Audible Kids

Last week I listened to Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned. This is the second book written by Fitzgerald, just before The Great Gatsby. It was 1922. It seems like the book is autobiographical, but it was written when he was a young man. The hero of the story, Anthony Patch, seemed to foreshadow Fitzgerald's later life. Drink and lack of purpose pulled Anthony and his wife Gloria down a dismal path, just as it did for Scott and Zelda.

I enjoyed the book, but found the last part, his slide to utter despair, was hard to read. I have to admit that I skipped an hour or two, after I could see that there was little hope for Anthony. But it was still interesting enough to recommend.

It was strange to hear, once again, that this was an Audible Kids book. First the vampire romance and now a story of dissipation and despair. Maybe I'm wrong about what kids read. Or maybe this book is assigned by a lot of high school teachers. I think I would assign it. There are surely a lot of parallels to our current lives.

See that picture on the left? It is an artery that is filled with plaque. Euuuwwwww. Eric went in for an angiogram on Tuesday and they found one of his arteries was 99% blocked. So they put a stint in. That cleared up the plaque instantly. We have all been eating more healthfully since then.

He had been complaining about chest pains when exercising. Cindy found a doctor who would not just wave a yada yada wand over him but would do some intrusive snooping. But before his scheduled angiogram appointment on election day, he went to lunch with me. I thought he was having a heart attack. He said it was just bad food. Once I told Cindy, he was whisked to the hospital and the procedure was done the next day. I keep looking at that picture. No more cheese. Sigh.

We went to watch a few horse races on Saturday. This was an absolutely gorgeous Fall day. The air was chilly, the clouds were drifty. I packed cheese, crackers, fruit and wine. Eric bought some new fun folding chairs. Do you see the foot rests attached to the chairs? Very cute, but very hard for me to climb over. Most of the horses did better than that on the jumps.

The clouds were as much fun to watch as the horses. This was a steeplechase. The horses ran right in front of our picnic spot. They even started there for a couple of races. It was really a great day for cloud, horse and people-watching.

Connelly

Don't tell anyone that today is so quiet at Booz Allen that I can write about the book I finished on the way to work this morning. I just love Michael Connelly. He was once a reporter at The Times and I can still picture him sitting at his desk in the Valley news room. Little did we know that he was just there to gather plots for his crime novels. He was a good reporter and an even better author. I have seen him every year at the Festival of Books and Karen and I got to watch him chat with Joseph Wambaugh about their new books.

This is the new book. Connelly has a much loved series about Harry Bosch, snarly police detective. He had also written a book called The Lincoln Lawyer about a lawyer who does all his work out of a fleet of Lincoln cars. These two meet in The Brass Verdict. Does it matter what the plot is? Let's just say that it holds together nicely. More to the point, it's fun to read about all the locations this book takes place in and around. He even writes about the new police center across the street from The Times, the one I loved to watch being built.

So, once again Connelly's plotting is good, accuracy is good, objectivity is good (how scummy does one feel, being a defense lawyer?) and character develop is good. All that work as a crime reporter seems to have paid off.

Eric and I had an interesting discussion about how we see these characters. He thinks Bosch looks like Belker from Hill Street Blues. I see him as being taller and less wiry. I don't know if that's because Len Cariou reads those books for Audible and that's how he looks. Eric thinks Mickey Haller - the Lincoln lawyer - looks like Tom Selleck. I'm thinking smaller, but not too smaller. Maybe Jon Hamm from Mad Men. He looks conflicted enough to be Haller. And he could certainly be a defense lawyer doubting his chosen profession. What do you think?

$2.60; 55; $158.50

Gasoline prices are sinking faster than my spirits. Can you believe $2.60 a gallon? I remember being thrilled with $3.80 is Wyoming in June. That's a savings of $15.00 when I fill my tank. My current question is, how many times to I have to fill my tank to save the money I spent paying for my speeding ticket.

Yes, a speeding ticket. One of the reasons we got good gas mileage on our trip across country was that we kept our speed down. That is just one of the many lessons I forgot after the trip. I was taking Natalie to Dulles Airport and was pulled over for speeding, going 74 instead of 55. This is me, looking devastated. But you will notice that the driver's side window is down.

This was just the last hit ($158.50) on my pocket book after getting the window fixed, two new tires and the thermostat fixed. Oh, and the new Ipod after my old one starting playing the wrong songs. I decided, none-the-less, to drive up to Vermont for the week. But as my luck would have it, I got lost. I will remember to take two maps next time. Karen tried to teach me that, but I failed to learn that lesson. I had a nice drive and ate some crabs in Baltimore. The good part is, I saved money on my motel rooms. I am going to have to work a lot of days to make up for this very expensive month. Or buy a lot of gas.

A New Hamlet

I just had to read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. After all, Oprah recommended it. I didn't know that when I bought it, but she was right for a change. It wasn't at all cloying. It is a retelling of Hamlet. So you know the whole thing, right? Ghost of the father, mother marries brother-in-law who killed the father, Hamlet kills father of his best friend, he is sent away to be killed, and everyone dies in the end. All those things don't happen, but a lot of them do. When the ghost of his father appeared, I almost stopped reading. I didn't know about the Hamlet angle. I'd been enjoying the story on its own until that moment. Edgar is a beautiful young man who can't speak. He and his family adapt. They raise dogs for a living. Edgar has a special affinity for the dogs. I loved reading about how he works with and trains the dogs. I also liked his relationship with his mother and father.

Oh, should I mention the play? That part is too cool. After all, the play is the thing, where we capture the conscience of the king. And how it is done in this book is clever. I don't think there is a Player King. Some other parts are either missing or too obscure for me to catch. My favs, Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, may be a couple of puppies, but I don't see it. It really doesn't matter. You may enjoy the story without knowing Hamlet, but I think it adds a layer of interest that I would miss.



I've also re-read the Ramayana. This is a story about the Hindu God, Rama. I read it in college and wanted to read it again after my time in India. Now I need to find my old college book to help me interpret the book. The Demon King takes Rama's wife, Sita, to Lanka. It is so clearly Sri Lanka in my mind, but I can't be sure. I know there is much more to the story than the version I listened to, but it was good to revisit the tale. Remember this, my friends in India, you are never far from my mind.

le carre

Nobody writes like le Carre'. His books are slow and detailed. His characters have a depth you don't often find in this genre. And he always makes his subtle point. International drug companies or the threat of Islamic extremists. Or the threat of our defenders on all things Islamic. The book takes place in Hamburg, a place that le Carre knows well. He was assigned there by the British Secret Service until he was outted by Kim Philby. Even though that was ages ago, he stays current on the issues confronting us today. I'd say this is a must read, but you have to be willing to accept a slow revealing.

And now just a little note about a wonderful dish I made last night. Sauteed chicken legs, then onions, shallot, and garlic. Deglazed with cider vinegar, then added cider and chicken stock and a cinnamon stick. Cooked for half an hour and added butternut squash and an apple. Wowser. Cindy said it was like autumn. Yep. We had it with the last of the summer corn from the farmer's market. In fact, almost everything was from the farmer's market.

Surprise Visitor

I love my family.

My dear nephew, Kevin, was wily enough to bring a princess into the family, a princess and her queen mother. Okay, so Natalie will never accept Maggie/Margaret as a princess. (But she is wearing a crown in this picture.)

Natalie was in town this weekend to attend her 5th high school reunion, or one of those numbers. I was in the car with Eric and Cindy, going to see the new DiCaprio movie when she called and said she just had a little time in her crammed schedule for a visit. I almost leapt out of the car. Tsk. It was great to see her. And Eric and Cindy had a date without a third wheel. It was an excellent compromise.

Beau Geste

Long ago, before July 2004, I rented books through Books on Tape. They would send me boxes of tapes or Cd's, I would listen and share with my friend Tom, then one of us would send the tapes back in those boxes. It was perfect for me. I never owned any books that I had to shelve or take to Goodwill. But then they went out of the book leasing business. They directed us to Audible.

With Audible, you buy the digital book that is downloaded to your computer. You can listen at your computer or create your own Cd's. Or you can do what I did at that time. I bought an IPod Nano and started my downloading career. In four years I have read hundreds of books. I was just looking at my Audible Library. There are 669 items or segments. A few books have six segments. A few books have only one segment. All of those segments have been loaded on my little Nano which is then stuffed into my pocket or attached to my car's tape deck. But on Monday, I began to sense a disturbance in my life force. The Nano was playing the wrong book when I clicked on an item. Then it thought it was always being recharged when it never was being recharged. When I did recharge it, it wasn't healthy enough to take more than a sip of the current. So, while I was at work on Wednesday, I ordered a replacement. The old Nano still doesn't know that it is about to be decommissioned. The new one is smaller and cuter. Isn't that always the way.

The last book that I read on the old Nano was Beau Geste. In a beautiful gesture, it worked hard to let me finish it, even though it thought I was reading The Portrait of a Lady. Geste was made into a movie with Gary Cooper as the beautiful Michael Geste. There are no pictures of the book. I think it must be out of print. The book was written in 1924 by P.C. Wren. Wren says that he was once in the French Foreign Legion, but there no record of that. What he did do was spend a great deal of time in the part of India that is now Pakistan. He certainly knew a more exotic life than most Englishmen of his time.

Most of the book takes place in England. Three brothers are caught up in the theft of a blue jewel, stolen from their beloved benefactor. All three flee to the foreign legion and Saharan Africa. It starts as a mystery and the mystery is only resolved in the last few pages. The book is well written and I enjoyed most of it. The commandant of the fort they are assigned to is dreadfully cruel. I find it very hard to listen to brutality, even when written by a genteel Englishman. Skipping ahead is difficult when you can't see the words on the page. But the volume control still worked okay on the old Nano, so I could enjoy the book.

My new Nano arrives today. It is 8gb instead of 2gb. I may get to put all my podcasts and music on the Nano with my 11 books. Yippee. This is all good, because next Thursday I am going to Vermont and New Hampshire. I'm going alone, so there will be a need for lots of stuff to listen to.

Nothing to Lose

We all know that I am working at Booz Allen every Wednesday until I'm not. A couple of weeks ago I worked the other four days for a different woman in that office. The picture on the right is of Kim, on the left, and Crystal. Crystal is the woman I'm temping for on Wednesdays. She is learning how to do more techie stuff on those days. Kim is the delightful woman who has been there every day. She works in a different group, but sits next to Debbie, the woman I temped for on those four days. Confusing? Just know that these woman have helped me a lot as I get to know more about the BAH culture. Isn't that a fun company? It's either Booz or BAH.

Eric and I took a drive to Appomattox Court House Thursday and Friday of last week. There are a lot of places that I want to see when I'm in Virginia. It's a little difficult to decide where to go first. And there is the question of whether Eric needs to go with me each time. One of my goals was to see where the Civil War ended. Adrian and I had visited Fort Sumter when he was six. He says he remembers that. I'm sure what he remembers most is getting a bit sea sick on the boat over to the island.

I decided that I needed to see where the war ended. I'm not sure if this means that I won't be visiting any more battlefields or not. Is the war over for me at last? I have seen a lot of battlefields; not even most of them, but certainly the most well known. So it was good to see this place. Appomattox Court House is the name of the town. It is the county seat for Appomattox County. Poor General Lee was leading very hungry and weary men at this point. No matter which way he turned, events turned against him. Supplies were late or lost. Troop movement was slowed or delayed. Union soldiers moved more quickly than he expected. He realized that he could do nothing else. He had to surrender his men.

He sent one of his men to find a place for him to meet with Grant. The Court House itself was closed. Most buildings were closed because of the battles going on just across the fields. Finally they found the McLean farm. Mr. McLean had fought in one of the first battles of the war and then moved to this quiet country-side to get away from it all. It came to him instead. The surrender was signed at these desks. Grant sat at the one on the left. Lee sat at the one on the right. US (Unconditional Surrender) Grant was not so mean with these terms. I guess he got that nickname someplace else. He was very generous to the Southerners. So now, that war is over.

I have always wanted to go to the Cumberland Gap. Must have read too much about Daniel Boone in my youth. Eric said it was too far. Next time, I will go by myself. It is at the south western most corner of Virginia. We only got as far as Roanoke. Then we took a drive up the Blueride Skyline Parkway Drive. It is very lovely. I say the leaves are starting to turn although most were still very green. We saw deer; in fact, Eric almost hit one that bounded at our car. These fellas on the right were moving a little more slowly. We got to watch them lope on the other side of the guard rail until they made a break for the other side of the street. Just enough time for me to get out my camera.

The next day we went for a picnic on the Potomac for people from Cindy's office. It was a beautiful setting. You can almost see the pair of kayakers in the picture on the right. There was also fishing from a row boat going on in the inlet just to the right of this scene. Bucolic. We ate fair barbeque and listened to the young folks from the office. These people do interesting work. One gentleman is moving to Huntsville to continue his work with the military. I don't remember what he does, but he's been doing it for many years. Now they've moved everything to Huntsville. He seems very excited about the prospect. I could understand starting a whole new life in a new state. I hope his is just temporary, too, but he did mention selling and buying houses. Yikes.

Eric and I listened to a book on our drive. It's a little difficult to pick a book that two people will listen to and enjoy. But I had found out that Eric likes the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, so that made the choice easier for me. I bought the newest book so I knew he hadn't read it already. This was Nothing to Lose. These books are becoming more than a little formulaic and they may be off my list for good (or until I go driving again with Eric.) I think Eric might be ready for some other writer in the genre as well. In another book he and I had listened to, one man sort of owned the town. Same here. Different convoluted subplot, but basically the same. We listened to the whole book, well, almost the whole book. We only had an hour left. I listened to that part the night we got home and shared it with Eric as we were going to the picnic. He kept asking detailed questions, beginning with Why. We both started to laugh, because there is often a very tenuous Why in these books. I finally had to say, "Because it's Reacher." Not a very good reason. Jack can still beat six men and not get a nick. But even that gets old. So there was nothing to lose, listening to this book on our drive. Just a few brain cells.