October in Review - Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

It's hard to believe that there are only (2) months left in 2012, although the first half of 2012 was fantastic for us on a personal level: a first grandchild and first house for my son and his wife,  the frustrations continue with trying to sell my parents house.  We will not be able to close the deal because of title issues that still need to be resolved.....that means we need to winterize and have the first floor boarded up for the winter, and with a 100 year old house I'm don't get a good feeling about having to do this.  On a more positive note, we were spared damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy - heavy winds and rain but no power loss. We are so thankful.

I am still pretty pleased with my reading for 2012 as I set a goal of 125 books, and I won't have any trouble reaching that number.  For October, here's what I read:

1. Winter of the World; Ken Follett - 4.5/5 audio and print
2. Comet's Tale; Steven Wolf and Lynette Pawdwa  - (eGalley) - 4/5
3. Peaches for Father Francis; Joanne Harris - 4/5 (no review yet)
4. The Bartender's Tale; Ivan Doig - 5/5 (eGalley and audiobook)
5. In the Tall Grass; Stephen King and Joe Hill (audio) - 3.5/5
6. The Round House; Louise Erdrich - 4.5/5 - (eGalley)  (no review yet)
7. Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World; Sabina Berman - 4/5 (ARC)
8. The Inn at Rose Harbor; Debbie Macomber (audio-in progress) (DNF) (was looking for something light, but just not my cup of tea)
9. Beautiful Ruins ; Jess Walters - 3/5 (audio) no review yet

For the remaining (2) months of the year, there are several books I want to read. Here's a little list I put together so I don't get sidetracked.

November and December Plans

1. The Cure for Grief; Nellie Hermann
2. Live By Night; Dennis LeHane
3. The Panther; Nelson DeMille
4. The Secret Keeper; Kate Morton
5. The Dog Stars; Peter Heller
6. The Orchardist;  Amanda Choplin
7. The Light Between Oceans; ML Stedman
8. Cascade ; O'Hara
9. Flight Behavior; Barbara Kingsolver
10. Cold Light; Jen Ashworth

Do you have any year end reading plans?

[Please forgive me for not visiting your blog lately, I hope to remedy that this weekend.]

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros

For today's First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intro, I'm featuring an intro a hardcover sitting on my shelf that I've been curious about. Has anyone read it?

The Cure for Grief; Nellie Hermann

Scribner - 2008

1987

The Family Galaxy

"Ruby Bronstein was nine years old the winter she found a gun.  It was a Tuesday in December; she and her family were on vacation in Maine.

That morning, after breakfast, Ruby stood by the window of the closed-in side porch, watching her brothers.  They were far out on the beach, moving across the expanse in front of the house and then stopping; a cluster of dark, stop-and-go bodies like raised, mobile moles on the pure flat of high tide."

My first reaction to this paragraph was --"who the heck goes to Maine in December for vacation?"

Would you keep reading?

Sunday Salon - Tracking Hurricane Sandy - October 28th

Hello, fellow bloggers and friends. What is your situation with Hurricane Sandy? If you are in the path of the storm --be safe.

Flashlights, water, extra food, full tank of gasoline - check!  As we hunker down in preparation of hurricane Sandy, and this is "for real" for us on the East Coast, I thought I better get busy and do an all encompassing post. I am pretty sure we'll be without power at some point during the next several days.  For us the wind has picked up already and the air felt heavy and weird this afternoon, although the worst for us is suppose to be tomorrow and possibly Tuesday. Governors of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have declared a "state of emergency". Some evacuations have taken place. We are expected to see winds up to 60 mph and up to 5" of rain.

This seems like some sort of cruel pre-Halloween joke once again this year, as exactly (1) year ago was our freaky-Halloween snowstorm that downed trees and paralyzed our area for many days.

October 30, 2011

Last October - 2011

Of course when you work at a private institution where most of the students live on campus, they rarely cancel work, however, they are okay with us staying home unless you are consider essential personnel, so when I wake up tomorrow I'll know more.  Last year's freak storm, we were only without power for (1) day as we live within (1) mile of major drug chain, banks, supermarket and gas stations so fortunately they tend to get our power back quicker than others in town.

What I've been up to this weekend ----

• Had a nice visit from my little cutie this morning. She's (6) months old already and rolling over, sitting up pretty well, loves real food, babbling away, and is always smiling. She's in the 93rd percentile for head size, 85th percentile for height (29.5"), and 50th percentile for weight - yep the numbers game begins at birth. She loves books already too -- (that's my granddaughter ;)

• Just (1) new book by mail, which was great as I just donated over (50) books last week. I did get several eBooks though.

Lazarus is Dead; Richard Beard - Europa Edition (from a PBS member)

Too Bright to Hear, Too Loud to See; Juliann Garey (SoHo Press)

Ordinary Grace; William Kent Kruger (Atria Books)

Indiscretion; Charles Dubow - (William Morrow)

Take care all!

In the Tall Grass; Stephen King and Joe Hill

Title:  In the Tall Grass

Author:  Stephen King and Joe Hill

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Edition: audio

Reader: Stephen Lang

Source: publisher

Date Completed: October/2012

Rating: 3.5/5 

Recommend: yes

I began the collaboration by Stephen King and son, Joe Hill without knowing very much about it and was immediately drawn into the story by the audio book reader, Stephen Lang, and by the end....it is really short, just (2) discs, I was pretty grossed out but I'm still recommending it to horror fans.

Obviously, "the tall grass" is significant, but the main characters in this story are a brother and a sister, Becky and Cal DeMuth; the two are very close.  Becky is expecting a baby (unplanned), and she and her brother decide to take a cross county trip.  As the two are traveling down a Kansas road and decide to pull over at a rest stop. Their windows down, they hear a voice, what sounds like a child's voice calling from the "tall grass" along the roadside. The child sounds like it is lost or in trouble so they decide to try and help, but then they hear what sounds like a woman scolding the child for calling out for help. His mother?

It is at this point that I started to get an unsettling feeling, and he it got progressively dark, twisted and evil from that point on, oh and I have to mention the word "gross" yet again. This story was certainly resonate of the earlier horror-fests of the 80's that King had written.  Try it if you dare.

Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World; Sabina Berman

Title:  Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World

Author:  Sabina Berman and Lisa Dillman

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co

Edition: ARC

Source: Amazon Vine

Date Completed: October/2012

Rating: 4/5 

Recommend: yes

In this unique novel, the narrator, Karen Nieto was raised by a mentally ill mother and left to wander alone aimlessly along the beach near her family's business, a tuna cannery. It isn't until Karen's mother dies and her aunt Isabelle comes to Mexico to take over the failing family business, that she realizes how this poor girl has been living, allowed to wander dirty and naked along the beach in Maztatlan.

It isn't long before Karen's life completely changes for the better, and for the first time she is able to see herself as Karen, a person, instead of just "me". Limited in many areas especially socially because of her autism, yet, in other areas she is practically a genius. She realizes she is different, but she does not see herself as limited. Most important, she is happy in her skin.

I enjoyed the way this story was written, and Karen's voice and reactions to things that happen seemed very realistic for an individual with autism. I was impressed with how well Karen was able to deal with the significant events in her life despite of her lack of social skills caused by her limitations that resulted. Worth Reading! 

The Bartender's Tale; Ivan Doig

Title: The Bartender's Tale

Author:  Ivan Doig

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Edition: eGalley and audiobook

Reader: David Aaron Baker (excellent)   

Source: Edelweiss and Library(audio)

Setting: Montana

Date Completed: October/2012

Rating: 5/5 

Recommend: yes

The Bartender's Tale is a tender coming of age story set in beautiful, rural, Gros Ventre, Montana in 1960.  As the story begins, the young narrator Rusty Harry has been living a miserable life in Phoenix, Arizona with his father's sister, Aunt Marge. Rusty is constantly being tormented by his older cousins.  One day Rusty is rescued by his single father Tom Harry, and he is taken from Arizona back to Montana where Tom runs the Medicine Lodge saloon.  Although they get off to a rocky start but before long it's obvious that Rusty's life has changed for the better.

Rusty doesn't have any real friends until, Zoe, the daughter of the new diner owner moves into town.  They become best friends and spend their after school times in a room above the saloon doing homework, and learning about real life through a hidden peep-hole vent that looks into the saloon. From that vantage point the two get a crystallized view of what adults talk about and the messes they can often get themselves into.

The Bartender's Tale is one of the best stories I've listened to this year. The reader, David Aaron Baker is fantastic and makes for a captivating novel.  What makes this story so special is that it beautifully captures how I imagined small town life to be in the early 1960s. The sense of place was warm, friendly, and yet not without problems, yet the beauty of Montana shines through and through.  The author is a master at letting you get to know his characters, and by the end, making you feel like they've been people you've known for many years.  Rusty was an awesome narrator for a 12 year old - perceptive, curious and I especially enjoyed watching him discover skeletons in hist father's closet along the way.  At times I felt like a voyeur in this saloon as Rusty, Zoe and I watched the goings on through the floor vent above.

Add to all this, an old fashioned, clean story about a single dad and his son, an interesting historian by the name of Delano Robertson who cruises into town to interview Tom and stays for the summer, a woman from Tom's past and her daughter, and rural life in Montana comes alive.

An old fashioned story that you'll long remember, do yourself a favor and read this special book. Although this is my first experience reading anything by Ivan Doig, it won't be my last. 

Winter of the World; Ken Follett

Title: Winter of the World

Author:  Ken Follett

Publication Year: 2012

Publisher: Dutton

Edition: eGalley

Source: Edelweiss

Date Completed: October/2012

Rating: 4.5/5 

Recommend: yes

Winter of the World, by Ken Follett is Book #2 of the Century Trilogy. It follows The Fall of Giants which was published in 2010 , and it covers the period of history from 1911 through 1924 with World War front and center.  Book #2, Winter of the World, is another hefty tome at nearly 1,000 pages covering the years 1933 through 1949, and follows the rise in power of Hitler and Stalin as well as World War II and Pearl Harbor.

I was happy to see the (5) somewhat inter-related families return in this installment. The families run the gamut when it comes to nationalities - significant players include Americans, Russians, Germans, Welsh and Englishmen.  It's refreshing to see that once again, although a work of fiction, the story seems so very real because Follet has a way of expertly weaving "real characters" like FDR, and Harry Truman into the story.

Expertly researched, the novel covers so many facets of life and global events from a major, worldwide economic Depression, unemployment, hunger, Hitler's rise, the atomic bomb and the bombing of Pearl Harbor -- I'm sure I left something out.  It's not all about history either, it's the dynamics between individuals and families that make this novel work so well. There is romance, touching scenes involving families, all of which result in an obviously page-turning story about a world in major turmoil.

It's one of those series where once you begin reading, you'll be in for the long haul.