tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55315966079020375292024-03-18T00:04:42.198-03:00Ordinary Reader...thoughts on books I'm readingOrdinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.comBlogger664125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-23131963129924660672024-03-14T15:32:00.000-03:002024-03-14T15:32:02.695-03:00Why Not Women?<p> <b style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>Why Not Women? by Loren Cunningham and David Joel Hamilton</u></b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGaZV4ChTO9ZOImHndfSK6kIpR3jggyZxs4-mZGq74RXeoDRT-cyj6C-rM0_1GnuBe_JOOmYu5J87hu39EyyfWpKLCEzs6KSIrCfALDVDElhanWvWhJe2IQwwewkkcIMZ7SK8Vk-92B68XfNMv4aB41jlOFPQSq8ha4mOq0MllNd1SQcK-rRv_JIMQ6Yw/s2328/Why%20Not%20Women.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2328" data-original-width="1550" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGaZV4ChTO9ZOImHndfSK6kIpR3jggyZxs4-mZGq74RXeoDRT-cyj6C-rM0_1GnuBe_JOOmYu5J87hu39EyyfWpKLCEzs6KSIrCfALDVDElhanWvWhJe2IQwwewkkcIMZ7SK8Vk-92B68XfNMv4aB41jlOFPQSq8ha4mOq0MllNd1SQcK-rRv_JIMQ6Yw/w133-h200/Why%20Not%20Women.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Let me begin by saying I'm no expert in theology and make no claim to have studied this particular topic in any depth. But I am a woman who has read through the Bible and found the restrictions placed on women in the church contradictory. Parts of it talk about women in what seem to be leadership roles while other parts deny us the right to even speak in the church. How can both be what God wants? </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">These two authors thoroughly examine the Old and New Testaments, the place of women in history and culture, and, referring to the orginal languages of Scripture, the possibility that there has been mis-interpretation. I know some will find the very idea offensive, but I tried to see it as a challenge: if I was firm in what I believed there would be little harm in hearing what they had to say, but if I had questions - and I did - then this book might offer some insight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It gave me a new perspective on some things and though I couldn't agree with everything in it, their 35 pages of references and citations at the back do give a lot of weight to their arguments. Well worth reading.</span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-27368340024534885422024-03-07T15:51:00.000-04:002024-03-07T15:51:37.773-04:00Hotline<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><u>Hotline by Dmitri Nasrallah</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2wRc71-c40y8BdLGtOSbnsw22wbj3eupVLQr5IldtXestEei3IxrQ6QV9ZJhooLMn2qu7tSTAbWgAU4k5TLTJqlwcmCbMTp9P9iAFVSuhAG1_OOCaFfPSa0JLm7joP4Br960RhdwXCyBl-uOHXX4ccq26gUnNOlEJ0O_T_cZrMd_83AmolZK0U26Gu8/s626/Hotline.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="420" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2wRc71-c40y8BdLGtOSbnsw22wbj3eupVLQr5IldtXestEei3IxrQ6QV9ZJhooLMn2qu7tSTAbWgAU4k5TLTJqlwcmCbMTp9P9iAFVSuhAG1_OOCaFfPSa0JLm7joP4Br960RhdwXCyBl-uOHXX4ccq26gUnNOlEJ0O_T_cZrMd_83AmolZK0U26Gu8/w134-h200/Hotline.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A young woman and her son emigrate to Montreal from war-torn Lebanon after her husband is kidnapped and presumed dead. Struggling to make ends meet and look after her son, she finds the immigrant life not all it was promised to be. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A French teacher in her own country, she'd been told it would be easy to find work in Canada, but the reality is no one wants to hire a foreign single Mother without references. Desperate, she takes a job with at Nutri-Fort, a weight-loss center, as <i>"A hotline operator, a phone-order taker, a shipper of boxes, an ear whose only purpose in life is to swallow the sadness of strangers."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In their tiny apartment Muna sleeps on the worn sofa, giving her son, Omar, the one bedroom so he'll be rested for school and have a space that gives him some feeling of permanence, of home. Her dreams are filled with m</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">emories of her husband, still alive and at her side, talking to her, touching her; her waking hours with wondering what might have happened to him, what might be happening even now. She worries about Omar being alone and </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">unsupervised between the time he gets home from school and when she gets off work, and fears she's beginning to lose him. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This male author's capacity for viewing life from a wife's and mother's perspective, and for understanding and expressing her emotions, is impressive. Muna's internal dialogue reveals so clearly who she is and how she experiences her loves and losses. Each time I closed the book and glanced at the author's name I was surprised again that it wasn't written by a woman.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Quite a few Lebanese terms are used in the writing but most can easily be figured out from context. I googled some I was curious about and had no trouble finding English equivalents. Other than that the language is uncomplicated and easy to read. I got quite caught up in it and didn't want to put it down, but had to so I wouldn't finish too far ahead of our book club meeting - my aging brain doesn't hold on to things as well as it once did. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The title I thought was a little misleading, but it seemed more apt after she compared <i>herself</i> to a hotline - connecting her present life to her past, coming to terms with who she was then and who she is now. Still, the real story is not her job but her struggles as a wife, mother, and immigrant. The first part of the book did introduce us to some of her clients, even had me wondering if one of them might become a problem down the road, but later the story veered away from them and focused on Muna, Omar and the missing husband again. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A poignant, ultimately hopeful story about moving on from a traumatic past and doing whatever it takes to make a new home in a foreign country.</span></span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-90429198443490631402024-02-25T20:26:00.000-04:002024-02-25T20:26:11.847-04:00Yes, And<p> <u style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Yes, And by Cynthia Gunderson</u></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxaWU47wByObvqsgvxziXEO8mSQ_ea48pGiGKfmJxDfjCZmAy2TMpVtWE-sGIsFsceu4Nhw2mY8LxR3wQwlhJ4AoY4p7W_XqxA3_k0tXjJL1s8M1DcqY9INDcaYXkvGOi8kcOZZRf7xmjRUk-n6EKub1UeOCOl0bHcFIXH00aVAuuUh1ACUmpxUN1BaM/s759/Yes,%20And.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="728" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxaWU47wByObvqsgvxziXEO8mSQ_ea48pGiGKfmJxDfjCZmAy2TMpVtWE-sGIsFsceu4Nhw2mY8LxR3wQwlhJ4AoY4p7W_XqxA3_k0tXjJL1s8M1DcqY9INDcaYXkvGOi8kcOZZRf7xmjRUk-n6EKub1UeOCOl0bHcFIXH00aVAuuUh1ACUmpxUN1BaM/w192-h200/Yes,%20And.png" width="192" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A sweet story about an aimless young man and an irritable old woman finding purpose and comfort in an unexpected friendship.</span><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Toby isn't sure the education he's getting will lead to a life he wants, so he quits - temporarily (maybe) - to see if there is something more worth doing with his life. One day he's out mowing his lawn and notices that the lawn next door is overgrown so he does that one, too.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jo's becoming hard to get along with as her health declines, and she's suspicious of everyone - including her care-workers - and what they might want from her. When she looks out her window and discovers Toby mowing her lawn she's angry, but a shared interest in her favourite soap opera begins a friendship that will take them on some lively adventures, including roller-skating and a little private detective work. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Though aspects of the plot seemed unlikely, Jo and Toby were interesting, believable characters and the story moved along at a fair pace. I listened to an audio version, then wished I'd read it instead to maybe get a little more out of it. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A pleasant story that reminds us all how good it is to have a friend, and that we can all <i>be</i> a friend, even to - maybe especially to - those everyone else writes off. </span></span></p><p><br /></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-38677450351868666502024-02-12T14:33:00.001-04:002024-02-12T14:33:15.025-04:00The Kitchen House<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <u style="font-weight: bold;">The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom</u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxtth1jg7F3l_BM5RzYiCrGXih2q2vjGv26GhaiJ7ooZ7yI6rKT4l_HVXj_DC9yUyvmN5eDEAcxKVEh02anyPTC02nlpqnxwX5xEJokCaGVZ8NCmX0QBb5X4BSLZ-MqxodUQhEno-fNt2GwKAZyKcH2PURAeheLq8be2K1AqOE1jf0uQauqC6c7vpYuk/s2389/The%20Kitchen%20House.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2389" data-original-width="1594" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxtth1jg7F3l_BM5RzYiCrGXih2q2vjGv26GhaiJ7ooZ7yI6rKT4l_HVXj_DC9yUyvmN5eDEAcxKVEh02anyPTC02nlpqnxwX5xEJokCaGVZ8NCmX0QBb5X4BSLZ-MqxodUQhEno-fNt2GwKAZyKcH2PURAeheLq8be2K1AqOE1jf0uQauqC6c7vpYuk/w134-h200/The%20Kitchen%20House.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Lavinia McCarten, 6, arrives in America alone, her parents having died on the ship coming from Ireland. With no one to claim her, she is taken as an indentured servant by Captain Pyke of Tall Oaks tobacco plantation, to be raised in the kitchen house by Belle, the Captain's, illegitimate black daughter. Mama Mae, Papa, their children and the other slaves become "Abinia's" family, teaching her how things are done and how to conduct herself when working in the "big house". </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Two narrators, Lavinia and Belle, show us life from the perspectives of a black slave and a white servant. In the beginning their lives are much the same, but as Lavinia grows up her white skin will give her advantages Belle's family will never have. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">When the Captain's wife - Miss Martha - becomes ill and is moved to a hospital in Williamsburg, her sister takes Lavinia with them intending to make a lady of her and find her a husband. After one disasterous engagement is broken off, she begins a courtship with Marshall, the abused in childhhood and now violently disturbed, son of Captain Pyke. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Marshall and Lavinia marry and return to Tall Oaks, where he has become owner and master after the death of his father. At home his true nature becomes clear and Lavinia begins to realize she is as much his property now as she was his father's as a servant, and there is no way out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The book has a large cast of characters and thankfully there are enough good people to make it possible to keep reading about the awful ones. It's a great story, well written, and I do recommend it. Any negative thoughts I have about it are because I've had about all I can take of powerful people doing horrible things to helpless people. Every book I pick up lately seems to be that, and with the news full of the same thing morning, noon and night, I've got to start reading about less deplorable things before I start to hate the whole human race. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But, that is my problem, not the book's. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">These two narrators tell a story that, while heart-wrenching, is also tender and beautiful in its portrayal of family and friendship. A very good read. </span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-12876250585854852132024-02-03T14:45:00.000-04:002024-02-03T14:45:06.021-04:00The Coming Wave<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJStUE3hHLArtLRZi632E5dIf0-wJk7319dKVe1z3mafod7ArBV1Ow3zPMgQ0_w5SsCtd3pR2s3SauR83CQMuyeMaw2BK90mLzEPYlEDFHy7qvbisBr_tG-MWR3IC3p1rPi1eAT30GpHfZ_25psMphyphenhyphenWYUi8Dv1xAqI3LBA7JfqRs6kaXAsz7aIqzSSaE/s2113/The%20coming%20Wave.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2113" data-original-width="1378" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJStUE3hHLArtLRZi632E5dIf0-wJk7319dKVe1z3mafod7ArBV1Ow3zPMgQ0_w5SsCtd3pR2s3SauR83CQMuyeMaw2BK90mLzEPYlEDFHy7qvbisBr_tG-MWR3IC3p1rPi1eAT30GpHfZ_25psMphyphenhyphenWYUi8Dv1xAqI3LBA7JfqRs6kaXAsz7aIqzSSaE/w131-h200/The%20coming%20Wave.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <span><span><b><u>T</u></b></span><u style="font-weight: bold;">he Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman</u></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">An eye-opening, exciting and terrifying state-of-technology address to anyone who will listen. A prologue written by an AI will send only the first of many shivers up your spine.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The author begins by looking at technological developments in the past and how quickly the demand for new and useful inventions spread. Electricity, automobiles, computers - once the benefits were seen, their proliferation was unstoppable. He believes the AI in development now is also unstoppable and that controls must be put in place before it becomes too advanced for our own good.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Next he tells us where things stand currently and talks about the convergence of "atoms, bits and genes" - how physics, computing, and biology have all developed to a point where they can be used together to create things we can't yet imagine. He says technology is "<i>no longer just a tool, It's going to enhance life, and rival - and surpass - our own intelligence</i>", but <i>.."we cannot know exactly what combinations will result</i>."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Looking to the future, advanced AI has the potential for enormous good: "<i>They will offer extraordinary new medical advances and clean energy breakthroughs, creating not just new businesses but new industries and quality of life improvements in almost every imaginable area.</i>" But there is equal potential for disaster: "<i>We cannot know how quickly an AI will self-improve, or what would happen after a lab accident with some not yet invented piece of biotech....Even if you believe the chance of catastrophe is low, that we are operating blind should give you pause.</i>" As he says in the book, powerful new tech will be available to the good guys <i>and</i> the bad guys. ..."<i>ask it to suggest ways of knocking out the freshwater supply, or crashing the stock market, or triggering a nuclear war, or designing the ulimate virus, and it will</i>."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">He concludes with a list of ideas for beginning the extremely complicated and difficult process of containtainment. Government, business, tech creators, and the public all have a role to play, starting with taking "<i>a cold hard look at the facts, however uncomfortable</i>". And some of this is uncomfortable, indeed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I did find some of it repetitive, but with much of the information being new to me, the repetition turned out to be a help rather than a hindrance. If you have any interest in technology, or the future of life on this planet, you'll want to read Suleyman's mesmerizing book. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-2825003287700638832024-01-24T15:47:00.001-04:002024-01-24T15:57:06.478-04:00Persuasion<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><u>Persuasion by Jane Austen</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iEkgqxONynXhNYi6NiQG0FsEcbCos-C0znMhBhbVbGTpKNhE7c3IEvDTpnPpMNVVPENfIz5NGlWbu8Q0I0MRJryRsEZeF9ayj7aWtngTrow33DUvRVcpse9CcNbPpg_pYi_4CiBAwHfLu0ASvvjXPTAT2C9UE7kkyjLtLaiO8rhdyVM0SnJnOGO4NGE/s459/persuasion.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iEkgqxONynXhNYi6NiQG0FsEcbCos-C0znMhBhbVbGTpKNhE7c3IEvDTpnPpMNVVPENfIz5NGlWbu8Q0I0MRJryRsEZeF9ayj7aWtngTrow33DUvRVcpse9CcNbPpg_pYi_4CiBAwHfLu0ASvvjXPTAT2C9UE7kkyjLtLaiO8rhdyVM0SnJnOGO4NGE/w131-h200/persuasion.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Second time for this, previous review <a href="https://ordinaryreader.blogspot.com/2015/08/persuasion-and-incident-report.html">here</a>. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This audio book was narrated by P.J.Roscoe, whose lovely voice and accent brought it to vibrant life. I heard, not someone simply reading, but the voices of the characters themselves telling me their stories. The nine hours was over too soon. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ten years ago, Ann Elliot broke off an engagement because she felt it was the right thing to do for her family. She loved him, and he, her, but she believed duty called her to walk away. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Now, ten years later, they cross paths, memories are stirred and tensions rise. Not that there's much tension in Jane Austen's books, but there are questioning glances, bated breaths, and misunderstood meanings galore. Of course, you know how it's going to end, but the journey is fun no matter how many times you take it.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I love this book, though perhaps not as much as <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> and <i>Sense and Sensibility. </i>Her writing, the elegant prose, the oh-so-genteel dialogue - all of that keeps me coming back, though t</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">his was the first time I've listened to any of them on audio. I thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of having it read to me.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div></div>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-1637784612471129972024-01-15T15:20:00.001-04:002024-01-15T15:20:59.757-04:00A Footnote to Plato & Possessing Genius<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLeZJIpG_wpGsh3uPLrwpgAeiPiesdqYfpwEW0yTv6VFVmDNGbG_LVI8fF2qbNPX6-fJzS-mQ4bBk8N337aP0r3zVd65exDVO3j_qo8Gdkl46FzDaRrDpYuHhTYgUo7sHLmSE9qvulMSUeosFOVaSM_VHZ9vCqpsb5Cr8KuCvZLotpifzT82zMRoFecA/s753/A%20Footnote%20to%20Plato.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="749" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLeZJIpG_wpGsh3uPLrwpgAeiPiesdqYfpwEW0yTv6VFVmDNGbG_LVI8fF2qbNPX6-fJzS-mQ4bBk8N337aP0r3zVd65exDVO3j_qo8Gdkl46FzDaRrDpYuHhTYgUo7sHLmSE9qvulMSUeosFOVaSM_VHZ9vCqpsb5Cr8KuCvZLotpifzT82zMRoFecA/w199-h200/A%20Footnote%20to%20Plato.jpg" width="199" /></a></div></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><u><b>A Footnote to Plato by Tina Lee Forsee</b></u></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A Professor of Philosophy at a small New England college is falsely accused of sexual harrassment, i.e. "standing too close to a student". He isn't sure if he has unintentionally done what he was accused of, or if, which is more likely, the current powers that be are using it to push him out. With the investigation heavy on his mind, he takes his students on a field trip to Greece to film an on-line lecture series, and there the truth comes to light. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A quiet start, but it turned out to be quite a good story. Philisophical discussions (way more interesting than it sounds) draw parallels to the events unfolding in the plot and force you to slow down and think instead of rushing on to see what happens next. I love it when a book does that. The characters are fleshed out people you can connect to emotionally, and the settings - a small town college, and then Greece - are irresistibly appealing. Good reading. </span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u></u></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></span></div><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><div><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span></div><div><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc7g21oQ7jD9Z7KgApAlXYAv3byu8qnq1ed-qwOV2Nep_Vkm6ip_ga9WExNyIAKQrdvwf2goS797UI_-q2FsurjXzNB5St4WocTIGt5afNunH68rgHQCye3_8r0SeXRO8twLMcKqUkDrrgSzvQZYqbMRC8qRQRE_tS9QjVTN080o7bJiEHhshwu8lX9g/s1000/Possessing%20Genius.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="648" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghc7g21oQ7jD9Z7KgApAlXYAv3byu8qnq1ed-qwOV2Nep_Vkm6ip_ga9WExNyIAKQrdvwf2goS797UI_-q2FsurjXzNB5St4WocTIGt5afNunH68rgHQCye3_8r0SeXRO8twLMcKqUkDrrgSzvQZYqbMRC8qRQRE_tS9QjVTN080o7bJiEHhshwu8lX9g/w129-h200/Possessing%20Genius.jpg" width="129" /></a></u></div>Possessing Genius by Carolyn Abraham</u></b></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>This is the story of Einstein's brain, and what happened to it after the rest of him was buried. I was hoping to learn how his brain differed from the brains of us lesser mortals and maybe something about brain function in general, but it was mainly about the scientists who had bits of Einstein's in their possession - or very much wanted to. Many wanted to be involved in the research but the man given responsibility for it wasn't keen on sharing. </span>Not an uninteresting story, just not what I hoped it would be.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-67262975932131522302024-01-08T16:19:00.002-04:002024-01-08T16:19:40.449-04:00Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><b><u><span>Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie</span></u></b></b></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtzQGG-KX7XBDJws3-U0BXvsPdIqprBdakiPLXxo5iYuosM3QHxeaWIXz2TglWdl_6bJJ0yhEA-zINeNv5AzXUqvvtXC17H6x2RRbcPGmMFzHAI27A_WV7GDIwqzHiURl8FRD_HefajPe3cLQtrUM2NEfoeMw74Mnw1HwmMXJRv_RYIW0DEkPjISsqzw/s2154/Hercule%20Poirot's%20Christmas.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2154" data-original-width="1458" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtzQGG-KX7XBDJws3-U0BXvsPdIqprBdakiPLXxo5iYuosM3QHxeaWIXz2TglWdl_6bJJ0yhEA-zINeNv5AzXUqvvtXC17H6x2RRbcPGmMFzHAI27A_WV7GDIwqzHiURl8FRD_HefajPe3cLQtrUM2NEfoeMw74Mnw1HwmMXJRv_RYIW0DEkPjISsqzw/w136-h200/Hercule%20Poirot's%20Christmas.jpg" width="136" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Elderly patriarch Simeon Lee invites his sons, Alfred, George, David, and Harry to gather at Gorston Hall, the family estate, for Christmas. Surprised, as they're far from being a close family, they and their wives discuss the pros and cons and decide, reluctantly, to accept. Upon arrival more surprises await, in the person of a family member no one knew existed, and then a visit from Stephen Farr, the son of Simeon's long-time business partner, who arrives unannounced to meet the man of whom his father had so often spoken.</span><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Once gathered, Simeon, an invalid confined to his room, orders his sons to attend him and with a smug smile tells them he plans to change his will the next day, but doesn't say what the changes will be. After brutishly letting them all know how little he thinks of them, he dismisses them to a sullen dinner and an evening of what-if's and maybes...until a blood-curdling scream is heard from upstairs and they find his dead body, his room trashed in an apparently violent altercation.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Enter Poirot, who is spending a quiet Christmas Eve at the home of Chief Constable Johnson. When the call about Lee's murder comes through, Poirot accompanies Johnson to Gorston and the investigation begins. Through a series of interviews with the family and staff several motives for murder come to light, with a few red herrings slipped in to throw the reader off the scent.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The final scene is a gathering of everyone in the household, where Poirot reveals the true identies of some who are not who they claimed to be, makes a case against each one of them, and finally reveals the name of the murderer.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Looking back at it now I can see clues I missed that might have made me suspect the killer, but as it was I remained oblivious till the very end. I haven't read many of these books and I have to say I find Poirot irritating at times, but I like the way he thinks and I do enjoy being surprised at the end.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">My book club chose this for our Christmas book, only to find it wasn't Christmassy at all other than taking place over that week. Even so, it was a pretty good detective story and fans of the genre will enjoy it.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p><b style="font-family: times;"><b><u><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></u></b></b></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-70455429362599228682023-12-31T14:54:00.001-04:002024-01-01T15:12:19.780-04:00Gifts to Last and The Christmas Secret<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZEBtv2_Z8ELQTCZHfm5Mb0oJAYHOrR_HoG-pBXvk6cw3o4Pncur4wnfFX0Cc7z1368W4mgeburJKaVu6SAsmlIWdFx5ykwRj_OLqO3IpmoYEgnzR7EUS1Wrt3NImoHWThdev-ZDOCXreUU7sZjz_kVDsAjHptWYdD-l93ifrd9NkAv3bBQYDHjP4mWU/s1203/Gifts%20to%20Last.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="1203" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZEBtv2_Z8ELQTCZHfm5Mb0oJAYHOrR_HoG-pBXvk6cw3o4Pncur4wnfFX0Cc7z1368W4mgeburJKaVu6SAsmlIWdFx5ykwRj_OLqO3IpmoYEgnzR7EUS1Wrt3NImoHWThdev-ZDOCXreUU7sZjz_kVDsAjHptWYdD-l93ifrd9NkAv3bBQYDHjP4mWU/w200-h198/Gifts%20to%20Last.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: times;"><u>Gifts to Last</u> - Christmas Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland, selected by Walter Learning</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">From the blurb on the back - </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">"<i>Christmas a-glitter, Christmas on a shoestring, Christmas wrecked, Christmas salvaged, Christmas in city, village and country, in church and shopping mall and barn - they're all here, in stories by the best writers in the Maritimes and Newfoundland.</i>"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Some wonderful reading here, but not always the sweet stories and happy endings you find in many Christmas collections. These are glimpses of real life - a little gritty, sometimes sad, a bit of language here and there - but beautiful and touching in their humanity. I liked it even better this second time through.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u></u></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIr3kptoFZ1Kl-LViR7rPFhyphenhyphen0UE6FwjuNVaLJeZZPUtg8g8RA55zhXhDSPiIcm7FosdA1gv4RLRPIsd7k9G2b-Gg6Tg_N4p0j2_BtuDU7N0zXPTCXRHdI8OCxzvXhUakxOo9cqWWeZU0_toYrCQjPfNmxCxqsZZ-JHX_5JKMaQ74Wh495uPSjHo9nFk0/s1388/The%20Christmas%20Secret.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1388" data-original-width="908" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIr3kptoFZ1Kl-LViR7rPFhyphenhyphen0UE6FwjuNVaLJeZZPUtg8g8RA55zhXhDSPiIcm7FosdA1gv4RLRPIsd7k9G2b-Gg6Tg_N4p0j2_BtuDU7N0zXPTCXRHdI8OCxzvXhUakxOo9cqWWeZU0_toYrCQjPfNmxCxqsZZ-JHX_5JKMaQ74Wh495uPSjHo9nFk0/w131-h200/The%20Christmas%20Secret.jpg" width="131" /></a></u></b></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u>The Christmas Secret</u> - An Atlantic Canadian Christmas Reader, edited by Dan Soucoup</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Again from the blurb on the back -</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">"<i>...a wonderful collection featuring twenty tales of Atlantic Christmases of the past and present from some of the region's most beloved writers...Experience the celebrations and preparations of a lighthouse-keeping family on Bon Portage Island; the holiday humour of a Cape Breton coal mining community; the spirit of "old Christmas" in Island Cove, Newfoundland, and plenty more.</i>" </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">These stories are a bit more light-hearted than in the one above. Entertaining, nice reading for the holiday season.</span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-73877896208396010342023-12-30T14:44:00.000-04:002023-12-30T14:44:24.295-04:00Two Christmas Audio Books<p> <b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><u>Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Goose by Stephanie Laurens</u></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22jAjNaCBS4O2-3qcH_cB8FqCIdlvbUu-ytlKVyEB1CDKZvZ4T6CPIT14gv0Cw-E7hpmJ-Vkt3HM-sBEm3AQtxMfCUQ4HHxu-uf4rZGrg2quRtKlSvcYAw1wXl7qsJFrWK57_0U5Jd_wVpAYZOJEEZlmiligJHkuxrlk9Tfp76SgxL-PMEaL57cUE268/s721/Lady%20Osbaldestone.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="718" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22jAjNaCBS4O2-3qcH_cB8FqCIdlvbUu-ytlKVyEB1CDKZvZ4T6CPIT14gv0Cw-E7hpmJ-Vkt3HM-sBEm3AQtxMfCUQ4HHxu-uf4rZGrg2quRtKlSvcYAw1wXl7qsJFrWK57_0U5Jd_wVpAYZOJEEZlmiligJHkuxrlk9Tfp76SgxL-PMEaL57cUE268/w199-h200/Lady%20Osbaldestone.jpg" width="199" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A delightful audio book read by a narrator with the perfect tone and accent for the story. It's a romance of course, but the characters are interesting and there's more to the story than <i>just</i> the romance. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">When all the geese disappear from a farm the village relies on for their Christmas birds, Lady Osbaldestone resolves to find them. Enlisting the help of the three young grandchildren in her care while their parents recover from colds, they set out to save their Christmas dinners and do a bit of matchmaking in the process. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Their cupid's arrows are aimed at a local Lord recently returned from battle and keeping to himself to hide his facial scarring, and a lovely young woman bearing the burden of responsibility for her younger brother and the havoc he and his school chums create.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The writing was a pleasure to read, or heard read in this case. In the hands of a good writer, the genteel language of the era and the setting of polite society is a style of which I never tire. There's something about it that lifts any story to another level. Christmas stories like this are often a little too sweet to be palatable, but this one, thankfully, wasn't. Though there were parts of the story - children being corrected, and the young brother and his friends being "taught a lesson" - that could have come across as preachy, they were handled with a light enough touch to go down easily. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The outcome was no surprise, but the journey to it was entertaining. A light-hearted diversion in a hectic season. </span></p><p><b><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><u>On Christmas Day by Grace S. Richmond</u></span></b></b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhngwVhq8OoXsfEJxmcFUFyuvThRQ9e2wTo0Ugd9EUDnFfpk3rbV_GB9breo26qV12_XkAHD6TGwbozo1EodQAgGtO0kcsb5EyWkUDwpfVOXO1LcllSsRUilGIHpw97ghcXH5YdqXas-n4MVrFXv_HHlvWLIKfTMdh8BRvSi7uUAClKfAi4hK3ETJhVvY/s693/On%20Christmas%20Day.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="693" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhngwVhq8OoXsfEJxmcFUFyuvThRQ9e2wTo0Ugd9EUDnFfpk3rbV_GB9breo26qV12_XkAHD6TGwbozo1EodQAgGtO0kcsb5EyWkUDwpfVOXO1LcllSsRUilGIHpw97ghcXH5YdqXas-n4MVrFXv_HHlvWLIKfTMdh8BRvSi7uUAClKfAi4hK3ETJhVvY/w200-h197/On%20Christmas%20Day.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Another audio book, this one with two of the author's stories: On Christmas Day in the Morning and On Christmas Day in the Evening. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The first begins with an older couple making the best of another lonely Christmas Eve without their children, all busy now with work and families of their own. A wonderful surprise awaits them the next morning when they find all have arrived to celebrate the day together and mend any differences that may have kept them apart. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">In the second book, several years have passed with the family now gathering every year for the holiday. This year they want to re-open the local church and gather a community still at odds with each other over old differences. It won't be easy, but they'll decorate the church, find a preacher, prepare some music, then wait and see what God will do.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"> With conclusions a little too good to be true, perhaps, they are still uplifting stories for the season. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-20205385473991661182023-12-26T13:13:00.003-04:002023-12-26T13:17:33.394-04:00Two More Christmas Stories<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u></u></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTHB9JY0gouBKcoOPO15UTrHQwpH0HJDwEB3wgXi_j8Jr232hUyJqUQxmK9SMO5HYRcVGFTgW6vFCdMN0Eusn-GkPsXyfNhxEXT1m1kHlotEZbPSnLmFKkXpqIHZ1x_49Afd6dRF-bwyP8XrmMrxYKMUfqaermxKMOgnfk3j4hW1DSxMJ19mdhWMuepw/s1081/To%20Every%20Thing%20There%20is%20a%20Season.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1081" data-original-width="690" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTHB9JY0gouBKcoOPO15UTrHQwpH0HJDwEB3wgXi_j8Jr232hUyJqUQxmK9SMO5HYRcVGFTgW6vFCdMN0Eusn-GkPsXyfNhxEXT1m1kHlotEZbPSnLmFKkXpqIHZ1x_49Afd6dRF-bwyP8XrmMrxYKMUfqaermxKMOgnfk3j4hW1DSxMJ19mdhWMuepw/w127-h200/To%20Every%20Thing%20There%20is%20a%20Season.jpg" width="127" /></a></u></b></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u>To Every Thing There is a Season, A Cape Breton Christmas Story by Alistair MacLeod</u></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A short story in gift book format, beautifully illustrated by Peter Rankin. The story and drawings together create a time and place more real than would seem possible in so few pages. Narrated by an 11 year old boy in Cape Breton, it tells of a family preparing for Christmas and the return of a son who has been away for many months. The joy of his homecoming will be tempered by worry over the change he finds in his father</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This gem of a story takes only a few minutes to read, but it's wonderfully written and it captures completely that particular blend of happiness and melancholy that is Christmas. All I can say is, it's perfect. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><b><u><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"></span></u></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnssa7p7gKL8MEVY8oBqR1WcuYvfKr0rHYlNIOx5tuDSNNmhVwPqB5d0b4UfwLpLypLlN9sdNNPyaqoGecMMcVeCUGBORbFcBNOdKb_sjTT1Hq1h5pWw_55LUtNrXH7U823GHzSXKURsdPSg6LhzABq513p1FbvTy85Sl76uSgbGagZ7ZXD1FZ7HZ5l38/s425/The%20First%20Christmas.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="271" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnssa7p7gKL8MEVY8oBqR1WcuYvfKr0rHYlNIOx5tuDSNNmhVwPqB5d0b4UfwLpLypLlN9sdNNPyaqoGecMMcVeCUGBORbFcBNOdKb_sjTT1Hq1h5pWw_55LUtNrXH7U823GHzSXKURsdPSg6LhzABq513p1FbvTy85Sl76uSgbGagZ7ZXD1FZ7HZ5l38/s320/The%20First%20Christmas.jpg" width="204" /></a></span></u></b></div><b><u><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The First Christmas by Stephen Mitchell</span></u></b><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This tells the Christmas story from the perspective of the different characters involved. First the Innkeeper tells of his experience, then the Ox, the Shepherds, Maryam (Mary), Yosef (Joseph), the Wise Men, and the Donkey. It concludes with a brief epilogue.</span></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I've read similar things but found this one more vivid in certain sections. Mary's and Joseph's stories look honestly at the difficult feelings and many doubts they must have had when Mary became pregnant, had to tell Joseph, and then face the social consequences. I found their stories moving. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Having said that, I probably won't add it to my list of Christmas re-reads. I'm not sure I liked it, though I can't say why exactly. Something seemed off, but it could be I read it too quickly and didn't hear all it had to say.</span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-76858296375397941102023-12-24T14:30:00.003-04:002023-12-24T14:30:49.977-04:00A Blessed Christmas To You All!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C0qpMB0ldeAYOtb9vowpxdYyeAMWGZOqIVMQGi3eCuzUzaAjfAGlGjC9OoFmOjDzOXIKZXuW89ZyQoivu1Xcy2ACQr8FIwTsLXKZLBvVIG5MfUFPN93eiATKge-QHqzo4IcdIng_ZSv92M2cCHTTmQO83MbPlUSsPfU91p8WTwk5Nn6a5GoL_NsmSkc/s1552/Picture2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1552" data-original-width="1168" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1C0qpMB0ldeAYOtb9vowpxdYyeAMWGZOqIVMQGi3eCuzUzaAjfAGlGjC9OoFmOjDzOXIKZXuW89ZyQoivu1Xcy2ACQr8FIwTsLXKZLBvVIG5MfUFPN93eiATKge-QHqzo4IcdIng_ZSv92M2cCHTTmQO83MbPlUSsPfU91p8WTwk5Nn6a5GoL_NsmSkc/w482-h640/Picture2.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-42366540280041724982023-12-17T15:30:00.001-04:002023-12-21T10:42:45.848-04:00Two Christmas Stories<p><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqOedT7zADxj1skgzou_RfzqqjjHNheewj2OHBOIlNHivvItzy_Z2EnmgQ1rgNAaeplZpWqsc9JHvkd78hWcGZcUHxbb1plU8u9xwZse1lYLfRNJmgBP34FAzZPwAj5pMWSgnPBcgZ5_djuEK3tlPl8fpTKKOQZcEIKcQSJ1ZZxGtdMEtGNn4Oi74p5o/s515/Miracle%20in%20the%20Wilderness.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqOedT7zADxj1skgzou_RfzqqjjHNheewj2OHBOIlNHivvItzy_Z2EnmgQ1rgNAaeplZpWqsc9JHvkd78hWcGZcUHxbb1plU8u9xwZse1lYLfRNJmgBP34FAzZPwAj5pMWSgnPBcgZ5_djuEK3tlPl8fpTKKOQZcEIKcQSJ1ZZxGtdMEtGNn4Oi74p5o/w156-h200/Miracle%20in%20the%20Wilderness.jpg" width="156" /></a></b></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><u><b>Miracle in the Wilderness by Paul Gallico</b></u></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A short Christmas story about a couple and their infant son held captive by a group of people seeking revenge for a loss. On Christmas Eve a miracle occurs, leading to forgiveness on all sides and hope for a peaceful future together. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">As a story it wasn't bad, what there was of it. A longer one with more insight into the characters might have been more memorable. I haven't seen the movie, but imdb.com tells me there was one made in 1991 with Kris Kristofferson and Kim Cattrall. At an hour and a half long they must have added more to the story than what's in this little book, but sadly I've been unable to find it on any of my streaming services. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u></u></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iuQX5NeJ737NAhFerCmxKXm2c0aQatRFIzCzLmoI-BjqpBZStOdRRFG4zYjGeCcSADBt73dJMuKSrhlVi-8YlE72L48E4LqKJUae1vhsNz4lyREtX2zBWZYrD9inOhKyje_z_ZOh05uXlJUTwqqM5aqCC3VkP-yY6o0L3hHXs1B-kHpafeoBiwVxwCA/s288/A%20Redbird%20christmas.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="175" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iuQX5NeJ737NAhFerCmxKXm2c0aQatRFIzCzLmoI-BjqpBZStOdRRFG4zYjGeCcSADBt73dJMuKSrhlVi-8YlE72L48E4LqKJUae1vhsNz4lyREtX2zBWZYrD9inOhKyje_z_ZOh05uXlJUTwqqM5aqCC3VkP-yY6o0L3hHXs1B-kHpafeoBiwVxwCA/w122-h200/A%20Redbird%20christmas.jpg" width="122" /></a></u></b></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b><u>A Redbird Christmas by Fanny Flagg</u></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This is my second reading of A Redbird Christmas and I'm happy to say I liked it better this time, maybe because it was an audio book narrated by the author herself. Her calm voice is perfectly suited to the gentle people of the story and her soft, southern accent made me feel I was right there in the folksy (fictional) town of Lost River, Alabama. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It isn't <i>very</i> Christmassy, but it is a sweet, if unlikely, story.</span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-63186637279747382462023-12-12T16:28:00.000-04:002023-12-12T16:28:41.287-04:00The Mistletoe Matchmaker<p><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><b><u><span style="font-family: times;">The Mistletoe Matchmaker by Felicity Hayes-McCoy</span></u></b></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQH_CttbDehR_M-bXy8DKqBFbCthXB4J7x3qLyRE7OKWdA4U6bBrM8PyGlZVMnnPbDXW9QJZisfK03UgQcjRRkXWQKaasjIZbt3x_CiPPahEwRdJtw9CoxninSA8MKq7l-Lq_ZACZBDAl6YFWauuznFHO_IyoLYu3p6P_s2mHZjDY8y-xYGzI8yIFcNFw/s3049/352%20-%20Dec%2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2133" data-original-width="3049" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQH_CttbDehR_M-bXy8DKqBFbCthXB4J7x3qLyRE7OKWdA4U6bBrM8PyGlZVMnnPbDXW9QJZisfK03UgQcjRRkXWQKaasjIZbt3x_CiPPahEwRdJtw9CoxninSA8MKq7l-Lq_ZACZBDAl6YFWauuznFHO_IyoLYu3p6P_s2mHZjDY8y-xYGzI8yIFcNFw/w320-h224/352%20-%20Dec%2018.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Cassie Fitzgerald's grandparents visit her family in Canada, and Cassie goes back to Ireland with them. Meeting family members and making new friends in Finfarran, she gets involved in community work, joins a group at the library, and starts seeing a man who seems genuinely interested in her. The romance is only a small part of the plot, which mainly focuses on relationships between family and friends. There are enough of them that I needed a list to sort them out, but once I figured out who belonged to who it was easier to keep them straight.</span><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The audio book was narrated by an Irish woman whose lovely lilting accent was positively addictive. She made the characters identifiable by the tone she used for each of them but unfortunately the voice she gave the Canadian girl just sounded weird to this Canadian. The 'r' sound was quite comical and the overall effect was unlike any accent I've ever heard, in Canada or anywhere. The reading of the female character's lines made them sometimes sound a bit silly, an impression I probably wouldn't have gotten from the written book. It made Cassie hard to relate to - or even like - but those musical Irish accents and a fairly good story kept me listening to the end. Still, I wish I'd read it instead of listening.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The story isn't terribly Christmasy and the title is questionable, but the characters come across as authentic for the most part and the plot is more complex than would have I expected. Though part of a series, I found it stood on its own quite well. It was good light reading. Or listening - I'm never sure it's ok to call it reading. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">When you've listened to a book, do you consider yourself to have read it? </span></p></div>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-79040483187059760372023-12-05T15:40:00.001-04:002023-12-05T15:40:35.949-04:00Loch Down Abbey<p><span style="font-size: large;"> <b style="font-family: times;"><u>Loch Down Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQ32gO0-qEt_yvmjLc0Jc4W9ZqVdiEWpM4PbKMv2CIWBwteQTMprTl-Z8gDUmFnoj-08RjQD7Tc_KsS0YgWX2YcO4taRqmu2kcwjERqkPDmmKsvNZWEekvSXwUvrItj3YAG8kwQiFQe-HlIdlV5tooZbPc__DALIrgQKdeNC7GgIvP1BQfT2urdDQiYw/s445/Loch%20Down%20Abbey.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="289" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQ32gO0-qEt_yvmjLc0Jc4W9ZqVdiEWpM4PbKMv2CIWBwteQTMprTl-Z8gDUmFnoj-08RjQD7Tc_KsS0YgWX2YcO4taRqmu2kcwjERqkPDmmKsvNZWEekvSXwUvrItj3YAG8kwQiFQe-HlIdlV5tooZbPc__DALIrgQKdeNC7GgIvP1BQfT2urdDQiYw/w130-h200/Loch%20Down%20Abbey.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Listening to the audio version, narrated by Eilidh Beaton, got me through this one. I wasn't drawn into the story for the first hour or so, but her voice and accent were so appealing that I wanted to keep listening, and before long found myself more interested. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Set in 1930s Scotland in the massive Abbey of Loch Down, it's the story of a wealthy family whose financial future becomes precarious when the head of the household dies. His death leads to a police investigation, and that leads to the uncovering of some uncomfortable family secrets. I think the mystery around his death was meant to be the main story line, but the more memorable story turned out to be the family's financial problems and how to solve them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It reminded me of Downtown Abbey in many ways, only this family is far less likeable. Most of them have never done a moment's work in their lives or considered anyone's needs but their own. The supercilious attitudes will have you both laughing and longing to slap faces. You'll like the housekeeper though; she's much like Mrs. Hughes, and the Bulter somewhat like Carson. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I can't say it was a very good story, but it was mildly entertaining. I enjoyed the setting but I'm not a fan of the wrap-it-all-up-in-a-convenient-package ending. It seemed almost too neat, and rather unlikely. All that said, if you enjoy a mystery - I think it could be called a 'cozy mystery' but that description makes me cringe - set in a fabulous house with a haughty family and sensible staff, you'll probably like Loch Down Abbey.</span></p><p><br /></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-83384854442730487282023-12-02T21:27:00.000-04:002023-12-02T21:27:44.423-04:00Breakfast in Burgundy<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><u>Breakfast in Burgundy by Raymond Blake</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4fO8bF-I9VMXNP3aEjEAtEhWfaPGy9OgAHvT4NkdYzwvYNLJO-W3rNaMV71Z5tdtMh3r3xNDWhrpu0MOMwZ3xllsEfGjluL2x-IIv3PYw2jZNZQ9tjRzMuxWJDY4mjP40YYa_APj0KkIK3qhfMGOpOdnP4roDfRrAM7XHLg7qMopPX7wIjQxQXZWw30/s470/Breakfast%20in%20Burgundy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4fO8bF-I9VMXNP3aEjEAtEhWfaPGy9OgAHvT4NkdYzwvYNLJO-W3rNaMV71Z5tdtMh3r3xNDWhrpu0MOMwZ3xllsEfGjluL2x-IIv3PYw2jZNZQ9tjRzMuxWJDY4mjP40YYa_APj0KkIK3qhfMGOpOdnP4roDfRrAM7XHLg7qMopPX7wIjQxQXZWw30/w136-h200/Breakfast%20in%20Burgundy.jpg" width="136" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">In this travel memoir, Blake, from Ireland, buys a house in the Burgundy region of France. He writes about the frustrations of getting renovations done, the beauty of the area, the people he meets and the meals they share. In the vein of Peter Mayle's Provence books, but for me not quite as entertaining.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The stories about fixing up his house are great, as are the descriptions of French food and countryside, but a great deal of the book is about wine. T</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">he depth of detail he goes into about vineyards and vintages would probably appeal more to someone with a lot more knowledge than I have. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">He's a terrific writer and parts of the book were fun to read, but the sub-title <i>"A Hungry Irishman in the Belly of France"</i> had me hoping for something lighter. It got bogged down in wine talk and lost me about half way through. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-40200741239370661382023-11-30T17:01:00.000-04:002023-11-30T17:01:13.917-04:00Lilac Girls<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <b><u><span style="font-family: times;">Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly</span></u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKCfDp0LX5Hg2NzWq8kzjNGH8Btz-_iiFhOvY4wsl-iitgxNjGUGId20a6ozx7y2eIJUqe9286R610IoHxDwWIVSptyxMX0t52J5kppPcTLZCA8-O_6s6_Pyoke5i1Oj1ScldpcygJBRpM5mij_Fv7z2aZikf_Tq8auckXzdFbGLI8qrbXD8m5fkwUGQ/s350/Lilac%20Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="194" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKCfDp0LX5Hg2NzWq8kzjNGH8Btz-_iiFhOvY4wsl-iitgxNjGUGId20a6ozx7y2eIJUqe9286R610IoHxDwWIVSptyxMX0t52J5kppPcTLZCA8-O_6s6_Pyoke5i1Oj1ScldpcygJBRpM5mij_Fv7z2aZikf_Tq8auckXzdFbGLI8qrbXD8m5fkwUGQ/s320/Lilac%20Girls.jpg" width="177" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">My thoughts on this one won't be popular with the many who loved it because I found it had more weaknesses than strengths. It covers some intense subject matter and seems to be very well researched, but in the end the writing simply wasn't strong enough to tell the story well. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">In alternating sections three characters share the events of 1939 to 1959 as they experienced them:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Caroline, 37, does volunteer work for the French Embassy in New York City, assisting the many people trying to either get out of France or get home to France with war looking more likely every day. Her work and her involvement in the organizing and shipping of care boxes to children displaced in Europe's chaos lends some gravitas to what otherwise seems like an often frivolous character. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Kasia, 16, and two friends are outside when low flying planes approach and she watches in horror as the first bombs are dropped on their small Polish town. Caught helping the resistance movement, she, along with her mother and sister, will be sent to Ravensbruck, a concentration camp for women. There Kasia and her sister will be among a group of women subjected to horrific Nazi medical experimentation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Herta, a young German doctor frustrated by the lack of jobs open to females in civilian practice, is excited when she hears of an opportunity to work at a women's 're-eduction' camp. On arrival at Ravensbruck, she is at first unsettled by what she sees being done to prisoners, but then comes to see it as necessary for the protection of German racial purity.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Is anybody else getting tired of the alternating viewpoints and timelines device? It seems to be the go-to format in fiction now, but for me it's wearing thin. It works here to a point, but only Kasia's comes to any sort of conclusion, with the other two just fading out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A number of things seemed off. The title has little to do with the story and the cover art is a little misleading. It can't represent the three main characters, who would never be found arm in arm like chums. Some of the dialogue, especially Caroline's, felt shallow and tone-deaf. Inconsistencies in her character show her being kind and compassionate with some people, then inexplicably rude with others. Her story relies heavily on a romance that never ends up going anywhere. Kasia's coldness toward her daughter and husband don't come across as reasonable, and there's no explanation of Herta's quick change of attitude about the brutality in the camp.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The three women are based on actual people and though the sections dealing with their true experiences are riveting, it falls apart in the purely fictional parts of the story. I want to admire Caroline and Kasia for the heroes they are, but the attitides and dialogue given to them make them unlikeable, which to me defeats the purpose and prevents any emotional connection with them. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This story had a lot of potential, with solid subject matter and real people to build it around, but I think the writing let it down. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-11880418232913860842023-11-21T15:00:00.001-04:002023-11-23T22:40:24.496-04:00The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted<p><span style="font-size: large;"> <b style="font-family: times;"><u>The Provence Cure for the Broken Hearted by Bridget Asher</u></b></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObueWPnhaYkOh08QvBO8l8nAyWnxLs0e19IuKCfkWJs-PhElDrejWBUWUfzv_yUbBChnKQK36sMMT0G4w6_87tKSo6tT0vCMemuEp5wHBNFZL90fKfg5V9_o1lYaFOswO_euMSQwIZ1cfXZ2JQ8w_PkLoy7sZLzjPt4NK7sAphdg4APXFKGOor3yIl84/s1000/The%20Provence%20Cure%20for%20the%20Brokenhearted.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="648" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjObueWPnhaYkOh08QvBO8l8nAyWnxLs0e19IuKCfkWJs-PhElDrejWBUWUfzv_yUbBChnKQK36sMMT0G4w6_87tKSo6tT0vCMemuEp5wHBNFZL90fKfg5V9_o1lYaFOswO_euMSQwIZ1cfXZ2JQ8w_PkLoy7sZLzjPt4NK7sAphdg4APXFKGOor3yIl84/w129-h200/The%20Provence%20Cure%20for%20the%20Brokenhearted.jpg" width="129" /></a></span></span></div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">To appease her mother, Heidi and her son Abbot head out to spend a summer in their family home in Provence, ostensibly to begin renovations after a small fire, but really because her mother feels they aren't recovering from the loss of Heidi's husband two years earlier in a car accident. She hopes a change will help them move on.</span></span><div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Travelling w</span></span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">ith them is Heidi's teenage neice, a sullen girl who doesn't seem to get along with anybody but Heidi. She's going because her father and Heidi's sister have just married and want some time to themselves, but Heidi has a secret nobody will be able to ignore for long.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">In France, they get off to a rough start when they are robbed of their luggage and most of their devices before they even get to the house. Fortunately a neighbour rescues them - a man Heidi knew as a child when she spent summers in Provence. He's handsome, kind, and also dealing with loss since his wife divorced him and took up with his brother. The fact that she and their daughter now live with the brother brings another layer of family tension to the plot, and on the romance front, well, you can guess where that is heading.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">It's fairly well written with mostly credible characters and plot, and it addresses real life issues, albeit in a romantic setting that isn't anything like real life for most people. It's predictable and a little corny, but as Anna Quindlen said in "How Reading Changed My Life": </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><i>"...reading has as many functions as the human body, and ...not all of them are cerebral. One is mere entertainment, the pleasurable whiling away of time."</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted is that: a pleasureable whiling away of time. I enjoyed it. </span></span></p></div>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-8477700883910551612023-11-13T10:22:00.004-04:002023-11-13T16:31:03.900-04:00Seveneves<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><b><u>Seveneves by Neil Stephenson</u></b></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhatwzGSakRW3luRRpqZg7N0o6X476nQGZEt0Yayvgs04pSx6NPpZIVR2cy7QRdFnNKr25sUr7hcFRF93yiuYFGZIUlBvux26TXucs40BLMSCcQQGptnuX6LRL9elk9cAvdMemgwGKVSbvE-EcFhK-cnTYMT2pzCEqVqR42NJGGCsnDUST7ZprzAy2HAgE/s500/Seveneves.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="321" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhatwzGSakRW3luRRpqZg7N0o6X476nQGZEt0Yayvgs04pSx6NPpZIVR2cy7QRdFnNKr25sUr7hcFRF93yiuYFGZIUlBvux26TXucs40BLMSCcQQGptnuX6LRL9elk9cAvdMemgwGKVSbvE-EcFhK-cnTYMT2pzCEqVqR42NJGGCsnDUST7ZprzAy2HAgE/w128-h200/Seveneves.jpg" width="128" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">"</span><i style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.</i><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">" </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">With that first line I was hooked. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And it get's better, or worse as it happens for characters in the story. An extinction level event is coming. The earth has two years to figure out how to make sure the human race survives what is being called the Hard Rain, when the moon's debris will start falling to earth. It will bombard the planet like nothing ever before, creating a dome of fire that will cook everything on the surface. 7 billion people will die.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The book is divided into three parts:</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Part 1 covers one year after the moon's disintigration. Scientists and world leaders make desperate plans to put as many people into space as they can, while others choose to try their luck underground, and some even under water. A "casting of lots" in every country decides who will be sent to the Iternational Space Station, which is being expanded and stocked as fast as possible. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Part 2 covers the year leading up to the Hard Rain, the event itself, and then the desperate attemps of those who were sent "up" to survive in space. They have to avoid colliding with fragments of the moon without getting too close to the burning earth, and then deal with unrest and violence among the survivors. Eventually, they reach a place of safety, but by then there are very few left.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Part 3 jumps ahead 5000 years - 5000 years! - to see how the human race has fared. The earth is being "TeReFormed" and contact, at times hostile, has been made with descendants of those who went underground and under water.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The story is fascinating but the amount of technical information left my head spinning at times. I must confess I scanned some of those parts instead of really reading them. I didn't dare skip them entirely for fear I'd miss some things. And there are So. Many. Things. A little overwhelming at times, but much too interesting to quit. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">861 pages of science fiction - or anything really - is a lot, but I guess it takes that long to destroy and create a whole new world. The world created in Seveneves is complete with new scientific, cultural, economic, and political realities. The thoroughness of it is amazing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">That's not to say it's without its flaws. The last section being 5000 years in the future, all the characters you've gotten invested in are gone, and although they are still, in a way, part of the continuing story and referred to often, the break is jarring. It's a little like starting a new book, one that isn't quite as riveting as the last one because you aren't holding your breath to see if the human race survives. They have survived and flourished, and once you begin to read about how that happened it grabs your full attention again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">There is a lot of detail - enough to make me wish I had a degree in...engineering ...physics...orbital something? but there is also great writing and strong, likable characters. And a plot that is nothing short of an epic vision. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"> thought it was brilliant.</span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-71469047161044235722023-11-06T21:13:00.000-04:002023-11-06T21:13:07.193-04:00Fairwell to Fairacre & A Peaceful Retirement<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">These are the final two in the Chronicles of Fairacre series - twenty books in total and every one a delight.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWVJqj8FM1CzVzuEr49GiBWkAGDadU_RgYpPn1e-wjaCpX5tbDPnhcQk4BnpTSRGoTFoSgMNuGmD0DiFI-zvzSOx-3KQLgJn4OAS_egwzjd8suJzE3hzFmZ0OMRH2QB53KqhyphenhyphenvBe54VlnrYEu7_5JPb83YF9iwA_MFkaj3O9ITwrAKFCWpoVTveb7r1o/s813/Farewell%20to%20Fairacre.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="550" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWVJqj8FM1CzVzuEr49GiBWkAGDadU_RgYpPn1e-wjaCpX5tbDPnhcQk4BnpTSRGoTFoSgMNuGmD0DiFI-zvzSOx-3KQLgJn4OAS_egwzjd8suJzE3hzFmZ0OMRH2QB53KqhyphenhyphenvBe54VlnrYEu7_5JPb83YF9iwA_MFkaj3O9ITwrAKFCWpoVTveb7r1o/w135-h200/Farewell%20to%20Fairacre.jpg" width="135" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>#19 Fairwell To Fairacre</b> sees Miss Read suffering declining health and considering early retirement. But until that time her days are filled with the antics of her school children; run-ins with Mrs. Pringle, the disagreeable school cleaner; the never-ending problems of friend, Henry; and a marriage proposal from a charming man with "silvery hair" and "devastating blue eyes". </span><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6wqKk8OxXX7cFGUns-RmXhAX-DVQmOSxx8fJ73FFYM-GDqluo10q9fk_CP3zqQ1eHfYITCRmAuGGCPQXjTCgS-K66T0iFr9Y0ck3twaWlQi5ts6ooIHxZjtafmC6xcb07UoVMJF8Q3t17O2WIFK6Dhwcfz6XEsSl-Zm9Ks3cpFXd4T5zhu4do1qv4BU/s400/A%20Peaceful%20Retirement.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6wqKk8OxXX7cFGUns-RmXhAX-DVQmOSxx8fJ73FFYM-GDqluo10q9fk_CP3zqQ1eHfYITCRmAuGGCPQXjTCgS-K66T0iFr9Y0ck3twaWlQi5ts6ooIHxZjtafmC6xcb07UoVMJF8Q3t17O2WIFK6Dhwcfz6XEsSl-Zm9Ks3cpFXd4T5zhu4do1qv4BU/w129-h200/A%20Peaceful%20Retirement.jpg" width="129" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>#20 A Pleasant Retirement </b>finds Miss Read adjusting to a busier retirement than she had anticipated. Visitors at the door, telephone calls, and friends and neighbours seeking her participation in community activities now that she "has all this empty time on her hands" give her little opportunity for solitude. Henry's problems come to head, John continues to propose regularly, and Miss Read enjoys a vacation in Italy with her best friend Amy. The series concludes with a new beginning for her as she puts pen to paper and begins chronicling tales of Fairacre and its people.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Reading through this series is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. When I grew weary of more troubling stories - war, grief, illness, disaster - I'd return to Fairacre to be reminded that there are gentle people in quiet places doing the best they can and appreciating the beauty in everyday things. Not that it's all sweetness all the time. No, Miss Read's often barbed wit injects enough reality - not to mention entertainment - to make the books both comforting and realistic. They have been my "happy place" for the past few years and I'm</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> sad now to have come to the end, but happily our library still has the full series in their catalogue. I'll probably read them all again one day.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I've quoted this from Publisher's Weekly before but it sums these books up so beautifully that I'll use it one more time:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> "</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">Miss Read has created an orderly universe in which people are kind and conscientious and cherish virtues and manners now considered antiquated elsewhere...An occasional visi</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">t</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"> to Fairacre offers a restful change from the frenetic pace of the contemporary world"</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And I'll throw in the one from Kirkus Reviews too:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">"</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;">A soothing oasis of tidy living for the frazzled reader weary of an untidy world."</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica;">Wonderful, wonderful books. It's best to read them in order but you'll be doing yourself a favour by picking up any one of them and spending a little time in Miss Read's Fairacre village. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-23842705598348616702023-11-02T14:56:00.005-03:002023-11-02T15:58:30.471-03:00To Dance With the White Dog<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><u>To Dance With the White Dog by Terry Kay</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccCe_7tCsMq1t58rHSccukKcmHyFi8XpULstJ3raP5SiBzvZLi30A-tSP7UUG2HhD-SJrN-M4OXJerfIAsMeH8kgotakKA9HR0EJU22ZAimnYLGJUe0aJLpR8kZeTCZoCx-6EfdfpPo4ABt5-6wiiyczS53r3HC6PbmQrBmZI1D6vHRE9UE21YfqUUWk/s445/To%20Dance%20With%20the%20White%20Dog.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="279" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccCe_7tCsMq1t58rHSccukKcmHyFi8XpULstJ3raP5SiBzvZLi30A-tSP7UUG2HhD-SJrN-M4OXJerfIAsMeH8kgotakKA9HR0EJU22ZAimnYLGJUe0aJLpR8kZeTCZoCx-6EfdfpPo4ABt5-6wiiyczS53r3HC6PbmQrBmZI1D6vHRE9UE21YfqUUWk/w126-h200/To%20Dance%20With%20the%20White%20Dog.jpg" width="126" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I very nearly missed this one. I've tended to shy away from dog stories since reading <a href="https://ordinaryreader.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-last-books-of-2018.html">Fifteen Dogs</a>. It was brutal and did nothing to encourage my already somewhat tenuous relationship with creatures of the canine variety. I'm not afraid of them as I once was, but I still don't completely trust them. Sure, they can be loving companions - I know dogs who are exactly that - but I've heard too many stories of sudden, unexpected violence to let my guard down entirely. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">All that to say, I happened to come across a review of To Dance With the White Dog that made me think I'd like it, and indeed I did. Loved it, in fact. It's a heart-warming story about Sam, an elderly farmer, who has just lost his wife of 57 years and doesn't know quite how to live without her. His well intended children fuss over him when all he wants is to be left alone to figure it out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">One day he sees a white dog watching him from a distance. He leaves out scraps of food and eventually gets the dog to come closer and then into the house. At first no one else can see the dog and they worry their father is imagining it, but after a while they begin to see him, too, though they never hear him bark. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Always seeming to know when help or comfort is needed, White Dog becomes Sam's companion in all things. Without his children knowing, Sam and the dog sneak off to attend a school reunion in another town, but on the way Sam becomes confused and loses his way. After spending an uncomfortable night together in the truck, a kind stranger rescues them and takes them home with him so Sam can rest and have a hot meal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Collected by his children and safely home again, he realizes his days of venturing off on his own are over, but he finds other ways to fill his time. White Dog stays with Sam until he knows he won't be needed anymore, then he disappears as quietly as he came. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">A simple story, but it isn't about plot it's about Sam. We get to know him - and he's worth knowing - through seeing him in everyday situations, struggling with grief and the changes aging brings. His story is a celebration of life, written with tenderness and humour, reminding us that life goes on and is worth living even in changing circumstances. And, yes, he does dance with the White Dog.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I'll end with one of my favourite lines:</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">"he knew her voice would be the same - light, lilting,rushing to the next word and the next, her voice as cursive as her signature."</span></i></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-27195255295113768202023-10-25T17:39:00.000-03:002023-10-25T17:39:29.865-03:00The Colony<p> <b style="font-family: times;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">The Colony by Audrey Magee</span></u></b></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETDbLiTmD0JakImaVkX4bGN292n0ju9YxumetnuRi2foKBIwvrefHKDr1XMhCjcJmbMlmi4jIdRu6rwavHf0hO-31Q2msrLRGhZZiX4P_STkuo87Nw-_khlwlLQa05vEPkgcBb5eC6NURkrsHveLWMMUT1HyoKFzgFOnXtMyxs-rfAsUp7wKZfAiHyus/s445/The%20Colony.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="291" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETDbLiTmD0JakImaVkX4bGN292n0ju9YxumetnuRi2foKBIwvrefHKDr1XMhCjcJmbMlmi4jIdRu6rwavHf0hO-31Q2msrLRGhZZiX4P_STkuo87Nw-_khlwlLQa05vEPkgcBb5eC6NURkrsHveLWMMUT1HyoKFzgFOnXtMyxs-rfAsUp7wKZfAiHyus/w131-h200/The%20Colony.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span><span>A remote island off the western coast of Ireland, is, in the turbulent summer of 1979, set in the old ways and fearful of change. There, </span></span>Mairead, a beautiful young widow who lost her husband to the sea, lives with her son, James, James' grandmother and great-grandmother. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Regular breaks in the narrative report news items of violence related to the "troubles" happening on the mainland. At first they seem unrelated to the islanders, but eventually the killings creep into their conversations and though they aren't directly involved, you worry about James. His mother urges him "Stay away from that, James."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">With summer come two visitors to the Island. Mr. Lloyd is an artist, here to paint the cliffs and the people of the island in hopes of reviving his flagging career. J.P. is a liguist in the fifth and final year of his study of the Gaelic language and its decline. The two men take an instant dislike to each other, Mr. Lloyd frustrated that he will not have the quiet and solitude he expected, and J.P. angry that Lloyd's presence has the islanders speaking English, the language of the colonizers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The locals are suspicious of the artist, not knowing what he wants of them or what his work will say to the world about them, and when Mairead begins posing for him, their unease only increases. Her sneaking out of J.P.'s room in the mornings is one more reason to want both visitors gone. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>When Lloyd discovers that James has artistic talent, he invites the boy to accompany him to London to exhibit some of his art with Lloyds. Eager for a life beyond the island, James creates pieces to exhibit but begins to suspect Lloyd of copying some of James' ideas for his own work. Lloyd, realizing James is a better artist than he is and will outshine him in London, decides he can't allow that to happen.</span> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>You get to know the characters from the changing points of view and the access the author gives us to their thoughts. </span>A sense of melancholy infuses every part of the story, but I wouldn't say it weighs it down. It creates an atmosphere of forboding that keeps you wondering, almost worrying, how this is going to end. As the reports from the mainland become more intense, so things on the island build to an unsettling conclusion.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><br /></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-29357686625924928392023-10-19T13:58:00.002-03:002023-10-19T13:58:41.609-03:00Alice Adams<p> <b style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington</u></b></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5ppmbFkFwPqocSVF1y-9Gv0XscdnL_AR23vkikfIhg41xxkVUgloZ39VWoIpYqdKI0uDBwEGRug_Ae3edFDor_RVv-dxEVZpHWouISTND1qF__5F88MYvGq6EhlOkA1NHHVeM1m_wNl0QeOyLBL3Ym53EtrxYMx0mZ-IhpiZkwPeyHhYAis7L8psZOg/s276/Alice%20Adams.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="176" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU5ppmbFkFwPqocSVF1y-9Gv0XscdnL_AR23vkikfIhg41xxkVUgloZ39VWoIpYqdKI0uDBwEGRug_Ae3edFDor_RVv-dxEVZpHWouISTND1qF__5F88MYvGq6EhlOkA1NHHVeM1m_wNl0QeOyLBL3Ym53EtrxYMx0mZ-IhpiZkwPeyHhYAis7L8psZOg/w128-h200/Alice%20Adams.jpg" width="128" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Alice Adams, tired of being a poor nobody (...not really poor, just less rich than her friends), has set her hopes on the high life. She and her grasping mother hope Alice will raise the Adams' standing in society by marrying a rich somebody. Her only other option would be to enroll in the dreaded local business college to learn a marketable skill. She is horrified at the very thought.</span><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">At a party she meets Arthur Russel, who takes an immediate interest and courts her throughout the summer. Their time together is spent on the Adams' front porch because Alice doesn't want him to see the inside of the shabby house or to meet her father who is not as well-to-do as Alice has let on. She has let on a lot of things. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Eventually the mother insists on Arthur coming to dinner, which turns out to be one of the most awkward, disasterous social occasions ever. It was painful to read. Every illusion Alice and her mother have so carefully built comes crashing down. Arthur sees who they really are and comes to visit Alice one more time, both of them understanding it will be the last. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Alice's mother blames her husband, Virgil, and guilts him into going into business for himself to increase his income and make his children's lives easier. But to do that he has to steal a formula from his long-time boss, who, of course, eventually finds out and is not amused. Meanwhile Alice's brother, Walter, working for the same company as his father, robs his employer and takes off, leaving Virgil responsible for that debt as well as his own theft. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">In a wonderful, if unlikely, turn of events, the boss forgives Virgil and offers to buy his business, making it possible for Virgil to pay Walter's debt and avoid prison. Even better, he gives Virgil his old job back with a raise in pay. Isn't fiction great? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Alice, her illusions of grandeur shattered, faces up to real life and finds it not so bad after all. She decides to enroll in the business school so she can get a job to help support the family. The ending is fairly positive, lessons learned and all that, for everyone but Walter. He and the money are still missing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately none of the characters were very relatable, or even likeable really. They are more caricatures than real people so it was hard to make any emotional connection with them. I've read several other Tarkington books and found the same thing in all of them, and yet there's something about them I like. I enjoy his writing and the era he's writing in and about, and the situations he puts his characters into and seeing how they respond to them makes for good stories. I guess the bottom line is I find them pleasant reading, realistic or not. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Alice Adams, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, is available to read free of charge at Gutenberg Press here: </span><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/980" style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">gutenberg.org</span></a></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-65804468793751250662023-10-14T15:39:00.001-03:002023-10-14T15:40:39.023-03:00Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter/Greenlights<p><b><u><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter by Edward Streeter</span></u></b></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7JsOLLKAU26N57itUhgr_ibVmlHyqnvKMniYs21t2BnBnyrrruLmu7Y7umP-WfDE6hPQ8uHX_J4TUZYlqKig5YRlWQapz_Ht2Rqp45TZoh-hhREWQrhB30gOBCVRG5qPdb1xLsmra_xFD5nNuU-uYTyfqG6lsK163JzIsd6S5GGEne487mfbYZFCUMA/s384/MerryChristmasMrBaxter.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7JsOLLKAU26N57itUhgr_ibVmlHyqnvKMniYs21t2BnBnyrrruLmu7Y7umP-WfDE6hPQ8uHX_J4TUZYlqKig5YRlWQapz_Ht2Rqp45TZoh-hhREWQrhB30gOBCVRG5qPdb1xLsmra_xFD5nNuU-uYTyfqG6lsK163JzIsd6S5GGEne487mfbYZFCUMA/w136-h200/MerryChristmasMrBaxter.jpg" width="136" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Mr. Baxter, an affluent business man living in New York City, is at a loss to understand why otherwise sensible people all lose their minds at Christmas. Every year he and Mrs. Baxter decide they will be reasonable and do things more simply this Christmas, and every year as the day approaches they forget their good intentions and go overboard again. Mrs. B. succumbs joyfully, happily planning, shopping, and wrapping. Mr. B. sighs and grumbles. </span></p><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">There isn't much of a plot, but it's great fun seeing the holidays through Mr. Baxter's slightly jaded eyes. He's not a curmudgeon exactly, just a bit more down-to-earth than Mrs. Baxter thinks is necessary. They remind me of tv couples from the 1950s - darling this and darling that, then completely ignoring whatever the other is saying. It's very entertaining. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I searched for a paper copy without finding one at any kind of sensible price, but then stumbled onto archive.org, a remarkable site where there are all sorts of old books available to read free. I'm not terribly keen on reading from a computer screen - too hard on the eyes - but on an old tablet that isn't good for much else it wasn't too bad at all. If you haven't checked out the archive, you can do that here: </span><a href="https://archive.org/" style="font-family: helvetica;">internet archive</a>.</span></p><p><b><u><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">Greenlights</span><span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span><span style="font-family: times;">by Matthew McConaughey</span></span></span></u></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">This one had the look of a scrapbook with its pictures of post-it's and lists and Mr. McConaughey's pithy sayings throughout. I can't say I enjoyed the format but some of his story is interesting. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5531596607902037529.post-28517125875020657132023-10-10T20:08:00.000-03:002023-10-10T20:08:40.781-03:00Parnassus on Wheels<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> <b><u>Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley</u></b></span></p><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: times; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-01pnKVpOTbT291K6BCwQuiPb3F5d7VDLpL65xzfQ1IUA90hXulT17DwHKuGfBf2hVhzWlyfSKhYsxPpxc4nkYMtPMp_6CIHUZviS9itlmxbm_JyieAV04n0K9QUS2tebN7-58F9K1TbEyI-CTfev8pt38NU5oy0lVbZO8SV8DMChBJBRO76VDCx29o/s500/Parnassus%20on%20Wheels.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="336" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-01pnKVpOTbT291K6BCwQuiPb3F5d7VDLpL65xzfQ1IUA90hXulT17DwHKuGfBf2hVhzWlyfSKhYsxPpxc4nkYMtPMp_6CIHUZviS9itlmxbm_JyieAV04n0K9QUS2tebN7-58F9K1TbEyI-CTfev8pt38NU5oy0lVbZO8SV8DMChBJBRO76VDCx29o/w134-h200/Parnassus%20on%20Wheels.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">The delightful tale of Helen McGill, who, tired of keeping house for her older brother, Andrew, buys a book wagon called Parnassus, and takes to driving about the countryside selling books. The previous owner, Ralph Mifflin, rides with her for a few days, showing her the ropes and giving her the first opportunity she's had in years to talk about something other than farm life. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">When Andrew finds out what she's done, he goes to the police and accuses Mr. Mifflin of defrauding Helen. Ralph ends up in jail, Helen is furious with Andrew and now has to convince the authorities it's all a misunderstanding. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span>The beating heart of this book is Helen McGill, an endearing soul, full of practical wisdom and eager to see the positive in everyone. It's not a long story but it's memorable, </span>funny and sweet, and pleasingly scattered with literary references. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I listened to an audio version narrated by a Wanda McCadden, who did it so well that it felt like she was sitting at my kitchen table telling the story to me personally. I seldom recommend audio over the printed word, but I have to this time. If you can find this one (I got it through <a href="https://www.chirpbooks.com/home">Chirp</a>) do try it. It's pure joy. </span></p>Ordinary Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16813001887162908486noreply@blogger.com0