because the journeys to the goldfields loomed large in many stampeders' experience, the next four chapters focus on the arduous 'getting there'; for clarity's sake in describing the various trails taken, I have made those chapter chronological as well."
"...in Chapter six...the general approach shifts from the chronological to the thematic in order better to explore the gold rushes as a whole in relationship to specific topics: The challenge of gleaning the gold and of life in the diggings; the growth of the gold rush urban areas; the problems of building communities...;the distinct treatment of and experiences of minorities; the complex home ties....and the presence, effect, and experiences of women in the rushes." pg. 16

The way in which the book is organized actually makes it much more interesting to the casual reader, although she has done a fine job writing material for the more scholarly readers as well, with the inclusion of notes and a bibliography. If you are interested in any of the gold rushes and their larger social implications, this book is highly recommended with a rating of 5.


Synopsis from cover:
The boom era began with the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and extended over fifty years to include the rushes in the Pikes Peak region in Colorado, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Alder Gulch in Montana, and the Yukon. Precious Dust humanizes the mad rush to these remote places.
Quotes:

" 'Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious gold,' the Duchess of Gloucester urges her husband in Shakespeare's Henry VI. " opening sentence

"An estimated ninety thousand stampeders left the settled states for the California goldfields in 1849 alone. They were followed the next year by...and estimated eighty-five thousand." pg. 23

"Of the ninety-thousand gold seekers heading west in 1849, only and estimated forty thousand completed their journey to the Sierra Nevada mining districts. There most found the best claims already taken by the early comers of '48." pg. 30

"By one estimate, at least fifteen hundred cholera-stricken travelers died along the Overland Trail in 1849." pg. 56

"Of the thousands going by way of Cape Horn, only about fifty perished en route the first year, some by drowning, others as a result of scurvy and various illnesses." pg. 84

"...they experienced the truth of Robert Louis Stevenson's insight: 'To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.' " pg. 97

"An 1854 'Miners' Commandment' warned men that they were not to 'grow discouraged and think of going home' to fifty-cent-a-day wages when they might 'strike a lead and fifty dollars a day,' thus retaining their 'manly self-respect.' " pg. 155

"Perhaps the worst aspect of gold town conditions was the utter disregard of sanitary practices by the largely transient population. Sacrament was 'one great cesspool of mud, offal, garbage, dead animals and that worst of nuisances consequent upon the entire absence of outhouses.' " pg. 203

"Repeatedly, observers attested to the prevalence of the every-man-for-himself mentality." pg. 224

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Johnstown Flood


The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough was originally published in 1968. My paperback copy is 302 pages, including the lists of the victims, bibliography, and index. I originally read The Johnstown Flood years ago and felt it was time to again read McCullough's riveting, accessible, historical account of the tragedy. In his books, McCullough always does an excellent job covering the background, setting the tone for the time and place, and engrossing us in the history. This is an excellent account of the real 1889 disaster that has as much, if not more, compelling drama in it as any fiction book. Maps and photographs are included. Rating: 5

Synopsis from the cover:

At the end of the nineteenth century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.

Graced by David McCullough's remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing portrait of life in nineteenth-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. This is a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are behaving responsibly.
Quotes:

"Again that morning there had been a bright frost in the hollow below the dam, and the sun was not up long before storm clouds rolled in from the southeast." opening sentence

"When the storm struck western Pennsylvania it was the worst downpour that had ever been recorded for that section of the country." pg. 21

"The city was built on a nearly level flood plain at the confluence of two rivers, down at the bottom of an enormous hole in the Alleghenies." pg. 24

"By the start of the 1880's Johnstown and its neighboring boroughs had a total population of about 15,000...On the afternoon of May 30, 1889, there were nearly 30,000 people living in the valley." pg. 28

"There appear to me two serious elements of danger in this dam. First, the want of a discharge pipe to reduce or take the water out of the dam for needed repairs. Second, the unsubstantial method of repair, leaving a large leak, which appears to be cutting a new embankment." [report by John Fulton in Nov. 1880] pg. 73

"The water [flooding from the rain]...was anywhere from two to ten feet deep. It was already higher than the '87 flood, making it, by noon at least, Johnstown's worst flood on record." pg. 82

"Sometime between noon and one o'clock a telegraph message came into the East Conemaugh dispatcher's tower [warning that the dam was liable to break]." pg. 87

"...later studies by civil engineers indicated that the water charged into the valley at a velocity and depth comparable to that of the Niagara River as it reaches Niagara Falls." pg. 102

"Most of the people in Johnstown never saw the water coming; they only heard it..." pg. 145

"But this time the new 'dam' would hold quite a little longer than the viaduct had and would cause still another kind of murderous nightmare. For when darkness fell, the debris at the bridge caught fire." pg. 149


*A personal aside concerning the Amazon reviewer who thought this account was a novel: you have made a case that some kind of rule, standard, or test should be administered before you can post a review.


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

winner

Hey! I actually won something!
Nah, it wasn't a spectacular $1,000,000 prize but it was a book from
Thanks so much! I'm excited!
Now, Jane and I have privately wondered if all blogs that offer give aways, if you leave a comment, really do, in fact, give the item away. Or do they just SAY they are giving something away because they want to get a ton of comments or increase their number of readers.

It's nice to see a legitimate contest. I'm feeling very special, sort of like a princess... ok, maybe not a princess, but there was an extra special pizazz in my steps as I vacuumed today.
This should maybe stem back the tide of depressing books I was considering reading, like the current read, The Johnstown Flood.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Federal Bodysnatchers and the New Guinea Virus


Federal Bodysnatchers and the New Guinea Virus: Tales of People, Parasites, and Politics by Robert S. Desowitz was originally published in 2002. My hardcover copy is 242 pages, not including the index. The title refers to a legal case involving the patenting of a virus based on genetic information obtained from the Hagahai people of New Guinea. What this book actually covers is ten different essays by epidemiologist Desowitz. Desowitz is informative, humorous, passionate, but always knowledgeable about his topic. Actually my one problem with his book is one he noted in the prologue, he didn't include any bibliography of references. I guess I personally would have liked to see more of his information footnoted or referenced. Although other fans of non-fiction virus books may likely enjoy it more than this score suggests, I'm rating it a 3.9 as some of the essays were more interesting, compelling reading than others.

Synopsis from cover:
Twenty Years Ago The World Slept, confident that biomedical science would protect it from devastating plagues. Our wake-up call sounded at the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic. Then came other unfamiliar pathogens in its wake, among them the West Nile virus. Meanwhile, the neglected diseases of the third world, including malaria and African sleeping sickness, festered -- their victims salvageable only by unaffordable, patent-protected drugs. Robert S. Desowitz traces the histories of these diseases and the issues we must confront -- the morality and legality of patent laws covering biomedical "inventions," the effect of global warming on epidemics, the commercial relationships of publicly supported biomedical scientists and industry, and the growing dissociation of clinicians and public health professionals. The resolution of these issues, now under the terrifying shadow of bioterrorism, is essential for the well-being -- possibly even for the ultimate survival -- of the entire human species.
Quotes:

"By 1370 the Black Death had killed one-half of the English people." opening sentence

"...West Nile virus held some notable surprises. First, no one had suspected how common the infection would be...Second, no one had suspected how unfastidious the virus could be; it infected man, woman, beast and bird with equal ease." pg. 19

"The DNA sequencing methods that convict the rapist, exonerate the death-row inmate, or force the denying father to write child support checks can also be used to trace the lineage of viruses and other microbial pathogens." pg. 24

"If the West Nile virus is a curtain raiser to the arrival of a truly nasty alien pathogen, like the Ebola virus, then we are in big trouble if we are to depend upon government services to protect us..." pg. 28

"In 1994....the Clinton administration discovered that Mr. Hussein of Iraq possessed a tanker-full of botulism toxin and God knows what other deadly biologicals." pg. 32-33

"...ProMed (www.ProMEDmail.org) ...continues to monitor the West Nile Virus as well as other emerging infectious diseases." pg. 35

"So malathion is relatively safe but not innocuous. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to its toxic effects. Well, getting old is not for sissies, especially in Queens. First, you are at risk of catching... the West Nile fever; and if you escape the virus, you might become seriously ill from the malathion that is supposed to prevent you from catching it." pg. 47-48

"Now is the time to reexamine the state of public health in America." pg. 55

"Nothing has ever equaled DDT for that service [eliminating mosquitoes and disease carrying arthropods] and no essential public health measure has been so irrationally denied." pg. 59

"But that these assaults on the environment had also flowed from agricultural excesses never emerged in the discussion. The spraying of houses or the dusting of people for public health purposes never killed an osprey. The environmentalist wardens did not make that distinction (nor have they yet), and there was no voice of authority to come to DDT's defense." pg. 63

"In the 1950's Indian researchers demonstrated that tumeric, topically applied, promotes wound healing. Yet, in 1993, the U.S. Patent Office awarded the University of Mississippi Medical Center patent #5,401,504, 'Use of Tumeric in wound healing.' " Pg. 93

Plague War


Plague War by Jeff Carlson was originally published in August, 2008. My paperback copy has 289 pages. This is the sequel to the previously reviewed Plague Year. If you want to pursue this series, you really do need to read them in order. Plague Year was better than Carlson's Plague War. No rating on this book.

Synopsis from the cover:
Earth has been ravaged by the machine plague, a nanotech virus that exterminates all warm blooded organisms below altitudes of ten thousand feet. The remains of humanity cling to life on isolated mountain peaks around the world.

Nanotech researcher Ruth Goldman has developed a vaccine with the potential to inoculate the world's survivors against the plague, but the fractured U.S. government will stop at nothing to keep it for itself. Determined to share the cure, Ruth and Cam Najarro, a man who lived through the aftermath of the plague at great personal cost, must brave the devastated wasteland America has become.

Together they begin a cross-country odyssey during which they will encounter both the best and the worst in human nature - unaware that an even greater threat is poised to strike.
Quotes:

"Ruth kicked her way through another tangle of bones, stumbling when her foot caught in a fractured chunk of ribs and vertebrae." opening sentence

"A lot of survivors called it Plague Year, or Year One, but it wasn't only human history that had crashed in the long fourteen months since the machine plague. The invisible nanotech devoured all warm-blooded life below ten thousand feet elevation." pg. 5

"...Ruth and other top researchers became sure they could put together a nano capable of protecting the body from within, like a vaccine... The Leadville government thought the situation was far too gone to simply share this new technology and trust in any peace. Overseas, starving armies ate each other's dead and kept prisoners like cattle, and there had been atrocities here as well." pg. 6

"Up here the air was frigid and thin. Every survivor has acclimated to elevation or they hadn't survived, but headaches and nausea were very common among the population in Leadville, and that was down near ten thousand feet." pg. 51