Nonfiction November. Ready. Set. Go.

Nonfiction November starts tomorrow! This year there are five hosts and five weeks of blog prompts:

Week 1: (November 1-5) – Your Year in Nonfiction with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction: Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Week 2: (November 8-12) – Book Pairing  with Katie at Doing Dewey: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story. 

Week 3: (November 15-19) – Be/Ask/Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project: Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert). 

Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks: This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that *almost* don’t seem real. A sports biography involving overcoming massive obstacles, a profile on a bizarre scam, a look into the natural wonders in our world—basically, if it makes your jaw drop, you can highlight it for this week’s topic.

Week 5: (November 29-December 3) — New to My TBR with Jaymi at The OC Book Girl: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 

Do you like nonfiction? Will you be joining in for Nonfiction November this year?

Not sure if I will blog on all these topics. But I do hope to get some nonfiction read during the month. I already have three books here on my pile ready to read:

• Black Birds in the Sky
• The Other Talk
• Sexual Justice
  

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Halloween

Weather: Rain. Rain. Rain. We had a 'bomb cyclone' rainstorm this week. The name alone is scary!

Halloween music: Listen while you are reading this post! Enjoy. Peter Bence Halloween Medley.

Baptism: Last Sunday our grandson Jamie was baptized. My sister, her husband, daughter, and son-in-law were able to join us at church and afterwards for brunch. Jamie's other grandparents were also able to attend. What a wonderful way to welcome Jamie into the family of God. See photo collage above.

Batman, Joker, and Bat-mom at Candy Catch at church parking lot.

Spokane and Eugene: Don and I have been tearing up the freeways making our way to Eugene, mostly, and to Spokane, last weekend. One good thing about making long-ish car rides together -- we finish audiobooks. Since the beginning of September (the beginning of football season, I should say) we have finished three audiobook together: This Is How It Always Is; The Plot; and Magpie Murders.

Books (This is a book blog, after all. I hope you don't mind allowing me a moment to plug my reading obsession. Phew, it's been a busy two week.):

• Completed the past two weeks (titles are hyperlinked if reviewed):
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  
•  84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff-- a series of letters written back and forth between a used books dealer and Helene from the late 1940s until the late 1960s. I will publish a review soon.
  
• The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
• On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder-- the graphic edition of this book. It is so disturbing to think about what is happening in our country around non-Democratic ideals right now. A review is coming.
• The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley -- an audiobook for an upcoming book club.
• A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson -- I love this poetry collection.
  
• Currently reading:
• The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor -- a YA graphic novel based on Chinese-American folklore. 34% complete.
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson -- I've never read this swashbuckling book before. 45% complete. Audio.
• Transcription by Kate Atkinson -- a book club selection. Don and I are listening to this on yet another car trip. 39%.
  
• Current challenges:
• Victober: To read Victorian authors during October. I've read one book by Wilde and two by Stevenson.
• Classic Club Spin selection: Treasure Island.
  
• Upcoming challenge: 
• Nonfiction November. Reading and reviewing nonfiction titles. I hope to read at least four books, including:
• Sexual Justice by Brodsky
• The Other Talk: Reckoning With My White Privilege by Brendan Kiely
• Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert
  

News:

• Carol's Journey: What Facebook Knew About How It Radicalized Users. (NBC News, Oct. 22, 2021) This is so alarming how Facebook send users down radical, QAnon-type rabbit-holes. I wish I could quit Facebook but still stay in touch with friends and get photos of grandkids. Sigh.

• The Five Universal Laws of Stupid People. If you only have a little time to read articles today, tag this one and read it later. It is both funny and terrifying. I highly recommend you read this. (Pocket Worthy)

• The Health Department in Salt Lake County (Utah) decided to keep the conversation going on vaccination rates by giving some rather odd, but discussion worthy, data:
  
  
  

•  Opinion: Why 'Evangelical' is becoming another word for 'Republican'. My family and I have been talking about this all weekend. We hate it that evangelicals have hijacked Christianity and made it into a shell for a political party. Read it if you can, since it is behind a paywall (NYT, Oct. 26, 2021)
  

On the lighter side:

I hope this book fairy trick-or-treats at my house tonight. We are expecting over 100 children as in years past. (Thanks for finding this for me, Rita.)

Ha! I started reading this one as if it were aimed at people in their 50s-60s. 

 

This one makes me laugh out loud since I've been there: seriously trying to fold a fitted sheet which just ends up in a wad anyway.

Our grand-kitties LOVE boxes. Love them!

 

                   ↓

Fred and George and boxes! 

Top left: Fred playing with wiggle worm (Yes, he is a big boy!); Top right: Fred in, George attempting to get in, says 'make room for me'; Bottom left: George in, where is Fred?; Bottom right: Fred in, George out.

(Whenever I think about cats loving boxes I think of the line from the darling children's book, Jillian Jiggs: "Oh, look at the boxes! Yippee! Hooray! It's hard to believe someone threw these away. I'm mad about boxes. Boxes are fun. No one will guess who we are when we're done.")

More Halloween music: This one you will want to watch. Peter Hollens Epic Halloween Medley.

Halloween tricks or treats tonight! Enjoy!

-Anne

Review and quotes: MAGPIE MURDERS

Title: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Book Beginnings quote: 

(Prologue) COUCH END, LONDON

A bottle of wine. A Family-sized packet of Nacho Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips and a jar of salsa dip. A packet of cigarettes on the side (I know. I know). The rain hammering against the windows. And a book.

    What could be lovelier?

    Magpie Murders was number nine in the much-loved and world-bestselling Atticus Pünd series.

Friday56 quote:

In a restaurant on the other side of London, Frances Pye cast a careless eye over the menu and ordered grilled sardines, a salad, a glass of white wine.

Summary: Susan Ryeland is an editor for Cloverleaf Books which publishes the vastly popular Atticus Pünd series. When Susan receives her copy of the ninth book in the series, Magpie Murders, she sets aside a whole weekend to read it. The author of the series, Alan Conway, is a difficult but talented man. In fact he is so difficult to work with Susan generally does all the behind the scenes work on new Conway manuscripts while the publisher, Charles Clover, deals with him face-to-face.

Magpie Murders is a classic Atticus Pünd crime/detective novel with a murder at the Pye manor house in a quaint English village. At first Ryeland is unaware that this book is any different than any of Conway's novels. There are dead bodies, lots of suspects, with plenty of red herrings and clues. And then the novel ends abruptly without solving the murders. Ryeland is forced to do a bit of detective work herself to find the last few chapters of the unpublished book.

Review: Magpie Murders uses a clever literary device of a murder mystery within a murder mystery. The entire Atticus Pünd novel is within the book but it ends incompletely. Susan Ryeland, the editor of the series, is sure she can track down the missing chapters then another death occurs and suddenly she is rereading the novel looking for clues.

My husband and I listened to the audio version of the Magpie Murders on two different recent road trips. The book is fairly long, over 15 hours of listening time, so we were in luck to have two trips planned in order to finish the book in a timely fashion. I enjoyed the book-within-a-book shtick, my husband, not so much. The story starts with Susan Ryeland snuggling down to read the latest Atticus Pünd novel. Once she starts reading, Magpie Murders takes over the next 300 pages or so, without revisiting Susan and what she is up to. When she finishes reading, the story line swings back to her for the next 250 pages. We meet her in the prologue and then again mid-book. For some reason this bothered my husband. Once I figured out what was happening, I was good. 

I liked the setting, an English village, and I didn't figure out who-dunnit for either murder. I'm not a very sophisticated mystery reader so I was able to settle in and enjoy the ride the book took me on. And once my husband figured out the book's organization, he too seemed to enjoy it very much. Now I am wondering how this will work for book club. How does one go about discussing a mystery after you know the outcome? We'll see next month when we meet to discuss this one. One thing is for sure, I am a new Anthony Horowitz fan.

SOTH Book Club, November 2021

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.     

-Anne

Review: THE MOMENT OF LIFT

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates is one of the most impactful books I've read in a long time. It was a book club selection, for which I am grateful, otherwise it is unlikely I would have selected it myself.  Melinda Gates, the author and soon-to-be x-spouse of Bill Gates, is the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation dedicated to helping solve some of the world's biggest problems. 

The moment of lift is defined as that moment in time when everything changes, like a rocket lifting off into outer space, being released from earth's gravity. In human terms Gates quotes a spiritual guide, Mark Nepo, who defines the moment of lift as a moment of grace when personal or cultural problems are "lifted  like a scarf in the wind" and one feels the freedom from whatever was dragging them down. The book, and her mission, is to highlight the actions of many people who are making a difference in the lives of women worldwide. These people have shown Gates what people can do to make an impact, to help others flourish.

The engines are igniting; the earth is shaking; we are rising. More than at any time in the past, we have the knowledge and energy and moral insight to crack the patterns of history...No one should be left out. Everyone should be brought in. Our call is to lift women up -- and when we come together in this cause, we are the lift (from the introduction).

The book is designed around eight areas of concern that can change the narrative for women: 1) Maternal and newborn health;  2) Family planning; 3) Girls in school; 4) Unpaid work; 5) Child Marriage; 6) Women in agriculture/gender equity issues; 7) Women in the workplace; 8) The lift of coming together. Each chapter is stuffed with examples of ways advocates can make and are making a huge impact in communities. Occasionally Gates would use her situation around parenting or workplace issues as examples to make her points and I generally found those to be the weakest points in the book because Gates is, after all, a billionaire. My favorite examples were the ones she shared where someone living and working in an area has hit upon a solution that works in her community. 

As we discussed the book in our club one gal said she felt the book was tremendously repetitive. We all agreed on some level but pointed out that all the topics the book addresses are so tangled up together. For example, girls married off at young ages are less likely to complete any more schooling, are the most likely of any mother to experience labor and delivery problems. They are also the least likely to use any kind of birth control methods, often due to the power difference between themselves and their husbands. This power imbalance extends to other aspects of their lives, too, because they are deemed the bottom of most family power structures.

Instead of being one of those books that leaves the reader merely depressed at the state of world for so many people, The Moment of Lift leaves the reader with an empowered feeling that though there is much to do, there is much that is being done and good actions likely to bring about permanent change.

When Bill and Melinda Gates began their foundation someone was quoted as saying, "Oh here come the billionaires. Now the projects are sure to fail." They decided that they didn't just want to throw their money at projects without understanding the issues and how to make sure that their money was used to help effect change that lasted. This process can't be developed over night and isn't the same in every area. One advocate, Molly, helped Melinda Gates to understand the problem with the empathy barrier. People with good intentions swoop into areas to try to "fix" issues without taking the time to understand the culture and the past history. Molly has had success helping her community decide to stop conducting female circumcision operations through a series of community discussions which involved the imams. Once the community got a chance to discover on their own why they were doing this unnecessary operation on young girls (historical) and to learn about the benefits of not doing it, then the imams were able to spread the word to surrounding communities so a whole region could support one another in the stoppage. 

Another area of high interest for my book club, since we are a church sponsored club, was the focus Gates brought to the role of religion in the treatment of women. "Disrespect for women grows when religions are dominated by men" (196). Here, Gates own religious faith came into focus for proof. Gates in a Catholic and she was very critical of how the church has only allowed men to become priests and hold all the higher offices. So when a topic like family planning comes up, a council of all men are the ones making decisions for women, without even any input from the gender most impacted by their decisions. She doesn't mention it, but think about what the Taliban is doing to women in Iraq again now that they are in power. 

Here are the discussion questions, written by Gates herself, which we found helpful and useful in generating a very thoughtful exchange of ideas at our book club meeting. It isn't an easy book because the topics are so demanding and we probably should have attempted to divide up the book over several months of meetings so we could dig into each topic more thoroughly, but that is not our way. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this as a book club selection.

-Anne

Review and quotes: THE BRILLIANT LIFE OF EUDORA HONEYSETT

Title: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons

Book Beginnings quote:

Friday56 quote (from page 6, the last page of the preview):

Summary: Eudora Honeysett is 85-years-old, lives by herself, and is determined to die on her own terms. In fact she is waiting to hear back from a clinic in Switzerland which will help her die on those terms. She has seen what happens to people as they age and all the indignities that go along with it. She doesn't want her last years to be like them. Then she meets a new neighbor, Rose Trewidney, a ten-year-old twirling, rainbow of a girl who inject light, laughter, and love into her life. Suddenly Eudora is drawn into Rose's schemes for tea parties, swimming lessons, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, and pizza parties. At the same time Eudora meets another neighbor, Stanley, who also gets involved with Rose's plans and invites Eudora into his life, too. Suddenly Eudora finds herself reflecting back on moments from her childhood and aspects of her younger life. Eudora finally realized that she must make peace with her past before she moves forward with any plans.

Review: I bought a copy of this book for my mom. Mom is 92-years-old and big proponent of preparing for her own end. She is busy now cleaning out cupboards and file cabinets, spending time reflecting on her past and taking care of her plans. She doesn't want any messes left behind for her children to clean up. She also has a advanced health directive, not wanting any extraordinary measures to be used to keep her alive if she is sick. I thought Mom would enjoy meeting Eudora Honeysett, another oldster who wanted to talk about death and to make sure that her end is on her own terms. I appreciated reading a fictional book that takes a hard look at an important topic -- death. Yet in the midst of the story there was so much life!

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett is a book club selection. One other member worried we wouldn't have much to talk about but I disagree. I think the book will provide a good catalyst for a meaningful discussion on death, a topic that friends should not shy away from having together. I'll circle back around and let you know how the discussion goes after the meeting.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.     

RHS book club, November/December 2021

-Anne

Review: THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Without realizing it I decided to read The Picture of Dorian Gray during October which has been turned into Victober, a month set aside to reading Victorian authors. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed my reading of this late 1800s classic by the Victorian author Oscar Wilde. In fact, at one point I would have said I hated the book, though I didn't end on that note. Why? Well, I didn't like any of the characters. Not one. I detested the lifestyle that was accentuated. The hedonism of not only Dorian Gray but others of his class was deplorable. And lastly, I admit to being bored reading long stretches about that lifestyle. Not a winning combination.

And yet -- and this often happens when I read classics -- there is much to learn from the story. Italo Calvino defined "a classic as a book that never exhausted all it has to say to its readers." So what is it in Dorian Gray that still speaks to us today, over 120 years after it was first published?

The Picture of Dorian Gray is first and foremost a story about striving for eternal youth. Shmoop describes it as the "holy Grail of anti-aging" books. This is certainly a theme that has interested mankind since the beginning of time and clearly is one we are obsessed with today. Why just today I clicked past a show on a TV where a beautiful woman was talking about some process one must use to avoid getting wrinkles. Today's youth, forced to read The Picture of Dorian Gray for a class assignment, would clearly recognize the desire for eternal youth to be a main theme of the book as they see it in their culture everyday.

Secondly, Dorian's story plays on the theme of selling one's soul to the devil in order to gain a desired outcome. One knows intrinsically that Faustian bargain never ends up well. Dorian looks young but his portrait ages. He involves himself in all kinds of hedonistic activities, including murder, yet his soul only seems to change on the picture, not on his face. What a magical portrait, one that must be played with to view the results, no doubt.

What I didn't know until I investigated a bit deeper into the themes of the book was Wilde was playing around with a modern (to him) trend that was in vogue during the time period. The hedonistic lifestyle, called the 'Decadent movement', was a late 19th century artistic movement known for prizing beauty and the aesthetic experience over everything else. The yellow book, given to Dorian by Henry, is likely a thinly veiled reference to a popular book of the decadent movement: Against Nature by Huysmans. The protagonist in that book seeks aesthetic pleasures in an almost robotic way. Dorian Gray as a character is consumed with the pursuit of pleasure to the point that nothing is pleasurable any longer. People living during that time period would have recognized the decadent movement as played out by most of the book's characters.

Apparently this didn't keep people from criticizing his work, however. The cacophony of noise around the bad morals of the book became so loud that Wilde wrote an epigraph for the second edition, which really reads like a preface. In it he accuses his readers with "the unpardonable crime of trying to confuse the artist with his subject matter." He, Wilde, was making art. They, the reader, turned it into something scandalous. 

Reading classic books rarely brings me the pleasure I expect until I do a bit of research afterwards and discover all the themes and symbols I missed along the way. Then I am tremendously glad that I finally got around to reading the dang book. That would the case with The Picture of Dorian Gray. I like it much better now that I've done a bit of research about it. Ha!

An engraving done for the 1910 version, for the scene when the picture of Dorian Gray is unveiled. Designed by Paul Thiriat. Engraved by Eugene Dété.

The version of the book I read was the e-book format of the classic illustrated book. I was terribly disappointed by it since it had only three of four illustrations. I'm like a kid. I want to look at pictures, and not just three or four of them!

To make sure I give credit where credit is due, I gained a lot of the knowledge I shared on this post from this site:

Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Picture of Dorian Gray Introduction.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/picture-dorian-gray.

-Anne

Sunday Salon --- A Fall Photo Diary

The NW Trek Hoot and Howl event yesterday: A winning combo of wild animals, spooky decorations, fun games, candy, and family. We had so much fun with our grandsons. We are already planning on going back next year.

Weather: Overcast. Mild. Here Bingley is standing on a pile of leaves this morning from our purple mountain ash tree, which has dumped almost all of its leaves this week, as we predicted.

Brotherly love: Jamie was tired and needed a nap but his brother, Ian, kept him interested with his antics. I love fall photos. Don't you?

Oregon Ducks: We were back in Eugene, this time for a Friday night game. Our mascot dressed up like a combo Batman/Duck, calling himself 'Duckman.' We won the game, by the way, but it was a close call.

 

Treasures: My mother has been cleaning out cupboards and cabinets. Above are a few treasures she shared with me: A photo of my mom and her sister as children; a pen and ink drawing I did in college; a 1893 edition book titled, "The American Scholar Self-Reliance Compensation: Three Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson; another original pen and ink done by someone my dad knew; and a sheet of music written by a friend from high school days and his musical mentor, Chet Earle.

An October walk: Scarecrow tractor; rotten pears underneath tree; Anti-racism and Social Justice Small Library; coleus; 'Live Like the Mountain Is Out' is something we all understand living in the shadow of Mt Rainier; holly berries on a bush in the yard of a historic home, the Ryan House; Japanese windflowers; girl with basket; skeletons hanging out with witch.

Current reads: The Picture of Dorian Gray (80%, e-book); The Moment of Lift (75%, print); On Tyranny-Graphic Edition (5%, print); 84, Charing Cross Road (25%, print); Magpie Murders (52%, audio); The Authenticity Project (35%, audio).

Classic Club Spin # was 12: Which means I will read something by Robert Louis Stevenson. Which book should I select?

We were delighted to find Dug Days on Disney+ this week. Funny. Funny. Funny.

Gardening: We've been busy this week getting the garden ready for winter. I finished deadheading the hydrangeas, even drying three bunches. Don pulled up the tomato plants and did a bit of pruning. I have cut back most of the rose bushes but a few blooms are still hanging on.

Have a good week. Make soup. Put your garden to bed. Snuggle.

-Anne

THIS IS YOUR TIME Ruby Bridges

Our dryer isn't drying anymore. No big deal. We call a repairman who says he'll come and fix it in a few weeks. A few weeks? Well, maybe that is a big deal. In the meantime we have two loads of wet laundry and only liquid sunshine outside. Time to visit a laundromat. Now for some of you this is probably no big deal but for spoiled me it caused a mild panic attack, especially after I read a Yelp review of the closest laundromat: "Nice place as long as you ignore the Meth heads hanging around."  I talked my husband into going with me on the promise that we could walk the dog together as we waited for the clothes to dry. So we went with two laundry baskets full of wet clothes, our pockets full of quarters, and the dog all leashed up ready for a walk. Since the laundromat was in a neighboring town to ours we started off our walk, after stuffing the driers full of clothes and quarters, with an air of expectation. What did this new town have to offer us? We didn't get far before we found our first big surprise. (No it wasn't a Meth head!) It was a house covered with Black Lives Matter signs and messages and a small library on the corner of the lot. Inside was a message about how this library was intended to enhance cultural and racial understanding and equity issues. I was entranced. The note went on to say that any books not on these types of topics would be removed but users of the little library were welcome to donate other books on BLM, equity, social justice, anti-racism, etc. 

I borrowed a small children's book called This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges. Inside the front cover was this sticker (see photo, left.) What a clever, affirming idea. To have a little library which is so cute and inviting, full of literature about social justice.

We all think we know a lot about Ruby Bridges, the brave little girl who helped desegregate schools in Louisiana when she was six, because the famous illustration of her done by Norman Rockwell. The hatred and vitriol that was thrown on this one little girl by grown adults is beyond awful. She had to escorted to school every day by federal marshals and she attended class alone every day, since all the white parents withdrew their children from school. What I didn't know before reading this book was Ruby and her teacher, Mrs. Henry, formed a bond during their year together.

"I felt safe and loved, and that was because of Mrs. Henry, who, by the way, looked exactly like the white women in that screaming mob outside. But she wasn't like them. She showed me her heart, and even at six years old, I knew she was different. Barbara Henry was white, I was black, and we mattered to each other. She became my best friend. I knew if I got past the angry mob outside and into my classroom, I was going to have a good day" (18).

There is a photo in the book of Ruby Bridges and Mrs. Henry when they reunited in 2014, 64 years after the year they spent together at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

Ruby Bridges words in This Is Your Time are a call for action today and a look back, accompanied by black and white photographs from back in the 1950s and 1960s, when her saga was first unfolding.

Today we have to go back and visit the laundromat again. The repairman came and was unable to repair our dryer without the required part. He put us off for another few weeks when he should be able to fix the dang thing. It is time for another walk as our clothes dry in the laundromat. This time when we pass the Anti-Racists for Social Justice library I will replace This Is Your Time, perhaps donating my Claudia Rankine book for the cause.

Anne

Review and quotes: THE PLOT

Title: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Book Beginnings quote:

Friday56 quote (from page 21, the last chapter of the preview):

 

Summary: Jacob Finch Bonner was once an promising young novelist with his first published work gaining modest praise from reviewers.  After years of attempting to write a second or a third novel he is now teaching at a third-rate MFA program in Vermont and attempting to maintain a modicum of self-respect. During the required BBQ the night before the MFA seminar begins, Bonner runs into the most pompous person he has ever met and sure enough that person is part of his class. When Bonner attempts to help Eric Parker on his writing, Parker says he doesn't need help since he has a plot that won't miss and will surely break all kinds of publishing records. After Parker tells Bonner about his plot, Bonner agrees that it is a winning plot. Years later when Bonner learns that Parker died not long after leaving the MFA program, he decides to make that plot, his plot. The book indeed breaks all kinds of publishing records and the movie script is sold. Everything is going great until one day Bonner gets a message, "You've stolen the plot, and I know who it belongs to." Life takes a decidedly negative turn from there.

Hailed as breathtakingly suspenseful, Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it. (Goodreads)

Review: My husband and I listened to most of The Plot during a recent car trip, getting home with about 20% left to go in the audiobook. Since we both liked the book well enough we decided to set aside some time later in the week to finish listening to it. At that point I honestly was a little underwhelmed, having heard so many great reviews about the book by you, my book blogging friends. The writing was good. The plot had taken a decidedly sinister turn and I was not quite sure which way it would go. But it didn't have the WOW factor I was expecting.

A week later, hubby and I were once again in the car together and decided to listen to a bit more of The Plot. We probably didn't have enough time to finish it but would make progress toward completion. That decision went out the window almost immediately as there was a huge plot twist which grabbed us and wouldn't let go. As we moved from the car to the house to finish listening my husband remarked he felt almost dirty, like he needed to take a shower, to get that twist off him! We finished the book in stunned silence. OMG, neither of us saw that ending coming.

Is The Plot my favorite book of 2021? No. Do I think you would enjoy it and should read it. Yes. But beware, it doesn't end as you think it will and that plot twist will likely catch you unaware, too.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from current book.
The Friday56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56 to share. 
Visit these two websites to participate. Click on links to read quotes from books other people are reading. It is a great way to make blog friends and to get suggestions for new reading material.      

-Anne

TTT: Very vivid settings in literature

Top Ten Tuesday: 

Such vivid settings in literature I can really imagine being there. (I am only drawing my examples from books I've read.)

Hogwarts

No matter what you think of Rawlings' politics, the lady created the most vivid setting in all of literature.

Maycomb, Alabama

The fictitious town where Scout, Atticus, and Jem live in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Narnia

Where some animals talk, and fauns live. Even trees can come to the rescue if called by the big lion, Aslan. Once ruled by four children of Adam: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.

Arrakis

The desert planet in Dune by Frank Herbert.

 

The Old West

Texas to Montana in the late 1800s as described in Lonesome Dove by McMurtry. 

 

India

Every sight, sound, and smell comes to life in Arunhati Roy's book The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.

Stratford-upon-Avon, England

Shakespeare's home town and family life in the 1500s comes to life in the wonderful book Hamnet by O'Farrell. I am convinced that she got all the details completely correct.

Moloka'i

The island in the Hawaiian chain comes to life in a book by the same name by Brennert and so does the leprosy colony that was a big part of the island's history.

Jane Austen's England

Set in the Regency period, Austen was a master at describing everyday life for the class of people she was a part of.

The marshes of North Carolina

Every shell, blade of grass, seabird, and crab came to life in my imagination in the marsh which was the setting for Where the Crawdads Sing.

Queensland outback in Australia

The fictitious town Willstown on a cattle station in Australia's outback from the classic book, A Town Like Alice by Shute.

What vivid seetings do you remember from books?

-Anne