Sunday Salon - November 6

November, already? How did that happen while I wasn't looking? It's been such an unusual and busy year for me and my reading time has really taken a hit. Heading into the holiday season, I'm going to have to accept that it's not going to get any better the rest of the year. That being said, I'm tossing in the towel on all challenges. I'm going to try to read some of the books that I'd planned for them but I'm giving myself permission to "fail" without guilt.

Now for that promised picture from last month's Omaha Bookworms meeting. Mary Helen Stefaniak, author of The Cailiffs of Baghdad, GA is third from the left. What fun we had talking with Mary Helen about her books, her family and even baseball. Hmm, now that we've seen how great it is to have an author in our midst, I wonder how Timothy Schaffert (also from Omaha) would feel about joining us to talk about The Little Coffins of Hope?

Added to my wish list this week: Catherine The Great by Robert K. Massie, Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, The Wandering Falcon by Ahmad Jamil, The Boy In The Suitcase by Lena Kaaberol and Agnete Friis, and James Madison by Richard Brookhiser. It's probably bad to add this many books at a time given how little I've been reading lately!

Fans of Sarah Jio's, The Violets of March, will be happy to know that she's got a new book, The Bungalow, coming out this December. Here's a little teaser for you:



 I'm finishing Vivienne Schiffer's Camp Nine for a TLC Book Tour this week. Then I'm back to reading The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin, the Omaha Bookworms December selection. What are you reading this week? What books did you add to your wish list?

Sunday Salon - October 30

Happy 29th anniversary to my beloved Big Guy! This year has really served to remind us both of those vows we said before our family and friends all of those years ago. And how did we celebrate, you may ask? Last night we enjoyed dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant but today we have spent most of the day going our own ways - he to enjoy the beautiful fall colors and me to have Miss H's senior pictures taken. Here's what he saw today:

Thursday evening The Omaha Bookworms enjoyed a wonderful evening with Mary Helen Stefaniak, author of The Cailiffs of Baghdad, GA. Ms. Stefaniak stepped in and immediately became one of the gang, particularly when she mentioned to group that she was interested in the World Series game. When you let on to a group of women, half of whom have spent some time in St. Louis, that you're cheering for the Cardinals, you have made yourself a group of friends! We started by picking her brain about her writing process and ended by talking about the Ku Klux Klan--what a fantastic conversation! Pictures to come!

I've mentioned before that the Omaha Bookworms is a diverse group of women; we count among our members our own political activist. You have probably not heard of the Trans-Canada effort to build a pipeline through Nebraska but it really is something that everyone should be concerned about given that its planned route takes it directly over the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world's largest aquifers. That's gotten our former President of the League of Women Voters so riled up that she appeared in front of the state legislature in her Susan B. Anthony outfit, something she may regret having told a blogger! Here she is in action:



This evening we're enjoying some literary television. First we watched "Once Upon A Time" which I'm thoroughly enjoying (but The Big Guy says it feels like "Desperate Housewives" goes goth to him). Now we're watching "Case Histories" on PBS, a series based on Kate Atkinson's books about Jackson Brodie with this episode based on her book "When Will There Be Good News." We both quite liking this and wish we would have caught the first two episodes.

I'm finishing up Steve Inskeep's Instant City for a TLC Book Tour this week. I'll also have reviews of Julia Child's My Life In France and The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn. What's on your reading agenda this week?

Saying Goodbye To A Friend

The act of reading a book is almost always a solitary experience. But, if you're lucky, you'll find a group of people who like to talk about books with. If you're even luckier, who'll find friends in that very same group. A lot of people scoff at book clubs. Some believe they are nothing more than an excuse to drink wine and gossip once a month. Some believe that the people in them take the books much too seriously and don't have any fun at all. I'm sure there are clubs that are like this.

Three years ago a friend invited me to join her book club. I love getting the chance to read books I might not otherwise read; I love having the chance to talk about the books with other people who have read them. Do we drink wine? Oh, yeah, we like our wine! Do we spend a lot of time talking about things other than books? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we do. Which is how the Omaha Bookworms went from a diverse group of women to a circle of friends. Over the past year or so, we've had to say goodbye to a number of our friends as they have moved away from us. Today, though, five of us joined more than a hundred other people to say a final goodbye to one of our friends.

E was diagnosed four years ago with Stage 4 Inflammatory Breast Cancer. At the time she was told that, because she was young and in such great health otherwise, she had six months to two years left. That wasn't good enough for E. She began doing research. Already a healthy eater and advocate of organic foods, E amped it up. She found new methods of treatment, including an alternative to using scans which utilize radiation. E was a fierce competitor in every way so she would have fought Cancer with every ounce of her being no matter what. But E is the mother of three young girls, three girls with whom she was determined to spend more time.

I met E a little more than a year after she was first diagnosed with IBC. Her hair was just growing back from the first rounds of treatment, a beautiful curly steel grey. I didn't know then, though, who E was and what she was going through. Only after that first night did I find out. I couldn't believe it because I have never seen a healthier looking person. This past winter, E was able to join the Omaha Bookworms when we met to discuss her choice of book, Jane Gooddall's Harvest for Hope: A Guide To Mindful Eating and despite what she had been through in the past six months, she remained one of the healthiest looking women I have ever seen.

E was one of the fiercest, most courageous people I have ever met. Her spirit touched so many lives and she was an inspiration to all who knew her. E's favorite quote was "Attitude is Everything" and she had the most amazing attitude. Last year E said of her previous two years:

"Every minute of life is amazing when you didn’t think it was going to be there.    Actually every minute in life is amazing.  Sometimes we just don’t see it that way.  Miracles are everywhere."

In the past year, E has been writing a blog. If you are interested in learning more about what E learned about living with and treating Inflammatory Breast Cancer, I encourage you to visit Rolling On The Edge Of Life.

O Pioneers! and The Omaha Bookworms

The Omaha Bookworms met last night to discuss Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and, let's be honest, talk about everything else going on in our lives. Since we're located in Nebraska, we've been talking for some time about reading a book by a Nebraska author. When it came time to choose our classic read for this year, I decided it was time to do just that.

"There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years."

Cather's O Pioneers tells the story of Alexandra Bergson, whose family has immigrated to Nebraska from Sweden. After eleven years of hard work to reach the point where the family is debt free, John Bergson dies, leaving Alexandra in charge of the farm, her mother and her three younger brothers. John has chosen wisely; Alexandra has a keen mind when it comes to farming. By listening to others and being willing to go against the general consensus, Alexandra manages to tame the land and help the entire family to prosper.

As attuned as she is to the land, Alexandra is not nearly as attuned to her feelings or those around her. It will be years before she realizes that she is in love with long-time friend, Carl Linstrum and even longer before she becomes aware of the feelings her youngest brother, Emil, has developed for a married woman.

"Marie often wondered if there was anyone else who could look his thoughts to you as Emil could."

"It was like a sigh they had breathed together, almost sorrowful, as fi each were afraid of wakening something in the other."

The greatest love story of the book, however is Cather's love of and respect for the land.

"Winter has settled down over the Divide again, the season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring."

O Pioneers! was a hit with the Bookworms. Cather's writing particularly impressed; all of those who had finished the book raved about Cather's use of language to describe the land and the people who settled it. For a book that we all agreed is an easy read, this book is full themes to discuss: alcoholism, religion, love, temptation, forgiveness and feminism.

Written in 1913, Cather had long since left Nebraska and moved to New York to be with her lover, Isabelle McClung. That fact alone might have something to do with this being the 83rd most frequently banned or challenged book. I enjoyed this one so much, I think I'm going to have to go back and re-read Cather's My Antonia which I had no appreciation for on first reading. Now I am absolutely enchanted by Cather's way with words.

The Omaha Bookworms Discuss The Cookbook Collector

The Omaha Bookworms met last night to discuss Allegra Goodman's The Cookbook Collector. Sadly, the picture is not of last night (although I had every intention of taking a picture and just forgot). That picture is from last summer when Mari ( of Bookworm With A View) was still with us in body as well as in spirit. The plan last night was to be on the patio but the weather just didn't cooperate. At least it was better than the night before when there were 23 tornadoes in Nebraska and the sirens went off here, sending the crowd at the College World Series game scrambling for cover. But I digress...

We were a small group last night--just five of us. Three had finished the book, one was about half way done and one hadn't read it. Ellen, who had recommended it was probably disappointed that the rest of us weren't nearly as enthused. I was happy to learn that neither of the other two who finished the book had foreseen what happened on page 329, which we couldn't discuss because we didn't want to ruin for the person still reading.

We talked a lot about the time period this was set in -- Ellen's of an age where she knew a lot of people who were young enough to really get caught up in the dot.com hype. We talked a little bit about what you would do if you found yourself as suddenly wealthy as many of the characters in this book did. One member has a friend that leaves in a big house they got cheap because the owner had lost all of their money in the dot.com bust.

Even though not all of us loved this one, we would all agree that this makes a good read for book clubs.

Sunday Salon - June 19

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there and all who have acted in that capacity!

Two news stories coming out of Omaha this week: the continuing flood concerns and the College World Series.  The Missouri River continues to rise, threatening cities, shutting down a long section of  Interstate 29, and devastating farmlands. In Omaha, we worry about our airport, our water supply and, gasp, the sewers backing up and flooding downtown streets and parking lots just as thousands of visitors descend upon our city. So far, so good but more water is being let out from the dam up river and we continue to get more and more rain. 

The College World Series kicked off in its new home (TD Ameritrade Park) Friday night with Fan Appreciation night. It's not the same as the ballpark on the hill and there is something to be missed about the ballpark being set in a largely residential neighborhood. But the new stadium is very nice and the teams seem to like it. We're hoping to get down to a game this week.

On the reading front this week, I raced through Erica Bauermeister's Joy For Beginners (that review on Thursday) and started The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (for a readalong) and This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin (for the War Through The Generations challenge). Looking forward to discussing The Cookbook Collector (Allegra Goodman) with the Omaha Bookworms this week (my review on Tuesday). What are your reading plans for the week? Are you finding you have more or less time to read during the summer?

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Published April 2009 by Simon Schuster Adult
Source: I bought this one to read with the Omaha Bookworms

In 1913 a dockmaster, Hugh, discovers a little girl left on the dock in Australia, entirely alone and with nothing more than a small suitcase and a lovely book of fairy tales.  The man takes the little girl home when no one claims her and he and his wife raise her as their own and call her Nell. All the little girl can tell them is that she was with "The Authoress" and that she has been playing a game of hide-and-seek.

On Nell's twenty-first birthday, her adoptive parents tell her the truth and Nell's life is never the same; she spends the rest of it trying to solve the mystery of her identity.  The journey takes her to Blackhurst Manor and the Cornish coast of England. Nell returns to Australia to wrap up her life there before returning to England permanently, but things take a turn that prevents that from happening.  Nell's estranged daughter drops off her own daughter with Nell then takes off leaving the grandmother to raise a grandchild she barely knows.  Over time the two become close, but Nell never discloses her mysterious past nor the anything about the cottage she has purchased next to Blackhurst Manor.  It is not until Nell's death that all of this comes to light and Cassandra sets off to uncover her grandmother's first life and, perhaps, start a new one herself.

Morton weaves together three narratives to tell the story of Nell, moving between the turn of the 20th-century; 1975, when Nell was finally able to travel to England for the first time; and 2005, when Cassandra takes up her search.  There are a lot of characters to keep track of and with the constantly shifting narrative it was sometimes difficult to keep track of what was going on in the book.  I'm actually a big fan of shifting narratives where mysteries are involved and generally have no trouble with the idea of moving back and forth in time so none of that bothered me much.

What did bother me was the shifting idea of what a four-year-old could remember and how much an adult might remember from when she was that age.  The reader needs to buy into the idea that a four-year-old who has made that long a boat journey not only would not have been found but would never mention her own name or anything that might be a clue as to her identity. Then, when Nell is much older, the reader is expected to believe that a few clues will jar long, detailed memories.  There may be some for whom that is possible; but as someone who only has very fleeting memories of being that age, I just couldn't get past that. There were also some plot points that didn't work for me, I wasn't surprised by the big reveal toward the end of the book, and I felt that a good fifty pages could have been cut from the book. 

Still, despite all of those problems, I liked the book.  The essential mystery interested me and I liked many of the characters, particularly those from the earliest time frame.  As a book club selection, I'm hard pressed to say whether or not it was a good choice.  Only one person who made it to our meeting in the month that we read this had actually finished the book so we couldn't really discuss it.  My opinion is that while this is a pleasant enough book, it's not necessarily book-club worthy.

The Omaha Bookworms Talk to Jennie Nash

Last month my bookclub, The Omaha Bookworms, got the chance to do a Skype interview with Jennie Nash and talk about her book, The Threadbare Heart.  Jennie is such a delight to talk and even put up with us when we got off topic on occasion.

Jennie wanted to know which character our group liked the most and it was pretty much unanimous that Eleanor was our favorite character in the book.  We all liked the relationship between Lily and Eleanor and the fact that when it came right down to it, Eleanor was jealous of Lily.

Because so much of her book The Last Beach Bungalow reflects Jennie's own experiences, we wanted to know if the same was true of this book.  At first Jennie said there really wasn't much that came from her own life except for the character of Gordon who was somewhat loosely based on the man who just married Jennie's mother.  But the more she talked, the more Jennie confessed that there was some element of her own thought process in the book.

The seamstresses in the group wondered if Jennie was herself a seamstress but she confessed that she was not.  She said that she had gone into a fabric store looking for samples of fabrics to get some ideas, however, and found a wonderful man there that really made her understand how fabric speaks to people.

One of our members wanted to know if Tom really had not had an affair or if that was a lie to make Lily feel better. Jennie said that he had not but laughed at our midwest preoccupation with the fact that the woman Lily fears he's been cheating with never wears a bra.

One of our members, who couldn't be with us, has also experienced a home fire and said that she, too had made lists after the fire just like Lily did.  So we wondered if Jennie knew someone who had lost a home in a fire.  She said she didn't but just felt like that was something that she would do if she had that experience.

Because Lily suffers from migraines, we asked if Jennie did as well and she said that she has suffered from quite severe migraines for years.  It's what lead her to write the non-fiction book that she is working on e-publishing right now.  Before the group met, I had a chance to talk to Jennie about this and she said that it's a whole different thing to go this route over traditional publishing and she's learning a lot.

We always have to know about what an author is working on now and Jennie confided that she's got something very different in the works.  When she approached her editor with another book idea, her editor suggested that she go bigger this time, as opposed to the smaller in scope novels about families that she has done up until now.  She's got some very interesting ideas for it--boy, did we get off topic talking about one of them!

I think we'd all agree that The Threadbare Heart made a great book club selection; we certainly found a lot to discuss.  And if your book club likes to find books that will allow you to speak with the author, Jennie makes a terrific guest to the party!

Anne of Green Gable by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Originally published in 1908
Source: I listened to the Librivox recording

Brother and sister Marilla and Matthew Cuthburt live and farm at Green Gables, in the village of Avonlea on the Prince Albert Island in Canada. When they decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage to help on the farm, they get instead Anne Shirley, a precious eleven year old girl. Marilla is more than ready to send her back immediately but Matthew is charmed and soon Anne finds herself a part of life on the farm. For her part, beyond being thrilled with the idea that she will finally have a home, Anne is overwhelmed immediately by a love of the natural setting of Green Gables. By the time Marilla gets a chance to find Anne another home, she has made the decision to keep Anne. A decision she will question again and again as Anne fumbles and stumbles her way through life. Because Anne is so prone to daydreaming, she is also prone to making careless mistakes. But she is also enthusiastic, loving and tries so hard to improve. The reader follows Anne through her life in Avonlea, her friendships (she is always looking for kindred spirits), and on through her days in high school where she excels.

My book club reads a "classic" every year and this year we choose "Anne of Green Gables." One of our members is a playwright who incorporated several classic girl's books into a play that some of us heard a reading of which prompted us to revisit our childhood. Of the five books incorporated into the play, this was the only one I had never read and I was eager to see what makes it so beloved. When I finished, I was still wondering.

I found the book excessively wordy, although Montgomery does a lovely job of describing nature. I quickly grew tired of Anne's daydreams and found much of the book repetitive. Further, I found it odd that Montgomery spent whole chapters discussing some situations then, as the book neared the end, condensed entire school years into a single chapter.

I did like the juxtaposition of Anne, who is all imagination, and Marilla, who is no nonsense and watching them gradually grow on each other. Although it often annoyed me how hard Marilla was on Anne even after she has warmed to her. But then I also felt sorry for Marilla when Anne would proclaim how fond she was of other people without ever really showing any fondness for Marilla.

The book is clearly of the time that it was written. On the other hand, young people today are every bit as concerned as Anne was about their appearance and having the right clothes. At one point, a couple gets married in a home because no one gets married in a church--and don't people still worry all of the time about what other people will think of them?

When I got to my book club meeting last month, I found that I wasn't the only one that was unimpressed with this book and when our playwright, who loves the book, arrived, we were quick to ask "why?" Her defense did make some of us reconsider the book. One of the things that still appeals to her about this book is that it does not preach, as do almost all other books written for children in this time period. True enough--it does not. And she loves the way Marilla allows Anne to make her mistakes and learn from them, a way of childrearing that was unheard of at the time but a way that most experts now recommend.

So, I'm left wondering...if I had read this book as a child, would I love it?

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Rooftops of Tehran By Mahbod Seraji
368 pages
Published May 2009 by Penguin
Source: borrowed

In pre-revolutionary Iran, 17-year-old Pasha is spending the summer on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, talking about what teenage boys the world over talk about--the girls they're in love with, their crazy parents, the neighborhood bullies. Pasha is secretly in love with Zari, the girl next door. But Zari has been betrothed to Doctor since they were young children. And Pasha really, really admires Doctor who, as a student many years older, has ideas about the world that Pasha finds compelling. When Doctor goes away for a while, Ahmed hatches a plan to allow Pasha to spend time with Zari (and Ahmed to spend time with the girl he is in love with as well). Despite feeling guilty about being in love with Doctor's future wife, this is a wonderful time for Pasha. But when Doctor sneaks back to the neighborhood late one night, Pasha accidentally gives him away to the Shah's secret police and sets in motion a series of events that will change the lives of everyone in the neighborhood.

This story appealed to me on many levels. It was so interesting to learn more about another part of the world, another culture, another time. Seraji includes in the story the views that many Iranians had of the Americans at the time. They hated the U.S. for their interference in their country and for installing a despot. At the same time, they were entranced with the idea of going to the U.S. and the lifestyle and educational opportunities to be found there. The stories about how dissidents were treated were horrific but not over done and really used to make the reader understand the character' motivations.

The coming-of-age story of both Pasha and Ahmed includes, remarkably, a great deal of humor which makes it feel very realistic and believable as it balances out the heavier elements. The writing is clear but paints a vivid picture of the people and their surroundings.

Seraji's writing can sometimes get a bit cliched and occasionally even flowery. Periodically, the story seemed to drag. But not often and not for long; and, because the overall story was so good, this reader was willing to forgive those flaws.

I read this for my face-to-face book club which will meet to discuss it next week. I anticipate that it will lead to a lively discussion as there is much to talk about in this book. We are looking forward to getting to talk to Mr. Seraji as well; it specifically says in the back of the book that he is available to talk to book clubs.

**Update**
For an author Q and A and an audio interview, click here.