An Eco Never Fails to Resonate
Title: Serendipities
Author: Umberto Eco
Eco never fails me. Except once… I didn’t care for Baudolino. But even after that epic let down, the work stayed with me – if only to prove that even a genius can manage to disappoint from time to time, because reading is a two way street.
The author must deliver, but the reader must be receptive.
Sometimes capturing the magic of that relationship is consistent, sometimes it isn’t…
Nevertheless, Eco never fails to resonate. I remember his name always. His words always mean something. His thoughts and opinions are ones I value and take into great consideration. He moves me.
He speaks of language and sounds, ideas that arbitrary and ones that are not. He writes about the things that speak to my soul every time. Eco and I, though of course he doesn’t know it, have a trust relationship. I trust him to deliver something that will mean something to me, and I suppose that he trusts that what he has to say needs to be said – what he writes is meant to be written.
Authors and books have a way of being there when you need them most. That comfort stays with me always.
Emissary
Title: Emissary
Author: Chris Rogers
Genre: Science Fiction Literature
Length: 434 pages
Sometimes being a reviewer is hard. That sounds silly, because I love it! But when you recognize a GOOD book and you can’t seem to get into it, it’s a little painful on the emotions. (Just like I’ve recognized books as crap and managed to love every minute of them… that part is just painful on the ego.) It’s even harder when you begin building recurring author/reviewer relationships, see these people face to face and have to tell them: It’s brilliant, but I couldn’t get into it. I don’t get to hide behind the anonymity of a computer screen, I book these lovely people for signings and see them around. I enjoy that I can’t hide, it perhaps makes me kinder. But it does not make me any less honest. In fact, it maybe keeps me more honest, because I know we’ll chat later and I know that my facial expressions never lie. I’m the kind of person that can’t manage to tell a cancer patient that they’re looking good when they’re not. I end up saying, “You look better than you have!” At which point, true story, they laugh and say, “Atleast you’re honest.” My facial expressions could be the death of me.
Let me premise by saying: I am not copping out with a back handed compliment. Emissary truly is brilliant! From a literary perspective, it’s Rogers’ best work. It has the most depth, the most importance. I just couldn’t get into it. 
Maybe it’s exhaustion, the holidays, or the fact that I’m just not in the mood for so many characters, but I wanted to devour Chris Rogers’ latest title as I have done all her others – but I didn’t. I plodded. I got distracted. Between readings I forgot whether Longshadow or President Hale was the leading character, and what their role in the story was. Ruell and I weren’t communicating well and I kept wanting him to be more tangible like Dax from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Every time Rogers mentioned a town or country or other world, I started thinking about geography and history books, space, and the milky way… I was reading science fiction and my mind kept grasping for non-fiction reading material.
Art by Chris Rogers
I went total ADD on this book for nearly every page. Every time Duarte made an appearance I found myself humming “Don’t cry for me Argentina” until I distracted myself out of the story yet again. Like Ruell, I was feeling all sparky and in need of a host to anchor myself. I say it’s brilliant because I think there are a lot of discussion opportunities within its pages, both for reading groups and classrooms. It felt like reading Kurt Vonneget for school with a little Nelson DeMille splashed on top.
I think it would make an excellent film if someone could write a worthy screenplay, but the story should be guarded protectively lest someone come and make a shotty job of it. (Think of how many ways Ender’s Game could have been ruined if someone other than Gavin Hood had tackled it.) Please give Emissary a go… then come back and discuss! Also stay tuned for an interview with the author.
2014 Reading List
Every year I post my exhaustive list for the year. So, Happy New Year! Here’s what happened last year:
I’ve included chapter books I read out loud to Ayla, but not picture books because that would be insane.
JANUARY
1. Magic Tree House #18 & #19 – Mary Pope Osborne
2. The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver
3. Get Me Out of Here – Reiland
4. Papyrus – John Oehler
5. The Road Not Taken & Other Poems
6. Voltaire’s Calligrapher – Pablo de Santos
7. The Newton Letter – John Banville
8. The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Wilder
FEBRUARY
9. A Shopshire Lad – A. E. Housman
10. Still Life With Insects – Brian Kitely
11. Codependent No More – Beattie
12. Committed – Gilbert
13. Not Even Wrong – Paul Collins
14. The Weekend Novelist – Robert J. Ray
MARCH
15. The Landmark Herodotus
16. Divergent – Roth
17. Hunger – Michael Grant
APRIL
18. The Colorado Kid – Stephen King
19. Follies Past – Melanie Kerr
20. The Green Book – Rogers & Kostigen
21. Green Greener Greenest – Lori Bongiorno
22. The Archivist – Cooley
MAY
23. Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School – Siegel
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Smith
25. The Devenshire Chronicles: Stones of Andarus
26. The Dying of the Light: End – Jason Kristopher
27. The City of Bones – Cassandra Clare
JUNE
28. Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart – Beth Pattillo
29. Death by Darjeeling – Laura Childs
30. The Book of Secrets – Elizabeth Joy Arnold
31. The Early Investor – Michael W. Zisa
32. City of Glass – Clare
33. City of Fallen Angels – Clare
34. City of Lost Souls – Clare
35. City of Heavenly Fire – Clare
36. A Circle of Quiet – L’Engle
37. Clockwork Princess – Clare
38. Bitten – Kelley Armstrong
39. The Beginner’s Goodbye – Anne Tyler
40. Be the Captain of Your Career – Molisani
41. A Reliable Wife – Goolrick
42. Barabbas – Par Lagerkvist
43. How to Achieve True Greatness – Castiglione
JULY
44. Life is Hard But God is Good – Horton
45. ADHD According to Zoe – Zoe Kessler
46. The Entrepreneur Mind – Kevin D. Johnson
47. A Thousand Days in Venice – de Blasi
48. Entangled – Barbara Ellen Brink
49. Fairy Bell Sisters #1 & #2 – McNamara (to Ayla obviously)
50. Share Your Message With the World – Gambone
AUGUST
51. The Thirteenth Tale – Setterfield
52. Of Blood & Brothers – E. Michael Helms
53. Investing for Retirement – Harwood
54. His Texas Forever Family – Amy Woods (SO PROUD OF HER!)
55. The King’s English – Burton
56. A Fancy Dinner Party – Grey Gecko Press
57. Of Blood & Brothers 2 – E. Michael Helms
58. Expecting Money – Erica Sandberg
59. Cruel Devices – George Wright Padgett
SEPTEMBER
60. Gunpowder Green – Laura Childs
61. The Secret Life of Captain X – Mrs. X No More
62. 28 1/2 Wishes – Denise Grover Swank
63. Planning for College – Paul Lloyd Hemphill
64. Angelbound – Christina Bauer
65. Doubles Match – Meb Bryant
66. On the Decay of the Art of Lying – Mark Twain
67. Alone – Robert J. Crane
68. Buying a Home: Don’t Let Them Make a Monkey Out of You – Musgrave
69. The Last Beach Bungalow – Jennie Nash
70. Voyager – Diana Gabaldon
OCTOBER
71. Adolescent Literacy Research & Practice
72. Why School? Reclaiming Education… – Rose
73. Stolen – Kelley Armstrong
74. Drums of Autumn – Diana Gabaldon
75. Lies That Make You Pay – Rachel Norman
76. The Mother Tongue – Bill Bryson
77. Enchanted Ivy – Sarah Beth Durst
78. Peter Pan – J.M. Barrie
79. Women, Men, & Money – Devine
80. Insurgent – Roth
NOVEMBER
81. Allegiant – Roth
82. The Summer of the Great Grandmother – L’Engle
83. The Rural Life – Klinkenberg
84. A Question of Upbringing – Anthony Powell
85. Rich as a King – Goldstein
86. Deadly Catch – E. Michael Helms
87. Murder Past Due – D.R. Meredith
88. The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
89. Murder Past Due – Miranda James
90. Greystone Valley – Charlie Brooks
91. Shades of Earl Grey – Laura Childs
92. Roomies – Lindy Zart
93. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
94. The Five Civilized Tribes – Foreman
95. Retirement GPS – Aaron Katsman
DECEMBER
96. Resolute – Martin W. Sandler
97. The Maze Runner – Dashner
98. Love & Misadventure – Lang Leav
99. The Scorch Trials – Dashner
100. Lullabies – Lang Leav
101. The Death Cure – Dashner
102. Money: Master the Game – Tony Robbins
103. Emissary – Chris Rogers
Love Lang Leav
“I think this is where I belong – among all your other lost things.” – Lang Leav
It’s a full moon.
Quiet.
The tree branches are even still. No rustling.
The kind of night that leaves you staring at the sky, eyes peering through the cool fog in a way a camera lens can never quite capture.
So I retired indoors to read Lang Leav poems, proud of being mature enough for her to not be spoiled by the memory of the one who introduced us. Happy that no one can take the written word from me, no matter how awful they are.
Because I truly adore Lang Leav. She is my favorite currently writing poet, along with her partner Michael Faudet.
I think I read her for the first time in the Fall of last year. She was floating around Pinterest and I then followed her facebook page. Only Love & Misadventure was out then.
Then came Lullabies and Michael Faudet’s Dirty Pretty Things.
My other favorites, if you follow my blog, you know: A.E. Housman, Edna St. Vincent Millay…
Clearly, I enjoy the hint of melancholy mixed with nostalgia.
I like the presence of mind to live in the past, the present, and the future all in one moment. To acknowledge that your experiences have made you and your hopes are what you live for… and right now, this breath, simultaneously deserves all your attention. It’s a beautiful conundrum, balancing it all.
Rich as a King
Just last month, I wrote a book review for Money-fax.com on Rich as a King. It was a personal finance and investing guide written with a whole new twist: by using tactics of a Grandmaster Chess Player.
That review, of Susan Polgar and Douglas Goldstein’s book, can be found here: http://money-fax.com/money-fax-com-book-review-rich-as-a-king/
But I didn’t want my support of their venture to end there, and I wanted to reach out to my readers here as well. If you’re looking for an educational gift to purchase this Christmas, wanting to set some new goals and resolutions for the New Year, or just want to get started in refining your mind – look no further, Rich as a King should be in your shopping cart.
From my Money-fax.com review:
Tips like “Keep your eye on the goal of gaining the initiative and keeping it,” are easily applied to both chess and the stock market. The authors will tell you how the idea is useful in chess and explain the importance of the concept, then show you how to continue utilizing this skill when you are dealing with your money. The connections are smooth and effortless, and reading tidbits from Polgar’s chess career and upbringing makes the read enjoyable. Polgar’s experience with goal setting is incredible and my favorite anecdote from her was in regards to her homeschooling and how she learned to focus.
If nothing else, check out this cool action shot of Susan playing 10 simultaneous chess games in Switzerland. She’s pretty amazing.
A Resolute Club
As much a book review as a book club assessment.
Title: Resolute
Author: Martin W. Sandler
Genre: History / True Adventure
Length: 320 pages
Put a seafaring image on the front cover, talk of adventure and exploration, make reference to ghosts… I’m sold.
We read Sandler’s “epic search for the Northwest Passage” for the Half Price Books Humble Book Club and discussed it the first Monday of December.
It’s an exciting read, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I’ll be holding onto my hardback copy for years to come. I’d love to see this made into a film, as it was I found myself re-watching National Treasure: Book of Secrets just for the Resolute references I was craving post reading.
Although this is largely about the Arctic and the British, a good chunk of our discussion at book club revolved around arrogance and fictional characters we’ve read through out this year:
One comparison would be the personal pride exhibited by the people across all 3 books [A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Question of Upbringing, and Resolute].
For example in ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’, on the 3rd page of chapter 38 Evy says: “Well, there’s always the Catholic Charities”. To which Katie replied “When the time comes that we have to take charity baskets, I’ll plug up the doors and windows and wait until the children are sound asleep and then turn on every gas jet in the house.”
In Resolute, the British Naval captains were too arrogant to ask the Inuits how to survive in a place they have never been.
And the title ‘A Question of Upbringing’ speaks for itself.
– Glenn Ray
We carry much of our discussions over into later months and often end up talking about books we love repeatedly. There aren’t many of us. Two in person on the regular, one by phone on the regular, and various stragglers that pop in periodically (3 recurring stragglers, to be exact). But we enjoy our talks thoroughly and are always hopeful of new members.
Like the worldwide search for John Franklin, our little club keeps on keeping on.
Here’s our dated roster, what we’ve read and what we plan to read:
Mon 12/3/2012 ‘Old Curiosity Shop’ by Charles Dickens
Mon 1/7/2013 ‘A Homemade Life’ by Wizenberg; and ‘Julie and Julia’ by Julie Powell
Mon 2/4/2013 ‘March’ by Geraldine Brooks
Mon 3/4/2013 ‘The Lords of Finance’ by Liaquat Ahamed
Mon 4/1/2013 ‘Atonement’ by Ian McEwan
Mon 5/6/2013 ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers
Mon 6/3/2013 ‘Princess Bride’ by William Goldman
Mon 7/1/2013 ‘John Adams’ by McCullough; some also read Abigail Adams by Woody Holton
Mon 8/5/2013 ‘The Color Purple’ by Alice Walker; alternate ‘A Passage to India’ by Forster
Mon 9/2/2013 ‘My Antonia’ by Willa Cather
Mon 10/7/2013 ‘Thomas Jefferson, the Art of Power’ by Jon Meacham
Mon 11/4/2013 ‘Player Piano’ by Kurt Vonnegut
Mon 12/2/2013 ‘The Sparrow’ by Mary Doria Russell
Mon 1/6/2014 ‘The Lacuna’ by Barbara Kingsolver
Mon 2/3/2014 ‘The Bridge Of San Luis Rey’ by Thornton Wilder
Mon 3/3/2014 ‘The Histories’ by Herodotus
Mon 4/7/2014 ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith
Mon 5/5/2014 ‘Wings of the Dove’ by Henry James
Mon 6/2/2014 ‘Shadow of the Wind’ by Ruiz
Mon 7/7/2014 ‘Benjamin Franklin’ bio by David Freeman Hawke
Mon 8/4/2014 ‘The 13th Tale’ by Diane Setterfield
Mon 9/1/2014 ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel García Márquez
Mon 10/6/2014 ‘Professor and the Madman’ by Simon Winchester
Mon 11/3/2014 ‘A Question of Upbringing’ by Anthony Powell
Mon 12/1/2014 ‘Resolute’ by Martin W. Sandler
COMING UP…
Mon 1/5/2015 ‘The Beekeeper’s Apprentice’ by Laurie R. King
Mon 2/2/2015 ‘The World is Flat’ by Thomas L. Friedman
Mon 3/2/2015 ‘Conspiracy of Paper’ by David Liss
Mon 4/?/2015 ‘Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins
I think we’re a pretty well rounded, well read group. If you’d like to join us, we meet at Half Price Books Humble the first Monday of every month at 7:30 pm. Year round. If you want to discuss something we’ve already read, something we’re currently reading, or something else altogether – that’s fine, we’ll chat.
And When I Think, I Fall Asleep
Title: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Genre: Fiction/ Literature
Length: 458 pages
When I was a kid I had a poster of a chimpanzee on my wall. Underneath in a font that was surely intended to motivate a young mind it said: “When I Work, I Work Hard. When I Play, I Play Hard. But When I Think, I Fall Asleep.” The monkey had his chin resting in his human-like hand, eyes drooped down.
Although I’ve read more books that my norm this year, I’ve just *mostly* finished my 93rd title, it’s been a lot of fluff. It’s been a lot of things that digest easily and go down like lemonade on a hot summer day, or cooled hot cocoa in winter. The heavier stuff that I tend to enjoy has bored me. I’m too tired for all this thinking. My energies are spent writing. I want to just download books into my head, Matrix style, when I sit down to read.
One Hundred Years of Solitude has been sitting on my shelf radiating all this promise for years. I’ve put it off because it was going to blow my mind. It was going to be too wonderful for words. Then, when the words came, it was supposed to be the most intelligent thing that had ever come from my mouth – or been typed by my fingers. Because it’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Because Garcia is wonderful. Because this is his magnum opus.
I was bored.
There’s a lot to take in. There’s a lot to quote. I could never write anything so wonderful in all my life.
But around page 300 out of the 458 pages, I caught myself skimming. The drama was annoying me. The people were unfriendly. I couldn’t relate to anyone, nor did I want to. This probably says more about my mood than anything else, but I started flicking through the pages speed reading to a level that even I know I’m not really reading anymore.
“Not finishing a book that doesn’t move you is a sign of reading maturity,” I just told a co-worker at the bookstore tonight. “It’s knowing that there are so many wonderful things out there that you shouldn’t waste your time with things that aren’t wonderful.” I waste my time with things that aren’t wonderful all the time. Even more so, I waste my time with things that are wonderful even if I’m not feeling wonder at them at all, I’m just reading it because I’m supposed to feel awed.
Around page 370 or so, I took a deep breath, skipped to the last chapter and read it. Yes, I skipped pages. Lots of them. And just read the end. I still started nodding off. I’m not even that tired (ok, I am that tired, but good books are supposed to keep you awake!), just that unmoved by this family and their crap. Sadly, I didn’t feel like I missed anything at all. I was just relieved that it was over, that I was going to mark this one off my list. Then, I felt the annoyance of the knowledge that I was not going to write my one solid literary essay of the year, at least not on this book. (Once a year or so, I write an essay. A proper one, as though I’m still in school. It’s lame. And nerdy. But I feel like I have to do this to stay in practice. You know, in case I ever go back. They get worse every year. I’ve stopped sharing them. Now, it looks like I’ve even stopped writing them.)
I’m further annoyed that this is a favorite book of my best friend. I hate that I can’t share that with her.
Maybe I’ll read those pages I skipped one day. Maybe. For now, I’ll admit defeat and enjoy my sleep.
Angela is super sorry and she begs for your forgiveness!
Title: Roomies
Author: Lindy Zart
Genre: Contemporary Romance (Clean)
Format: Kindle Ebook
I downloaded this ebook because I, too, have a story I’ve written about roommates. Mine is incomplete, along a similar vein, but very different. I was curious. Also, there was a reviewer (Angela) who hadn’t participated in a blog tour (I think) the way they were supposed to and remembered at the last minute. This blogger begged the internet to go apologize on Lindy Zart’s facebook page, I found that endearing and hilarious. I know what it’s like to fill your plate with piles of review copies and promises and then find yourself in a serious time crunch. And we do all this because we love you guys, indie authors and publishers, and I am one of you guys, and the goal is to offer as much support as possible, but sometimes we get a little overzealous in our passions. Then all the passions throw a temper tantrum, stomp their feet, and throw a calender at your head. Figuratively, of course. Really we just sit their dumbfounded and think, “Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.”
Rather than wait to see if I won a giveaway, I took a $3 chance on an ebook of an unknown author. I highly recommend taking those chances as often as it moves you.
Zart’s romance is written much like the style of John Green’s A Fault in Our Stars, but reminded me more of Caprice Crane. Honestly, it’s got that snarky sarcasm. It’s also sweet and sappy in all the right places, along with a little real world mixed in with the overly sentimental. It’s funny. It would make a blockbuster hit, if it were filmed just right – I’d hold back a little on some of the soliloquies, but who am I to talk – I love a good soliloquy.
I read half the book, took a nap and walked the dogs, then read the other half. It was nice. It’s an easy breezy comedy and I found myself chuckling often at the narrator. All the characters are appropriately dense about their feelings and that of others, while sharply noticing things about the people just outside their inner circle… isn’t that how it always is in real life?
If you’re a parent that doesn’t mind innuendos and cursing, I’d recommend it to older teenagers. The story itself is cleanly written and everything remains in innuendo and summary – no quivering members or moist anythings – thank goodness.
Anakalian Whims 