The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club by Duncan Whitehead

 

As Thelma Miller's friends and fellow members of the Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club come together to mourn her death, the small middle class neighborhood she departed from seems to be home to a seething hotbed of secrets that play out in a delightfully droll way.  Two of her friends compete for the attention of her grieving husband, deceits and lies abound, and a killer from a mysterious organization with links to organized crime stalks the local park.  But this is only a small part of the plot; one that also involves a mysterious European gentleman in South America, a young Italian Count in Paris, an old woman with an infamous uncle who is out for revenge, a retired accountant who is hiding out and an aspiring model who wins the trip of a lifetime.  In the hands of a less capable author it would all be a little too much and probably quite muddled, but this author manages to pull it off with aplomb, making for a delightful, easy and fun read--one that I would definitely recommend.

 

It is my pleasure to welcome Duncan Whitehead to my blog today for a short interview about this book, his other works, and life in general.

 

 

Welcome Duncan.  First just let me say I was pleased to learn from your website (www.thegordonstonladiesdogwalkingclub.com ) that The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club has turned into a trilogy, with Books 2 and 3 on the way.  Anything you care to share with us concerning the sequels?

Thank you.  The first sequel will touch on the back story of Ignatius Jackson but of course there will be twists and a lot of surprises.  Two new characters will be introduced, including a Detective assigned to investigate the mysterious goings on in Gordonstone. Some characters will not survive the first sequel...and a dog will find a bone in the park……..

Your English humor was in great abundance throughout the book, and you say it was actually inspired by the quirky characters in the neighborhood where you used to live in Savannah, GA.  It has been said that the south is more than a region, it’s a state of mind.  You’ve traveled extensively, do you find the southern ethos a rich one for writers?

Yes I do. Southerners, and in particularly, “Savanahnians” , have a great way with words, they can turn a simple “good morning” into a full blown conversation. They use this great descriptive language when talking, almost poetic, very similar, in my opinion to the Irish (I have also lived in Ireland).  It is my opinion, that Southerners love to talk and I love to listen!

I must admit I was intrigued by the title of the other book you’ve penned, “The Reluctant Jesus” (a comedy set in Manhattan).  Can you tell us a little bit about that one?

The Reluctant Jesus is a comedy. Unlike “Gordonston” there are no dark elements to this novel.  Seth Miller, a confirmed bachelor who is continually harassed by his domineering mother to spawn children, is told that he is the Messiah…he doesn’t want the job, in fact he is extremely annoyed.  This is compounded when he is informed that he has to battle The Antichrist, an equally as reluctant and inappropriate nominee for the role forced upon him (he has allergies and likes video games and makes Woody Allen look like Rocky!).  There are disciples, miracles, an extremely forgetful God and Devil and of course….some twists!

On a personal note, you say you are interested in the Israeli defense art of Krav Maga (that sent me to google to find out what it was—even though I am quite familiar with martial arts and am married to a second degree black belt), and the pressure point martial art Dim-Mak.  Did you get into these when you were in the military, or come to them in some other way?

I began studying Dim-Mak about 8 years ago, and didn’t really understand the concept. A few years ago I found out about a very interesting Australian man, Erle Montague, who really explained the concepts, I took it up again and even created a website (now closed) explaining some very simple techniques.  Of course it is a martial art you cannot practice much, but, it is a good skill to have, especially if you travel to places where you may need to get out of situations quickly.

I took up Krav Maga while living in Brazil.  I was explaining Dim-Mak to a friend of mine, and showed him a few defense techniques.  He then introduced me to Krav Maga, he taught it, once again I became hooked.  I began boxing when I was 14 and took up Judo when I was 11 so I have always been interested in fighting arts. 

 Since I’m all about books on this blog, how about telling me your favorite book of all time (the book you are an evangelist for), your favorite authors, and one of your favorite quotes from a book.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  I love this book because I think the comedy is well written and the characters, while quirky, are actually likeable. However, the reason I love this book is due to the author’s story.  His tragic life and then subsequent discover….after his death….it is kind of a great lesson in why we should never give up.   My favorite author is Agatha Christie…..I love her mysteries, the way she develops characters.  I am a big fan.  One of my favorite quotes from a book is from a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” –  If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended— That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. I just love it!

What is one thing your readers might be surprised to know about you?

That I love to cook! I make my own soup and I bake!

Any new projects in the works you can tell us about?

I am working on the sequels to “Gordonston” – I am also developing the first book into a screenplay as well as completing the editing and finishing touches to “Jesus”.  This week I publish a free short story “An Actor’s Life” (A dark comedy with a twist) which is available at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and Amazon – for free if you have a device to read it on!

 Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself and your work with us today Duncan.  I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you and about you in the future.

 

 

Vintage photos of Librarians

Minnie Oakley and Florence Baker Hayes, two Wisconsin State Historical Society librarians, 1896.

Niagara Falls librarians, 1955.

A librarian reaching for the top shelf of the card catalog.

A librarian at the British Library of Political and Economic Science collecting books for readers in the reserve stacks, 1964.

A librarian tells a story at the Webster Branch of the New York Public Library, 1910.

This vintage photo shoot of librarians being awesome was provided by Flavorwire.  My favorite part?...where it says "librarians are likely to expand minds wherever they go--and, as such, are fully worthy of hero worship."  Smile.  I know they were certainly heroes for me when I was growing up, and I haven't changed my mind about that either.  Here's the link to the full posting.

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Cleopatra became a queen at the age of 18, married twice (each time to a brother), and at the height of her power controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast--the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler.   She was 39 when she died, and had ruled for nearly 22 years (about a decade longer than Alexander the Great).  Famous long before she became notorious, according to Ms. Schiff, she has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons.

This is a scholarly treatment of the woman who spoke many languages, including the language of flattery.  She knew how to turn people to her will, and was said to be a political genius in that respect.  She wasn't a great beauty, but charisma seemed to be her dominant quality.  She was a tough, independent, capable woman with wit and humor who could blend herself into any circumstances.  They called her the Queen of Kings and she was worshipped as a goddess in her lifetime.

Schiff paints a portrait of Cleopatra that tries to separate her from the mythology and hyperbole that history has cloaked her in revealing the true woman underneath.  Not an easy task.  For as she says in this book "It has always been preferable to attribute a woman's success to her beauty rather than to her brains, to reduce her to the sum of her sex life...it is less threatening to believe her fatally attractive than fatally intelligent."

I enjoyed this book, but it is not a casual read, nor written for the casual reader.  But if you enjoy your history meticulously researched and are intrigued by this alluring but elusive woman who lived in an amazing era and was so much more than the voluptuous seductress of legend, then you might want to give it a read.

Suspect by Robert Crais

 

 



Maggie is a canine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. Scott James is an LAPD cop. Maggie lost her handler to an IED in Afghanistan, and Scott lost his partner to gunmen. And both are suffering from PTSD when they're brought together in a K9 unit.

Robert Crais is a crime and thriller writer--it's what he's known for and the type of fiction he loves to read himself. So the thriller aspect of Suspect is good, but the story of Maggie and Scott is also outstanding. Their initial mistrust of one another grows into an unbreakable bond, one that most dog lovers will recognize.

Crais wanted to write this book as accurately as our current understanding of dog behavior would allow, so he researched deeply into how dogs think, what they feel, why they feel those things, how they process the world around them, and what motivates them to do what they do. The result is not only a pretty good crime story, but also a story about one man's love affair with a dog and that dog's devotion to a man and how they are both redeemed by that love.

The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook: From the Garden to the Table in 120 Recipes by Barbara Damrosch & Eliot Coleman

Having been a vegetarian for years, a big supporter of growing most of what you eat, and the local food movement, I was really looking forward to this latest effort from Damrosch & Coleman, two of the foremost authorities on organic gardening and sustainable living.  And it does not disappoint.  It's two books in one.  The first part of the book is devoted to actually growing what you eat, with easy to follow instructions for growing everything from the best tomatoes to berries for a pie.  It covers the basics of preparing your soil, composting, etc.  The second half of the book is a cookbook with 120 recipes to use all those lovely fruits and vegetables your labor will be providing.  And as they say, eating doesn't get any more local than your own backyard.  To me, the first couple of paragraphs in their book say it all:

"The day has begun to cool, so we reach for the sun-warmed shirts we'd shed earlier when we began cultivating the garden. The beds now look clean and tidy, the earth a dark background against which the plants stand out in rich colors. The deep green of the spinach and the bluish cast of the broccoli leaves tell us we've fed these plants well, and that they'll feed us well in return. We pull up some carrots for supper, pick a few cucumbers, dig a handful or two of potatoes, and add a head of lettuce and fresh herbs to the basket. Standing up, we stretch our backs, feeling a pleasant kind of tiredness. After washing up we fix a simple meal, much of it harvested moments before, still alive and flavorful. We feel like the luckiest people on earth.

Does this sound romantic? If so, it's only because people seldom feed themselves from their gardens anymore. Yet for much of human history, it was the normal way to live. It was something everyone needed to know how to do. Then, in the twentieth century, gardening turned into a hobby."

Run, don't walk, to your local library and check this out or to your local bookstore and purchase it for your own bookshelf. You won't be sorry.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

This novel set in ancient Israel took the author over five years to write.  It is a wonderful blend of history, imagination, and lyricism.  It is the tale of four women who come to Masada (a jewish fortress in the Judaean desert overlooking the Dead Sea), each by a different path, and each with secrets about who they are, where they came from, and who they love.

 

 

The history of Masada itself is quite extraordinary.  It was built by Herod the Great.  The summit of Masada sits 190 feet above sea level and about 1,500 feet above the level of the Dead Sea.  The "Snake Path" leading in climbs 900 feet in elevation. Fifteen long storerooms kept essential provisions for time of siege.  After Judaea became a province of the Roman empire, it became a refuge for the last survivors of the Jewish rebellion.  In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans.  Only two women and five children survived.  Today Masada is one of the Jewish people's greatest symbols (next to Jerusalem), and Jewish soldiers take an oath there that it shall not fall again.

 

This is the tragic backdrop that is the setting for this story.  It is a story about destiny, love (how it defines us and shapes us), and sacrifice of unimaginable proportions.  It is a powerful story rich with the history of daily life two thousand years ago containing mythology and magic and told through the eyes of bold and resourceful as well as sensuous women.  

Loving Andrew by Romy Wyllie

 

Down syndrome is among the most common genetic birth abnormalities. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, 1 in 691 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States.  When Romy Wyllie's son Andrew was born in 1959 and diagnosed as mongoloid (the term they used in those days), the prevailing medical advice was to institutionalize the child.  Although they mourned the perfect baby they had expected, they rejected the doctor's advice and followed their own natural nurturing instincts.  They took Andrew home and decided to try to give him the best life possible.  Parenting is tough under any circumstances.  The parents' role in a child's development is crucial, never more so than in the case of a child born with Down syndrome.  The provision of an enriching environment appears to accelerate cognitive development.  A high level of attention in a positive family environment and effective social and educational stimulation are critical.  These are things Romy Wyllie knew instinctively, but in 1959 with little information and no follow up, her family began their journey through the maze of parenting a developmentally disabled son.

This inspiring account of the challenges and rewards Wyllie faced while raising a Down syndrome child as an integral part of her family will appeal to a broad audience--not just caregivers and those who love and interact with a Down syndrome child or adult--but the casual reader as well.  As she says in her preface, someone with Down syndrome is first and foremost a person--a human being with a life to live and a role to play.  With modern improvement in medical technology and prenatal testing as well as the capability of terminating a less than perfect baby, it is especially important to be aware of the progress that has been made in treatment and acceptance of these very special individuals.

Wyllie does an excellent job of relating the changing societal perceptions towards the Down syndrome child over the years, compares her own experience from 1959 with those of two other families with Down syndrome children born in 1980 and 1994, and does not flinch when it comes to detailing her frustrations, mistakes, and concerns.  There is a raw honesty here that is very appealing.

It has been said that the biggest disability any of us may ever face is our own attitudes.  This moving memoir of one family's love and devotion to their son--which allowed him to master the skills of life and become a contributing member of society--will go a long way to improving societal attitudes towards those born with disabilities.

"Slow Books" Movement

U. S. independent book sellers meeting in Kansas City are optimistic.  According to this article in the Kansas City Star, the talk there has been that young audiophiles are returning to LPs and culinary types are asserting the attraction of “slow food.”  They think we could very well be witnessing a retro-fueled backlash against the digital tide. It could be more than wishful thinking that the rise of eBooks has slowed. They call the attraction of ink on paper the “slow books” movement.  Well, I've been a member of that movement for a long time...maybe many of you have too. 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/01/4092744/us-booksellers-meeting-in-kc-express.html#storylink=cpy

One Summer by David Baldacci

David Baldacci is a worldwide bestselling novelist.  His books have been published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 110 million copies in print.  He is one of the world's favorite storytellers.

This book isn't his typical offering as the writer of blockbuster thrillers, but it is a moving account of one family who learned to love and reconnect after being exposed to terrible tragedy.

It's almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country. Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie's death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie's childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.  You can find out more about him by going to www.davidbaldacci.com and his foundation by going to www.wishyouwellfoundation.org .  He also has a program designed to spread books across America.  You can find out more about this by going to www.feedingbodyandmind.com .

This was my first Baldacci book, but it won't be my last.  I intend to catch up on his other titles and I highly recommend him to you.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

This book was passed on to me by a Book Club member, because she thought I might like it--and, indeed I did.  It is a mystery that was released  in 2008 by Australian author Kate Morton.

On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her--but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold--secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.

This is a story that explores the present and the past, a theme that the author is particularly interested in.  There are three strands woven together to form a single narrative--the lives of three women from three different eras.  At first, it jumped around a little too much for me, but once I got used to jumping back and forth in time, the magical narrative captivated me.  We even get a few dark fairytales woven into the narrative as well.  You can tell that the book has been carefully researched and crafted with mysteries to be solved and many puzzle pieces to be followed till the very end (where there is a payoff).  It was a fast and easy read and the atmosphere and setting made for a compelling read.

The Joy of Re-Reading

Have to share this from Joan Wickersham from the Boston Globe about the Joy of Re-Reading.  She is so right when she says "Re-reading never gets old. The books change because we change."

Bibliographics

 

Read an interesting article by Suzy Staubach about the curious rise of bibliographics.  Just wanted to share it with you all here because she has a lot of good links listed for Pinterest sites and web pages having to do with books.  Truly delightful to browse for any book lover.  They make this girl's heart beat a bit faster, and maybe they will work their magic on you too.  Check it out.   

Don't burn your books, print is here to stay!

The following article from the Wall Street Journal gives lovers of ink and paper heart.  Reports of the death of the printed book may be exaggerated.

"Ever since Amazon introduced its popular Kindle e-reader five years ago, pundits have assumed that the future of book publishing is digital. Opinions about the speed of the shift from page to screen have varied. But the consensus has been that digitization, having had its way with music and photographs and maps, would in due course have its way with books as well. By 2015, one media maven predicted a few years back, traditional books would be gone.

Half a decade into the e-book revolution, though, the prognosis for traditional books is suddenly looking brighter. Hardcover books are displaying surprising resiliency. The growth in e-book sales is slowing markedly. And purchases of e-readers are actually shrinking, as consumers opt instead for multipurpose tablets. It may be that e-books, rather than replacing printed books, will ultimately serve a role more like that of audio books—a complement to traditional reading, not a substitute.


How attached are Americans to old-fashioned books? Just look at the results of a Pew Research Center survey released last month. The report showed that the percentage of adults who have read an e-book rose modestly over the past year, from 16% to 23%. But it also revealed that fully 89% of regular book readers said that they had read at least one printed book during the preceding 12 months. Only 30% reported reading even a single e-book in the past year.

What's more, the Association of American Publishers reported that the annual growth rate for e-book sales fell abruptly during 2012, to about 34%. That's still a healthy clip, but it is a sharp decline from the triple-digit growth rates of the preceding four years.

The initial e-book explosion is starting to look like an aberration. The technology's early adopters, a small but enthusiastic bunch, made the move to e-books quickly and in a concentrated period. Further converts will be harder to come by. A 2012 survey by Bowker Market Research revealed that just 16% of Americans have actually purchased an e-book and that a whopping 59% say they have "no interest" in buying one.

Meanwhile, the shift from e-readers to tablets may also be dampening e-book purchases. Sales of e-readers plunged 36% in 2012, according to estimates from IHS iSuppli, while tablet sales exploded. When forced to compete with the easy pleasures of games, videos and Facebook on devices like the iPad and the Kindle Fire, e-books lose a lot of their allure. The fact that an e-book can't be sold or given away after it's read also reduces the perceived value of the product.

Beyond the practical reasons for the decline in e-book growth, something deeper may be going on. We may have misjudged the nature of the electronic book.

From the start, e-book purchases have skewed disproportionately toward fiction, with novels representing close to two-thirds of sales. Digital best-seller lists are dominated in particular by genre novels, like thrillers and romances. Screen reading seems particularly well-suited to the kind of light entertainments that have traditionally been sold in supermarkets and airports as mass-market paperbacks.

These are, by design, the most disposable of books. We read them quickly and have no desire to hang onto them after we've turned the last page. We may even be a little embarrassed to be seen reading them, which makes anonymous digital versions all the more appealing. The "Fifty Shades of Grey" phenomenon probably wouldn't have happened if e-books didn't exist.

Readers of weightier fare, including literary fiction and narrative nonfiction, have been less inclined to go digital. They seem to prefer the heft and durability, the tactile pleasures, of what we still call "real books"—the kind you can set on a shelf.

E-books, in other words, may turn out to be just another format—an even lighter-weight, more disposable paperback. That would fit with the discovery that once people start buying digital books, they don't necessarily stop buying printed ones. In fact, according to Pew, nearly 90% of e-book readers continue to read physical volumes. The two forms seem to serve different purposes.

Having survived 500 years of technological upheaval, Gutenberg's invention may withstand the digital onslaught as well. There's something about a crisply printed, tightly bound book that we don't seem eager to let go of."

—Mr. Carr is the author of "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains."

This book has been billed as an honest look at the price of war on an ordinary American family.  It is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and yes--ultimately--hope.

Michael and Jolene Zarkades are a young couple caught up in the malestrom of every day life.  He is a defense attorney, and she is the mother of two girls and a helicopter pilot with the National Guard.  Iraq erupts, and Jolene is deployed, leaving Michael to be the single parent to their two girls (a role that is obviously foreign to him).  As a mother, Jolene agonizes over leaving her family, but as a soldier she understands the true meaning of duty.  When tragedy befalls Jolene, their 12 year marriage is tested in ways that neither of them could have forseen.

The thing I liked best about this book was its depiction of the sacrifices that our service men and women make by putting themselves in harms way to protect us and ensure our freedom.  Typical of that were the words from the Soldier's Creed posted on the hospital door of Jolene's best friend Tami:

I am an American Soldier.
I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

The character Jolene was a personification of this code.  I had a little trouble relating to her prior to her Iraq experience because she seemed so bottled up and controlled--a little too perfect--but that was no doubt due to her dysfunctional background, coming from an alcoholic family.  She truly found herself in the military--found her purpose.  The character of Michael was well drawn, but I found the two children very annoying.  The older girl (12) was a spoiled brat and the younger girl (4) seemed too much of a baby.

I do totally agree with Hannah when she says that no matter how you feel about war and all the political machinations behind it, we must always support our warriors. 

Blood Lance by Jeri Westerson

I am a big fan of Jeri Westerson's Crispin Guest novels (the current title is Book 5).  With her extensive knowledge of medieval England, she makes fourteenth-century London come alive.  Containing well developed characters and a wealth of period detail this book is another fascinating and entertaining entry in the series.

Disgraced former knight Crispin Guest witnesses a body falling from the uppermost part of London Bridge.  He tries to save the man, but is too late.  Witnesses on the street say they believe it was a suicide, but Crispin does not believe that.  As he investigates the death of the man (who turns out to be an armorer who had a shop on the bridge), he is even more convinced that murder was afoot.  Crispin's hunt for the murderer also involves a friend or two from Crispin's old life, a search for the Spear of Longinus (the spear that pierced the side of Christ on the cross—which is believed to make those who possess it invincible), and a rousing joust on London Bridge.

A very pleasurable read indeed.  There is even a nice little Afterword in the book from Ms. Westerson giving us a little more background on the Holy Spear (or the Spear of Destiny/Spear of Longinus) and some fleshing out of some of the historical characters, as well as a bit more about PTSD and the idea that knights suffered from it.  Fascinating.

Am very much looking forward to Book 6, Shadow of the Alchemist, which will be released in the Fall of 2013.

This book is a publishing phenomenon, selling 1.8 million copies to date.  It has spent (so far) 20 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list (including 8 weeks in the number one spot for hardcover fiction). 

This is the basic plot of the book:  Nick and Amy Dunne celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.  In the midst of the celebration, Amy disappears.  Of course, the suspicion falls on Nick, who is a compendium of deceits and inappropriate behavior--but is he a killer? With his twin sister at his side, Nick proclaims his innocence, and even Amy's fiercely doting parents are on his side.  But as the police investigation proceeds, we find that it is not only Nick that has huge cracks in his golden boy persona, but Amy may not be the golden girl everyone thought she was either.

That is pretty much all I can tell you about the book without giving away too much, because this is a book that will take you on a terrifying roller coaster ride into the darkness of a disintegrating marriage, one characterized by betrayal, manipulation, toxicity, and true psychopathy.  I was horrified by these characters as the story progressed, but also fascinated by the unusually smart crafting of the plot by its author.

The good news is that Ms. Flynn is writing a screenplay in which Reese Witherspoon has signed on to produce and star as Amy.  No word yet on who will play the handsome Nick.  But after the runaway hit the book has become, I'm sure the movie will be a success as well.

I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons

I have been a fan of Leonard Cohen for many years now.  So I guess the thing I liked most about this book was getting a glimpse of what was happening in his personal life when he came up with all that gorgeous poetry of his.  This biography of the man behind Suzanne and Hallelujah is an examination of one of the most influential artists of our era. Written by music journalist Sylvie Simmons, it gives us an intimate look into the life of a man who at the height of his popularity entered a monastery above Los Angeles and reemerged for a sold out world tour almost 15 years later. His blending of poetry, fiction, and music has given him an audience that has spanned four decades and earned him a place in the culture that is second only to Bob Dylan. Cohen was honored (along with Chuck Berry) as the recipient of the first annual PEN Award for songwriting excellence in February of 2012. An insightful portrait of a man blessed with vision, depth, and talent, and a gorgeous turn of phrase.

One of my favorites of Leonard's...Dance Me to the End of Love

 

And another one of my favorites from Leonard...

 

A THOUSAND KISSES DEEP

 

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it's done ¨c
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it's real,
A thousand kisses deep.

I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed,
I'm back on boogie street.
You lose your grip, and then you slip
Into the masterpiece.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A thousand kisses deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A thousand kisses deep.

Confined to sex, we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
I made it to the forward deck.
I blessed our remnant fleet
And then consented to be wrecked,
A thousand kisses deep.

I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed,
I'm back on boogie street.
I guess they won't exchange the gifts
That you were meant to keep.
And quiet is the thought of you,
The file on you complete,
Except what we forgot to do,
A thousand kisses deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A thousand kisses deep.

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat . . .

 

 







Tumblr to Follow

Okay, this is kind of a girl thing (sorry guys)...but it does fit into my whole theme of everything "book" related.  Being a girly girl and loving my nail polish...but also being a bibliophile extraordinaire, I found a tumblr that combines both loves.  All you gals out there that are like minded...check this one out. 

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh

Jepp left his countryside home on the empty promise of a stranger, only to become a captive in a luxurious prison: Coudenberg Palace, the royal court of the Spanish Infanta. Nobody warned Jepp that as a court dwarf, daily injustices would become his seemingly unshakable fate.  He manages to escape from the palace, but is imprisoned again, alone in a cage. Spirited across Europe in a kidnapper’s carriage, Jepp fears where his unfortunate stars may lead him. But he can't even begin to imagine the brilliant and eccentric new master—a man devoted to uncovering the secrets of the stars—who awaits him. Or the girl who will help him mend his heart and unearth the long-buried secrets of his past.

This is a young adult historical novel written from a dwarf's perspective, which I found extremely interesting and engaging.  The author managed to keep her characters entirely in their time period, with no modernity creeping in.  And, there is real history incorporated into her fiction, which she tells us all about in an Author's note at the back of the book.

The real Jepp served the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe as his dwarf jester.  Diego Velazquez (a 17th century painter) did several portraits of court dwarfs like the one depicted below.

Court Dwarf Don Antonio el Ingles



There is a long history of dwarfs serving royal courts around the world.  Some held positions of power or prestige, but many more were collected as status symbols, mocked, and treated cruelly.  The indignities that Jepp and his fellow dwarfs suffer are not, sadly, fictional--but a composite of actual accounts from Renaissance-era European courts.

 I'm taking an astronomy class right now, where I learned about Tycho Brahe--a most interesting fellow--so, I especially loved reading Marsh's characterization of him.  Born into a powerful family of Danish nobles, Tycho developed a passion for astronomy--and its sister art of astrology.  When King Frederick awarded Tycho the island of Hven in the Oresund Strait to build an observatory, Uraniborg (or the Castle of the Heavens) was created.  In this castle was running water (including an indoor fountain); state-of-the-art astronomical equipment (some of which Brahe designed); a system of pulleys and bells that could summon servants and scholars; exotic gardens; and so much more.  Tycho entertained himself and his staff with lavish banquets and actually had a beer-drinking pet moose (which is introduced in Marsh's book).

But the real star in this book is the self-deprecating voice of Jepp, who was a witness to the emerging world of science and astronomy, and was trying to find out who he was in the process--whether his fate was truly subject to the stars or perhaps subject to his own manipulation of destiny.  And where does love fall in this equation? You really must read Marsh's book--a magical tale of an unusual hero and his extraordinary quest to become the master of his own destiny.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This charming book set in Alaska in 1920 is the first novel by this author--though the wonderfully descriptive language was so rich, it was hard for me to believe that this was her first book.  However, she was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters.  She received her BA in journalism and minor in creative writing through the honors program at Western Washington University, studied creative nonfiction at the University of Alaska Anchorage graduate program, and worked for nearly 10 years as an award-winning reporter at the Frontiersman newspaper.  So, she knows her stuff!

Jack and Mabel, two homesteaders who are childless and drifting apart from the loneliness and weight of the work this environment entails just for survival, in a moment of levity after the season's first snowfall build a child out of snow.  The next morning, it is gone--but they find a young, blonde-haired girl who calls herself Faina.  She seems very comfortable and at home in the woods.  A real child of nature.  Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child--who really could have stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale--and they soon grow to love her.  Who is this child? Where does she come from? Is she real, or produced from the imagination of two lonely childless people in the middle of a harsh and unyielding landscape?

I won't give away any of the book's plot here, but the thing that permeates this book from start to finish are the lovely descriptions of the harsh magical environment of Alaska--the spartan setting, the desperate struggle for existence, the river ice, pine boughs, mountain herbs, the smell of wet wool and blood, and the snow...always the snow.  You truly feel like you are right there experiencing everything this couple does.

I enjoyed this book very much, despite the fact that it is not really plot driven with the usual conflicts and tensions.  What it is though, is a large dose of magical realism wrapped up in a beautifully rendered story that is emotional and thought provoking.

Yes, this is me...