book beginnings on Friday: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

Posted on October 28, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.


I have Winesburg, Ohio on my shelf because Hemingway recommended it. It turned out to be one of the easier ones from his list of recommended reading for me to get: my mother read the list when I originally posted it, and passed on Winesburg along with another I can’t put my finger on at the moment… this paperback copy, “a Viking Compass book,” was the first reset and redesigned edition since the original typesetting of 1919. It was published in 1960 and has my father’s name in the front cover. I wonder when and how it came to him; he would have been young for it in 1960. I wonder if it was for school? Pops, can you help?

This is a collection of short stories, and the first, entitled The Book of the Grotesque (Anderson’s original title for the collection, in fact) begins…

The writer, an old man with a white mustache, had some difficulty in getting into bed. The windows of the house in which he lived were high and he wanted to look at the trees when he awoke in the morning. A carpenter came to fix the bed so that it would be on a level with the window.

I look forward to my first reading of Sherwood Anderson’s work. His name is less known than many of the writers he influenced, even helped shape, or helped establish their careers – Hemingway being one, along with Faulkner and Henry Miller. Have you read any Sherwood Anderson?

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Play With Fire by Dana Stabenow

Posted on October 27, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I picked up this Kate Shugak mystery just to satisfy my need for an Alaska-set book, for the Where Are You Reading? Challenge. (This is becoming an issue around here.) But unlike some I have picked up just for their settings, this book was worth the time.

Kate Shugak was a police detective in Alaska but is now retired; she is also an Aleut (one kind of native Alaskan), with an interesting background. In Play With Fire, a forest fire the fall before has caused an extraordinary crop of morel mushrooms to pop up in the backcountry, and Kate is picking them to sell to an enthusiastic international market when she discovers a decomposing corpse. The same day, a young boy named Matthew shows up with some crumpled bills and hires her to search for his missing father. If this sounds awfully much like a coincidence, you are correct.

The mystery takes Kate into a small town with a very creepy religious tyrant and undertones of Jerry Falwell. Stabenow shares some details of the natural environment, flora and fauna, especially mushroom trivia. For me, the best part was learning about Shugak’s experience as a young “native” in Alaska, with snippets of cultural information and language; I would go back to this series for more of the same. I really enjoy a strong sense of place in my mystery novels, and this one has it. I would also return for more of Kate’s romance with Jack Morgan. So far he’s rather typical-romance-novel-hero by which I mean, perfect – but I’m not sick of him yet. Not a new favorite, but noteworthy.

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The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

Posted on October 26, 2011 by pagesofjulia

The three Halloran brothers, Tim, Sean and Go-Go (Gordon), and two neighbor girls, Mickey and Gwen, were inseparable for a short time in childhood. During that period, they played in the enormous wooded Leakin Park behind their neighborhood, did normal childhood things, learned about some adult things, and maybe did some bad things. At the start of this book, the adult Go-Go dies. The other four – but mostly Gwen – look back at their childhood, consider guilt and responsibility, and wonder how well their secrets have been kept over the years.

Lippman handles family relationships, and friendships, and neighborhood whisperings fairly well. I felt that the most effective moments, the most evocative and emotional scenes, are the ones dealing with secrets and relationships. I feel for Tim in his desire to befriend his three daughters, and his feeling that his all-female family overwhelms him. Sean’s fear that his own son is gay is less sympathetic, but still feels very real. I thought Mickey was a pretty interesting character, both as a child and in adulthood. And the parents – Tim Sr. and Doris, Rita and Rick (and her various other men), and Tally and Dr. Robison – were very well drawn; they came across as real people to me.

The suspense was well done in that I had to keep coming back and opening the book; I was drawn along, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The parent-child dynamics, and the development of them – Gwen’s observations of her adopted daughter, for instance – were engaging.

But the plot was weak, in my opinion. The mystery of what happened in the woods, after all the questions and all the intrigue, wasn’t as outrageous or shocking as it should have been; the big reveal was something of a let-down for me. I regretted not getting to know Go-Go better. The mystery of Go-Go was sort of the mystery of the book – that we didn’t know him was the point – but still, I missed more knowledge in that area; I think it might have improved my experience. Considering how well Lippman draws characters, relationships, and emotional impacts, I think she could have done a lot with him.

So while this book was engaging and entertaining during the reading – I couldn’t put it down for a day or two, and enjoyed it during those hours – I didn’t take much away from it. I fear I will forget it quickly. (I read Lippman’s earlier novel, I’d Know You Anywhere, and it kind of went the same way. My memory of it is vague; another similar book I read around the same time, Chevy Stevens’s Still Missing, made a far greater impression.) I can’t get all that excited about Lippman, although I do read rave reviews, so I know some people do.

I read this book to cover Maryland for the Where Are You Reading? Challenge, and it did its job. Although, here’s another minor beef: I love a strong sense of place in a mystery novel. If I’m reading about a place I’m familiar with, it’s great fun with to get a sense of familiarity. If I’m reading about a place I’m not familiar with – like Baltimore – I enjoy learning about a new place without actually traveling there. But Lippman’s Baltimore didn’t come alive; it didn’t make an impression on me as a city with personality. (Maybe Baltimore really doesn’t have a personality. But I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Most cities do.) So, this book didn’t do too much more for me than fulfill my need for a Maryland-set story. I think I’m about done with Lippman.

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Teaser Tuesdays: The Drop by Michael Connelly

Posted on October 25, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just open your current read to a random page and share a few sentences. Be careful not to include spoilers!

Number 17 in the Harry Bosch series, can you believe it? I love this guy. I was afraid the quality was falling off a bit (especially with The Fifth Witness, ugh, come on Connelly!) but I think we’re back on track with this one. Here’s your teaser for the day (from page 330 of my galley copy):

“But what would you do if you quit?”

“I’m not sure but I know one thing. I think I would be able to be a better father. You know, be around more.”

“That doesn’t necessarily make you a better father. Remember that.”

Bosch nodded. He sometimes had a hard time believing he was talking to a fifteen year old. This was one of those times.

Don’t worry, I haven’t given anything away. Are you a Connelly fan? How do you think the series has progressed over the years? I can’t believe we’re at 17 already!!

This quotation comes from an uncorrected advance proof and is subject to change.

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Percussion Ensemble Chamber Concert, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

Posted on October 24, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Rice University here in Houston is a very prestigious school in itself; its Shepherd School of Music is one of the top music schools in the country. They put on a bunch of free concerts, and I recently (Oct. 16) went with a friend to see a percussion concert in the Alice Pratt Brown Hall:

(photo credit due to the structural engineering company that designed the building)

It was an amazing set of performances. There was a lovely diversity of instruments and styles. Now, I’m no musical scholar, so these are my amateur’s impressions…

The first piece was “Varied Trio” by Lou Harrison (three parts: Bowl Bells, Gending, and Dance). Two percussionists switched around between playing bowls, xylophone and marimba, accompanied by a violin. I was really there for the xylophone and marimba; I love the clear, pure, resonant tones they make. And the bowls were very interesting, too. I liked how the violin was mostly plucked rather than played with the bow; it behaved more like a percussion instrument that way.

Next two young ladies performed Marcel Tournier’s “Promenade a l’Automne” on marimba and cello. This was a truly amazing and beautiful piece of music and far too short! I wanted much more of them!

Bela Bartok’s “Duets for Two Violins” (Pillow Dance, Ruthenian Dance, Arabian Dance) was performed by one violin and a marimba, and the marimba stands in beautifully for the second violin, as far as I can tell. I liked that each movement had its own sound to it. While a violin makes lovely music I really love what the marimba brings. The notes it creates are like liquid or glass, so round and perfect.

John Cage’s “Credo in US” was the evening’s total departure. I would call this piece avant-garde, although I’m not sure of the technical correctness of the term – I’m no music student. It involved a piano, two percussionists playing a bunch of what seemed to be plain old tin cans, and a fourth student playing samples of recorded FM radio. Most odd and cacophonous; my immediate thought here was while Husband would not necessarily have enjoyed the earlier pieces – not enough metal – HERE was the metal; he’d be fine! It was a really, really fascinating and interesting piece. It was suspenseful; I was certainly not sure what was coming next and I’m not sure I would have noticed if one of the musicians had made a mistake. 🙂 It reminded me somehow of Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Make of that what you will. But I mean all of it in the most positive way!

Next came a young lady on the marimba (or xylophone? I’m not sure I recall) accompanied by a French horn, and this was just so lovely! They played Verne Reynolds’s “Hornvibes” in three movements: Fantasy, Riffs, and Elegy. The first and third played with harmonics; my buddy Justin (my date for the evening, and a musician, so we’ll listen to him) said the timing was based on the intervals of the harmonics. The waves of sound were almost tactile; it was amazing.

“Birdsong” by Scott R. Harding was performed on marimba and alto sax, and was enjoyable and kind of jazzy (maybe that’s just the sax getting to me) but I think I was distracted by trying to find the titles of the three movements (Bird of a Feather, Flock Together; Kill Two Birds with One Stone; Early Bird Gets the Worm) in the music, which I couldn’t. Maybe I was being too literal.

Bernhard Heiden’s “Four Fancies” (in three movements, confusingly: Ostinato, Dialogue, and Coda) finished up the night with a xylophone, a marimba, and an electric bass, which was an interesting touch. I’m pretty familiar with the concept of the bass as a percussion instrument; this involved three instruments that are both percussive and melodic. I love that kind of playing around with the definitions.

My favorites pieces of the night were “Promenade a l’Automne” and “Hornvibes.” It was a very special evening; I need more music like this in my life. Best of all, these performances are free, you don’t have to dress up unless you want to :), and just showing up helps local musical talent by showing support (and giving them an audience to practice any stage fright upon). Thanks Justin for accompanying me. I’ll be back for more!

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Sunday Salon

Posted on October 23, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Sunday Salon: Oct. 23, 2011


Happy Sunday, folks! How’s your weekend been?

I got in some good mountain bike time this weekend: local trails yesterday at the Anthills and then a little bit of the top of the dam (gravel road), and then today out to Double Lake for a few laps with friends. And I’m getting excited about heading up to the Dallas area next weekend to do a 6-hour race at Solvaca Ranch!

I’m reading quite a bit too… I declined to join the 24-Hour Readalong, as much fun as that sounded like. Right now I’m finishing up Lee Child’s The Affair (the brand-new Reacher) on audio, and have just started The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon – it’s a lovely book. But I wouldn’t have done well as a 24-Hour Reader. Yesterday post-ride we spent some garage time getting one of my bikes ready to post online for sale, and then a friend came over and we watched a movie – just a nice, quiet Saturday.

We’ve been listening to a lot of Drive-by Truckers lately (surprise surprise, what else is new! one of our favorite bands) and thinking about maybe going to see them in the next few months, in Philly or maybe at New Year’s in D.C. (Alternate New Year’s plan is to go out to Terlingua to ride some of our favorite trails!)

I’ll be doing slightly fewer reviews for Shelf Awareness in the coming months, which is good because I’d been getting pretty busy with that. This frees up a little more time for choosing my own reading – and that free time is, sadly, being sucked up mostly by reading for the Where Are You Reading? Challenge. I may give up without reading all 50 states; we’ll see. At any rate I don’t think I’ll sign up for this one again. It’s been fun and interesting just keeping track of where I do read; but I don’t really like having to go out of my way to read for location. I’d rather just pick and choose what I want to read. Although I’ve certainly found some good books on the way.

It’s been a good weekend and I’m just so glad to be riding my bike again. I’m looking forward to racing next weekend (and still feeling the glow of having won some good money a few weeks ago), and hope that if I keep working on it, maybe I’ll have a good spring season ahead of me next year.

What are YOU up to this Sunday?

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guest review: In Session by MJ Rose, from Mom

Posted on October 22, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I posted my review of In Session a few days ago; now here’s my mother with a very different impression of it. For fairness’ sake. 🙂

In Session is a short but sweet introduction to the work of M. J. Rose and her character Dr. Morgan Snow, a sex therapist. I’ve never read her, but I will be looking for more of her work. The premise of this short story is that she manages to make contact with three fictional characters and involve them in her work. She makes a very satisfactory connection with Reacher, Lee Child’s hero, and the only one I have any experience with.

The first session (as in therapy session) is with Cotton Malone, who’s the creation of Steve Berry. Dr. Snow finds a way into his antiquarian bookstore to look at an erotic book from the 15th century. Discussion of the book leads to some discussion of his personal hang-ups, and a point is scored in favor of reflecting on and starting a resolution of these issues.

Calling this work erotic seems a bit of a stretch; there is certainly a lot more explicitness in many romance novels, I think. Perhaps in a full-length work, there’s more opportunity for a theme to blossom. In these sessions with the doctor, the issue of a sexual nature in couples’ lives is strong, but, as it should be, it’s also mixed with other aspects of people’s needs, such as dominance and trust. Eroticism is not the focus of the doctor’s work, but rather an important part in human nature that’s her area of expertise.

In the next two sessions, she meets with Reacher and Barry Eisler’s John Rain. I have to presume that she gives them accurate characterization, as all three authors have approved – and applauded – the work. The meetings are not contrived, but arranged so that the sexual issues can be raised with men who would never have consented to any kind of therapy. This book is just a taste of Rose, but I see lots of promise in her character and style.

I read a digital galley from NetGalley.

Thanks Mom! I’m glad you liked it.

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book beginnings on Friday: Breaking Point by Dana Haynes

Posted on October 21, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.


Breaking Point is the second thriller by Dana Haynes, involving a team of plane crash investigators known as “crashers” and their action-packed adventures versus the bad guys. We begin:

Dr. Leonard Tomzak was a modern American male. He knew it was considered inappropriate to stare openly at a pretty girl with long legs as she approached. Especially in public.

Interesting beginning, hm? Gives the impression that this guy might be a jerk, but I urge you to give him another two pages and you’ll like him better.

What are you reading this weekend?

This quotation comes from an uncorrected advance proof and is subject to change.

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2011: the year of Papa?

Posted on October 20, 2011 by pagesofjulia
[Updated 2pm]

Before you think I’m late to the party, yes, we all covered the anniversary on July 2 of Ernest Hemingway’s death 50 years ago in 1961. But I guess I underestimated how much this anniversary was going to mean. For one thing, in July I was unaware of the upcoming publication of either The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 1, 1907-1922 or Hemingway’s Boat, both in September of this year. (You can see my review of the latter here.) These two books have been covered in a variety of magazines; I posted already about a blurb of Hemingway’s Boat in Town & Country magazine, and then came across another in Men’s Journal, and a brief mention in Playboy. And now I see coverage of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway in Vanity Fair. I’m not a big reader of magazines normally (just Playboy and Bike), but I receive a lot of them at the library where I work, and I have loving family in California (hi, Grammy!) who clip articles for me. So I’m just sort of marveling at all this coverage – which I attribute to the 50-year suicide anniversary – and observing what a hold Papa still has on pop culture. One of his unique qualities is that he captured the national and international attention, and imagination, as more than an author: he was a character. (Some would say a caricature.) He was a personality. He was bigger than his work – and that’s really saying something. I guess I should be on top of this concept, me with my Hemingway obsession, but I really wasn’t. I think I was too close to things. I’m a huge fan, first of his work; but as I became more and more impressed with his writing I started reading more about the man behind it. I guess I failed to notice how much the rest of the world shared my interest.

So, belatedly, I’m making the observation that 2011 appears to have seen a Hemingway revival. Is this a big duh; was I oblivious? Or are you just noticing, too? Have you seen Papa everywhere this year?

EDIT: I just read another article. Although this one was published in 1997, it fits with our theme today. The author, Nan Klingener of The Bone Island Book Blog, sent me a copy of her article, The Papas and the Papas, about the annual Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest in Key West. Thanks, Nan, I enjoyed it! It is certainly a shame that Key West fails to embrace the look Papa wore while he lived there – that is, a 30-something, dark-haired handsome Hemingway. But I do understand the argument given by a contestant-turned-judge: the white-bearded, bellied look is the one we know best in pop culture. And the takeaway lesson of the contest is about pop culture: that, as I wrote above, Hemingway is a cultural icon.

Nan, your article was a lovely little trip into a weird world, a Hemingway theme park if you will, that I did not experience on my recent trip to your fair island! What an interesting event. Thanks for sending me a little reading material. 🙂

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Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Posted on October 20, 2011 by pagesofjulia

This was a sad and fascinating book. I read it in a day – not unheard of, but fairly rare considering that it was a regular work day. Started on my lunch break and finished before bedtime. It was absorbing and unique. A murder-mystery, yes, but also sort of a psychological thriller. The unique framing element of the book is this:

Dr. Jennifer White is sixty-four, and has dementia. When the book opens, she’s in the early-to-mid stages of the disease, living at home with a full-time, live-in caretaker. Her best friend of several decades, who is also her three-doors-down neighbor and godmother to her daughter, has been murdered, several fingers cleanly amputated. Dr. White (whose specialty was hand surgery, ahem) is a suspect, and doesn’t know herself whether she did it or not. Her story is told in first-person; we read snippets from the notebook she keeps, hear conversations, and listen to her private thoughts as she struggles with the questions. The questions are only rarely about Amanda’s murder. In reading about this book I thought the murder case was the main focus, but it’s not. Dr. White is only occasionally aware of the question of her friend’s death, because she’s only occasionally aware that her friend is dead. Her disease and its progression, her confusion, the attempts by her adult children to shape her future, and her eventual fate are the book’s main concern – because we see through Dr. White’s eyes.

The mystery of who killed Amanda is different from the usual mystery we encounter, because we don’t see a murderer trying to cover his or her tracks. Dr. White’s children, and the lawyer they hire, work to protect her from an investigation that may damage her fragile mental health. At one point it is decided that she did kill her friend, but the legal system of course won’t take its normal course even in that event. (I’m not giving it away; there are still twists and turns.) And again, the mystery is not the primary focus of the book. As Dr. White’s story unfolds – backwards, in snippets, jumping around chronologically, and never reliably – talk about an unreliable narrator – we learn more about her husband, Amanda, Amanda’s husband, and Dr. White’s two children, as well as the hired caretaker and even the primary police investigator. Of course, no one’s story is simple or unblemished.

A fascinating and engrossing mystery is only part of the attraction of this book. It’s an exploration into the head of an Alzheimer’s sufferer, engaging and overwhelming and sad and riveting. Make no mistake: this is a terribly sad story. Being young myself, and having parents in excellent health and with plenty of youth and life left, I hadn’t thought much about nursing homes, but this book’s portrayal terrified me. If you can steel yourself for the tragedy, though, this is a beautiful story, communicated in a unique format, gripping and sensitive. I recommend it highly.

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