Rogue Island
Author: Bruce DeSilva
Publisher: Forge Books
ISBN: 978-0765327260
Pages: 304
Author's page: Bruce DeSilva
Readers Guide:
Summary of Story: Liam Mulligan is a down on his luck Pulitzer prize winning newspaper reporter, who has recently lost his dog Rewrite to his soon to be ex-wife Dorcas. When a series of deadly arson fires break out in his old neighborhood, he pulls out all of the stops, and uses his considerable pool of acquaintances to track down the arsonist. After his childhood friend Rosie is killed responding to a fire, Mulligan is taken into police custody for several days as a "person of interest". Upon his release, the newspaper suspends him without pay until the arson case is solved. With no job, and a mob contract on his head, he heads out of town, to crack the case long-distance.
My Take:
This is not great, or even good literature, but it is a decent night's entertainment. Think of it as a mid-season episode of CSI. Entertaining yes? But not particularly extraordinary. If you are form Rhode Island or spent any amount of time in Rhode Island, this will hold particular interest for you. DeSilva has a lot to say about Rhode Island politics, business, and their particular brand of justice. Never been there and for me as a West Coaster it all seem very cliche to me. No surprises in the characters. The plot twists were predictable and the resolution a forgone conclusion. That said, it was ten times better than another insipid episode of what passes for t.v. prime time television.
9780765327260
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The Last Werewolf
Author: Glen Duncan
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-0307595089
Author's Page: Glen Duncan
Readers Guide: The Last Werewolf
Summary: When a werewolf is assassinated in the California desert, Jake Marlowe becomes the last werewolf. All the resources of WOCOP are focused on Jake, when he is gone the world will be free of werewolves forever more. Turns out Jake is ready to die--200 years of life and the pull of the "hunger" and the residual guilt from the kills have taken their toll. If only it were that simple--there would be no novel. As it turns out, Jake's best friend Harley, tries to persuade him to live, at least through another full moon. When WOCOP gets to Harley, ("it wasn't quick, it wasn't easy") they hope to enrage Jake into a final fight with WOCOP's head man, Grainer during the full moon.
My Take: Let's be clear--I'm not a huge follower or reader of vampire and werewolf literature. Yes I read most of the Twilight series, but only because my granddaughters were reading it and I wanted to know what they reading and be able to talk to them about it. I am also a huge fan of Anne Rice's An Interview with a Vampire, but overall I don't look for this type of literature to read. That said, I am a huge fan of Glen Duncan, he is perhaps the most intelligent and witty writer I have read in a long, long time. He writes some beautiful sentences. Look at these for example:
- "The room smelled of tangerines and leather and the fire's pine logs."
- "Snow makes cities innocent again, reveals the frailty of the human gesture against the void."
- "Sunlight lay on her like a benign intelligence."
The truth is I read Glen Duncan in spite of the story line, particularly in this book. Duncan has a lot to say about the human condition and Western civilization.
- "I'm an American. We're a people diseased with progress."
- "The moon was an inscrutable pregnancy, a withheld alleviation, a love more cunning than a mother's. The moon had a secret to share."
- "We were our own divine images, not graven but flesh and blood, and God shrank in the light of our divinity. Christ was born of a virgin and died one himself. What did he know?"
- "Human love didn't eradicate God, but it put Him into His proper second place."
I will continue to read Glen Duncan because I treasure our intimate conversations.
What other reviewers have to say:
FROM NPR: Jake Marlowe is a man you'd want to sit next to at a dinner party. He's cultured and debonair; he savors fine literature, food and female companionship; he quotes Vladimir Nabokav, D.H. Lawrence and Starsky and Hutch.
In his 200 years, Marlowe — the world's last werewolf — has learned a lot about the finer things in life. (Read full review.)
FROM NY TIMES: It’s easy to see why werewolves might feel under-celebrated these days. While vampires and zombies have stormed the multiplexes and best-seller lists, and Dr. Frankenstein’s monster has completed its cultural infiltration by transforming into the ubiquitous information appliances of daily life (if my smartphone doesn’t count as artificial life run amok I don’t know what does), werewolves have been largely left to idle at the side of the literary road. Where are these Freudian howlers of the night? Theirs has been rather a raw deal. (Read full review)
The Last Werewolf
The Last Werewolf
Gaming at The Library
Too bad I have to work on Saturday or I'd be looking for table of friendly folks to play Bananagrams with!! So what are you waiting for?Technorati Tags: Games, library, Yelm, bananagrams
Barnes and Noble Free Fridays
Excerpt: "Rule 33: Get Used to Stepping Your Comfort Zone. Be prepared to be a little bit brave every day. Why? Because if you don't you'll grow stagnant and moldy or curl up and wither. We all have a comfort zone where we feel safe and warm and dry. But every now and then we need to step outside be challenged, be frightened, be stimulated. It's this way that...."
The Rules of Life, Expanded Edition: A Personal Code for Living a Better, Happier, More Successful Life (Richard Templar's Rules)
The Rules of Life, Expanded Edition: A Personal Code for Living a Better, Happier, More Successful Life (Richard Templar's Rules)Today Barnes and Noble is offering THREE free books. Each is the initial book of a series. How brilliant is that? If we like the free book, then we'll probably buy the next books in the series. Talk about good marketing. I"m not much of a series reader, but lots of folks are. Still I downloaded Invisible by Lorena McCourtney, because the blurb invoked the name of Miss Marple. The other two books being offered for free today are Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason and Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon. Hurray, they are only free today at Barnes and Noble.
The American Gandhi
Author: Bernie Meyer
ISBN: 978-0595483334
Pages: 185
"Bernie Meyer speaks with, in and through the Gandhian spirit of
actively engaged nonviolence. He has lived through and experienced some
of the most formative times and events of the American nation. This
collection of autobiographical essays deserves a wide reading audience.
Rarely do we find such spiritual and philosophical depth combined so
integrally with social activism and long term commitment to progressive
change in society. This voice is genuinely a national treasure." - Daniel Liechty, School of Social Work, Illinois State University
April 26, 2012 at 7:30 P.M. Olympia Timberland Library
OMG! The Thing I Don't Know
Technology is grand, especially when it works.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Olympia St, Rainier, WA
Independent Book Stores
It’s easy, in this day of digital books and e-readers, to forget about the joys of a neighborhood bookstore. They offer something you can’t get online or at the big box stores—they offer you style and a narrowed selection geared toward their customers.
Yes my friends, a narrowed selection, is a plus. Why because you have more time to view each book and give it a chance to move into your home and your mind. Independent booksellers want to know you as a person and give you the selection that you need,
Last week I was lucky enough to be in Seaside Oregon with my granddaughters on spring break and visited a great independent book store Beach Books. I knew I was home as soon as I walked in the door and saw the lovely selection of books, and comfortable sofa to sit on, and a sleepy cat to complete the ambiance.
Beach Books is owned and operated by Karen Emerling. Stop by and see her when you are in Seaside, Oregon.
The Story Sisters
Author: Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Crown
Pages:336
ISBN: 978-0307393869
Author's Page: Alice Hoffman
Reader's Guide:
Story Summary: The sisters, Elv, Megan, and Claire create a magical world and a magical language that binds them in childhood, and gives them power that no child has until they are grown. When Claire is lured into a car by a pedophile, Elv tricks him into turning Claire loose and takes her place. The truth of what Elv endured is known only to her, yet Claire knows as only a sister can, that it was beyond endurance. The secret of that day locks Elv and Claire into a nearly deadly embrace and leaves Megan as the outsider.
My Take: Like the Story Sisters, I have an imaginary life in a self-created imaginary world. In that world, Alice Hoffman is a dear, dear friend. She and the stories she tells have followed me through several decades. In this novel, Alice takes the sensitive topic of an abused child and shows how this single day, this single horrendous act, wreaks havoc on the entire family for decades. Hoffman creates wonderful characters. Characters that we can both love and hate, cheer for and revile. These are the people of our lives, who amaze and disappointment or conquer and fail.
Some who read this book will wonder at the mother's passivity during the long periods of Elv's outrageous behaviors, but the mother doesn't know what has happened to Elv, only the reader and her sister, Claire, do. Parents wish for clairvoyance and wisdom to see the unseen and to always find the perfect solution for each of their children. But the truth is that parenting is 20 percent knowledge , 60 percent sit-of-your-pants, and the rest good luck. While I can't say that I would have handles things as Elv's mother did, I also can't say my way would have been any better. One of the heartbreaks of parenting is that we cannot know everything that happens to our child, nor can we protect them for all the ills of the world. If only we could.
What Other Reviewers Have to Say:
The Chicago Tribune: "At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. It confirms Alice Hoffman’s reputation as "a writer whose keen ear for the measure struck by the beat of the human heart is unparalleled."
New York Times Book Review:
“Hoffman’s characters are always moving back and forth, challenging our perceptions, daring us to judge them. Her sentences tremble with allegory. . . . In the end, THE STORY SISTERS, for all its magic realism, is about a family navigating through motherhood, sisterhood, daughterhood. It’s Little Women on mushrooms. (Bookish sisters beware).”
Alice Hoffman Interview
The Story Sisters: A Novel
The Story Sisters: A Novel
Marge Piercy’s Poem for Every Woman
Marge Piercy is one of my favorite poets. Why? Because she speaks to the core of me –of what I feel in the crevasses that no one ever sees. This poem has sustained me over many many years. I read it when I’m feeling sad, or sorry; when I’m feeling unloved and undervalued. It lifts me up. I hope it lifts you up as well.
For Strong Women
A strong woman is a woman who is straining
A strong woman is a woman standing
on tiptoe and lifting a barbell
while trying to sing "Boris Godunov."
A strong woman is a woman at work
cleaning out the cesspool of the ages,
and while she shovels, she talks about
how she doesn't mind crying, it opens
the ducts of the eyes, and throwing up
develops the stomach muscles, and
she goes on shoveling with tears in her nose.
A strong woman is a woman in whose head
a voice is repeating, I told you so,
ugly, bad girl, bitch, nag, shrill, witch,
ballbuster, nobody will ever love you back,
why aren't you feminine, why aren't
you soft, why aren't you quiet, why aren't you dead?
A strong woman is a woman determined
to do something others are determined
not be done. She is pushing up on the bottom
of a lead coffin lid. She is trying to raise
a manhole cover with her head, she is trying
to butt her way through a steel wall.
Her head hurts. People waiting for the hole
to be made say, hurry, you're so strong.
A strong woman is a woman bleeding
inside. A strong woman is a woman making
herself strong every morning while her teeth
loosen and her back throbs. Every baby,
a tooth, midwives used to say, and now
every battle a scar. A strong woman
is a mass of scar tissue that aches
when it rains and wounds that bleed
when you bump them and memories that get up
in the night and pace in boots to and fro.
A strong woman is a woman who craves love
like oxygen or she turns blue choking.
A strong woman is a woman who loves
strongly and weeps strongly and is strongly
terrified and has strong needs. A strong woman is strong
in words, in action, in connection, in feeling;
she is not strong as a stone but as a wolf
suckling her young. Strength is not in her, but she
enacts it as the wind fills a sail.
What comforts her is others loving
her equally for the strength and for the weakness
from which it issues, lightning from a cloud.
Lightning stuns. In rain, the clouds disperse.
Only water of connection remains,
flowing through us. Strong is what we make
each other. Until we are all strong together,
a strong woman is a woman strongly afraid.
It is National Poetry Month
I know, you don't care. Poetry--ugh! Poetry is hard. It was hard in school and now that you are out of school you never ever have to encounter it again. It's true. But oh my, what you are missing. If you have not read or at least listened to Billy Collins, you are missing an entertainment treat. Here is a YouTube Video of him reading his poem The Lanyard. Beneath it--is the written poem.
The Lanyard - Billy Collins
The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.
I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light
and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.
Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.
