Poetry Review: WHAT KIND OF WOMAN: POEMS

What Kind of Woman: Poems was Kate Baer's first book of poetry published in 2020. It is, as the title implies, almost exclusively dedicated to the experiences of girls, women, wives, and mothers. "Through poems that are as unforgettably beautiful as they are accessible, Kate proves herself to be an exemplary voice in modern poetry. Her words make women feel seen in their own bodies, in their own marriages, and in their own lives" (Book jacket).

Kate, who is the mother of young children, finds that she is more creative when the kids are around. It is clear in this small volume of poetry that kids populate the poems or are around the corner, hovering somewhere neary.

My introduction to Baer came with the reading of her second volume of poems called I Hope This Finds You Well. She started that book in 2020 after the publication of this volume. In that book she used the style of erasure poetry. Baer turned messages and hate mail she received via social media into poems. They were very clever and heartwarming. What woman hasn't felt the eyes of men on them in a judgmental way or, in the political milieu of the day, not felt the condemnation coming from a place of otherness? Baer gave voice to those experiences.

In What Kind of Woman, she give voice to the female experience. For example, in the poem "Fat Girl" the poems highlights messages people say to and about women's weight. "Hard to describe / I don't know how to say / great personality / really pretty face but..." I for one can relate to these comments and even if a person is of an average weight, I'm sure there have been comments about one's looks that have wounded. Baer tells us in this poem, she understands.

The next section is dedicated to wives. In a favorite poem called "For the Advice Cards at Bridal Showers" I felt like I needed to take notes. We all are likely to give advice which isn't appreciated or followed. Instead, if presented with an opportunity to write something on such a card, remind yourself -- "For now just remember how you felt the day you were born: desperate for magic, ready to love."

Motherhood poems charm the third section of book. In the poem "Deliverance" I recognize the moment where everything changed at the birth of my child. "What is the word for when the light leaves the body? What is the word for when it, at last returns?"

Another short poem, "Things No One Says to Me", in this section made me laugh out loud:

You make it took so easy

You don't look like you just had a baby

Motherhood looks good on you

I'm pretty sure that every women would find plenty to relate to in What Kind of Woman and men could gain insights if they could read the poems with an open heart and mind.

I highly recommend this collection.

-Anne

TTT: Books I've Read But Never Reviewed

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Read but not reviewed (and what I hope to do about it)

This is a timely prompt because I just finished updating my list of reviewed books -- from 2009 to present. (See list here.) And so I am aware of some of the blaring examples of books I haven't reviewed since I started blogging.

A few years ago I made myself a list of Super Past Due Reviews I hoped to write, even if I read the book years before that date. Of the ten books I placed on that list, I managed to ultimately review, sometimes with a reread, nine of them. See that list of Super Past Due Reviews here. 

Perhaps with the little shove this prompt provides I will create a new Super Past Due Reviews list and set about finally giving the books the credit they deserve.

Here are some good ones that deserve a review from me:

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
First read in April of 2007 (pre-blogging) and reread in June 2012.
Of all the books on my list today, this one deserves a review since it is one of my favorite books.

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
According to my records on Goodreads, I read this book three times, the last time in 2015 and I've never reviewed it. What a shame. Guess I'll have to read it again and this time write the review it so obviously deserves.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
I read this book in 2014. It's about a doctor who travels to the Amazon region to discover some very strange medical phenomenons. It is an oversight that I never reviewed it and will add it to my next Super Past Due Reviews list, if I make one.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
I love this author so it shocks me to discover I never reviewed this wonderful book. Looking over the books I read for book club in 2014, of which this is one, I didn't review very many of them. I've often thought I'd like to write a review now but the book is a long one, over 500 pages, and I'd need to reread it first.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The third book read for book club in 2014 which I loved but never reviewed. I wonder what was going on that year?

Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart
I read this book in March 2020. Remember that month? No wonder I forgot to review it. After 2020 I made it a yearly goal to review ALL books read for book club but before that time it was hit or miss whether I would review them, now that doesn't happen any more.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
March by Geraldine Brooks
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
This past year I finished up my personal challenge to read (and review) all the fiction Pulitzer Prize winners for the 21st Century. These four books, all read before I was a blogger, never got a full review, each got a summary review as I was winding down the project. I know no one cares except me, but I would like to give them the respect the other winners got by giving them a full review. For a look at my 21st Century Pulitzer Challenge, click here.

I am not sure if I will get to writing reviews for all these ten books this year, but I will at least try to get to a few of them.

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- A few favorite things this week

Valentine's Day love: My cousin's daughter and her son joined us for a heartfelt dinner last night with the whole family. The photo above is of the three "cousins" preparing to eat their heart-shaped pizza.

Weather: Rain. We had fourteen days of very cold weather, where is snowed nearly every day. Very unusual for our PNW climes. But now we are back to a regular winter weather pattern of rain in the lowlands and snow in the mountains.

Our daughter's family with Mushu.

Tiana's Bayou Ride (Splash Mountain)

Close up of Jamie, who DID NOT want to go back on this ride again.

Disneyland funny: My daughter and her family recently made a trip to Disneyland. Before the trip, our grandson, age four, was eating his food diligently so he would grow tall enough to make the height requirement of 42 inches tall. He just made it, but according to this photo I am not sure he enjoyed it very much. I laugh everytime I think of this photo and the look on his little face. Fortunately, he had many happier moments like the one about with Mushu.

 

2024 Cybils Award book announced: I took a year off from judging for the Cybils Awards. The winners of this book bloggers award were announced on Valentine's Day. Check out all the winners here.

This Instagram announcement from Barbara Kingsolver about a project that happened because of Demon Copperhead: Here is the link. I hope it opens. If not, I snipped the photo (above). Get out your magnifying glass. She has opened the higher Ground Women's Recovery Residence with the proceeds to the book. If you didn't read this book, Demon Copperhead's mom died due to her drug addiction and he became an orphan. Here is the rest of the post I had to cut off in the photo:

If you bought and read Demon Copperhead, you’ve already contributed to our project. And you understand that for all the real kids like Demon, a little support can make the difference between salvation or being orphaned. If you’d like to do more, please explore this website - hgwrr.org - to learn how you can help more families find higher ground.

Books and blogging the past two weeks:

• Completed:
• Sunshine: A Graphic novel by Jarrett Krosoczka--a heart-warming graphic memoir about Jarrett's experiences in high school as counselor for Cancer Camp.
• The Ministry of Time by Kalianne Bradley -- a mixture of time-travel and spy novel. Audiobook shared with Don.
• Just Kids by Patti Smith --the amazing memoir about Patti's life in the 1960s and 70s and her relationship with another artist, Robert Mapplethorpe. They rubbed elbows with so many artists and musicians. Many we've heard of, like Bob Dylan, and Todd Rundgren.
• The Most by Jessica Anthony -- a novella about an unhappy marriage and unhappy lives. It was like looking at the details under a microscope.

• Currently reading:
• The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth  McKenzie -- a quirky cast of characters, mostly lovable but also somewhat irritating. Audio. 30%.
• This Motherless Land by Nikki May -- a retelling of the Mansfield Park story set both in Nigeria and in the UK. Audio with Don. 30%.
• Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland -- A WWII story which also involves involves the art and artists: Chagall, Cezanne, and Pissarro. Print. 54%.
• What Kind of Woman: Poems by Kate Baer -- by a poet I've recently discovered. Print. 71%

• Up next (or at least the books I currently have checked out from the library, whether I get to them remains to be seen):
• Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen (Print / Fiction)
• Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Print/ Fiction MG)
• White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link (Print/ Short Stories)
• Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (Audio/Memoir)
• Brownstone by Samuel Teer (Print / Graphic novel/YA)
• The Wedding People by Espach (Print/Fiction/Book club selection. I need to move this one up the list)
• Blog posts
• Review: The God of the Woods
• TTT: Books published in 2024 I still want to read
• Review: Where I compare Sense and Sensibility to the Beatles
• Review: Sunshine: a Graphic Novel
• TTT: Book Titles that Work as Candy Hearts
• Classics Club: Spin #40 announcement and list (Book # will be announced later today!)
• Review: The Ministry of Time

Tennessee kid, Tristan, gives weather report, where there will be 4-6-8-10 inches of snow today. I love precocious kids. (Thanks, Kathy, for sharing this!)

Happy Valentine's Day, from my house to yours!

-Anne

Review: THE MINISTRY OF TIME (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: The Ministry of Time by Kalianne Bradley

Book Beginnings quote:

 Perhaps he'll die this time.

Friday56 quote:

He came through the front door while I was gazing blankly at the kettle.

    "Good morning."

    "Morning. Have you been out for a walk?"

    "No. To church."

    I felt strangely embarrassed, as if he had just told me that he spent his Sunday mornings at a soft play center.

    He smiled at me and said, "I have noted the dreadful secularism of this age. You may assume a less guilty expression."

Summary:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future. (Publisher)

Review: The Ministry of Time was one of Barack Obama's favorite reads of this past summer, making his end-of-season list. I was aware of it before that time since so many bloggers were chattering about it but I decided to read it after seeing it on his list. It has been described as a "A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all." It is a new take on time travel, that is for sure, since the ministry goes back in time and snags people on the cusp of their death (plague, freezing in the Arctic, war) and brings them without consent into the present. Later the reader finds out the same thing is happening from the future. But that gets really mind-blowingly confusing so forget I said anything about it. The spy thriller bits were my favorite but the action and excitement were usually not sustained for very long and were fairly brief. The budding romance was a little nuanced at first and then quite steamy. Could the book have survived without them? I think yes, but it did add an interesting plot wrinkle.

After I completed the audiobook version of The Ministry of Time, I learned of the controversy surrounding the book. According to A.I. (oh no, not AI!) there is/was a Spanish TV series called "El Ministerio del Tiempo" which translates to, you guessed it, "The Ministry of Time." Both the book and the Spanish series feature a government agency that takes people from different historical periods to become time travelers. And they both address how these travelers could/do mess up timelines. Claims of plagiarism really heated up when the BBC decided to make a series based on the book, using the same title as the book and the translated title from the Spanish series. I have no idea what will happen with this.

My husband and I listened to the book together and both of us found it fairly compelling, asking us to think about the ethics of time travel, as if it could really happen. The Friday56 quote brings to mind another issue. As our society has evolved, some of our habits and practices really are dreadful, like Commander Gore pointed out when his bridge acts shocked that he went to church.

My rating: 4 stars. 

  

Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne

Classics Club, Spin #40

It’s time for another Classics Club spin.

This is the Classics Club’s 40th CC Spin…I wonder how many I have participated in. At least 2/3rd maybe even more, I'd guess.

What is a CC Spin?

• Simply pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from a list of 20 classic book titles you'd still like to read.
• Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday, 16th February.
• A number from 1-20 will be announced. 
• Read that book by 11th April.

Here is my list of  Twenty Classics for Spin #40-- Winter 2025

1. Something by Dickens
2. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
3. The Tenet of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
4. Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath*
5. The Magnificent Ambersons by Tarkington
6. Hamlet by Shakespeare
7. All the King’s Men by Warren
8. The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky*
9. Now In November by Johnson
10. The Reivers by William Faulkner
11.  Excellent Women by Pym
12. Something by Shakespeare
13. Some book that won the Pulitzer Prize (over 50 years ago)
14.  Candide by Voltaire
15. Something by Ray Bradbury
16. David Copperfield by Dickens*
17. Grimm’s Fairy Tales*
18. The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne
19. Silas Marner by Eliot*
20. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle*

*Books I own. I'M HOPING TO FINALLY GET THEM READ AND OFF MY LIST!

And the winning number is...

4

So I will see if I can find on my e-reader: Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath. A collection of short stories and essays.

-Anne

TTT: Book Titles That Work On Candy Hearts

Top Ten Tuesday: Valentine's Day Freebie -- Book Titles That Work on Candy Hearts

(This is a repeat of a post done four years ago, let's see if I can come up with some other clever titles to scrunch onto a candy heart. I've read and recommend all of these books. No duplicates from first list, either.)

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Suddenly We: Poems by Evie Shockley

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Sunshine: A Graphic Novel by Jarrett Krosoczka

The Moon Tonight Jung Chang-hoon

The Kissing of Kissing: Poems by Hannah Emerson

So Lucky by Nicola Griffith

Sweet Thunder Ivan Doig

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee

A Few Beautiful Minutes by Kate Fox

Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Dearly: Poems by Margaret Atwood

That was fun! How'd I do?

                                                                               -Anne

Graphic Novel Review: SUNSHINE

Title: Sunshine: A Graphic Novel by Jarrett Krosoczka

Book Beginnings page:

First bubble: "I was sixteen when I first worked at a camp for kids with life-threatening illnesses. It forever changed the trajectory of my life."
Second bubble: "Just about everyone who asks about the experience seems to have the same knee-jerk reaction: It must have been so sad."

Page 58:

First bubble (Camp director): "Okay, everyone, I hope that everybody is ready for a fantastic day at camp. I'm going to ask counselors to head to their stations."
Second bubble (Camp director): "Parents, after you've dropped of your kids at their designated spot, we're all going to meet up by the lake for some team-building activities."
Third bubble (Jarrett): "I watched as my friends all joined their groups. I have to be honest. I had been looking forward to working with littler kids, so being assigned to a teen was at first a little disappointing."

Summary: Jarrett Krosoczka, a graphic artist I met in his first memoir, Hey Kiddo, which is about being raised by his grandparents since his mother abandoned him to drugs and he never knew his father, continues his story about his experiences at Camp Sunshine. He is assigned to be a one-on-one counselor to a teenager with a brain tumor who doesn't want to be at camp. But along the way Jarrett and that boy become friends and have fun doing some really surprising activities. Jarrett also bonds with other campers and his fellow counselors who all admit that the experience was life-changing. 

Review: I have some friends, who are my age, that volunteer at Sister Pat's Cancer/Kid's Camp every year in New Jersey. C., a cancer survivor,  and her husband, K., wanted to give something back to the cancer-care community the first year, and now go back every year because they are hooked. I bet they'd agree with Jarrett that the camp experience has changed the trajectory of their lives.

When Jarrett Krosoczka was selected as a counselor for Camp Sunshine he was fairly judgmental of the other student counselors in his group. But as the week went by, these teens also bonded through their shared experiences, creating lifelong friendships. Near the end of the week together one of their teacher advisors talks about how the math of it all doesn't add up:

First bubble (female advisor, note the cigarette): "Oh can it, Mr. Granier, once you experience this kind of work, you never look at life the same way again. There isn't a place more beautiful than these grounds. And the feeling you get by helping these families."
Second bubble (continuation): "The funny thing about being in service to others is that the math of it all doesn't add up. No matter how much work and energy you put into these weeks, you get back way more than you ever put in."

I know that feeling. Sometimes one thinks they are helping others when really they are helping you. 

I really loved this book but I think you should read Hey, Kiddo first. You will meet Jarrett in that book and understand what a hard life he has lived, making this book all the sweeter.

Rating: 5 stars.

-Anne

Review: THE GOD OF THE WOODS

Title: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Book Beginnings quote:

"The bed is empty."

Friday56 quote:

“It was wonderful, thought Tracy, having friends like these, who seemed to see the parts of yourself you worked hardest to hide, and bring them into the light and celebrate them with a sort of tender ribbing that uplifted more than it put down.”

Summary: 

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances.

Review: I listened to the audiobook of The God of the Woods by Liz Moore last month. All 14 hours and 35 minutes of it. The story is a double murder mystery with the suspected murders happening fourteen years apart. Like all mysteries I have a hard time reviewing them because the point of the book is to discover who-dunnit and if I tell you, then there is no point in you reading it. Instead, I will give you a few of my thoughts of the book.

1. The mystery begins with the first line, "The bed was empty."
2. Th Friday56 quote is about Tracy, a young camper, who finally feels accepted after years of being an outsider. Acceptance is a powerful motivator for staying silent when one should speak up.
3. There are a lot of suspects. In fact, I'd say that everyone is a suspect with the exception of the police and the children campers.
4. For that reason there are a lot of people to keep track of and details presented early on in the story have to be remembered to fill in gaps closer to the end. Don and I listened to it together so we had the benefit of stopping the audiobook to remind the other person of earlier details or even to discuss who so&so was.
5. There were so many red herrings. I swear I actually thought at least a half dozen of the people were the murderers at one point or another during the story.
6. Oddly for a book so crammed with characters, I didn't really like anyone and some of the characters I actually hated. Maybe the one exception was the police inspector, Judy, and possibly the camp counselor Louise. Otherwise, blech, those rich people were all awful, AWFUL.
7. The book was long, 490 pages, and there were more than one part where the action dragged and I thought "get on with it."
8. The story unfolded in two timelines, one for the first murder investigation and another for the second. Fortunately there was timeline help in the headings of the chapters, so I was rarely confused.

The God of the Woods ended up on a lot of the end-of-the-year favorite book lists for 2024. Many citing how thrilling the plot and how unputdownable to book is. I rated the book with 4 stars, losing one star for its length and all the awful, despicable characters.

-Anne

TTT: Books published in 2024 I still hope to read

Top Ten Tuesday: Books published in 2024 I still hope to read.

Looking over this list of the 50 Best Books of 2024 I see there are still several titles I want/need to read.

1. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

2. The Wedding People by Alison Esbach

3. Small Rain by Garth Greenwell

4. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

5. Be Ready When the Luck Happens: a Memoir by Ina Garten

6. The City and Its Uncertain Wall by Haruki Murakami

7. Colored Television by Danzy Sella

8.  Long Island by Colm Tóibín

9. Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

10. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

-Anne

Review: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY -- Where I address the similarities between Jane Austen and The Beatles

As part of the Austen25 Project I am reading some/all of Jane Austen's novels this year in celebration of what will be her 250th birthday. The project suggests reading her books in publication order, so began with Sense and Sensibility. 

In mid-January I set up a plan to read the novel in an orderly way so I would complete it by month's end. (See plan here.) I blew right past my plan and finished the novel well ahead of schedule and have since sat on this review.

What can I say about Jane Austen and about her first published novel that hasn't already been said? Why am I compelled to read Jane Austen novels over and over again? Are there other authors, groups, or events which I feel similarly compelled to read/attend/listen to/watch like I do with Jane Austen? 

These thoughts rattled around in my brain for the few weeks it took me to read Sense and Sensibility. During that same time, I checked out yet another book about The Beatles from the public library and consumed it in less than a day. The two aren't connected, are they? Jane Austen and The Beatles? An unlikely but definite connection between the two started to coalesce in my brain.

What do Jane Austen and The Beatles have to do with each other? I turn to both of them for comfort.

Back in 2016, when Trump won his first election I found myself in a true funk. I could barely function yet I found true comfort in watching, and rewatching the old Jane Austen movies I own on DVD. It was as if I was too fragile emotionally to watch modern TV shows or movies, but movies set in the 1800s were fine. There is also something so comforting in Jane Austen books/movies about how things always seem to work out in the end. In Sense and Sensibility not only does Marianne get over her deadly fever but she finds solace and comfort in her friendship and eventual love for Col. Brandon. Elinor is resigned that her life will go on without Edward Ferrars -- at least she has her sisters-- when all the sudden he pops up, clears up all the confusion. and declares his love. Something very similar happens in all six of J.A.'s novels. In Mansfield Park, for example Austen says, "I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was natural that is should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care for Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fannie..." It reminds me of the phrase, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it's not the end." I needed to remind myself that everything would be okay in the end and found that message in J.A. novels.

Right after I recovered enough from my post-election funk to be able to stop watching the steady stream of Jane Austen films, I started a two-year oddly timed fascination with the Beatles. I'd always loved the Fab Four but this was something new. I was fully involved in a personal Beatlemania in 2017 and most of 2018. I read many, many books about the group, listened to their songs incessantly, and made several posting about my obsession. (See Beatlemania, Beatlemania Part 2, Sgt. Pepper at 50, Dreaming the Beatles, Tell Me Why, Beatlemania Part Three, and a ton of references made by me about the Beatles in my Sunday Salon Posts. Reflecting back on this time period, smack in the middle of the first Trump term, I wanted to be transported back to a happier more innocent time for me. Listening to Beatles music caused me to recall happy memories from my childhood. While listening to the Beatles I could disappear from the cares of the current time for a short while. 

Rerun 2024/25. Trump wins again. I'm off TV, especially any kind of political news. Once again I find comfort in Austen books (starting with Sense and Sensibility this past month) and films (I rewatched the Emma Thompson version of S&S last week.) Also the urge to learn more about the Beatles returns. I watched a documentary about the Beatles in America and read a book about the same topic, both in January. 

Like drinking a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on a cold day, I draw comfort from both Jane Austen books/movies and Beatles songs. It may not be the most proactive thing I can do for self care but it works.

Not exactly a review of a favorite novel, but it's what I got for you today.

-Anne