May 24: Happy B'day to Me! And books 'n' stuff!

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I *loved* this book. The readers were top-notch, the characterization interesting, the conflict moving--really strong focus on how one thing going wrong can cause an avalanche of bad luck for a family on the edge. Hugely enjoyable. Moyes manages the differing viewpoints adeptly. I will listen to this, or read it, again!



Light Thickens by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Marsh, and I've read LT before; it was a real treat to read it as my students and I were studying it in class! Amazing that this was set in 1982: she feels post-war to me, always. Highly recommended, especially for students of Shakespeare!



Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Highly recommended by various folk (Lyle, Cala, Andy) and I enjoyed it, but the reader (Nigel Planer) didn't do women's voices very well, which weakened the story since it's largely *about* women. Pratchett, as usual, is funny and sly and does great parallels and also makes great points about human nature. . . . I did enjoy it, but I still prefer the Tiffany Aching books!



A Rural Affair by Catherine Alliott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Entertaining enough: fairly well-written, but didn't really take advantage of the quirky characters Alliott created. Handed it off to Renee without a qualm. Fluff a step above Katie Fforde, but not Marian Keyes or Jennifer Crusie's level.



Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Found this a huge pleasure. Sharp, funny, touching--probably the teens are a bit too articulate, but that makes the reading even better. Great to read a book with a gay character and love interest that was, essentially, a teen novel--not a message book or a purpose book. Albertalli's writing is endearing, interesting, and funny. I want all my students, kids, and friends to read this book!

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Back home after two weeks of weekend travel: Uncle Tom's 90th and then L's graduation. Both good experiences, but my! Delighted to be home. My b'day: extremely low key, aka "forgotten", but made a great cake and had a nice hike with Lori. More will come. We're all toasted. Lyle home and busy changing up his room and adjusting to life after college with his dumb ol' family (for a bit at least). His room looks great!

I have either bad allergies or a little cold: it's been incredibly dry and windy, so I guess my money's on allergies. Stuffy as can be! Off to lie down and read a bit, perhaps with the Red Sox on. Thank HEAVEN for three day weekends!

Sunday: March 29: Happy SUNNY Palm Sunday!

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some Laurie King's I like; some drag a bit or a lot and come alive better as audios than on the printed page. Dreaming Spies, however, is terrific: full of interesting characters, fascinating details about life in Japan in the 1920's, and fast-paced enough to keep everything clipping along. I haven't read many books about the countryside of Japan--most of them involve the big cities, which sound way too crowded and built-up for my taste--so King's descriptions were interesting and novel. I still need to ponder the end a bit--this is definitely a rereadable novel on my list!--but it gets two thumbs up from me!

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May 3, Sunday: Tying up some Book Ends. . .

This is How it Ends by Kathleen MacMahon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

At the moment, can't tell if I've dumped it, or just put it to one side for a bit. Seems dull right now, but one reviewer said the first part drags but the rest is much better. Sooooooo, we'll see.

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hey, guess what? War is hell, and sometimes women don't get treated the way they should.

This is essentially the gist of this novel by Katharine McMahon. I'm glad I read her Crimson Rooms first, because in that one her female protag. fights back; in the other two earlier novels I've read since, the characters are a little victim-y and I am not so much of a fan.

Well written, however, and maybe if I reread, I'd enjoy it more. Just not engrossing or really covering new ground.

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

WOW! Got this one from a list of "If you liked "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" You'll LIke. . . " on Facebook. This first novel by a team of Danish women is spine-tingling and disturbing but not as graphic, gross, or politically detailed as GWTDT, and is very good. I am looking for more Nina Borgs!

The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another book recommended for readers who like Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: this one was even better--funnier and more developed characters--than "Boy in the Suitcase." Interesting, fast-paced, suspenseful and peopled with interesting, nuanced characters. Again, I'm looking for the next volume in the series for sure!

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Finally, May has brought us some lovely weather. We still get a sea breeze, but we have two daffodils, more working to bloom, and the crocuses are nearly past. Andy got pansies for the windowboxes, so this week that will be our after-school task. Lots of reading, and lots to do: life is good.

April 21: Tuesday of Vacation Week and Pouring Rain!

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After I binge-read Cuckoo's Calling, I knew I wanted to read the second Strike novel, but I couldn't give my life over to it, so. . . . . I got it as an audio. Good call--but it was nearly as irresistible as an audiobook as it had been as a paper version. The reader is amazing, the story engrossing, the plot fast-paced: all in all, it provided me with a fast-paced two weeks or so of imagination. Brava/bravo!

Notes: the one bit I couldn't figure out in the story was why Leonora and Owen ended up together in the first place. She was such a resolutely flat character that I never got a real sense of her personality. Maybe I'll have to reread the book at another time and see if I just missed some details there. However, Strike and Robin have personality to spare, so I still stick by my five star rating!

Uneasy Money by P.G. Wodehouse
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Chose this as a quick commute filler after I finished "Silkworm," so I suppose some letdown was inevitable, but still: Uneasy Money is *not* one of Wodehouse's best. There are a few guffaw-inducing lines, but overall, it's a mere nothing of a story that is not redeemed by enough of his usual wit. I'm glad it was a freebie from the good people at Librivox!

**Note: I did NOT listen to this edition of the audio; mine was read by Tim Someone of "Big Bible" through Librivox.**

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Anne R lent me this one, and I found it interesting and quick. The tone is a little unclear: does Moriarty mean it to be a comedic send-up of over-involved parenting or an honest revelation about domestic abuse in the upper classes? I felt that it teetered a bit precariously on the line, but overall, it was a good pre-vacation entertainment. Reminded me a bit of "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?", set in a different country.

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read and loved "How to Build a Girl," so I fell upon "How to Be a Woman" with delight. And. . . found it funny, interesting, and thought-provoking. Mostly. There are some really useful ideas in it: first, the idea of using politeness vs. "correctness" to combat sexism: "That seems a little. . . uncivil," offers a good way to challenge some of the offensive stuff I've heard, and it shifts the debate. Brava, Moran. In addition, using the "does it apply to men, too?" rule codifies a lot of my distress about various crap girls and women have to deal with in many guises: synchronized swimming, cheerleading, survivalist cults I see in the grocery store where the little boys are racing around looking regular but the little girls have 5' long braids and are wearing skirts OVER their jeans, and, Moran's example: burkas. Also shaving various body parts. AND her riff on over-eating/obesity as a "carer's addiction" was enlightening. BAM!

I'm 95% on board with her statement that part of what women are dealing with is the fact that we were losers for a lot of history. Also, some of her stuff on pornography seems reasonable, as well--but the first few chapters were full-on cringeworthy, and I felt a bit like she was cranked up to make a point, to piss people off, and to create a brand for herself. Soon enough that died away and I was shouting "SISTER!" and reading lines out to Andy, but the opening was not where I'd've chosen for her start. Ah well.

I have a LOT of pages dogeared, and I'd like to copy out several of them on my FB status. . . . and mostly I'd like to do a book group with this book. Maybe that's a goal for this summer. :)

Highly recommended as a sometimes-difficult but always-interesting read. I think I'm going to buy a few copies and share them out.

Lost & Found by Brooke Davis
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Warm reviews from the librarian for this one, and a great cover, but I gave up after about an hour. Several objections:

1. too much unknown stuff. I am not a fan of books that carry around a huge mystery that is alluded to but never truly answered.
2. too many weird characters. Really: could three so-bizarre people (four, if you count the disappeared mother) meet up?
3. too much effort to present the child's view and ONLY the child's view. Kids do have social antennae, and they DO know more than Millie does--unless they are three. She's seven.


All in all, the book was just annoying me too much to bear, so I quit reading it, read the extremely long and detailed acknowledgements and author's info/confessional, and will return it to the library ASAP.

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Well, it's the Tuesday of vacation, and we've had a good run already. Nate is in Budapest, and Andy and I had a lovely day and overnight in Portland after we dropped him and a classmate at the Logan bus. Now we're home and in the middle of a howling storm, with wind, rain, thunder!!!!, and general weather craziness. Yikes!

Highlight: we had a chance to see Craig and the twins yesterday, spending a lovely 90 mins or so playing with those cheery little girls and their dad.

Time passing reminder:

We lost Miranda, stalwart and beloved cat of 15+ years, on Sunday. She just stopped. We buried her when we got home on Monday. It was the best possible end to a good, extremely long life. Sleep well, Mander Cat! 

April 11: At Long, Long Last. . . .

Laughter on the Stairs by Beverley Nichols
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second of the Merry Hall series, Laughter on the Stairs has a bit more narrative flow than the first volume, the eponymous "Merry Hall," (whew--look at those vocabulary chops! Eponymous. . . step back!) but it still possesses the scatterbrained, amiable "I'm just telling you a few fun stories" approach that makes these books perfect reading material for a busy, cold, stressful April. I could read it a bit, put it down, pick it up again to distract myself from school thoughts, chuckle a bit, and then neglect it for a few days--no harm done. Like the Angela Thirkell books, Beverley Nichols's books are peculiar to a certain type of taste--and at this point, they match mine.

I have heard BN's name, often from British writers, so I've been interested in him for a bit, and finding these three books at a book sale was a perfect stroke of luck, as my $3 investment has been well returned. In this outing, it's interesting to see Nichols's progress in redoing Merry Hall (I do wish there were photos in this re-released edition), and also to see his personality and opinions about his neighbors, his "frenemies," and, especially, the entrance of "Miss Mint," one neighbor whom he truly seems to respect and admire. Seeing how he casts her as opposed to the other women whom he satirizes quite acidly at times is fascinating, and made me like Miss Mint even more because she was clearly unique in the esteem she evoked!

One more book in this series left. . . and I may not rush it, but leave it for another "I need some downtime" stretch. We'll see.

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Well. Long long last: it's sunny, due to hit 50, and it actually *just rained* for two days, so the snow banks have receded in a big way. We still have no gardens and no lawn, but beyond the trees the grass is beginning to show up and the melt water is substantial. Last night Andy and I watched the Sox play, our minds still challenged by the blanket of white we could see outside the windows every time we got up from our chairs, but clearly things are warming up and moving toward spring.

Last weekend was a blur of Nate being home, prepping for his trip to Hungary and the Czech Republic, prepping for the Easter sunrise b'fast, prepping for our Easter celebrations, and doing some schoolwork to boot. This weekend is a little less fraught, with a tad more time in between, and certainly nicer weather. One week till April vacation. We can do this, right?

April 1, Wednesday: Melting, Sunshine, and a good book!

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really enjoyed this book, which handled multiple character lines with aplomb, though the Lorelei emails were a bit tiresome--necessary to the plot, but she annoyed me as a character, so I didn't like reading her gushing. Certainly there was an element of reality TV as Jewell unfolded the hoarding elements of the plot, and the unpacking made a satisfying theme. A trifle overwrought at the very end: I don't think people can change quite as whole-heartedly as Megan does (or at least not so quickly), but my optimistic self didn't quibble. An interesting and well-written "peopley book," as a former student used to say.

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March 28, Saturday: Some Thoughts on New Eateries

Well, it's nearly April, and so far March has lived up to my hopes by being much less snowy than February, though it has been bitterly cold. Lately, we've gotten up to the 40's, had some rain and melting, and have begun to see some reduction of the snow--some. We'll take it. Today I am participating in the Flattop 5K, my first race since. . . . the Memorial Mile? My goal is "have fun, and 32 or under." We'll see.

I have been thinking about restaurant start ups, since there have been several new places opening Ellsworth--which is a relief, because there have been a flood of closings! Andy and I in our newly free status, have been able to try a lot of them, and here is the big suggestion I'd have for anyone opening a new restaurant, especially in a small(ish) town or city: request feedback. Offer $1 off the bill or a free dessert for anyone who will fill out anonymous feedback. Ask questions like "How was the service?" (Answer, for last night: slow, and it was really frustrating to watch at least two waitresses drinking soda at the service station while we waited 10 mins for our water and bread. Get your house to work together so that it's not "that's my table, and that's yours," but "These are our customers.") and "How was the food: taste, quality, portion size?" (Answer for last night: just okay. I could make it as good at home, and that, for me, is the kiss of death. I won't pay money to have someone else make me my own food unless I am very, very tired. Portion size: quite good. Not stupidly enormous, not tiny. Quality: okay, but my medium burger was really more rare in the middle. As a steak house, you might want to get that down.) and "How was the presentation?" (Answer for last night: a bit bleak. My husband's excellent scallops and vegs. were on one side of an otherwise empty plate. As in--empty. No garnish, no cheap but pleasant pile of rice. A little odd.).

You really need to wow us--or else before long we'll be going to another new restaurant in the same place yours is now.