Book Review - Ladder of the Years; Anne Tyler

 

Ladder of the Years; Anne Tyler

1995 - Vintage

(eBook downloaded from the library)

I love the stories Anne Tyler creates with everyday people and towns and places that are so easy to envision.  It recently came to my attention that I missed several of her earliest books - note to self to remedy that in 2022. Ladder of the Years was one of those books.

Cordelia (Delia) Grinstead is a Baltimore housewife and mother to three almost adult children.  Married 20+ years, her husband, Sam is a doctor and, at least to outsiders and friends it appears the couple has a good life. Sometimes she feels invisible -- or as she describes it --QUOTE--sometimes she felt like a tiny gnat around her family's edges.

On an annual family beach vacation a couple things happen that makes her do something on the spur of the moment - dressed in her swimsuit, beach coverup and carrying a beach bag containing $500 of vacation money, she hitches a ride from a repairman to Bay Borough where, without saying a word to her family, she rents a room, buys a few essentials and gets a job in a law office.

Eventually, things happen and of course, Delia must make a decision whether to continue with her new life or return to the life she left behind.

QUOTE---"The thing of it is, you ask yourself enough questions--was it this I did wrong, was it that? --and you get to believe you did it ALL wrong. Your whole damn life. But now that I'm nearing the end of it, I seem to be going too fast to stop and change.  I'm just SKIDDING to the end of it."

QUOTE--"The thing that attracts you to someone can end up putting you off."

My Thoughts - There was much to love about this novel for me: marriage, motherhood, expectations and even (2) cats and, bonus - the dream of starting a new life just for you (yes, have had that dream.)  I loved the people she met and the new life she created in her small town whether it was her landlady who became a friend, the folks at the diner where she would stop to eat, the border at the rooming house where she lived, her almost daily library visits and so much more.  This would have been an almost perfect read for me but, I felt the ending was too rushed.  Still, I highly recommend this one.

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

Warlight; Michael Ondaatje

TITLE: Warlight

AUTHOR:  Michael Ondaatje

PUBLISHER: Vintage International / Random House Audio

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING: London, England
FORMAT: print & audio/my shelves

RATING - 4/5

Historical fiction is not usually something I gravitate toward but, I was pretty happy my book group selected it as our October read. I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, only 3 of the dozen or so members who came to the meeting liked the book.

Set in London right after WWII, Nathan 14, and his older sister, Rachel, are told by their parents that they need to go away to Singapore for a while.  The teens are left with Walter, A.K.A. The Moth, who stays at their home with them. The children wonder whether "the moth" is a criminal, but quickly forget that imagining when more motley characters join their household.

This novel ,although historical, had a nice element of mystery to it as well. Nothing is as we are first lead to believe and it's a slow reveal that held my interest throughout. It's definitely a darker story especially since a lot of things happen after dark.  The beautiful writing and the characters were really memorable. I loved how they tried to teach the siblings a variety of things - some are unusual to say the least.  The story is told from the POV of Nathan as a teen and later as a young man as he takes a job with the Foreign Office working in archives and trying to sort out what his mother was up to in the time she was absent from their lives.

This was a combo print and audio read for me. The audio narration was very good.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Warlight; Michael Ondaatje

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers post the opening paragraph(s) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

Warlight; Michael Ondaatje

Vintage International / Random House Audio - 2018

PART ONE

A Table Full of Strangers

"In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals.  We were living on a street in London called Ruvigny Gardens, and one morning either our mother or our father suggested that after breakfast the family have a talk, and they told us they would be leaving us and going to Singapore for a year.  Not too long, they said, but it would not be a brief trip either.  We would of course be well cared for in their absence.  I remember our father was sitting on one of those uncomfortable iron garden chairs as he broke the news, while our mother, in a summer dress just behind his shoulder, watched how we responded.  After a while she took my sister Rachel's hand and held it against her waist as if she could give it warmth."

I normally would have passed on this book at first glance but, this was chosen as our book group read this month. I'm actually enjoying it - beautiful writing.

What do you think - pass or read more?

Nobody's Fool; Richard Russo

Nobody's Fool; Richard Russo

Vintage 1994

I've probably owned this book for 10 years and it's remained on my shelf unread until I learned Russo released a sequel and THEN I had to read it.  Why did I wait so long?  It's wonderful.

Nobody's Fool is Donald "Sully" Sullivan is a 60 year old unemployed construction worker.  Sully is one of those guys who seems to be their own worst enemy, yet you feel for him as the story progresses. He's got a bad knee, an ex-wife and an adult son he's never really gotten to know. The couple separated when his son was very young.

Set in rural North Bath, New York, this novel is full of small town charm and large as life characters who you really get to know.  The dialogue made me laugh and the conversations seemed just as I'd imagine everyday people to be having.  The people meet at the diner and secrets are hard to keep in a small town like this.

Sully's son, Pete is going through a difficult time as well. His marriage is on the rocks and he has been denied tenure at the college where he teaches. He has two sometimes difficult young boys and, of course, the strained relationship with Sully.

There were touching moments in the story when Sully seems to bond with his grandson who has some insecurity issues much like his dad did as a young boy.  The interactions between Sully, the young boy and key characters made me smile. Sully is just so genuine -- warts and all.

The story is filled with small town charm and characters who will feel like some people you've met along the way. Like Russo's Pulitzer Prize winning Empire Falls, Nobody's Fool was a rewarding read. Russo is one author who can capture blue-collar people. Read this if you want a great story complete with quirky and memorable characters. I can't wait to read the sequel, Everybody's Fool.

4.5/5 stars

(personal copy)

Sunday Blatherings - Fitbit and more

Hello Readers,  I'm here to tell you "retirement" is exhausting! 

I made it through week one expecting this to be the "Week of Diane", but my husband had other ideas.  He's been retired for almost 3 years and routinely walks about 7-8 miles a day (5) days a week...yes, I know you hate him already --me too LOL.

While I was working, I walked 1.5 miles Mon-Friday most weeks and called that exercise. I've had a Fitbit One for (1) year now and, although I came close, never hit 10,000 steps in one day.  This week I walked my retired butt off because of him, Granted he toned it down a bit but my Fitbit has now seen over 13,500 steps in one day, and I didn't kill me.  I did comment constantly how bored I was, so on subsequent days I listened to an audio book and we even walked some trails at a state park one day.

Do any of you have Fitbits?  Well, as I mentioned I've had the Fitbit One --shown here (clip it on my bra) and wear it every day. You really have to move to get credit for each step. I love how it syncs to my iPhone and I can track calories etc. I do work for each step I get.

I regret the day decided to buy my husband the Fitbit Charge though ( Father's Day gift last month) - the model he has is what I call the "cheater's model"---shown here ---

He hit 20,000 steps his first day wearing it on his dominant wrist, I then changed the setting to account for the dominant wrist and, he walked basically the same distance and still got about 18,000 steps, when his tracking prior to Fitbit, walking the same route each day was about 14,000 steps. ---Opinion --- he's getting step credit for sitting on his butt clicking the remote, writing checks, flipping pages ------Call me a sore loser, but I'm annoyed, and have threatened to cut the Fitbit off his wrist as he sleeps.

Honestly, I'm not crazy - I found this statement several times online ---Clearly, sensitivity to arm movement is still something Fitbit, and other builders of fitness trackers, have yet to perfect.

Trust me -- there is a difference in how these 2 Fitbits track movement.  This week when we walked the same distance together and then did little else (stayed in afterward) he had nearly 2,000 more steps than me at the end of the day.

Seriously, I'm ticked off, but happy to be moving my butt a whole lot more. I also joined the YMCA (he already had a membership) for those hot and humid or snow and ice days.  

When I wasn't in constant motion, we went out for lunch several times --seniors do that now and then, saw the little ones one day, and ordered a new car now that I don't have to worry about the ridiculous parking situation at work.  I also hit the library twice, caught up on some book reviews, read (of course) and did all that other house related things that working people cram in on weekends. All is good - I can handle retirement I decided!

New Books this Week

• God Help the Child; Toni Morrison (paperback swap) - Knopf
• Second Reading; Jonathan Yardley (purchase) - Europa
• Consequences; Penelope Lively (purchase) (Penguin)
• This is Your Life Harriet Chance; Jonathan Evison (Algonquin)
• The Promise of Home; Darcie Chan (Ballantine)
• How to Write a Novel; Melanie Sumner (Vintage)

Have a Great Week Everyone!

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Lemon Table; Julian Barnes

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon.

The Lemon Table; Stories; Julian Barnes

Vintage - 2005

A Short History of Hairdressing

1

"The first time, after they moved, his mother had come with him.  Presumably to examine the barber.  As if the phrase short back and sides, with a little off the top, might mean something different in this new suburb.  He'd doubted it.  Everything else seemed the same: the torture chair, the surgerical smells, the strop and the folded razor--folded not in safety but in threat.  Most of all, the torturer-in-chief was the same, a loony with big hands who pushed your head down till your windpipe nearly snapped, who prodded your ear with a bamboo finger.  General inspection, madam? he said greasily when he'd finished.  His mother had shaken off the effects of her magazine and stood up.  Very nice, she said vaguely, leaning over him, smelling of stuff. I'll send him by himself next time. Outside, she had rubbed his cheek, looked at him with idle eyes, and murmered, you poor shorn lamb."

What do you think? Keep Reading?

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