Category Archives: Booktalk

Happy Birthday L.M. Montgomery

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Anne of Green Gables cover

The edition I read the first time around.

Anne (with an “e”) of Green Gables and Emily Starr are two of the beloved characters created by Lucy Maud Montgomery who was born on this date in 1874. Did you read all the books? I read them over and over until my copies fell apart. They’re kids’ series but still comfort reads. A while back I discovered that most (not Anne of Windy Poplars or Anne of Ingleside) of the Anne books are available for free for e-readers or to read online at Project Gutenburg so every once in a while I read one again. Also fun are the two miniseries starring Megan Follows as Anne: Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (sometimes called Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel) though I haven’t watched them in years.

DO NOT under any circumstances watch Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000)–don’t know where that one came from, the story goes way off the rails, and it just seems best to ignore it.

Since I’m talking about books (AGAIN), this story of intricately carved book art left around Scotland’s Edinburgh is amazing and touching:
Part 1: “Who Left a Tree, Then a Coffin in the Library?”
Part 2: “The Library Phantom Returns”

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow when we start our Christmas countdown with our advent calendar adventure.

King Tut

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Pyramid Post

One of my earlier attempts at magazine "publishing"

Yesterday marked the 89th anniversary of the date (November 26, 1922) on which archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the interior of King Tut’s tomb for the first time. That’s not the most exciting anniversary (100 or 75 have better rings to them than 89) but it does give me a chance to recommend a series of books that I have loved rereading lately. Have you read the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz)? Howard Carter is a peripheral character in these mysteries set mostly in Egypt from the late Victorian period until the discovery of the Tutankhamun tomb. As of now there are 19 volumes in the series. Start with the first published, Crocodile on the Sandbank. The first 2/3 of the books in the series are in chronological order while the rest of them jump around in the timeline a bit. Amelia Peabody is an early feminist, Egyptologist, and solver of mysteries. The books are somewhat tongue in cheek but most enjoyable. Plus, the author knows her stuff. She holds a doctorate in Egyptology.

Crocodile on the SandbankInteresting stuff, Egyptology. I’ve been fascinated for years. Seeing the Rosetta Stone live and in person was a very cool thing. And, let’s not forget that the above “magazine,” the Pyramid Post, features a thrilling article about mummies wherein I described their preparation: “The brain was removed by sticking a long thin object up the nose, breaking through the bone into the brain cavity and taking the brain out bit by bit.” Now aren’t you glad you know that?

Silver Lining

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There’s a storm rolling in so the cloud cover is going to foil my viewing of the Leonid meteors tonight (as would the brightness of the moon if there were no cloud cover). So, I decided to appreciate the clouds instead:

Clouds

Clouds=Not so bad after all.

And then I found this cool society, The Cloud Appreciation Society, online. They have a huge photo gallery of clouds. Heck, they even have a music player of cloud-related songs. I think I’m a fan. My local library branch has a copy of the book written by the society’s founder, too. Guess what I’m reading next?

All this is to say that looking at clouds is a worthwhile thing to do. It’s relaxing. When’s the last time you went outside and just looked up, noticed the clouds, and breathed? Try it today. The cumulonimbus to the west might look like a giant chasing a rabbit but, if you don’t look, you’ll miss it.

Go for a Walk

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Whew! Got sucked down the rabbit hole of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear there for a bit. But I’m back since who knows how long the wait will be until we see the third Rothfuss book. On to today’s musings….

Do you walk JUST to walk? Not because it’s good exercise, not because it’s a mode of transportation? I’m not sure that happens very often. I love to go out for a walk and always feel better afterward so maybe it’s never just a walk. Some of my best ideas come during or just after one of my jaunts. And, I usually have my camera in my pocket to record anything interesting–mostly bugs–or eye-catching so a walk becomes a photo expedition as well. Or I need fresh air or to burn off excess energy.

One Yellow Leaf

Photo from a recent walk.

Something that amazes me is how few people The Taste Tester and I run into on some of our weekend walks. We have some amazing open space with flat paths all throughout nearby. How many other walkers do we see on our hour plus rambles? Maybe 6. That seems sad.

Being me (and you’ll come to know this in time), I’ve been reading up on the subject. Also pondering the subject of walking while walking which seems sort of meta. Wanderlust: A History of Walking by one of my favorite essayists, Rebecca Solnit and The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy and Literature of Pedestrianism (which ended up being kind of annoying) by Geoff Nicholson were my books of choice. That was quite a bit to ponder and the Solnit book especially was the inspiration for the following question.

When you say “I’m going for a walk,” what is your primary motive?
1. Get exercise
2. Get fresh air
3. See things
4. Calm down
5. Escape
6. Reclaim public space
7. Think
8. Other (If you would drop a line to say what this “other” is, that would be groovy.)

Why not go for a walk today? If it’s raining, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll melt. If it’s cold, you can bundle up. If it’s hot, don’t wear too much. Maybe you’ll see something new. You’ll most likely get some fresh air. And exercise is not a bad thing. I’ll be out there too. Seeing things, thinking, getting fresh air & exercise, and taking photos.

Clubbing

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I read. A lot. Maybe you do to. One of my great pleasures is discovering what new books are coming out and what new authors might float my boat. But I get stuck in ruts anyway. That’s one of the reasons that I so enjoy belonging to a book club (the food & the company are the other reasons…sometimes we call ourselves an eating club with an interest in books). Because of the club I read books I never would choose on my own. Some are great (though, many, I have to say have not been contenders for re-reading–The Gravedigger’s Daughter, I’m looking at you.)
Right now, our book club is reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I had been intending to read it since right after it came out (the buzz!) and I like fantasy, I do. But I just wasn’t in the mood and other books grabbed my attention first and time went on. Now I’m enjoying it and wondering what took me so long. Have you read it? And the second book in the eventual-trilogy? What do you think? Thank goodness for the artificial assignments of a book club or just see what I’d be missing.

Want to see what my club has picked out for 2012? We’re an eclectic bunch. Here’s the subject-to-change (linkless) list:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot, Rebecca
The Women. Boyle, T.C.
Deep Fathom. Rollins, James
The River of Doubt. Millard, Candice
Justinian. Turteltaub, H.N.
Little Bee. Cleave, Chris
Parrot and Olivier in America. Carey, Peter
Stones from the River. Hegi, Ursula
Buffalo for the Broken Heart. O’Brien, Dan
Russian Winter. Kalotay, Daphne
Hiss and Tell: True Stories from the Files of a Cat Shrink. Johnson-Bennett, Pam
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution. Moran, Michelle

Are you in a book club? Does it expand your horizons, broaden your mind, help you relax? Do something else for you? What’s on your club’s to read list? If you have a list to share, please do!

And now I’m going to try to get 1667 words of my own “novel” written before I crash and burn for the night. Happy reading/writing!

The Write Stuff

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How many of you out there are participating in NaNoWriMo–National Novel Writing Month? It starts in just a few days. I’ve participated a few times but never won, always petering out at around the 8000-10000 word mark. I get busy and think I can make up for lost time in one grand day of writing. And that grand day never comes so I get discouraged and, well, you get the idea.Past novel starts have included sheep ranching meets the mafia, furniture restorers turn polar bear saviors, and ghost bicycles meet time travel. Yeah.

Undaunted, I’m going to try for 50,000 words again this year. Not that I have any compelling ideas. You can watch me flame out around Nov. 11 or keep on going this year through the word-count doohickey on the sidebar when I finally put it up there. Exciting, I’m sure.

To get myself amped, I always like to re-read my favorite writers-on-writing books. These are: Stephen King’s On Writing; Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird, and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. For times when I get stuck there are Pen on Fire by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves, and Escaping Into the Open by Elizabeth Berg. I tried Chris Baty’s (creator of NaNoWriMo) No Plot? No Problem! but it’s not one that helps me find inspiration even though I got a kick out of my read-through and it’s definitely a fun one to try.

Good luck to the NaNo-ers out there. What are you going to write about?

Give Bees a Chance

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One of my favorite books on books and reading (yes, shocking!) is Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader–her collected essays regarding her life with books and words. If you can find the little volume, do read it for yourself and see what you think but one concept she talks about is the “odd shelf.” That’s the shelf of books that one collects about a specific topic that seems an unlikely choice. Her topic: polar expeditions. I have several odd shelves but the most crowded one is filled with insect books. A subset is all about bees and beekeeping. No, I don’t keep bees but I sure would like to.

On the odd shelf:

The Hive and the Honey Bee. Dadant & Sons. Methods for the real beekeeper but fascinating nonetheless.

A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Them by Sue Hubbell. A year in the life of a beekeeper with wonderful tangents and autobiographical tidbits.

Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet by Susan M. Brackney. Somewhat like the Hubbell book but a little cutesy and less informed, I guess I’ll say.

Never in a million years would I keep my hypothetical hive in the location she chooses but beekeeping features in Novella Carpenter’s Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.

The Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses by Richard Jones & Sharon Sweeney-Lynch. Great color photos with beekeeping explanations plus history.

I’ve not yet read The Beekeeper’s Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America by Hannah Nordhaus (2011) but am looking forward to it. Tell ya later if I like it.

It’s not just about the honeybees which, after all, aren’t native to North America. No, native bees are important too. And, though we hear about honeybees’ Colony Collapse Disorder, native bees are menaced by various threats as well. Learn more and even how to identify some of the different species (bees & other pollinators) in two Xerces Society guides (the Xerces Society is worth checking out as well–their mission is to protect wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat):

Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society Guide to Conserving North American Bees and Butterflies and Their Habitat

and

Pollinator Conservation Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Protecting, and Providing Habitat for Native Pollinator Insects by Shepherd, Buchmann, Vaughan, and Black.

A native bee on a sunflower. Click to enlarge and see the bee better.

Are you a beekeeper or just a wannabe like me? What related books or websites are you keen on? Oh, and check out The Great Sunflower Project and “Join the Hunt for Bees!”