Books - Multiple Book Covers

This is an extinct bird of Ulieta. The drawing lives in the Natural History Museum in London.

Martin Davies has written a novel about the search for the bird, besides the drawing. The bookgroup selected this novel, but I was not going to buy the book until I returned from my
vacation.

This is the version that I would have bought. But, I don't see a bird, but I see a devil.

I saw this at a bookstore. I thought to myself. "Back in New Orleans, we have a book to read called Conjurer's Devil. But that's OK; this is another book. I will buy it."

Well, it turns out to be the same book, but my cover is better, don't you agree?

I found three other covers. I like the one on the right also.

Stuff - Be Creative in Canada for 2007

Do you love, love, just looking at the art work in Nick Bantock's books? The
Griffin and Sabine series?

He will be teaching workshops in 2007 at his studio in Salt Spring Islands in Merchant Mews. The island is between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

(I've been in this part of Canada, and I was always looking for an excuse to get back! An early birthday/Christmas present to myself?)

Very tempting, indeed.

Books - Southern Reading Challenge 2007

I found the three books that I will read for this challenge:

Coming Through the Slaughter - Michael
Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty
The Moaner's Bench - Mars Hill

Ondatje is the author of the English Patient. This novel is about the famous jazz muscian, Buddy Bolden, of whom I know nothing about. (I am a bit embrassed by this; a Scottihs friend was going on and on about him, and I was just shaking my head. I couldn't add anything important to his analysis.)

Welty lived in neighboring Mississippi, and I have never read anything that she wrote. (Slap the other hand, bad girl.) She is much beloved.

Hill wrote about Arkansas. I have passed through a small piece of that state once, and I have never read a book set in that state. I keep wanting to see the hills there, but I never make it.

So, what are your choices?

Stuff - Coming Back soon

I've had a little writer's block, so I haven't been posting.

Plus, I have been a bit under the weather. Some of my fav foods were making me sick, so now I am mourning that I can't eat them, besides trying to recover from the tummy ache.

Bleh.

But, I have been busy. I have been reading one of the books that I bought in the UK, selecting books for the Southern Challenge, catching up on my magazine reading, and knitting.

I have also had to order a new cell phone, because mine was so old, that it needed to be recharged daily. I spent one hour trying to pry the SIM card from the old phone (without damaging it) and putting it in the new one.

Now, I might have to buy a laptop sooner than I expected. I have to set the date via the DOS interface everytime that I turn it on. Bleh.

Now, my dilemma: Mac or PC? I want to do some more graphical work, but I need to access the standard Office documents also.

Stuff - Meme - Intersections between Readings and Your Life

This meme was inspired by a recent BookGirl post. Her thoughts about being In Sync caused me to think about this topic:

Explain how your reading and your life are intersecting.

1. Cloning/Genetics

My book group recently finished discussing Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. The section that interested at least three of us was the description of life in future. It described a society in Korea that was human but becoming increasingly dependent on cloning and genetics research. But, despite all the advances in science, there was still a very slummy place where some humans still resided.

I noted that this portion reminded me of some parts of Margaret Atwood’s Onyx and Crake, (a b-day gift from BookGirl, btw) in terms of the genetics components and the poverty of some humans. Cloning was also a big theme of her novel.

A few days later, on NPR, I heard spoke about a piece about a artist wrote in 2000 about cloning. He said the Dolly the Sheep had been cloned, and the news caused him to think about the future of humans.

Both books were also written about the same time. I was wondering why this theme came up in both of these authors and now I had my answer.

Too much intersecting, don’t you agree?

2. Historical Weather

For the past few months, the History Channel has been showing programs about how history is being reexamined to account for weather. For example, Napoleon’s retreat from Russian happened during one of the worst winters on record. If he had chosen his campaign for another year, maybe the history of Russia would have been different. The historians are now teaming with meteorologists to find out what was happening weather-wise that caused the winter to be so cold in 1811.

And that the volcanic explosions at Tambora and Karatoa also affected weather for many years. Mary Shelly went to Lake Geneva to spend a nice summer away from England; however it was so cold and rainy, that she stayed indoors and the vacationers told each other stories. From this entertainment, came Frankenstein.

Her cold summer was caused from Tambora dust particles preventing the sun reaching the Earth.

All of these TV shows prepared me for reading my new friend’s article about an unusually warm winter and the extremely cold winter next year in the eastern portions of the U.S. CM and his team made several interesting comments about this research.

So, what intersections are you finding between what you are reading and your life?

I sent this meme to three bloggers. If they respond, I will update this entry with their links.

Happy Mom's Day

Happy Mom's Day to the ladies who had their own human children, adopted human children, or have taken care of them informally, even if they weren't your own!

If you don't have your own human children, you are still a mom in your own way. You may have mentored a child, helped godchildren or friend's kids, when they come to you for advice, helped a lost child in a store or parade find their parental units, comfort a crying child, even though you had no idea who the kid was.

You are also a mom, if you have canine, feline, avian, reptilian, porcine, piscine children or other animals. If you are allergic to any or all of the above, you might have a library of books or you might cook to comfort others.

So, you are a mom (even men can be MOMS), so happy day.

Stuff - What I need to do

I have lots things to do:

1. Write three more book reviews.
2. Write reviews about my visit to Wigtown, Scotland (the booktown of Scotland)
3. Write about my visit to the Bladnoch Distillery
4. Start thinking of haiku to submit for the Summer Haiku on-line group
5. Transfer some of my vacation haiku thoughts into my haiku notebook for my Monday night meeting.
6. Start on baby booties for a friend.
7. Start my own knitting/crocheting projects
8. Learn a Nia routine
9. Make up my swimming schedule.
10. Officially start my summer hibernation and all the projects that I have been planning so far.
11. Write my meme that BookGirl sent to me.
12. blah blah

Have a nice weekend!

Books - Persephone Books - London, England

I am actually writing this blog, days after I downloaded the pictures. Life has just been getting in the way. I was reading other books and forgot about Cloud Atlas' deadline, so I had to drop everything and get going on Cloud Atlas (which is still churning in my mind.)
Work has been crazy, and I was too tired to blog at night.

Well, this bookstore is great! If you ever go to London, do drop in. After a hectic tube ride, I found this oasis. First of all, it's located on Lamb's Conduit. I love the name.

I imagined it was a place where lambs went to drink water, but it looks like it's not. it was named after a Mr. W. Lamb; of the time of Henry Viii. , who, at his own expense, drew several springs into a conduit in this street. (From http://lambsconduit.com/origins/)


The staff were great. I browsed and browsed until I made my selections.

I bought some bookmarks and 4 books.

I was also given copies of the Catalogs and the Biannaully.

Most of the information on both booklets are on the website, but touching and turning the lovely pages is something that is not possible on the internet.

The catalog has great summaries of the book, with a photograph of the author and a picture of the setting or the original jacket cover. I can spend hours and hours looking at the catalog.

If you want your own copy, send them an email. They will be glad to ship them to you, even if you don't live in the UK.

Books - Katrina-Ku at Jazz Fest

I am a member of the New Orleans Haiku Society. My group published this book to raise funds for an arts society in New Orleans. We have raised less than $100, so far (after expenses).

If you or a friend are going the the New Orleans Jazz Fest, make sure to stop by the Book Tent. There will be copies there for sale.

All 10 books sold out last week, so we should be over the $100 mark by now. We are hoping to make more money to give to the worthy charity.

If you want more information about this book, click here!

Books - Book Review - Foudation - Issac Asimov

I read all the Foundation books years ago. I wanted to revisit this series again.

However, at the Houston Bush Airport, I should have picked up Prelude to Foundation, instead of Foundation. I don't remember all the details of Hari Seldon's Psychohistory. So, a more detailed review will be made when I find Prelude and re-read this book.

Books - Book Review - Light on Snow by Anita Shreve

The best way to describe this book are shadows. The theme is sad, the people are sad, the weather is not light.

Nicky Dillon has lost her mom. Her dad, Robert, uproots her and moves to rural New Hampshire.

On a walk one evening, they find a baby, almost dead from hypothermia.

Their lives start lurch forward more quickly at this point.

I liked some parts of this book and not others. Maybe the twilight effects of the tone and settings affected me too much.

There is hope, but it comes after much angst.

Nicky grows up physically and mentally a lot through through the story.

A must read for Shreve fans.

Books - Book Review - Minaret - Leila Aboulela

My friend, KM, lent me her Surrey county library book. I read this book in TWO nights.

Najwa is the spoiled daughter of a high level official from Sudan. She and her family live comfortable lives and take many things for granted. They vacation in Europe. They have access to nice clothes. They have tons of servants. They are accepted in the top universities of Sudan. They are very Westernized.

However, one year, the father falls out of favor. Najwa, her mother, and brother have enough time to flee to London to their flat. However, life starts to spiral down for her financially. Najwa can’t afford tuition for university, her mom needs to sell the flat and move to a smaller one, medical bills start to pile up, and living permanently in London is not fun, if there is not enough money.

Najwa also starts an affair with one of her college classmates, who didn’t approve of her father’s politics and whose own differing views have caused him to flee Sudan, a few years after Najwa left.

After she realizes that he is not going to marry her, Najwa slowly starts becoming more religious and starts taking Islamic religious classes. The fellowship with the other women help her to become more grounded, more accepting of her lot in life. Being a housekeeper doesn’t bother her as much as it did in the beginning.

She even doesn’t feel that she has much in common with an old high school classmate, who left Sudan when she was rejected at the university, but is now a successful medical school graduate from a Scottish university.

This book tells a reverse journey, going from a Muslim country with Western views to going to a Western country and gaining Muslim views. Najwa is lucky that her search for the truth went this way. In Britain, there is a lot of religious tolerance, and its ways may not appeal to everyone.

Even though, it was not her fault that the family lost money, she accepts her life and grows a lot.

If you read this book, you will read about parts of London that are not normally on the tourist path. You will experience the London that refugees and immigrants encounter. Leila Aboulela did a great job on this novel.

Books - Book Review - Falling Leaves - Return to Their Roots: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter - Adeline Yen Mah

My friend, KM, lent me this book, that she borrowed from the Surrey County Library.

Adeline Yen Mah’s memoir is very sad. Be ready to cry, and wanting to tell the father and step-mother, “How could you be so cruel?”

Adeline’s family is wealthy in mainland China. Her great aunt started a bank. Her grandfather started businesses and her father expanded the wealth. There are cooks and nannies and other servants.

Adeline’s disaster starts when her mom dies shortly after giving birth to her. The father is distraught and unconsciously blames her for destroying the family order. He doesn’t take long to remarry, while recruiting his single sister to take care of the kids.

The second wife, Niang, is half-French, half-Chinese. She enjoys having money but not having step-children. She sets all the children against each other. She convinces her husband that the children and his father and other relatives are greedy. The children are deprived of food sometimes; they are treated like second-class citizens. The father does make sure that the children receive excellent educations. All attend Catholic schools and go abroad to attend university.

Niang has two children, whom she treats better than the stepchildren, but only when they obey her without question. When her daughter disagrees, she is disinherited. The stepchildren fall in and out of favor throughout the years and also get disinherited at one time or another.

And the way that the father treats his own father, you would think that the father is a beggar. No respect for the elderly at all.

Niang makes Cinderella’s stepmother look like an angel.

Despite all this, Adeline finds ways to survive. Her aunt and grandfather protect her as much as possible. She devotes herself to her studies and reading to escape her world. She becomes a doctor and finds a soul mate. She remains positive and hopeful that her family can be united one day.

I understand how Niang got her power over everyone, but I don’t understand why the father married her in the first place. Many of my Chinese friends, who moved to the US or are first generation Americans, tell me of the pressure to marry other Chinese and not give birth to mixed race children. Maybe he felt that by marrying her, he could be more acceptable to the European businessmen in China?

This story is also relates the story of non-Communist Chinese citizens, how they flee and need to start over in new lands.

Be prepared to get angry. Vow to treat your stepchildren better. Vow to speak up for mistreated stepchildren.

Book - Book Review - Today is Monday in Louisiana by Jonette Downing

Ok, this is not really my review. I am no expert on kid's books.

When I went on vacation, I gave this book as a gift to NM, an intelligent, nice, and handsome 3 year old boy.

This is what his mom wrote to me:

He loves the Monday in LA book you gave him. He says it all by
heart now. We have recorded him "reading" the book and it is just
too cute.
It is 10 MB in size, otherwise I would have mailed it to you. I'll see if I
can post it online somewhere so you can watch it.

I think that his actions speak loudly enough! I am glad that he is a reader.

Stuff - Creative Stuff - I Knit London

This is a very cool shop! I felt better the minute that I walked in! I had just suffered my first asthma attack (since 2003) outside the Bristish Museum. I wanted to cross the Thames River so badly, that I decided not to go on the bus tour and go straight here. I knew that the air would be a little better on the south bank. I got off the Vauxhall Tube Stop (without switching trains at hectic Vicky (Victoria) Station, and found this sign. I walked into a peaceful neighborhood. The trees and little gardens are great! I did hear some planes, but that was the extent of the noise. I wanted something to drink so badly, but all they had was beer, but that was OK. Once I recovered my breath, I started looking around.


So many different yarns! I selected two: Mardi Gras from Wales (how ironic; I travel so far to come "home"; one of my NOLA knitting friends noticed what I bought) and green banana fiber yarn.


I've already made a purse from the banana yarn, but I am having some technical difficulties getting a pic of the purse.

Then, either my inner child came out or my crazy American came out. I started looking for similar buttons in a large jar. The vintage buttons belonged to one of the owner's Grandmother, who lives in Carlisle, England. I found so many cute buttons and separated a lot into groups! So, if you go there and buy some, you might have to thank me!

While I was there, a knitting class was taking place. Poshly dressed ladies who came after work were now relaxing and learning to knit.

Everyone was so nice! A must visit place, if you like to knit or crochet.

Check out the blog and website! It's fab.

Books - Book Review - A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Maggie, the owner of McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music, gave me a copy of this book for my vacation.

It’s a great work! Bill decides to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT for short), which runs from Georgia to Maine. He contacts a friend, whom he hasn’t spoken to in 25 years, and off they go.

Neither is in good shape, but they manage to do a decent job. The stories of the technology of hiking and some of the people they come across are very funny. Not all of the trip was fun, though; there were a few scary episodes when the weather changed drastically, and the terrain was not what they expected.

Mr. Bryson states that “… the United States has lots of forests compared to other developed countries..” Another amazing Chapter 16 fact, is that “In 1850, New England was 70% open farmland and 30% woods. Today the proportions are exactly the opposite

Perhaps no area in the developed world has undergone a more profound change in just a century or so, at least not in a contrary direction to the normal course of progress.”

And in Chapter 9, he beautifully writes, “.... When you’re on the AT, the forest is your universe, infinite and entire. It is all you experience day after day. Eventually, it is about all you can imagine.”

Whenever I visited bookstores in the UK that sold new books, his books were EVERYWHERE. He is much beloved other there. I think what I wrote last summer about not being a prophet in your own land is very true in this case.

This book is a great read on two levels. If you are considering hiking the AT, you can get some realistic descriptions of what to expect. It is also a great story about renewing relationships and getting out of touch with the hectic life that we led in the Western world.

Books – Book Review – The Last Chinese Chef - Nicole Mones (Advance Copy)

This book comes out on Friday; make sure to reserve a copy at your library or run to your nearest bookstore.

California food editor Maggie McElroy is a widow, who finds out that her late husband may have had a child in Beijing. She flies to China to clear up the situation.

While she is over there, she meets and interviews Sam Liang, a first generation Chinese-Jewish-American chef. Sam is learning a traditional style of cooking.

This novel has three stories going on at once: Maggie’s voyage of discovering herself and the past, Sam’s learning how to be a true Chinese chef, and the words of Sam’s grandfather, Liang Wei, author of 1925 version of The Last Chinese Chef.

The words of Liang Wei start the book. He explains that a man can only enjoy fine cuisine with “his cherished friends” and “counts the days until the banquet..” On the other hand. We also see Maggie in the midst of her grief. “She felt her soul spiral away..She needs walls to hold her. She could not seem to find an apartment small enough. In the end, she moved to a boat.” She kept downsizing her stuff so “that some part of er soul could be called back if she could only clear the way.”

Meeting Sam is good for her. Sam explains that Chinese food is different from Western food, because it must have elements of texture, flavor, artifice, illusion (“..to provoke and tease the mind ..”), medicinal purposes, and fat. And that a being a chef in feudal China was one of the few professions where talent, and not family history nor political influence, counted the most.

Maggie learns more and more about the Chinese cuisine as time goes on. She also discovers more about her late husband which is healing for her.

Nicole Mones writes very well from a man’s point of view. Xie Er, one of Sam’s uncles, who not only thinks of the past but recognizes how China has changed in the last few years. He believes that “women could not become chefs. There had been a time, in the Song Dynasty more than one thousand years ago, when there was a trend of female chefs in the great houses of Hangzhou…They lack the upper body strength. They might hold up half the sky, as the saying goes, but they couldn’t filp the heavy woks in a restaurant kitchen…” He is happy that his talented daughter is a restaurant manager and not a chef, because, there is “less work, more money..Everything now is money: houses, cars, phones, jewelry, vacations, Money was life.”

I really enjoyed this novel. I learned a lot about Chinese cuisine. The language is beautiful. Anyone who travels there should read this book before going on their trip.

Correction: I received an email from Nicole Mones. It's a correction of something that I wrote in an earlier edition of this post. I have made the correction and am adding her words:

Sophia Coppola’s film “Lost in Translation” had NOTHING to do with my 1998 novel Lost in Translation. She just used the same title. (A title cannot be copyrighted.) Her film is about Japan; the novel takes place in China. Beyond the title the two works are completely different.

So, Nicole Mones' Lost in Translation will be added in my to-read list.

Books – Book Review – The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills

I bought this 1998 Booker Prize Longlist book in Wigtown, Scotland.

I started reading it quickly and finished it on my train/bus journey from Newton-Stewart, Scotland to Manchester. I had to really stifle my giggles; the other passengers looked tired and were taking naps; I didn’t want to disturb them.

Tam and Richie live in a rural, one-pub town in Scotland. They are taciturn, hard-smoking friends, who do the bare minimum at work, which is installing fences.

The narrator is their foreman, an Englishman who moved north and is somewhat accepted by the community.

Their first job as a team is to install Mr. McCrindle’s fence. After several funny incidents, the works gets done, despite the constant inspections by Mr. McCrindle. However, one mishap stops his meddling, and similar events happen to anyone who annoys the Band of 3.

The men are next sent to Northern England. They have to live in a tiny, tiny, travel trailer (even smaller than the infamous FEMA trailers. I saw some campers on this leg of the trip!) Can you imagine three, tall men living in the cramped tin can? The descriptions of how they adjusted as roommates is hilarious. Shaving, sleeping, cooking, and even reading became comedic. However, this living arrangement allows everyone to learn a bit about each other.

The intrepid 3 meet the locals, who view them as aliens from another planet. But over time, they are also accepted.

The foreman is the one who learned the most. He tried several methods to improve efficiency by division of labor; however, Tam and Richie finally convince him that letting them do their favorite tasks will allow the job to be completed. The foreman tries many methods to motivate Tam and Richie; his efforts are hilarious, but he finally found the magic treat, and I won’t tell you what it is.

This is a funny book on one level, but it is also illustrative of the human condition. It’s sometimes best just to accept others as they are.The novel also introduces the world of the working class in the UK. Most novels from the UK are written about the middle and upper class, and most recently, the immigrants. So, this view is very interesting.

Books – Book Review – The Children of Men – P. D. James

I read this novel several years ago and pieces of it have always stayed in the back of my mind. And when the movie came out, I wanted to read it again. I haven’t watched the movie; that’s for another time.

On Earth, in the year 2021, no children have been born in the last 25 years. Elementary schools have been closed down, universities have classes for older adults, the young people don’t go to graduate school, and certain professionals, such as midwives, have to find other work.

Dr. Theo Farron, a lone (maybe he and Doretha May could be friends?) is the cousin of the Warden (leader) of England, Xan Lyppiatts. Xan and Theo would spend summers together at Xan’s estate, but they didn’t really become friends.

Xan instituted decrees to accommodate the decline in population. Residents were encouraged to move to larger towns or cities, because the small town would eventually lose all utlities. Roads to small towns were not maintained. New death rituals were started. All young men and women were regularly tested for fertility, in the hope that a baby could be born.

Julian comes into Theo’s life. She and her friends object to Xan’s rules and unjust practices, such as returning immigrant workers to their home countries once they become too feeble to do grunt work. Theo doesn’t think much of the group’s organizational skills, but he starts to care about some of the members of the group.

P. D. James creates a realistic, alternate universe that could still happen (even though the time frame is off by now.) The world seems grayer as the population loses hope and there are no more young people to bring new ideas to England.

Theo, unlike Doretha May, adapts to the company of the protesters. He becomes a little more enthusiastic about life with Julian’s pregnancy.

Even if you rent the DVD, I still recommend this book. Even though no atomic bomb has been dropped, this future slowly evolves as a sad one.

Books - Book Review - Visitors - Anita Brookner

Like everything else in New Orleans, even banks are multitasking.

Not only does Fidelity deal with regular banking, the downtown branch also has a lending library!

I have read most of the books there, except for this one: Visitors.

I have never read any of Anita Brookner's books, so I was taking a big chance, and I enjoyed it.

Dorethea May is a spinster, who married late in life. Even though Henry has been dead for several years, she still maintains minimum contact with his relatives and his in-laws.

She lives in a flat that she paid off herself, many years before meeting Henry. She has always seen herself as an independent woman, who doesn't need too much human interaction and likes it that way.

The routine that she has is disrupted when Henry's cousin's granddaughter comes for a visit. She brings along her fiance and Steve, who can be as a "hanger on". Steve is sent to Doretha's home to spend some time there.

Doretha is upset, of course. Her life is disrupted. She enjoys Steve's company but also dislikes the chaos of Steve and the other young people are causing.

In this novel, written in both third and first person, you understand why Doretha chose her quiet life and why she starts to questions portions of it when Steve enters her life.

At times, I felt the despair in her thoughts; in others, I felt there was hope for change.

If you have interactions with an older person, this would be a good book to understand the person. The language is clear, but the message is sad and disturbing. But, you will understand why accepting any change gets harder as one ages.