tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26389153665290294852024-03-12T18:33:02.666-07:00Books and BeyondBooks and beyond! Book club discussions, Events and Excitement (or lack thereof) in my Brilliant Writing Career, anything else I might want to share my sometimes inappropriate thoughts about.www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.comBlogger280125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-59222182876879056532022-06-30T13:04:00.001-07:002022-06-30T13:04:59.823-07:00Come Be My Pen Pal<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://subscribepage.io/FnMlhI" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVMKW53HBEb2_xULGTlSenQ2zl7A-HnNvUrsV5ahTLfXnsmaji7bEjtWpaSxMipCYQ-S_abt5h5DAX7TL1yVVEH1TMHYg5Svbvilt90EY77t_K39Bgvd8B71Hl1dBYcWdHq5E9Szbu2U_lzoNcSLkkCOm6JhEQy9gh79dINrjWLqQ0ApBMZOk0dhH/w256-h400/Dudley_AFairJudge_Cover.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Hello, dear readers! </span><p></p><p>I greet you for the last time from this blogspot because I am moving my book news, book recommendations/reviews, research tidbits, and so on to my monthly reader newsletter. Hope you will join me there.</p><p>To subscribe, click <a href="https://subscribepage.io/FnMlhI" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">HERE </span></a>and enter your email address. Once you confirm, you'll be whisked off to BookFunnel, where you can download a Kindle copy of <i>A Fair Judge</i>, a Hapgoods of Bramleigh novella! (Even if you don't own a Kindle, you will be able to read on the Kindle app on your phone or tablet or desktop.)</p>Hope to hear from you soon!<div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Christina</i></span></div><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-53471128448451108382022-03-07T08:11:00.000-08:002022-03-07T08:11:35.627-08:00The Countdown for THE PURLOINED PORTRAIT is on!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbI4yJ8IW3nu5tKlwwdGalCJOudbpL2C5LPbaQPFhJY0aSj56TW30ZPMjNzxNEUHLjCZr-e1hbIMiMpmLG3htbvco_n4JgPT_-FpixhG91w7brg4cz2hs45koenGkhdw-G1o6FCMeb5KrWWeEf4CWbkjStHKjFoist-oBSmDsnQhc4EIFGGhminu76=s2500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1514" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbI4yJ8IW3nu5tKlwwdGalCJOudbpL2C5LPbaQPFhJY0aSj56TW30ZPMjNzxNEUHLjCZr-e1hbIMiMpmLG3htbvco_n4JgPT_-FpixhG91w7brg4cz2hs45koenGkhdw-G1o6FCMeb5KrWWeEf4CWbkjStHKjFoist-oBSmDsnQhc4EIFGGhminu76=s320" width="194" /></a></div><br />Book Five in the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series drops <b>Friday, March 18, 2022</b>, a day when I will be distracting myself by going on a little road trip with my mom down to pick up my son for his spring break! If you would like to <span style="color: #2b00fe;">pre-order your Kindle copy</span>, please click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TG4XTVV?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_4&storeType=ebooks" target="_blank">here</a>. Paper copies will be up around the same date, but there isn't any pre-order option for paper, unfortunately.<p></p><p><i>The Purloined Portrait</i> tells the story of Edith Hapgood's journey to becoming an artist, with the devoted support of her family, including her cousin Lionel. Like the course of true love, the course of becoming an artist doesn't run smoothly either, but that makes for all the fun.</p><p>Speaking of art, take a moment to admire my <a href="https://kathryncampbell.com/" target="_blank">cover designer Kathy Campbell's</a> work. She has taken up portrait painting(!) and offered to do some hand-painting on Lionel's coat here, because the original painting was rather flat. I am so, so amazed by and grateful for her work.</p><p>I am drawing near the end of this series I've loved writing. I know I've lived with these characters in my head for the past several years, but a couple readers mentioned wishing there were a family tree or character list in the last book <i>Matchless Margaret</i>. Readers, I have listened! In <i>The Purloined Portrait </i>I've included a couple family trees. This one of the squire's family, for example:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMVJLuafjXyRrjjRwa5QPUQFhIBfsjVXy1_c_i53jgs4OjMZqXPE8jngNF8eh9KbC-_1CINGCPfQdB6J1vlujjih1a7F3ZrYpdceg-yA-r7l6_aB10wB0zYJgvKNcJSlFIjKJ_Wv-4vz9dHvMqbQjkpdYS7P6mORm8_etFVL9iRFVklRS-QeaB8xxr=s822" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="822" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMVJLuafjXyRrjjRwa5QPUQFhIBfsjVXy1_c_i53jgs4OjMZqXPE8jngNF8eh9KbC-_1CINGCPfQdB6J1vlujjih1a7F3ZrYpdceg-yA-r7l6_aB10wB0zYJgvKNcJSlFIjKJ_Wv-4vz9dHvMqbQjkpdYS7P6mORm8_etFVL9iRFVklRS-QeaB8xxr=w525-h231" width="525" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There will be one more book in the series, cousin Hetty's story (of which I'm currently on Chapter 4), and then I'm already kicking around ideas for the next.</div><div><br /></div>In researching Edith's story, I plunged into her contemporary art scene and would love to do a little art viewing as a book launch. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here is one very famous portrait of Napoleon that gets mentioned in the book as a resemblance to one of the main characters:<div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCfhILCtmBRUmRGnLtufr3EyvNz7r15BTqjBlIl645mhR2VH1QhHZfXSyqNPsBsjleKGX28eNYPahR1IKdcaes9gbnUTSjblk7AaKW6-R8nCTuI116DZRWKK0kfReGn1scLOyuTGHKFfM3DWyoGRdZloxtynUbPvkaTFOQnzF6J4llNRGiNujFTXV8" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="266" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCfhILCtmBRUmRGnLtufr3EyvNz7r15BTqjBlIl645mhR2VH1QhHZfXSyqNPsBsjleKGX28eNYPahR1IKdcaes9gbnUTSjblk7AaKW6-R8nCTuI116DZRWKK0kfReGn1scLOyuTGHKFfM3DWyoGRdZloxtynUbPvkaTFOQnzF6J4llNRGiNujFTXV8=w347-h422" width="347" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David's <i>Napoleon Crossing the Alps </i>(1801)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Who knew marauding conquerors with dreams of empire could sometimes be dishy? (The ones we have today don't have the option of controlling and projecting their desired image with the help of talented artists like Jacques-Louis David.) </div><div><br /></div><div>Laurel Ann Nattress of <a href="http://www.Austenprose.com" target="_blank">Austenprose </a>encouraged me to make more efforts to market and reach readers, so I've been experimenting with Amazon ads and such. All marketers seem to agree email lists are key, so I can tell readers about launches and giveaways and promotions and such. Message received! If you'd like to join my email list, sign up with this QR code. My first book promotion is coming end of March!</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjT-ClO7OnQLbtAxXJS-culvoOAhVk0BYXpLY23eM-M9yM3Aduk6rwqrf-KPn7LmcVjv3txHX4g62nTx4zMCXAwwz-fdDt9P7gqjyYJjlCk2VBerCfWm1PKfnVOsvrNPsIVH7wVg3eoEjYOUvBqy3UG1nI9I2DMlG3v1aACZM4I0FoyZ73weliLCDI3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="126" data-original-width="121" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjT-ClO7OnQLbtAxXJS-culvoOAhVk0BYXpLY23eM-M9yM3Aduk6rwqrf-KPn7LmcVjv3txHX4g62nTx4zMCXAwwz-fdDt9P7gqjyYJjlCk2VBerCfWm1PKfnVOsvrNPsIVH7wVg3eoEjYOUvBqy3UG1nI9I2DMlG3v1aACZM4I0FoyZ73weliLCDI3=w118-h123" width="118" /></a></div><br /><br /><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-9459166758687380942021-11-03T16:32:00.000-07:002021-11-03T16:32:04.221-07:00Favorite Reads of 2021<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSECJRl3kYj6VPj-Ii42NozrNxBT4lKYIXtuT1_O0JVnovGOUyHhWNoazclCc7QqYQBzggIcsKNTZDb8Ghbi-m0fSetvUdzuYeQU5ecmWGu_ygtPFI6AgpQ4YPIoVvVgH_y0m-6Nu2A8/s2048/charl-folscher-DnUIfLUREwc-unsplash.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSECJRl3kYj6VPj-Ii42NozrNxBT4lKYIXtuT1_O0JVnovGOUyHhWNoazclCc7QqYQBzggIcsKNTZDb8Ghbi-m0fSetvUdzuYeQU5ecmWGu_ygtPFI6AgpQ4YPIoVvVgH_y0m-6Nu2A8/s400/charl-folscher-DnUIfLUREwc-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/@charlfolscher?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #767676; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Charl Folscher</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/collections/3573051/books?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #767676; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">The list is a little early this year, but with all the fuss about supply chain, I wanted to make sure you had time to get your hot little hands on any interesting titles (since some of you refuse to buy a Kindle and get your books instantly, no matter what I tell you)!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I recently ordered some copies of my latest books and discovered Amazon has a new strategy: they tell you the delivery date is approximately <i>when Jesus comes again</i> and then surprise you with it arriving earlier! For example, my copies of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/School-Love-Book-Hapgoods-Bramleigh/dp/0983072159/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=school+for+love+christina+dudley&qid=1635977529&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>School for Love</i> </a>and <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Matchless-Margaret-Christina-Dudley/dp/0983072167/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=matchless+margaret+christina+dudley&qid=1635977565&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Matchless Margaret</a></i> were due December 16 (I kid you not--about six weeks after I ordered them), but they came today. I see what you're doing there, Amazon, and it's very effective.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you haven't been on Facebook to be bludgeoned by my announcements that I've written my fourth Regency romance, I've written my fourth Regency romance! And it's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Matchless-Margaret-Christina-Dudley/dp/0983072167/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=matchless+margaret+christina+dudley&qid=1635981529&sr=8-1" target="_blank">available now</a>!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCFztPnHFy60FjSARCKPEdRS9UXTllzOd2bup1rVFMGjqhDfKYB-w4Gr6rgsemuYy9GxNVVasqUUFhOiikFSNyoYa5wfs2innCytoCkPacZ6Nqt3sfQ0i56ycGeF7Ri4MdXSiugU_eKE/s2048/20211103_150357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCFztPnHFy60FjSARCKPEdRS9UXTllzOd2bup1rVFMGjqhDfKYB-w4Gr6rgsemuYy9GxNVVasqUUFhOiikFSNyoYa5wfs2innCytoCkPacZ6Nqt3sfQ0i56ycGeF7Ri4MdXSiugU_eKE/w400-h300/20211103_150357.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>A reader emailed me to say that, while <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Naturalist-Hapgoods-Bramleigh-1/dp/0983072132/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1635977739&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Naturalist</a></i> is her favorite, she has enjoyed them all. I'm curious to hear the favorite title of other readers. No matter what I write, my favorite book always seems to be the last one I've written, which is a good thing, I suppose. I haven't decided yet if there will ultimately be five or six books in the series--it depends on if I give Hetty a book after telling Edith's story...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anywho, on to my yearly eclectic list of favorite reads, of which possibly only two were published this year. (And some were published quite a while ago, so, even if you gift it to someone who already read it, they probably read it so long ago that it's practically new again.) May you find something here which appeals to the readers in your life!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Noir Mystery</b></span></h4><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I taught another mystery class at Timber Ridge this year, and they do love their mysteries there. The class sent me on a little side trip of noir, and, since I adore Dashiell Hammett's <i>The Maltese Falcon </i>(and named <i>Matchless Margaret's </i>hero after the author), I gave Raymond Chandler's most famous book a try.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqauXOi6mpFXtxqb3HSGY-tzpoLcdS1CrXopJQ9YfBZ9tkV8IzSZLctzfvG-FstAroRwZxcY3Xqb44HQyxEjvMLr8Qwdp1aQ0vsMy3awr_bwoA0UWHO9i_RVrBxFInkKnkgKxMOjrYnY/s475/2052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqauXOi6mpFXtxqb3HSGY-tzpoLcdS1CrXopJQ9YfBZ9tkV8IzSZLctzfvG-FstAroRwZxcY3Xqb44HQyxEjvMLr8Qwdp1aQ0vsMy3awr_bwoA0UWHO9i_RVrBxFInkKnkgKxMOjrYnY/w129-h200/2052.jpg" width="129" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you've seen the famous Humphrey Bogart movie, you'll be delighted to hear his voice every time Philip Marlowe speaks, and it's also quite interesting to find the book is racier than the movie, given the era in which it was adapted for the screen. I'm not sure the plot makes total sense, but the book is so stylish that you hardly care. Los Angeles in the 1930s! A pornography book ring! Two daughters living high-risk lifestyles! Read the book and then pop some popcorn and dial up the movie.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Favorite Literary Fiction</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyS7FXXMabSPJJJVaddFbsU2z3NFyGeJlCxw6VWgYcXufNo11MhCJtXgJNqRLQvD4GmsRnDIM96UikfST9djk1tLYJ9oklfSMNJQgjAoA_EpFF286ZiH32MwhD32ihuByvrRiLkPxubfw/s2048/56783258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1357" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyS7FXXMabSPJJJVaddFbsU2z3NFyGeJlCxw6VWgYcXufNo11MhCJtXgJNqRLQvD4GmsRnDIM96UikfST9djk1tLYJ9oklfSMNJQgjAoA_EpFF286ZiH32MwhD32ihuByvrRiLkPxubfw/w133-h200/56783258.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br />If you gift this one, there's a danger that your recipient might already have it on the nightstand, since <i>everyone</i> (except my 22YO daughter) read and loved Doerr's <i>All the Light We Cannot See</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This book is quite the departure, but equally wonderful. We have interlocking stories with multiple points-of-view that cross time (and space). What brings them together is some manuscript of a comic ancient-Greek story. It is absolutely <i>literary </i>fiction, not crowd-pleasing WWII historical fiction (which has become kind of the McDonalds of historical fiction). So beware. If your reader doesn't love books and imagination and even a little sci-fi, they are not gonna love this book.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Nonfiction Author I Might Now Be a Little in Love With</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJncuGNDlyuU2S8FI6SHaek_I3m0Z6GbciVj3NXgPIfRQxjFNW5SBskweXWUSDjxjfeZKDLCV_chZDc5fqlCHmEmO73Zh0KLlMPib5PgSs3jPuFptmvxy9tIIk2_43DvubelOKcWMpb0/s468/39000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJncuGNDlyuU2S8FI6SHaek_I3m0Z6GbciVj3NXgPIfRQxjFNW5SBskweXWUSDjxjfeZKDLCV_chZDc5fqlCHmEmO73Zh0KLlMPib5PgSs3jPuFptmvxy9tIIk2_43DvubelOKcWMpb0/w136-h200/39000.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>If I can't marry C. S. Forester for his <i>Horatio Hornblower</i> books, I may have to run off with Ian W. Toll for his naval history books, of which I read THREE in 2021. Which you might prefer depends on if you would rather pick up a Horatio Hornblower book or a WWII history.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Loving both, I couldn't choose. <i>Six Frigates</i> looks at the founding of the U.S. Navy and the War of 1812. War in the age of sail! What's not to love? You'll immediately want to plan a trip to Boston to see the U.S.S. Constitution.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhvb6gY30jkRXeGX94sLR84sDN5M5Vw52pJC1Car8c2mPVimeTPr9ScvzKcyO1GZNtgbWMfJI9OIJiJ2rDvjbvnqzSnfUM_lNYCs_FANlhEVeHHW8ExcM60s0KBDQPJ7Izh-psvz6E1A/s400/13707735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXhvb6gY30jkRXeGX94sLR84sDN5M5Vw52pJC1Car8c2mPVimeTPr9ScvzKcyO1GZNtgbWMfJI9OIJiJ2rDvjbvnqzSnfUM_lNYCs_FANlhEVeHHW8ExcM60s0KBDQPJ7Izh-psvz6E1A/w133-h200/13707735.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then Toll has a trilogy about the War in the Pacific, of which I read the first and second volumes and especially loved the first, <i>Pacific Crucible</i>. Pearl Harbor and codebreaking and the struggle upward from such a bad beginning (for the Americans) is absolutely riveting.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Female Friendship Fiction</b></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8glJBMpTc80Hm3lIxPgUvsDnTwrE8TBN2FSn8mO17h9nkiUxtmC_7-jlGWAktolnsuS-alsHdaUj6m7zcqTMXd5os-eVkW6K9Bq2r09xLS4RXqD11-fKS3jn0C4DXZZOTBgegv0DumWM/s400/52674676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8glJBMpTc80Hm3lIxPgUvsDnTwrE8TBN2FSn8mO17h9nkiUxtmC_7-jlGWAktolnsuS-alsHdaUj6m7zcqTMXd5os-eVkW6K9Bq2r09xLS4RXqD11-fKS3jn0C4DXZZOTBgegv0DumWM/w131-h200/52674676.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>I realize I read both "girl" and "boy" books, but if you have women in your life who only read "girl" books, they might love this one, for its humor and pathos and for the female friendship at the heart of it. It was my mom's choice for the Family Zoom Book club.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">A big, sad woman goes in search of her dreams and a golden bug in New Caledonia, accompanied by the assistant she didn't know she needed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite "Memoir"</b></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLDR2QuDu1iFF2MltQ7MTvUzrgR0nF2IoQFZ3uW1oi-Y3m_vZZmQ6pht8xbYncpmEEqC6vumhPScguw7sk3ZluRVU-mcrmyXGWXI5iIY6TShkP0-6jtOo0DLTPi031ItnD0643oKoKkME/s343/48132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLDR2QuDu1iFF2MltQ7MTvUzrgR0nF2IoQFZ3uW1oi-Y3m_vZZmQ6pht8xbYncpmEEqC6vumhPScguw7sk3ZluRVU-mcrmyXGWXI5iIY6TShkP0-6jtOo0DLTPi031ItnD0643oKoKkME/w128-h200/48132.jpg" width="128" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I put memoir in quotes because Gerald Durrell has taken some liberties with these stories inspired by his family's time on Corfu between the Wars. The book "inspired" (i.e., had almost nothing to do with) the television adaptation <i>The Durrells of Corfu</i>, which I didn't even make it through one episode of because I was being such a disillusioned book snob about it. The Durrell family is hilarious, and little Gerald lives a young boy's dream of a life, exploring the island and collecting whatever fauna catch his eye. His long-suffering mother indulges all her children, really, which, in Gerry's case, means letting him bring home all manner of creatures and neglecting his education. There are three books in the series, all worth reading, but the first is my favorite.<br /></span></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_z63lMtjzMnljv4AJFg4ULqImPDljX2emyztvtNpVG-6-Y5MjEuwARR2jP7cffCsAFjKYAT1cDQIc7NNaPThUn07YMS5lO4O8I6Abp1qHM_0BqwSavbKX15BMKuDdNf_Prd573xdaQi8/s475/139069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="294" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_z63lMtjzMnljv4AJFg4ULqImPDljX2emyztvtNpVG-6-Y5MjEuwARR2jP7cffCsAFjKYAT1cDQIc7NNaPThUn07YMS5lO4O8I6Abp1qHM_0BqwSavbKX15BMKuDdNf_Prd573xdaQi8/w124-h200/139069.jpg" width="124" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Adventure/Survival Book</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">This one also came from a Timber Ridge class I taught called "The Adventurers," and <i>everyone </i>loved it. An oldy but a greaty. <br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Alfred Lansing follows Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated trans-polar expedition that didn't even make it to Antarctica before getting ice-locked. You know I love people facing frostbite and shipwreck and abandonment. You'll come away from this amazing story admiring Shackleton's leadership and the endurance of the crew of the Endurance.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Microhistory</b></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Absolutely fascinating history of one of the world's most
famous diamonds. Knowing nearly nothing about the diamond, the Moghul empire,
the history of Afghanistan, and the history of the Punjab, this was all news to
me and just about putdownable. (Warning--it's also quite violent and features
lots of people and governments and rulers behaving badly and people being
literally blinded.)</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-6m0cTC6u3wHWMr2qISwtS03KJyF9WpUBX6m5eQUNrukTEdgkX9wID4BKNmUj3SbbFavNpLxuNvneSH300FNxuUX7Sf5Pw4QHiSo_NRfXzCYBs2ryd4S9AgDJFgUHh3rj9CNO1TgeHU/s500/33391999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid-6m0cTC6u3wHWMr2qISwtS03KJyF9WpUBX6m5eQUNrukTEdgkX9wID4BKNmUj3SbbFavNpLxuNvneSH300FNxuUX7Sf5Pw4QHiSo_NRfXzCYBs2ryd4S9AgDJFgUHh3rj9CNO1TgeHU/w127-h200/33391999.jpg" width="127" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The sorry tale of Sikh child-maharajah Duleep Singh handing
over the diamond to the British East India company was no shining moment for
the British empire, but I was interested to see that his interesting and tragic
story has been made into the movie BLACK PRINCE, which is streaming on Netflix
currently.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And certainly another visit to the Tower of London to see
the crown jewels is in order. You never know when the world might get
upside-down enough that international courts decide that, yes, Britain should
honor the Taliban's demand to return the jewel to them! (Out of all the groups
claiming the Kohinoor, this was the most ridiculous, since Afghanistan stole it
from India, and one doubts the Taliban would put the funds to the best use.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, finally:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Favorite Trash Classic</b></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxWPEViRvVSDnxQ1zlRdUCm8o4vfQYfgoykUsVBZMlZmSC2ghsQ3iwEs6LsYC-VH-xuAujPrGovJQRZ612MO398bKciJRbOrtbhgFFfsBlpl3QW0VVXfYsyxsc8LEd2PgpGkbufa3l-U/s475/581811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdxWPEViRvVSDnxQ1zlRdUCm8o4vfQYfgoykUsVBZMlZmSC2ghsQ3iwEs6LsYC-VH-xuAujPrGovJQRZ612MO398bKciJRbOrtbhgFFfsBlpl3QW0VVXfYsyxsc8LEd2PgpGkbufa3l-U/w134-h200/581811.jpg" width="134" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My book club added this particular subgenre this year after getting tired of YA. (Our fatigue probably has a lot to do with raising teenagers ourselves. Do we have to read about them, too?)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not only did we resurrect the trash classic V. C. Andrews'
Flowers in the Attic and add The Clan of the Cave Bear to the to-read pile, but
I finally got to read Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;">This book has aged so well! Its themes of fame, wealth,
career, the pressure on women not to age, the pressure on women to be beautiful
and thin, substance abuse--all still so timely and so worth discussing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> And the funny thing
is, because it was written in 1966, it's pretty darned tame now. Frank, but
tame. (You don't realize how used to graphic sex we are until you read what used
to be considered trashy.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hope you found something here, and may 2022 be another good
reading year! This is the first year I think I'm not going to complete my
Goodreads challenge because I spent so much time writing, but tomorrow is
another day.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-84478810238263440092021-10-20T10:34:00.000-07:002021-10-20T10:34:48.146-07:00Cover Reveal for Matchless Margaret! Pre-Order Now<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4HtyBu-WKt6dr1CJuais23R_AfzjvVrVM_IShizg-17Y0DKORKlRJ2XLrhEwxoTa6wNR7C17T1G5hSpBRMdfvLJSg-TCUbdD0UPukJs7WoiBiLFkdsHZN2PrTZwz-oiKt9fv7TuxAOw/s347/Eyes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="155" data-original-width="347" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju4HtyBu-WKt6dr1CJuais23R_AfzjvVrVM_IShizg-17Y0DKORKlRJ2XLrhEwxoTa6wNR7C17T1G5hSpBRMdfvLJSg-TCUbdD0UPukJs7WoiBiLFkdsHZN2PrTZwz-oiKt9fv7TuxAOw/w400-h179/Eyes.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whose "fine eyes" are these?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dear readers, I'm happy to announce <i>Matchless Margaret </i>is just about finalized, and I've set her up for pre-order on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Matchless-Margaret-Hapgoods-Bramleigh-Book-ebook/dp/B09HSNYQY3/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=matchless+margaret+christina+dudley&qid=1634747098&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>! There will be both Kindle and paperback versions, and I managed to get <i>Matchless Margaret </i>down to 99,000 words so that you won't feel like you've committed to <i>War and Peace</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Matchless Margaret's </i>birthday will be Thursday, November 4, 2021, and, as promised, we will celebrate with a tea party and walk through early 19th century Bath in person (and over Zoom) on November 20. More on that later.</div><p></p><p>If you haven't gotten around to starting my traditional Regency romance series, the kickoff book <i>The Naturalist </i>is going to be a mere $0.99 on Kindle this weekend! (Or read it as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0ghm3Yod-N7Q8iCpiVr0p0Rb2x618fOqXuQiPpWmYVi3sopAZZ8_3-w9PfL9YWd51rmvoseDMhnTFbKOwZ7HE3bn6rXw8MNuAsywhEwsGXPIR69pLdxouyRIUpRlJAumFuaKxvfUDBg/s1000/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="607" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0ghm3Yod-N7Q8iCpiVr0p0Rb2x618fOqXuQiPpWmYVi3sopAZZ8_3-w9PfL9YWd51rmvoseDMhnTFbKOwZ7HE3bn6rXw8MNuAsywhEwsGXPIR69pLdxouyRIUpRlJAumFuaKxvfUDBg/s320/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" width="194" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just $0.99 on Kindle (10/21-24)!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i>Matchless Margaret </i>is the fourth book in the series, but they all work as standalones, too, so don't be daunted. It just adds to the fun to know everyone's story and to see people at different points in their lives.<div><br /></div><div>All righty. On to the cover reveal! <a href="https://kathryncampbell.com/" target="_blank">My designer Kathy Campbell</a> did her usual impeccable work, combining the lovely person of Elizabeth McEuen Smith and a period illustration of Milsom Street to create this wonderful book cover:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYOpxPeHjeQjgek4tdQdRVQDi6fbr03Dv6AZfgwhmDJbwed6g4TfdGKjoDwHTpxhkYG1A3Ua9esLP1tfUWZH8nAGIZEHNawfYc7j9E_uNg2mOshnWRFLc2voa9AXn9InjfkKrEQ-q7u0/s2048/Matchless-Margaret-Cover5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1233" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYOpxPeHjeQjgek4tdQdRVQDi6fbr03Dv6AZfgwhmDJbwed6g4TfdGKjoDwHTpxhkYG1A3Ua9esLP1tfUWZH8nAGIZEHNawfYc7j9E_uNg2mOshnWRFLc2voa9AXn9InjfkKrEQ-q7u0/w241-h400/Matchless-Margaret-Cover5.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Won't you join her in Bath this winter?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pre-order now by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Matchless-Margaret-Hapgoods-Bramleigh-Book-ebook/dp/B09HSNYQY3/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=matchless+margaret+christina+dudley&qid=1634747098&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a>! And thank you for your faithful readership.</span></div><br /><div><br /><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-33861096489015973162021-09-24T16:59:00.003-07:002021-09-24T16:59:42.807-07:00Margaret on Milsom Street<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8S9CSqk4wR523bUtbfNwhjNwsUX-sV6S4Y93fZMlGpkio7noeqOF6Sp6ZLswWsKxJEnywS-1myHWEuKhmsPqQwuYPpvLeFzaRbUlOemVu_rpPlr8k-Mjh-s5eIfyiTTInu9eri0fcl2Q/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8S9CSqk4wR523bUtbfNwhjNwsUX-sV6S4Y93fZMlGpkio7noeqOF6Sp6ZLswWsKxJEnywS-1myHWEuKhmsPqQwuYPpvLeFzaRbUlOemVu_rpPlr8k-Mjh-s5eIfyiTTInu9eri0fcl2Q/" width="240" /></a></div><p>Oh, happy day, I have finished the rough draft of the next installment of my Hapgoods of Bramleigh series! Four years have passed since the events of the first three books (because I can't marry Margaret off at age 15-16), but only one year in my writing time, which must be something of a record for me. This is what a nearly-empty nest and COVID remoteness have done for me! Cover design for <i>Matchless Margaret</i> is underway, and I'm starting to kick around launch plans.</p><p>But first,</p><b>Question</b>: What do I, as an author, have in common with J. K. Rowling?<p></p><p>If you answered mind-boggling book sales; untold wealth; side hustles of amusement parks, movie adaptations and merchandise; or red hair, you're wrong.<br /><br /></p><p><b>Correct Answer</b>: My books get longer and longer.</p><p>Yes, folks, so far Margaret's story is clocking in at 115,838 words, which is about 25,000 words longer than <i>School for Love</i>, which was longer than <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i>, which was a whopping 25,000 words longer than <i>The Naturalist</i>. In brief:</p><p>Margaret............................115,838</p><p>School.................................93,121</p><p>Young Man.........................91,805</p><p>Naturalist............................66,263</p><p>However, unlike Rowling, I am putting out my own books and really cannot afford to be so prolix when the word count determines how many pages the paper book will be and how wide the spine and how much the darned thing will cost to print. (If I could get all my readers to move to Kindle or reading on their phones/tablets, I could give <i>Gone With the Wind</i> a run for its word-count money if I felt like it, but not so with physical books.)</p><p>I love Margaret's story. I hate to think of cutting any of it, so I'm giving myself a couple days to let it sit before I start hacking away. Maybe I'll even keep a copy of the original for my e-book readers who might be interested in the "director's cut" later--although I've often thought director's cuts aren't as good as the theater versions. It never hurts writing to be gone over and gone over and pared down for economy and elegance.</p><p>While I ponder, I've been drinking my "Jane Austen Blend" tea that I bought in Carmel (delicious) at the charming <a href="https://www.facebook.com/janeaustenathomecarmel/" target="_blank">Jane Austen at Home</a> shop.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZxa49UctGs2HHWDrqPBiBE011s6T5etA7X0PUAoWsRk0SKqdG3hby1DhtmzzwCeUCZuzquGVvJXeWM20pfTRvaIdA_65WR7eTDmm-aPjRCnTUbUEECYc-RsahQz2p2UEnvvFjghlrPnE/s2048/20210924_163034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZxa49UctGs2HHWDrqPBiBE011s6T5etA7X0PUAoWsRk0SKqdG3hby1DhtmzzwCeUCZuzquGVvJXeWM20pfTRvaIdA_65WR7eTDmm-aPjRCnTUbUEECYc-RsahQz2p2UEnvvFjghlrPnE/w218-h291/20210924_163034.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqyehToFp4-4H1rhALizKOjJww2txxUBmkIjGF7MIPGU9M0uOdOjLr3bmFGY5MMKwsZZcwleaSVBim0VdcX8uC4NQqf2c2_OWlIKgBiQJd26MQ8qzn_QFw_RI54PrPrwdQaH2-MQHXJ4/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1529" data-original-width="1529" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqyehToFp4-4H1rhALizKOjJww2txxUBmkIjGF7MIPGU9M0uOdOjLr3bmFGY5MMKwsZZcwleaSVBim0VdcX8uC4NQqf2c2_OWlIKgBiQJd26MQ8qzn_QFw_RI54PrPrwdQaH2-MQHXJ4/" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Speaking of Jane Austen at Home, I've also been re-reading Lucy Worsley's bio of Amazing Jane that happens to have the same title.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagJgKztlRAA545HlxrKhX8WAo1dZFiI5ECYZgAVobzwImmtncLSpxZTeeSG1zzjatMvwaaXg8jovEbboL1EVpOpQz25m_uDFby4_HLwD5nX4WbPt_B8nZuNLe4EDi4bNCEw2XCUxyUAY/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="311" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagJgKztlRAA545HlxrKhX8WAo1dZFiI5ECYZgAVobzwImmtncLSpxZTeeSG1zzjatMvwaaXg8jovEbboL1EVpOpQz25m_uDFby4_HLwD5nX4WbPt_B8nZuNLe4EDi4bNCEw2XCUxyUAY/" width="157" /></a></div>I actually have no memory of having read it before, but Goodreads tells me I gave it a star rating in 2017, and Goodreads never lies.<p></p><p>Much of <i>Matchless Margaret</i> takes place in the beautiful city of Bath, England, and the husband and I had planned to visit again this fall on an empty-nest, hooray-COVID-is-over trip. I'd even picked out the hotel I wanted to stay this time, just a hop, skip, and a jump from where Margaret lodges in Henrietta Street. </p><p>[Pardon me while I weep a little while...]</p><p>Well, as long as the U.S. requires a (negative) COVID test before flying home, this trip is off the table. We both work, and his is the kind of job (pastor) that does not allow him to get stuck in foreign countries for weeks at a time. </p><p>Which makes me think that, when I launch Margaret on the world, the launch parties (both the in-person one and the Zoom one) will include a virtual "walk through early 19th century Bath"! After I've spent all that time poring over old maps and peering at old engravings and reading excerpts from odd little random books, I'm taking you readers with me.</p><p>So mark your calendars for sometime in November or January and we'll go for a stroll on Milsom Street:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYX5rCl7wMBAtmGP906MouCVjGu1rFyHpZGU2f2QdKwJYjE1TsPk3mrFv89ZCRnGm0Iup4KjU0aHwxC-xte-x4Y76Axb-ptz9vHn_anphZ3B7QipC60OHp1QRMZbyv6TRAmqyFWLGoHlM/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYX5rCl7wMBAtmGP906MouCVjGu1rFyHpZGU2f2QdKwJYjE1TsPk3mrFv89ZCRnGm0Iup4KjU0aHwxC-xte-x4Y76Axb-ptz9vHn_anphZ3B7QipC60OHp1QRMZbyv6TRAmqyFWLGoHlM/" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">and grab tea and a scone at the Pump Room:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQPBdC_nDX8IXP1n1XFFQQBXquhVEd-QTINeQr4oCcEcQPfY-H1nAmmmoO_sntjMebGRQgy1TqY327bxoc0vzQp-9A9k0LHk4_2RVozyRYd1nCKliAAijpv1tLZOuXufxOyZDR8WeUws/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="402" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQPBdC_nDX8IXP1n1XFFQQBXquhVEd-QTINeQr4oCcEcQPfY-H1nAmmmoO_sntjMebGRQgy1TqY327bxoc0vzQp-9A9k0LHk4_2RVozyRYd1nCKliAAijpv1tLZOuXufxOyZDR8WeUws/" width="161" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>More to come. Thank you, dear readers.<br /><br /><p></p><p><br /><br /></p>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-10140626837352683772021-02-07T09:56:00.006-08:002021-02-07T10:31:43.371-08:00Indulge Your Valentines with Book-and-Tea Pairings<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6YOU8PBHWsJkjf0WQnZirP5amQJo3FnZOIcxXVNjBv7ql3OMb8bVVDXxkVUgC9fcTv0nuqucmPqZG9rpIIByxW0u7Zyjf365TZ00g5wTFug00-_VSMzsMRwF0NETH_NgASzueMt_uZU/s2048/debby-hudson-jcc8sxK2Adw-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6YOU8PBHWsJkjf0WQnZirP5amQJo3FnZOIcxXVNjBv7ql3OMb8bVVDXxkVUgC9fcTv0nuqucmPqZG9rpIIByxW0u7Zyjf365TZ00g5wTFug00-_VSMzsMRwF0NETH_NgASzueMt_uZU/w400-h225/debby-hudson-jcc8sxK2Adw-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p>In this season where we can't all be together, what better gifts to show your love than a book and a cup of tea? The combination spells c-o-m-f-o-r-t to me, and, while I don't want to discourage you from <i>also</i> purchasing some quality dark chocolate, let's be honest--we've probably all been eating more chocolate than is good for us lately. Those COVID pounds don't gain themselves.<p></p><p>For some months now, my oldest daughter has been working at the <a href="https://queenmarytea.com/" target="_blank">Queen Mary Tea Emporium</a> in Seattle, which is a dangerous place for me to spend time because I invariably come home with new flavors to try. The girls and I already had a yearly tradition where we would go for high tea, and, in fact, it was the last "normal" outing we had before everything shut down last year.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHHXMuhKAJKPNNLYaS8XBVZzWGpZm2X7J-tY6AQTSxdm3rHVT54h8wehfAGIFOY9Y6lffx_7tqJRM3mTIriIhNfGaC4EoadlyJ30RqMEOMFLgQNiFKUEpS0Mf5uPFC_K3IYAJIdzoDQA/s480/IMG_9371.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHHXMuhKAJKPNNLYaS8XBVZzWGpZm2X7J-tY6AQTSxdm3rHVT54h8wehfAGIFOY9Y6lffx_7tqJRM3mTIriIhNfGaC4EoadlyJ30RqMEOMFLgQNiFKUEpS0Mf5uPFC_K3IYAJIdzoDQA/w400-h300/IMG_9371.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AovE2Ut5zGhBixD-01LtvrEDGh60nKPrkP7PD9Vb3THHqKeeHWf2UA9etQCIhaS-B8ao6sS4DpopOW7CFrDSD2j_5aGBtOzrGHpCyI9V8xukvgU6ZIozk21Wp_1WinBEZDlJajTX2C8/s2048/20200307_112748.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1757" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AovE2Ut5zGhBixD-01LtvrEDGh60nKPrkP7PD9Vb3THHqKeeHWf2UA9etQCIhaS-B8ao6sS4DpopOW7CFrDSD2j_5aGBtOzrGHpCyI9V8xukvgU6ZIozk21Wp_1WinBEZDlJajTX2C8/s320/20200307_112748.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, we need to make this happen again</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Because the tea room itself is so cozy (besides being darling and delicious), it has been closed this whole time. Opening at 25% capacity wouldn't allow enough customers to make business sense, but they hope to re-open as restrictions loosen. In order to do this, the Queen Mary Tea Room needs our help! You can <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/d6xmp7-help-save-the-queen?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1" target="_blank">donate to their GoFundMe account</a>, or you could also just buy yourself and your loved ones some of the most tasty tea you will ever encounter. They ship all over the country! To help you help yourself, I've suggested some tea pairings with some of my latest favorite reads below!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>For the Valentine who could use a mental getaway...</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCW54Mz0D_I1BozfbDIqsXL4p6I_opbdFlvYXLOuJ0BcekHTCAKm-xjnsp-ZmDO2c3n-HCRpGto0-mpS55qZ2p0qw3zeuzQodiO2b6uTcKGGNXEn6rsa2lZPNNjOP08vdXcWV1xoEERU/s343/48132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCW54Mz0D_I1BozfbDIqsXL4p6I_opbdFlvYXLOuJ0BcekHTCAKm-xjnsp-ZmDO2c3n-HCRpGto0-mpS55qZ2p0qw3zeuzQodiO2b6uTcKGGNXEn6rsa2lZPNNjOP08vdXcWV1xoEERU/s320/48132.jpg" /></a></div>This is the first book in the delightful trilogy that inspired <i><a href="https://www.pbs.org/show/durrell-in-corfu/" target="_blank">The Durrells in Corfu</a>. </i>Take my book snob warning, though--once you've read the books, you can never go back. Apart from the great scenery and the characters' names in the TV show, the show has little to do with the books, and the books are in every way superior. Both lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny. Having transplanted themselves from England, with its dreary (Seattle-like) weather, the Durrells escape to paradise. But no matter what adventures they are having with the Corfu natives or with Corfu fauna, they and the other British expats never fail to stop in the afternoon for tea.<div><br /></div><div>In honor of little Gerry's obsession with the island animals and insects, I would pair this book with Queen Mary's <a href="https://queenmarytea.com/search?q=golden+monkey" target="_blank">Golden Monkey tea</a>, the first Queen Mary Tea I ever tasted and still one of my very favorites, for its lovely caramel-y notes.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3g1zatZv8He-II8fC_neWsgRnsZnBjDJEcW0j-VX_HNJTjF4aX7p7KsLdy8ce5ZjxnqqqKej06Mk_n1gRJBeiXJbU9KVSLT0TdtZEW9YZff9DfHS9gjBJjFLaJux9fwtSJcwovoTbw8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="1515" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3g1zatZv8He-II8fC_neWsgRnsZnBjDJEcW0j-VX_HNJTjF4aX7p7KsLdy8ce5ZjxnqqqKej06Mk_n1gRJBeiXJbU9KVSLT0TdtZEW9YZff9DfHS9gjBJjFLaJux9fwtSJcwovoTbw8/w537-h132/image.png" width="537" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>For the Valentine who loves London and a good mystery...</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1SQjiEvXA9g6r6Cjd7g696QAnXrwHVjwP9XLozRjUTtKFCF8WExdnLIgjY5wFv9uFNQZgppZhKdyYo-4B1qMTV8gW72QxYY3glImLOkaLwUtvtYX2D0SHtd0v2dokMmUBdOJcR1ajxA4/s475/16160797+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1SQjiEvXA9g6r6Cjd7g696QAnXrwHVjwP9XLozRjUTtKFCF8WExdnLIgjY5wFv9uFNQZgppZhKdyYo-4B1qMTV8gW72QxYY3glImLOkaLwUtvtYX2D0SHtd0v2dokMmUBdOJcR1ajxA4/s320/16160797+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And by this I mean the whole series of mysteries not-so-secretly written by J. K. Rowling. They're great fun, and you can follow Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott all through the neighborhoods of London on Google Maps, if you like, because Rowling grounds them in a contemporary London as real as that of Sherlock Holmes in the 1880s. These are also fun if you like a little romantic tension in your books, because the two detectives have it in spades. Like the Durrells in Corfu, Strike and Robin are always heating up the kettle for a cup of tea, and Robin knows that Strike prefers his "like creosote"-- dark, dark, dark, with no cream or sugar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While I suspect Strike brews his tea beyond the 3.5 minutes recommended by Queen Mary (maybe because he has inferior tea), I think he would enjoy a favorite wake-me-up tea of mine, <a href="https://queenmarytea.com/search?q=irish+breakfast" target="_blank">Queen Mary's Irish Breakfast</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfHuYOh9T4ygJxL6CBz0tXNzzRLwB94wBA_5vfCC1nHNV4ZX_jDPoe687LNBsLnp9xECeeSs2fYMqq2V12LjIIKODtMmNWuqakSsskkVQ1WNrHrLm-hzblElquES4bGfBLliWTHVcg2w/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="1444" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfHuYOh9T4ygJxL6CBz0tXNzzRLwB94wBA_5vfCC1nHNV4ZX_jDPoe687LNBsLnp9xECeeSs2fYMqq2V12LjIIKODtMmNWuqakSsskkVQ1WNrHrLm-hzblElquES4bGfBLliWTHVcg2w/w493-h131/image.png" width="493" /></a></div><br /><b>For the Valentine who loves Napoleonic-era adventure on the high seas...</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU58EbyC_hkuq7lD1m4_Fw30PShyZE8DVopz_F7dliAsbhHWHB8IZ3VelxDgya4WwvlfRcl6mV0W-GdRQFNLmWCf3rtcgF1y9b2LbdLBQL7rK8y7sL7hZlAf8PNB6Cqmqh67hyO8gLQF8/s400/84748.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="264" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU58EbyC_hkuq7lD1m4_Fw30PShyZE8DVopz_F7dliAsbhHWHB8IZ3VelxDgya4WwvlfRcl6mV0W-GdRQFNLmWCf3rtcgF1y9b2LbdLBQL7rK8y7sL7hZlAf8PNB6Cqmqh67hyO8gLQF8/s320/84748.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Forget <i>Master and Commander</i> and the other Patrick O'Brien, wannabe Forester books. Horatio Hornblower is where it's at. If you want to read the books in chronological order, according to Hornblower's age in them, start with this one, where our favorite seaman is but 17.</div><blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;">"Hellish cold" said Preston. "The devil of a morning to turn out. Nelson, where's that tea?" </span></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;">The mess attendant came with it as Hornblower was hauling on his trousers. It maddened Hornblower that he shivered enough in the cold for the cup to clatter in the saucer as he took it. But the tea was grateful, and Hornblower drank it eagerly.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 14px;">"Give me another cup" he said, and was proud of himself that he could think about tea at that moment.</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><div><br /></div></blockquote><p>I'm guessing the British Navy couldn't afford to furnish its men with the good stuff, but perhaps by the end of Hornblower's career he could sip a cup of Earl Grey in retirement (it was named for an 1830s Prime Minister). Let's hope it was as good as <a href="https://queenmarytea.com/search?q=earl+grey" target="_blank">Queen Mary's Earl Grey</a> or (my daughter's favorite) Queen Mary's Creamy Earl Grey.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-AxM8FV0V4aVS-ZDeTzHbTGMo0anzdOrlwvGWbgE1Rp-54hNbfeJHuJve7OM0n8kilxlsiw9hp74ZSMF3MoGN8lLaKwzLeS2L-bgYgb5k6zccFS_htvG3OOXXlCWyQhiq2CvEabSaBU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="1419" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-AxM8FV0V4aVS-ZDeTzHbTGMo0anzdOrlwvGWbgE1Rp-54hNbfeJHuJve7OM0n8kilxlsiw9hp74ZSMF3MoGN8lLaKwzLeS2L-bgYgb5k6zccFS_htvG3OOXXlCWyQhiq2CvEabSaBU/w444-h116/image.png" width="444" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-CxHjFFHMq96o3iacuWSQf45F8s78_xHKZtO4tEtjvpsi7I9v_IoGrDGTf3SpWyrxvEJhJcSF9G6i3OLozYhuVF_aNiwu-WumfIXqRjH0tOUC8pF3Y0TY06aWA53WMR4AvBMFivtLWc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="1438" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-CxHjFFHMq96o3iacuWSQf45F8s78_xHKZtO4tEtjvpsi7I9v_IoGrDGTf3SpWyrxvEJhJcSF9G6i3OLozYhuVF_aNiwu-WumfIXqRjH0tOUC8pF3Y0TY06aWA53WMR4AvBMFivtLWc/w444-h117/image.png" width="444" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>And, finally, for a Valentine who just wants a love story...</b><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KkPmF6f2jHbS9Ymh8knVBOyLV2ZOjHztFfQOvci4h1XNW_UuMdQV31QTqFou07itE70IUzoqyDQ6ZTlzWhjSQCse0IQpKL8-J15dCp2VZweT26NHqaOIkSBYpl4BZa4t-QVcVNJMKxc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="1339" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KkPmF6f2jHbS9Ymh8knVBOyLV2ZOjHztFfQOvci4h1XNW_UuMdQV31QTqFou07itE70IUzoqyDQ6ZTlzWhjSQCse0IQpKL8-J15dCp2VZweT26NHqaOIkSBYpl4BZa4t-QVcVNJMKxc/w521-h155/image.png" width="521" /></a></div><br />If you've read any of <a href="http://www.christinadudley.com/my-books.html" target="_blank">my Regency romances</a>, set in Somerset in 1808 (not technically the Regency, but you know what I mean...), you know the Hapgood sisters and their neighbors frequently enjoy a good cup of tea, whether they are welcoming a new eligible gentleman or simply talking over the latest goings-on.<p></p><p>I know without a doubt that my characters would love a pot of <a href="https://queenmarytea.com/search?q=queen%27s+royal+afternoon" target="_blank">Queen Mary's Queen's Royal Afternoon</a> tea because I certainly drank enough of it when creating them!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tKrcS3Dru-zcR06ffqIkKqR65_CMfRYZQwfu3WAqUrROOZdulaFY4CYcK7D4XuudTCMYvlOfmZfKlzRh5C9USfDjDs0VgW2Q8kDykyyKA3G3aY4JVcRdxQKl8wR-SDm3ZFkMMq53kPU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="1468" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tKrcS3Dru-zcR06ffqIkKqR65_CMfRYZQwfu3WAqUrROOZdulaFY4CYcK7D4XuudTCMYvlOfmZfKlzRh5C9USfDjDs0VgW2Q8kDykyyKA3G3aY4JVcRdxQKl8wR-SDm3ZFkMMq53kPU/w507-h127/image.png" width="507" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So here's wishing you and yours many more years to love, and wishing the Queen Mary many more years to reign!</div><br /><br /><p></p>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-87218420486791484292020-11-24T14:25:00.000-08:002020-11-24T14:25:02.423-08:00Favorite Reads of 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m3c0zv3PtjMwu9ulG9H6StahD9PFE_zfTEKM6gjfGGKBUXHUONk53JgOFuLYQjgXkePuYUhblNCbbxp8lxdVEVWbPwSIPIawfCqE4f9ax3aKUDvvzXT07sbcskJDsCNz2pxdAPwfPqg/s2048/laura-kapfer-hmCMUZKLxa4-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1363" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m3c0zv3PtjMwu9ulG9H6StahD9PFE_zfTEKM6gjfGGKBUXHUONk53JgOFuLYQjgXkePuYUhblNCbbxp8lxdVEVWbPwSIPIawfCqE4f9ax3aKUDvvzXT07sbcskJDsCNz2pxdAPwfPqg/w213-h320/laura-kapfer-hmCMUZKLxa4-unsplash.jpg" title="<span>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@kapfii?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Laura Kapfer</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/books?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></span>" width="213" /></a></div><p>Whenever the Goodreads "Best of..." voting rolls around, I'm always predictably disappointed. I don't seem to read the same books as everyone else, or certainly not the books the industry pushes the hardest. Which means some books I loved don't even get a nomination, and others which I found <i>meh</i> or <i>meh-plus</i> are semi-finalists. What the heck? And you can only vote for the nominees or else, as in the presidential election, write in a candidate on principle, knowing you are throwing away your vote.</p><p>If you suffer from this same frustration, I recommend you start a blog, so you can at least have the satisfaction of putting your choices out there and having 5-10 members of your family read about them.</p><p>Since I haven't done this for a while, may I remind my 5-10 readers that I don't at all feel bound to choose books published in 2020 because I often enjoy reading books that have been out a while and are available from the library without six-month waitlists.</p><p>So let's get to it.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Favorite "Huh--I never thought about that" Reads</b>:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1Nq5LGYzuxsytlB4GxAns5E2BytkxSkD94MgPeJNnwaCBivSvxt7YULbBn-ba_c7uZEv3u8tBrdcdO7vUmhD7de0vp3JXG6bY8tj3xS9l9N-xheZfbt4yAi5zLwiSp2Li3ItiwUuKho/s400/45046690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="262" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1Nq5LGYzuxsytlB4GxAns5E2BytkxSkD94MgPeJNnwaCBivSvxt7YULbBn-ba_c7uZEv3u8tBrdcdO7vUmhD7de0vp3JXG6bY8tj3xS9l9N-xheZfbt4yAi5zLwiSp2Li3ItiwUuKho/w131-h200/45046690.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><span id="freeTextreview3636602179" style="background-color: white;"><div style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power</span></span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="color: #181818;"> by Deirdre Mask. My kind of nonfiction. This super-fascinating book explores the history of assigning addresses to people, and the effects it had. Mask travels the world, looking into Empress Maria Theresa having houses numbered in and out of Vienna, to street-naming as revolutionary act in Iran, to buying vanity addresses in Manhattan. She relays eye-opening research on the fate of too many Martin Luther King Jr. Avenues and investigates the difficulties of finding a job or getting emergency medical care if you don't have an address because you're homeless or live in unnumbered slums. </span><span style="color: #181818;">A very worthwhile, interesting read.</span></span></div></span><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnacsDPK-aJpcWZbCUVq1WuepmcQolNaiATRxAb86iarlk1pZ0hXdM2HzdvxNXHkTyx9sq8QlCt-8OX5rhR14bMfHlWhDAsDQZ_ftex8rEYgZK4vfujf4xO3NBLE7dNayM4Bf7opWFIX4/s400/44153387.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnacsDPK-aJpcWZbCUVq1WuepmcQolNaiATRxAb86iarlk1pZ0hXdM2HzdvxNXHkTyx9sq8QlCt-8OX5rhR14bMfHlWhDAsDQZ_ftex8rEYgZK4vfujf4xO3NBLE7dNayM4Bf7opWFIX4/w131-h200/44153387.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i><div style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div></i></span><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The Feather Thief</span></i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> by Kirk Wallace Johnson</span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="color: #181818;">. This book fascinated me. It combines natural history, fashion history, true crime, and the weird subculture of men who tie Victorian-style salmon flies using exotic feathers of endangered or extinct birds, Johnson dives into a burglary I never heard of and makes me care about it <i>exceedingly. </i>Be careful about giving it to any friends who weep uncontrollably over animal fates because this will likely send them into an emotional spiral. </span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></span><p><br /></p><p><b style="font-size: large;"><br /></b></p><p><b style="font-size: large;">Favorite Book-Soon-to-Be-a-Major-Motion-Picture</b><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYkPlZB4W7hhO2AO75dej3MiVxLvQHjZ1MN2wQJZqGwFGaklhUrFgoKeSFQddggF4VQheuxGrZWnbpibjMGSCs9SmWlR1hLiJreWJWAVRHtUGV0r57oTM_YOtSDZlCJfqMLKL0HImVp0/s475/44767458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYkPlZB4W7hhO2AO75dej3MiVxLvQHjZ1MN2wQJZqGwFGaklhUrFgoKeSFQddggF4VQheuxGrZWnbpibjMGSCs9SmWlR1hLiJreWJWAVRHtUGV0r57oTM_YOtSDZlCJfqMLKL0HImVp0/s320/44767458.jpg" /></a></div>Actually, the latest movie version was supposed to be out in a couple weeks, and I fully planned on going to the theater to watch it, as a birthday present to myself (since I couldn't get anyone else in the house to read the book). Now we must wait until October 2021, but at least I got to see the trailer on the big screen, when I went to see <i>Tenet</i> with fifteen other brave, adventurous souls.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The Emperor of Some-Silly-Name has given the
spice-drug-laden planet of Arrakis to the House of Atreides to run, but there
are competing factions in play, and violence and betrayal ensue. Duke Leto's
son and his mother the witch-concubine escape. Could they be the fulfillment of
prophecy?<o:p></o:p></p><p>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">May I just say, there are not enough mother-son
adventure stories? I loved that part and found myself recommending the book to
other mothers of teenage sons. (I tried to hype it up to my own teenage son,
but he finally said, "You're not going to tempt me with that book."
So stubborn.)</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Series (and latest installment)</span></b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvXdQ-Uz7WXbNBIBODp4GVKi-6qAwisAQ8vQI2ye0le-LlKLdAtNQbswfBftnf88fojNYIXUFnwYnxkIk9JY5TKhhzagdsucwDxyCh4kNu6rsbxLOupt0DOwMgHcKOWdhZQrv92eTh1Q/s475/52381770._SX318_SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvXdQ-Uz7WXbNBIBODp4GVKi-6qAwisAQ8vQI2ye0le-LlKLdAtNQbswfBftnf88fojNYIXUFnwYnxkIk9JY5TKhhzagdsucwDxyCh4kNu6rsbxLOupt0DOwMgHcKOWdhZQrv92eTh1Q/w131-h200/52381770._SX318_SY475_.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><p>I come to sci-fi late in life, having exhausted many favorite genres after decades of voracious reading. Apart from discovering new favorite genre classics (see <i>Dune</i> above), I'm also enjoying some current authors, like Martha Wells and her wonderful Murderbot series. <i>Network Effect</i> is the fifth(?) installment, and the first of novel length. I love the entire series, where Murderbot, a cyborg security unit who has gone rogue and possibly has a murderous past, wrestles with existential questions, relationships with humans, lots of deadly combat, and the age-old question of which TV series to binge-watch next. Funny and exciting. I made my family Zoom book club kick off with <i>All Systems Red,</i> the first in the series, and everyone gave it high ratings except my 17-year-old, who dinged it with a 6 out of 10. Ouch.</p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><p></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Sports Book, Even for Non-Athletes</span></b></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLbZzkomOdwnamE5vh0_gA3BQXDshh_t3XKPHC8ae6XCiZUyWHT4Bt6FnMMKe9uPhetNI_Uw_gVtd37H-0yL_M-AM8sfEoJTwbDTJzzjInF9vlCIp_VOCOmTWhuMv72ALX2yNiv__PTE/s450/6289283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="301" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLbZzkomOdwnamE5vh0_gA3BQXDshh_t3XKPHC8ae6XCiZUyWHT4Bt6FnMMKe9uPhetNI_Uw_gVtd37H-0yL_M-AM8sfEoJTwbDTJzzjInF9vlCIp_VOCOmTWhuMv72ALX2yNiv__PTE/w134-h200/6289283.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><p style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: trebuchet;">This
was a walloping good read, and I'm not even a runner and hate running! But this
book had me out this morning running little 5-meter barefoot sprints in the
dewy front-yard grass (my quarantine equivalent of a Leadville 100) and
Googling all sorts of places and people. The side trips into human running physiology
and evolution and hunting and shoe-design were super interesting--maybe even my
favorite part. Long live the Tarahumara, and everyone else stay out of their
canyon.</span></p></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite True (White-Collar) Crime</span></b></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3Vy5Y8IqEPZ3MyFpiBUykOYC0ix_-BbZTQ0Kwxiv94z2QoyAeQWQkziwkJPTjA26PnQwxinUx1JOaSIL87nS-VJoC9sVMGnCYVvUUZ1-An_7euvhDLvupzy9YnphZbwzvTQu_rsVfS4/s450/37976541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="301" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3Vy5Y8IqEPZ3MyFpiBUykOYC0ix_-BbZTQ0Kwxiv94z2QoyAeQWQkziwkJPTjA26PnQwxinUx1JOaSIL87nS-VJoC9sVMGnCYVvUUZ1-An_7euvhDLvupzy9YnphZbwzvTQu_rsVfS4/w134-h200/37976541.jpg" width="134" /></a></b></div><p class="MsoNormal">I couldn't put this one down. Clearly I've been under a rock
because I never heard of Theranos before picking up this book. Carreyrou, a
Wall Street Journal reporter, tells the story of the meteoric rise of Elizabeth
Holmes and her groundbreaking company, which promised to put quick, convenient,
versatile finger-prick blood testing in every Walgreens, Safeway and army base,
if not in your very own home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">I was hoping for a little nostalgic visit home,
like when I read the also-wonderful <i>The Innovators</i>, but this turned out to be
quite the thriller as well. A thriller punctuated with familiar places--the
Fish Market! Page Mill Road! Wilbur Hall! Fuki Sushi!</span></p><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Mindbender Thriller</span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZD2CprOOktnB1lBcI8fBSfK8rWguY4Rz3ngJ8KhfWiXcqsJAId-KVMwSJr8sTRXaX_o6AtcdML6ndCOUb-YyNo5JIIjW-g8y70RWf4CoAZbo_pX03YRWfdGAMeB6XZwgByX7XLjzAhE/s450/42046112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="296" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZD2CprOOktnB1lBcI8fBSfK8rWguY4Rz3ngJ8KhfWiXcqsJAId-KVMwSJr8sTRXaX_o6AtcdML6ndCOUb-YyNo5JIIjW-g8y70RWf4CoAZbo_pX03YRWfdGAMeB6XZwgByX7XLjzAhE/w131-h200/42046112.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">My first book by this author, but it won't be my last! A
mind-bending, time-bending tale of a scientist who explores the nature of
memory and ends up building a Destroyer of Worlds. Quite page-turning, at
times. If you like physics and philosophy, you'll find this a good read, though
that makes it sound heavier than it is.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've never been much of a thriller reader, and character
development isn't Recursion's strong suit, but I love a good plot, and this
book has that in spades. (This was a 4-star read for me, unlike the other
5-stars in this post.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Two Great Social-Issue Nonfictions, One Encouraging, One Discouraging</b></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBgxzxfDl013bHk-cfKMtj8zBZo0squtixchTj-6xKc60YjPX1RcjT2N5A8-zbo1EWG8lkKY1Q_a1HdG8xdeISO2i52pLioHZwF5OBL4UBAgRbGTDWcGPYbqSkqwCMdAS-SpjfacyRWA/s475/22529381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBgxzxfDl013bHk-cfKMtj8zBZo0squtixchTj-6xKc60YjPX1RcjT2N5A8-zbo1EWG8lkKY1Q_a1HdG8xdeISO2i52pLioHZwF5OBL4UBAgRbGTDWcGPYbqSkqwCMdAS-SpjfacyRWA/w132-h200/22529381.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">(I'll let you read them both and guess which I thought encouraging and which discouraging!)</span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Dreamland</i>. This 2015 explores the parallel tracks of Purdue
Pharma (and its wildly bestselling OxyContin) and a community in Xalisco,
Nayarit, Mexico (and its wildly bestselling heroin), which dovetailed to create
an addiction epidemic nationwide. Well-researched and compelling, Dreamland is
alarming, infuriating, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful. I wish it could
have an updated chapter on the introduction of fentanyl to the picture.<o:p></o:p></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /><br /><br /></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_tSoAnWgk-A6SJV1IFU9rFcKJTFGpYWp0yYVjLqazXo1qzduVXHI9Lab2YOp0kU3oUefGu5vSn9wDeDkcB-JgBGocK3ACr5kw-K7q8m8Q5Ji4925K8NC4E3_kDn3G6IxtcIYA_ueMV4/s400/52654711._SX318_SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_tSoAnWgk-A6SJV1IFU9rFcKJTFGpYWp0yYVjLqazXo1qzduVXHI9Lab2YOp0kU3oUefGu5vSn9wDeDkcB-JgBGocK3ACr5kw-K7q8m8Q5Ji4925K8NC4E3_kDn3G6IxtcIYA_ueMV4/w133-h200/52654711._SX318_SY475_.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal">Whether you're interested in criminal justice reform or know
nothing about it, Brittany Barnett tells a compelling story. Interweaving her
own family story of her mother's crack addiction and subsequent prison sentence
with the plights of other families in the same situation, Barnett explains how
the sentencing mandates put in place by Clinton and upheld until Obama impacted
low-level dealers, users, and other non-kingpins unjustly. I remember the
"three strikes" law being passed in California and not being aware at
all of how such a law would play out across the socioeconomic and racial
spectrum. It was a different era, for sure.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I echo what Barnett says of herself at one point, that she
wishes there were more of her, so she could both practice the corporate law she
loves and also save those unjustly condemned to life imprisonment. Yes--it was
a shame she eventually gave up her corporate law career because of how vitally
important it is to have more women and POC in the "room where it happens,"
both to inspire others to achieve and to share their unrepresented perspective.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Formulaic Harlequin Author</span></b></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcnAH9QtnEY5J0i9kvn_VBSU7MZqPqkpQWy9grTfDnVDxs8nATPQtHC0YywzsypQV1lRJKP3xvenkEPi2wZYfp7_cp4xziq_G8Tx4KvEdUZrDqfQgETGehxSrFnrF25aXL4GqpL7BTaw/s475/1273910._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcnAH9QtnEY5J0i9kvn_VBSU7MZqPqkpQWy9grTfDnVDxs8nATPQtHC0YywzsypQV1lRJKP3xvenkEPi2wZYfp7_cp4xziq_G8Tx4KvEdUZrDqfQgETGehxSrFnrF25aXL4GqpL7BTaw/w126-h200/1273910._SY475_.jpg" width="126" /></a></span></div><span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Oh, my goodness! In addition to exploring some sci-fi and fantasy, 2020 marked my first foray into Harlequin romances. My mom recommended an old-timey author named Betty Neels, so I gave her a try and ended up reading maybe five or six Betty Neels books this year. But I can safely tell you that, once you've read <i>one </i>Betty Neels book, you've read them all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you're looking for a comfort read.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: trebuchet;"><i>All </i>Betty Neels books feature a young, capable English nurse, who is more often plain than otherwise. She falls for a tall, broad-shouldered, brusque, handsome, older Dutch doctor/surgeon, and, at some point in the story, visits the Netherlands and stays with his older female relative, worrying all the while that the hero is actually in love with some pretty Dutch girl in his social circle.</span></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: trebuchet;">Because Betty just seemed to do Find/Replace on the characters' names as well as the Dutch town visited in each book, and to flip a weighted coin as to whether the heroine would be plain or not, I wonder if I wasn't the only reader to enjoy most the <i>first</i> Betty Neels I picked up, because it was all fresh, that time around. In my case, that first book was <i>Cassandra by Chance</i>, and I really did enjoy it. In this case the capable young nurse meets the Dutch doctor while he's on medical leave for blindness(!) on some Scottish island. A very sweet story. And how pleasant to read romances that don't have the requisite five pornographic scenes! These books can be recommended to family members without a blush. (Caveat: my 21-year-old daughter did not find it as charming as I did. Nor did she go on to read five more variations, as I did. I guess one generation's comfort read is another one's cringe-inducer?)</span></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Book That <i>Did</i> Make the Goodreads List</span></b></p><p><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uBmeJr01Igp82S-hBBLpYxtcJAIOrTjkmI2vEyGLkVVfHny4EupRa5qFc2Kkw_9zIv6sqeHicYW4g5o40OXB7Ca66xw3q0LzBRibBFl5d2cAbmVhFENGSxnJ1noI466AvO_vMBGzmWg/s475/51791252._SX318_SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7uBmeJr01Igp82S-hBBLpYxtcJAIOrTjkmI2vEyGLkVVfHny4EupRa5qFc2Kkw_9zIv6sqeHicYW4g5o40OXB7Ca66xw3q0LzBRibBFl5d2cAbmVhFENGSxnJ1noI466AvO_vMBGzmWg/w133-h200/51791252._SX318_SY475_.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">A page-turning family story that also manages to be about
race, identity, yearning, brokenness, connection, and America. I appreciated
the roundness and complexity of all the characters--when one identical twin
abandons her sister to pass as white, Bennett digs into what motivates each
woman and what that costs. What it costs themselves and their own daughters.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Recently I read Charles Yu's <i>Interior Chinatown</i>, one
half-comic theme of which was that the story of race in America is mostly
framed as black and white, or black versus white. All other races get the bit
parts, the roles of extras in the exciting police drama. It's certainly the
case in <i>The Vanishing Half</i>, and I even grinned when a black family moves into
the white neighborhood, and the black husband earns his living playing a black
cop on TV. But Bennett recognizes that feeling split down the middle, or
feeling rootless, or feeling alienated from even large parts of yourself, is
not limited to the black experience. Stella Vignes is not the only one going to
great lengths to deny and forget who she was born as. There is also Reece, a
transgendered young man who binds himself and injects himself with street
steroids. Both characters are treated with sympathy by their creator, but the
high price of their choices is never overlooked.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hear HBO is adapting it, though I have no idea how they
can ever cast it, and there weren't a lot of topless scenes, which is kind of
HBO's bread and butter. Do yourself a favor and read the book, which is sure to
be much better. The only drawback of giving it as a gift is that they're
probably already sure to have read it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>And finally...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p><b style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Favorite Historical Regency Romance Series I Wrote</span></b></p><p><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Cheating here, since this is actually the <i>only </i>Regency Romance series I've written. I'm still waiting on the official reviewers, but here are some emails readers have sent me:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">"LOVED the Naturalist!!
Very well written & loved it.
Characters were great & couldn’t put it down."<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">"Loved the book. Didn’t grade papers for three days
since I couldn’t put it down."</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">"Christina--I finished your book last night at 1am...I
really enjoyed it."</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3YEsaF0myGM5r5fiX-sc-yemJKTFCDwQfygwIRNqDX2RlQzQOfRnfI89gxbCZ-x5q3ABbM2i0wJa3lH74WkivxwId2d7fxPLLvLB2kr0jPEI3oFFFGdKMx4J6DrpukFM8npkb8M8960/s1000/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="607" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3YEsaF0myGM5r5fiX-sc-yemJKTFCDwQfygwIRNqDX2RlQzQOfRnfI89gxbCZ-x5q3ABbM2i0wJa3lH74WkivxwId2d7fxPLLvLB2kr0jPEI3oFFFGdKMx4J6DrpukFM8npkb8M8960/w121-h200/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" width="121" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3JaaRhuAJ35AjMzCW4K_TKFybHFtQOOJLukxs2FXKnYRTQc6NXJJmhn_R1bSQQUTa_VFXY5ixSU33xGd8AwugB5Op04ODzCHOgrAPm8BM7sTmx3Q6hEen9VGReP7Ifzet4gdTRAx3Wg/s475/VPYM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="287" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3JaaRhuAJ35AjMzCW4K_TKFybHFtQOOJLukxs2FXKnYRTQc6NXJJmhn_R1bSQQUTa_VFXY5ixSU33xGd8AwugB5Op04ODzCHOgrAPm8BM7sTmx3Q6hEen9VGReP7Ifzet4gdTRAx3Wg/w121-h200/VPYM.jpg" width="121" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg89aCBJit3KeHLhC-DPulUfM3zElw6Al9Ymjio7APq98OyvbvWS3i0KBWqzy32AZcmtcLwrnDCCmtHfpid_VzNuLFAyrrNFwB6i_i5vk2kaJ7W09cH_riLv0D2pkOT314cNhXksn76YFk/s2048/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg89aCBJit3KeHLhC-DPulUfM3zElw6Al9Ymjio7APq98OyvbvWS3i0KBWqzy32AZcmtcLwrnDCCmtHfpid_VzNuLFAyrrNFwB6i_i5vk2kaJ7W09cH_riLv0D2pkOT314cNhXksn76YFk/w125-h200/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Have a happy holiday season, 2020-style! The best thing about running out of shows to watch is that there are so, so many wonderful books to read.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><p></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-69257665805121520712020-10-30T07:51:00.000-07:002020-10-30T07:51:55.156-07:00Launch Day of SCHOOL FOR LOVE<p> Yesterday, while on a walk with my youngest, I ran into a woman who asked if I was still writing. When I said yes, and that my book was coming out this Friday, she said, "That's great! Who's promoting it?"</p><p>Good question. Just like I discovered I can get parenting short-timer's disease (ask my youngest how much I've helped with school, college apps, or getting a hold of her counselor this year), I've also found I can get Marketing Short-Timer's Disease. Meaning, it's hard to motivate. I answered her, "Uh...no one. Not even me."</p><p>Fortunately, these arrived in the mail an hour later:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm8tsvlm_FXIIusUOmW43OEEMhwn7nFNBlbg5jK3eu7eeZv494QdNXUGx3C80kbFGNxNnys2aeajw5YkxiUwfa-hZOsMZqEFc6wLVki-nIl7UVAveUjG33dSgUaVCgYOM4IufkMvmXbw/s2048/20201029_161457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTm8tsvlm_FXIIusUOmW43OEEMhwn7nFNBlbg5jK3eu7eeZv494QdNXUGx3C80kbFGNxNnys2aeajw5YkxiUwfa-hZOsMZqEFc6wLVki-nIl7UVAveUjG33dSgUaVCgYOM4IufkMvmXbw/w300-h400/20201029_161457.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Yes, paperback and Kindle versions are now available. And professional reviews will be forthcoming (late December and early spring--because I waited too long to ask!!!), but I hope you will read in the meantime. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/School-Love-Book-Hapgoods-Bramleigh-ebook/dp/B08KJQ1NPR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KEDUSL9Z5VUK&dchild=1&keywords=school+for+love+christina+dudley&qid=1604068612&sprefix=school+for+love+%2Caps%2C209&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Click here</a> (I hope) to go to the Amazon page.<div><br /></div><div>We're all sick of the present, right? Come join Hugh and the other Hapgoods and my Rosemary in 1808, if you need a mental getaway.</div><div><br /></div><div>We'll see if I whomp up more enthusiasm for an online thing, but this is my marketing burst for now. :)<br /><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-10964446948763221172020-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:002020-10-16T11:43:26.129-07:00Paperback Version of SCHOOL FOR LOVE is In Process!<p> So more of you are clinging to your paperback books than I thought. If you're among those paper-philes, you'll be happy to hear that my wrangling with Amazon's print-on-demand is nearly complete, and I will indeed be putting out a paper version of <i>School for Love!</i></p><p>This latest book is a little longer than <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i> and therefore a little thicker. Check out the full cover:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHaDMUy8nfw2NKk15C6oZF1b1RFMZRrcJ_UdvjxcgAI2R46FX6keiaJ8WU4faBpmSJgRv22TwiYoBsa2KbnCmFG8TlKpor6ZbTYqaSZxL7rqFyFvQjgCWa4vm8Mvf5lKxm6ZzEsBEp7E/s1121/SforL.PaperbackCover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1121" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHaDMUy8nfw2NKk15C6oZF1b1RFMZRrcJ_UdvjxcgAI2R46FX6keiaJ8WU4faBpmSJgRv22TwiYoBsa2KbnCmFG8TlKpor6ZbTYqaSZxL7rqFyFvQjgCWa4vm8Mvf5lKxm6ZzEsBEp7E/w400-h300/SforL.PaperbackCover.png" width="400" /></a></div>(I do apologize for the image quality. I took a screenshot of a pdf, with predictable results.)<div><br /></div><div>For some reason, since Amazon does not link the release of the paperback to the release of the Kindle version, the paperback may actually be available sooner! Who knows.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm on my final edit and thought fit to re-read the first two books in the series. Sharp readers may note that Margaret Hapgood has dark hair in an earlier book and ash blonde by <i>School for Love</i>. And that little Hetty Hapgood gets spelled as both "Hettie" and "Hetty" in <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i>. Hopeless. And then I spelled "curtsy" without the "e" in the first two books and therefore had to remove the "e" in <i>School for Love</i>. How can my spelling even change, in six years???</div><div><br /></div><div>But those seem to be the biggest clangers. Readers of romances shouldn't be nitpickers, right? You're just there to get lost in a pleasant story, after all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still looking at a November 5, 2020, release. <a href="https://austenesquereviews.com/" target="_blank">Austenesque Reviews</a> has kindly agreed to review it in the spring, and I hope other reviews will be forthcoming.<br /><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-8039972923207405602020-10-05T14:51:00.001-07:002020-10-05T14:51:40.289-07:00School for Love now available for pre-order!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzdZYh7O2dw2WS4w3-ijXLWsxmm_YPG4B2bLdYR8kR4tYux-6m0_4hx0b3CPVGrQkH-7fWZi_-bNqaTzUpopL3_Q6DYmwjwXGu4ikDgdRPmn2nFlzb7JGn7fsGXLg7WmFfweeSK9r0kqQ/s2048/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzdZYh7O2dw2WS4w3-ijXLWsxmm_YPG4B2bLdYR8kR4tYux-6m0_4hx0b3CPVGrQkH-7fWZi_-bNqaTzUpopL3_Q6DYmwjwXGu4ikDgdRPmn2nFlzb7JGn7fsGXLg7WmFfweeSK9r0kqQ/w250-h400/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" title="School for Love" width="250" /></a></div><br />Hip hip hooray! <i>School for Love</i>, the third in my Regency romance series The Hapgoods of Bramleigh, is now <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KJQ1NPR?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420" target="_blank">available for pre-order on Amazon</a>!<p></p><p>Had enough of 2020? Need a little escapism? Then this is the book for you. If any of you read the second book in the series <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i>, you'll remember that Hugh Hapgood, the widowed cousin of the squire, proposes to Elfie but (spoiler) loses out to Frederick. Not many of you readers spared any pity for the rejected Hugh (one reader even made a face when I said the third in the series would feature him), but I hope he can win you over when we get to dive deeper into his story.</p><p>I've chosen November 5 as my release date for three reasons:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The draft is complete, but I need a little more time do to a final revision.<br /><br /></li><li>In a normal year, my husband and I would do a "Literary Night" at our church the first Friday in November. COVID took care of that tradition, so instead I'm releasing a book.<br /><br /></li><li>November 5 will be my 26th wedding anniversary, so what better day to launch a romance?</li></ol><p></p><p>My favoritest cover designer in the whole world <a href="https://kathryncampbell.com/" target="_blank">Kathy Campbell</a> has come up with another winner and was able, even after the six-year hiatus, to channel that Hapgoods of Bramleigh vibe she came up with the first two times around. Don't you agree?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwVwEGjFOSqtrhiaiL8A736wQzz2__lgs0Pw16KGf0kr79mvoYByzxOyQPk1O-alfuveDZagxeA0cw6Y6qunKVwJk8DNV16-_mBjF4U1_faSLfXZeSc4TOLHOcnsTTOfKq1SKG70Dvnw/s1000/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="607" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwVwEGjFOSqtrhiaiL8A736wQzz2__lgs0Pw16KGf0kr79mvoYByzxOyQPk1O-alfuveDZagxeA0cw6Y6qunKVwJk8DNV16-_mBjF4U1_faSLfXZeSc4TOLHOcnsTTOfKq1SKG70Dvnw/s320/NaturalistFrontCover.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g6FTGXokGTB930q7Uv5DfhNTqXU-dxJFp0BLcxTv7YHhGdJPIoqk-hpOOVaniY0ytXTFhiHLWZwb9XzYlSHsbtmBrv5UTGXdmzKMRGAHAduFpjTXWviZ75Fe0BwkY0_68VwDZVUazSY/s475/VPYM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="287" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3g6FTGXokGTB930q7Uv5DfhNTqXU-dxJFp0BLcxTv7YHhGdJPIoqk-hpOOVaniY0ytXTFhiHLWZwb9XzYlSHsbtmBrv5UTGXdmzKMRGAHAduFpjTXWviZ75Fe0BwkY0_68VwDZVUazSY/s320/VPYM.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pict2_Ol9b7BkgDUeSyAi4AwiPIHygVTzrsNjGPVty-vn8s5FJ9IBrhxO80IhSzasiGpLxI_TM9lD0uvd-9xXNMrbb9NIIsQ_qDV1O9wknV_vCMv3DazutyBsyAIU3ITT-sO3XHza4U/s2048/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7pict2_Ol9b7BkgDUeSyAi4AwiPIHygVTzrsNjGPVty-vn8s5FJ9IBrhxO80IhSzasiGpLxI_TM9lD0uvd-9xXNMrbb9NIIsQ_qDV1O9wknV_vCMv3DazutyBsyAIU3ITT-sO3XHza4U/s320/Dudley_SchoolForLove_EbookCover.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Okay, now for a little FAQ:<div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Q</span>: Do I have to have read <i>The Naturalist</i> and <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i> first?<br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A</span>: Nah. This isn't Harry Potter. You can jump in at any point. Though there is plenty of overlap between books of characters and even timelines, they stand alone fine. (Or you could use the month ahead of you to read the first two in the series!)</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Q</span>: Why is it only available to pre-order on Kindle right now? <br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A</span>: Because it's easiest and cheapest, and I don't have a publishing house behind me! Kathy made me a paperback cover, and I may tackle a paperback version when I have more time, but that time is not now. And, while I'd have to charge you $11.99 for a paperback, because they're so much more expensive to produce, a Kindle version can be $5.99.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Q</span>: What if I don't have a Kindle?<br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A:</span> You can read on your phone or computer or tablet--anywhere you can download the Kindle app. OR, you could buy yourself a Kindle for like $50 or less on Amazon Prime Day (Oct 13-14 this year). I love my Kindle and keep it in my purse so I always have dozens of books to read, and, in these COVID days, it's nice to download books from the library for free with no hassle. We are a five-Kindle family, actually, so bonafide, card-carrying members of the Evil Empire. <br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Q</span>: What is a pre-order?<br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A</span>: You pay now, and, on the release date, the book automatically downloads to you. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Q</span>: Will there be a launch party or a reading?<br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A</span>: Sigh. No Regency dancing and negus for us this time around (see "2020"). But I may do an online reading or giant Zoom book club (we could all "attend" with our best Regency hairstyles, like Rosemary's on the cover), with questions submitted in the chat. And I would always be happy to Zoom in for your book club. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for reading and sticking with me on this journey. I so appreciate it and all your encouragement. One more time: click <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KJQ1NPR?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a> </span>to pre-order!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-3546824935213750032020-08-13T08:13:00.000-07:002020-08-13T08:13:36.078-07:00Back from the Dead<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZiMH_IRzjEBzdYBgDcXW7eU3vKemCpIvQyL3B_T2Y6TfqirrrHKboVyHFISoEw9E-JsJkrHwP1LxuDGJ1y2ZLtENqusVD1og6mQymMypfCyiM0hTRNCD2QMDJgH-k2FoMZ05yb-uMsc/s2048/neonbrand-C6TExpu8Znk-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1493" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjZiMH_IRzjEBzdYBgDcXW7eU3vKemCpIvQyL3B_T2Y6TfqirrrHKboVyHFISoEw9E-JsJkrHwP1LxuDGJ1y2ZLtENqusVD1og6mQymMypfCyiM0hTRNCD2QMDJgH-k2FoMZ05yb-uMsc/w292-h400/neonbrand-C6TExpu8Znk-unsplash.jpg" title="Mwahahaha! Bet you never thought you'd see me again." width="292" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>What can I say? Raising teenagers and going back to work took it out of me, and I didn't write for quite some time. But now, with two in "college" (that is, studying remotely) and a job that is now homebound (thanks, COVID), I found myself inspired again. Heck--if Stephenie Meyer can put out<i> Midnight Sun</i> fifteen years after <i>Twilight</i>, what's a six-year wait?<p></p><p>I've got two works in progress: the next installment of the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series, <i>School for Love</i>, and another contemporary novel, with the working title of <i>Andrea</i>.</p>I'm hoping to finish <i>School for Love</i> and get out a Kindle edition before the end of this benighted year 2020. This installment picks up right before where <i>A Very Plain Young Man </i>left off. We circle back to the squire's cousin Hugh and family and see what happens to them after Elfie chooses her own adventure. Funny thing is, I was a few chapters into writing <i>Andrea</i> when I decided to re-read <i>The Naturalist </i>and <i>A Very Plain Young Man</i>. Diving back into that world was such fun that I shoved <i>Andrea</i> to the side and went back to revisit the early chapters of <i>School for Love</i> that I'd drafted back in 2015.<div><br /></div><div>Stay tuned. Oh--and maybe get yourself a Kindle or other e-reader. What with COVID and all, I don't think I'm up to a print edition this go-round, and I'm guessing book launch parties will be out for a while...<br /></div>www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-56251238438626886222018-11-25T15:11:00.002-08:002018-11-26T19:18:44.851-08:00Favorite Reads of 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
The lovely thing about doing a "favorite reads of 20__" post is that you're only expected to post once per year. Though I could see this slipping to "favorite reads of the past decade," given enough time.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77cPRmghWV1Vc4VyYZBf0YqfLt_bjSOKWdSHY2Mp1Ydv3Ca1lVDYr4IuycKm4-h3a0AMu1hhnw5n-Eec4Of1nGihF1E233cHreE0fMTLqM3oI9sP-uv-CU_rraXM2u0mH_GvwyN6Ovts/s1600/sharon-mccutcheon-532782-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77cPRmghWV1Vc4VyYZBf0YqfLt_bjSOKWdSHY2Mp1Ydv3Ca1lVDYr4IuycKm4-h3a0AMu1hhnw5n-Eec4Of1nGihF1E233cHreE0fMTLqM3oI9sP-uv-CU_rraXM2u0mH_GvwyN6Ovts/s320/sharon-mccutcheon-532782-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/eMP4sYPJ9x0?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Sharon McCutcheon</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "san francisco" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "ubuntu" , "roboto" , "noto" , "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/books?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you're going book-shopping for loved ones and don't want to give them just the latest bestseller, this list is for you because (1) I never seem to have read the latest bestsellers; and (2) you never know if your recipients have already read the latest bestsellers.<br />
<br />
I do apologize that I don't have any YA this year. I <i>did</i> read some YA, but they were all ones you've heard of (or else I didn't like them). But a couple of the books would be appropriate for teenage readers, if only because you aren't assaulted by constant sex scenes. I also apologize for odd formatting and font changes in this post. Odd things happen when you cut and paste in Blogger, things that aren't worth fussing about and fixing.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;">GENERAL FICTION</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYaf1S_lvKbC9uoO1cXRCtV9kZCIV_IBroiHrZ4UL2sP6w7AQjeVKi1Q9bCK8S5c5jBBjttukYZkw-wrPvglvsH4DAUj-46ssgh23bzpXrp839Pb1h4oScvbFdIl9cpMGwwAQgrwz11Ho/s1600/60931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYaf1S_lvKbC9uoO1cXRCtV9kZCIV_IBroiHrZ4UL2sP6w7AQjeVKi1Q9bCK8S5c5jBBjttukYZkw-wrPvglvsH4DAUj-46ssgh23bzpXrp839Pb1h4oScvbFdIl9cpMGwwAQgrwz11Ho/s320/60931.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i>Kindred</i> by Octavia E. Butler mysteriously gets classified sometimes as sci-fi because Butler went on to write typically sci-fi sci-fi, but this is really fiction with some time travel. And, because it takes place in both the 1970s and pre-Civil-War, it's more like historical fiction. The African-American protagonist is connected mystically in time to one of her white(!), slave-owning(!) forbears and keeps getting sucked back to his time, with heavy consequences to herself.<br />
<br />
If you or your loved one prefer dress-up historical fiction, with Colin-Firth-like gentlemen and nice costumes, this is <b>not </b>the book to buy. But if you like an unputdownable story with complex characters and gray situations and a heavy dose of reality, don't miss this one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCtjYLUEaYZYerUdjSv1axxf0toQPa2EjDj_e2V_8Qu57wGM96wjVgcADQj0VP49DRza6vabl5PC5M6ulo8WGrn5UF-Wv788-ueRhjE19LTs3u0Yze_mXMH10vK8GGEHfEzGbAMcPp7E/s1600/12875258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCtjYLUEaYZYerUdjSv1axxf0toQPa2EjDj_e2V_8Qu57wGM96wjVgcADQj0VP49DRza6vabl5PC5M6ulo8WGrn5UF-Wv788-ueRhjE19LTs3u0Yze_mXMH10vK8GGEHfEzGbAMcPp7E/s320/12875258.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
And now for something completely different. A girl's beloved uncle dies of AIDS, back when no one was certain how AIDS was contracted, and plenty of fear and stigma was attached. She deals with grief, love, sibling warfare, distant parents, and that painful transition to wisdom. I loved this book. Some readers were freaked out by the absent parents, but, being a latch-key kid myself, let's just say it was way easier to have an exciting life back when all the adults weren't helicoptering around.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ih7EMHq3RvmvunJ1z-ZhRLKF1bntJJA1dnYrEfWPtQheFAFrtPm5VhnhYibBhYGehvl6yHoZnah59jXBvEbAIHR2DQCwoTE3tVfMv6gqTvlV8S_uKgiz4oRoj847p1E61CtI8X0v3aU/s1600/35959740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ih7EMHq3RvmvunJ1z-ZhRLKF1bntJJA1dnYrEfWPtQheFAFrtPm5VhnhYibBhYGehvl6yHoZnah59jXBvEbAIHR2DQCwoTE3tVfMv6gqTvlV8S_uKgiz4oRoj847p1E61CtI8X0v3aU/s320/35959740.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Okay, I know I said I wouldn't include bestsellers, and this one <i>was</i> a bestseller, but it wasn't like every book club in America took this one on. Madeline Miller loves her Homer. <i>The Song of Achilles</i> made me attempt (unsuccessfully) to read <i>The Iliad</i>, and now her <i>Circe</i> made me at least consider for half an hour re-reading <i>The Odyssey</i>. A beautiful, lyrical read.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #741b47;">MYSTERY</span></h3>
<div>
Confession: not my favorite genre. But I did really enjoy this one this year:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsM0sofHdLLYr6H2NmePnhkGRQbsyGbloJEmq8IFLeMpD-jBvSKxXf-9t9whHwpBILX_XQMT_LvivxSJJQLD1__wdGWz39lUSisk9prQ5joy66Ar5QhqSbbX-VLSZx7yYTEyelgPJaks/s1600/32075854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsM0sofHdLLYr6H2NmePnhkGRQbsyGbloJEmq8IFLeMpD-jBvSKxXf-9t9whHwpBILX_XQMT_LvivxSJJQLD1__wdGWz39lUSisk9prQ5joy66Ar5QhqSbbX-VLSZx7yYTEyelgPJaks/s320/32075854.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">This meta-mystery was brilliant and fun. In the frame story, an editor gets the latest manuscript from the agency's star mystery writer and spends the weekend reading it. Along with her, we get sucked into an Agatha-Christie-esque story about a couple murders in a country village and the many suspects who all had motives. Just when you've forgotten the frame story, back it comes, and thereafter the frame and the novel-within-a-novel begin to dovetail. I was totally sucked in and enjoyed every minute.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I was sorry to discover that this same author had written spy novels for middle-grade boys because, if I suggested them now to my 17YO, he would just roll his eyes, but I bet he would have loved them years ago.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #990000;">ROMANCE/BEACH READ</span></h3>
<br />
Supposing you're looking for something lighter. These were fun.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAL4QSdjXJLJagSTgC9C5SFRxt_OA7iFQJeqev0bB7Rxadmu9a2BZ95BEd_2wa6IqNatWYSDkhuFGIvK3yqHIRbnYTuq3CQ7-4vBQrUuMOwGzPyAUL-b7imMGqinAGeNF_0IPTl3J58o/s1600/17707787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="272" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAL4QSdjXJLJagSTgC9C5SFRxt_OA7iFQJeqev0bB7Rxadmu9a2BZ95BEd_2wa6IqNatWYSDkhuFGIvK3yqHIRbnYTuq3CQ7-4vBQrUuMOwGzPyAUL-b7imMGqinAGeNF_0IPTl3J58o/s320/17707787.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
<br />
Super fun read about a childhood arranged marriage gone sideways and a Bollywood-director younger brother who dispatches himself to clean up the mess. It was half-madcap, half-somewhat-serious (some child abuse and abandonment), with a dash of immigrant loneliness and a couple sex scenes, one kinda cheesy. I really enjoyed the freshness of the opening setting in India and its contrast with Yspilanti, Michigan, of all places. And the Bollywood stuff was pure froth. The definition of a beach read.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtZeKZ7hCb4ob43uxrt4xv_cWRqT7F6lm8iixwfS4fMkM0uT1TcAu7-kkIzFhQDwUm6d7TZMk_XlfaSKeD_e8k7pn_1ZmoS1K7y0DzpdMxoi4SPzNMBTn-kR2PbJ0WCm8zCdnBaI_kX4/s1600/25262210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggtZeKZ7hCb4ob43uxrt4xv_cWRqT7F6lm8iixwfS4fMkM0uT1TcAu7-kkIzFhQDwUm6d7TZMk_XlfaSKeD_e8k7pn_1ZmoS1K7y0DzpdMxoi4SPzNMBTn-kR2PbJ0WCm8zCdnBaI_kX4/s320/25262210.jpg" width="208" /></a>Then there was this one from Eva Ibbotson, which sometimes gets classified as YA because, I suppose, the one sex scene isn't full of technical detail. (Am I the only one who likes the subtlety of a fade-out, rather than the author going to the thesaurus for new ways to say "his manhood" and such?) Anywho, this one is set before and during WWII, and involves a British naturalist professor rescuing an Austrian somewhat-Jewish girl through a marriage of convenience. The romance is there, but so is a host of wonderful and sometimes hilarious supporting characters. Eva Ibbotson is always good for a few snorts of laughter and plenty of smiles as you read. And I encouraged my fifteen-year-old daughter to read it, since we'd both loved Ibbotson's middle-grade <i>Journey to the River Sea</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #0b5394;">NONFICTION</span></h3>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
For those who love history of science and/or history of technology, this is a fascinating one by Simon Winchester:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3G-IvAkY-pCfcDxx7ERS5wIjrcPDw_uCSMVwnLetpvfbApCzrGtQO5xKTPLswMWvUE9MMHfRapPJDvdzao12rO3xh5k1DvQVu1wBNQnLeiJP1dPnn11iF1JJOKqXxc7_J49KmWIb9qw/s1600/35068671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="269" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3G-IvAkY-pCfcDxx7ERS5wIjrcPDw_uCSMVwnLetpvfbApCzrGtQO5xKTPLswMWvUE9MMHfRapPJDvdzao12rO3xh5k1DvQVu1wBNQnLeiJP1dPnn11iF1JJOKqXxc7_J49KmWIb9qw/s320/35068671.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
I originally read it to see if my son would like it. He never got around to reading it, but I loved it. How did the perfecting of precision change the world? Winchester traces the history of precision engineering from the rise of the industrial age to the present, from the inside of a cannon to outer space. You'll want a Seiko watch and a Rolls-Royce after you read this book.<br />
<br />
For history buffs, give this one a go:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHY1Ufejkquk7yz8PlkZmT4mOQB2aGutognH_CDKqjKPEjB7eRGrK5RBtTSd7ZFjj747jAHZLNFoeqz5X6AdK81ueWlooDpO2cVpDUXcrdlbbWHx4ToZCu8vl01U14dBlCwmZ-CMb-m8/s1600/36622725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHY1Ufejkquk7yz8PlkZmT4mOQB2aGutognH_CDKqjKPEjB7eRGrK5RBtTSd7ZFjj747jAHZLNFoeqz5X6AdK81ueWlooDpO2cVpDUXcrdlbbWHx4ToZCu8vl01U14dBlCwmZ-CMb-m8/s320/36622725.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I re</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">ally enjoyed and learned from this fascinating and global and surprisingly amusing history of the physical walls we humans have built over the millenia, right up to the present time. First there were nomads and barbarians to keep out, lest they rape and pillage repeatedly, as they were wont to do. (The Mongols get a long treatment, deservedly. ) Then there were ideological walls between political systems. And now we build them worldwide to keep out folks we don't want. They may not rape and pillage anymore, but they do often drain the social services or increase threats of terrorism in some countries. I had no idea of all the walls that have gone up along borders all around the world! Clinton, the Bushes, Obama, and Trump were actually late to the wall-building party, with the American border wall, though they've ALL built and maintained it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE2WjaQ7hqLHBaxN7X_2tgUp2TbRoPJlXg7Fok5ohrnnRAJvIQPka1kzp-QBIkmm6s0tBIC-wxUlPCnLwgg6xD9UJw-g1JPvUzbhSRadMzvoOISuo2lIsmzPsGXCb0M9I3khEbbsqbL_Y/s1600/9530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE2WjaQ7hqLHBaxN7X_2tgUp2TbRoPJlXg7Fok5ohrnnRAJvIQPka1kzp-QBIkmm6s0tBIC-wxUlPCnLwgg6xD9UJw-g1JPvUzbhSRadMzvoOISuo2lIsmzPsGXCb0M9I3khEbbsqbL_Y/s1600/9530.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">And then there was this well-written, page-turning read about deep-sea divers who visit shipwrecks and one day get the coordinates of a WWII German U-boat that no seems able to account for. Not only were the diving perils thrilling, but also the gradual solving of the mystery and piecing together of history. It even contains a satisfying bromance!</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">(If you want to avoid spoilers, don't look at the photos until the end because they give away almost every plot twist.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #38761d;">DISASTER</span></span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Two clear winners this year:</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmFe5e-LLKuFVpAuFnr1mJ5OGLHLk0DNoj9La8VqTLSdLtdkb7v7HJGWjavZ7mNF-IxOk8WyUKIJznixE2MTHH2HDSy3ay0IkKaP_riUoPnFkNfbYRtkrLTZC95LZ7SE_FUSAy2tuwXo/s1600/36373560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmFe5e-LLKuFVpAuFnr1mJ5OGLHLk0DNoj9La8VqTLSdLtdkb7v7HJGWjavZ7mNF-IxOk8WyUKIJznixE2MTHH2HDSy3ay0IkKaP_riUoPnFkNfbYRtkrLTZC95LZ7SE_FUSAy2tuwXo/s320/36373560.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div>
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">A truly excellent book. Well-told, well-researched, comprehensive, and satisfying. I've read several books about the Indianapolis (all of them wonderful, really) and its sinking by torpedo at the end of the war, after which the survivors drifted in the ocean for four days before anyone happened upon them. But I'd forgotten or never known that the ship and crew had just finished delivering The Bombs that brought about the Japanese surrender, and I didn't know either about the nice occupatio of how the man who captained a navy sub, named for the Indianapolis, helped bring about the exoneration of Captain McVay. The ending passages, about the shipwreck's discovery, were perfect.<br /><table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;"><br />And, if shipwreck isn't your thing, I also loved</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofzEkJwBXDsS3qSLxc4xjj8PjN-bep636Zk9BkIQdc0tm-H7QAa8xr4PduZtXdDy1sYYiHgljFHUjP9JCOt05F6X8EEplmVz5rx4A2jaPLooacTy0AKBLaYpSP_lIoi6DKxGmeSg-D1E/s1600/13149874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofzEkJwBXDsS3qSLxc4xjj8PjN-bep636Zk9BkIQdc0tm-H7QAa8xr4PduZtXdDy1sYYiHgljFHUjP9JCOt05F6X8EEplmVz5rx4A2jaPLooacTy0AKBLaYpSP_lIoi6DKxGmeSg-D1E/s320/13149874.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div>
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This was a good one for mountaineering-disaster fans. It was great to read one that talked about the ethnic groups in Nepal, Tibet, and Pakistan, and the impact of all those comparatively wealthy western climbers who feel the need to climb the world's tallest mountains.</span><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="background-color: #cfe2f3; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">BIOGRAPHY</span></span></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">If you love books that you worry/hope you'll never finish, and you've already read Doris Kearns Goodwin's and David McCullough's history books, Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn't the only one who loves Ron Chernow biographies. The latest, about Ulysses S. Grant, is no exception to Chernow's thorough excellence.</span></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 14px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHErn28Ek6X2lrZkXtbP0TmyKvWedR7E25pTE_0bZyiTaItc_lKPGOo9AeaU1J9zkKbDvh8yFIVLpPipCmTwbaXNEifZrOCSs8MflJd5fAIQSpIcwrI_ZX1E5l2p-1KGWeVgt9xvZRMs/s1600/34237826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHErn28Ek6X2lrZkXtbP0TmyKvWedR7E25pTE_0bZyiTaItc_lKPGOo9AeaU1J9zkKbDvh8yFIVLpPipCmTwbaXNEifZrOCSs8MflJd5fAIQSpIcwrI_ZX1E5l2p-1KGWeVgt9xvZRMs/s1600/34237826.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Through Appomattox this was hard for this Civil-War buff to put down, and even after the end of the war </span>I learned tons about Grant's presidencies and Reconstruction, having had no idea of his battle against the KKK and the southern Democrats who murdered and terrorized blacks to keep them from the polls. Grant certainly deserves this revival of interest in him for his work toward peace and civil rights.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">If your loved one prefers lighter fare and sunbonnets, how about</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwbfZVyGzR7HADL-FChiJ61MCPRziZ7IrVWRxCDh2WBxTfzwJvmefMcE8zbBciz5Eit-916sE5mSZapMlkV-YgCYxk4_BKlapV4v-_aQ3THVg7x2FbdtdJwBWdxBTQCihyE9o6IYIJ5g/s1600/33911349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwbfZVyGzR7HADL-FChiJ61MCPRziZ7IrVWRxCDh2WBxTfzwJvmefMcE8zbBciz5Eit-916sE5mSZapMlkV-YgCYxk4_BKlapV4v-_aQ3THVg7x2FbdtdJwBWdxBTQCihyE9o6IYIJ5g/s320/33911349.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">A well-researched must-read for LIW fans, which is just about every girl on earth. When the author covers the years also covered in the books, there isn't a lot to learn, but the books are so beloved that you hardly mind. Actually, for hardcore fans, a LOT is familiar, except for discovering Rose was even more of a hot mess than you'd ever imagined. I wish there were some illustrations, but these are quibbles. Though I've only ever visited Plum Creek, Walnut Grove, and the outside of one of Rose's places in SF, I was happy to learn LIW eventually got to see and go other places I've been. The family ends sadly, and saddest of all is how LIW didn't see Ma before she died or even at all, the decades (!) after Pa died.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span class="readable reviewText" style="background-color: #fce5cd; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">SCIENCE</span></span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Just one for ya, but it sure was thrilling, if you like biology.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1f5nJr-j0TPmGOlp-tww8Jy5dF41KwpjvL6xRQRrT0oc7y4fF-RQ9EY4b9iAd8BJIZNPR5Ghn9MoHfzRHy09f4fdkku0q-QPFNrvurWeAQLyawX0UpLX9wwuXD7uYb272pDTKqi_7Nw/s1600/36373639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1f5nJr-j0TPmGOlp-tww8Jy5dF41KwpjvL6xRQRrT0oc7y4fF-RQ9EY4b9iAd8BJIZNPR5Ghn9MoHfzRHy09f4fdkku0q-QPFNrvurWeAQLyawX0UpLX9wwuXD7uYb272pDTKqi_7Nw/s320/36373639.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div>
<table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="color: #181818; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">A lot has changed since I took AP Biology in 1985-6! Back then it was classic Darwin and prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and the reason some bacteria were antibiotic-resistant was because they were descended from the few survivors with some random mutation that gave them resistance. ALL WRONG. ALL CHANGED.<br /><br />This book was absolutely fascinating (if you like history of science) and biology and thinking about how we come to be where we are, biologically speaking. If you've never heard of molecular phylogeny or horizontal gene transfer, as I hadn't, the book provides clear and compelling explanations. I did ask my 17YO son if he'd been taught these things last year in his own AP Bio class, and I'm happy to report he was. Knowledge marches onward, though author Quammen is very clear that science is a messy, egotistical business, as are all endeavors involving human beings.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i><br />And there you have it. The best of 2018 in a nutshell. Hope you find something in this list for your own to-read pile or for someone else!</i></span></span><br />
<h3>
</h3>
<span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<span class="readable reviewText" style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-72734915044817775152017-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:002017-12-01T12:24:20.610-08:00Favorite Books Read in 2017So I missed Black Friday and Small Business Saturday (my favorite local small bookstore closed anyhow), but I was just enjoying John Medina's <i>Brain Rules for Aging Well</i>, and thought, "I love this book! Everyone should read this book!" Which leads me to my yearly list of possible gift inspiration for ya.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNYL2XdPAgNTaRWSaEHNKGSWC7qR5oJaaNTy5l28CXX-Q84no5VVbYQhBULFTF8-1Cd8WmPZjQ7c2o9Q1SRj00F2i8LrPDHBHHEPfMdp3j-RjEm1EG_SAHGZ6lMIKa_0QzXT_Fs5ttZo/s1600/glen-noble-18012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNYL2XdPAgNTaRWSaEHNKGSWC7qR5oJaaNTy5l28CXX-Q84no5VVbYQhBULFTF8-1Cd8WmPZjQ7c2o9Q1SRj00F2i8LrPDHBHHEPfMdp3j-RjEm1EG_SAHGZ6lMIKa_0QzXT_Fs5ttZo/s320/glen-noble-18012.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What the inside of my Kindle secretly looks like. [Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/o4-YyGi5JBc?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Glen Noble</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip: ink; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out, opacity 0.2s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
According to Goodreads, I read 129 books January-November, but I didn't finish six of them, and there were maybe another four that I started and so disliked that I just deleted them from Goodreads. So let's say 123 books. Anywho, some of them were <i>marvelous</i>! Anything I mention here I gave 5 stars.<br />
<br />
1 star = I probably just deleted it. Unless the author is dead and won't have his/her feelings hurt by a 1-star review. (<i>Sanctuary</i> by William Faulkner fit this category. I read it for the <a href="http://christinadudley.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-bestseller-puzzle-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge</a> and absolutely loathed it.)<br />
<br />
2 stars = also rare. I've pretty much stopped reviewing these books too, for reason above.<br />
<br />
3 stars = I liked the book enough to finish it.<br />
<br />
4 stars = I really liked the book and was spellbound by at least parts of it.<br />
<br />
5 stars = I loved it and tore through it.<br />
<br />
Let's start with <span style="font-size: large;">fiction</span>.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">Favorite Recent Books</span>:</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4qDgg-VuHZJAjtRq1Y7fw-WIbxAFXDhJHdHlMIvv1M1AZZC1E4NwUce6g56N0xDboDD56mWOFeJMaNFPUe6ujfhVkazsYBsqREI-GK0NfSF1H4seQBElSnaVAL_wOUgFq93kxSX6J3E/s1600/25817528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4qDgg-VuHZJAjtRq1Y7fw-WIbxAFXDhJHdHlMIvv1M1AZZC1E4NwUce6g56N0xDboDD56mWOFeJMaNFPUe6ujfhVkazsYBsqREI-GK0NfSF1H4seQBElSnaVAL_wOUgFq93kxSX6J3E/s320/25817528.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
If you love old Hollywood movies and <i>Sunset Boulevard</i> and stories with precocious kids, this was great fun.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtGcxhwV3rxB7Q13QTkHAHV7ZM4epqdETcEUQAXe2S8ufF2SSVIZED7tP2HHleZtm7Xh5ngWNf2Yllf-y7X_sX5tPLKeVDGjtEyBtFmgSAAbeGw08vCSeNzcYNI4PAbw_9aND0F2eeV4/s1600/26795307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtGcxhwV3rxB7Q13QTkHAHV7ZM4epqdETcEUQAXe2S8ufF2SSVIZED7tP2HHleZtm7Xh5ngWNf2Yllf-y7X_sX5tPLKeVDGjtEyBtFmgSAAbeGw08vCSeNzcYNI4PAbw_9aND0F2eeV4/s320/26795307.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
This fictionalized version of his grandfather's life was funny and moving and beautifully written. The only problem is that your recipient may already have read it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-B0Fpe2wlkF5-o2L4Fnd1cWztDgdo2ozrM7a0bTIgBiuPOxcByxPFgMkgknhM9_f0Im6yhCvoxVAHh_iJz5ygavic8hS-SxTxGIXGVYQHoG3MNFAvfykqDzw7WYO5b_LP3NgKBcosAos/s1600/30753698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-B0Fpe2wlkF5-o2L4Fnd1cWztDgdo2ozrM7a0bTIgBiuPOxcByxPFgMkgknhM9_f0Im6yhCvoxVAHh_iJz5ygavic8hS-SxTxGIXGVYQHoG3MNFAvfykqDzw7WYO5b_LP3NgKBcosAos/s320/30753698.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
Also great fun. My teenage son read it, too. Just know ahead of time that the teenage boys are trying to steal a copy of the Vanna White <i>Playboy</i> issue, so if that's a problem for you, you've been warned.<br />
<br />
And, if you yourself are looking for a good read (i.e., free from the library because it's old), my favorite older fiction books were <i>The Godfather </i>by Mario Puzo and <i>Roots</i> by Alex Haley.<br />
<br />
Hmm... I seem to have read a lot of <span style="font-size: large;">nonfiction </span>this year.<br />
<br />
<i>For the true-crime lover:</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lwtccQOc3ebHxvBYTomJGyfY64KRc1AoWqPY0afUHg7xmxUd3-Lxv3p-KDkOM0PhuqxSwLLiK9diP0KFGqpo0UTEZuzYPpyaU9uEBF6yHdzLHBVwSpp-L5ZmYfiq_Z9ymjMochf1QAQ/s1600/32919543.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lwtccQOc3ebHxvBYTomJGyfY64KRc1AoWqPY0afUHg7xmxUd3-Lxv3p-KDkOM0PhuqxSwLLiK9diP0KFGqpo0UTEZuzYPpyaU9uEBF6yHdzLHBVwSpp-L5ZmYfiq_Z9ymjMochf1QAQ/s320/32919543.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Baseball lovers might recognize that name from the famed founder of Sabermetrics. James applies his love of research and statistics to solving a serial killer mystery and does so in (I think) convincing fashion. If you don't like to read about axe murderers, obviously this isn't the book for you.<br />
<br />
F<i>or those dealing with fading brains in themselves or loved ones:</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RfFsYRgKKyCWxC2AIww0ETKwRftusagdONp8kPN2rDCOxvtUHhZZii4nqgp65LPm6N89-nZgHDUaP7FBx_XVDo7o00cM7HeamOecIVVqUjZA3UPNUatpYyMxxkaUBA25n0k-TPsfA8E/s1600/34219837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RfFsYRgKKyCWxC2AIww0ETKwRftusagdONp8kPN2rDCOxvtUHhZZii4nqgp65LPm6N89-nZgHDUaP7FBx_XVDo7o00cM7HeamOecIVVqUjZA3UPNUatpYyMxxkaUBA25n0k-TPsfA8E/s320/34219837.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
A rather hopeful book of various treatments and terribly interesting. As was<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQZgVXS4f1zT6jhsH8_LQBwz56wLem-5XOY86Zub8iRnPOgIdmCLSb_nTIn3cXKgE8m1jgWAG56pNqWvn3sgiCEHg7r9B9sU5KRxFILau2-Sy9nz_Zc8_AdSPDB4yBC409JdnE6-OvkM/s1600/570172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQZgVXS4f1zT6jhsH8_LQBwz56wLem-5XOY86Zub8iRnPOgIdmCLSb_nTIn3cXKgE8m1jgWAG56pNqWvn3sgiCEHg7r9B9sU5KRxFILau2-Sy9nz_Zc8_AdSPDB4yBC409JdnE6-OvkM/s320/570172.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
I love brain books. This one has hope for just about every brain condition. Exciting!<br />
<br />
<i>For WWII lovers:</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVUyAwXyCYDqghA1xu-5Q6-gTvCdjXGj2tHKJWvb23O78f2TRNg0xFnYxutVQm9Pbtu-eCSSZJuJV8GGPsTfZrtUA3eQvayjCPLUfR75qmXeUq2mNMDja5DliXm-r2dHdze4Kxi4x1S4/s1600/30753793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVUyAwXyCYDqghA1xu-5Q6-gTvCdjXGj2tHKJWvb23O78f2TRNg0xFnYxutVQm9Pbtu-eCSSZJuJV8GGPsTfZrtUA3eQvayjCPLUfR75qmXeUq2mNMDja5DliXm-r2dHdze4Kxi4x1S4/s320/30753793.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
It's not <i>Unbroken</i>, but it's a compelling story in itself and likely to appeal to those who enjoy that era and genre. Probably my stepfather will be getting this one.<br />
<br />
<i>For American history lovers:</i><br />
Speaking of my stepfather, I already foisted this one on him, and he found it just as exciting as I did. It's got Comanches, mutual scalpings, kidnapped folks, horse tricks--what more could you ask for?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHHCCuyWtw9-nl_AUcL1dWNn_3PR0Lq6f4rdgcc4F3ihWFZ9hIutSb9qoKlv1gwLcdIuA0MPUAW9K-caRVPSbfn3pf_wKgpEs_m3BRFrItM_vYVDj4g-jY1la-Xlb7ijFopDdSltWRxQ/s1600/7648269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="275" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHHCCuyWtw9-nl_AUcL1dWNn_3PR0Lq6f4rdgcc4F3ihWFZ9hIutSb9qoKlv1gwLcdIuA0MPUAW9K-caRVPSbfn3pf_wKgpEs_m3BRFrItM_vYVDj4g-jY1la-Xlb7ijFopDdSltWRxQ/s320/7648269.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>And because I always throw in adventure/survival...</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFaARmrI0gRdS0vhMjAAELCAelk1xggUYv-865a8SUTzM9KrsH2e0mg8LyAKe1yOnygiqJlChW-FA1QEHg56YsiBiSvs0OrLdgKWZEClI4b3Vh7tQs09PPpgE2DBx8PYLyNngXT453ls/s1600/22750354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFaARmrI0gRdS0vhMjAAELCAelk1xggUYv-865a8SUTzM9KrsH2e0mg8LyAKe1yOnygiqJlChW-FA1QEHg56YsiBiSvs0OrLdgKWZEClI4b3Vh7tQs09PPpgE2DBx8PYLyNngXT453ls/s320/22750354.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<br />
I have no desire to be uncomfortable or climb even the nearest hill, but I sure like to read about it. Danger, freezing to death, crevasses, explorers...wonderful!<br />
<br />
Oh, and I should mention that I got my fourteen-year-old daughter to read Elizabeth Gaskell's <i>Wives and Daughters</i> finally, and of course she enjoyed it. And my teenage son and I both liked this one:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4RQzxkY_dXxAqim2r1YvTGyMDz5ca-AOjQWgemPtoBcBtILob1BsNzGpVAKVA52Ro4CeZrCwbktctw6w9wl-bdHzk2GDyEgk5SrGf0RkQUumZkMg5OHUt9CLFmoN8GBmrJ7Y2POb58Q/s1600/18222843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4RQzxkY_dXxAqim2r1YvTGyMDz5ca-AOjQWgemPtoBcBtILob1BsNzGpVAKVA52Ro4CeZrCwbktctw6w9wl-bdHzk2GDyEgk5SrGf0RkQUumZkMg5OHUt9CLFmoN8GBmrJ7Y2POb58Q/s320/18222843.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Materials science at its most anecdotal and interesting.<br />
<br />
Hope this helps!<br />
<br />www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-74863347052489870122017-06-23T13:45:00.002-07:002017-06-23T13:45:27.257-07:00Books for a Warm WeekendFor those keeping track, I'm 3/4 done with the <a href="http://christinadudley.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-bestseller-puzzle-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge</a> and have four more mini-reviews for you. I just kept forgetting to post them until my 14YO got out the puzzle and put it together again.<br />
<br />
There's good news and bad news, and since we always lead with the bad...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz00Di553dELiFgRGgSRnGQNWk3bfj1lbyTSOJPzjk99zF_RYz1jHfeNbWNzzXkohUj5jvAvlTOlRIjsBAeKCmQbxVemFrZ_C15PAP3Y0_ozjU2wza0y7CFu9IE-8NCzsd_BoSkXB4v8g/s1600/IMG_1407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz00Di553dELiFgRGgSRnGQNWk3bfj1lbyTSOJPzjk99zF_RYz1jHfeNbWNzzXkohUj5jvAvlTOlRIjsBAeKCmQbxVemFrZ_C15PAP3Y0_ozjU2wza0y7CFu9IE-8NCzsd_BoSkXB4v8g/s320/IMG_1407.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Woo, mama, I hated this book. See that jigsaw line cut right under Temple Drake's nose? That should've been my first clue that this book was a stinker. Awful characters behaving awfully, and the whole thing compounded by Faulkner's penchant for hiding the ball. That is, his tendency to disguise what is actually <i>going on</i> by making the prose difficult to plow through. It's totally worth the effort in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying" target="_blank">As I Lay Dying</a></i> (still my favorite Faulkner book, though, to be sure, I haven't encountered much competition in the four books total I've read of his), but in <i>Sanctuary</i>, though he dials it back, it's just annoying. Let me read an online plot summary, just to make sure the icky thing I thought happened actually happened. Yeah, it did.<br />
<br />
Basically, Temple Drake and drunken boyfriend end up crashing their car by a bootlegger's place, and things actually go downhill from there. Amazing.<br />
<br />
At least the cover made me feel better about my daughter's prom dress. Hoochy koochy dresses have always been in style. Let's just hope my girl doesn't go off the rails as badly as Temple Drake when she goes to college in a few months.<br />
<br />
Okay, that's it for the <i>bad </i>news. The next is really just mediocre news.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFFaP_zP545611cWr5yxdjFY6UzyIX0h5b5dyYSWasBfOcHp03n8DLXD_wsvRl8St2Q9XTeyyl6UuCT_NghRync6qY69VwZHSRNxKyGK9xkwNAVQ6OKgnyAUnctSYuRA0HXnxqFUvyho/s1600/IMG_1411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFFaP_zP545611cWr5yxdjFY6UzyIX0h5b5dyYSWasBfOcHp03n8DLXD_wsvRl8St2Q9XTeyyl6UuCT_NghRync6qY69VwZHSRNxKyGK9xkwNAVQ6OKgnyAUnctSYuRA0HXnxqFUvyho/s320/IMG_1411.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I had high hopes for this one. Having really enjoyed the original <i>Tarzan</i>, I thought this would be more of the same--super-fun pulp fiction. And this was fun at times, but the rest of the time you spent thinking what morons the other characters were for not figuring out the face behind the mask. After all, hadn't they read <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Pimpernel" target="_blank">The Scarlet Pimpernel</a>? </i>Didn't they know the mystery macho man surely had to be the most effete guy in the room to <i>throw them off the scent</i>??? Nevertheless, three stars for swashbuckling and a mildly interesting heroine.<br />
<br />
On to the good news.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmhfUE92G42-6ZH1sKLF2gN3KsaA_9xtYCrV2BzM3RfSNCtJP_MmAz8QVdlJN7XRGTFIpo_V3v-RB4MJfliV0SYRcJ-jICxY6MMyERp9661D9LXAXLomHc7cVJ6UCiLM0VjEvE5Jgh4c/s1600/IMG_1408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmhfUE92G42-6ZH1sKLF2gN3KsaA_9xtYCrV2BzM3RfSNCtJP_MmAz8QVdlJN7XRGTFIpo_V3v-RB4MJfliV0SYRcJ-jICxY6MMyERp9661D9LXAXLomHc7cVJ6UCiLM0VjEvE5Jgh4c/s320/IMG_1408.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Yes, I'd read some Sherlock Holmes before, and I skipped the stories in the collection which I'd read, but I was surprised to find how some details from the stories I hadn't yet read were used in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/?ref_=nv_sr_2" target="_blank">Robert-Downey-Jr-Jude-Law Holmes adaptations</a>. We could get into a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Cumberbatch</a>-vs.-Downey-Jr argument here, but I actually like both versions. Any way you slice it, Sherlock Holmes tends to be insufferable. Robert Downey Jr. plays him as endearingly so, and Benedict Cumberbatch as cold-but-hot. Judging by the book cover above, he looks cold-and-cold. Nice receding hairline, which explains the trademark hat he often wears in early adaptations. Fun. Four stars.<br />
<br />
Also fun and a quick read would be:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8lIjoWisXHKuSKNXLb9ftqsE6BEi3koxVUyi7EVdRGc8p7bbxLzr_dwD1015R-Q1gYUHOSy8P1Pod0STSq3zUs8TZVCQzMIAW74PQRuxiC6CsUmqHepk9BPe_XvMnnwlDW9di7TcqFL0/s1600/IMG_1409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8lIjoWisXHKuSKNXLb9ftqsE6BEi3koxVUyi7EVdRGc8p7bbxLzr_dwD1015R-Q1gYUHOSy8P1Pod0STSq3zUs8TZVCQzMIAW74PQRuxiC6CsUmqHepk9BPe_XvMnnwlDW9di7TcqFL0/s320/IMG_1409.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Mr. Gardner wrote gazillion Perry Mason stories and I'd read exactly zero. Nor do I think I'd pick more up, since this isn't really my genre, but it was fun while it lasted. Perry was clever; Della Street was capable; the femme fatale was present and accounted for. Four stars.<br />
<br />
Just a few more books to go before I complete the challenge, and I hope to get to them shortly. In the meantime, here are a couple recent favorite detours from my required list:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AO-3QZZUnJZUEWzgpPtNJsksmD3L6Ay37qkwtw9rxYN1hmIxpd-6duOirDM05n7GW3seGf_PB-duXvN7OSJF7LFJDYYXAgixIoYi5-W0g6Ugc-rZ0p3JCbv52CTO3CTZlKt9bH_tbnA/s1600/30753793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6AO-3QZZUnJZUEWzgpPtNJsksmD3L6Ay37qkwtw9rxYN1hmIxpd-6duOirDM05n7GW3seGf_PB-duXvN7OSJF7LFJDYYXAgixIoYi5-W0g6Ugc-rZ0p3JCbv52CTO3CTZlKt9bH_tbnA/s320/30753793.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
Nonfiction for fans of <i>Unbroken</i> and WWII. That is, everyone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfcq8pdAw15uWl6JhjO7JUNvGyezLYNoVFiI-4znuiBDkASena4-CFMlO289Ed2OKZu42IzkwGyoiLQFTH8SnuvT0iaA0vA6f7fH4EpQeG8Sf6Tz3EzkDoSsuk6FcziX6_4xLQqcoL9Y/s1600/6149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfcq8pdAw15uWl6JhjO7JUNvGyezLYNoVFiI-4znuiBDkASena4-CFMlO289Ed2OKZu42IzkwGyoiLQFTH8SnuvT0iaA0vA6f7fH4EpQeG8Sf6Tz3EzkDoSsuk6FcziX6_4xLQqcoL9Y/s320/6149.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<br />
Read this one instead of <i>Sanctuary</i>. Elliptical prose with a structural purpose. Much more compelling story. Ex-slave is haunted by her past. Literally. And this one will be featured in Literary Night 2017! (More on that later.)<br />
<br />
<br />
And, because sometimes you just want to scalp people:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbN7DZzNVgzzA7yo_PqHLBIZ41JvEMygbH3t6etoUi9w5Svsnd2akrJRQGCFxeNfc6cjktwcBAu7muk0j3wLVgJcDlO7sG6i8cDtE209XbJUZ5DXZ3Gs0OdHO0lnA9d_pkfzlKUWaCOzg/s1600/7648269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="275" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbN7DZzNVgzzA7yo_PqHLBIZ41JvEMygbH3t6etoUi9w5Svsnd2akrJRQGCFxeNfc6cjktwcBAu7muk0j3wLVgJcDlO7sG6i8cDtE209XbJUZ5DXZ3Gs0OdHO0lnA9d_pkfzlKUWaCOzg/s320/7648269.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<br />
Don't pick up this book if you recoil from gory details. I'm warning you.<br />
<br />
Until we meet again, happy reading!<br />
<br />
<br />www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-90913238254207147322017-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:002017-03-16T17:19:27.224-07:00An Offer I Can't RefuseOh my gosh. If it seems like I forgot all about the Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge, I did. The blogging bit, I mean. I've been reading steadily, and have gone from one-third-complete to one-half. All in five little books!<br />
<br />
Let's start on a high note: Mario Puzo's <i>The Godfather</i> is an entertaining book. Every bit as good as the movie, and reading it makes me want to pop the DVD in the player. Between <i>The Godfather</i> and <i>Elf,</i> James Caan really doesn't need to make another movie to ensure immortality.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWEqDLhxjywisYT1K9uR6AnWwJvSPxlJ4gZRuYvynKHFPDXL75_BZrhfxg9Xu5z8I2tQNCh9I-aMWnvXk_QdnwDqH8wM-iKugLwn6SQArsutxLWkj7R4Y9BJPkFUyL8FYFJcnEM60qOo/s1600/22034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWEqDLhxjywisYT1K9uR6AnWwJvSPxlJ4gZRuYvynKHFPDXL75_BZrhfxg9Xu5z8I2tQNCh9I-aMWnvXk_QdnwDqH8wM-iKugLwn6SQArsutxLWkj7R4Y9BJPkFUyL8FYFJcnEM60qOo/s320/22034.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<br />
This book has aged well and unapologetically. Women are "broads" and almost irrelevant; racial slurs get thrown around; there's lots of sex and alcohol and violence. <b>Five stars</b>. I liked knowing more of the thoughts going on in people's heads, and there are a couple sub-plotty moments left out of the movie that are worth hearing about.<br />
<br />
<i>The Godfather </i>is the only one of the books covered today that gets its very own allusion in the animated film <i>Zootopia</i>, so how's that for an homage?<br />
<br />
Moving down the line, I also liked my second H. G. Wells foray:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UI8-JmuknvF5gRFHQCY9AYGiq2sKwwDNxEEDHfgZ2YCujjVRYrWX0U4D1aWtCq-jbVAFGvB3o8uU_XMN41jG0Xoz8sF0x-KdWNRVb74tFvxyJgh68B3oj9apFHlts3xMAcY7Qm2o1p4/s1600/17184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UI8-JmuknvF5gRFHQCY9AYGiq2sKwwDNxEEDHfgZ2YCujjVRYrWX0U4D1aWtCq-jbVAFGvB3o8uU_XMN41jG0Xoz8sF0x-KdWNRVb74tFvxyJgh68B3oj9apFHlts3xMAcY7Qm2o1p4/s320/17184.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This was a f</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">un and suspenseful novella. Wells does such a good job of making the science plausible and thinking through the what-ifs. To become invisible seals Griffin's fate as an isolated individual, out of touch with the world. Wells does pacing, well, <i>well</i>. <b>4 solid stars</b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Then there was the <b>three-star</b> bucket, of which I probably liked <i>The Color Purple</i> the best.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1ZFHk-2RuZWv6CtTqzD8jzuPC4Noo4TxjIMG226VNequn6-GHTHmIlElNWYJcDV3O6kz-z6QSXZRV4gDi7Td_jCFKVck-HI_Jf8qyYsKcYwLbomnufb_xf9fP3sNYEKxi5lMG7CEphs/s1600/11486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1ZFHk-2RuZWv6CtTqzD8jzuPC4Noo4TxjIMG226VNequn6-GHTHmIlElNWYJcDV3O6kz-z6QSXZRV4gDi7Td_jCFKVck-HI_Jf8qyYsKcYwLbomnufb_xf9fP3sNYEKxi5lMG7CEphs/s320/11486.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">"So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see." - from THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Alice Walker, of course, had a lot to do with Hurston's resurrection as an author, and this quote has a lot to do with THE COLOR PURPLE. Walker's main character Celie spends much of her life as her father's mule, husband's mule, stepchildren's mule, only to find love and self-worth as she grows older.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I loved the parts of the story told from Celie's perspective, as well as the characters' development and the author's sympathy for even the most ill-behaved of them. The timeline confused me a little, once Nettie's letters were interspersed, and the missionaries-to-Africa bit interested me less, but all in all a good read. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">One imponderable: were there really Chinese restaurants in the rural south around WWII, and could the fortune cookie possibly have been a common sight then???</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">And, finally, a tie between <i>Return to Peyton Place</i> and <i>Catch-22. </i>I'd say Catch-22 was the more interesting, more ambitious novel, and parts of it were clever and funny, but it was way too long, and I couldn't help thinking, as some of Yossarian's "superiors" did that, if everyone felt about WWII the way Yossarian did, we'd all be speaking German or Japanese now, and there wouldn't be a single Jewish person left on earth. Yes, war is horrible and absurd and even insane, but as long as folks are folks there will be war in the world. And thank you to those WWII veterans who fought in it! (Note: the rape and underage sex jokes in the book have not aged well. Unlike in <i>The Godfather</i>, there is no moral tsk-tsking over them, making them just icky.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGMuY8K4zLsqJjTxpJRgW8LcwOab_JURWt3gH0djDiLGDPjED2KaCI5nPMT0VcnjMUSRYCX7NS681lVPlfeT0WWHrGT_SRcy5VpUegvHQEqtodU9lIMehGxnoTTI8ipoe8Q8mZfB432g/s1600/168668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGMuY8K4zLsqJjTxpJRgW8LcwOab_JURWt3gH0djDiLGDPjED2KaCI5nPMT0VcnjMUSRYCX7NS681lVPlfeT0WWHrGT_SRcy5VpUegvHQEqtodU9lIMehGxnoTTI8ipoe8Q8mZfB432g/s320/168668.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Did I say the last two books tied? Actually I've changed my mind. My hands-down least-favorite this go-round was <i>Return to Peyton Place</i>. Seriously it was just trashy. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">If not for the Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge and my commitment to read this book, I would have abandoned it because I remembered not being crazy about the original PEYTON PLACE when my book club read it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBfhI2X8J6-cTNzWMbv0mFfZei1HVi0iU35a6CJ3fJWL36AOr2kpYElhlovRD02MT703wDto9hMygejPVG1JXrc9McfUbKkGT6o7W4Z7uwhaS3HMfTO-cH9QPNYnrMm-k1tQN9PT0Zrc/s1600/226448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBfhI2X8J6-cTNzWMbv0mFfZei1HVi0iU35a6CJ3fJWL36AOr2kpYElhlovRD02MT703wDto9hMygejPVG1JXrc9McfUbKkGT6o7W4Z7uwhaS3HMfTO-cH9QPNYnrMm-k1tQN9PT0Zrc/s320/226448.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't let the demure cover fool you</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">In fact, that was one of only two things I recalled about the original PEYTON PLACE:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">1. That the teenagers played Spin the Bottle; and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">2. That is was soap-opera-y and trashy and I didn't like it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE picks up where the original left off, and I had to read a plot summary to remind me of the characters and their over-the-top situations. Yes, I know the first book blew the lid off small New England town life when it was published, much in the way the town gets turned upside down in THE HELP (another non-favorite of mine), but I can't help thinking Metalious kept a paper bag full of Horrible Things People Do or Have Done to Them beside her typewriter, and she would just reach in when inspiration was required. RETURN has the added detraction of having character Alison become, like Metalious herself, a successful bestselling author whose book causes a stir and gets made into a movie. Which means we have to trek through all the behind-the-scenes of the publishing biz and Hollywood and the author's disillusionment. Might have been interesting to readers in the '50s, but pretty cliche now, down to Alison's tiresome love affairs. Bleh. And if you like '50s witty repartee, prepare yourself for a healthy dose. All the "smart" characters speak it like a regional dialect. Double bleh.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">On the plus side, Metalious is lovely with the setting and seasons of her sorta-fictional town, and I enjoyed those bits. If only the town had been unpopulated!</span><div>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Whew! We're up to date now. Nine books to go, and I'm tramping through one of the Sherlock Holmes books. Join me?</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-51350214052373369272017-01-31T08:25:00.001-08:002017-01-31T08:25:32.018-08:00The Delights of Escaping Your Genre RutsI'd have to say, the best thing about the <a href="http://christinadudley.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-bestseller-puzzle-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge</a> is the fun I'm having, getting out of my usual reading ruts. Ordinarily, I love 19th-century British fiction (Austen to Hardy), popular science, adventure/survival nonfiction, and history. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy, mystery, or historical fiction. And, having three teenagers at home, I haven't been able to read YA with much enjoyment for a while now.<br />
<br />
But the BPRC has been getting me out and about, literarily. I've hit the 33% complete milestone:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAqSNYMsw-6d-LQr1c258XHx8J68FIb0r8GpQiJkkMM0es0-772El4gI-hPQ4VaYIcsi2Jt7MuPtTiv6eRaAo4MKbJRhSq2kHccTQfLQwOtMHyZ9tK5aBNQcHsKj73Ql516hwO4SN0Os/s1600/BPRC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAqSNYMsw-6d-LQr1c258XHx8J68FIb0r8GpQiJkkMM0es0-772El4gI-hPQ4VaYIcsi2Jt7MuPtTiv6eRaAo4MKbJRhSq2kHccTQfLQwOtMHyZ9tK5aBNQcHsKj73Ql516hwO4SN0Os/s400/BPRC.png" width="400" /></a></div>
And, in this update, I've ventured in 19th-century American lit, early-20th-century Scottish fiction, early sci-fi, and pulp fiction! If we're not Goodreads buddies, here were my thoughts...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviZXS5ix_YC6NcO4yjb_J3zThMHseEg-I5zp1grD2KrXhyNM9BzVeSF8xIhQfjZsKybAYxTVyb7n0PPNYbF8Jsseou7A4DvV__fqg52GytUSgrO-A6V3v1PRK7WT2qwtBBQ8ZvWPVr54/s1600/UncleTom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviZXS5ix_YC6NcO4yjb_J3zThMHseEg-I5zp1grD2KrXhyNM9BzVeSF8xIhQfjZsKybAYxTVyb7n0PPNYbF8Jsseou7A4DvV__fqg52GytUSgrO-A6V3v1PRK7WT2qwtBBQ8ZvWPVr54/s1600/UncleTom.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin </i>(3 stars).</b> A 19th century bestseller with such historical impact is certainly worth reading, if for its place in history, if not for its literary merits. My first encounter with UNCLE TOM'S CABIN came from the 1956 movie THE KING AND I with Yul Brynner, where they do a ballet version of the story, so wide-reaching was the book's influence.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Stowe's writing share all the worst characteristics of the 19th century. There's piety thicker than custard, heavy-handed addresses to the reader (she actually ends the book with a full-on sermon directed at us), generalizations about the African race which are embarrassing even when meant to be sympathetic, and lengthy descriptions. Remember that dreadful scene in A TALE OF TWO CITIES where Lucy Manet blubbers over her imprisoned father's fate, crying repeatedly, "Weep for it! Weep for it!"? If you cringed your way through that passage, you'll find a lot of that sentimental business going on in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. Stowe makes Dickens appear restrained.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Eliza's escape makes for the most interesting part of the book, but it alternates with Tom getting sold South and not appearing, frankly, to miss his family much because he's so busy with his Bible and the angelic Little Eva, whose goodness will cause your eyes to roll so many times you risk permanent damage. And then Tom's Christ-figure-ness even tops Little Eva's in unbelievability.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">It was also funny to me how, unlike any people I know nowadays, who won't bring up politics or religion lest they offend, Stowe's characters immediately go for the jugular whenever they meet each other, talking nonstop about weighty issues and pronouncing judgments, even if the other person is a stranger! What can I say? Behavior and manners must have changed greatly in the last 150 years...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">On a side note, this is the second book Alexa read me in her mechanical tones. I learned that every semicolon gets read aloud as the word "semicolon," and every "think on't" gets read as "think on T," and every "ha ha ha" becomes "Ha. Ha. Ha." Enough to make you laugh along with the characters.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm glad I read (or listened to) this, but I can safely promise it won't be on the re-read list.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6Ydw6VB4Hu0SgWgLTswV9qAudGBp8njQF3sw-wP7kO5Jc_jb3fhKnA1TBVLRAw28bhz-5VslNiur6lz5-UpHqtflOBWage9cbSM_t7gWC7g9pFJhrDAWEAEdLD-sSIpoHZgqosrWm6A/s1600/Prime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6Ydw6VB4Hu0SgWgLTswV9qAudGBp8njQF3sw-wP7kO5Jc_jb3fhKnA1TBVLRAw28bhz-5VslNiur6lz5-UpHqtflOBWage9cbSM_t7gWC7g9pFJhrDAWEAEdLD-sSIpoHZgqosrWm6A/s320/Prime.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i> (3 stars)</b>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">This was an odd and original book about a private-girls-school teacher in the 1930s who grooms six students of her preteen class into "her set," the "Brodie set." And I do mean grooms. Miss Jean Brodie has no interest in teaching Sandy, Jenny, Rose, Eunice, etc. the standard curriculum; instead she tells them stories of her travels, her love life, her opinions on fascism, and so on. As the girls grow, they go from idolizing Miss Brodie to finding ways to distance themselves or to resent her influence.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">There are some funny bits, like Sandy's description of Calvinism: "God had planned for practically everybody before they were born a nasty surprise when they died...he having made it [His] pleasure to implant in certain people an erroneous sense of joy and salvation, so that their surprise at the end might be the nastier."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miss Brodie is melodramatic and somewhat tiresome, but having had a fourth grade teacher who was colorful and volatile and dramatic and charismatic, I thought Muriel Spark captured the situation exactly.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrf2kNcJlpuhtdUYi1u2MNfUMnEBDAe9GkRUPGiMpDNm7ihReFML5tASg_HsdSBYhwThF5NtfSKERwaz3VUF14yrQnBO_DOCfBM90O_hfKWYb0116lQ8OEajRH0mk6lh09mXdopn634/s1600/WAr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrf2kNcJlpuhtdUYi1u2MNfUMnEBDAe9GkRUPGiMpDNm7ihReFML5tASg_HsdSBYhwThF5NtfSKERwaz3VUF14yrQnBO_DOCfBM90O_hfKWYb0116lQ8OEajRH0mk6lh09mXdopn634/s320/WAr.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>The War of the Worlds</i> (4 stars)</b>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">My first H.G. Wells book! I'm eager to read more from him because this book was well-paced, imaginative and yet very real in its characterization. I can see why it became a classic and inspired so many adaptations. I also enjoyed getting on Google Maps and watching the progress of the main characters and the Martians, since Wells grounded his story in the very place he lived.</span></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Hoping I can get my 15YO son to read it. It's rather gory for 1897 (or so), but nothing we aren't used to seeing/hearing about in books today.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I'd say this and <i>Tarzan</i> were my favorites from this batch of BPRC books.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Speaking of which, </span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb40mTqYAHLX5VQsLw_X_lzkxl91cfVoFMLXLtDUjr_71rRLOWHlimv5YhTcE511bGz9kiES_PU-UgxEHBMNl4eWYkux7v3z8pE7wznj-Q-4fRwNF2ZFCrzFrazQFJsz1VsaQIxnyApGE/s1600/Tarzan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb40mTqYAHLX5VQsLw_X_lzkxl91cfVoFMLXLtDUjr_71rRLOWHlimv5YhTcE511bGz9kiES_PU-UgxEHBMNl4eWYkux7v3z8pE7wznj-Q-4fRwNF2ZFCrzFrazQFJsz1VsaQIxnyApGE/s320/Tarzan.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>Tarzan of the Apes</i> (4 stars)</b>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">This book was great fun! Pulp fiction at its most entertaining, and it made me realize it has never actually been adopted faithfully. For one thing, Tarzan reads and writes English but can't speak it, and when he finally is taught to speak, it's firstly in French! Shouldn't he be saying, "Moi, Tarzan--toi, Jane" in the movies?</span></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The 75% of the book set in West Africa is much better than Tarzan in Paris and Wisconsin(!!!). In fact, the bit in Wisconsin is flat-out ridiculous. Imagine him swinging through Laura Ingalls Wilder's Big Woods... </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I can see why Burroughs wrote a sequel--this one ends abruptly with him not yet having gone to England and with Jane set to marry another. I immediately downloaded TARZAN RETURNS, only to find he's already making eyes at some other woman and somehow maintaining his godlike muscle tone after years out of the jungle. Pass.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">If you decide to read this book, here are some things to ignore, to maximize your enjoyment:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">1. Ignore the racial attitudes of 1912. If you like a politically correct Tarzan, watch the latest movie adaptation, which is so racially we-are-the-world that it makes NO sense for the time in which it was set. Even Harriet Beecher Stowe, who deeply, deeply believed in equality of the races, fell into lots of embarrassing moments in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN because she was a product of her time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">2. Along those lines, ignore the character of Esmeralda. Embarrassing! She gets the racial comic relief role.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">3. The youth Tarzan kills arch-enemy lion Sabor, but then Sabor shows up later attacking Jane??? I don't know what happened here. I even went back and checked if the problem was with my brain. It could also possibly be with the free Kindle edition. In TARZAN RETURNS, the lion gets called Numa when he remembers killing it. So confusing.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">4. Tarzan finds the cabin his parents built before they died, but it takes him a long time to figure out there's a door and a way in because he thinks the door is part of the wall. Later, the lion sees the same closed door and instantly knows it's a way in. Of course, Tarzan could be a dummy because he spends tons of time exploring the cabin and spending time there, and he STILL finds stuff he didn't notice before, years later.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">5. People sleep on the jungle floor and hang out in the trees all the time and never get a single bug bite. Amazing.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Fast-paced, thrilling, and Jane only faints a couple times. Enjoy this one.</span><div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Next up on my list is <i>Return to Peyton Place</i>, which I confess I do not have high expectations of...</span></div>
www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-47309529603959957132017-01-10T11:15:00.000-08:002017-01-10T11:15:21.968-08:00Four Book Reviews from the Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge<div class="tr_bq">
Has anyone gotten under way yet with the <a href="http://christinadudley.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-bestseller-puzzle-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge</a>? It's the best kind of reading challenge because you're probably 1/3 of the way done right from the get-go. So far the highest opening score I've heard is 40 out of the possible 53. That's 75% complete, folks.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOs1zR2lAiXXMUaEd5CGSft1Y7yrRwCRmoV0fLrdtiHnqW3W4dirSocUsAWegD0Hc8Wg11n0vRszG5YTFVkprTyyODiUi7avLqtRq63noAxSvGHTBFrwk6PXf0x1XYSluD8HzzUWs1Xs/s1600/Puzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqOs1zR2lAiXXMUaEd5CGSft1Y7yrRwCRmoV0fLrdtiHnqW3W4dirSocUsAWegD0Hc8Wg11n0vRszG5YTFVkprTyyODiUi7avLqtRq63noAxSvGHTBFrwk6PXf0x1XYSluD8HzzUWs1Xs/s320/Puzzle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Well, I got cracking and even made a spreadsheet to track my progress because I love to cross things out. Here's a <a href="https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ao-G70zlQT_tgR8oPYsaW1ynn5NF" target="_blank">link</a> to it, if you'd like to make edits and use it yourself.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOtNkvWyNB5A_Tpr-W50hPNXd-u4eOO-AJKVqQeyWeUj1ksMEG2Ocl5EoKPRwVCnRtolLihdv0qTweanLEzVzPQ82oeZ4FX0YMwAfKhOr1rCxrjvmxAn5c5WNCFcJP38jhgKzSH1v4sA/s1600/2017-01-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOtNkvWyNB5A_Tpr-W50hPNXd-u4eOO-AJKVqQeyWeUj1ksMEG2Ocl5EoKPRwVCnRtolLihdv0qTweanLEzVzPQ82oeZ4FX0YMwAfKhOr1rCxrjvmxAn5c5WNCFcJP38jhgKzSH1v4sA/s400/2017-01-10.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
There's even a count function at the bottom, so you can see that solid integer, and a percentage-complete calculation. Yes!<br />
<br />
My spreadsheet will not nag you, however, like the Goodreads Challenge, to tell you you're falling behind. That's a feature, to my mind, but you can add that if you operate better under pressure and guilt.<br />
<br />
Since the BPRC began, I've completed four books from the list and thought I'd share my Goodreads reviews with you, in case we're not Goodreads friends. If you've read any of these ones, I'd love to hear your opinion on them in the comments!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7C0XgXM7VAUHxUJFAAfKuaSlsQfTAdTfqNjtcgiccyb3MOl-N6BZiW7t42PKviwss384sVQAK73cAQvEx7TJb5brDTJoJHmcfiQJI2le_y3Ygs-gYcOw31DqtMG82O4XhmarJwFyySk/s1600/Caine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7C0XgXM7VAUHxUJFAAfKuaSlsQfTAdTfqNjtcgiccyb3MOl-N6BZiW7t42PKviwss384sVQAK73cAQvEx7TJb5brDTJoJHmcfiQJI2le_y3Ygs-gYcOw31DqtMG82O4XhmarJwFyySk/s320/Caine.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Originally published in 1952</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Great to kick off the New Year with such an excellent book. It's leisurely to start, recounting pampered Princeton boy Willie Keith's entrance into the Navy during WWII, after dinking in piano bars and getting casually involved with a girl out of his class and milieu. But once Willie is on board the Caine, things get rolling, and the development of Capt Queeg's behavior, the "mutiny" and the court-martial are riveting. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I appreciated how the book didn't take the easy way out and make things black and white. There are things no one can know until they're alone in the hot seat--before that happens, IF that even happens, everyone's a critic. Wouk recognizes this and writes a richer book for it.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb3GjIuNM_4KxoVH4nTqDHXHCZCXwQWrFm_jJMR_QGymlWV5KAILO8oO-HPE30hMAt5en9no2G88gSgy_wILh0kPYCT67hC-909GXyvyJ1B-qSPRcKsj8JpSBjDWJIHao8vX9mr1DwcQQ/s1600/Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb3GjIuNM_4KxoVH4nTqDHXHCZCXwQWrFm_jJMR_QGymlWV5KAILO8oO-HPE30hMAt5en9no2G88gSgy_wILh0kPYCT67hC-909GXyvyJ1B-qSPRcKsj8JpSBjDWJIHao8vX9mr1DwcQQ/s320/Love.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Published in 1970</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />Well, it's a quick read with some snappy dialogue and some father-son rapprochement by the end, which I appreciated. In fact, I found the father-son business moving and the tragic love story not very compelling. Since this book came out in 1970 and was made into a movie, I hope I'm not spoiling anything to say that Erich Segal goes Nicholas-Sparksy and writes what is basically a romance and then kills someone at the end so it isn't dismissed as a "girl" romance. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm glad I read it as part of the Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge in 2017, but I have to say, if you want to read about young lovers getting married over parental opposition and figuring things out while the fella goes to law school, Betty Smith's JOY IN THE MORNING is head-and-shoulders a better book. It's even got the wisecracking young gal and earnest young guy. No hockey, though.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGU-sUqLNdN8p9Cp7Kedas0yTImuATKj8lrwn5CwirMwt9Flc-foE6AWYkVjf4AinGH-kfoDF6Qv-dNYElkHG27uV8E7vfnug6mqmVOy-Urak38lOAV03tCDn14OjGKGNGKVujpmZ4lU/s1600/Fairy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWGU-sUqLNdN8p9Cp7Kedas0yTImuATKj8lrwn5CwirMwt9Flc-foE6AWYkVjf4AinGH-kfoDF6Qv-dNYElkHG27uV8E7vfnug6mqmVOy-Urak38lOAV03tCDn14OjGKGNGKVujpmZ4lU/s320/Fairy.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Published in 2002</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">This beautiful collection of classic fairy tales would be enjoyed by any (adult) reader for its all-in-one-placeness and its full-color illustrations by various artists. I'd never read Puss in Boots before, nor Tom Thumb nor several lesser-known tales which have generally been left out for a reason. When you read fairy tales back to back to back, you quickly pick up on some themes, like the youngest daughter is always the most beautiful and charming, stepmothers and stepsisters suck, and ogres seem to marry normal women.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The annotations ranged from helpful: "Legend has it that storks were once men and that they returned to their human state in Egypt during the winter" to dumb and academic: "Susan M. Gilbert and Sandra Gubar try to move against the grain of conventional interpretations, which focus on the queen [in Snow White] as the source of evil. They view the queen as the consummate 'plotter, a plot-maker, a schemer, a witch, an artist" and as a woman who is "witty, wily, and self-absorbed as all artists traditionally are.'" Sigh.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I wish the illustrations within the text were bigger because the full-size pictures before and after the tales are lovely.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-HYwBEweNlMT54VtYWNW01s19IUbzb5BS_KiZnNv7s9p45z7PClJnHNlexsyyIKcNqj87meNf1ByBKtgZqCVOT8NGMMuae4a4hrPGIdMPTc3SGIRX45jrZv4bPw9KF_nPvZZj8VbCyQ/s1600/Farm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-HYwBEweNlMT54VtYWNW01s19IUbzb5BS_KiZnNv7s9p45z7PClJnHNlexsyyIKcNqj87meNf1ByBKtgZqCVOT8NGMMuae4a4hrPGIdMPTc3SGIRX45jrZv4bPw9KF_nPvZZj8VbCyQ/s320/Farm.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Published in 1944</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Having never been assigned this book in middle or high school, all I can say is Wow! Orwell's allegory of communism remains pertinent, clever, occasionally funny, and even prophetic. Pick a communist government--any communist government--and you'll find parallels, though the book was written in 1944. When Napoleon the pig gives himself fancy titles and the other animals are trained to bless his name and say how much he loves them and they him, we could be in North Korea or China under Mao. Sure, everyone (but the pigs) works like a slave and has to look over his shoulder lest he be denounced, but it's still better than when it was under that human farmer, isn't it?</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">The other "farms" don't get off scot-free, of course, and I appreciate Orwell's point that, in any form of government, <i>someone</i> is in power and <i>someone</i> has the money. Which group that is may change, but <i>somebody's</i> got the goods. To believe otherwise is to have an overly idealistic concept of human nature. Folks are folks.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Note: This is the first book I had Amazon's Alexa read aloud to me, and I think I was a greater fan of it than she was. Not only did she read mechanically, with odd emphases, but every 15-30 minutes she'd just stop altogether and switch to THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA.</span></blockquote>
That's the update! Next on the BPRC list is <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. Alexa may be struggling through that for the next six months...www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-61420416183635455672017-01-04T09:05:00.000-08:002017-01-04T09:05:52.943-08:00The Bestseller Puzzle Reading ChallengeYou've heard of the Goodreads Challenge. I participate every year (but this may only be my third year--can't recall), but I do wish Goodreads tracked a category for books readers attempted but abandoned. You can only delete them or mark them as "read." The former might lead to you trying the same lousy book again, as middle-aged forgetfulness creeps up on you, and the latter just isn't true. All of which to say is, I "read" 125+ books last year, completing my challenge, but at least five of those were dumped books, and by "dumped" I mean I gave up usually before I hit the 5% mark.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, I signed up for the Goodreads Challenge again in 2017 but thought I'd add my own variation to it and invite any of you to come along.<br />
<br />
Welcome to....the <span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Bestseller Puzzle Reading Challenge</span>!!!<br />
<br />
This Christmas I gave my youngest a puzzle, which we worked on together.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7XdYy-69Lr5LfxVnkFXGWZfxRb1yw4_hTv7fjTlDlT4Nhn42y-7mg5xME0lZSa1mAq_Xs3G8AW-0MPPAOUZdpbXPKA0Pf8Q-x9u80J5_qffaT6geJfKq1HHxf4BBwQ-ButfVtz5ZTLg/s1600/Puzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7XdYy-69Lr5LfxVnkFXGWZfxRb1yw4_hTv7fjTlDlT4Nhn42y-7mg5xME0lZSa1mAq_Xs3G8AW-0MPPAOUZdpbXPKA0Pf8Q-x9u80J5_qffaT6geJfKq1HHxf4BBwQ-ButfVtz5ZTLg/s400/Puzzle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Very fun puzzle, and fascinating to see how many bestsellers I'd never read. Historically speaking, not every bestseller turns into a classic, but seeing which stand the test of time is too tempting to resist.<br />
<br />
If you're a reading addict like me, this challenge won't be too daunting because you've probably already knocked off many of the titles. Which are (if you can't see them in the little picture):<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><i>Oliver Twist</i> by Charles Dickens. (Done. Read it a couple years ago.)</li>
<li><i>The Cat in the Hat</i> by Dr. Seuss. (I should get credit for reading this about 800 times because I have three children.)</li>
<li><i>Romeo and Juliet</i> by Shakespeare. (Done in high school and again in grad school. Plus, I've seen it in movies and live several times--NOT THAT THAT COUNTS IN THIS CHALLENGE.)</li>
<li><i>Return to Peyton Place</i> by Grace Metallious. (My book club read the original <i>Peyton Place</i>, and it was not high literature by any means. I may not get to this one for a while.)</li>
<li><i>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i> by Muriel Spark. (Another new one! I saw five minutes of the Maggie Smith movie, but again THAT COUNTS FOR NOTHING IN THIS CHALLENGE.)</li>
<li><i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i> by Arthur Conan Doyle. (I've only read a couple of these. Should be fun and annoying because Holmes is fun <i>and</i> annoying.)</li>
<li><i>Sanctuary</i> by William Faulkner. (I have a love/hate relationship with Faulkner. I love <i>As I Lay Dying</i> and I've abandoned his incomprehensible <i>The Sound and the Fury</i>.)</li>
<li><i>To Kill a Mockingbird </i>by the non-senile Harper Lee. (I think we can all safely cross this one off.)</li>
<li><i>The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales</i> edited by Maria Tatar. (Ooh! I put the library edition on hold for this one, since it's illustrated.)</li>
<li><i>Moby Dick</i> by Herman Melville. (Read this in grad school. Once is enough.)</li>
<li><i>Bare Fists </i>by Marshall R. Hall. (This one may actually be the last to be completed. The story was published in a pulp magazine, and I bet I'll have to visit a library collection to see it.)</li>
<li><i>Anne of Green Gables </i>by Lucy Maud Montgomery. (Check.)</li>
<li><i>Gone with the Wind</i> by Margaret Mitchell. (Check check.)</li>
<li><i>Treasure Island</i> by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Check. Thanks, book club!)</li>
<li><i>The Case of the Lucky Loser</i> by Erle Stanley Gardner. (Boom! The library has it. Thanks, KCLS.)</li>
<li><i>A Tale of Two Cities</i> by Charles Dickens. (Check. Great book, apart from Lucy Manet's ditherings.)</li>
<li><i>The Caine Mutiny</i> by Herman Wouk. (Just read it and it was fabulous!)</li>
<li><i>Catch-22</i> by Joseph Heller. (Looking forward to it.)</li>
<li><i>Animal Farm</i> by George Orwell. (Somehow, growing up in California, neither Orwell book got assigned in high school. Now's my chance to correct that deficiency.)</li>
<li><i>The Joy Luck Club</i> by Amy Tan. (Check.)</li>
<li><i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?</i> by Edward Albee. (Read the play in college, saw the Liz Taylor version, bought the t-shirt. Done.)</li>
<li><i>Black Beauty</i> by Anna Sewell. (If you look carefully at the picture, you'll see <i>Black Beauty</i> somehow made it into the puzzle twice. What the heck? Does that mean I have to read it twice? I'm pretty sure I already have. I even remember my older sister crying over it.)</li>
<li><i>Stuart Little</i> by E. B. White. (Check.)</li>
<li><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> by Harriet Beecher Stowe. (I'm guessing the dumb-show version in <i>The King and I</i> doesn't count.)</li>
<li><i>The Little Red Hen</i> by ??? (The name is blocked out, but I've read all about this little red hen and understand her ungenerous mindset after years of slaving away for my ungrateful children.)</li>
<li><i>The Godfather</i> by Mario Puzo. (Could it be anywhere as good as the movie?)</li>
<li><i>Tarzan of the Apes</i> by Edgar Rice Burroughs. (I have high hopes the book will be so awful it's wonderful. Rather like the movie version.)</li>
<li><i>War of the Worlds</i> by H. G. Wells. (Sci-fi is a genre I am discovering in my middle age, and this one's so famous it's a shame I haven't yet read it.)</li>
<li><i>The Catcher in the Rye</i> by J. D. Salinger. (This whole book challenge is so phony.)</li>
<li><i>Jaws</i> by Peter Benchley. (Great fun.)</li>
<li><i>Of Mice and Men</i> by John Steinbeck. (<i>East of Eden</i> is still my favorite of his.)</li>
<li><i>Love Story</i> by Erich Segal. (Yay! Can't wait!)</li>
<li><i>The Invisible Man</i> by H. G. Wells. (Which explains why Ralph Ellison called his novel <i>Invisible Man</i>, with no definite article.)</li>
<li><i>The Diary of a Young Girl</i> by Anne Frank. (Why did Peter get to bring his cat???)</li>
<li><i>The Old Man and the Sea </i>by Ernest Hemingway. (Just read it a few months ago, to see if my teenage son might like it. Uh...doubtful.)</li>
<li><i>The Time Machine</i> by H. G. Wells. (H. G.! Stop spinning out the bestsellers! Give someone else a chance!)</li>
<li><i>The Color Purple</i> by Alice Walker. (It's hard to read books after you've seen an adaptation with Whoopie Goldberg, but I'll give it a shot.)</li>
<li><i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> by Beatrix Potter. (All it takes is one year of gardening and a rabbit eating your sugar snap peas, and you will be firmly in Mr. MacGregor's camp.)</li>
<li><i>The Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care</i> by Benjamin Spock. (Ooh! A period piece!)</li>
<li><i>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</i> by Mark Twain. (Check.)</li>
<li><i>Frankenstein</i> by Mary Shelley. (Check. Good book.)</li>
<li><i>Charlotte's Web</i> by E. B. White. (Check.)</li>
<li><i>The Mark of Zorro</i> by Johnston McCulley. (Who knew it was a book?)</li>
<li><i>Around the World in 80 Days</i> by Jules Verne. (Very dated, but we listened to the audio book and cringed our way through.)</li>
<li><i>1984</i> by George Orwell. (See #19 comment.)</li>
<li><i>Heidi</i> by Johanna Spyri. (I used to think the midday snack Heidi and Peter shared was the tastiest thing imaginable.)</li>
<li><i>The Hobbit</i> by J. R. R. Tolkien. (The rare case where it takes less time to read the book than to watch the movie(s)!)</li>
<li><i>The Grapes of Wrath</i> by John Steinbeck. (You can tell it's written by a man because no woman on the planet would breastfeed a grown man, even for the literary symbolism of it all.)</li>
<li><i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i> by Alexandre Dumas. (A wonderful book that has never had justice done to it in film.)</li>
<li><i>The Great Gatsby </i>by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Ditto.)</li>
<li><i>Sherlock Holmes</i> by Arthur Conan Doyle. (Strangely, a follow-up book to #6, but with a shorter title that makes you think the other one should be the follow-up.)</li>
<li><i>Black Beauty</i> by Anna Sewell, because, at this stage in the game, you need a freebie, and you already read this one at #22.</li>
<li><i>The Secret Garden</i> by Francis Hodgson Burnett. (Loved this. Loved her <i>A Little Princess</i> more, but this one was right up there.)</li>
</ol>
<div>
So there you have it! How many can you cross off, right off the bat? I've got 32 of 53 out of the way, which is the ideal way to start off a reading challenge, and the next BPRC book loaded on my Kindle is Erich Segal's <i>Love Story</i>. Whee!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Happy New Year to all.</div>
<br />
<br />www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-14981992651718953132016-12-06T09:45:00.000-08:002016-12-06T09:45:08.946-08:00Your 2016 Christmas Book ListSorry this is late going out. It's been another busy reading year, and I didn't hit many contemporary fiction books I just loved (though I picked some--scroll down), but if you have nonfiction fans on your Buy list, there are some goodies out there...<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">art history fan</span>:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVChXdfS-wE062IqeUD0lNzdUoMYHYSBd8adFWyPitxZHQLSnehTbD9-VadhVQJH0KRBIPG8fVHeaJ1_rXcY-LmDRsWZvRE42eu0kD8hbSUDU1ZZ4es5iPjaiak4arXF3KF7i0seniNo/s1600/Velazquez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVChXdfS-wE062IqeUD0lNzdUoMYHYSBd8adFWyPitxZHQLSnehTbD9-VadhVQJH0KRBIPG8fVHeaJ1_rXcY-LmDRsWZvRE42eu0kD8hbSUDU1ZZ4es5iPjaiak4arXF3KF7i0seniNo/s320/Velazquez.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
This book alternates between one man's discovery of what he believes is a lost Velazquez painting, and art history/appreciation discussions of Velazquez himself and his existing, accepted works. For the right type of reader, this book is unputdownable, and on my last trip to NYC I dragged everyone to the Met to see their Juan de Pareja:<br />
<br />
<img height="320" src="http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/web-large/co.ep.1971.86_16.1.jpg" width="274" /><br />
<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">hypochondriac </span>or the person who just loves to talk health:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bnFRoQKFN9I2f7VTUspgjdAUQBNf7d8oClGKLAQ13v8aQ8vz8qRp8MPMWPi1Wn0mu4Lw2HufdOJYUArIJFWl0a0DHtKctqddp4_PmpCQiRwbcqzIOjxcRzOszwz7tSWSMCylqzLILvs/s1600/Snowball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-bnFRoQKFN9I2f7VTUspgjdAUQBNf7d8oClGKLAQ13v8aQ8vz8qRp8MPMWPi1Wn0mu4Lw2HufdOJYUArIJFWl0a0DHtKctqddp4_PmpCQiRwbcqzIOjxcRzOszwz7tSWSMCylqzLILvs/s320/Snowball.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<br />
Even before I read this book I was a yearly-mammogram resister and managed to wheedle my doctor into letting me slide every other year. <i>After</i> reading this book, I might work up the courage to bargain for every three years. Basically, the doctor/author's thesis is that there's a lot more uncertainty in medicine than folks will let on. A lot more false positives, a lot more stringency, leading to unintended consequences, a lot more unnecessary suffering on the patient's part. There's lots of data, but I didn't find it too technical.<br />
<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">person who considered moving to France after Trump was elected</span>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHHZnfQwwQTyVjLWJpnTRhePdiylvVW2QCTB7uSD3PkByTRAVy4nZ-ugI4ZH0O4oVWYDfIGXyjj3UWLWVzCGHhP_YKh5M39LbaY7el53K-KNNLDCR6wRdzi4ClDsD8RwVzoUtn1SSjvA/s1600/Pancakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHHZnfQwwQTyVjLWJpnTRhePdiylvVW2QCTB7uSD3PkByTRAVy4nZ-ugI4ZH0O4oVWYDfIGXyjj3UWLWVzCGHhP_YKh5M39LbaY7el53K-KNNLDCR6wRdzi4ClDsD8RwVzoUtn1SSjvA/s320/Pancakes.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
A fun memoir about the man who started the Breakfast in America restaurant chain in Paris. France basically puts the euro in Bureaucracy, and Carlson's adventures in business-owning and labor management will make you vow never to go as anything other than a tourist. Chances are, if Donald Trump struck terror into your fantasizing Francophile, that person won't be put off by Carlson's gay relationship, about which he is quite puppyish and a little cornball.<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">history-lover who only wants to visit France as a tourist</span>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFLYznTZDIJFW2ScDo4kyqfdjpy8PY5dCcs1jIvFkruov0xBTeA8b6ppCOBdMiAo8QywBKpS_kx0kmjQnOc5L2-HSy_pF-9eyTYC6n2dJDBDAlykT8uMccWH3R7iUwfUk01BZdo2KhgI/s1600/Journey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFLYznTZDIJFW2ScDo4kyqfdjpy8PY5dCcs1jIvFkruov0xBTeA8b6ppCOBdMiAo8QywBKpS_kx0kmjQnOc5L2-HSy_pF-9eyTYC6n2dJDBDAlykT8uMccWH3R7iUwfUk01BZdo2KhgI/s320/Journey.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm a David McCullough fan, having loved his Panama Canal and Johnstown flood books, and this one was no exception. I read it right before a whirlwind trip to Paris, so we were able to visit some of the places featured in the book. McCullough focuses on lesser-known Americans visiting the City of Lights, if you count James Fenimore Cooper and that senator who got beat-up in Congress as lesser known, along with medical students and artists. I stood outside Cooper's house near the Invalides and found the room in the Louvre which Samuel Morse painted:<br />
<br />
<img alt="<strong>Buyenlarge</strong> Gallery of The Louvre by Samuel F.B. Morse Painting Print" src="https://secure.img1.wfcdn.com/lf/47/hash/18923/23855874/1/custom_image.jpg" /><br />
If your gift-receiver doesn't like looking at maps and illustrations, avoid this book. I ended up reading with a map alongside, but mainly because I wanted to do a self-guided walking tour.<br />
<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">Midwesterner/sport fisherman/ecologist</span>:<br />
<br />
I absolutely loved this book, a fascinating history of the Great Lakes that didn't end in the usual ecological hand-wringing, although there was plenty to wring my hands over as it went along.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcMADSnwmJGoPjS-n33EieeSqVHELhNPRasL54tNsixmk3bv8z0tC_GXrD2xgFfSIZxztB-oOgc_U4CsA9pMBk7mtrN_bsouJc9otek8qwpmVUG3bE9YTTQ3UgCZUkfJDN4P9x0lNzYw/s1600/Lakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcMADSnwmJGoPjS-n33EieeSqVHELhNPRasL54tNsixmk3bv8z0tC_GXrD2xgFfSIZxztB-oOgc_U4CsA9pMBk7mtrN_bsouJc9otek8qwpmVUG3bE9YTTQ3UgCZUkfJDN4P9x0lNzYw/s320/Lakes.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<br />
Egan is a charming, funny, accessible writer who talks to all sorts without judgment, and he makes a winning advocate for these irreplaceable natural wonders. Explorers, politicians, fisherman, and citizens parade through this book--even Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, Caroline Quiner Lake Ingalls, gets a mention! Having only seen Lake Michigan once when I was nine, I'm looking forward to another visit.<br />
<br />
<br />
For those <span style="font-size: large;">history-lovers feeling nostalgic after our tumultuous election</span>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwL-YA2Fexy578xws8emmGjtvfaHDaXs27iTWzLMgkmhghPZNXy5USEe2VCPJmgwV6LydPir5diDkt-wBIwBXbeXQEfHzeXcnwuJXUO_a_h3HcKW7ObhC9zYNLlwGqTzqeE0N1Adm_ctk/s1600/Fitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwL-YA2Fexy578xws8emmGjtvfaHDaXs27iTWzLMgkmhghPZNXy5USEe2VCPJmgwV6LydPir5diDkt-wBIwBXbeXQEfHzeXcnwuJXUO_a_h3HcKW7ObhC9zYNLlwGqTzqeE0N1Adm_ctk/s320/Fitz.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHL-YMegMMPejACOuPRqV96W_2j43dC8bZYdJ3X2TSeihlZJ0dh8IGOIAU5pXsBzP3lbPflUKzDn0EiB8qHZCb4Zki1ccZpu9SVs4WNVWs5VZjM3tG9P3PU5bsTYqRlFrXef5id7-17fU/s1600/PT109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHL-YMegMMPejACOuPRqV96W_2j43dC8bZYdJ3X2TSeihlZJ0dh8IGOIAU5pXsBzP3lbPflUKzDn0EiB8qHZCb4Zki1ccZpu9SVs4WNVWs5VZjM3tG9P3PU5bsTYqRlFrXef5id7-17fU/s320/PT109.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
I went on a miniature Kennedy kick this year, picking up the book on JFK in WWII because I love survival books, and being inspired by that wonderful read to pick up the Goodwin bio I bought my husband <i>last </i>Christmas. In a way it was fitting because Goodwin's book leaves off before JFK gets elected. As long as it was, it left me wishing for a sequel, to catch us up to date. Tell me about JFK's assassination! Tell me about JFK Jr and his plane crash! Tell me about Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger! Oh, well. One word of warning on the Goodwin bio: it's old, so make sure your recipient doesn't already have it on the shelf!<br />
<br />
<br />
For the <span style="font-size: large;">memoir fan</span>:<br />
<br />
I'm not into Hollywood star memoirs because they don't seem to have much interesting or original to say when they open their mouths in general, so no recommendations in that direction. But one of the few memoirs I read this year was this very moving one about an orthodox Jewish family struggling with an autistic son. Lots of tears and wisdom and love.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlloA1ptH-HTlxcthHWZzTGSqMHvT163nVZhETfDs5JdrmTRK_39AbYJQzR9dR1U7fcU3qzxUbTKyQCts1jEcbFNzIxIQp4_D580G9e-gXWuzs68l7rUEMJOYs50JCFqzgCTJAYI4Uu-s/s1600/Memoir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlloA1ptH-HTlxcthHWZzTGSqMHvT163nVZhETfDs5JdrmTRK_39AbYJQzR9dR1U7fcU3qzxUbTKyQCts1jEcbFNzIxIQp4_D580G9e-gXWuzs68l7rUEMJOYs50JCFqzgCTJAYI4Uu-s/s320/Memoir.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the <span style="font-size: large;">historical fiction fan</span>:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's a tie. Although I liked <i>Euphoria</i> better, a love triangle set among anthropologists, loosely inspired by Margaret Mead. I especially appreciate how author Lily King made her extensive research seamless in the background and didn't barf it out all over us, as historical fiction writers are wont to do.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KmmGO4THsq_ifvpkCFpS6avG9whAiz_0KxS2VXyRe7Fl1fB31oZNRpyw7x-3Ua3eCPRwRo8hOGTZE-TD-TOZvQ_qnXvV0v1YFkInqOy50XD4r5DO1CDe5HHK6hWdjU9ghCkqOL06DFY/s1600/Euphoria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KmmGO4THsq_ifvpkCFpS6avG9whAiz_0KxS2VXyRe7Fl1fB31oZNRpyw7x-3Ua3eCPRwRo8hOGTZE-TD-TOZvQ_qnXvV0v1YFkInqOy50XD4r5DO1CDe5HHK6hWdjU9ghCkqOL06DFY/s320/Euphoria.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXQjyXU53-xJhUd4u5kTbe4qbj_z7PsqjkADs-W1qb87QQ2e1m1z_h7p2LGRViYmhlNZNQ1k6nijUO7w3Jjvd4e1n8K8kERnu8qyEJJDuT-IcUafzcoGttjTQLyX3cFjd9LpGWNwzO9c/s1600/Wings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXQjyXU53-xJhUd4u5kTbe4qbj_z7PsqjkADs-W1qb87QQ2e1m1z_h7p2LGRViYmhlNZNQ1k6nijUO7w3Jjvd4e1n8K8kERnu8qyEJJDuT-IcUafzcoGttjTQLyX3cFjd9LpGWNwzO9c/s320/Wings.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br />Not that Sue Monk Kidd falls into that trap either, although her scenery (the antebellum, slave-owning South) creaks more. The story alternates between a fictional slave girl and the historical Sarah Grimke, who grew up in Charleston but became a women's-rights and abolition activist along with her sister.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That's all for this year! Hope something on this list will cross someone off of yours...</div>
www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-58944973785374294952016-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:002016-10-06T14:15:54.388-07:00I am the A-L-E-X-A-N-D E-R We Are Meant to BeOh, man. If I told you how much we spent to see HAMILTON on Broadway, you'd think we were pretty extravagant and that our kids must not be college-bound, so please do remind us, when our kids are shacked up in our basement ten years from now and still working for minimum wage that this was <i>so worth it</i>.<br />
<br />
We packed our two days in NYC, joined by dear friends from way back in graduate school, which meant it was a trip full of highlights. And seeing HAMILTON was the highlight of the highlight reel. That's how awesome it was.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzSyQpCLElst0-mCJFtX6FwPv-yxuxrTe2wQUH1nQ5Ng8xhWaF7iLhw9W_jbhyphenhyphenExOAOQ9vrpQsElDjBbIKB5evms-ffLXBxlJJfNDHEvHlRT4R08z24eYrn_i6HlQC8GLL4nu5QQewu4/s1600/photo+%252823%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzSyQpCLElst0-mCJFtX6FwPv-yxuxrTe2wQUH1nQ5Ng8xhWaF7iLhw9W_jbhyphenhyphenExOAOQ9vrpQsElDjBbIKB5evms-ffLXBxlJJfNDHEvHlRT4R08z24eYrn_i6HlQC8GLL4nu5QQewu4/s320/photo+%252823%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://christinadudley.blogspot.com/2016/09/native-sons-literary-night-2016.html" target="_blank">Lit Night is just a month away</a>! In case you don't plan on draining your 401k to get back to New York before then, there's still time to listen to the soundtrack, watch some YouTube videos, and even plow through the Ron Chernow biography, a Mount Everest of biographies you will feel duly triumphant over when you reach the last page.<br />
<br />
We paid a visit to Trinity Church near the New York Stock Exchange the afternoon of the show, and while I neglected to find Hamilton's grave because we were on the wrong side of the churchyard, I did chance upon this marker for Angelica Schuyler!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EyWME5YbxZoqDa3kk_IY94bs4gypt3NZuejxlaxiG-a5oGmq09ho_S3d1DlQfFF2YV9XuPb8pGDJWzB6K9tUF4VBnTvRHG9q_lEhyejsJXZdIdF8jEPHB_3aRMRskmSuuoUjslmlA_c/s1600/photo+%252827%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EyWME5YbxZoqDa3kk_IY94bs4gypt3NZuejxlaxiG-a5oGmq09ho_S3d1DlQfFF2YV9XuPb8pGDJWzB6K9tUF4VBnTvRHG9q_lEhyejsJXZdIdF8jEPHB_3aRMRskmSuuoUjslmlA_c/s320/photo+%252827%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypOm_2nCFbsZN74mZAHK8fTO2uLn76q7IbjlljJTOb-gpDEvIEBrpW6q0-cw2Egx82i2cPGGAwbBbgEXYaXwpcJwrwMltEw2gtvSGVXF-f0DAmla8qvo_4qX-NPrbTKnxxWFsvvvqXoo/s1600/photo+%252826%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypOm_2nCFbsZN74mZAHK8fTO2uLn76q7IbjlljJTOb-gpDEvIEBrpW6q0-cw2Egx82i2cPGGAwbBbgEXYaXwpcJwrwMltEw2gtvSGVXF-f0DAmla8qvo_4qX-NPrbTKnxxWFsvvvqXoo/s320/photo+%252826%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
BTW, if you ever want your tombstone to last more than three hundred years, I recommend you pony up for the deep engraving and don't cheap out on the kind of stone that sloughs off, as many of the buried did. Sadly, the main part of the church building was locked, so we could only stroll outside and down the street, where, at "Federal Hall" a statue of Washington marks the spot where he was inaugurated.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyRoiYOapxebVB1GM-qPS-wP5o28Vu63MrsuAZYtUwCjpLMZMUkFMSjLXYIV8xh5dQaXZLJ-hWEMloFro8DxamfSK-wJA9YbQ4Wdx15ol4DoRyCgy_75uo1n1JqQXK-r2af21Foetk34/s1600/photo+%252830%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyRoiYOapxebVB1GM-qPS-wP5o28Vu63MrsuAZYtUwCjpLMZMUkFMSjLXYIV8xh5dQaXZLJ-hWEMloFro8DxamfSK-wJA9YbQ4Wdx15ol4DoRyCgy_75uo1n1JqQXK-r2af21Foetk34/s320/photo+%252830%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
As for the show, we were bummed to miss many of the original cast members but happy to report that the new Angelica and new Aaron Burr are fabulous, and our musician friends called the show "well-produced" with "tight" music and effects. Neither of them had read the book or listened to the soundtrack ahead of time, and they still followed it, loved it and wished their kids could see it too.<br />
<br />
One unexpectedly poignant moment came when George Washington was singing about leaving office after two terms and going home to Mount Vernon, saying of the new nation, "The scripture says they will sit under their own vine and their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid." Well, we had just come from spending the afternoon at the 9/11 Museum at the World Trade Center, where Americans were pretty much sitting under their own vine and fig tree, and, on that day, we had been made very afraid indeed. (Excellent, if emotionally exhausting museum. I highly recommend.)<br />
<br />
Wonderful country we live in. Can't wait for this musical to become so old-hat that every high school can mount a production and we can all catch it any time. In the meantime, my kids got t-shirts and a HAMILTON cup. It's not a college education, but hey.www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-20099177305903448922016-09-30T07:53:00.002-07:002016-09-30T07:53:53.075-07:00Native Sons: Literary Night 2016For those of you looking for some good, themed reading, here's the heads-up on this year's <a href="https://belpres.org/events/literary-night-native-sons-belonging-race-violence-american-dream/" target="_blank">Literary Night</a>. A month to go! Plenty of time to read two of the three books.<br />
<br />
<img alt="2016.06_LitNight_web_1" height="225" src="https://belpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2016.06_LitNight_web_1-1024x576.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
I've had a ball re-reading Richard Wright's powerful <i>Native Son</i> and Philipp Meyer's almost equally enthralling (if over-sexed) <i>The Son. </i>Great stuff about America--who owns it, who inherits it, who belongs, what gets passed on. Issues especially interesting in this testy election year.<br />
<br />
We'll also be talking about <a href="http://www.hamiltonbroadway.com/" target="_blank">HAMILTON</a>, mainly the musical, although I did wade through the most excellent bio by Ron Chernow, as has Scott. (I'd recommend that book to you, too, if you have a few months of dedicated reading time to spare. It's about as long as Doris Kearns Goodwin's <i>Team of Rivals</i>. Wonderful stuff.) I'm excited to say Scott and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary two years late by going to New York City to see the musical live and in-person. The big stars may be gone, but judging from video of a high-school version I've seen, the show shines no matter who's performing it. Can't wait! (If I don't get lazy, I'll post about it later.)<br />
<br />
And then there's <i>The Godfather, Parts I and II</i>, which will get some air time. More "native sons" making their way in America.<br />
<br />
Hope you can join us this year. And, seriously, if you're wondering what to read next, give Wright and Meyer a spin.www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-64943434450184827852015-11-25T06:35:00.000-08:002015-11-25T06:35:34.015-08:00Your 2015 Christmas Book Shopping ListHey, all! I'm sorry I totally forgot to post about Literary Night this year, which was all about the American West and super fun, but at least I made the connection that Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are coming up shortly, once we've emerged from our yearly food coma.<br />
<br />
Therefore I present my annual list of recommendations, and I do hope you'll purchase at least one of them at a local bookstore. My favorite <a href="http://www.bookstore.washington.edu/_services/services.taf?page=locations&store=bellevue" target="_blank">University Book Store Bellevue</a> offers <b>free gift wrapping</b>, so I always make a visit, and on Small Business Saturday, the books are 20% off!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>For the history buff</i>...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344721915l/13202051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344721915l/13202051.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
Never heard of photographer Edward Curtis? I hadn't either. But we have him to thank for capturing in their traditional dress what remained of the many tribes who used to populate America. Because Curtis lived in Seattle when he wasn't running all over the country, there's plenty of fascinating local lore, à <span style="font-family: inherit;">la <i>The Boys in the Boat</i>. Because of this book I now know who Asahel Curtis was, he of the I-90 exit! Because of this book, I now want to tour the Rainier Club and Tulalip Casino! Teddy Roosevelt makes more than a cameo appearance, as do famous Native Americans. I found this an unputdownable five-star read. But then, I'm a definite history buff. This book is worth getting on paper so you can get a look at the photographs--the Kindle version I read didn't do them justice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<i style="font-size: x-large;">For the history of science buff</i><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410191571l/21856367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410191571l/21856367.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Loved this one, too. It starts with Lord Byron and his gifted daughter and follows the history of computing to the present. Having grown up in Silicon Valley to parents in the computer industry, I have fond memories of the places and companies covered in the book, but there was so much more to the story! We live in exciting times, thanks to all those innovators across history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<i style="font-size: x-large;">For the fuzzy "people person"</i><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425942613l/18167005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425942613l/18167005.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
And then there are those who bemoan our enslavement to electronics and social media. Make those folks super happy with this book that tells them how much "healthier, happier and smarter" they are because they make the time for face-to-face contact! Lots of fascinating looks at different cultures and studies. This book will make you want to call up dear friends and maybe have a few great-aunts and -uncles move in with you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="font-size: x-large;">For the person who does NOT want great-aunts and -uncles moving in</i><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408324949l/20696006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408324949l/20696006.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
This was a flat-out wonderful, humane book that I wish every person on the planet could read and then talk about in a global book club. Gawande, the surgeon-author of <i>Complications</i>, talks about the end of life and everything connected with it: quality of life, nursing homes, what makes life meaningful. If it sounds depressing, it's not. I've taken to asking hospice nurses I run across in daily life what their favorite local homes are and why.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="font-size: x-large;">For the foodie</i><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430942604l/22609354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430942604l/22609354.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Now, if you ever venture over to my UrbanFarmJunkie blog that I do for the Bellevue Farmers Market, you know I love to buy, prepare, eat, and read up on Real Food. After all the Michael Pollan books and is-fat-good-or-bad books and carbs-are-the-Antichrist diets, <i>The Dorito Effect </i>achieves the near-miracle of (1) having something new to add; and, (2) saying it very well. Schatzker traces the effects of our predilection for flavor on our diet. It turns out we'll do just about anything for it, whether or not the flavor is real and whether or not the masked food is any good for us, as will all the animals in our food chain. Absolutely fascinating.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i style="font-size: x-large;">For the literary type</i><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437370019l/25111120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437370019l/25111120.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
For a fellow as written about as Shakespeare, it's hard to come up with new angles and new things to say, but Shapiro does it in this book. I learned much and came away with a zeal to see some plays again. I love how he doesn't just read the plays as an academic, but also from a practical perspective. For example, academics love to think whether one actor doubled as Cordelia and the Fool in <i>King Lear</i>, but Shapiro points out which actor Shakespeare was writing the Fool part for and which teenage boys would've been available to play women's parts. So, if there was any doubling, it didn't happen in Shakespeare's time! Another interesting bit is about the religious aspects of the play, which my hub wrote his dissertation on twenty years ago (making many of the same points). Nice to know I married a visionary man who was decades ahead of his time, thought-wise.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Speaking of religion...</i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438289418l/13087024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438289418l/13087024.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
If you've got a Bible buff on the buy-for list, this was an enthralling read. Kushner was raised Orthodox Jew, growing up arguing Bible readings around the supper table, and she didn't encounter the Bible in English until grad school. Imagine the shock to her system when she heard how some long-familiar passages were translated! Actually, I didn't find any deal-breakers in her discoveries, but her discussions of particular passages inspired new thought paths. I even bought two translations she cites that I particularly liked. Can't wait to read those versions when I come 'round to Genesis again!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Oldy-but-Goody YA...</i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390965383l/65954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390965383l/65954.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
So the last <i>Hunger Games</i> movie opened to deflated box office numbers, and people speculated that we might be getting sick of dystopian YA. Ya think?<br />
<br />
Here's my review from Goodreads of <i>Up a Road Slowly</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">A</span><a href="http://www...so/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" target="_blank">www...so</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"> glad a Goodreads friend reminded me of this beloved girlhood book. Old-fashioned coming-of-age story. The protagonist doesn't save the (dystopian) world or kick anyone's a** or even have cancer--she just grows up and learns compassion and wisdom and love. Her spinster aunt even offers the politically-incorrect advice that a woman isn't "complete" until she loves a man, which I would only amend to "until she loves someone" because Aunt Cordelia's completeness came a lot from investing in and loving Julie.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>For the sports buff...</i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317064649l/197230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317064649l/197230.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
If you loved <i>The Boys in the Boat</i> or <i>Rome 1960</i> or <i>The Perfect Mile</i>, you'll enjoy this oldy-but-goody sports book, written about some folks trying to make the Olympics in the pre-Phelps era. My son (who swims) has read it twice, and we even engaged in swim tourism, going to visit the Santa Clara Swim Center where most of the book takes place. This book should not be moldering in forgotten-ness. It's gripping, with all the thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat twists and turns we love in our sports books.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And finally, good old fiction...</i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438581390l/23492741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1438581390l/23492741.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
The best fiction sucks you into another world, this one being the island of St. Thomas in the 1800s, where we follow the life of painter Camille Pissaro's mother. The writing is lovely, the characters absorbing, the setting vivid, and the plot points somewhat history-based. A great escape.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-12384525678183980882015-06-10T10:48:00.000-07:002015-06-10T10:48:04.536-07:00Father's Day Books for That Endangered Species: the Male ReaderI've been gloating inwardly lately. Because my now 14YO boy, who hadn't picked up a book that was not school-assigned in at least a month, finally got desperate enough to read something I'd downloaded to his Kindle.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348011047l/522110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348011047l/522110.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
<br />
Yeah, baby! One of the all-time greats. The pic above is from the abridged paperback copy I had in my library since high school, all the while never noticing it was abridged, until my book club tackled the <i>Count</i> and everyone complained at its length. Whoa. And the real book is indeed long. My boy complained more than once that, "I read thirty pages, and I'm still at 5%!"<br />
<br />
If you've never read <i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i>, put it on your bucket list. There's love, false imprisonment, prison escape, revenge--everything a reader could want! There are even unfaithful movie adaptations to be annoyed by afterward. I'm planning to re-read this one so I can have a casual book club with the boy, <i>without him even realizing it</i>.<br />
<br />
Why do I bring all this up? Because <i><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fiction-readers-an-endangered-species-2013-10-11" target="_blank">men read less than women</a></i>. I have no idea what's going on with their half of the species, but men now go to college less and read less than women. In another couple generations, they might be drooling troglodytes, if we don't do something about it.<br />
<br />
So buy a book for a man in your life this Father's Day, and then wheedle and hound and guilt him into reading it. Make promises. Keep that brain of his chugging along. If you hate my suggestions, <i>The Millions</i> makes <a href="http://www.themillions.com/2015/06/fathers-day-books-for-dads-who-actually-read.html" target="_blank">others</a>, including books I've also recommended in other posts.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the golf-loving dad:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51POczFSxeL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51POczFSxeL.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
This delightful collection of interconnected short stories appeals even to those who know nothing about golf (i.e., me)--I can only imagine how fun golfers would find it. Covering the history and a colorful cast of characters from a small New England golf course, this read captures all the humor, humiliation, and highs of the addictive, maddening game.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
Apparently men read more nonfiction than fiction (see article link above), so if even golf won't make your pop read fiction, try the next few suggestions...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the history buff dad:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420938357l/21412355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420938357l/21412355.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
I'd given my hubby <i>The Killer Angels </i>for Christmas, and this is a perfect companion volume. Who knew all the connections between George Washington and Robert E. Lee?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the dad who would rather watch TV:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419183381l/20697471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419183381l/20697471.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
This book reads like a long stand-up routine because it's written by a stand-up comedian. All about his love-love relationship with food. Very funny.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For the dad showing a renewed interest in the arts:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381488044l/17415726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381488044l/17415726.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<br />
A very fun little book--perfect for the man who wants to better himself in short stints. Like in the bathroom. Forsyth takes rhetorical devices and shows how they've been used to advantage in literature. But all in a very accessible, you-heard-it-on-the-radio kind of way.<br />
<br />
If none of these appeal to you (or to the man in mind), check back on my lists of Best Books. (By that I mean use the search function for the label "Best Books.") There's a book for every reader, so let's get our men reading while they still can sound out the words!www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-13195584314844780612015-05-29T13:17:00.000-07:002015-05-29T13:17:04.623-07:00Beach Reads for Summer 2015Whew! Just when you thought I'd never post again (and I kinda thought so too), the urge hits me. Basically I think I was feeling guilty for not producing the third installment in my Hapgoods of Bramleigh series. I've <i>begun</i> it and am currently bogged down in Chapter 11, wanting to knock Hugh Hapgood's head against a wall for not cooperating with the authorial process! (If you don't remember who Hugh is, that would be the older cousin whom Elfrida rejected.)<br />
<br />
But enough about my frustrations.<br />
<br />
While alternately struggling with and ignoring my beloved Hapgood family, I've also been reading some good books, and I have my annual beach read list for ya because summer is nearly upon us! Here are my top picks by category:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Turgid Victorian:</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1181076317l/1109858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1181076317l/1109858.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<br />
A handsome, clueless man. A lovely, suddenly impoverished earl's daughter. A murder mystery. A neighbor altogether too adoring of the handsome, clueless man. This book has it all. A fun, Victorian page-turner. <i>Yes</i> the author waxes too moral about her one character's downfall, and you'll want to re-write the end in your head, but I relished this one all the same. And I swear it inspired a portion of the equally turgid 1997 period film <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119125/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt" target="_blank">Firelight</a>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTIwOTgxNjY2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzg1NTg5._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTIwOTgxNjY2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzg1NTg5._V1_.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Told ya it was turgid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Added bonus of <i>East Lynne</i>: it's free on Kindle and comes in at under 50 hideous typos. Gotta love those old "classics."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sprawling Family Saga:</b></span><br />
<br />
Sometimes you need room to move in and with characters and get attached. This Texas tale has multiple viewpoints, covers a sweep of time, and keeps you turning the pages.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355349098l/16240761.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355349098l/16240761.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Adventure and Grim Death (Nonfiction):</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408923747l/22551730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408923747l/22551730.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
I'd only read one other Lusitania book and loved that one, too. Erik Larson rebounds from <i>In the Garden of Beasts</i> (not my favorite of his) with this exciting account told thoroughly from various perspectives. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll start wearing a life jacket around the house.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Pure Froth and Fun:</b></span><br />
<br />
This one is an A+++++ for royals fans (which I'm, as Foghorn Leghorn would say).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421107274l/22875451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1421107274l/22875451.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
A fictionalized version of Will and Kate's romance. I enjoyed every page of it. The heroine is American and has a twin sister, and the lovebirds meet at Oxford, not St. Andrews, but everything is seriously recognizable. I really did laugh and cry (or at least tear up) over this one. This is the definition of beach read.<br />
<br />
There you have them! So pour yourself some iced tea with mint, put on your sun hat, and grab that pool deck chair because you've got hours and hours and pages and pages to enjoy.www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638915366529029485.post-82579463329711550582015-01-28T20:33:00.001-08:002015-01-28T20:33:58.589-08:00The C. S. Lewis Double Whammy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://greatdivorceonstage.com/sites/default/files/0350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://greatdivorceonstage.com/sites/default/files/0350.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A photo from the Fellowship for Performing Arts production</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
You friends in the greater Seattle area are hereby invited to the</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <b>C. S. Lewis </b><b><i>Great Divorce </i></b><b>Double Whammy</b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's a theater show! It's a book club! It's two nights out without children!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://greatdivorceonstage.com/seattle" target="_blank">The Theater Show</a>: <i>The Great Divorce </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Friday, February 27, at 8pm. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Seattle's <a href="http://greatdivorceonstage.com/seattle" target="_blank">Moore Theatre</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The book club: the Friday before, February 20, at 7:30pm. Room S-141 of <a href="http://www.belpres.org/" target="_blank">Bellevue Presbyterian Church</a>. Snacks and drinks provided. You bring your questions and insights!</span></div>
<br />
<br />
Here are Ten Things I Love, all rolled into this double-whammy event:<br />
<br />
1. <b>Live theater</b>.<br />
<br />
2. In particular,<b> live "readers theater"</b>-style theater. Ever since I was in a readers theater elementary school production of <i>Henry and Ribsy</i>, this has been the case.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQw36nq9_FwPq3plYkqiRXY1ffeyoRzmABVvLSiwNtjur-jlengSQ" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQw36nq9_FwPq3plYkqiRXY1ffeyoRzmABVvLSiwNtjur-jlengSQ" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I felt this way, after my own readers theater performance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3. <b>C. S. Lewis' actual full name</b>: Clive Staples Lewis. Awesome. It makes me think of Clive Owen in an office supply store.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.theglamourouslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/arthur-movie-clive-owen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.theglamourouslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/arthur-movie-clive-owen.jpg" height="268" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clive Owen, who is, I suspect, <i>almost</i> as handsome as Clive Staples</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
4. <i><b>The Great Divorce</b></i>. With the exception of his Narnia books, this is my favorite of Clive's works. A book about hell! What's not to love? How many books help you understand the concept of hell? (Well, okay, I did read Sartre's <i>Huis Clos</i> in high school French class, and that was also helpful: "Hell? Hell is other people!")<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328302459l/8130078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328302459l/8130078.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
5.<b> <a href="http://greatdivorceonstage.com/press" target="_blank">Good reviews</a></b>. As in, this show has them. I still remember that Shakespeare-in-the-Park production we sat through where the acting s-t-u-n-k. Even the price (free) didn't make up for the two hours of my life lost. This stage production of <i>The Great Divorce</i> retains Clive's "lively wit and generous sense of humor" in a "stunning" and "fascinating" and "thought-provoking" production.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
6. <b>Discounted tickets</b>. Yep, where twenty or more are gathered in Clive's name, there are the box office fees waived and a generous amount shaved off the top. We've called in for a special deal, and if we can get over twenty people (shouldn't be a problem--we're already at nine), we get nice seats under $50.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
7. A <b>book club</b> beforehand. I could talk books all day, all night, and I hope you can too. We'll gather a week before the show to talk about <i>The Great Divorce</i> so we know that puppy backwards and forwards.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
8. <b>Snacks and drinks</b>. My co-host has offered to bring them to the book club portion of the Double Whammy.<br /><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
9. A chance to <b>make new friends</b>. I'm publicizing the Double Whammy to various BelPres groups, but you are certainly welcome to invite anyone you like (provided they're 13YO+). The next time someone tells you to "go to hell," tell them you've already bought tickets for February 27, and you'd love it if they came along!<br /><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
10. If the Friday show doesn't work for you (or you take a sudden dislike to everyone you meet at the book club the week before), you can catch <b>another performance</b> Saturday, February 28 at 4pm.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
[Notes: the King County library already has holds placed on <i>The Great Divorce</i>, but it's only <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Divorce-C-S-Lewis-ebook/dp/B002BD2US4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422505145&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+divorce&pebp=1422505148448&peasin=B002BD2US4" target="_blank">$4 on Kindle</a> or maybe you can nab the church library copies before anyone else does. Or, heck, since Presbyterians tend to be nuts about Clive, I bet you could borrow a copy.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And if you can't wait to start learning and have lots of time, check out the wonderful series of lectures Earl Palmer gave on C. S. Lewis at <a href="http://www.upc.org/worship/audiovideo.aspx" target="_blank">University Presbyterian Church</a>. (Under Audio & Video, scroll down to Classes & Events. Click on "Episodes." The five-part series is called "C. S. Lewis: Caught Off Guard.")]</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Please do message me at christinadudley@gmail.com if you'd like to join us for the C. S. Lewis <i>Great Divorce </i>Double Whammy</span>. We'd like to get a head count for book club snacks, and how else will you get on the list for the discounted ticket info?</div>
www.christinadudley.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07190303051895360656noreply@blogger.com0