Sunday Salon -- My Backyard Bird Chronicles

Amy Tan illustrations from her book Backyard Bird Chronicles. Top to bottom: Bewick's Wren; Great Horned Owl; Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinches; Dark-eyed Junco

Weather: Overcast, threatening rain. We are experiencing the ups and downs of late winter in the Pacific Northwest -- sunny one moment and rainy the next.

The birds are back: We have resident birds who stick around all year -- Dark-eyed Juncos; Anna's Hummingbirds; Chestnut-backed and Black-capped Chickadees; House Finches; and House Sparrows -- but during the past two weeks many others have returned from their southern climes. Some will remain with us for the whole of spring and summer -- American Robins; Pine Siskins; Spotted Towhees, American and Lesser Goldfinches; and many others. While some birds will merely stop by on their way north. In fact, I think we've already seen our last Yellow-rumped Warbler and California Scrub Jay until Fall when they turn around and head south again.

New to me birds: Retirement has meant time to sit and look out the window much more often than when I was working. Now I get to see and experience all the wildlife activity in my own backyard more fully...primarily birds and squirrels. In addition, I downloaded the Merlin Bird App on my phone and can now record the bird songs happening right outside my back door. This spring I've met at least three new birds this way: the Varied Thrush (with its low-toned, almost eerie song); the Red-Capped Kinglet (a tiny greenish-colored bird with the tiniest hint of a red cap); and the Bewick's Wren (I noticed the song first and had to search for this little guy. The song is very loud and persistent.)

Our bird feeder photo of the Dark-eyed Junco yesterday

The Spotted Towhee is looking around for a few stray kernels of food

A new feeder: Don gave me this high-tech bird feeder for my birthday a few weeks ago. Equipped with a solar-powered, wi-fi connected, digital camera, I can see close up photos of the squirrels birds who eat from the feeder. So far the Juncos and the squirrels are pigging it. Yesterday one of the Juncos stood guard all day but had to move off when a larger Spotted Towhee swooped in for a treat. We hope to get the feeder mounted on a post with some flashing to discourage the squirrels from eating most of the seeds, but for now it is attached to our small oak tree and our bird feeder is largely a squirrel feeder!

A few more recent bird moments:

• A Great Horned Owl has hooted at us several times recently when we take the dog out at night before bed. We've never seen him, but have heard him often enough to know he lives in a neighborhood tree. We are awed, the dog is freaked out. 🦉
• A pair of Red-Shafted Northern Flickers have decided our suet feeder is their preferred breakfast restaurant. The red-shafted variety can be distinguished by their underside feathers, which are dark orange and their red "whiskers". The yellow-shafted subspecies have yellow underside feathers and black whiskers/moustache. I don't think we have the latter variety around here.
• Yesterday on a walk in our neighborhood a Bald Eagle flew overhead. Many Indigenous people believe that witnessing a Bald Eagle flying overhead is a spiritual sign, a message from the Creator of strength, courage, and wisdom. I think it is true. One cannot witness an eagle passing over you without feeling a strong sense of wonder.
• We have a large park near our home that is mostly in its natural forested state. A few weeks ago we took a hike with our young grandson. We got off the beaten path and stumbled upon an old, rotten tree which had clearly been attacked by a Pileated Woodpecker leaving a pile of wood chips littering the ground all around. We haven't seen one of these birds in the park yet this year but we have in the past. A Downy Woodpecker and a Red-Headed Sapsucker have been sighted in our backyard in recent weeks. I love watching them work.

What birds are you noticing in your corners of the world during this time of changing seasons?

Books and blogging: Apparently I go back and forth on my book blogging practices. Right now I am in a reading phase which has caused me to be way behind on my blogging and reviewing. I currently have a five-book baglog of reviews that I need/want to write. 

• Currently reading:
• The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. This is my One-Big-Book of the year selection and also my Classics Club spin book for March. I set a goal to read 25 pages a day. At 850+ pages it will take me over a month to complete. Currently I am on page 122. I have a long way to go!
• The Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. In an odd case of coincidence this is the second book this month about dealing with grief which is set in Australia. Audio. 39%.
• The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of USA by Doug Mack. A nonfiction book about the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. This has been on my reading list for several years. Print. 4%.
• Recently completed books
• With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang. Poems on a theme related to the art of Agnes Martin. Very thought-provoking. Print.
• Small Rain by Garth Greenwell. A beautifully written book about healthcare with inspirations from art and music. Audio.
• White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link. Seven modern fairy tales. My daughter Rita and I did a read-along on this one and would discuss each story as we finished. Print.
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach. A book club selection for this month. Print.
• Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks. The other book, this one a memoir, set in Australia by a favorite author as she processes the death of her husband. Audio.
• This Motherless Land by Nikki May. A Mansfield Park retelling across two cultures. Audio.
• Blog posts since my last Sunday Salon:
• TTT: Books Set in a Different Time Period -- Recent Reads
• Review: The Portable Veblen
• TTT: Witty Things Literary Characters Said
• Review: The Wedding People
• Nonfiction review: Memorial Days
• Review: White Cat, Black Dog: Stories

A short-lived freak out: Yesterday I drove to a nearby town to go to a Barnes and Noble bookstore with my daughter. My city doesn't have a bookstore, not even a used bookstore so we have to drive to another town if we want to shop in person! As we walked in the door there were signs everywhere -- 25% off everything -- except the items marked as "not on the store closing sale". Wait, what? The store was closing? How could they close? This B&N is the nearest big bookstore to us. What? Are we going to have to drive to Seattle if we want to shop at an actual bookstore? Both my daughter and I were sort of in freak-out mode. It was short-lived, however, once we learned the store was moving to a new location nearby. Whew! Disaster averted.

Lent: This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, signifying 40 days before Easter. This period of Lent is often thought of as a good time to draw closer in our relationship with God by adding or subtracting activities which will add/detract from that bond. This year I've decided do both (add and subtract.) I've added reading a daily devotional and prayer for my spiritual health. I've added health practices related to my eyes and my teeth based on recent visits to my optometrist and dentist. And I've subtracted playing games on my phone.  I think that is the single biggest reason I'm in a reading phase right now. Ha! I'm also attempting to divest myself/our home of 40 bags (shopping bag size) of junk. So far I've gotten rid of 17 bags! (I started early.) I want to free myself from the compulsion to have too much "stuff." I have a sense this will be a very freeing activity.

Love to you all!

-Anne

Review: WHITE CAT, BLACK DOG: STORIES

Recently I picked up a batch of library books which I had placed on hold. Among them was the short story collection by Kelly Link called White Cat, Black Dog. Looking over the summary I vaguely recalled being interested in the book because of this description of it:

Finding seeds of inspiration in the stories of the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers -- characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge, or their own sense of purpose Book Jacket).

Who doesn't love a well-told fairy tale and an utterly new one at that? 

So I checked out the book and carted it home. But the pile was high and the other books had more claims on my time and attention and soon I determined that White Cat, Black Dog was going to be returned to the library unread, that is until my daughter called me. She had seen the title of the book on my Sunday Salon post and wanted to do a read-along. She, of my two children, has always loved fairy tales and retellings of them. How could I refuse the request? I renewed the book and we resolved to read a story a day and discuss our thoughts before moving on. I wouldn't say that our discussions of the various stories were very deep. Both of us were flummoxed by most of them but we did enjoy our repartee 

Of the seven stories here are a few highlights --

1. "The White Cat's Divorce": The theme as we saw it was 'greedy people get their comeuppance in the end.' We both didn't understand the symbolism of the cats running a cannabis growing operation but thought it was funny.

2. "Prince Hat Underground": Neither of us have read Dante's Inferno but we imagine the story has something to do with hell or the underworld and how far someone will go for love.

3. "The White Road": The story is based on another story, "The Musicians of Bremen" by the Brothers Grimm, which we were not familiar with. There is a traveling group of people (Are they musicians?) who have to beware to stay away from the white road which carries dead people. The story is bizarre and unsettling. My daughter described it as Stations Eleven meet zombieland.

4. "The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear": This tale is based on a European fairy tale, "The Boy Who Did Not Know Fear", where a boy tries to find fear by waking a giant, rousing a bear, flying through the air, and sailing the sea. The protagonist of our story similarly tries to cope with her fears by doing modern equivalents. This story left both of us scratching our heads.

5. "The Game of Smash and Recovery": Another head-scratcher. Identified as a Hansel and Gretel story, there are indeed a brother and sister, but are they the same thing? And is the sister really artificial intelligence? And what is with all the stuff, the handmaids, and the vampires. We didn't get this one at all.

6. "The Lady and the Fox": Is a retelling of the Tam Lin fairy tale. My daughter, who is familiar with that tale, says of all the stories this one most closely follows the original. We both liked it and liked the lack of any violence.

7. "Skinder's Veil": This story had a lot going on but both of us enjoyed it very much. At one point Andy, who is going to house-sit for a friend, is told to let everyone who comes to the backdoor into the house. But don't let Skinder in the front door.  Odd characters do come to the back door, among them Snow-White and Rose-Red, a wild turkey, a bear, and a grey man. Skinder, as Rose-red explains, is death himself., which explains why you shouldn't let him in. He also has a black dog with him. So the collection is bookended with a white cat and a black dog. Like the warning given to Andy, "just go with it", I just went with it and enjoyed this story a lot.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the chapter headings are each illustrated by Shaun Tan. They alone tell rich stories.

My rating for the book is 3.5 stars. Rita rated it with 3 stars. Both of us thought the writing was very good but often felt lost and not sure what the story was trying to tell us.

-Anne

Nonfiction Review: MEMORIAL DAYS

In May 2023 I read the book Horse by Geraldine Brooks. It was a book club selection and we had a very lively discussion over the book, as I remember. Brooks is one of my favorite authors and I always appreciate how much research I can tell she has done for her books. 

Last year I learned that Brooks' husband, Tony Horwitz, died suddenly in 2019 when Brooks was in the middle of writing her book Horse. This thought struck me at that time -- How, on earth, did she complete a book and have it published just three short years after that event? I've learned that Horwitz, also a writer, often helped his wife with her research and proofread her manuscripts, greatly assisting her writing process.

This year I read Brooks' memoir, Memorial Days, which answers to some degree my question above.

Three years after her husband's death Geraldine Brooks booked a flight to a remote Australian island with the intention of FINALLY giving herself the time and the space to mourn. In a small cabin away from phones, TV, and social media Brooks pondered the various ways in which different cultures grieve and what rituals of her own she might employ to help her rebuild a life around the void left by Tony's death. After his death she was so wrapped up in all the duties required of her she left little time to properly mourn his death. Now three years later she realized that grief doesn't go away because you ignore it. She knew she had to do the WORK of mourning, of coming to terms with her grief.

In her essay “On Grief” Jennifer Senior quotes a therapist who likens the survivors of loss to passengers on a plane that has crashed into a mountaintop and must find their way down. All have broken bones; none can assist the others. Each will have to make it down alone (from Memorial Days).

During her time on the island Brooks would often go for days without seeing any other humans. Instead she spent time reading excerpts from his journals and other writings, exploring his medical records, and recalling her own memories of their life together. If she did she run into someone, say on the beach down the path from the cabin, she would turn away from the contact not wanting any intrusions on her time with Tony. Finally, after so many years, she was able to properly say goodbye to him. During these days of melancholy or "the happiness of being sad," as Victor Hugo called them, she was able to embrace her new life.

I was very moved by Memorial Days even though the memoir didn't expressly answer my question about how Brooks wrote Horse after her husband's death. I was moved because I know someone in a very similar situation who experienced the untimely death of her husband. Because of his position in the community there have been many memorials and honors paid to him and she has been showered with love and attention by many people and organizations. I fear, however, that the widow has never had the time and space to properly mourn her loss in a personal way. I don't think she has made it down off the mountain due to her "own broken bones." No one can do the work for her but now I wonder if this book would help be the catalyst toward finally taking the time to do the hard work of grieving, which is still with her.

The book is not cheery, obviously, but it is hopeful and helpful. I do recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars.

-Anne

Review: THE WEDDING PEOPLE (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Book Beginnings quote: 

The hotel looks exactly as Phoebe hoped.

Friday56 quote:

Phoebe waits for Lila to blush, but she doesn't get embarrassed, she gets angrier.

Summary: Phoebe, a divorced and depressed professor of 19th Century Lit., decides to treat herself to a decadent night at an expensive hotel in Rhode Island. When she gets there she finds out she is the only guest who is not part of the wedding party. The bride, Lila, wants her to leave because she thinks Phoebe's presence will wreck the week's worth of pre-wedding activities. As it turns out Phoebe stays and becomes friend and confidant to all.

Review: The Wedding Party is a book club selection for this month. I was the one who recommended we read it, not because I'd read it but because it was selected as the top fiction book on Goodreads last year. It also sounded like it was humorous and we've been looking for lighter books than what we typically read since all the serious and awful things we're experiencing in our country are dragging us down otherwise. I expected a light and fluffy book, and in some ways the Wedding Party filled that bill, but it also had a much deeper and thoughtful side I wasn't expecting. 

Instead of giving away too much more of the plot I thought I'd give a partial character list and a few other points/questions I think might be helpful for our meeting. 

• Phoebe -- a depressed and divorced professor. Her husband left her right after a miscarriage. She has been working on a book about 19th century female characters and is uninspired by her own research. She's not sure life is worth living.
• Lila -- the bride-to-be. She works in an art gallery with her mother but doesn't care that much about art or partially like her work. Her father gave her lots of money for her wedding, hence the fact she could afford to rent out the whole hotel. Unfortunately her father died of cancer before the big day.
• Patricia -- Lila's mother who always seems to make everything about herself.
• Gary -- the groom-to-be. Is a doctor who treated Lila's father, that's how the two met. His wife, Wendy, died of cancer. Gary misses her very much.
• Mel aka Juice -- Gary's 11-year-old daughter who is unhappy about the prospect of her father getting married to Lila. She is a melodramatic pre-teen.
• Marla -- Gary's older sister who works as a judge and is a know-it-all.
• Jimmy (Jim) -- Wendy's brother and now Gary's best friend. He is not sure that Lila is the gal for Gary either.
• Matt -- Phoebe's ex-husband. He is also a college professor.
• Assorted other friends of Lila, including a maid-of-honor who can't make it to the wedding due to COVID.

Questions:

1. What do you think went wrong with Matt and Phoebe's marriage?
2. If you were Phoebe would you have stayed at the hotel even if the bride begged you to leave, like Lila did? Why/Why not?
3. What did you think of each of the characters at first and how did your opinions change?
4. Phoebe makes a personal transformation. How did that happen in such a short period of time? Do you think that is a realistic possibility in real life?
5. What did Phoebe do that made her such a good listener? Why did the other characters all seek her out as a sounding board for their problems?
6. In a lot of ways the novel was about grief. Do you think the topic was handled well. Give examples.
7. What did you think about the ending?

My rating: 4.5 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

TTT: Witty Things Literary Characters Said

Top Ten Tuesday: Witty Things Literary Characters Said

Veblen to a squirrel:

“I want to meet muckrakers, carousers, the sweet-toothed, and the lion-hearted, and you don't know it yet, but you are all of these.”
                               ― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

Veblen cautions her mother not to worry. Her mother's reply follows:

“Don't worry about it."

"When you're me, there's always something to worry about. Everything goes wrong for me, and you know it.”
                              ― Elizabeth Mckenzie, The Portable Veblen

Willa to her mother, Rocky:

“Mom, try not to hurt your own feelings for no reason,” Willa says. 
                             ― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

Rocky musing to herself:

“Who wants a guy to last longer? Finish up is my feeling. My library book’s not going to read itself!”
                            ― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

Judi Dench to Brendan O'Hea, during their discussion about the Shakespeare plays Judi has acted in:

“The word ‘play’ is at the heart of what we do as actors – players putting on plays by playwrights in playhouses for playgoers. Play is everything.”
                           ― Judi Dench, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

Judi Dench during same interview:

“Never trust a man who when left alone in a room with a tea cosy doesn’t try it on.”
                          ― Judi Dench, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

The main character, an unnamed poet/teacher, to his high school class about a poem:

"Imagine the speaker. What is the small rain, isn't it beautiful, the weird adjective, how can rain be small; and does he want it, the speaker of the poem, does he long for the rain, is that how we should understand the cracked syntax, and isn't the poem more beautiful for it, for the difficulty, for the way we can't quite make sense of it, settled sense, I mean, for how it won't stay still..."

                         ― Garth Greenwell, Small Rain

A husband, Rainy, recalls what his wife, Lark, always said:

I still hear it in Lark's voice. "Better is here. Stay, and make it better. That is our job always and forever to refuse Apocalypse in all its forms and work cheerfully against it.”

                         ― Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

Aunt Marla to her niece, Alexandra:

“Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you.”
                       ― Kelly Barnhill, When Women Were Dragons

Lara's mother to Phoebe:

“I didn’t want to be saved from myself. Nobody does! All we want is permission to stand there naked and be our damned selves.”
                       ― Alison Espach, The Wedding People

Juice (11-year-old) to her father, Gary, and Phoebe:

"Oh, my God," Juice says, coming back from the bathroom. Her hands are still wet from washing."There was this sign in the bathroom that said 40 PEOPLE MAX IN THIS ROOM. Like why would forty people ever be in the bathroom? Like what would you even say to all forty people in the bathroom?"

                      ― Alison Espach, The Wedding People

Most of these made me giggle, a few had me nodding my head in agreement.

-Anne

Review: THE PORTABLE VEBLEN (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie

Book Beginnings quote: 

Huddled together on the last block of Tasso Street, in a California town known as Palo Alto, was a pair of humble bungalows, each one aplot* in lilies. And in one lived a woman in the slim green spring of her life, and her name was Veblen Amundsen-Hovda.   

     *Not a misspelling. But "aplot" is not in the dictionary, so your guess is as good as mine as to the definition.

Friday56 quote: 

By clearly emphasizing all that was lacking in others, by mapping and raising to an art form the catalog of their flaws, Veblen’s mother had inversely punched out a template for an ideal human being, and it was the unspoken assumption that Veblen would aspire to this template with all her might.

Summary: 

The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that’s as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage—the charming Veblen and her fiancé Paul, a brilliant neurologist—find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other’s dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tête-à-tête with a very charismatic squirrel.

Review: I am not sure I can adequately review The Portable Veblen. Here is what I can say: It is crammed full of quirky, odd characters. Starting with Veblen herself, whose hypochondriac mother has groomed her to be one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people you will ever meet in all of literature, and her fiance, Paul, who is still traumatized by his hippy parents and his upbringing. One can't help but wonder if both of them should be visiting a  psychiatrist before they even consider marriage, both seem so scarred from their upbringings. In addition to the young couple, we meet all the parents and siblings, several friends, and the pharmaceutical heiress who is so awful, it is funny.

I started off on the wrong foot with The Portable Veblen and would likely have given it the heave-ho after less than thirty pages if for the fact I had purchased the audiobook with Audible credits and I didn't want to waste my money. As I listened on I found myself laughing out loud, groaning with disbelief, rolling my eyes, chortling, empathizing, smiling, and probably crying (since I seem to cry all the time these days.) If you look at the reader reviews on Goodreads you will see, as I did, there are two schools of thought on this book: those who loved it and found it both funny and charming, and those who didn't get it and either didn't finish it or wished they hadn't. Clearly I am in the former camp.

I became aware of The Portable Veblen because it was a Women's Prize Award finalist in 2016. (I am attempting to read current and past winners.) Because of that I visited Elizabeth McKenzie's Women Prize page, which, to my mind, is as quirky as the book. Have fun.

My rating: 4.25 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

TTT: Books Set in a Different Time -- Recent Reads

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in a Different Time -- Recent reads

I didn't have to look back very far to find ten examples of books set in the past and the future.

1. Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland -- Set in France in the 1930s and '40s, before, during, and after WWII. (Published in 2014. Completed on Feb. 21, 2025)

2. The Most by Jessica Anthony -- Set in 1957 in Newark, Delaware. (Published in 2024. Completed on Feb. 13, 2025.)

3. Just Kids by Patti Smith -- A memoir set in the 1960s and '70s in New York City. (Published in 2010. Completed on Feb. 11, 2025.)

4. The Ministry of Time by Kalianna Bradley -- Set in London during several time periods because the book is about time travel. The main action happens in the near future but some action happens in the 1840s with references to other times periods in the 1600s, 1700s, 1900s, and 50+ years into the future from current time. (Published in 2024. Completed Feb. 8, 2025.)

5. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich -- Set in North Dakota in 2008 during the economic recession. (Published in 2024. Completed Jan. 21, 2025.)

6. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore -- Set in 1975, with flashbacks to the early 1960s in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. (Published in 2024. Completed Jan. 18, 2025.)

7. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf -- Based on two lectures given by the author in 1928. (Published in 1929. Completed Nov. 27, 2024.)

8. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo -- Set in Western Mexico between 1870-1920s. (Published in 1955. Completed Nov. 26, 2024.)

9. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King -- Starts in 1947 and moves forward in time at least twenty years, set mainly in the Shawshank Prison in Maine. (First published in 1982. Completed Nov. 21, 2024.)

10.  The Turn of the Screw by Henry James -- Set in Essex, UK in the 1840s. (Published in 1898. Completed Nov. 10, 2024.)

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Dragons

Weather: RAIN!!!!! We are experiencing an atmospheric river right now. Lots of water in a short period of time. One could say this dousing rain arrived like a dragon, primal and untamed nature!

Dragons: Today I am thinking about dragons -- real or imagined or metaphorical, in literature and in politics -- the good and the bad. I found this definition of what dragons represent metaphorically:

Metaphorically, dragons often represent powerful, primal forces like chaos, destruction, untamed nature, and the unknown, but depending on the cultural context, they can also symbolize immense power, wisdom, transformation, and the potential for both good and evil within ourselves; essentially embodying the duality of human nature and our inner struggles with raw desires and fears.

This quote: It is important to remember that dragons can be beaten!

Awakening the dragon: Today our country is in turmoil. Many, many people are losing their jobs and even Trump voters are feeling the pain. This post is about five of those voters who are feeling regret, "Everything Comes at a Cost.". My summary, if you don't want to read the whole thing:

• A sample of regretful Trump voters on the theme: ”I didn’t know it would impact me!” 

  This is a core difference between us and them. They happily voted for President Donald Trump hoping he would hurt other people. We voted against him because he would hurt other people. 

• One voter, Graham Peters, working to eliminate invasive sea lampreys in the Great Lakes, lost his job working for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. “Peters feels betrayed by politicians he helped put in office. He voted for Trump in November, impressed by his vows to bolster the economy and slow immigration across the southern border. ‘If I had known that this was going to happen,’ he said, “I wouldn’t have voted for him,’”

• Next up is a disabled veteran who lost his job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Northern Virginia. “I voted for Donald Trump. But this is not what I was expecting. We didn’t think they were going to take a chainsaw to a silk rug,” he told WTOP News.

  Trump promised to cut trillions from the federal budget, but the only way that was going to happen was with a chainsaw … along with a wrecking ball, a lot of dynamite, and the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. 

  “I recognize there are a lot of cuts that need to be made, but this is not the one that you think will happen to your family," his wife added. You see, any other cuts would be totally fine. But not something that impacts her and her husband. That cut isn’t fair because he loves his job.

• Another Trump voter is upset and sad because of the cut in funds to the N.I.H. because the medical trial his cousin's daughter was accessing is keeping her alive. "Why weren't Musk and Trump more careful with their cuts?" Now the family is scrambling, trying to find other trial programs for the woman so she can continue living.

Unleash dragons and they're as likely to eat you just as quickly as the people you don't care about.

This movie: "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." So Fun! (There is a hilarious scene with an pudgy dragon in this one, too!)

Imagine Dragons: Years ago in 2012, I was listening to an audiobook, Seraphina by Hartman, which is a magical story involving dragons. I was so wrapped up in it that my head was swimming in the details even after the book's conclusion. I turned on the car radio after switching off the audiobook and immediately heard the DJ say "Imagine Dragons. It's Time." I honestly didn't know there was a band by that name. I thought this was a message just for me --Imagine life with dragons, Anne. It's time you move out of your linear thinking. It wasn't until several weeks later I realized my folly. Here's the song, It's Time, if you want to listen to it again.

Dragons in literature: Have you read any of these, or can you suggest others? I've read a few books which contain dragons. Here's my list:

• The Hobbit (1937); The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) by Tolkien 
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) by C. S. Lewis
• Earthsea (1964) by Le Guin
• Dragonriders of Pern series (1967) by McCaffery
• The Neverending Story (1979) by Ende
• The Paperbag Princess (1980) by Munsch 
• The Colour of Magic (1983) by Pratchett
• Harry Potter series (1997-2007) by J.K. Rowling
• The Inheritance Cycle series [Eragon] (2002-2011] by Paolini
• Seraphina (2012) by Hartman
• When Women Were Dragons (2023) by Barnhill

This week in books and blogging:

• Completed-
• What Kind of Woman: Poems by Kate Baer
• The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie
• Brownstone by Samuel Teer
• Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland
• Currently reading-
• This Motherless Land by Mikki May-- Fiction. Audiobook. 60% complete.
• Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks -- Memorial. Audiobook. 41% complete.
• With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang -- Poetry. Print. 13%
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach -- Fiction. Print. 8%.
• Blog posts-
• TTT: Books I Loved But Never Reviewed
• Poetry Review: What Kind of Woman: Poems
• Novella Review: The Most
• Nonfiction review: Just Kids

Aging does not make women powerless objects of pity but colorful and entertaining individuals and, on occasion, fire-breathing dragons that wise people don't cross.  --Florence King

(This closing quote seemed apropos after celebrating my birthday this week!)

-Anne

Nonfiction Review: JUST KIDS

Title: Just Kids by Patti Smith

Book Beginnings quote (from the Forward):

I was asleep when he died.

Friday56 quote: 

Our first winter together was a harsh one. Even with my better salary from Scribner's. we had very little money. Often we'd stand in the cold on the corner of St. James Place in eyeshot of the Greek diner and Jake's art supply store, debating how to spend our few dollars -- a toss-up between grilled cheese sandwiches and art supplies.

Summary: It began in 1967, the summer of love.It was a chance meeting of two people both seeking to create art but both broke and homeless. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and later a performer. Robert Mapplethorpe eventually landed on photography as the medium for his very provocative artistic style. Both began their life in NYC in innocence and enthusiasm. In 1969 they lived in the infamous Chelsea Hotel where they rubbed elbows with many artists and musicians of the day, including Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Todd Rundgren, and Janis Joplin. During these very hungry years they could always prod and provide for each other as they craved to create art. "Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame" (Book cover). 

Review:  At the end of Robert Mapplethorpe's life, Patti Smith, his once-lover and longtime best friend, agrees to write down their story. Neither of them wanted their life or their art to come to nothing. This book, in a lot of ways, makes sure that their wish comes true.

When the two meet in Brooklyn in 1967 they team up recognizing kindred spirits within. They both want to create art but have no money. Remarkably they get by on barely any income for several years, making just enough for rent in a dumpy place, and to buy supplies at second hand shops for their art. Luck would have it that they both would run into others willing to help foster their lifestyles, with encouragement, opening doors, and sometimes with money. It was shocking how many famous people they met and even hung out with during their hungry years. It is as if the milieu of the area of Manhattan where the couple landed, was just perfect for growing talented artists and musicians.

Later, in the seventies, the couple went their separate ways, a bit. Still living near to each other but not together. Robert came out as a homosexual and Patti had relationships with a few men, yet they still collaborated on their art and Patti remained as one of Robert's muses. In the mid-70s Patty joined up with some musicians to form a rock-n-roll band which included performance art and poetry. Later she collaborated with Bruce Springsteen  on what became her most famous song, "Because the Night." By now she is not just hanging out with famous people, she is famous herself. She is also credited for being at the forefront of the punk rock scene and has many, many books and musical albums to her credit.

As it turns out, Patti talks very little about her life after she moves away from Robert, preferring to tell their story, not just hers. In the late 1980s, she visits Robert several times before his death from AIDS. She called him from her home in Detroit, where she lived with her musician husband, Fred Smith, the night Robert died. The last time she saw him in person, she visited him in the hospital. She was leaving when he fell asleep, like a peaceful, yet ancient child. Something drew her back to the room in time to see his eyes open with a smile.  "So my last image was as the first. A sleeping youth cloaked in light, who opened his eyes with a smile of recognition for someone who had never been a stranger" (282).

This memoir is completely fascinating. No wonder it won the National Book Award in 2010.

My rating: 4.5 stars.

-Anne

Novella Review: THE MOST

It doesn't require a lot of pages for a novel to make a big impact. And that is the case with this novella, The Most by Jessica Anthony. It tells the story of a marriage on the rocks with such power I felt like I was being drawn into "the most", a cunning strategy used in tennis games, right along with the characters.

The Most takes place on a single day in November of 1957 in Newark, Delaware where a young family lives in an apartment after recently moving from Rhode Island. Virgil and Kathleen have reached an impasse in their marriage. Sputnik II has been launched and the first live being propelled into space is an unfortunate dog, Laika, a doomed "Muttnik." The weather is unseasonably warm.

Slowly over the whole story we learn the backstory of each person in the unhappy couple. Kathleen was a good tennis player in college, she decided to marry rather than turn pro. Virgil was a handsome man with little ambition who easily got a job without trying. Neither of them have been faithful to their partner. On this hot day in November Kathleen begs off going to church and while the family is gone, slips into her old, red bathing suit and hops into the apartment's swimming pool. She stays in the pool all day, no one can talk her out.

At one point in the story we learn when Kathleen is a teenager her parents hired a man, Billy, to give her tennis lesson. It is Billy who teaches her about "the move." It essentially traps your opponent at the net before releasing a bomb to the back court. The strategy has not only given the novel it's name but is a tactic employed to break the marital impasse, one designed to force Virgil to show his hand.

M. Praseed, writing for the Chicago Review of books, calls The Most an "incredibly nuanced conflict", a nearly perfect book in just under 150 pages. And H. McAlpin, reviewing the book for NPR, says it deserves to be a classic. I'm not sure I'd go that far but I do think it would make a good book to use to teach how to write a very tight novel. McAlpin also points out the theme of "bridges" in the book. I missed the theme on my read through but admired the references to bridges when she mentioned them.

I liked and admired The Most. I found myself thinking a lot about the differences in our society from the 1950s to today. I think that is another point which elevates the book to the near classic level.

My rating: 4 stars

-Anne

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