Throwback Thursday

“A terrific story—odd, suspenseful, controversial and ultimately revealing.”

We’re stuck in the middle with you. Looks like Rae is in the middle of Ginny Moon. Me and the boys are approaching the halfway mark of Rae’s birthday book: Orphan Island. And I’m midway through a surprise read. Good thing it’s Thursday and time to take a look in the rear view. Tonight, I’m looking waaay back. Probably too far back for this memory of mine, but let’s not split hairs, okay? 

I’ve never read a more interesting book about locks than Russell Martin’s extraordinary historical odyssey/scientific mystery appropriately named Beethoven’s Hair. After the Master Composer died, a young musician named Hiller paid his respects and, as was the custom, collected a few hairs from the genius’s head. Martin takes us on a fascinating journey as he traces the strands whereabouts, eventually leading us to the wonders of forensic science. Science solves the mystery surrounding the deaf composer’s disability (for lack of a better term). I remember well feeling engaged as I turned pages.  It’s true: “Russell Martin has created a rich historical treasure hunt, a tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible revelations. This unique and fascinating book is a moving testament to the power of music, the lure of relics, the heroism of the resistance movement, and the brilliance of molecular science.”

Posted by Tracy

July/August Book Club Selection

My favorite part of entering was when the contest said this one thing: You May Already Be a Winner. It made me think that somewhere, probably somewhere fancy like New York City or Paris, someone was holding a big old suitcase of cash with my name all typed in gold....Or even there could be a life-time supply of Twix bars just waiting in the UPS truck. 

In case you missed it, we're big fans of Ann Dee Ellis. Her latest book, You May Already Be A Winner, looks to be just that: a winner. The cover alone makes us swoon. It feels like the perfect book club selection heading into August as we squeeze the last lazy days out of summer. Grab your kiddos and have them read along or send 'em packin so you can curl up with it all by yourself, preferably by a pool, with a cold drink in hand. Speaking of dreaming big, another favorite of ours, Ally Condie, had this to say about Winner: "I felt like I hit the jackpot when I read this book. Olivia's story is lively, full of heart, and a must-read for anyone who knows what it feels like to hope and dream big."

Posted by Rachel

Can I Get A Witness?

“You know, one meets so many people, the years pass and pass, but there are certain times, certain people…They take up room. So much room. I was married to Howard for twenty-eight years and yet he made only a piddling dent in my memory. A little nick. But certain others, they move in and make themselves at home and start flapping their arms in the story you make of your life. They have a wingspan."

I suppose I’m an old dog.  And I’m still a purist. But like Ona Vitkus, I can learn new tricks. For the first time, I’m listening to audio books. I’m listening, ears perked, even though I’ve been slam-bang in the middle of Joe Queenan’s camp: “I do not listen to audio books for the same reason I do not listen to baked ziti—it lacks the personal touch.” Move over Joe. I think Meg Conley may have said it better. “Books are too immersive for anything other than paper. I like writing in them, feeling them, staining them with the food I’m eating while I read them. The books I collect across the years I spend here will be a record for my kids.” That’s right Meg. I’m with you—in an ideal world—a world where time is not my betrayer.  

Rachel said it herself: “Desperate times call for desperate measures”—and these are desperate times. I’m cheating on the clock with my stony phone. No dog-ears, no water stains from the splash of a bath, no love in the margins. Just me and the hand held that introduced Miss Ona Vitkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who’s as quirky as she is old. She’s 1 hundred and 4 and the least likely candidate to become an eleven-year-old boy’s friend. (Or a middle-aged, inattentive father’s friend for that matter.) But their friendship stops me in my tracks at times. I was glad I knew little to nothing about our March (wait March?!!?) book club selection when I downloaded the audible, which allowed the story to do what it was meant to: unfold. After all, that’s how the most beautiful friendships evolve. A story about a friendship filled with the color and vibrancy of the birds’ morning chorus will always resonate with this girl. By eye or by ear, I loved this one. The truth is this story provided harmony for me—a reminder to be more grateful for the certain others in my life who make themselves at home, the ones (like Rae) with a radiant wingspan. 

Posted by Tracy

The Real Caboose

“There was no one clear point of loss. It happened over and over again in a thousand small ways and the only truth there was to learn was that there was no getting used to it.” 

Blinders. That's what Tracy's got when it comes to me. And I say hallelujah. She thanks me for not making her feel guilty for falling behind, when all the while I'm the real caboose. This is the friendship dreams are made of. The rest of you, though, can no doubt see the cold hard truth so I best be getting back on my posting horse. Might as well come outta the gate with a winner of a read.

Tray has a friend who refuses to read books with characters that make bad decisions. That's gotta wipe out at least three quarters of the literary canon, doesn't it? Sayonara Shakespeare. Bye bye Brontës. Later Leo, and while we're at it, Willa, Ernest, and Herman, to name just a few. If she held real people to the lofty standard she's set for the made-up ones, her circle of friends would be as suffocatingly small as her reading list.

Add Ann Patchett's State of Wonder to the list of reads she'll most certainly want to avoid. Her loss. This book, like life, is full of moral dilemmas, and no, the characters don't always get it right. Do any of us? But it's beautifully written and the characters are lovely, flaws and all. In the end, two choices are made: one is excruciatingly painful and while it will break your heart, you'll understand why it has to be so, and the other, if you're like me, will fill you with fury at the pure selfishness of it. No matter how you feel about the ending, I'm betting you'll be glad you came along for the ride. It's a story that will leave you thinking long after you've turned the last page—which makes it a winner in my book.

Posted by Rachel

Star-Spangled Reads

“I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.” —George Washington

I’ve come in from poolside to write this post. We’ve had burgers, American style. My nephew’s fireworks show last night was da bomb. (Let me translate da bomb for you young readers: an old but cool way of calling something awesome.) And currently, we’re all full on U.S.A. pride. More now than ever, I appreciate a holiday because it amounts to a break. Rachel was in Park City last week—together we bemoaned the fact that our lives are jammed up with too much work.  We should be reading in excess rather than amassing dollars slowly, shouldn’t we?  So today, I’m celebrating my country’s freedom and some free time.  

If time, time, time is on your side, here are a few star-spangled reads that are sure to make your patriotic hearts flare. 

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis

Ellis is an award-winning author and it shows.  Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation won the big grand-daddy of them all: the Pulitzer Prize. Sometimes it’s easy to deify people who accomplish the impossible—Ellis isn’t afraid to expose the fact that while the founding brothers (including Adams, Madison, Washington, Burr, Franklin and Hamilton) were greatly gifted men, they also had their fair share of weaknesses. This book will remind you of how fragile our new republic was and how amazing it is that history ultimately found favor with us.

1776 by David McCullough

Is it even necessary to convince people to read McCullough at this point in his illuminating career? He’s secured not one, but two Pulitzer prize awards for his biographies Truman and John Adams. His account of the year that changed history, 1776, is no less compelling. It’s considered one of the best examinations of the beginning of our American Revolution.  As per the norm with the best-selling author who makes it look easy, he provides little known detail that will prove intriguing for readers who want to get to George Washington beyond his dental woes and the cherry tree myth.  (You’ll learn something of the Town Destroyer’s notable peers as well.)

Seven Miracles that Saved our America by Chris and Ted Stewart

I’m at my sister Sharee’s house for the holiday. When asked “What’s a favorite flag-waving read of yours?” She didn’t hesitate much: Seven Miracles that Saved America. She even explained why: “It reminded me why our currency says ‘In God we Trust.’” Stewart and Stewart provide compelling evidence that without the hand of God to preserve our nation, the United States would not have prevailed. This tandem author team, brothers with pens, articulated well: “No man is perfect. And neither is any nation. Yet, despite our weakness, we are still, as Abraham Lincoln said, the best nation ever given to man. Despite our faults, this nation is still the last, best hope of earth.” 

P.S. If you’re patriotically precocious and you’ve read these three, you may want to check out Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life. Who is Chernow, you ask? He wrote the book that inspired that little show “Hamilton” that everybody’s talkin’ about.

Posted by Tracy

Kind People Are My Kinda People

“I don't want you to be young and beautiful. I only want one thing. I want you to be kind-hearted - and not just towards cats and dogs.” 

Turning older has obviously stunted my ability to post. And after Rae was so kind with her words. She knows that words are like seeds that we plant in our fertile hearts, not in the cold ground. I doubt I could love her more. She also knows that I’ve been buried the past few weeks—she never makes me feel guilty in the slightest for falling behind. Nothing but understanding outta Rae. I wish all of you could know her.  Rachel’s kindness is stunning, breathtaking actually. 

Her warmth has me thinking about how much I value kindness. Makes me think I should read more about it. So I tinkered around and researched novels that approach kindness. A story of an old Russian woman who raised a brick with the intent to hurl it at a captured German soldier, but at the last minute instead hands him a piece of bread certainly caught my eye. The old woman has no idea why. This is just one inexplicable act of kindness described by Vasily Grossman in his book Life and Fate, which chronicles true Russian/German events during one of the darkest times in our history. From what I’ve read this is a “gritty” book. It’s not for the faint reader. It is a dense novel that has been described as “a classic written by arguably the greatest war correspondent of World War II.” One reviewer raved that “Giving [Life and Fate] any kind of rating is like rating the Mona Lisa or a Beethoven symphony. It is a life-changing work of art.” Another said, “Like Elie Wiesel’s Night this masterpiece gives the world something it never ever should forget.” My curiosity is piqued.  When I can carve out time for an 800 plus pager (after Anna Karenina), I am going to read this with the idea that I will learn something invaluable about kindness. Looks like Grossman and Rachel have a lot in common. 

Posted by Tracy

Happy Birthday Tray

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh." —W.H. Auden

This is one of my favorite pictures of one of my favorite humans. And today just happens to be her birthday. Tracy makes everything more fun, even pumping car tires with a bike pump (it works, by the way). She's the Lucy to my Ethel; the Laverne to my Shirley; the Tray to my Rae. She makes life infinitely brighter and I thank my lucky stars and the good Lord above for her every single day.

So in honor of what should be a national holiday, I scoured several lists in search of books that, like Tray, are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and hopefully induce a belly laugh or two. Here are a couple that caught my eye:

Essays of E.B. White. One reviewer writes: "The witty, imaginative mind of White comes alive in this collection of essays. It's everything you loved about Charolette's Web and Stuart Little, but written for grown-ups."

Hyperbole and a Half. Winner of Goodread's Choice Award for Best Humor Book of the Year in 2013. Amazon's Mari Malcolm raved:  "Brosh has a genius for allowing us to channel her weird childhood and the fits and starts of her adulthood through the manic eyes, gaping mouths, and stick-like arms in the panels that masterfully advance her stories, and she delivers her relentless commentary with deadpan hilarity. Neurosis has rarely been so relatable and entertaining," For a sneak peek at Brosh's humor, head over to her blog.

Posted by Rachel

Summer Reading

"I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do—the day after.” —Oscar Wilde

Oh, Oscar. We would have gotten on swimmingly. I've got a stack of books to review (Hillbilly Elegy, Beartown, State of Wonder, to name just a few) but all I can think about right now is what to read next. Blame it on cabin fever—as in I'm heading to one in exactly 9 days, 2 hours and 48 minutes, give or take a minute or two. The aspens are calling, as are the mountain breezes, cooler temps, and the real prize: Tracy. And time, glorious time, to read. Hillbilly Elegy left me with a hankering for more nonfiction and these true tales are topping my TBR list right now:

Esther The Wonder Pig. Turns out a story about a 600 pound pig is the number one book on Amazon so far this year. Considering all the hate that dominates the news and social media these days, it's no surprise a sweet pig story would capture our hearts. I fell for Esther after reading a short article on her and then Tracy, finder of all good reads, informed me there's a whole book dedicated to this charmer. Happy day.

Think Monuments Men but instead of iconic pieces of art, these daring men are rescuing horses. Apparently Adolf didn't confine his deranged dreams of a master race to humans. Author Robin Hutton writes of The Perfect Horse: “Elizabeth Letts’s beautiful prose, woven together with meticulous research, takes you for a ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.” A historic page-turner—count me in.

Sometimes a girl just wants to be scared out of her wits. Now that I've recovered from In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (30 years later), I'm ready to take on another true horror story. Killers of the Flower Moon should hold me over for another thirty. 

Posted by Rachel