Teaser Tuesdays: Newspaper Titan by Amanda Smith

Posted on July 12, 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!


Newpaper Titan: The Infamous Life and Monumental Times of Cissy Patterson is a hefty biography of the heiress to the Chicago Tribune dynasty, and formidable newspaperwoman in her own right. Smith covers the family history beginning well before Cissy’s birth in 1881, through her death in 1948. I’m just beginning the book, and actually had never heard of Cissy before, but so far she is proving to be a most interesting subject – meaning, as is usually the case with the most interesting subjects, that she is a controversial and difficult-to-like figure. My teaser comes from page 347:

Although Cissy was the first and only woman editor of any newspaper in the Hearst chain, she was by no means the Chief’s sole female employee. The son of a formidable mother, William Randolph Hearst himself did not share the low estimate of feminine competence that his Washington Herald staff had betrayed when Cissy invaded their city room.

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

Filed under: tuesday teasers | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Immigrant Picnic by Gregory Djanikian

Posted on July 11, 2011 by pagesofjulia

The 4th-of-July Story of the Week was not a story but a poem called Immigrant Picnic, by Gregory Djanikian. I enjoyed this Armenian-American poet’s celebration of a 4th-of-July picnic in all its multinational, English-as-a-second-language diversity. Please enjoy, below.

Immigrant Picnic

It’s the Fourth of July, the flags
are painting the town,
the plastic forks and knives
are laid out like a parade.

And I’m grilling, I’ve got my apron,
I’ve got potato salad, macaroni, relish,
I’ve got a hat shaped
like the state of Pennsylvania.

I ask my father what’s his pleasure
and he says, “Hot dog, medium rare,”
and then, “Hamburger, sure,
what’s the big difference,”
as if he’s really asking.

I put on hamburgers and hot dogs,
slice up the sour pickles and Bermudas,
uncap the condiments. The paper napkins
are fluttering away like lost messages.

“You’re running around,” my mother says,
“like a chicken with its head loose.”

“Ma,” I say, “you mean cut off,
loose and cut off being as far apart
as, say, son and daughter.”

She gives me a quizzical look as though
I’ve been caught in some impropriety.
“I love you and your sister just the same,” she says.
“Sure,” my grandmother pipes in,
“you’re both our children, so why worry?”

That’s not the point I begin telling them,
and I’m comparing words to fish now,
like the ones in the sea at Port Said,
or like birds among the date palms by the Nile,
unrepentantly elusive, wild.

“Sonia,” my father says to my mother,
“what the hell is he talking about?”
“He’s on a ball,” my mother says.

“That’s roll!” I say, throwing up my hands,
“as in hot dog, hamburger, dinner roll. . . .”

“And what about roll out the barrels?” my mother asks,
and my father claps his hands, “Why sure,” he says,
“let’s have some fun,” and launches

into a polka, twirling my mother
around and around like the happiest top,

and my uncle is shaking his head, saying
“You could grow nuts listening to us,”

and I’m thinking of pistachios in the Sinai
burgeoning without end,
pecans in the South, the jumbled
flavor of them suddenly in my mouth,
wordless, confusing,
crowding out everything else.

Is lovely, no?

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Broadway presents Chicago

Posted on July 11, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Mom and I went to see the Broadway production of Chicago play here in Houston a few weeks ago. She had seen it before, in London, and we had each seen the movie; I have the soundtrack and love it. It was neat to see a show that was so very familiar to me. I think this was a unique experience for me in a Broadway show; I guess seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream is comparable (in my familiarity), but not much else. Certainly, if I were to see RENT again… This had me tempted to sing along, but I refrained for the good of those seated nearby. 🙂 These performers are too great for me to, ahem, help them out.

John O'Hurley as Billy Flynn

Do you know the story? Roxie Hart has been cheating on her boring husband Amos in 1920’s Chicago, when her boyfriend threatens to leave her. Not able to take this final rejection, after years of trying to make it in vaudeville, she shoots him in her rage. While imprisoned, she meets the famed vaudeville star Velma Kelly, awaiting trial for killing her sister (and partner on the stage) and her husband when she caught the two of them together. Popular culture, entertainment and stardom are mixed up with criminal infamy in Jazz-Age Chicago, and Roxie wants to be just like Velma. Step one is securing the same top-shelf lawyer, Billy Flynn, who makes a name for Roxie while getting her off on the murder rap.

But like most Broadway musical theatre, the story is secondary. This is a great story, a strong plot with hilarious characters – one of the better stories you’ll find – but still, the song and dance is the main point. I was so thrilled to see live performances of my favorite numbers, like the Cell Block Tango, When You’re Good to Mama, Mister Cellophane, and Razzle Dazzle.

Tracy Shayne as Roxie Hart

This is a great show, and I have to agree with all the promotional hype that says if you’re going to see just one, or your first, Broadway show, this is an excellent choice.

I will also say, though, that I loved the movie. For me, Roxie Hart IS Renee Zellwegger; Billy Flynn is Richard Gere, Velma Kelly is Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Mama is most definitely Queen Latifah. The woman who played Mama in Houston has an amazing voice, but Queen Latifah gave her more sass.

It was a great time all the same, and I recommend Chicago in any and all its forms – however you can get it. Thanks Pops for another great time!

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Doomsday Wrestling

Posted on July 10, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Husband was out of town for the last Doomsday Wrestling event (the Spaghetti Supper Spectacular, back in March), which I attended with a friend (hi, Leach) in his absence. It was such a blast that he was very excited to escort me this time around.

These shows are a riot, I tell you. Doomsday Wrestling is a local (Houston) wrestling troupe, putting on shows sort of like your WWE pay-per-view events – except that these guys take themselves even less seriously. There is a heavier emphasis on comedy and a lighter emphasis on wrestling. There’s even a literary connection: I originally learned about the genius of Doomsday from a librarian friend, whose partner is a wrestler.

It’s pure fun. If you were ever a fan of televised wrestling (the funny costumed kind, not the truly athletic kind – that’s important), you will love this silliness. There are full-on, developed characters, with personalities, costumes, histories, relationships, and hopes & ambitions just like the rest of us. There’s a full-on story-line, just like at the WWE, with all the same soap-opera-style twists. But this is BETTER than the WWE, because it’s cheaper, it’s local, and you can get right up close to these guys and gals. You can even get a glossy 8×10 for them to sign, and take pictures with them and everything. Librarian-friend tells me her man gets recognized out on the town. How fun is that?

Look out for such crazy personalities as Lady Rabies, who foams at the mouth while in the ring, Lil Dickens, the amiable King Candy, and one of my very favorites, Hot Flash.

Lady Rabies

Lil Dickens

King Candy

Hot Flash

And don’t forget my favorite announcer, Tex Lonestar.

Tex Lonestar


Seriously, this is funny & fun stuff. Husband & I had a blast and feel sorry it’ll be so long til the next one!

Filed under: miscellaneous, musings | 1 Comment »

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Posted on July 9, 2011 by pagesofjulia

What an odd, fun, creepy little romp this was! I had been fascinated by the idea of this book months before it came out. The story is this: our first-person narrator, Jacob, has always been close to his grandfather. Grandpa Portman has told him stories all his life of the peculiar, magical children he grew up with, in a home for orphaned refugees during World War II. He even has pictures: a levitating girl (on the cover); an invisible boy; a skinny boy lifting a giant boulder. As Jacob grows up a bit, he begins to understand that perhaps Grandpa’s stories were just that, stories; but when Grandpa dies in a mysteriously disturbing fashion, in Jacob’s arms, and with the strangest of last words, he begins to wonder again. Under the care of a psychiatrist, Jacob travels with his father back to the tiny Welsh island where Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was located. The story he begins to unravel… well. I don’t want to ruin anything for you.

This is really a YA (young adult) book, for two reasons: 1, the reading level, and 2, the young adult protagonist. Jacob is 16 or 17 years old. I found it very enjoyable, though, and I don’t read YA very regularly. It was a quick read, partly because of the rather basic reading level. But here’s the unique bit: there are quite a few pictures mixed in with the text. Grandpa Portman had a collection of pictures; Jacob has a few of his own; he discovers a cache of pictures in his explorations of Cairnholm Island. And every one of the pictures mentioned in the story is included, so we get to do our own examining of them alongside Jacob. This was very cool, because the oddness (or perhaps, the peculiarity) of these pictures is a large part of the point of this book. And here’s the kicker: while this is a work of fiction, and the impossibility of the photos is obvious, I found an interesting detail at the back of the book. The author writes, “All the pictures in this book are authentic, vintage found photographs, and with the exception of a few that have undergone minimal postprocessing, they are unaltered.” I don’t know what “minimal postprocessing” might entail, but it made me go back and reexamine the pictures all over again, knowing that they each have a real life mysterious story behind them. I love it: an additional facet to this curious tale.

This is a paranormal story, even one of time travel. I don’t necessarily spend a lot of time in these areas, but I found Jacob to be a likeable (if doofy – is this a regular facet of YA, too?) protagonist, and his Grandpa was a real hero. The peculiar children were extremely likeable and fascinating. I had a lot of fun with this diversion from my more normal reading.

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two-wheeled thoughts: Fairfax Downey

Posted on July 8, 2011 by pagesofjulia

two-wheeled thoughts
I got an amazing wealth of bicycle-and-women-related quotations from Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride, by Peter Zheutlin. I shall be sharing you with them here periodically. Two-Wheeled Thoughts will not always be feminine but will always be bicycle-related, of course.

On that simple machine she rode like a winged victory, women’s rights perched on the handlebars, and cramping modes and manners strew on her track.
–Fairfax Downey, as quoted in Around the World on Two Wheels

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Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan

Posted on July 8, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A clever, complex thriller in which a killer hunts the perpetrators of a decades-old crime.

Anthony Lark has three names written down in his notebook, and he’s hunting them down one by one as part of his mission to avenge a 17-year-old crime. David Loogan (introduced in Bad Things Happen) is content with his life in Ann Arbor, with girlfriend Elizabeth Waishkey (who’s a police detective) and her daughter Sarah, and with his job as editor of a mystery magazine. Lucy Navarro is a tabloid reporter trying to dig up a story linking the old crime with a current political campaign. But David is drawn into the murky waters of Lark’s crusade, and Elizabeth is assigned to the investigation, so David feels compelled to help Lucy in her inquiries–especially after she disappears suddenly.

This fast-paced and intelligent thriller is told in David’s voice, but offers insight into Lark’s troubled psyche as well, as he battles the demons that make the words in his notebook breathe and tremble. Readers of the mystery genre will have a little extra fun with David’s work editing mystery stories; we even learn which authors Lark follows. Teenaged Sarah is a spunky addition to the diverse mix of characters trying to solve the crime: amateur David, tagging along with Elizabeth, the experienced professional; and indomitable Lucy, whose past holds a secret or two. Then there are the political players: an aging senator about to retire and his up-and-coming daughter-in-law, who may be tied to an old bank robbery. Complex and well-developed characters, a mind-bending plot and a wry tone make this novel impossible to put down.

This review originally ran in the July 8, 2011 issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. To subscribe, click here, and you’ll receive two issues per week of book reviews and other bookish fun!

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book beginnings on Friday: The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

Posted on July 8, 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.

My current audiobook (for the daily commute) is the latest from Connelly, also the fourth of his books featuring Mickey Haller. Here we go!

Mrs. Pena looked across the seat at me and held her hands up in a beseeching manner. She spoke in a heavy accent, choosing English to make her final pitch directly to me.

“Please, you help me, Mr. Mickey?”

I’ve got to say this narrator may not be my cup of tea; but it’s early days yet and I’m certainly glad to be back in Connelly’s competent hands.

Thanks for stopping by. What are YOU reading this weekend?

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Two for Texas by James Lee Burke

Posted on July 7, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Another good one from James Lee Burke; and such a quick read, too.

Son Holland and Hugh Allison escape together from a prison in Louisiana in an opportunistic and unplanned series of events that includes killing a prison guard. With Son struggling to recover from a gunshot wound, they flee into Texas, where the Mexican army is skirmishing with General Sam Houston’s troops, and various Indian tribes make up a plurality of fighting factions. It’s a lawless land, whose chaos does help Son and Hugh stay lost, but the brother of the murdered prison guard is on their trail. The older, more experienced Hugh (a friend of James Bowie) acts as a big-brother figure to the younger Son, who’s had his share of violence and hard times but retains some innocence and some righteous virtue, both for better and for worse. The two pick up an Indian woman, Sana, along the way, who will turn out to be an ally.

Son and Hugh decide to join Houston’s army as a defense against being recaptured and thrown in prison. Even if the tortures of their earlier incarceration weren’t unbearable enough, a return would mean certain slow, painful death. They catch up with Houston and spend several fateful months in the General’s camp, and are there during the battle at the Alamo, as well as Houston’s final defeat of Santa Ana’s Mexican army at San Jacinto.

My little paperback copy of this novel does not include any notes from Burke to tell me how much of this story is fiction. I surmise that Son and Hugh are entirely fictional characters. Certainly, the battles at the Alamo and San Jacinto are a part of history, as are the many big names Burke drops: Houston, Austin, Fannin, Milam, Bowie, Crockett, and more. But I think the story of these two men is Burke’s creation.

I enjoyed this quick read. At only 148 pages, it took me about a day in my free moments. It offers Burke’s usual fine descriptive writing, and I thought both of the main characters were well drawn: they had personality; they felt real; I was invested in their personal outcomes. The battle scenes and the rough edges on the soldiers, Houston’s ragtag troops, and the outlaw character of Texas at the time were all visceral and (in my embarrassingly limited knowledge) true to history.

An easy read with poignant characters and a good, readable (if cursory) history of the Texas Revolution, in Burke’s usual fine writing style.

[If you’re concerned: there is some blood-and-guts in the battle scenes, to be sure (how could there not be?) but it’s fairly conservative.]

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hemingWay of the Day: author insults

Posted on July 6, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for this interesting item today.

Recently, Flavorwire gave us The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History. It might be worth your time to go check them all out, but I had to share with you a few of my favorites.

Numbers 15 and 14 are a back-and-forth:

15. William Faulkner on Ernest Hemingway:
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

14. Ernest Hemingway on William Faulkner:
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”

…to which I give an lol. My meager attempt to appreciate Faulkner was pathetic, but I blame him entirely – or maybe my choice to try The Sound and the Fury first, I don’t know. I *may* give him another try someday. If I do, it will definitely be a different title. It should go without saying that I side with Hemingway on this one, in terms of the end-result-value of their work – although it is also true, I have never used a dictionary in my readings of Hem. (I do use a dictionary when I read sometimes, though.)

I also liked this one:

9. Truman Capote on Jack Kerouac:
“That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

I think this is in the same spirit as #15, above. And again, I loved On the Road and so disagree; but the witty jab makes me smile, all the same.

There are some other clever ones there, too. I encourage you to go poke around and tell me, which ones made you smile? Or get angry? Or feel justified?

Filed under: hemingWay of the Day, musings | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

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