The Classics Club - Classics Challenge

Five plus years ago, I jumped into The Classics Club Classics Challenge. The idea was to make a list of 50 classics to read in the next five years. I love the classics and had well more than 50 in my house that I could choose from and wanted to find time to read. Easy peasy, right? Not so much. I even gave myself a couple of extra months at one point. I didn't even reach 30 books. I finally gave up, because reading is supposed to be fun, even when we are challenging ourselves to read better.

But...

JoAnn, of Lakeside Musing, recently completed her challenge (she is a great reader of classics!) then she announced that she is restarting the challenge for another five years. Wait - what? You can do the challenge a second time? Well, then. I do hate to have been a failure at anything. And I do still have all of those classic books around the house. That being said, here is my new list of classic books* to read in the next five years:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Moll Flanders by Daniel DeFoe
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Far From The Maddening Crowd by Thomas Hardy
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
The Children by Edith Wharton
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Candide by Voltaire
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens


Classics I'd Like To Do As A Readalong:
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Modern Classics:
Crossing To Safety by Wallace Stegner
The Mystery of Hunting's End by Mignon Eberhart
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Remains of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Decline And Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Huston
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Stoner by John Williams
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Native Son by Richard Wright
All The Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson


Children's Classics:
Where The Redfern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawls
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevens

Short Stories and Plays:
Rocking Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence
The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare
Our Town by Thornton Wilder

*I realize that this list is, even after extensive research, largely made up of American and European literature. My goal is to continue to look for books from other cultures to add to the list. While this is my list as of today, I reserve the right to add and delete things as the mood strikes. Because, just as I may or may not be in the mood to read any particular book on a given day, the list reflects my mood as of today and books I left off today may be added on another day.

Life: It Goes On - October 29

While those of you in California have been experiencing summer temps, we had our first hard freeze the other night. Which means I spent good parts of my half day and yesterday (and will spend more time today) bringing my potted herbs and some flowers in, repotting some things into smaller pots (so everything will fit, which has been like putting together a puzzle), and pulling out plants which have died. It's the real wake up call that winter is coming. Not in the good, Game of Thrones, about to be some major battles going on kind of way; but in the way that means it will take five minutes longer to get out the door in the morning by the time you pull on your coat, hat, gloves, scarf, and maybe even snow boots. I hate it. It makes it hard for me to appreciate pumpkin spice latte, the crunch of leaves under my feet, and what's left of the beautiful fall colors.

This Week I'm:

Listening To: Mostly podcasts (loving Pod Save America!) but also NPR. It's time for me to get back to being better informed and jump back into the fray. Pod Save America is four guys that were aides to President Obama so that will give you an idea as to whether or not this is a podcast for you.

Watching: The usual fall fare - football, The Voice, and the World Series. We don't have a team in the series, but my dad has long been a Dodgers fan so we're cheering for them.

Reading: Grant, right up until my ecopy archived, days before it said it was going to do that. Which means I haven't finished it. Luckily, I hooked my dad up with a copy as well. Looks like he's writing a review for me (but don't say anything to him - he doesn't know yet!). I'm racing through Seven Days of Us and hope to finish it up today. Quite a switch from Grant! Next up, The Revolution of Marina M. Or Andy Weir's latest, Artemis. I haven't decided yet.

Making: Caramel chocolate brownies, fettuccine alfredo, chicken pizza, and a triple batch of chicken alfredo dip (food days at work - health food it is not!). We ate out more than usual this week so I've cooked less than usual this week.

Planning: On a quiet week. Hopefully a productive one.

Thinking About: Christmas. Just the gift part. I've got a good start on my shopping but need to get things organized and start on the homemade projects.

Enjoying: Miss H got me tickets to a local college volleyball game for my birthday yesterday. We have two great volleyball teams in Nebraska (both Division I top twenty teams). This was not one of them but it was great fun, nonetheless and we had fun having girl time.

Feeling: Well rested? I slept nine hours last night. I never sleep nine hours! Since I'm a night owl, nine hours of sleep means I slept away half of the morning today.

Looking forward to: Two years ago, one of our favorite restaurants burned down, leaving only the brick exterior of the building it was in. This week, it reopens in the same building, largely exactly as it was before the fire. We're excited to have a belated anniversary celebratory dinner there later this week.

Question of the week: Halloween - love it or eh? I do love decorating with my witches and pumpkins but I haven't gone to a party or dressed up in years and I'm getting to be kind of a grump when it comes to handing out candy.

Life: It Goes On - October 23

How did all of my readathon friends do this weekend? I was so sad to miss it - always look forward to it, even though I have not once figured out the best way to make it work after all of these years.

As much as I missed being able to do Dewey's, I did love my weekend at my brother's and sister-in-law's. We got to spend time with all of the kids and the much-adored Miss E, we went hiking to a park we have enjoyed for decades, got Shakespeare's pizza (a requirement with every visit), hit up a winery, and got in lots of talking and laughing (my sister-in-law and I stayed up until 3 a.m. Saturday morning without even realizing we'd been talking that long!). So wish we could get there more often.

This Week I'm:

Listening To: My new podcast of choice is Crime Town. This season is about Providence, Rhode Island and Buddy Cianci. I keep thinking of the restaurant my aunt and uncle took the Big Guy and me to when we visited them in Rhode Island and they were telling us about the mob hit that had taken place in that restaurant. In 1983, that was something shocking for this naive Midwest girl! I had no idea it was so common then!

Watching: Volleyball, football, baseball, The Voice, The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Reading: Chugging along still on Grant. Good thing I get more days with this one than I was expecting!

Making: Pizzas, baked chicken legs and sweet potatoes, something else that was delicious, I'm sure, but apparently not memorable.

Planning: On putting the yard and gardens to bed for the winter this week, with much sadness.

Just a few of the books I've
bought recently

Thinking About: Putting a moratorium on my book buying for the rest of the year. Somehow I've managed to buy about 20 new books in the past few weeks. In my defense, except for a couple of gifts and one new book for myself, all of the others were used and cost no more than $3. Still, my shelves will, once again, need to be reorganized to fit everything on them.

Enjoying: See collage. Miss H and her uncle both got a lot of great shots at Rock Bridge park.

Feeling: Excited. I think. Just after we got home last night, a deputy came to our door to tell us that they had found Mini-him's car that was stolen a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't seen it yet and we can't pick it up yet so we have no idea what kind of condition it's in. It was found only a few blocks away from where it was taken so we are hoping it was just some kids out for a joy ride. We'll hopefully find out tomorrow. Unfortunately, just Friday Mini-him bought a new car. So now he has (if the stolen car is drivable) two cars.

Rock Bridge Park, Columbia Missouri 

Looking forward to: So, if the stolen car is still in good shape, Mini-me may buy it. Which means we'll have to get it to Milwaukee. Oh darn - I'll have to go to Milwaukee and see my kids again. Fingers crossed that will work out.

Question of the week: Did you participate in Dewey's Readathon? If so, how did you do?

The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee

The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee
Published August 2016 by HarperCollins Publishers
Source: my copy through the library for book club

Publisher's Summary:
Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than two hundred Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.’s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.’s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.

At the center of The Bones of Paradise are two remarkable women. Dulcinea, returned after bitter years of self-exile, yearns for redemption and the courage to mend her broken family and reclaim the land that is rightfully hers. Rose, scarred by the terrible slaughters that have decimated and dislocated her people, struggles to accept the death of her sister, Star, and refuses to rest until she is avenged.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of misfits, schemers, chancers, and dreamers, Jonis Agee’s bold novel is a panorama of America at the dawn of a new century. A beautiful evocation of this magnificent, blood-soaked land—its sweeping prairies, seas of golden grass, and sandy hills, all at the mercy of two unpredictable and terrifying forces, weather and lawlessness—and the durable men and women who dared to tame it.

My Thoughts:
When The Bones of Paradise was picked to be this year's Omaha Reads selection, one of my book club friends quickly suggested our book club read it and even grabbed one of the library's book club bags with books for us. It included an audiobook copy which I took with us on a recent trip. We got through one disc (which was no reflection on the book; just new terrain that involved more concentration for driving and navigating); my husband was already saying the book was "brutal." I wouldn't have thought that would scare him off but it did; he never asked to read or listen to it again. It did not, however, scare of the ladies of my book club. Not sure if that says more about my husband or my book club friends!

My husband was right; this book is often brutal. But life in the Sandhills of Nebraska in 1900 was brutal, from the weather to the people who inhabited it, and Agee's writing reflects all of the ways that life could be tough in 1900 western Nebraska, from ice storms to tornadoes to the American government to the men (and women) who lived there.

THIS is what the Lakota were
doing that so alarmed the Indian
agent who called in the military

As unforgiving as that land is, in Drum, J. B. and Ry Graver (who discovers the bodies of J. B. and Star) we see the lengths a person will go to to try to own their own piece of it. It makes some people harder, it breaks others, and it drives men to do things they wouldn't think themselves capable of to try to hold on to it.

As the story moves back and forth in time, in part to tell the background stories of many of the characters. But Agee says the real reason she told the story from multiple points of view was to "respect the events and Native Americans at Wounded Knee by making them as alive and as vivid as possible...I dramatized key events with my characters involved so that the impact of the massacre could be registered as horrific as it was." There are several characters who "were there" at Wounded Knee. (Drum, J. B., Ry, and Star). It's this day that is at the center of the book, pulling the story of what happened to the Indians in that area into the story of the Bennett family and the people surrounding them.

And THIS is what was done to the Lakota at Wounded Knee

I was glad to have read this book with a group. I had some questions when I finished and it helped to have people to bounce them off of, many of them having to do with the reason Cullen was sent to live with Drum and why Dulcinea left the ranch. I didn't entirely buy into Agee's reasoning but others in my book club found those reasons believable. All of the characters (with the possible exception of Rose) are deeply flawed and many of them are so hard that they are hard to care for. But Agee lets readers see the humanity in most of her characters and readers can understand what makes them the people they are.

About those murders...there is a murder mystery element to this book, after all...some in my book club figured out early on who killed J. B. and Star. Others were holding on to their own theories until the end. Either way, the slow reveal of what happened in that meadow was satisfying. The ending of the book, though, left some (including my mom) not as satisfied. My mom said she felt like Agee had gotten to the end of the book and didn't know how to finish it so rushed into the ending that we have here. Agee, herself, says she didn't know who killed J. B. and Star when she began writing the book but that she did rewrite the ending many times. One of our book club members said, "how would you have finished the book?" I'm not sure, to be honest. I just don't think it would have ended the way Agee ended it.

Still, it's a fascinating, complex novel, filled with interesting characters and dynamics, one in which the setting plays a very important role. Which, for this girl who was born in the Sandhills of Nebraska, is a very good thing.

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

I spent much of a wet, chilly Saturday afternoon cleaning up my Facebook saves...again. I moved, literally, hundreds of recipes onto Pinterest, grew frustrated that so many recipes don't have links to other sites so that I could do that, found dozens of "saves" I have no idea where to store, and realized that I, once again, had a whole lot of bookish things to read and share. Maybe if I spent less time on Facebook, this would stop happening!

From Esquire magazine comes this list of the 40 Best Books of 2017 (So Far). This is where I both pat my back for the books I have already read AND wonder where the hell I've been when I find I haven't even heard of some of the books.

Signature also has a list of The Best Books of 2017. Again, I've read a couple of these, haven't heard of some; the biggest shocker on this list is Dan Brown's latest, Origin. Dan Brown on a list with Ron Chernow, Henning Mankell, and Amy Tan? Hmmmm.

Jane Austen

Also from Signature comes 10 Lessons Every 21st-Century Woman Can Learn From Jane Austen. It makes my heart happy to see that my beloved Jane Austen is still so relevant, all these years after her death!

Speaking of Austen, from The New York Times comes this article that posits that Austen's word choices explain why she endures. The article cites a number of studies and quotes Virginia Wolff as saying "Of all great writers, she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness." And yet, her work stands the test of time.

Some other female authors we should be mindful of are highlighted in this list of 12 Revolutionary Novels By Women That Will Motivate You To Keep Resisting from Bustle. It's not too surprising to find Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler on the list, but you might be surprised to also find J. K. Rowling. Of course, the Harry Potter books are largely about resistance.

And yet more women authors to pay attention to are found on PBS's list of 5 Books By Women Of Color You Need To Read Right Now. Haven't read a one of them but they are all, now at least, on my tbr list.

Bookbub Blog has put together a list of 10 Unforgettable Historical Books Based On True Stories. I love reading books that are based on true stories, especially historical ones. I've read a couple of these and will be looking for several others.

Speaking of books I haven't read, here's the list of the National Book Award finalists for 2017. I've got a couple of these lined up to read but had only even read one of the books on the long list. Have you read any of these? Your thoughts?

Finally, Penguin Random House has put together a list of The Best Books About Books. I've actually read more than half of these. Apparently I have a thing for books about books? Are there any other books about books that you would recommend?

The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti

The Telling Room: A Tale of Loe, Betrayal, Revenge And The World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti
Published December 2013 by Gale Group
Source: this one is mine

Publisher's Summary:  In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets—usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine.

It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio’s cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. . . .

By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale–like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta.

What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he’s sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing.

My Thoughts:
I know what the "experts" say about the food groups, but I have my own edition of what the food groups are and one of them is cheese. Yep, cheese gets it's own group. There are a whole lot of cheeses out there in the world and there are very few of them that I've tried and didn't like. So four years ago when I first heard about this book, I knew that I had to find out about the world's greatest piece of cheese.

I must admit that it seemed like it would be a stretch to write an entire book about one kind of cheese. Clearly I did not read the summary before I started reading because this book is so much more than a book about cheese. It is, at least a little bit, about the slow-food movement (it was that movement, after all, which caused Ambrosio Molinos' cheese to gain world-wide fame).

"Ambrosio saw himself as the needle and thread, stitching backward in time, unifying epochs. The awards had validated the idea that you could still make old food, the old way, and enthrall."

It's also about the Castilian way of life and the land. It's about family, friendship gone wrong, greed, and obsession. Not only Ambrosio's obsession with revenge but Paterniti's obsession with Ambrosio and the village of Guzman; Paterniti, a journalist who had traveled the world, became so obsessed with Ambrosio's story, eventually, he moved his entire family to Guzman. Which all makes it a book that's hard to put down, something you almost certainly wouldn't expect from a book you thought was just about cheese.

A word about Paterniti's writing: this book is chock-a-block full of footnotes; footnotes that have footnotes that have footnotes. Some of this is because of the way Ambrosio told his tale (and the tales of others). Much of it is simply Paterniti traveling down side roads, roads that were often humorous, often filled with Spanish history. Occasionally they were distracting but for the most part I enjoyed them. Just as I did Paterniti's writing. He brings the processes, the food, the land, and the people alive.

"The only constant was the bodega. It was nearly guaranteed that at some point along the way we'd end up in the telling room with Ambrosio holding forth, in great word gusts of appreciation for the joys of Castile. He slurped wine and let out wondrous sighs, saying, "Its taste reminds me of the old people who once sat here. It's a privilege to drink this wine." It was a privilege to eat the almonds and the chorizo and jamon, too. It was a privilege to sit on one's derriere in the telling room and get pleasantly soused while hearing stories. It was a privilege to walk this land, to live in this place, to watch the grain grow."

Years ago, my husband picked up a book called Driving Mr. Albert. He thoroughly enjoyed it but it didn't appeal to me (let's be honest, I wasn't really listening when the hubby was telling me about it). Turns out Paterniti wrote that book. I wonder if we still have it. Suddenly, it sounds very much like something I'd like to read!

Life: It Goes On - October 15

Happy Sunday! And by Sunday, I mean that the sun is finally shining today, hopefully all day. It's been so dreary and wet here for most of the past week. Doesn't do much to help the mood I'm put in first thing every morning when I turn on the news. It's also making it tough to start getting the yard ready for winter.

You'd think that would free up more reading time but, I've got to be honest, I'm not doing as much reading as I was for a while. Grant is brilliantly interesting but it's very slow going and I feel guilty if I pick up anything else for a break.

The Big Guy is watching The Coneheads today. It's all silly fun except when you hear Michael McKeon's character, who works for the INS, tell a boatload of refugees to "Go home. You have no skills and will only be a burden on our society." Then it starts to feel like you're watching the evening news.

This Week I'm:

Listening To: I finished The Bones of Paradise, have been making myself listen to the news more (although that always makes me an angry driver), and I'm back to podcasts (this week I listened to episodes of Stuff You Should Know and Classical Classroom). I actually added several new ones to my list (Crimetown; Terrible, Thanks for Asking; and Pod Save America) which were recommended by NPR; I haven't listened to any of them yet, though.

Watching: The baseball playoffs. I've got family happy about how the Cubs and Dodgers are doing (although someone is not going to be happy at the end of their series) and a girl very happy with how her Yankees have been playing.

Reading: An interesting article in Harper's Bazaar about emotional labor.  My work load, emotional labor-wise, is considerably less than when my kids were young and I was a stay-at-home mom. Still, I'd made supper last night for two of my kiddos and an hour later had to go in and clean up the kitchen when it became clear that neither of these grown adults thought that maybe they should do it. When I said something about it, they both said, "You didn't ask me to do it." And so it continues.

Making: Slow-cooked pork chops with apples, chicken enchiladas, turkey tater tot casserole, lasagna bake, chocolate chip cookies, shortbread cookies, and, last night, we tried cloud eggs. Got the bug last Sunday to meal prep for the week and I'm always so grateful to be able to walk in the door after work and just heat something up. Today will definitely include meal prepping again!

Planning: Our trip to Missouri this week. Cannot wait to get my hands on my great-niece who will turn one next week.

Thinking About: Making some changes to make myself happier. For starters, maybe get back to that Happiness Project I started at the beginning of the year and abandoned months ago.

Miss E

Enjoying: Last night a mildly amusing thing happened that, for some reason, struck Miss H and I as much funnier than it really was. Then the fact that we were laughing so hard made us laugh even harder. Tears streaming down our faces harder. Can't even breathe harder. This happens to us sometimes and BG just rolls his eyes and says, "I don't get it." That's ok, we do; and it's great!

Feeling:  Like I need to get out and enjoy the sunshine instead of doing the things I know I need to do.

Looking forward to: This face.

Question of the week: Last night I drove through a patch of water on the road and found myself already wondering if it was just wet or might be icy. I hate that I'm already focusing on winter! If you live in a part of the country with four distinct seasons, how do you help yourself enjoy this season without thinking too much about upcoming winter?

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Published October 2017 by Simon and Schuster
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
Find your magic.

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

My Thoughts:
So, I know I just said, in another review, that I don't like supernatural elements in books. Literally just said it. Even after I had started reading this book. As it turns out, I may be wrong, at least when the supernatural is done by someone who knows how to do it as well as Alice Hoffman. For some reason, even though the entire book is about witches, and curses, and mind reading, it never felt like the magic was the center of the book. Instead, this is really a book about family, love, redemption, and being true to yourself and I do love a book with those themes.

I've never read Hoffman's Practical Magic (this is actually a prequel to that earlier book), but I love the movie adaptation, starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole, Kidman, and Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest (the later two play Franny and Jet Owens, the sisters in this book). I adore that movie for the very reasons that I enjoyed this book. It's not a given that a movie adaptation of a book will fairly represent the book on which it was based (ok, it's often not even close); but, on the assumption that this one did, I had a feeling I would enjoy a book based on the aunts younger lives. Hoffman did not disappoint because, at it's heart, the magic in this book is the characters, who adored, each in their own way.

Even though the rules the Owens children grow up with are a little unusual, they are still rules made by parents and not understood by the children. Even though the Owens children have unique magical gifts and can often read each others minds, don't most siblings grow up each with their own unique gifts and an ability to read each other where others might not be able to do so? They don't appreciate their parents until they are gone, they long to be accepted, they long to be loved but are afraid of love - aren't these all things that are universal?

Hoffman charmed me with her blend of humor, sadness, grief, love, spirit, and family bond. Perhaps that was the greatest magic of the book. It's not perfect (it can drag on too long in some places and occasionally feel repetitive) but it was the perfect book for me at just the right time.

Life: It Goes On - October 8

Ladies and gentlemen: I have, perhaps for the first time, actually completed the R. I. P. Challenge. Already. Yea, me! Ok, ok - it's entirely to do with the fact that both of the books I read were downloaded from Netgalley and had to be read by now. But still!

This Week I'm:

Listening To: I've continued "reading" The Bones of Paradise. There's no way I would have gotten through the print copy of my library book before the book club bag was due back; being able to do a listen/read has been a lifesaver!

Watching: The Avett Brothers in concert! Oh, sure, it misted the entire concert and I was pretty cranky about that right up until they started. But once they started, I was remind again how much I enjoy their storytelling and the energy the entire band puts into giving their fans a great experience. 

Reading:  Basically, I've been a reading fool because I went completely berserk requesting books on Netgalley without paying any attention to archive dates. Boy, is it showing in my house. But we're only eight days into the month and I've finished three books, and will finish a fourth today. Of course, this week I will start Ron Chernow's Grant which will take me the next two weeks to read. My dad's also reading it so when I review it, you'll get his opinion, too. But he doesn't know he's going to do that, yet, so don't tell him.

Making: I can hardly remember what we ate for meals at all this week except I did make Irish nachos for supper on Friday. Health food at it's finest! Tator tots topped with ground beef, bacon, cheese, onion, sour cream, chives and tomato.

Planning: On heading off to Junkstock shortly. I don't usually go on Sundays but it has been so rainy here all week (several inches in just a couple of days) so I decided to give the mud a chance to dry up some.

Thinking About: How it might be time to give up on shorts and capris for the year. Even the cats, in their fur coats, have decided it's time to start cuddling up on our laps (aka stealing our body heat).  

Enjoying: Family. Jeff's cousin and his wife, as well as their son and his wife and baby boy, came to Nebraska this weekend from California. It's always good to get to spend some time with them and it was fun to get to meet the baby. As much as Facebook makes me crazy most days, it's been fun getting to watch him grow up that way but more fun to actually get to hold him!

Feeling: Angry. Wednesday night Mini-him walked out of work at 9 p.m. only to find that his car had been stolen. He's been driving the original Mama Shep's 2000 Honda Civic, nothing fancy at all. We're almost certain it was stolen for parts so don't hold much hope out for it being found. It was in fantastic shape and, of course, he had no car payment. It will be hard to replace, particularly since he hasn't been saving money to be ready to get a new car. So frustrating that people think it's ok to just take the things that others have worked so hard for.

Looking forward to: A normal week? I'm not entirely sure what that means any more. It seems like there's always something, even in this phase of our lives.

Question of the week: Have you ever had a car stolen? How did that experience end up for you?

The Witches' Tree by M. C. Beaton

The Witches' Tree by M. C. Beaton
Published October 2017 by St. Martin's Press
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead—and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster, has been murdered—and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion (a little glad for the excitement, to tell the truth, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books). But Sumpton Harcourt is a small and private village, she finds—a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation—and even her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better...

My Thoughts:
M. C. Beaton is known for two series of books, one featuring Hamish Macbeth (whom I adore), and one featuring Agatha Raisin. Agatha is a character that the other characters in Beaton's books tend to dislike so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I don't care much for her myself. I feel rather bad about this given that she is a woman of a certain age (mine) who has bad a name for herself and runs her own business. But to call Agatha "independent" would be wrong. She is forever trying to find the love of her life; she wants the full on romance. I tend to come away from books featuring her feeling that we've dwelt entirely too much on Agatha's problems with men. Which isn't fair, I suppose, when I consider how much time is devoted to Hamish's love life in his series. Nevertheless.

This time it really did feel a bit like Beaton forgot all about the murders as the book went on. Even when we got to the end, it felt like Beaton had forgotten to tie up some of the loose ends. In some books, that would be alright. But this is a cozy mystery and cozy mysteries are meant to finish all neat and tidy. In fact, there was a lot about the book that felt as though it hadn't been thoroughly thought out, from the fact that the coven so much is made of that ends up featuring almost not at all to conversations that don't seem to flow properly. My copy is, as I note above, a egalley. Perhaps before the book went to press, some of those concerns were cleaned up.

In the end, it's a fun enough book (if one can say a book in which four people are murdered is "fun"). It just wasn't up to the standards of Beaton's previous books.

Life: It Goes On - October 4

We finally got to my sister's and brother-in-law's new house this last weekend (hence, no post on Sunday). Just the Big Guy and I were able to go but it did give us a little more flexibility; made a bit of an adventure of the trip north that included a trip to a book store where the owner gifts you a free book on your first visit. He asks about your reading preferences than chooses a book he think you'll enjoy from his inventory of used books. I think we both got winners. Of course, the benefit of this for him was that we felt obligated to buy a couple of books as well (as if I weren't already going to buy a book!). If you're ever in Red Wing, Minnesota (also home of Red Wing pottery and Red Wing boots), I highly recommend you check out Fair Trade Books.

This Week I'm:

Listening To: The Big Guy and I tried to listen to Jonis Agee's The Bones of Paradise on our trip but with our meandering up and semi-stressful ride home, we only got through one disc. So I'm listening to it this week as a read/listen combo.

Watching: Over the weekend we spent a good deal of time watching that river that my sister's property backs on to, a bonfire, and some football.

Reading: I have soooo many books to finish this week, between a library book due back soon and Netgalley books that are about to expire. I'm hoping to finish M. C. Beaton's The Witches' Tree today then it's on to Alice Hoffman's latest, The Rules of Magic, which is a sort of prequel to her Practical Magic.

Making: Tacos, coleslaw, steaks, fried apples, salads, and BLT's. We seem to be fighting the end of summer eating.

Planning: On spending most of the rest of my free time this week reading.

Thinking About: Getting my Halloween decorations out today.

Top to bottom, left to right: looking up at my sister's house from the river, getting love from one of their dogs who kind of loves me, the river my sister's house backs onto, on a wagon ride through an orchard, the guys at winery #1, BG and I at winery #2, and my sister and me at winery #1.

Enjoying: See collage.

Feeling: Like Menomonie is too far away, especially with winter just around the corner.

Looking forward to: Seeing The Avett Brothers in concert tomorrow night.

Question of the week: When someone asks you what you like to read, what's your quick answer? Can you even narrow it down?

We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Published October 2017 by Diversified Publishing
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

Publisher's Summary:
“We were eight years in power” was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. In this sweeping collection of new and selected essays, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America’s “first white president.”

But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period—and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective—the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.


My Thoughts:
I'll bet you thought you knew what that title referred to, before you read the summary, didn't you? I did, too. We are only partially right. The title is actually taken from a quote by South Carolina congressman Thomas Miller in 1895:

"We were eight years in power. We had built schoolhouses, established charitable institutions, built and maintained the penitentiary system, provided for the education of the dear and dumb, rebuilt the ferries. In short, we had reconstructed the State and placed it upon the rode to prosperity."

It was Miller's plea to the "fair-minded people of South Carolina to preserve the citizenship rights of African Americans." It didn't work. The white men who had recently fought so hard to preserve slavery were not ready yet to acknowledge the "actual record of Negro government;" that success undermined white supremacy and had to be crushed.

We Were Eight Years In Power is a series of essays, written during the eight years of Barack Obama's presidency, along with a new essay used to introduce each of the previous essays. In the new essays, Coates examines how his own opinions have changed, explains what he was trying to say in those original essays, and sheds even more light on the subjects he covers. It is clear that Coates is a man who is tireless in his desire to learn but willing to admit that his opinions may change and that there are grays areas.

This book is a tough read for a white person. It made me uncomfortable. It sometimes made me defensive. It absolutely opened my eyes and made me rethink things I had taken as truth, from Booker T. Washington to  Ken Burns' documentary about the Civil War and revered historian Shelby Foote, from W. E. B. Dubois to Malcolm X, from the reasons black Americans were happy to see a black man elected president to ways that Obama failed them (although Coates does not blame Obama for all of those failures).

I have my copy of this book through Netgalley which means that it will expire in a couple of weeks. It's a book I will likely buy a copy of, a book that I feel I will need to pick up again to reread essays, to continue to think about the things Coates has said. At one point Coates talks about people asking him to be the voice of black people now and how he is not comfortable with some of the things they ask of him. I'm not sure I'm ready to accept him as the only voice of black Americans. But he is certainly an important one, a writer who will have me looking to learn more.