Phyllis

This is the only poetry anthology I have ever read cover to cover and had a hard time putting down. There are so many voices and stories we haven't heard. Joy Harjo, our current U.S. National Poet Laureate, edited this book with the help of assistant editors dedicated to each regional section.

Farrah Rochon's “The Boyfriend Project” is a smart take on a romance novel.

Samiah Brooks isn't a woman waiting to be saved or completed by a man; she's a smart, creative, caring person who hits a bump in the road in the form of an unfortunate short-term boyfriend and ends up with great new friends and a chance to re-examine what she wants to do with her life and career.

I appreciated the book taking the women's point of view of day-to-day life in the tech world; many tech companies have been making efforts to bring women in, but it's still dominated by men. The book goes further in talking about the realties and challenges women of color face in trying to climb the professional ladder.

I look forward to more books from Farrah Rochon (and appreciate the Python shout out!).

One great thing about my Great Books book club is that we read things I always mean to read, but would never actually get to.

“How To Fail At Flirting” is a cute romance mixed with the travails of a work romance with a sprinkle of domestic violence. That's not to suggest that the book glosses over the seriousness of abusive relationships.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, which were over-the-top, but still enjoyable and semi-believable.

The plot of the third installment was quite convoluted and needlessly ridiculous. The author spent most of the book riffing on random imaginary plots by the nephew, too many side characters, and our main characters of Auntie Poldi and Vito Montana acting out of character. I'm not sure I'll continue with this series.

This is such a cute book and not a romance novel as it is sometimes billed. Instead, it's a story about family and the challenges of nearing middle age while being a single parent. A nice 3.4 star read for the holiday weekend.

So, let's address the important stuff first. Will I watch the television series? Yes, because I've found Reese Witherspoon usually does a good job in selecting books that, on paper, aren't super great, but puts together a marvelous cast to turn that blah thing into something great. Plus, will Reese do a good job as the repressed Elena Richardson? Definitely.

On to the book. I mean, what is it that people think is so great about this hamfisted book that wants to address different types of mother/child relationships, suburbs vs. city, artists vs. blue collar vs. white collar workers, teen angst, “adoptions” of babies that are a different race than the parents, etc. etc.? But, address almos tall of these topics in a glossy fashion where I could care less (and would if this were done well)? Why must we switch points of view CONSTANTLY? Plus, setting this book in 1998 seemed forced and didn't suit the plot as well as setting the book in the 50s or 60s would have. A lot of the characters are blah or they are cliched, like the “evil” Mrs. Richardson.

The book gets an extra star from me for the only part of the story I really liked, and which could have been the centerpiece: Bebe's custody struggle for her daughter May Ling. These sections represented the most poignant parts of the story that felt more real than all the other nonsense. Was I supposed to like a surrogate who pretends she's lost her baby and then moves said kid every few months depending on when an art project is finished because she couldn't let her baby go? This is also not stellar parenting and she could easily have settled down somewhere because no one was looking for her (except Mrs. Richardson).

With all that said, I appreciate Reese Witherspoon using her star power to get people to read and enjoy authors they might not have heard of otherwise. Also, her performance on the audio book was pretty good.

This book is not too bad for a quick, summer read.

I don't think that it has the oomph of the first title in the series, “And Only to Deceive.” In the first book, our heroine not only comes of age, but learns about and comes to appreciate her recently deceased husband, thus beginning her appreciation of Greek literature and art. She also learns to navigate the London social scene free of her oppressive mother and stretch out in the freedom widow's weeds provide.

In this book, there really isn't much development and I found the plotline a bit thin in areas. For example, do we need to spend so much time on Ivy's odd relationship with her husband, whose lack of attention in the bedroom is not satisfactorily explained. Also, the stalker/Bourbon plotline is a bit ham-fisted in spots and drags out a bit too much. Yet, I do enjoy the characters and I hope that Lady Emily keeps being interesting and, one day, becomes a suffragette.

Each time I read “The Catcher in the Rye,” I get something different out of it. The first time I read the book in early high school, I remember identifying more with Holden Caulfield. I read the book again at some point in my 20s or 30s and now again in my 40s.

This time, after reading more about J.D. Salinger's World War II experience in the Battle of the Bulge, I now see a parallel between private school and the military, both full of young men and very specific rules. Some critics even characterize TCITR as a war novel, although I cannot see it being more than an allegory. Mr. Salinger experienced PTSD, which was characterized as shell shock and generally expected to be gotten over. Similarly, Holden experiences PTSD from the death of his brother. No one is catching Holden, so he feels he must catch the children he can, even though he could not save his brother. In fact, children attending private schools (then and probably now) are generally ignored by their parents, which cannot be a good solution for a sensitive young man.

Discussion Questions prepared by another book club member:

Here is a copy of the poem “Comin Thro' the Rye” by Robert Burns, which I have modified for modern English usage:
Chorus
O, Jenny is a wet poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draggled all her petticoat,
Coming through the rye!

Coming through the rye, poor body,
Coming through the rye,
She draggled all her petticoat,
Coming through the rye!

If a body meet a body
Coming through the rye,
If a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?

If a body meet a body
Coming through the glen,
If a body kiss a body,
Need the world ken (know)?

O, Jenny is a wet poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draggled all her petticoat,
Coming through the rye!

1. Why does Holden Caulfield make the mistake of saying that the poem refers to a body being a catcher in the rye, instead of a body coming through the rye?
2. What does Holden mean when he says he would like to be a “catcher in the rye,” helping small children from falling off a cliff?
3. Does the poem provide insights into Holden Caulfield's personality? If so, what are they? Does the poem provide a different take on your reading of the novel?
4. Salinger uses colloquial language in Caulfield's language, perhaps to indicate that he is a young man. Is this an effective technique; why or why not?
5. When did you first suspect that Holden Caulfield was having a nervous breakdown? What are some specifics that you can point to which led you to believe he was troubled?
6. Why does Caulfield dislike phonies so much? How does he define a phony? What people in particular does he identify as being phony, and what traits do they have?
7. Caulfield cries at three distinct times in the novel: a). when confronted by the prostitute and her pimp for more money; b). when he went to the hat check room at the Wicker Bar in New York; c). when he met with Phoebe at his parent's home in New York. In each case, he says he is lonely and confused. Do the lines in the Burns' poem give a clue about why Holden is crying?
8. Does Holden love Jane Gallagher? Does he know he loves Jane Gallagher? Why doesn't he ever call her, although he means to on several occasions?
9. On pages 121-122 in the Bantam Books edition of the novel (chapter 16), Caulfield visits the museum and enters into a long internal dialogue about change. The passage begins “The best thing, though, in that museum . . .and ends with Anyway I kept thinking about all that while I walked.” Why do you think he wants things to stay the same? Is it a reaction to his unsettled mental state? Is he reacting with nostalgia, or is it a deeper problem?
10. Does Holden love Sally? Why does he propose that they run away together, and then regret the proposal? Can Holden adequately deal with his feelings for women? Why or why not?
11. Holden visits Mr. Antolini after he leaves his parent's apartment. Mr. Antolini, who is portrayed as a heavy drinker, tells Holden that “The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” Does this remark apply to Holden; does it apply to Mr. Antolini?
12. Earlier, Mr. Antolini tells Holden that he is headed for a fall, and that he will wake up some day hating people. Holden responds by saying that he can't hate people for a long time, and that if he forgets about them, he stops hating them. At the end of the novel, he says that he misses people he talked about in the novel, and concludes by saying, “Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” Do you think Holden really hates people? Why does he miss the people he says he dislikes? Do you think Mr. Antolini is speaking as someone who is jaded or whose life has passed him by? Is Mr. Antolini a good person, as Holden believes him to be?
13. Why does Holden call his brother, D.B. a prostitute?
14. Why does Holden love his younger brother, Allie, so much? Why does he love Phoebe so much? Is it because they are younger than he is, and he feels a need to protect them, like “a catcher in the rye”?

After about a year of learning, I'm probably an advanced beginner at watercolor thanks to Let's Make Art.

As a supplement, I thought it would be nice to find books that contain simple exercises to use as warmups to more involved projects or subjects for watercolor cards I've been sending to friends and family.

I checked this book out from the library based on a quick flip through.

The intro is super thorough on topics like setting up a painting space, how to hold a watercolor brush, color theory, etc. there are lots of useful pictures and illustrations throughout this section. Pp. 28-29, for example, includes a nice reference of common paint names mapped to a general color description, and color dot accompanied by a short list of common color mixes. There's no need to know anything about paint pigments to use this book.

The book proceeds with a progression of simple to more complex projects and is aimed at beginners to slightly more advanced watercolorists.

Each project includes references to painting techniques used the project (I.e. lifting paint, wet on wet, wet on dry, etc). from the intro. The project call-out box also includes a list of the paints used with an example of what those colors look like as there can be a lot of variation in paints like veridian green or cadmium red. Each step provides detailed instructions about which colors and technique are being used along with helpful tips including ways to correct potential mistakes. The written steps also explain what colors to mix and even how much water to use to achieve the desired effect. The written step has also a reference to an accompanying picture of that step.

At the end of each larger section (leaves, florals, tropical plants, and desert plants) Ms. Sun includes a capstone project that includes a suggested layout. At the end of the leaf section, there's a leaf pattern project including the 8 individual leaf projects earlier in the book.

I highly recommend getting this book if you are looking for a comprehensive reference to watercolor common flowers and plants for practice.

The subject matter of this book is really interesting; it delves into a Depression Era WPA project that employed regional writers to catalog and describe local eating habits. Some of these writers became well-known for their fiction in later years (Nelson Algren, for example). With the advent of WWII, the project was shelved. I would have liked more information about each of the regions and additional commentary.

An interesting book focusing on specific subsets of the American grocery store world including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, trucking, and Thai shrimping. The author clearly spent a lot of time researching these areas and brings to light many individual stories and viewpoints most Americans aren't hearing. With that said, I found the author's writing a little distraction. It's his book and I'm sure I'd insert more opinionated language were I to live this book myself, but I would have preferred a bit more reporterly take.

Blehhhhh. This book has a great premise and Olivia Dade is a decent writer. BUT, this book is just so boring and the two main characters are soooooo dull. Ah, well, onto the next.

Susanna Clarke's first book, “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” was absolutely amazing. A truly un-put-downable read.

When I learned that “Piranesi” was coming out, I was very excited. But, I guess not reading as much during the pandemic (because I had to work as much, if not more, than before) and life after got in the way.

Finally, when I'm not actually pressured to hit my reading goal this year because I've already surpassed it, I decided to finally turn my attention to “Piranesi.”

There are some beautiful meditative portions of this book. And center of the book was particularly good. But, it took me quite a while to get past the first third and the last third could've been chopped off without harming the story. Perhaps, if this had been a novella, that would have been a much tighter tale.

First, I appreciate the Galvin family opening up their lives; it's possible that other people who read this book, or even hear about it, may realize they or someone they know may need help.

However, several chunks of the book seemed to focus on whether or not the two sisters were getting along or had a grudge against the other. There's no question that growing up in a family with half of the siblings experiencing mental illness without a clear diagnosis or solution would fray family relations. But, perhaps some of that could have been edited out?

“Hatchet” has been on my to-read list for a long time. As I got closer to the end of 2021 and was trying to hit my reading goal for the year, it seemed like a good time to finally pick this one up.

I chose to listen to the audiobook version from the library via Libby. The audiobook is narrated by the actor, Peter Coyote. Peter's narration and the production of the audiobook are quite good.

Other than that, I cannot recommend this book, nor do I see why it's so lauded. From the beginning, the story is quite thin.

The Secret that so haunts our hero, while traumatic to a younger child, was built up and overdone. Many other reviewers have criticized the repetitiveness of this book. In some ways, some of the repetitiveness makes sense because the day-to-day life of someone stranded would be rather repetitive. Other parts of the repetitiveness seemed like padding to me capped off with an ending that was a little too convenient.

I recently came across this book on a list of recommendations from the NYT or Goodreads and am so glad I read it.

There were many moments in the book that reminded me either of my Czech grandmother or stories she told about her relatives of my Czech grandfather's relatives. The constant headscarf greets you and warns you away, representing a guard up and vulnerability. The immaculate home, filled with treasured wooden spoons, special furniture to be saved and handed down. The lush garden. The delicious strews and pastries brought at times your belly craves their comforting warmth the most. Immense willpower and work ethic that you never quite measure up to, even as the well-loved granddaughter who is supposed to be coddled and focus on studying. Clearing the darned snow when she's too old to be out there working like that (and certainly won't let you do it)!!!!

While there are certainly differences between Czech and Hungarian people, the book was an engrossing character study and built tension in a masterful way. The narrator, who might be characterized as unreliable (the best kind!!), proclaims guiltily that she has killed Emerance in the first chapter. In what violent, bone-chilling way can that be?! From there, the author skillfully leads the reader through a maze of battles with illness, shifting allegiances on the street, a rise to stardom, and the humiliation of a woman who guarded herself until she could manage no more, much like her treasured, inherited furniture falling to dust when their protection is removed.

From the richly detailed descriptions of a porcelain dog with a chipped ear to the nuances of prejudice or inability to understand the intent and needs of others, the author finds a way to stick with you, to get under your skin, much like Emerance herself. Throughout the book, I found my own perception shifting as Emerance's true motivations revealed themselves with a subtlety that could easily be missed, which the “lady writer” often does. You're in Magda's head, seeing what she sees. Or doesn't see. Committing selfish acts even when you know good and well you ought not to be! The author cranks and cranks up the tension until it's a finely taught wire, ready to snap the next time the narrator frenetically does something or other.

Is the main character's name a coincidence, or is this a semi-autobiographical tale woven from her own experiences? I must find out.

I learned from another review that a movie version starring Helen Mirren and Martina Gedeck was released in 2012. The movie doesn't seem to be available at the moment, but hope to see it especially for Martina Gedeck, who I loved in “Mostly Martha.” And I am ITCHING to read more of the author's books, so fingers crossed that more of her works are translated as fantastically as “The Door.”

I picked this book up after seeing on a list of short books with the intention to boost my 2019 count of books read.

There were glimmers of interesting characters here and there, but they were lost in a morass of run-on sentences, likely the product of creative writing class. I fact, that's what most of the book felt like; a product of a creative writing class. By no means am I suggesting that creative classes are not valuable. But there are times that the output is too forced or too precious and that's what I felt when reading “Tinkers.”

I enjoyed the second book in the Bainbridge and Sparks series. However, I did not like it as much as the first book, perhaps because the storyline seemed a little bit unlikely for these two women to be working on. Whereas the first book made more sense in light of history and what may come up for two women running a new matchmaking agency, this book was a bit beyond the suspension of disbelief.

A delight!

A good friend recommended Connie Willis' “To Say Nothing of the Dog” some years ago, which is a time-travelling homage to Jerome K. Jerome's hilarious classic “Three Men in a Boat.” Yet, I did not get around to reading TMIAB until my Great Books book club read it for our January 2017 meeting.

In an unusual turn of events, every member who attended loved the book (in 9 years, I can't remember this happening). Comparisons to “Seinfeld” abounded; TMIAB is a travelogue about nothing interrupted regularly by a series of humorous digressions.

There's no question in my mind that Monty Python were influenced by this book. In fact, the 1975 Tom Stoppard screen adaptation stars Michael Palin (to say nothing of Tim Curry) and does a magnificent job of capturing three members of the emerging clerk class on a river holiday with the trusty scallawag, Montmorency.

It is unfortunate that the average American is unfamiliar with this book. The language is relatively modern considering that it was written in the 1870's; many contemporaries considered the book gauche and low-class. This really ought to be required reading.

The cover and synopsis of this book really had me excited about this book. Who doesn't want a good spooky book as the days get shorter and we near Halloween? Plus, I had to wait a few months in the library hold queue to get it.

Almost from the first page, I was disappointed and ended up skimming after page 100, hoping for improvement. The characters didn't stay true to themselves (and not in a realistic way).

I won't repeat the plot, but suffice it to say that this could have been a great ghost story that was a really bizarre combination of psychosis/black magic/coke binge.

This is a book that reminds how important one if the most basic things we do is. And what happens when you do a lot of mouth-breathing.

I suggest the audiobook version because there are some nice, guided breathing exercises at the end.

I had a hard time finding this book after hearing about it on the podcast “By the Book,“ but finally found it through another library.

This book is full of very “helpful“ advice about housekeeping, entertaining, and raising kids. Example: have a messy sink? Put all the dirty dishes in it and no one will notice! The illustrations are also excellent.

And can we expect anything less from the great Phyllis Diller? It's been rather a point of honor for people to look confused at my name and say “you know, like Phyllis Diller.“

I picked up this book to see whether it might be interesting from the perspective of a daughter of a stroke survivor or for the stroke survivor himself (my Dad). The first few sections are worthwhile, through the section describing the initial recovery process. However the second half of the book is a little too repetitive and goes less into stroke recovery or day-to-day alternatives and more into a bunch of new-agey stuff. That was a disappointment after how well the author interviews on NPR. All in all, it's just okay, unfortunately.

If “Discovery of Witches” and “The Forgotten Garden” had a baby, they'd get this bit of drivel. What is with the streak of bad “Twilight” for adults books filled with cardboard characters and juvenile writing? Seriously, this thing reads like something a 12-year old would write. I take that back, maybe a 12-year old would write something less ham-fisted and something a bit more creative. How you make a book about the Salem witch trials written by an honest-to-God descendent of two of the actual witches boring is baffling. Wow, you mean Connie is short for Constance?! OMG! “Bottel” is a phonetic spelling for “bottle?!” Wowzers!