Two Little Brags

Brag #1: Back in July feeling overwhelmed because of being 16 reviews behind I set myself a little challenge to catch up by mid September. I did it! I finished the 16th past due review today and stayed current at the same time. in other words, I didn't catch up on one side to fall behind on the other.

Here are the books I finished, all hyperlinked. If you want to check any of them out, please do!

1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

2. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

3. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

4. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

5. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Baglieu

6. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

7. Artemis by Andy Weir

8. Force of Nature by Jane Harper

9. Truth Like the Sun by Jim Lynch

10. The Leavers by Lisa Ko

11. The Place Between Breaths by An Na

12. Hillbilly Elegy: a Memoir Of a Family and Culture In Crisis by JD Vance

13. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

14. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

15. Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

16. The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Past Due Book Reviews

16 / 16 books. 100% done!

COMPLETE!

Brag #2: I am completely caught up on reviewing the books read so far this year that meet one of these three criteria: 1)book club selections, 2)Printz-possible YA titles, and 3)SH/JH nonfiction books. I also have a few favorites I have thrown in for good measure. All together I've reviewed 65 of the 85 books I've read so far this year. At a 76% completion that is some kind of record, I'm sure. I don't review all the books I read, nor would you want me to. Ha! (Some would be boring..."Um, the books wasn't that good, actually it was boring." or "I liked this poem, which I expected but didn't understand that poem." I'll spare you the tedium.) So until I finish another book, I have no reviews waiting to be written. Woot. Woot. In my nine years of blogging I have NEVER been here before!

Review: BRAZEN: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu

What do Temple Grandin, Wu Zetian, Nellie Bly, Hedy Lamarr, and Nzinga all have in common? You got it! They are all rebel ladies who rocked the world.

The lives of 29 women throughout the world and time are highlighted in this graphic collected biography. Many (most) of the women I'd never heard of before. Or in the case of a few, like Hedy Lamarr, I had heard of but didn't know much about. The format for the book is each woman is given a section with her accomplishments beautifully rendered in an easy to read graphic layout. Pictured is a page from Hedy Lamarr's section. I had known she was an actress, but I didn't know that she was an inventor. She invented the technology which led to GPS today, though she isn't often credited with it since the military filed her invention in a drawer for seventeen years before they did anything with it. Women can't invent something helpful, right?

None of the highlighted women led lives where their fame comes from being a sidekick to a famous man, like Martha Washington. These women all led lives in a brazen way, making a difference for those around them without being attached to a man. Wu Zetian, for example, ended up as the de facto ruler of China. She started out as a concubine but her child, a son, was the first born to the Emperor, which elevated her. When it came time for her son to rule, she started as the power behind the throne, eventually dropping the charade and ruling as herself. This all happened in the 600s AD. Another example, Nellie Bly who is now known for her style of investigative journalism, started off in the 1880s in a male-dominated career relegated to write about women's issues. She wanted more so she set about to create a new style of journalism we now know as investigated journalism. Just think about the world without this style of journalist. When she died in 1922 the newspaper reported it with a headline calling her "the best reporter in the world." Thank you, Nellie Bly.

Pénélope Bagieu is a graphic artist from France who has created several graphic novels before BRAZEN.   It was published in France in 2017 and then translated into English and published this year by 01: First Second of New York.

About this book Bagieu said,

"The lives of the women in Brazen moved me, gripped me, and fascinated me. This book is by no means a thorough scholarly work; rather it's one woman's tribute---my homage to the full, daring lives they lead, often against great odds. I hope these broad-stroke portraits will inspire you to further explore and research these remarkable human lives for yourself."

I loved this book. But I am not alone. It has received five starred reviews from professional reviewers like School Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly. It has earned 4.5 our of 5 points on both Goodreads and Amazon. Even beloved books don't get that high of scores on those sites. Baglieu has created a compelling work for readers with her art and highlighting both the good and bad aspects of each woman's life...making the book more authentic than those that only talk about the good things they did. I read it with a big smile on my face. I hope it gets wide readership among teens, it's target audience, though it may take talented librarians to make sure it gets in the hands of the readers. Hint-hint. Check it out from a library yourself and see if you don't agree with me. Or, better yet, buy it and read it to your girls or grandchildren. They need to hear the message over and over again. It is okay for women to be brazen!

With this review I have completed a personal challenge to finish writing sixteen past due reviews.   

Past Due Book Reviews

16 / 16 books. 100% done!

COMPLETE!

Yippee!

Suite Française...my evolving evaluation of a classic

Suite Française was written by Irène Némirovsky as the events of WWII were unfolding. The book consists of two novellas, " Storm in June" and "Dolce" but the author planned for a total of five novellas to round out the work. Unfortunately Némirovsky was arrested on July 12, 1942 by French police working for the Germans, as a "stateless person of Jewish descent" and sent to Auschwitz where she died a month later. Looking at the date of her arrest and eventual death, it means that Némirovsky wrote Suite Française as the events were happening. How could anyone, especially in the days before the Internet, do that? How could she gain enough perspective on her own circumstances to write a fictional account of actual events without having the help of time and distance? Apparently it is an unheard of feat.

"Storm in June" opens in Paris as the guns of the advancing Germans can be heard in the distance and panicked Parisians abandon their city in droves, most without a plan where to go and how to get there. The story follows several families, most of them very disagreeable people. Along the way these refugees encounter all kinds of tests and trials including food shortages, lack of lodging options, and the chaos caused by war. One family is traveling with their cat and the child becomes fixated on the welfare of the beast. Her brother, meantime, runs off in the middle of the night to join up with the French Army nearby to help them. His patriotic gesture nearly gets him killed and his family, thinking he is dead, worships him as a hero. A bank manager, pushes employees out of his car making room for his mistress, who harangues him every step along the way. Another refugee returns to Paris only to be killed in a traffic accident. The reader is introduced to many characters, a few make a reappearance in "Dolce" and one does not know if Némirovsky planned the return of others in subsequent novellas since they were never written.

"Storm in June" is a tour de force of narrative distillation, using a handful of people to represent a multitude. Némirovsky's shifts in tone and pace, sensitively rendered in Sandra Smith's graceful translation, are mesmerizing (NYT). 

"Dolce" in contrast to "Storm in June" is calm and takes place entirely in one village where a garrison of German soldiers are billeted among the villagers' homes. Forced to live in close proximity to their captors, civilians start to adjust and accept their situation, some with resignation and others more openly. Lucile Angellier and her mother-in-law are forced to house a lieutenant, Bruno von Falk. With Lucile's husband, Gaston, away as a prisoner of war, she and the officer strike up a friendship. The Germans, not wanting to appear to be seen as invading mongrels, take pains to treat the French with respect and kindness so when they are called to move out toward their next assignment on the Russian front, the whole village comes out to wave them goodbye. 

In the beginning I found it hard to like the book because I didn't like or know any of the characters well. I thought, by contrast, of books written recently about the war in France like All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale where the reader gets to know and like the characters to point of cheering them on. None of this happened in Suite Française. In fact, I experienced a sense of dispassion, particularly as I read "Storm in June", and I found myself plotting how I would write this review taking a negative point-of-view not found elsewhere. But even as I was plotting my approach, this little voice in my head kept saying, "Can you believe that Irène Némirovsky wrote this book WHILE the events were unfolding?" and "Isn't it tragic that Irène Némirovsky died in Auschwitz when she was clearly such a talented writer. Think what the world missed by her death." 

By the end of "Dolce" as Bruno and Lucile part and the Germans march out of town, to their sure death in Russia, I found a tear trickling down my cheek. I was touched much more by the book than I originally thought. And the writing. Oh, the writing. The book is worth the read just get swept up in Némirovsky's beautifully crafted prose. Even in the midst of war there is this... 

“But what is certain is that in five, ten or twenty years, this problem unique to our time, according to him, will no longer exist, it will be replaced by others...Yet this music, the sound of this rain on the windows, the great mournful creaking of the cedar tree in the garden outside, this moment, so tender, so strange in the middle of war, this will never change, not this, this is forever.” 

And...

“All the light of the day, fleeing the earth, seemed for one brief moment to take refuge in the sky; pink clouds spiraled round the full moon that was as green as pistachio sorbet and as clear as glass; it was reflected in the lake.” 

And...

“Paris had its sweetest smell, the smell of chestnut trees in bloom and of petrol with a few grains of dust that crack under your teeth like pepper. In the darkness the danger seemed to grow. You could smell the suffering in the air, in the silence. Everyone looked at their house and thought, 'Tomorrow it will be in ruins, tomorrow I'll have nothing left.'” 

With this, these lovely quotes, I end this review but I also hand to you a recommendation---read this book.

Sunday Salon, September 9th

Best Political Moment of the Week: #PlaidShirtGuy. PhotoCredit:We Hunted the Mammoth

Weather: Beautiful. Temperatures in the mid-70s. We understand that we've had our last 80 degree plus day of the year. We'll see.

Best Show of the Week: Paul McCartney with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.


Best Social Event of the Week: 40th anniversary/60th birthday celebrations for Kathy and Tom H. in Hillsboro, Oregon yesterday. Congratulations and thanks for including us!

Best Grandson Moment of the Week: Ian squealed loudly in the middle of church today when he saw his Grandpa up in front singing with the choir. There was no doubt who he was delighted to recognize.

Best Puppy Moment of the Week: Lots. Playing outside even a few episodes of fetch (sort of), practicing SIT and COME.

Worst Moment of the Week: Involved Mr. Bingley (our puppy), Luna (daughter's dog), Ian (grandson), and dog poo. Use your imagination and then multiply it by ten. Ugh.

Best Book Finished this Week: Okay. Only book finished this week, but is it a very good one: Boots on the Ground: America's War In Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge.

Books Currently Reading:

• Educated: a Memoir by Tara Westover. Daughter of a survivalist, her first day in school was at age 17. Very alarming and disturbing. But Westover is an excellent writer. 28%, audio.
• Friendly Jane Austen by Natalie Tyler. I am having so much fun with this book and taking my time with it, too. 78%, print.
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nimerofsky. Set during WWII, two of the scheduled five novellas. Not completed because the author was killed during the Holocaust. 93%, audio.

Worrisome quote: Bob Woodward On Donald Trump: ‘People Better Wake Up To What’s Going On.’

Oh dear! We are all in trouble.

Review: Artemis by Andy Weir

Artemis is Andy Weir's sophomore effort as a novelist and after his success with The Martian is it any wonder that this book is being scrutinized by readers?

Artemis takes place in the first city ever built on the moon and the book takes the title of that city. Once again Weir lays out a plausible, near-future technological invention---a city on the moon inhabited by a bunch of techie and smart people able to survive in a super inhospitable environment. Because Artemis is a city there is a government, of sorts, laws and guiding rules. One slip by anyone could mean the death to all. There is also poverty. Workers born on or brought to Artemis for that role, often are quite poor, earning only enough to survive and to sleep in a tiny sleeping chamber not big enough to stand up in. Jazz Bashara is one of those poor workers. But she is also quite ingenious and has worked out a system for getting black market products from Earth and then selling these items for a hefty profit. Her ingenuity comes to the attention of a man who wants her help in positioning himself to take over the oxygen production on the moon. This could make him a tiny sum and he is willing to pay dearly for her help. But before Jazz can do anything, the man is murdered and Jazz knows she is next. Where can she hide? Her plight becomes even more desperate when she learns that it is the Brazilian mob that is after her.

I liked, not loved, Artemis. Weir is so impressive in his imaginings of ways to use current technology that would make places like a city on the moon possible in the future. Every scene in the book played out with that little voice in my head saying, "this might be possible." The problem with the book seemed more with the flatness of the characters and though there was a survival episode similar to that in The Martian, it lacked the tension. Perhaps Weir should stick to future tech novels and avoid writing murder mysteries. N.K. Jemisin, writing for the NYT "What's New in Science Fiction and Fantasy" says this about the book, "this is a 300-page film pitch that, like its predecessor, will probably be more appealing after it goes to Hollywood (NYT). Hmm. That is not very complimentary, but I agree Artemis will make an excellent movie.

My husband and I listened to the audiobook, read by Rosario Dawson, on one of our many road trips this spring/summer. My comment at the time was, "This one may be even a little too science-geeky for me." My husband liked/appreciated the book more than me. All in all I was glad I read it and experienced the listening experience.  So, yes, I do think if you read and liked The Martian, you should read this book, too. Let me know what you think of it.

Past Due Book Reviews

15 / 16 books. 94% done!

I am almost done with my past due reviews... Just one book to go. I am picking it up from the library today. I wanted to look at the book again before reviewing it. Woot. Woot!

Friday Quotes: My Plain Jane

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.

This is the book I'm reading right now---


Title: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Book Beginnings:

Prologue: "You may think you know the story."

Friday 56:

"There was a story there. She could feel it in her bones. Something that perhaps she could work into Very First Novel about Miss Jane Frere."

Comment: I haven't started reading this yet, but I hope to start it this weekend. It is the "real" story of Jane Eyre...and I assume, the humorous version of the story. I loved this group of authors' previous book, My Lady Jane. It was hilarious. I am hoping for the same with this one.

Review: Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam

Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
by Elizabeth Partridge
Viking Press, 2018

I became aware of Elizabeth Partridge just recently when I went back and read her excellent Printz Honor book, John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth. I was heavy into my Beatlemania phase and went searching my own high school library for anything I hadn't read about the lads yet. I was very impressed by her writing and the way that she put the book together with timely placed photos and quotes. The book gave me a perspective on John Lennon I hadn't had before. When I noticed that Partridge was the author a new YA book about the Vietnam War, I was eager to get my hands on it.

Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam is the best nonfiction book I've read about the Vietnam experience. It wins hands down. It is better than any adult books I've read on the topic for sure. Elizabeth Partridge interviewed eight veterans/people involved in the Vietnam War and then interspersed their stories with stories about what happening in the USA in the government and with the populace. In the epilogue, Partridge says this about the experience of interviewing these people,

"More that four decades have passed since the United States was defeated in Vietnam, yet the veterans I interviewed had vivid memories of their year 'in country.' sitting with me or talking on the phone recounting their experiences, they were flooded with turbulent, often contradictory feelings of fear, anger, sorrow, regret, and pride. Serving in Vietnam profoundly changed all of them."

The veterans' stories were shared in chronological order starting with Mike Horan who was a military adviser in Vietnam between May 1962 to June 1963. He was briefly captured by guerrilla fighters and thought he would be killed for sure. The next chapter is about John F. Kennedy was doing in November 1963 about the situation in Vietnam. We will never know if things would have been different with the war since that is the same month that Kennedy was killed. Each of the three US Presidents to serve during the Vietnam War got us more and more involved because no one wanted to be the first US President to lose a war.

A nurse working for the US Army, Lily Lee Adams, was one of the non-combatants to be interviewed for the book. She was profoundly and permanently affected by the horrors she witnessed first hand on the medical wards of the field hospitals where she served from October 1969 to October 1970. Hoa Thi Nguyen, a South Vietnamese national, also told her story. As an eighteen-year-old she and her family were forced to flee the country before the North Vietnamese overtook the country. Her father had helped the US military and would surely be killed if captured. Her remarkable and harrowing story of escape showed how profoundly civilians were impacted.

The part of the book that was new to me was the last few chapters where the development of the Vietnam War Memorial was explained. Jan Scuggs, who was an infantryman in Vietnam between April 1969 and April 1970. When he returned home he couldn't settle and tried to dull his pain with alcohol. One night after 1975 he awoke with a hangover but a clear vision of what he needed to do---he needed to help create a memorial to honor the thousands of soldiers who died needlessly in Vietnam. And that memorial had to have the name of every one of the dead engraved on it.

"It was a wild, grandiose plan. He wanted a memorial to be a place of remembrance, mourning, and celebration. The dead would have their names etched in granite, forever. The vets who'd come back struggling with their own anger, sorrow, and guilt would have a place to honor their fallen brothers. His memorial would even provide a place for reconciliation for the whole divided country" (177).

As we know, his dream became a reality but not before finding the architect to design it and to overcome the political and financial roadblocks. The architect chosen was Maya Lin, a senior architect student. Her simple design was selected anonymously. The black granite that was used was a big bone of contention with some vets who felt that the color was wrong somehow, but Lin, a second generation Chinese immigrant, stood her ground. It had to be black. Lin got a vision while visiting the National Mall during the time when she was designing her memorial concept,

"She started to imagine: What is war? What is death? She had a sudden impulse to make a cut into the earth, just take a knife and slice open the grassy surface, echoing the violence of war. She imagined polishing the dark earth until it was like a geode: shiny, black, and reflective. In the dark surface you would be able to see into infinity---the living on one side, the dead on the other...The ground, like a wound, would heal over in time" (180).

It was also Lin who insisted that the names be listed in casualty order "forever enshrined with the names of their buddies who were also mortally wounded that day" (182).

For four days in November 1982 America celebrated with a the national salute to Vietnam veterans by activities around the dedication of the wall. Scruggs was determined to throw the best celebration veterans could remember. Veterans arrived by car, bus, plane, and foot. They had been waiting a long time for some recognition. Many came to find their buddy's name, the guy who didn't make it home. Lily Lee Adams flew in from Hawaii for the dedication. She wanted to find the name of the helicopter pilot who had been so kind to her while 'in country'. "She touched the granite, trailed her fingertips over a few names, then a few more. So many, many names. Which of these men had she cared for" (190)? She ended up running along the wall trying to touch them all, "whether I took care of them or not." During the ceremony Lin stood back and watched the veterans' reactions to the wall. Their reactions took her by surprise. "She had tears in her eyes as she watched the veterans welcoming themselves home" (190).

I had tears in my eyes as I read this part of the book, too.

Welcome home, veterans. Welcome home!

The cataloging notes inside the front cover say that this book is designed for 7th and 8th grade students but I think it is accessible for younger students, maybe 5th grade up and would certainly be interesting for high school students and adults. I highly recommend it. Now to obtain a copy: I had to request that my public library purchase it, and they did, but it wasn't on anyone's radar. When I searched for the book on Goodreads, Amazon, and the library catalog I had to input the whole title, with the subtitle, AND the author's name before I got a hit. Hmm...luckily I was diligent. The reward was reading this remarkable book. I urge you to do the same thing.

Review: Little Fires Everywhere--- a look at motherhood from many angles

In Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned right down to the allowable house designs and fines are handed out if lawns aren't cut. Elena Richardson grew up in Shaker Heights and she orders her life around the town and its rules. She is the mother of four teenagers. Elena prides herself on how her children are all turning out, well, all except the youngest, Izzy, who was born prematurely and seems to need the over-protection that Elena is required to give to keep her safe from her rebellious ways.

Enter Mia Warren and her teenage daughter, Pearl. Mia is a free soul who creates art and stays in a community only as long as her latest project requires, eventually pulling up stakes and moving to a new community somewhere else in the country. Mia and Pearl travel light. All they take with them from city to city is what they can cram into their car. When they arrive at their new home they scrounge around for cast-off furniture and household items. When Mia and Pearl arrive in Shaker Heights they find an apartment and rent it from Elena Richardson. All the Richardson children, especially Izzy, become friends with and intrigued by the Warrens--- befriending Pearl and enthralled by Mia. At one point several of the teens run across a photograph in a second-hand store. It is of Mia holding a baby. The photograph is clearly staged to make Mia and the baby to look like the Madonna and Child. This image is clearly symbolic of the way the Richardson children view Mia and Pearl's relationship.

To make ends meet, Mia works as both a waitress at a Chinese restaurant and as a housekeeper for the Richardsons. While working at the restaurant, Mia meets a Chinese immigrant, Bebe Chow, who has been abandoned in the USA by her Chinese boyfriend after she discovers her pregnancy. In an act of pure desperation, Bebe abandons her baby, Ma Ling, one cold night. She regrets her decision almost immediately but in the meantime the baby has been placed in foster care in the home of Linda McCullough, Elena's best friend.

By the time the McCulloughs are prepared to adopt the baby, now named Mirabella, Bebe attempts to get her back. The ensuing court case to determine who is the rightful mother pits Mia and Elena on opposite sides of the issue. Elena, now jealous of the attention her children are giving to the Warrens, does a little secret research and digs up a remarkable bit of information which will shed a negative light on Mia. Part of this information involves Mia's mother and a decision she made years ago which caused an irreparable fracture in their relationship.

In Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng motherhood is explored from every angle. The fathers and men in the story are all just bit players. The stars of the show are the mothers and their relationships with their children. Elena Richardson wants her children to be perfect, just like Stepford Shaker Heights where they live---all ordered and rule abiding. When they aren't, she doesn't know how to react. Mia Warren allows her daughter lots of freedom but never tells her anything about her past, even about her father or her grandparents, as if the past has no importance for future generations.  Sometimes motherhood causes desperate people to make irrational decisions, as happened with Bebe Chow when she abandoned May Ling. For Linda McCullough, motherhood is the pinnacle achievement of her life. When she can't conceive on her own, she will transfer all her hopes and dreams onto an adoptive child, attempting to raise that child with no consideration to the child's culture of origin but loading on all the accouterments that money can buy.

And what of the "little fires everywhere?" Well, that is a nugget that is too good to give away. You will have to read the book to find out. But suffice it to say you may get the feeling like you, yes you, are implicated.

The book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle sums up the book this way,

“Ng has one-upped herself with her tremendous follow-up novel… a finely wrought meditation on the nature of motherhood, the dangers of privilege and a cautionary tale about how even the tiniest of secrets can rip families apart… Ng is a master at pushing us to look at our personal and societal flaws in the face and see them with new eyes… If Little Fires Everywhere doesn’t give you pause and help you think differently about humanity and this country’s current state of affairs, start over from the beginning and read the book again.”

That is quite a recommendation and I will jump in and second it. I consumed it in the the audio format, read by Jennifer Lim, and enjoyed it very much. Though it is really a drama, it reads like a thriller, with the plot unfolding at a very fast pace. So hold on to you horses. Little Fires Everywhere will give you quite a ride.

Past Due Book Reviews

14 / 16 books. 88% done!

Sunday Salon with a summer wrap up

Gourmet Popcorn rose still looking lovely!

Weather: Overcast, temperature in the low 60s right now which is a respite from the hot summer.

Summer challenges wrap up:

• Big Book Summer Challenge---hosted by Sue @ Book by Book. I read and reviewed four 400+ page books.
• Austen in August---hosted by Classics Club participants. I read Austen-related books, including a graphic novel of Northanger Abbey.  I am still working on The Friendly Jane Austen book by Natalie Tyler. It was published in 2001, but Jane Austen information doesn't really become dated. Ha!
• Catch up on past due reviews---a personal challenge. I've reviewed 13 out of 16, or 81% complete. I was really frustrated by how behind I was on my book reviews so set up this challenge to encourage myself to get them done.
• SPIN---Classics Club. Each participants creates a list of 20 classic title he or she still wants to read and then the SPIN announces a number and members read the book lined up on that number. My book, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, is just overwhelming. I've read about 55% and can't make myself proceed. A member suggested that I watch the movie first, but it is out-of-print and my public library doesn't have a copy of it, nor is it available on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime...you get the point. I may not finish this one.
• Read all the 4+ starred review YA books as potential Printz books---a personal challenge and part of Mock Printz 2019 on Goodreads. Of the fourteen YA titles which have earned four+ starred reviews, I completed twelve, am almost done with one, and have the last one ready to pick up at the library. Feeling good. Check out this list created by Jen J, @ Booksheets if you want to see the titles on the list. This challenge will continue into the fall and winter.

Puppy update: I think the cartoons are self-explanatory. A lot of effort has been exerted by Don and I toward potty training. Some days good, most not so good. Ha-ha!

School starts if districts don't strike for wages: This means I will resume my duties as babysitter at least one day a week for my grandson, Ian. I've been missing him but I know that it will take a lot more effort this year now that he is so mobile and active.

Books completed this week: Life Inside My Mind, edited by Jessica Burkhart. 31 YA authors share their personal stories with mental illness. Very well done. Click on the title for my review.

Currently reading:

• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco...as I mentioned above I may not finish this one. It is way over my head. 55%, print and audio.
• The Friendly Austen by Natalie Tyler...Everything Austen. Love it. 38%, print.
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nimerosky...the found classic written my an author who was killed during the Holocaust. I'm not really in the mood for this one, not exactly light, summer reading. 45%, audio.
• Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam by Elizabeth Partridge...I am close to finishing this YA nonfiction book about the war we wish we didn't wage. A good resource for libraries. Print, 81%.

Goodbye summer!

Austen in August---It's a Wrap!

End of the month. End of Austen in August for another year. It was a good month providing me with another opportunity to discover me about a favorite author. Though I didn't read as much as I wanted, when do I? I really enjoyed (am enjoying) what I did get read.

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Qin Leng
A darling picture book of Jane Austen focusing a lot on what life was like for Jane as a girl growing up in the late 1700s/early 1800s. The illustrations are simply charming. This would be a nice book to provide an introduction to authors for children by a librarian or parent because I doubt that young children will have heard of any of Austen's novels.


Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey: a graphic novel by Jane Austen and Nancy Butler, illustrated by Janet Lee.
I've read four of Austen's novel in graphic form, part of the Marvel Adaptations series, and enjoyed them all. I, however, prefer the stories in their original form. The fun aspect of this graphic novel is how the artist was able to capture the Gothic feel that Austen was going for while penning Northanger Abbey. Several darkly drawn panels let the reader know that Catherine thought foul-play was aloft. One beef I have with the artwork is how similar several of the characters look. Catherine, Isabella, and Eleanor all look interchangeable. Now I, being familiar with the story, took my time to figure out who was who, but I not sure that the casual reader would take the time. Reading this graphic novel did make me want to go back and re-read the original and to re-watch the DVD which I own. I've read all of Austen's novels at least once, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion at least three times each, but it has been a long time since I read this one.

The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense and Sensibility by Natalie Tyler
Oh boy, I am having fun with this book. Ms. Tyler has done her homework and gives Jane Austen fans what they want...more information about Austen. To begin with she asks the question, How Do We Love Jane Austen? Let Us Count the Ways. The reader then takes a quiz to determine what type of fan school he/she belongs in: Janite; Gentle Jane; Ironic Jane; or Subversive Jane. Not surprisingly, I am a Janite through and through.

Next up, Part 1 covers Jane's early life and her juvenilia. What was it like living in those days? What about her siblings and parents? Where did she live and why did they move? How did her writing grow and change? All these questions and more were answered in this section. Text would often be broken up with text boxes with information which seemed like little asides. For example, one text box contained the names of famous people who lived during the same time as Austen---Beethoven, William Wordsworth, and Sir Walter Scott being three on the list. Illustrations related to Austen done by relatives are infrequent but add a nice touch. For example, Jane's niece, Anna Lefroy, made a nice drawing of the Steventon Rectory where Jane was born and lived until she was 24. My favorite bits in this section were samples of and explanations of Jane's early writings. Short quotes from her various stories were shared. And a timeline explanation of each of her pieces of "juvenilia" is very helpful to my understanding.

Part II, where I am currently in my reading of the book, explains each of her major works in detail. In addition to her own research, Tyler interviews college professors with knowledge related to Austen. Each interview is recorded in a short dialogue with the professor answering only one or two questions like, Why aren't Austen's novel considered part of Romanticism movement? or Why study Austen? There is a quiz in each of the seven sections in this part. I just took the quiz: Letter Writing in the Novels. The directions were to match the characters that wrote the following letter with its intended character recipient. I did pretty good but didn't know the quote from Sanditon nor did I guess this one. Can you? (Name the book, the character writing,  and the character recipient. No cheating.)

"A poor honorable is no catch, and I cannot imagine any liking in the case, for, take away his rants, and the poor Baron has nothing. What a difference a vowel makes!---if his rents were but equal to his rants." (I will put the answer in the comments section...how'd you do?)

Part III, which I haven't read yet, is about Jane Austen's legacy---the film adaptations, the continuations, sequels, and spin-offs, JASNA, JA retreats, etc. Can't wait to get to this section.

The book is nicely referenced, with an index, bibliography, and illustration credits section at the end. As I type this post, I realize that I want my own copy of this book for further study and delight. It contains too much information to take in at once and I know I want to go back and look up something is it long after I have to return this copy to the library.

I had a lovey August with Austen