What are you reading the week of July 9, 2016?

We're going to have to do without an author bio this week. Between an impacted wisdom tooth, car problems and a dead refrigerator, I've had a busy week.

>1 fredbacon: So sorry to hear about your awful week. My sympathies on your tooth (*ouch*).

My "carry" book is Dead Wake, which is excellent but not being read very fast because I only read it for about 1/2 hour on my commute. On Kindle I'm reading The Nightingale, which is well written, but I heartily dislike one of the main characters so I'm not racing through that one either. In paper I'm reading The Colour, which is excellent, but I've been too tired this week to pick it up. I may need to spend more time on these books to get to the place where they become page turners (assuming each has that capacity within it).

Finished Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
3/5 stars
Reading Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole and
The Girl in Alfred Hitchock's Shower by Robert Graysmith.

>1 fredbacon: Sympathies.

Still working on Indexing: Reflections and Deerskin.

>1 fredbacon: Oh Fred, you have all my sympathy. Take care of that tooth! If it's any consolation, we are also experiencing car issues. The kind that necessitate deep thinking about the next step, as opposed to a day at the garage and under a thousand dollars.

I've been on the go, painfully and resentfully, all week in the heat & humidity, so not as much time for reading. I've put down The Last Playboy because it deteriorated in the second half to a diary of empty social outings and lots of chummy slang from the writer. It was as if someone completely different(and awful) took over the writing.

I'm kind of interested in Edie: American Biography about Edie Sedgwick but I'm not sure yet. I've noticed that I now like to have a biography or memoir as part of my current reads.

I'm re-reading Alex: the Commandant Camille Verhoeven Trilogy the second book. The third has finally been translated from the French and I want to remind myself of what happened before. I had forgotten that, while these books are very well written, they are also so stomach churning at times!

So sorry about the tooth Fred and everything else you're going through. Currently reading Marriage Material, Village Books, The Master Builders,and Lily and the Octopus

Thank you all for your kindness. The tooth has been dealt with and is healing nicely. Last Sunday, it felt as if someone had hit me in the side of the head with a sledge hammer. Today, it's just a strange spot that my tongue keeps exploring. The hard part is forcing myself to chew food on the wrong side of my mouth. Until now, I've never really been aware of how much work my tongue does when I eat.

The car has been in the shop once a month since October. It's ten years old, has over 100000 miles on it and has been costing me more each month than a car payment. It's time to trade it in.

The refrigerator has taken a back seat to everything else. I just stop at the grocery on the way home and pick up what I want for dinner. I should have a new one by the end of the week.

>7 fredbacon: Glad to hear that things are resolving themselves.

I moved to the Arctic this week! I live surrounded by tundra! There are beluga whales in the bay, their white heads bobbing above the waves! There are polar bear warning signs all around town! Life is very exciting right now, and I've not had much time to read.

I've read a few chapters of Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum, and I am challenging myself to read a chapter a day of The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, as I'd really like to know more about Australia's early history but am entirely unable to sit down and read an whole history book at one go.

>7 fredbacon: I guess things really do come in 3s! I hope that's it for awhile!
>8 ahef1963: That sounds lovely!

I am reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer for the Disaster Fiction genre in the Eclectic Reader Challenge I'm participating in. I enjoy reading sci-fi about a girl written by a girl for a change.

>8 ahef1963:: That sounds amazing. Where in the Arctic are you? Sure beats the heatwave here on the east coast.

100 pages into The Yoga of Max's Discontent. Interesting, but I've only read it in short spurts so far. Not a page-turner, at least not yet.

>7 fredbacon: Glad your week is looking brighter Fred.

>1 fredbacon: >7 fredbacon: Wow, Fred, teeth, car, and major appliance, all in one week. Doesn't seem right but I'm glad things are on the upswing!

>8 ahef1963: How exciting! Tell us more!

Over the weekend I read Our Souls at Night - sad, sweet, and heartbreaking. And wonderful. And I'm enjoying a new to me series - The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.

Finished Indexing: Reflections by Seanan McGuire and Deerskin by Robin McKinley. Started The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie and The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells.

>9 PaperbackPirate: >10 framboise: >12 Copperskye:

I've moved to Churchill, Manitoba, population 800, where the current temperature is 7 Celsius (44 Fahrenheit). No heat wave here, and so much nicer than the soul-crushing humidity of southern Ontario. I've seen beluga whales in Hudson Bay already, and am on the outlook for polar bears, arctic fox, arctic hare, and snowy owls. The town is quite impoverished, and there's a real problem with alcoholism in the town, but the surrounding scenery is lovely. I'll be living here for six months of every year from now on, and am enjoying it immensely.

>14 ahef1963:: That sounds wonderful to me. I just googled it; all the nature & animals, & the northern lights sightings in winter makes it seem like a dream. Definitely adding it to my wishlist of places to go.

>14 ahef1963: Wow! I've heard of Churchill because of the polar bears but I never really paid attention to where it was until now. It really is on the edge! I'd love to see the northern lights sometime.

I finished a LTER Generation Chef. The book is a case study of the birth and first year life of a restaurant in New York City. Besides portraying the major players such that the reader feels connected and rooting for their success, the author presents the multitude of factors shaping the restaurant business today.

>14 ahef1963: Those cool temperatures and the scenery sound great!

I finished His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay. Her novels are always a pleasure for me and this one is no exception -- I love her characters, her beautiful prose.

Next I want to reread three books:
The Polish Officer by Alan Furst
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift

I have not figured out in what order I'll read them -- perhaps I'll place them in three favorite reading spots around the house and see if perhaps I can read them in tandem. The Strout and Swift books have some sort of connection in my mind anyway so perhaps those two and then the Furst book . . . anyway, I look forward to all three.

Finished Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
4/5 stars
What a sweet, lovely story and very hard to put down.

Just started The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower by Robert Graysmith. So interesting so far!

Just finished Voyager, by Russell Banks and am starting Isaac's Storm, by Erik Larson. I'm new to Groups, how do I link to a book?

I've been away from home for two weeks and without my laptop for the first week of that time. (I thought I was making a 3-day family visit, but then had to stay longer.)

So I've been behind in my reporting here. Over the past two weeks, I finished The Guns of Cedar Creek by Thomas A. Lewis, a very good Civil War history, and have read:

Home by Toni Morrison - I remember reading Jazz, Sula, Tar Baby and Song of Solomon and loving them many years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed returning to Morrison's writing and world.

Murder by the Sea by Lesley Cookman, an OK but not great British cozy mystery.

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain. A noir classic, and for good reason.

Now I'm most of the way through the enjoyable and entirely satisfying Second Wind by Dick Francis. I've read only one other of Francis' many books, Hot Money, and I enjoyed that, too. I guess he's mostly gone out of style; I rarely ever sell one of his books in my used bookstore, but he spun a good tale and was a very good writer, as well.

>21 Pamici: Welcome Pamici! Just use brackets around your title. When you type your message it will tell you ------>
under Touchstones. Hope that helps!

>21 Pamici: Welcome! I loved Isaac's Storm. Put your book title between square brackets and the title should pop up to the right of your message. If the title isn't the right one (War of the Worlds came up when I typed Isaac's Storm), click on "others" and you'll see more choices. Click on the correct one.

Well deserved break, Fred!

I finished the dark and marvelous coming of age tale, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Now I am listening to Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik Backman.

>22 rocketjk: Strange that Dick Francis isn't selling like he used to. He will always be a favorite of mine; Second Wind wasn't one of my favorites but I'll take a Francis mystery anyway I can get it. One of my favorites, besides Hot Money is Break In.

I'm finishing up Pierre LeMaitre's Alex: Commandant Camille Trilogy; as well written as it is, it is really revolting in places. It is necessary to the plotting but it makes for harrowing reading.

I'm thinking about starting The Unknown Matisse by Hilary Spurling. It's been at the bottom of Mount TBR and, I'm thinking, it might be time. It's a bit of a chunkster plus there is Matisse the Master, in case the first volume takes.

I'll never forget one of my best reading memories was discovering first volume of Elvis's life Last Train to Memphis, by Peter Guralnick and then being able to immediately pick up the second volume, Careless Love because it was so amazingly good! I had about zero interest in Elvis but I can't recommend these biographies highly enough. Brilliant.

So, maybe Matisse will prove equally fascinating, even though he didn't hang out with Ann Margaret!

Hello ... just joined and I'm going to post those books I've finished since July 9 (it's been a productive week, so far)

84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff - √ 10July16
5*****

In October 1949 Helene Hanff, a single woman living and working in her small New York apartment, responded to an ad placed in the Saturday Review of Literature by Marks & Co, a bookshop in London that specialized in used books. Thus began a two-decade long correspondence and friendship between the reserved bookseller and the irrepressible Miss Hanff.

What a delight it is to be allowed to watch this growing relationship, fueled by a shared love of books, and an ability to laugh at oneself and one’s follies. I laughed aloud in places. I shared her outrage at books being torn apart to use as wrapping, and then agreed with Frank Doel’s explanation on the practicality of this practice. I marveled at their generosity – not just in the gifts they gave one another, but more importantly, their generosity of spirit, how they gave so freely of their thoughts, gratitude, wishes, grievances, and forgiveness.

I saw the movie, starring Anne Bancroft, many years ago. As I read the letters, I could not help but picture Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins as Helene and Frank. I’m so happy that Hanff decided to publish it, and that Doel’s family gave their wholehearted permission and encouragement to her to do so.

As with most books I read these days, I got this from the library, but I’m going to go out and buy a copy for myself. It’s the kind of book I’ll read over and over just for the sheer joy of it.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down – Anne Fadiman - √ 10July16
4****

Subtitle: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

The 150,000 Hmong refugees who came to the United States in the late 1970s arrived in a country and culture that could not have been more foreign to them. The Lee family had escaped their native village in the hills of Laos and settled in Merced California. In July 1982 Foua Yang gave birth to her fourteenth child; Foua and her husband Nao Kao Lee would name the little girl Lia. She was a loved child, tenderly cared for and pampered as the “baby” of the family.

When she was about three months old, however, Lia had a seizure. Her parents believed this was caused when her older sister had slammed the front door of their apartment, drawing the attention of a spirit who had caught Lia’s soul. The Hmong call this condition quag dab peg and consider it something of an honor to have these spirits possessing the child; such a person might even grow up to become a shaman. Still, the frequency and severity of the seizures worried Foua and Nao Kao enough that they took Lia to the Merced County Medical Center Emergency Room. There the lack of a common language or trained interpreters, and the clash of cultures led to disastrous results.

This is a fascinating medical mystery, and a balanced exploration of two very different points of view. No one acted with malice, everyone wanted what was best for Lia, but there was no way for the two opposing sides – Lia’s parents and community vs the doctors and social workers – could come to agreement. And the person who suffered was Lia.

I thought the book could have used more editing. Perhaps Fadiman believed that the reader needed considerable repetition to get the message (and she may be right about that), but I really didn’t’ need to be told – again – that the Lees believed a spirit was the cause of Lia’s problems, or that they believe the medicine made her worse, or that the doctors thought the Lees were difficult or poor parents.

Still, I was really caught up in the story, and appreciated learning more about the Hmong culture. I’m looking forward to my F2F book club’s discussion on this book.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness – Susannah Cahalan - √ 12July16
Book on CD narrated by Heather Henderson
3.5***

From the book jacket One day in 2009, twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. A wristband marked her as a “flight risk,” and her medical records – chronicling a month-long hospital stay – showed hallucinations, violence, and dangerous instability. Only weeks earlier, Susannah had been … a healthy, ambitious college grad a few months into her first serious relationship and a promising career as a cub reporter at a major New York newspaper. Who was the stranger who had taken over her body? What was happening to her mind?

My reactions
This was a fascinating memoir – drawn partly from interviews with friends, relations, colleagues and medical personnel, her journal writings during the period, and her medical records – of a time period when Cahalan was nearly completely lost. It was luck that caused her diagnosis to come early enough in her disease process to not only correct the problem, but minimize the brain damage she might otherwise have suffered. For the cause of her apparent mental illness (some physicians felt her symptoms pointed to alcohol withdrawal, other drug use, and/or schizophrenia) was actually a little-known form of encephalitis. The fact that she had a major seizure brought her to the attention of neurologists, rather than psychiatrists, and one neurologist in particular who followed a hunch and suggested a brain biopsy which the autoimmune disorder which was causing her brain to swell.

As she recovered, Cahalan was encouraged to write about her experience, and the first article (published by her employer, The Post) gained world-wide attention, and resulted in timely intervention for many other patients as well.

Her training as a journalist is evident here. She includes much background information on the research into the disorder – anti-NDMA-receptor encephalitis – and the history of mental illness (including “demonic possession”) and autism. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end, though I did feel it was a bit repetitive.

Heather Henderson does a fabulous job reading the audio book. Her performance really brought to life the deterioration Cahalan experienced, as well as how anxious and confused she felt. Henderson’s skill as a voice artist also allowed her to give the other people in the book unique voices, making it easy to distinguish who was speaking. The only thing missing from the audio, of course, are the illustrations – pages from Cahalan’s journals at the time, or slides of her brain scans, etc. – but this did not materially affect my understanding or enjoyment of the book.

I'm nearing the end of Ironweed by William Kennedy, which is another selection for my book club. Strong writing, but a grim and heartbreaking subject

Finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Enjoyed it immensely. Started The Bishop's Heir by Katherine Kurtz.

I read My Name is Lucy Barton today. Now I'm reading Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift.

>22 rocketjk: I read The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain last year, and really enjoyed it, being a fan of noir fiction. I have Double Indemnity on my reader, and am looking forward to it even more now!

>30 browner56: I loved Ironweed. Heart-breaking subject matter, but so beautifully written.

I finished Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum - it was a good read, and have started her When the Devil Holds the Candle, which I'm not liking much because of some stylistic things that are getting under my skin. On my phone I'm reading After Anna (no touchstone) by Alex Lake and I like it with some reservations - again, stylistic.

Finished Alive On The Andrea Doria!: The Greatest Sea Rescue In History by Pierette Domenica Simpson. Okay.

Next up is an Early Reviewer edition of As Good As Gone by Larry Watson.

Age of Bede edited by D.H. Farmer

Just finished Second Wind by Dick Francis, an amiable and enjoyable mystery.

>36 rocketjk: I always liked Dick Francis. I was introduced to him via PBS's Mystery series back in the 1980s. If you want a really good noir novel, The New York Review Books recently republished one from the 1950's named Black Wings has My Angel by Elliott Chaze. You really shouldn't miss it.

The new thread is up over here.

Death of a Kitchen Diva – Lee Hollis
ZERO stars

This cozy mystery is the first in the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery series. Hayley is a single mother of two teenagers in Bar Harbor, Maine. She works at the Island Times newspaper as the office manager, but when the much-loved food columnist finally retires, Hayley steps in to that role. Unfortunately, she immediately runs afoul of the rival newspaper’s kitchen diva, and everyone in town is soon aware of the bad blood between Hayley and Karen Appelbaum. So when Karen is found poisoned, suspicion is immediately focused on Hayley.

Okay, there’s a decent idea for a cozy here. But the execution (and I use that word purposely) is terrible. The characters are cardboard cutouts, the plot (thin as it is) is completely ridiculous, and the dialogue is tortured. None of the characters – victim, suspects, Hayley, her friends, her brother, the police chief, her fellow reporters, etc – has an ounce of sense. They are simply too stupid to live. The author pads the book with nonsense – colorful descriptions of the dog, or the librarian, or the hunky groundskeeper – that does little or nothing to advance the plot or explain the characters’ motivations.

I kept reading only because fulfilled several challenges. At least it was a fast read.

>37 fredbacon: Thanks, Fred.

A Cold-Blooded Business – Dana Stabenow
Book on CD narrated by Marguerite Gavin
3.5***

After one too many drug-related deaths at the site, former DA Investigator Kate Shugak is asked to go undercover to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields to find out who is dealing drugs.

I had read the first book in this series a couple of years ago and I was not impressed, but I’m glad I gave the series another chance. I like that Shugak is a strong woman, smart, resourceful, dedicated, committed and independent. I also like her strong sense of integrity – her willingness to do what is right even when it may hurt someone she knows and loves. I also liked the subplot regarding the Native archeological treasures.

That being said, I did find some of the characters thinly drawn stereotypes. A hard-hitting PR type, who is all sweet façade with an inner core of steel; an angry, overweight head of security who is totally at a loss to explain what is happening; a lonely man, besotted with a woman.

Marguerite Gavin does a fine job narrating the audio book. She has good pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the many characters.