50 Classic Club Questions Answered

Classic Club is a website dedicated to reading and blogging about classic literature. I've been a member for several years. Today I am answering their 50 questions. These questions are being asked by the new crew of leaders for the club.

50 Club Questions: 

1. Share a link to your club list.  My Classics List
2. When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club? I'm not sure exactly when I joined but I think it was in 2012. Since that time I have read 29 classic titles, which means I am way off the goal of reading 50 in 5 years.
3. What are you currently reading? The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Suite Francaise by Irene Nimerovsky
4. What did you just finish reading and what did you think of it? The last classic I read was Kindred by Octavia Butler. I confess I read a lot of other books besides just classics. (Click on the hyperlink for the review.) The last book non-classic book I finished was a re-read, The Lost City of Z by David Grann, a nonfiction book about the explorer Percy Fawcett and his doomed quest to find the City of Z (El Dorado.) I liked it just as much the second time around.
5. What are you reading next? Why? Well, I hope to finish The Name of the Rose next since it is my SPIN book for this quarter. A non-classic book I hope to read next is SPEAK, a graphic novel by Anderson and Carroll. It is an important YA story. I read the original years ago and can't wait to see if/how the graphic novel improves upon it.

Sunday Salon...Weekly Update on Wednesday

The Painted Hills, part of the John Day Fossil Beds in Eastern Oregon

Weather: It has been hot and smokey. We were in Eastern Oregon this past weekend and during our drive over we couldn't see any of the mountains in the Cascade Range. Sunday driving up the Willamette Valley into Washington and then home it got smokier and smokier. Ugh. Forest fires everywhere. The meteorologist on TV tells us to beware and NOT go outside it we can help it.

Mr. Bingley, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Meet Mr. Bingley: Our new puppy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel so we named him a British-sounding name after a beloved character in the Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice. He is all play and all sleep. 1/2 hour on, two hours off. Right now my cat, Demi, is attempting to sit on his face as he sleeps. Grandson Ian is just the right size and the puppy thinks Ian is a great big toy. Ian has spent the morning putting his arms up, essentially asking me to pick him up to save him from the dog.

Don and Jon look over the meadow where they scattered their father's ashes

Final resting place: Don's dad, Chet, died almost two years ago while on a vacation in Arizona. He was cremated but there was a slight delay getting the ashes back. Chet had asked Don to scatter his ashes somewhere in Bear Valley where he loved to Elk Hunt, among the trees he loved so much as a forester. Don and I, Rita (our eldest daughter) and son, and Jon and Laura (Don's brother and wife), finally got together this past week to lay Chet to rest. Don found a beautiful meadow at the edge of the forest near the spot where the hunting was always good. We sang songs, told jokes and remembrances, toasted with wine and licorice (Chet loved black licorice.) We said our final goodbyes. Ian, sweet Ian, who never met his great-grandfather, was the comic relief of the day. He laughed long and hard about a joke that Laura told, as if he could understand it. It was a lovely but emotional day.

The rest of the weekend: was spent attending the Grant County Fair and the Lonestar concert in the grandstands there on the grounds; watching the fair parade down the middle of town in John Day. We also made a quick detour to check out the amazing Painted Hills, part of the John Day Fossil Beds, a new National Monument, before we drove to Eugene to pick up Bingley and to visit with my sister/brother-in-law and my parents.

New fence: Our back yard is ours again after a two-week project to demolish our old fence and build a new one...just in time for Bingley's arrival.

Currently reading:

• The Name of the Rose by Eco. This is my Classics Club SPIN book and it's a toughy. Not sure I would recommend it to anyone. But I'm not quite half way finished. (53%, audio and print)
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Sloan. A re-read. I encouraged Rita to read it and then decided I needed to have a second go round on it, too. (57%, audio)
• Life Inside My Mind: 31 Authors Share Their Struggles edited by Burkhart. Authors writing about their own experiences with mental illness. This should be required reading. (55%, print)

Books read (last two weeks):

• The Book of Pearl by Timothee de Fombelle. YA, translated from French. A true fairy story set in both a magical kingdom and out world. I liked this one. (Print)
• Cries of the Spirit: More than 300 Poems in Celebration of Women's Spirituality edited by Marilyn Sewell. A poetry anthology with a decidedly woman's point of view. Read my review by clicking the hyperlink. (Print.)
• The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson. YA. Elena is tasked with saving the world by healing as many people as she can. My review coming soon. (Print)
• Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson. Children's picture book. A sweet introduction to a favorite author. (Print.)
• Northanger Abbey: a graphic novel by Nancy Butler and Jane Austen. A fun retelling of Austen's least well-known book. (Print)
• The Lost City of Z by David Grann. A re-read and next month's book club selection. This is a nonfiction account of the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century, the disappearance of the Percy Fawcett on his quest to find the lost city of Z. (Audio)

Thought for the week: We can make a difference in the lives of others for good or bad. Choose the good.

TTT: Good books to pull you out of a reading slump

Top Ten Tuesday: 

Good books to pull you out of a reading slump

Honestly I never know what book will work to pull me out of a reading slump, and sometimes I have to flounder around for a while before I figure it out. But in general my go-to types of books that help me fall into categories: audiobooks, short stories, poetry, and re-reads.

Audiobooks: If I don't feel like "reading" I can usually still get myself up for "listening". Here are some good ones which seemed to work wonders---

• WONDER by R.J. Palacio, read by Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, and Diana Steele. The story is so charming and upbeat. It could work WONDERs on a reading slump. (Middle Grade Book)
• STARGIRL by Jerry Spinelli, read by the actor John Ritter. Ritter's performance on this book is simply masterful. The story contains such an important message of how to be kind and thoughtful, and the importance of being yourself. (YA)
• THE NIGHTENGALE by Kristin Hannah, read by Polly Stone. Set in France during the Second World War, it is the story of two sisters involved in the resistence. (Adult historical fiction)
• KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann, read by Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, and Danny Campbell. In the 1920s many members of the Osage Indian Nation were murdered, this book digs down into the story to unlock the mystery and how the investigation launched the FBI. (Narrative nonfiction)

Short Stories/Essays: If I don't feel like reading long, complicated books with intricate plots, sometimes I can find my way through a few short stories or short essays. In fact I am reading one such collection right now---

• LIFE INSIDE MY MIND: 31 AUTHORS SHARE THEIR PERSONAL STRUGGLES edited by Jessica Burkhart. All the authors share on the topic of mental illness, either their story or the story of a loved one who is struggling. Each essay is about 15 pages long or shorter. Just right for a person stuck in a slump to read. (YA)
• YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME by Sherman Alexie. This book is a collection of essays and poems about Alexie's complicated relationship with his mother and grwoing up on an Indian reservation. (Adult, nonfiction)
• A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND AND OTHER STORIES by Flannery O'Conner. If you are looking to try reading a short story collection, you might as well start with the best. (Genre: Southern Gothic)

Poetry: I usually have at least one volume of poetry that I am working on at a time. Not sure where to start? Pick a collection of favorites, or a poetry book by a favorite poet. Here are a few I recommend---

• Mary Oliver, poet---I like her more recent stuff best but her latest, DEVOTIONS is a collection of her poems going back in time. 
• Billy Collins, poet---Collins poetry is very accessible for modern readers. Pick up any of his books and you will find something that will delight you. He also has edited an antology of fun poetry by other poems called POETRY 180: TURNING BACK TO POETRY
• Roger Housden---isn't a poet himself but he writes about poetry in a series of books called TEN POEMS (TO SET YOU FREE, SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE, TO OPEN YOUR HEART, ETC.) I am fairly sure that Housden has saved me from a reading slump more than once.
• TEACHING WITH FIRE: POETRY THAT SUSTAINS THE COURAGE TO TEACH edited by Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner. I like poetry books which explain the importance of a particular poem on the life of the contributor. The contributors, in this case, were all teachers like me.

Re-Reads: In a slump? Picking up a tried and true favorite might be just the ticket out. Here are a few which have worked for me---

• TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. Actually this book should be up on the audiobooks section because I usually listen to it and fall in love every time I re-listen to it.
• LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green. Actually probably anything by John Green would help dig me out of a slump. This is his first book and I love it. (YA)
• HARRY POTTER series by J.K. Rowling. My daughter rereads this series about once every other year. (YA)
• THE LADIES OF MISSALONGHI by Colleen McCullough. I've read this so many times. Each time it soothes be and rights me for what lies ahead. Novella in length.

Good luck. 

I hope this post helps if you are in the midst of a reading slump.

Share your ideas. What works for you?

Cries of the Spirit: More Than 300 Poems in Celebration of Women's Spirituality

In July 2017 I was made aware of the poetry collection, Cries of the Spirit: More Than 300 Poems in Celebration of Women's Spirituality, edited by Marilyn Sewell. The collection had been in publication a long time, since 1991, so I had no trouble tracking down a used copy of it. Taking my time, obviously, I've been savoring the poems for this past year and finally completed the collection this week. All the poems are by and about women and are loosely arranged according to topics: Owning Self; The Imperative of Intimacy; Mothering; Generations; Death and Lesser Losses; Brokenness and Alienation; Toward the Good; Sacredness in Ordinary Life; Unity; Divine Images; The Word; etc. Some of the categories contained poems which really spoke to me while others, not so much. In fact, if all these poems were in the usual small poetry volumes available on book store shelves according to their categories, it is unlikely I would have read them all.

That said, the beauty of an anthology like this is that one bumps into some real gems, or even small little fragments of light within the poems. This is what delights me about reading poetry. Not the whole but the precious little pieces. The second to last poem in the collection, "The Secret" by Denise Levertov, made me smile because it deal with that topic very beautifully---

"Two girls discover/ the secret of life/ in a sudden line of/ poetry.// I who don't know the/ secret wrote/ the line...//I love them for finding what/ I can't find.// And for loving me/ for the line I wrote;/ and for forgetting it/ so that// a thousand times, till death/ finds them, they may/ discover it again..."

I am guessing that people who say they don't like poetry, or reading it anyway, try to get too much from each poem instead of just a precious line or phrase that speaks to the heart at that second. Today I stumbled upon this line from "Spring Fragments" by Betsy Sholl: "coming to the end of spring/ my grandmother kicks off her shoes./ steps out of her faltering body." Yesterday these lines might not have touched me, but today I am thinking about the death of parents. Tomorrow we will scatter the ashes of my husband's father. Today I am reminded, by poetry, that Chet needed to go, he had to step out of his faltering body. Death can be a good thing. And Alice Walker's poem Goodnight, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning" reminds me "...that the healing/ of all our wounds/ is forgiveness/ that permits a promise/ of our return/ at the end."

Though written years ago, many of the poems spoke to me of today's issues, "Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870" by Julia Ward Howe, the famous suffragette, wrote over a century ago, "Arise, then women of this day!/ Arise all women who have hearts,/ Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears!" I was just reading today that more women a running for political offices this year than ever before. We have been baptized by tears these years under Trump and we will arise just like our sisters arose one hundred years ago to ensure our right to vote!

Along that line, Marge Piercy's poem "To Be of Use" has long been a favorite. She reminds me to jump in, to get involved, to allow myself to get dirty, to do what needs to be done:

"I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like a water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again."

Annie Dillard goes on the same theme in "Holy the Firm": "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? There in no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart...But there is no one but us. There never has been." I can't sit around and hope that someone cures what ails us as a nation. I have to do something. Me.

And Joy Harjo spurs me on with "Eagle Poem": "To pray you open your whole self/ To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon/ To one whole voice that is you." Yes, I must listen to the internal wisdom within me.

This thought from Pat Mayne Ellis's poem "Scientists Find Universe Awash in Tiny Diamonds" delighted me for weeks after reading it. Nay, it still delights me. Apparently Ellis read that microscopic diamonds from outer-space are everywhere, "...we are all precious/ that we are awash in creation/spumed with diamonds/ shot through with beauty." I walk around now seeing diamonds everywhere...in the smiles of others' faces, on the flap of the wing of a bird, in the pout of a child. Delightful!

Anne Sexton seems to have written "Welcome Morning" just for me since she refers to herself as Anne and we spell our names the same way. Here she reminds herself (or me) to give thanks to God for the simple things: her house, the chair, the coffee, the bird singing outside her window: "The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard, dies young."

The best thing about poetry collections like Cries of the Spirit: More Than 300 Poems in Celebration of Women's Spirituality is I can place it on the shelf and pull it down whenever the mood strikes. And when it is reread other poems, lines, fragments will delight and instruct. I hope I've convinced you to read a few poems today and to look for the treasures within them.

Austen in August...Back from the Library

It is August. You know what that means. It is time for some Jane Austen books and activities. This year I visited the public library and requested a plethora of books about, by, and pretending to be by Jane Austen. I've just arrived home with the first batch.

First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett

It starts with the question: Could Jane Austen have stolen the plot of Pride and Prejudice?

I don't know, I hope to find out.

Adult. Fiction. c. 2014

The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a lady of Sense and Sensibility

 by Natalie Tyler

A book full of endless revelations and witty insights for diehard Austen fans and new converts to Jane admiring. Reading this book is supposed to be like stepping into the happy world of her fiction.

Nonfiction. c. 1999

The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen by Shannon Winslow

A novel wherein she tell her own story of lost love, second chances, and finding her happy ending.

Adult. Fiction. c. 2014

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Qin Leng

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of our greatest writers. But before that, she was just an ordinary girl."

Children's Picture Book. Nonfiction. c. 2018.

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey by Nancy Butler, illustrated by Janet Lee and Nick Filardi

A graphic novel published by Marvel, part of a series of Austen books adapted by Nancy Butler.

YA. Fiction. 2012.

Austen in August!

Yippee!

Hunting for the next Printz book...three mini reviews

The Printz Award is the most prestigious book award for YA literature in the USA. Every year groups of readers try to ferret out the best YA books of the year on the hunt for the next winner. This year I am reading YA books which have earned at least three starred (mostly 4+) reviews from the likes of Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and Horn Book. The following three books have all earned at least three starred reviews, yet I don't think any of them will earn the coveted Printz Award. Let me tell you why.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Summary: "A young teenager, Xiomara Batista, discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother's religion and of her own world." As Xiomara grows into a woman, her mother becomes more and more strict about where she can go and who she can talk to. Her mother wants her to get confirmed at church but mother's religion isn't how Xiomara (X) sees the world. She pours out her thoughts and feelings in a journal, many in poetic style. When she is asked to join the slam poetry club at school, X can't figure out how to attend the meetings after school without alerting her mother that she is skipping confirmation class. Everything seems to fall apart when her mother finds her journal and then her twin brother starts to have problems of his own.

Review: Written in verse, the whole book is one long poem about Xiomata's life. Unfortunately these poems are not special. I am of the opinion if a book is written in verse then the poems need to be special, otherwise the story should just be written in prose. Oddly the slam poems that she performs for the class and for competition aren't included. With all the poems, the ones that count aren't included.  Bloggers who listened to the audiobook version raved about the poetry and think that the book is worthy of Printz consideration. But others who read the print version agree with me that the book's poetry should really sparkle if it is to win an award. Perhaps Poet X will be a contestant for the Odyssey Award for best audiobook for children/teens.

I liked the story line and several of the characters were well flushed out, while others seemed flatter and one dimensional. The conflict: changing body, parental expectations, religious inflexibility all seem to be aspects that teens might be able to relate to.

Source: Print version from public library
Starred Reviews: HB, KR, PW, SLJ
My rating: 4 out of  5.

The Place Between Breaths by An Na
Summary: Grace's mother disappeared several years earlier after she suffered from schizophrenia. Her father, a medical researcher has never given up hope that he can find the cure for the disease which took his wife and Grace's mother away from them. He works night and day at the lab trying to recruit the brightest and best to work on finding a cure. He is so consumed by his work, his mission, he is often distant and distracted at home. Grace, who is also whip-smart, works at the same lab after school as a teen intern. She also tries to navigate life without a mother at school with few friends and fewer support systems. She also worries that she may fall victim to schizophrenia and the reader begins to wonder if she is right as we see her life begin to unravel.

Review: An Na won a Printz Award in 2002 for her novel, A Step From Heaven. She is Korean-American and she often encourages middle school Asian-Americans to harness their creativity and become artists. Her writing is spectacular. The theme of this book of living with mental illness is an important topic that crosses all cultural and ethnic divides. However, this is possibly the most confusing book I've ever read. It is not chronological in its presentation and I had the hardest time keeping track of the "wheres and whens." Also, as Grace's life seems to unravel so does the plot. I was so confused I contemplated abandoning the book altogether but finished it to find out if it finished up well.

I found myself comparing this book to Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep (2016), which is also about what it is like living with schizophrenia. In both books the reader is given a inward focused porthole to see what the disease is like from the inside. The confusion the reader feels in probably minor compared to what the victim feels like. That said, I still think this book will not be seriously considered by the Printz committee this year. It's confusing presentation is a disqualifier, in my mind.

Source: Print version from public library
Starred Reviews: B, KR, PW, SLJ
My rating: 3 out of  5.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Summary: "Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic...But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope." Now Zélie has a chance to change everything and to bring magic back. But it means taking her life into her own hands and also controlling the magic within herself that she doesn't really understand.

Review: Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer who drew her inspiration from West African mythology and from Black Lives Matter. She wanted to write a story which drew on beautiful images of black people, rather than the negative ones we often see. "Examples of police brutality, over-incarceration, and over-policing of minority groups are seen consistently in the fictional land of Orïsha, reflecting current American society. Children of Blood and Bone is not a story through the eyes of children, but one that shows the forced maturation of children of color in a country that makes them fear the government power structure that should be protecting them." This fantasy tale has everything I like in a story...beautiful/colorful descriptions and imagery, action, and gutsy characters. The setting is exotic and romantic but also a little familiar. And it redirects the debate on a topic and reframes it to give the reader a new prospective on a current problem.

So why shouldn't this book win the Printz? Maybe it will. Of the the three I've reviewed here this one has the best chance. But it is the first book in a trilogy and ends on a cliff hanger. It also is already in the works for a movie. Often the most popular books of the year, aren't the ones that win the book awards. I say that then have only to look to last year when Strange the Dreamer won a Printz Honor and it is also a fantasy book, the first in a series, so it is certainly not a hard and fast rule. Either way, I do recommend this book for any teens/adults who enjoy reading fantasy and want to learn more about African mythology.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it so much. I was thankful for the help the reader gave me with pronunciation of names and places.

Source: Audio version from Overdrive part of my public library system
Starred Reviews: B, KR, PW, SLJ
My rating: 5 out of  5.

Past Due Book Reviews

10 / 16 books. 62.25% done!

Friday Quotes: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. Share the opening quote from the book.
The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice.  Find a quote from page 56.

Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest, or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. This is the book I'm reading right now---


Title: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

Book Beginning:

"The apocalypse began at Starbucks. Where else did you expect the end of the world to start?"

Friday 56:

"I'd saved someone's life and they were treating me like I was the shooter. I'd performed an actual miracle, but they still thought I was a freak."

Comments: I liked Hutchinson's book We Are the Ants about a boy who is either having a mental breakdown or was he really abducted by aliens who gave him the ability to save the world by pushing the red button? This book seems to be shaping up to be similar. Elena hears objects talking to her telling her to heal people. And she can. How is that possible?

Don't you just love the first line?

Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

In Arden's debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, readers are immersed from the very first page in Russian folktales, in the loveliest and riches of ways, too. Set in medieval Russia, the story centers around an indomitable and irresistible heroine,  Vasilisa "Vasya" Petrovna, who has inherited her royal grandmother's understandings about magic and can see and talk to magical creatures no one else can see. She can talk to horses and household spirits, who guard the family house and barns. Vasya's mother died giving birth to her and when her father eventually remarries, her new stepmother can also see the household spirits, but this woman doesn't recognize them for their protective powers, but thinks them evil. Along that same time a new priest is assigned to serve the family. He and the stepmother join together in allegiance against these "demons" with disastrous results for the family and the community.

Vasya is one of those characters that it is impossible not to like. She is determined to do everything her way, including not falling into the conventions of the day for females to only think of themselves as future wives and mothers. Vasya is forever getting in trouble for wandering too far from the house, for climbing trees, for getting dirty. She learns to ride a horse like no man can because she took tutelage from the horse herself. She refuses to call the house spirits "demons" which enrages her stepmother.

The first part of the book is just stuffed full of Russia lore and the lifestyle of people who lived in this very cold part of the world. The second part of the book included lots of action when the twins, Death and Fear, go to war over the heart of Vasya. But even against these foes, Vasya refuses to be bossed around.

I listened to the audio version of the book, read by Kathleen Gati. I loved the whole listening experience. Gati did a magical job with the accents and the difficult to pronounce names. The listening experience was a little like being wrapped up in a fur coat sitting in front of the fire, listening to an elder (like the nurse in the story) tell me a folktale, one she expects me to remember.

I've already recommended this one to my daughter who loves fairy tales.  And now I am recommending it to you.

Past Due Book Reviews

7 / 16 books. 43% done!

Grief

Susan, as I remembered her in the 1970s

I don't often veer off and post about non-book related topics. But today I am.

A year ago I reconnected with a junior high friend via Facebook. We hadn't kept up with each other in high school or beyond but with the connecting-ness of Facebook we were back together. Or sort of. You know what I mean. Facebook connects us in a hands off sort of way since we still lived a state away from one another. We see photos, learn a bit about what foods they eat, and who they hang out with. And in my case, I only see those posts if I happen to be looking at the right moment, since I don't often scroll too far down on my feed.

Anyway, I reconnected with Susan and learned at the same time that her breast cancer had returned. She had been battling it for eight years. Over the course of the next few months I learned that she was receiving a new type of treatment. She was hopeful but tired. I could tell. Friends who still lived in our hometown organized food for the family and collected money for incidentals. I watched from afar, feeling like a voyeur.

Every time I read one of Susan's posts, I was struck by how centered she was. She seemed so loving and kind, taking joy in the simplest of things. Most of her posts didn't even mention cancer. One day she posted. "Geese overhead. Bliss." Those were the types of posts that made me realize what kind of person she was...living outside herself while doing battle within.

But when she did post about cancer, she was worrying about us, her friends. Here is a snippet from one of those posts:

One of the things I’ve learned while dealing with this damned disease is that it takes a lot of energy to keep up precious friendships and to manage emotions that aren’t always helpful. Anger, for one. Or just plain grief for all we’ve lost....I just want to say, if I’ve disappointed you, or hurt your feelings for any reason, it’s not because that behavior is OK with me...I wonder sometimes if people with terminal diseases don’t lose their shine as they fade away so that those who are left won’t miss them quite so much. Rather like surly teenagers: how soon are you going to college? 😏 Anyway- just thought I’d let you know what it’s like in here and to express my love and gratitude for your grace and kindness... 

My life got really busy mid-May through the first of July. I stopped paying close attention to a lot of things, including how Susan was doing. In fact, to my shame, I really didn't notice that I hadn't seen any posts from Susan for a while. Today I learned the reason. Susan died on May 16th.

One week before her death, on May 10th, she posted this video on her Facebook page. Click link. It is one of those wonderful videos that shows time-lapsed photography of mushrooms growing. At the end, the narrator says that we all need to pay attention to what nature is telling us before it is too late for all of us. He then went on to say that if he were to die to today he would have least tried to make a difference to help change the course we are on. Then he asked, what have you done to make a difference? Even in the midst of a battle with cancer, Susan was concerned about life beyond herself.

Two of her children posted tributes to their mother on Facebook:

 "Love can seem like an odd thing when we lose those we care for most, but we must remember that love is the chisel that turns us into the beautiful sculptures that we become throughout our lives. With that, we must never fear that love even with the knowledge that one day we’ll lose the artist that made us, otherwise we would be formless and opaque. My mother danced in every aspect of her life with grace and beauty." -S.

"In this physical life, she was the most radiant force I'd ever known. Wise and courageous, talented and passionate, loquacious and witty, gentle and ferocious, compassionate and balanced, gorgeous and mirthful, intentional and sassy; her influence on mine and so many other lives was utterly unforgettable and unendingly meaningful." -E.

Aren't they lovely, lovely tributes? If only we all lived our lives in way to be worthy of such tributes in the end. And for me? Susan will always be that crazy friend I loved to hang out with in the old days. The gal who always knew just the right thing to say. Once in French class our teacher bragged aloud to the class about Susan,  she spelled her name "Sioux" at the time, because the teacher ran into her at a store when she was with a friend. Sioux apparently did a little curtsy when she met the teacher's friend, because of course she did, and exclaimed "enchantee", which means "enchanted" in French. Susan was like that. Delighted to meet everyone. Delighted with life.

Good bye, old pal. Thanks for the love and the reminders to be best people we can be.

Review: The Book of Pearl by Timothee de Fombelle

Once upon a time there was a love so deep and committed that it stood the test of time and dislocation from one kingdom to our world. 

When Ilian, a young prince, fell in love in love with Olia, a beautiful fairy, it seemed like theirs would be a happily-ever-after relationship. But when Ilian's evil older brother, Ian the crown prince, also falls in love with Olia, trouble strikes the couple. Ian insists that a genie separate the couple. What the genie does is send both of the lovers to our world, 1936 in France. Ilian doesn't know that Olia is also in the world. Olia knows where Ilian is but cannot show herself to him or she will die.

For years Ilian isn't even sure where he is from and slowly his memory is crumbling until he finds a volume of fairy tales in his adopted family's house. From that point forward, including service during WWII, Ilian spends trying to gather evidence of his other existence so that he get back to where he belongs, to find his love again.

During this time, Ilian, known as Joshua Pearl, runs into a teen boy who sees his suitcases full of the items of evidence. The boy doesn't know what he is looking at until years later when he starts piecing together the whole story. Can he help chronicle the love story and in the process help the lovers return home before it is too late?

The Book of Pearl was written by de Fombelle, a French author and playwright. It was translated into English by Sarah Ardizzone and Sam Gordon. The author has created a fairy story worthy of the standard set forward by the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Anderson. Like most fairy stories there was a very dark undercurrent in the tale. It is really three stories: 1. The story of Ilian's birth and eventual love affair with Olia; 2. Ilian as Joshua Pearl in our world; and 3. The teenager, now grown man, who figures out what is going on and offers to help. Because of the three stories and the shifting point-of-view, the story takes quite a bit of concentration to untangle. But IF the reader is willing to do this, the effort is well worth it.

Recommended for older teens who like fantasy and fairy tales and are willing to deal with lots of threads of the story.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.