The End of August

I think I made up for only blogging once in July. It pays to work only 2 weeks out of a month. Well, that would be wrong. Nobody pays you not to work. My dear Linsay is back. And work will be coming in, I'm sure. She even found a half day job for me for Friday, but Adrian arrives on Thursday night and I am looking forward to spending time with him.

I have filled this time with reading while California burns. So sorry, dear friends, it sounds horrible from the right coast. I was half way through two books last night. Both were too good to listen to as I drifted to sleep. So I played a light weight mystery. I listened to the first half hour and drifted off. As usual, I awoke every couple of hours. I'd hear the story advance as though I was reading it while riffling the pages of the book. There was still an hour left when I woke up this morning so I got to hear the end. I'll probably do the same thing tonight, but start further in the book. By the time I'm done, I'll have heard it all.

One of the really good books is The Stalin Epigram. Robert Littell won The Times Book Prize a couple of years ago for his book Legends. I loved that book. He writes like Le Carre. This is a deep and slow moving book. It's about the Soviet Union in 1934. People are snatched up and tortured. They are shot or exiled. Somehow I kept getting Stalin's name mixed up with Cheney. Not really, but you can see where Cheney got some of his ideas.

The story is about a little poem that Osip Mandelstam wrote about Stalin. It was not complimentary, so he was jailed then sent to a gulag. I'd highly recommend this for those who need to be reminded what happens when people do not have our constitutional freedoms. One fascinating character was a weight lifter who was jailed for having a sticker of the Eiffel Tower on his suitcase. He can't read and is as dense as a post. His take on his trials is fascinating. It doesn't answer one of my questions about whether dumb people know that they are dumb. He is, but he is a lot happier than the very smart poets. Ignorance is bliss. And is a delight to read.

What a Coincidence!

The Secret Scripture was a nominee for the Times' Book Prize in fiction. Sebastian Barry also is shortlisted for the Booker prize from time to time. He's a fabulous writer. Every character and thought has its reason. Sometimes books do go on with superfluous stuff. This book is set in the Sligo area of Western Ireland. The reader does great accents and you could tell when people were from other areas in Ireland. Well, Barry gives some help to her because he points out the different accents.

The book is based on an old woman's diary of sorts, a priest's written accounts, and a doctor's writings or analysis of her sanity. She is over 100 and is in an insane asylum that is about to be torn down. Since she has lived for 100 years, you get a little Irish history. Other than that, this is a well-written melodrama. I was a little off-put by the huge coincidences near the end, but not fatal. Not bad after all that Obama-Bush-Nixon reading I've been doing. The coincidences in their lives can be dangerous or were dangerous to other living creatures.

Started a new temp job today. As always, my laptop wasn't ready. I got to fold letters and put address labels on envelopes. I do work hard for my money. At least I could see that this work was too mundane for regular employees to bother with. And I got to listen to my book while attaching stickers. Great.

A Lush Life

Richard Price wrote Lush Life. For some reason, I told Karen that I didn't want to read it. Silly me. Since it was nominated for some awards, I realized that it might be good, so I did read it. He is such a good writer. This is about a crime committed in lower Manhattan. The crime is the there, but NYNY and the neighborhood are the center. Price and the reader have a good ear for the sounds of the city. And Price caresses that part of the city. Enjoyable.

Speaking of Karen, she and Peter came out to this coast to see the same Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to last month. It was wonderful to see them. Karen and I chat almost every day. It's strange to talk with her, face to face. I could almost feel my finger thrumbing because they should be busy when we are communicating. They liked the exhibit and had a good time driving through much of Virginia after the time in Philadelphia.

The Cardinal is the state bird of Virginia. I felt they might be too rare for me to see one. But on K&P's first night here, we saw one as we were eating dinner. It was a fun dinner anyway. This made it almost magical. The food was good, but we had so much fun after. We all wanted dessert. All of a sudden, Cindy and I were pulling chocolate, marcona almonds and cookies out of hidden places. Eric will polish off anything left open and regret it later, so we hide. Hidden treasures and lots of wine made us giddy and chatty. Good evening. Actually, that seems more like a lush life.

Recent Books

I have been reading too many brutal mysteries lately. I don't know if this was affecting my better nature, but it couldn't be good. So I am in the middle of cleansing my soul with Victorian melodramas. Two were written at that time. I'm in the middle of both of them, so I can't tell you how they end. Sure. What is Wikipedia for if not to find out the end of books? They are a lot of fun, even if you know the ending. The Small House at Allington was written by Anthony Trollope in 1864. Yes, that 1864. The Civil War was just drawing to a close. It is so interesting to read what was going on in the more settled England at the same time. What was going on was that people were deciding who to marry based on what money the other had. Lily is loved by two men, one without potential (who eventually made lots of money. I'm reading on to find out how.) and one with a little more potential and a smarmy charm. This is one of the Barchester Chronicle books, so if I really find that I care about these people, there are more folks to get wrapped up in. I might just put them on my "palate cleansing" list. Imagine cleaning up with shallow people after reading too much about brutal people.

Portrait of a Lady was written in 1880. The Los Angeles Times was first published the next year in that rough and tumble town on the West Coast. Things were now much more civilized on the East Coast, but we still had many dirt roads and orange groves. This book is about an American, but takes place primarily in England and the continent. Foolish woman with money marrying the wrong man and facing sorrow and despair. Lovely. I'm in the middle of this one, too. I think it will have to wait for me to finish The Small House, because I'm starting to get these silly ladies mixed up. Oh, there are silly men, too; but, who cares?

Rounding out the trio of Victorian books is one written by Ken Follet, A Dangerous Fortune. This is one of the books I got for Eric and me to listen to on our trip to Philadelphia. Follet wrote The Eye of the Needle, at one time one of my favorite books. That one is full of spies and intrigue and the source for two good movies. This one is more like the two books mentioned above! Oh crikey, I just realized that he also wrote the insipid Words Without End and Pillars of Dearth. Or something like that. Actually, this wasn't bad, especially if you are already reading two books with almost exactly the same theme. This is more from the man's point of view; lots more fumbling for women's breasts. Can't imagine Trollope or James mentioning that. It is an interesting addition to this trilogy of marriage in the time when money and class was everything. It was written in 1993 and includes a bank failure and a good banker who tries to pay off all his creditors. Must be fiction.

So what murderous tripe was it that I was trying to escape? Well, Reacher, of course. The Hard Way wasn't as misogynist as some of this others of his that I've read recently. The bad guys are just psychopaths. Nice. Eric and I started this on our trip. I had to finish it so I could tell him all about it. Maybe I didn't have to finish it, but I did need to know how it ended and what lead up to that end.

The other silly mystery was A Letter of Mary. This is a series about a young woman who married a much older Sherlock Holmes and solves mysteries with him. Oh dear, I know; such a silly premise. And such a silly book and story. Please smack my hand if I think I might read another of these books, ok?

Spring Approaches

I have been working sporadically in the garden, mostly raking the leaves that are still left from the Fall. Spring is just a few days away and I am trying to get rid of the old before the new arrives. On the left you can see the new that is starting to pop up. Cindy planted hundreds or thousands of red tulips in this part of the walkway. Okay, not a thousand, but lots. They are just starting to poke their noses through the soil. The ratty looking plants around the edges will have white flowers. It will be beautiful. When they are here in full, it will really be Spring. For now, we have the pretty purple crocus growing up in the lawn. What a pleasant surprise. It is their pretty faces that prompted me to go out to clean the garden. Little bulbs are starting to poke up everywhere. I have to be careful as I rake not to step on something trying very hard to make its presence known.
This is not a dry season. I decided to read Love in a Dry Season because I liked the way Shelby Foote wrote about the Civil War. He's a champion story teller, his characters are well formed. This is true in this book as well as in the other books. Actually, this reminded me a lot of Elmer Gantry. fI just checked, it isn't read by the same person, so it must be the writing. And the main male characters are equally into themselves. Once again, Foote has written about interesting characters and places. My goodness, I think I really like novels. I had no idea.
My blast from the past is of Cynthia and Teena. I love going through my pictures to see the people who have made me smile. I've been promised pictures of Teena's little boy and have never seen one. Oh well. I tried to call Cynthia a few days ago and got voice mail. I'll try again and will actually leave a message.