potential vacation: starting out

Posted on February 11, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Today I finished Messenger of Truth! And I found it my most enjoyable Maisie Dobbs book to date. I will not spend time trying to tell you about it now, though, because 1. I’m getting ready for the vacay and 2. I read it out of order, accidentally, and will save my review-like post for the appropriate time in the Maisie Dobbs Read-Along timeline. I then read the first few pages (so, about half) of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in my free time. And now…

Tonight we depart for our odyssey into West Texas! Love, love, love. I’m so excited about hiking, visiting, and mountain biking! and being away from it all in a beautiful place with the Husband. Ahhh.

I’ve scheduled a series of itinerary-style posts to come up automatically while I’m gone. So you should be able to travel my theoretical vacation with me day-by-day. It’ll be interesting to see, on the other side, how closely we stuck to the plan… but at any rate you’ll have some pictures to look at and a few words every day. πŸ™‚

Adios!

(and thanks to our buddy Chris for house- and dog-sitting so we’re not sitting empty!)

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TBR… on vacation, and beyond

Posted on February 10, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I sat down to document my TBR (to be read) shelf today, and was alarmed at what I came up with. It is neverending, and constantly growing. I thought I’d share with you below… and be advised, this is only the TBR books that I feel really inspired to read RIGHT NOW; I haven’t even listed for you the ones that are sitting lonely to which I say “meh”.

West with the Night, Beryl Markham - came with an endorsing blurb from Hemingway, good enough for me


The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera


In the Woods, Tana French


The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, Oliver Sacks


By-line: Ernest Hemingway


The Stranger, Albert Camus


Main Street, Sinclair Lewis


The Ballad of Typhoid Mary, J.F. Federspiel


Two Lives, Janet Malcolm (biography of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas)


Good Bones, Margaret Atwood


The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson


The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester


The Apothecary's Demise, Anne Sloan


The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon


The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion


War and Peace, Tolstoy


A Separate Peace, John Knowles


Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein


Don Quixote, Cervantes


The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery


Whatever You Say I Am (Eminem autobiography)


Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky


Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich


The Giver, Lois Lowry


Stories of Eva Luna, Isabel Allende


God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy


The Castle in the Forest, Norman Mailer


The Pied Piper, Ridley Pearson


Nothing to Lose, Lee Child


The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Allison Hoover Bartlett


The Club Dumas, Arturo Perez-Reverte

…WHEW! I know, right?

I’m such a head case collector. We’ll see what I get through on the vacay, hmm? Aren’t you curious? I am. πŸ™‚ There’s still books 4 and 3 of Maisie Dobbs to finish, too, of course – and no, I was not able to put Messenger of Truth (book 4) down, so I will be reading Pardonable Lies (book 3) next. Yes, I’m a mess.

I’ll try to post tomorrow on my way out, so we’ll have one last goodbye. And then I’ve got daily posts coming, if all goes according to plan, to see you through my vacation! Happy reading! I’ll try and take some notes and oh, what I’ll have to tell you upon my return! Where should I start in this huge pile? Any votes?

P.S. Sorry about the weird tiling above – it was too much work to get all these images loaded so I hope that you will please kindly deal with it πŸ™‚ Thanks!

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WWW Wednesdays, and an oops

Posted on February 9, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

β€’ What are you currently reading?
β€’ What did you recently finish reading?
β€’ What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Currently reading Jacqueline Winspear’s Messenger of Truth, which is book 4 of the Maisie Dobbs series, and therein lies the oops. I requested several Maisie books all together from my local library, and naively picked up the next one they brought me when I’d finished book 2, thinking of course it was book 3, which is actually a terrible assumption. Sigh. This explains the void in time between book 2 and the beginning of the one I just started – I thought Winspear was being tricky and was going to explain it in flashbacks, but aha! she probably told that part of the story in book 3. Last night I picked up the REAL book 3, which is Pardonable Lies, which I shall start on righ-taway (remember that from Indian in the Cupboard? no?) and put down Messenger until I’m ready to read it in the right order. Whew! I’m a bit sheepish about my mistake but it’s all going to work out.

What did you recently finish reading?

Recently finished Maisie’s book 2, Birds of a Feather.

What do you think you’ll read next?

This is the most fun question to answer today! Because on Friday I leave for NINE days of vacation, and I will be doing some reading! Also some hiking, mountain biking, and socializing, but definitely some reading. What to take with me? Oh my.

Obviously I will need to pick up Pardonable Lies next. I will probably finish Messenger of Truth on the vacay, too. But what else? I finally found a copy of In the Woods, by Tana French, and will definitely want to start that as soon as I can clear my Winspear-plate. I think I would like to read a “classic” soon too, so I can stop feeling so guilty about the Classics Challenge, but what that will be, I don’t know. I may just browse my classics shelf on my way out on Friday. I’ve been thinking lately about Gone with the Wind which I have never read, but I haven’t seen a copy recently and won’t be going out of my way for it before this trip… It will be interesting, upon my return, to see what I HAVE read! I don’t really plan my reading much, so really it’s a grab bag. But I’m excited about the possibilities. πŸ™‚

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next Maisie novel: Messenger of Truth

Posted on February 8, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Last night I finished book 2 of Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, by Jacqueline Winspear. I was satisfied with it in the end, after all. Billy’s self-medicating drug use, and the war, and the Order of the White Feather, were all treated seriously and in ways that made me think. I enjoy Maisie more as she becomes a bit more complicated, and I’m especially excited about the idea of her forming some “real” relationships – with any number of different people, and not necessarily romantic. I like Dr. Dene, and I like Billy more and more every minute. I want to see lots of him in the future. Maisie is developing as a character and I appreciate it. I had a smidge of frustration yesterday but today is a new day. πŸ™‚

And it’s time for a new Maisie book! Today I started Messenger of Truth. Hopefully I can blog about it before leaving for vacation this Friday (YAY!), and I’ll be late to the discussion with Book Club Girl, and will catch up when I get home. Hopefully book 4 will see me right on track though.

I like this book so far. I like that Billy is fully involved as Maisie’s assistant; he’s not peripheral at all in this one. (He wasn’t peripheral in Birds of a Feather, though he was more so in Maisie Dobbs.) Not to give anything away, but there are already (in 50 pages) several hints at events since the end of book 2 that we’ll be anxious to learn more about. It’s a good start! Looks like I’m going to enjoy two books in a row from the same author, which isn’t always the case. And I just couldn’t be more excited about how much reading I’ll get to do on vacation, OMG! πŸ™‚

Have a lovely Tuesday and stay tuned!

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Tuesday Teasers: Birds of a Feather, by Jacqueline Winspear

Posted on February 8, 2011 by pagesofjulia


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) β€œteaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!ο»Ώο»Ώ


From page 120 of Jacqueline Winspear’s Birds of a Feather:

She was anxious to interview the housekeeper and be on her way back to Chelstone, to plan the next part of her visit to Kent. She was abundantly aware that the initial meeting with Joseph Waite had taken place almost a week ago, and she was not yet certain she had located her client’s daughter.

This is a fine portrayal of Maisie: a bit anxious and all business! Hopefully there’s some fun in her future, too.

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Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

Posted on February 7, 2011 by pagesofjulia

This weekend I devoted myself to the second Maisie Dobbs novel. (See my notes on the first one here.) I am participating in the Maisie Dobbs Read-Along, although I’m doing a terrible job because I’m so LATE on each book. 😦 I am observing that I will continue to be LATE for at least the second and third books. Perhaps I will catch up on book four…

I am currently nearly finished with Birds of a Feather. We got to know Maisie in the first book: we learn her history as a young girl who loses her mother and goes to work as a servant; gets “discovered” for her intellect and tutored by her lifelong friend and mentor Maurice; goes to college; volunteers to nurse in the Great War; meets the love of her life and suffers tragedy. We learn of her relationships with her father, mentor Maurice, and patroness, if you will, the Lady Rowan. We also meet Billy Beale, who she hires as her assistant. In the second book, then, there is much less background to be covered, although it is sufficiently reviewed that a reader starting with book 2 will be just fine. Really, the review was a bit heavy-handed for me so recently after book 1, but I appreciate a series that can be begun in the middle, so I’ll be patient.

Maisie and Billy have undertaken another case, and operate as a team this time around, whereas in book 1, Billy took on an assistant’s role only late, and informally. Strangely, I don’t find the explain-it-to-the-assistant device to be natural or useful; I liked it better when Maisie just thought things to herself. These are lovely stories, and I love the time and place evoked so beautifully, and I like Maisie herself – plucky, smart, and caring, and with a satisfyingly complex backstory, relationships, and personal hang-ups. She’s very human. But I find myself frustrated, fairly often, with the way Winspear communicates some of her points; things tend to feel a bit forced. I think I want her to show more, and tell less. I still enjoy the books, but I am developing a hang-up. I guess I’m not explaining it perfectly, though, and will see if I can find a concrete example for you as I continue.

At any rate, there is much to like about the book. Billy is a wonderful addition, to the story as well as to Maisie’s life, and I really appreciate the way Winspear addresses substance abuse in the 1930’s. Maisie’s relationship with her father is another realistic device that I feel is well-done, like her problem with visiting Simon in book 1. The men in Maisie’s life in this book add a bit of fun that I hope we’ll continue; if I have a problem with Maisie, it’s definitely the lack of fun! A touch of romance along with mystery, history, evocative sense of place, and relationship dynamics makes for an enjoyable read, if it can just be done naturally.

I’m satisfied to continue reading Maisie Dobbs and discussing with the Book Club Girl. Maybe I’ll catch up one of these days… I expect to give you my end-of-book report tomorrow, and then I’ll venture over to the discussion to participate. For now, I’m avoiding plot spoilers.

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Persuader by Lee Child

Posted on February 4, 2011 by pagesofjulia

It’s an interesting world here in Houston these days. We are having completely abnormal weather: three nights in a row of hard freezes are just about unheard of. Our pipes froze the first night (we have learned some things since then) and yesterday afternoon, and today, businesses have closed, people have been sent home from work (or told not to come), and there has been some minor panicking over road conditions. The panic may have been a little over the top but then again, we have significant ice on the roads and many of us (many! including me) don’t know WHAT to do with that; there have been quite a few car accidents and apparently one traffic fatality. I think staying home sounds stellar, if possible. I am at work today. Ah well.

All of this did conspire to cancel all my plans and back-up plans last night, so I settled in instead to finish my latest Lee Child/Jack Reacher novel, Persuader. It was great! Just what I’m looking for from him, again. Usually Reacher has to be convinced to take up whatever cause is in question, but not this time. When the book opens he has recognized a sinister face from his past, and he’s already determined to involve himself in whatever this man may have going. We meet some unusually friendly, likeable, cooperative federal agents (usually he butts heads with these folks) and he heads into an elaborate set-up. It’s good juicy action that engages from the first page. And unlike my last Reacher read, it ends satisfyingly. Reacher finds the holy grail, makes a love connection and disentangles from it in the same breath, gets a new set of clothes, and walks into the sunset. Or the sunrise; he likes to leave his destination up in the air, after all.

This was just the kind of quick, adrenaline-packed, comforting couch read I was looking for. Ah, what a delicious night at home with the Husband and the two dogs. Today I’m straight into the next read, Birds of a Feather, in an attempt to catch up with the Maisie Dobbs Read-Along. Soon, though, I intend to get into some classics for the Classics Challenge; I have some set aside. What a lovely world!

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book beginnings on Friday: Birds of a Feather

Posted on February 4, 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 on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you’re reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence. (You might also consider visiting the original post where you can link to your own book beginning.)

I finished Lee Child’s Persuader last night (great fun, yay!) and will post about it shortly. So this morning, while waiting for road conditions to improve (yes we get a bit wussy in Houston when the whole world ices over and it stays below freezing for days. we get wussy because this NEVER HAPPENS and so we don’t know what to do when it does), I got to start a new book!

Unfortunately I’m behind in the Maisie Dobbs Read-Along, but I picked up book 3 along with book 2, so maybe I can catch up. Today’s book beginning comes from book 2, Birds of a Feather, by Jacqueline Winspear.

“Maisie Dobbs shuffled the papers on her desk into a neat pile and placed them in a plain manila folder. She took up green marble-patterned W.H. Smith fountain pen and inscribed the cover with the name of her new clients: Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Johnson, who were concerned that their son’s fiancee might have misled them regarding her past.”

Did you find the missing word? I did, and I found it jarring, especially RIGHT at the beginning like this. What a shame! Professionally published books should NOT include typos, but in the first two sentences… it troubles me. If anyone were going to catch a typo you’d think they could catch the one in the second sentence of the book!

Aside from this, it’s a perfectly nice beginning. We have some detail to hint to us about Maisie’s organizational habits, and a fairly strong hint as to her line of work. I am interested in revisiting her. What will she encounter this time? Are the typos just beginning?

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Challenge Update: Classics

Posted on February 3, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Continuing in the theme of challenge updates, we have a slow-starter here, for me at least. Good thing I only signed up for a bachelor’s degree in this Classics Challenge; I’m feeling rather ho-hum and not too proud of it.

The idea, as designed by Stiletto Storytime, is expressed with some purposeful vagueness: we get to decide what a classic is! The bachelor’s level comes out to 10 books in a whole year. I can do this! I just haven’t started yet.

I do have a few ideas in mind… I have The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera set aside… and I keep wanting to reread The Count of Monte Cristo. But I don’t think a reread should count; do you? Ah dear. Which brings me to my question for this post – please do comment and let me know! What is a classic? How does one choose? How old does it have to be to be a classic? Can we judge a 2010 book as being a “classic” already? It can be fiction or non, right? The challenger answers thusly: “A classic to me is a book that has in some way become bigger than itself. It’s become part of culture, society or the bigger picture. It’s the book you know about even if you have not read it. It’s the book you feel like you should have read.” …which I think pretty clearly allows nonfiction, but hasn’t settled my question of publication date at all. I don’t really have a book in mind that I’m questioning, but I’ll definitely ask you if I come up with a specific question. πŸ™‚

I think I’m still (still!) suffering from laziness-in-books, after finishing graduate school 14 months ago now. I’m so entertained by fluffy genre fiction (Child! Connelly! Burke! ok he’s less fluffy, a bit), and have trouble getting into heavier books. Does a classic have to be heavy? I did recently sit down and devour Pride and Prejudice in one sitting, yum. (another reread.) Wish me luck in this one… this might be my most challenging challenge, so I’m glad I took it on! Will let you know how it goes.

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Challenge Update: What’s in a Name?

Posted on February 2, 2011 by pagesofjulia

With the beginning of a new month, I believe I’ll go with challenge updates as a theme. On Monday we talked about the Where Are You Reading? challenge. Today let’s talk about the What’s in a Name challenge.

There are six title “types” that must be fulfilled by the end of the year:

1. A book with a number in the title: First to Die, Seven Up, Thirteen Reasons Why
2. A book with jewelry or a gem in the title: Diamond Ruby, Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Opal Deception
3. A book with a size in the title: Wide Sargasso Sea, Small Wars, Little Bee
4. A book with travel or movement in the title: Dead Witch Walking, Crawling with Zombies, Time Traveler’s Wife
5. A book with evil in the title: Bad Marie, Fallen, Wicked Lovely
6. A book with a life stage in the title: No Country for Old Men, Brideshead Revisited, Bog Child

…and, ahem, I’m one third of the way there, and it’s only February! 61 Hours fulfills #1, and Running Blind will fulfill #4. Great fun! Like the Where Are You Reading? challenge, I’m just going about my usual reading business and seeing how it comes out. So far Jack Reacher is winning this one out, hm, interesting. He’s such a traveler, I knew he’d help me out in the Where Are You Reading? challenge, and he is, but he’s also leading this one so far. Jack Reacher wins. πŸ™‚ Happy reading!

Edit: I also read The Time Traveler’s Wife recently, so let’s go ahead and call it halfway done! πŸ™‚

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