Book Talk: THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL, by Armistead Maupin

The Days of Anna Madrigal: A Novel

Armistead Maupin

Harper (January 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0062196243 / 9780062196248)

Fiction, 288 pages

A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (January 24, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted.

It may surprise you to know--it surprises me, when I think about it-- that I've re-read the original six novels in Armistead Maupin's long-running "Tales of the City" series more times than any other books in my adult life. I discovered it in my early twenties, and in addition to being thoroughly entertaining, it was a consciousness-raising experience for me. 

"Tales of the City" began as a serial in a San Francisco newspaper nearly forty years ago, and the series has retained a serial's ability to pull a reader into the story at any point. After nearly twenty years away from these characters, Maupin began revisiting them in 2007. The Days of Anna Madrigal is the ninth novel in the series and may truly be its finale, yet it's as good a place to start as any of the books that precede it.

Maupin's core group of characters--Michael, Mary Ann, Brian, and their landlady, Anna Madrigal--left their apartments at 28 Barbary Lane on San Francisco's Russian Hill long ago, but they've remained connected as what Anna describes as a "logical" (as opposed to biological) family. Biology, however, is staking a claim on Mrs. Madrigal now. Having surprised nearly everyone, including herself, by making it to the age of ninety-two, she's begun to feel an urgent need to deal with loose ends. Business she left unfinished decades earlier--when she fled her life as Andy Ramsey, the teenage son of the madam of the Blue Moon Lodge--is nagging at her. The entire logical family, including Michael's husband and Brian's thirtysomething bisexual daughter, will soon be off to the Nevada desert for a week at Burning Man, and the trip offers Anna the opportunity for a detour to Winnemucca and a visit to her past.

While much of The Days of Anna Madrigal explores Anna's Depression-era youth, Maupin also establishes the novel in the immediate present through details like Burning Man and references to current events and media. This specificity is a hallmark of the series; each novel is something of a time capsule, yet the stories feel timeless. Character is revealed and plot is advanced more through dialogue than description, and Maupin strikes a good balance in presenting just enough background to clarify the story for newcomers while rewarding longtime readers with new insights into characters they know and love. If The Days of Anna Madrigal really is the last of the "Tales of the City," the ending offers readers old and new the chance to revisit it all from the very beginning.

Book description, from the publisher's website:

The Days of Anna Madrigal, the suspenseful, comic, and touching ninth novel in Armistead Maupin’s bestselling “Tales of the City” series, follows one of modern literature’s most unforgettable and enduring characters—Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane—as she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her past. 

Now ninety-two, and committed to the notion of “leaving like a lady,” Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her “logical family” in San Francisco: her devoted young caretaker Jake Greenleaf; her former tenant Brian Hawkins and his daughter Shawna; and Michael Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton, who have known and loved Anna for nearly four decades.

Some members of Anna’s family are bound for the otherworldly landscape of Burning Man, the art community in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where 60,000 revelers gather to construct a city designed to last only one week. Anna herself has another destination in mind: a lonely stretch of road outside of Winnemucca where the 16-year-old boy she once was ran away from the whorehouse he called home. With Brian and his beat-up RV, she journeys into the dusty troubled heart of her Depression childhood to unearth a lifetime of secrets and dreams and attend to unfinished business she has long avoided.

Opening lines:

"Summer had been warmer than usual this year, but the heat that throbbed in the East Bay was already coaxing pale fingers of fog into the city. Anna could feel this on her skin, the chilly caress she had come to think of as "candle weather." She had not owned a fireplace since her landlady days on Russian Hill, but, to her mind, the proper application of candlelight carried all the primal comfort of a bonfire.

"She grabbed the purple plastic firelighter on the sideboard in the parlor. Her legs, however, weren't cooperating, so she steadied herself for a moment, slouching ludicrously on one hip. like Joan Crawford in forties gun moll mode. The thing in her wobbly hand was distinctly gun-like, complete with a trigger and a barrel.

"Mustn't think of it as a gun. Think of it as a wand."

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Wordless Wednesday: Swing!

...or maybe just sit and watch the world go by.

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Sunday Salon: (2 Days) Late Edition

What I'm reading

• in print

I just finished One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, a short-fiction collection by B.J. Novak (yes, Ryan the Temp from The Office, TV nerds, but he was also a writer/producer on the show, so this is not coming from out of nowhere). I'm hoping Shelf Awareness won't decide my review came in too late for them to use it, since the book publishes next week--I'm not usually much for short fiction, but I really enjoyed this. It was "potato-chip reading"--I kept thinking I'd have just a few, but then I'd dig further and further into the bag.

My plans are to pick The Book Thief back up for a few days before starting on a novel for a February TLC Book Tour date and my March review reading for the Shelf.

• on audio

I'm getting to the last section of the Scientology epic I started a little over a week ago. It is fascinating and somewhat terrifying, and covers so much ground I'm already trying to figure out what parts I most want to talk about. It may take some time to pull that post together!

What I'm watching

I'm loving the return of Sherlock, of course, while hating that it's already two-thirds done with its season, and a bit sad that White Collar is ending its season this week.

What I'm writing/blogging

I may be posting somewhat irregularly during February--the shortest month tends to be just a bit overbooked (and not in the good "too many reading choices" way!). The auditors sent me a bunch of spreadsheets to update last week, which means the year-end Busy Season at work is officially under way. I have jury duty next week, and Paul and I will be spending the weekend after next at the Gallifrey One Convention (yes, that is Valentine's Day weekend--we'll be celebrating the love we share for Doctor Who!). I'll prioritize weekly updates like this one (even if they don't make it up on Sundays) and Wordless Wednesday posts at the very least, even if other content is a little sparse during the next few weeks.

What caught my eye (and ear!) this week

• Thanks to Karen aka @Sassymonkey for pointing me to Slacker Radio as one of "35 Resources to Help You Get Organized" she mentioned in a post on BlogHer.com. I keep my music library in iTunes, but I like music apps as discovery tools--not just to hear new and new-to-me songs, but also to help me rediscover songs I've forgotten. Slacker's Adult Alternative station sounds like it was designed with me in mind, but they seem to have programming for all sorts of musical tastes.
• If I ever want to try the book-club thing again, Shannon at River City Reading has some great tips for starting and sustaining one.
• Judge a book by its author--yes or no? The debate is on at Book Riot.

What Else is New?

I didn't officially participate in the Winter Mini-Bloggiesta this past weekend, but if you click on through to the blog from your feed reader--or Facebook, Twitter, or wherever else you usually read my posts--you'll see a brand-new design for the old header, thanks to my gifted in-house photographer/designer/Photoshop guru (and that "in-house" is literal, since we're married and all)! I've augmented that change with a new set of (mostly) matched contact and social-media buttons, which I (mostly) found here.

I will participate in two conferences this year! I registered for Book Expo America (NYC, May 28-31) and BlogHer'14 (San Jose, July 25-26) last week. I've also reserved double-occupancy (2-bed) hotel rooms for each conference, and am officially in Roommate Search mode. If you're planning to go to either BEA or BlogHer (or both?) and would be interested in sharing space, please get in touch with me! Previous conference roommates would probably give me references, if asked. (Kim? Melissa? Maggie?)

Gratuitous Photo of the Week

Saturday, January 25, Ventura, California

How was your weekend? How is your week so far?

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Weekend Cooking: Albondigas (Mexican Meatball Soup)

Even though we don't seem to be having much of a winter here in Southern California this year, it still feels like it should be soup season, and this soup is perfect for cooking on the weekend.

I grew up with an Italian interpretation of meatballs, served with macaroni and a red sauce (often on Sundays at my great-aunts' apartment). The homemade meatballs in my husband's family kitchen were served in the Mexican soup called Albondigas. His Mexican grandmother taught his non-Mexican mother her recipe, and his mother passed it on to me. And I lost it. But I've adapted a version from Simply Recipes to suit our tastes...and here's where you'll find the original version, which may better suit yours. 

(Note: I did not have to change anything to make this gluten-free.)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tbsp olive oil (I use 1 tbsp each olive & grapeseed oil)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp dried/minced onion (or 1 large onion, chopped)
• 1/2 tsp dried/minced garlic (or 1 large clove fresh garlic, chopped)
• 2 quarts of chicken stock or beef stock OR water OR a mixture of both the original recipe calls for 3 quarts liquid, but we prefer a thicker soup--AND we leave out vegetables. I recommend using 3 quarts if including veggies--see suggestions below.
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup raw white rice
• 1-1/4 pound ground turkey (standard package)
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 1-1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 raw egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed pot (5-qt) over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Add broth mixture and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add carrots and string beans.
2. Prepare the meatballs. Mix rice into meat, adding basil and parsley, salt and pepper. Mix in raw egg. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs.
3. Add the meatballs to the simmering soup, one at a time. Cover and let simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve with warmed soft tortillas (use corn tortillas for a gluten-free meal--otherwise, any type of flour tortillas are fine)

Yield: Serves 6-8.

This soup can be made 1-3 days in advance of when you plan to serve it, and it's actually more flavorful if you do. Allow to cool before refrigerating--if you have shelf space, put the pot directly into the refrigerator, and transfer back to the stove for reheating when ready to eat.

VEGETABLE ADDITIONS
Add these after the soup has boiled, but before the meatballs go in--

• 1/2 lb of string beans, strings and ends removed, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

Add these after the meatballs have been cooking at least 30 minutes--

• 1 large or 2 small zucchini, diced
• 1-1/2 cup of frozen or fresh peas

Weekend Cooking is a weekly blogging feature and link-up hosted at Beth Fish Reads. It is open to any and all food-related posts: book reviews (fiction or nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 

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At the Movies: AMERICAN HUSTLE

from the official Pinterest boards for American Hustle

American Hustle

official movie site

Comedic drama, 2013 (Rating: R)

Starring: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner

Directed by: David O. Russell

Written by: Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

Official synopsis, via RottenTomatoes.com:

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of New Jersey power brokers and Mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell's previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion and life and death stakes. --© Sony

"Some of this actually happened" announces the title card that opens American Hustle, although the end credits offer the disclaimer that "this is a work of fiction." Writers David O. Russell and Eric Singer changed some names, composited (or invented) a few characters, and exaggerated quite a bit for comic effect, but as detailed in this post on Slate's Browbeat blog, there really is some stuff you just can't make up:

"The FBI really did enlist a career swindler from the Bronx who had been arrested for running scams to serve as the key player in an undercover operation. With the con artist leading the way, the Feds dangled the lure of a fictitious Arab sheikh named Abdul, who supposedly wanted to use his millions to buy things that can’t legally be bought—such as fast-track citizenship and approval to invest in new Atlantic City casinos. A number of public officials happily responded that, in exchange for cash, they would ensure that various official bodies did the sheikh’s bidding. The operation, revealed to great media fanfare in 1980, was called Abscam (for “Abdul scam”) and resulted in the conviction of 19 people, including the mayor of Camden, N.J., six U.S. congressmen, and a U.S. senator, Harrison A. Williams of New Jersey. It was the largest bribery scandal in the history of Congress."

What "actually happened" happened in the late 1970s, and as a high-schooler at the time, I didn't know much about "Abscam" other than that it killed a few political careers. American Hustle didn't tell me all that much more about it, but I don't think that's its purpose.

These are a few definitions of the word "hustle":

• (Slang) an inducing by fraud, pressure, or deception, especially of inexperienced or uninformed persons, to buy something, to participate in an illicit scheme, dishonest gambling game, etc.
• (Informal) a competitive struggle: the hustle to make a living.
• a fast, lively, popular ballroom dance evolving from Latin American, swing, rock, and disco dance styles, with a strong basic rhythm and simple step pattern augmented by strenuous turns, breaks, etc.

Any or all of them could apply in interpreting the title of American Hustle, but that's only a small part of the fun of this film. The semi-true story that frames it is a bigger part. The smart screenplay, strong performances, and perfect period atmosphere are the parts that made watching this movie a genuine delight for me. I may not remember much about Abscam, but I do remember the late 1970s, and they are excellently rendered here.

American Hustle is nominated for 10 Academy Awards and has already won Best Picture recognition from the Golden Globes and SAG, so it's clearly doing some things right. I'd like to recognize its cast for Special Achievements in Hairstyling, in ascending order:

• (tie) Jennifer Lawrence's and Amy Adams's feathers, via Charlie's Angels
• Bradley Cooper's perm rods
• Jeremy Renner's pompadour, via Elvis: The Vegas Years
• Christian Bale's Epic Comb-over

Some of the facts in the story behind American Hustle are pretty comical, so spinning it into farce seems like a pretty reasonable progression. But it's never mean-spirited--this is farce with heart, and has some real affection for its perpetrators. The film's characters are misguided and misdirected, but the film itself is neither, and I enjoyed it enormously.

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Wordless Wednesday: WinterGreen

It's still January, right? I think our shrubs are confused.

(And this is honestly NOT meant to taunt those of you who are buried in winter white stuff right now!)

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(Audio)Book Talk: FIN AND LADY, by Cathleen Schine

Fin and Lady
Cathleen Schine
Audiobook read by Anne Twomey
FSG/Sarah Crichton Books (2013), Hardcover (ISBN 1427231540 / 9780374154905)
Fiction, 288 pages
Source: Purchased audiobook (Macmillan Audio, 2013, ISBN 9781427231550; Audible ASIN B00CTNXS0A)

When I first encountered reviews of Cathleen Schine's Fin and Lady last year, the fact that there was a character in it actually named "Lady" reminded me an exchange from one of my all-time favorite movies, Almost Famous:

(William and Penny are walking in Central Park the morning after he has rescued her from an overdose) 
PENNY: So I guess what I'm trying to say is...I've done twice the things I said I've done.
WILLIAM: What about your mom?
PENNY: She always said, "Marry up. Marry someone grand." And that's why she named me Lady. Lady Goodman."

"Lady Goodman" made herself into the free-spirited charmer Penny Lane, and I often found myself transferring her image on to the free-spirited charmer Lady Hadley. Schine's "Lady" had her name inflicted on her by her father, rather than her mother--the same father who thought "Fin" was a good name for his last child after seeing it at the ending of a French film--because it seemed fitting for a girl. The half-siblings do not meet in person until Fin is five years old, when he accompanies his parents to Europe searching for Lady after she fails to come to her own wedding, and they won't see each other again until six years later, when they become all the family either has left. Not yet twenty-five, Lady becomes eleven-year-old Fin's legal guardian...and in other ways, he becomes her guardian as they navigate the 1960s in a Greenwich Village brownstone.

I have some of my own (very vague) memories of 1960s New York City--I arrived there in the spring of 1964, just like Fin, although he's more than a decade older than I am; the novel's setting is an absolute sweet spot for me, and was definitely part of its appeal. The Hadleys' New York wasn't mine, however; privileged by money, place, and youthful beauty, Lady and Fin have the sort of life that I rarely encounter outside of fiction. Still, their story and their relationship rarely felt less than real to me--I couldn't resist them, although I admit I didn't try very hard.

I have Schine's earlier novels The New Yorkers and The Three Weissmans of Westport on the shelves of TBR Purgatory, but I decided to read this most recent work of hers by ear. Anne Twomey's reading suited the book very well. I occasionally found the voice she used for pre-adolescent Fin a bit too high-pitched and grating, but her delivery often reminded me of a younger Betty White, and I appreciated what she brought to the story. This wasn't my official "first book of 2014"--as I write this, I still haven't finished reading that one--but it is the first book I finished in 2014, and it was a thoroughly pleasant experience.

Rating: Book and audio, 3.75 / 5

Other reviews, via the Book Blogs Search Engine

Book description, from the publisher's website

It’s 1964. Eleven-year-old Fin and his glamorous, worldly, older half sister, Lady, have just been orphaned, and Lady, whom Fin hasn’t seen in six years, is now his legal guardian and his only hope. That means Fin is uprooted from a small dairy farm in rural Connecticut to Greenwich Village, smack in the middle of the swinging ’60s. He soon learns that Lady—giddy, careless, urgent, and obsessed with being free—is as much his responsibility as he is hers. 

So begins Fin & Lady, the lively, spirited new novel by Cathleen Schine, the author of the bestselling The Three Weissmanns of Westport. Fin and Lady lead their lives against the background of the ’60s, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War—Lady pursued by ardent, dogged suitors, Fin determined to protect his impulsive sister from them and from herself. 

Fin & Lady is a comic, romantic love story: the story of a brother and sister who must form their own unconventional family in increasingly unconventional times.

Opening Lines:

"Fin’s funeral suit was a year old, worn three times, already too small.

"He knew his mother was sick. He knew she went to the hospital to get treatments. He saw the dark blue lines and dots on her chest.

“'My tattoos,' she said.

"She sang 'Popeye the Sailor Man' and raised her skinny arms as if to flex her Popeye muscles, to make him laugh.

"He knew she was sick. He knew people died. But he never thought she would die. Not his mother. Not really.

"Lady came to the funeral, an unmistakably foreign presence in the bare, white Congregational church: she wore large sunglasses and wept audibly.

"Fin’s neighbors, the Pounds, who raised big, thick Morgan horses, had been looking after Fin since his mother was taken to the hospital.

“'I’m sure your mother knew what she was doing,' Mr. Pound said doubtfully when he saw Lady Hadley approach, her arms open wide, a lighted cigarette dangling from her lips.

“'I don’t think she had much choice, dear,' Mrs. Pound whispered to him. 'There was no one else, was there?'”

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What's On in the (Sunday) Salon, 1/19/2013

What I'm reading

• in print

I would like to report that I'm not still reading the same books I was last week, but that would be both inaccurate and untrue. I think I have a pretty good shot at finishing at least one of them this weekend, though...and I will not consider the fact that it's a three-day weekend a cheat.

• on audio

I've finished my first audiobook of 2014, but the second one will take me a bit longer--it's the 17-hour(!) reading of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. It was on a bunch of "Best Books of 2013" lists...and I work around the corner from a major Scientology center on Hollywood Boulevard. This doesn't seem like a book I should pass up.

What I'm watching

Tonight. This. (Because I don't have "methods," and I've had to wait for PBS to run it.)

Like a cell phone, I am SHERlocked

What I'm writing

I'm trying to make journaling a habit this year, and while I'm not doing it every single day, I've managed to make an entry in my Day One app at least three or four times a week. Some of them may develop into blog posts at some point, but they don't have to, and that's perfectly fine. Tif has just started a monthly journaling feature on her blog, and I'm interested to see what gets discussed there (and if it gives me any ideas!)

And itt's been a while since I've done an "at the movies" post, which usually means I haven't had too much to say about the movies I've been to recently (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug twice, and Anchorman 2 once). I think I'll have a few things to say about American Hustle, though, after seeing it yesterday, and I'm hoping to post those thoughts later this week if I can get them written up today or tomorrow.

What caught my eye this week

(Blog posts about blogging--go figure!)

• As a nine-year blogging veteran, Andi is thoroughly qualified to offer six tips for keeping a sustainable blog, including this one:

"Write your passion. Whatever you're passionate about writing is what you should write."

• Seven-year blogger Megan Jordan's post on returning from "internet hiatus" reinforces Andi's second point in a way I really love:

"Over the last seven years, we've developed a rhythm, you and I...We are low maintenance. I like that about us. It takes trust to be low maintenance."

What Else is New?

The agenda for BlogHer'14 was published this week--and to my own distinct surprise, I'm seriously considering going. I really didn't think I'd attend one of their conferences again, but this year's edition is going to be scaled smaller (attendance is capped), it's on my side of the country, and it has content that appeals to me.

I need to do some number-crunching to see if I can do this and BEA in 2014, since each draws me for different reasons and it would be great if I didn't have to pick just one.

Gratuitous Photo of the Week

Weather permitting, we're trying to get out for hikes on the weekends. This is Indian Creek at Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks. I guess you can tell Southern California is in a drought, huh?

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Book Talk: SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY, by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else's Love Story: A Novel
Joshilyn Jackson(Twitter)(Facebook)
William Morrow (November 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 0062105655 / 9780062105653)
Fiction, 320 pages
Source: ARC from publisher
She Reads Book Club selection (November 2013)

I'm not adding a lot of "women's fiction" to the shelves of TBR Purgatory lately. It seems to have lost some freshness for me, and I've wanted some time away from that book-club-friendly space where character relationships and plot development braid together and feed each other. And as a one-time Southerner, I've long been wary of the quirkiness that's frequently stirred into both of those elements when a novel is set in that region. But I've enjoyed previous novels by Joshilyn Jackson even though they fall into both of those camps, so I hoped to set aside those issues when I got the chance to read her newest one, Someone Else's Love Story.

Jackson got me past any misgivings I had about the material here by surprising me over and over again. Because I'd like you to experience those surprises yourself if you decide to read Someone Else's Love Story, I'll leave the details vague, but I will say this wasn't the story I expected it to be.

The intense, mildly absurd attempted convenience-store robbery that opens the novel connects the search for a young boy's unlikely father with a father's struggle to accept the shocking loss of his small daughter via questions about destiny and will. The novel's narration shifts not just between characters, but also in perspective--Shandi speaks for herself, while William's chapters are written in the third person--and the choice reinforces just how differently they deal with the world, and with how the world has brought them together.

I'm not entirely sure who the "someone else" of the title is meant to be, and I'm not sure Jackson's characters are, either. And I really think that's what made this work for me. Someone Else's Love Story was a particularly satisfying read for me because it proved to be something other than the story that I thought it would be.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

Book description, from the publisher's website:

For single mom Shandi Pierce, life is a juggling act. She's finishing college; raising her delightful three-year-old genius son, Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo; and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Christian mother and Jewish father. She's got enough to deal with before she gets caught in the middle of a stickup in a gas station mini-mart and falls in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who steps between the armed robber and her son to shield the child from danger. Shandi doesn't know that her blond god has his own baggage. When he looked down the barrel of the gun in the gas station he believed it was destiny: it's been exactly one year since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn't define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. 

Now, William and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head-on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

From Chapter One:

"I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K. It was on a Friday afternoon at the tail end of a Georgia summer so ungodly hot the air felt like it had all been boiled red. We were both staring down the barrel of an ancient, creaky .32 that could kill us just as dead as a really nice gun could. I thought then that I had landed in my own worst dream, not a love story. Love stories start with a kiss or a meet-cute, not with someone getting shot in a gas station minimart. Well, no, two people, because that lady cop took a bullet first. But there we were, William gone still as a pond rock, me holding a green glass bottle of Coca-Cola and shaking so hard it was like a seizure. Both of us were caught under the black eye of that pistol. And yet seventeen seconds later, before I so much as knew his name, I'd fallen dizzy-down in love with him."

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PRESENT: My #OneWord for 2014

I've tended to avoid the whole idea of making New Year's Resolutions, mostly because I don't see anything particularly sacred about January 1--one can try something new or work on change any day of the year. That said, I was curious when friends began talking about their "words" for 2014 and sharing them on Facebook. Ciaran decribed the thought process she put into choosing her #OneWord, and Kim has signed up for a year-long workshop to help her stay focused on her One Little Word. But whether it's "little" or big, the OneWord concept seems to be pretty straightforward...and quite powerful:

Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Scrap that long list of goals you won’t remember three weeks from now anyway.

Choose just one word.

One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live. One word that you can focus on every day, all year long.

It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your one word will shape not only your year, but also you. It will become the compass that directs your decisions and guides your steps.

I'm a little late in declaring my own #OneWord, but it came to me fairly easily. This is the year I will turn 50, and I'm definitely feeling like there's more past than future for me. I'm working at mindfulness and attentiveness (and hoping they'll help me stave off forgetfulness). And I'm feeling like the whole #YOLO thing actually makes some sense in the context of midlife. With that in mind, my word is

PRESENT

There's more life behind me than ahead of me, so it matters to make the most of where I am, and who I am, in the PRESENT.

This doesn't mean burying or ignoring my past--it means recognizing and understanding how it informed and shaped my PRESENT.

This doesn't mean not preparing or planning for my future--it means recognizing how it will be shaped and affected by my PRESENT.

This means being showing up, stepping up, and being PRESENT in my PRESENT.

This means living more in the moment, and living less in my head.

This means being open (present) to the gift (present) of possibility in every day.

Kyran Pittman posted this graphic of her "Daily Dozen" practices to stay present and make progress every day:

I present my intention to be PRESENT in 2014.

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(Audio)Book Talk: ONE SUMMER, by Bill Bryson

One Summer: America, 1927
Bill Bryson (Facebook)
Audiobook read by the author
Doubleday (October 2013), hardcover (ISBN 0767919408 / 9780767919401)
Nonfiction: History, 528 pages
Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio, October 2013, ISBN 9780739315309; Audible ASIN B00EF9PJU8)

It's hard for those of us who came in late to grasp this fully, but the pace of change may never have been faster than it was in the 1900s in the United States. As a child of the 1960s and 1970s, I marveled that my parents had grown up without television; my youngest has a hard time grasping that his parents grew up without the Internet. At the same time, it can be surprising to realize that some things we consider recent, not exactly welcome developments in modern life--celebrity-obsessed popular culture, casual disregard of social conventions and morality, technological progress the complex mix of hope and fear that accompanies it--aren't as new as we think they are.

In One Summer: America, 1927, Bill Bryson provides a snapshot of several months that captures a country on the verge of advancing to a level that would allow it to dominate the century. Bryson's approach to history is both focused and rambling, and won't be new to those who have read his work before. In a leisurely chronological progression from April to October of 1927, he views the era's most significant themes and developments via singular events. Some examples:

• Charles Lindbergh's successful solo flight from New York to Paris is the focal point for a discussion of the engineering innovations that led to it and the commercial aviation industry that grew as a result of it
• The temporary shutdown and retooling of Ford auto plants for the switch from the Model T to the Model A frames the rise of car culture
• The unstoppable 1927 Yankees, led by the home-run streaks of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, illustrate the rise of "America's pastime" and fascination with sport and celebrity
• Prohibition and capital punishment bookend the conversation about crime
• The rise of radio networks, the birth of television, and the struggles of the newspapers for dominance over both (as well as over each other) show that the only thing new about the 21st-century "media wars" are some of the forms (which have not yet completely killed off the ones that were around in 1927)

Bryson is his own audio narrator here, and the impression of him I got from listening to One Summer was that of an informative yet folksy raconteur--he has a lot of facts to convey, but he does it while mining them for entertainment value and without losing the thread of story. I've read him in print before, but this was my first experience with him in audio, and I doubt it will be my last. I find the scope of social and technological change from one end of the twentieth century to the other endlessly fascinating, and every time I listened to a One Summer, I was dropped right into a piece of it. Like all summers, it had to end, and I was sorry to see it go.

Book: 3.75 of 5, Audio: 4 of 5

Book description, from the publisher's website:

The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the twentieth century: on May 21, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, and when he landed in Le Bourget airfield near Paris, he ignited an explosion of worldwide rapture and instantly became the most famous person on the planet. Meanwhile, the titanically-talented Babe Ruth was beginning his assault on the home run record, which would culminate on September 30 with his sixtieth blast, one of the most resonant and durable records in sports history. In between those dates a Queens housewife named Ruth Snyder and her corset-salesman lover garroted her husband, leading to a murder trial that became a huge tabloid sensation. Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly sat atop a flagpole in Newark, New Jersey, for twelve days—a new record. The American South was clobbered by unprecedented rain and by flooding of the Mississippi basin, a great human disaster, the relief efforts for which were guided by the uncannily able and insufferably pompous Herbert Hoover. Calvin Coolidge interrupted an already leisurely presidency for an even more relaxing three-month vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The gangster Al Capone tightened his grip on the illegal booze business through a gaudy and murderous reign of terror and municipal corruption. The first true “talking picture,” Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, was filmed and forever changed the motion picture industry. The four most powerful central bankers on earth met in secret session on a Long Island estate and made a fateful decision that virtually guaranteed a future crash and depression. 

All this and much, much more transpired in that epochal summer of 1927, and Bill Bryson captures its outsized personalities, exciting events, and occasional just plain weirdness with his trademark vividness, eye for telling detail, and delicious humor. In that year America stepped out onto the world stage as the main event, and One Summer transforms it all into narrative nonfiction of the highest order.

From Chapter One:

TEN DAYS BEFORE he became so famous that crowds would form around any building that contained him and waiters would fight over a corncob left on his dinner plate, no one had heard of Charles Lindbergh. The New York Times had mentioned him once, in the context of the coming Atlantic flights. It had misspelled his name. 

The news that transfixed the nation as spring gave way to summer in 1927 was of a gruesome murder in a modest family home on Long Island, coincidentally quite close to Roosevelt Field, where the Atlantic flyers were now gathering. The newspapers, much excited, called it the Sash Weight Murder Case. The story was this:

Late on the night of March 20, 1927, as Mr. and Mrs. Albert Snyder slept side by side in twin beds in their house on 222nd Street in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood of Queens Village, Mrs. Snyder heard noises in the upstairs hallway. Going to investigate, she found a large man – a ‘giant’, she told police – just outside her bedroom door. He was speaking in a foreign accent to another man, whom she could not see. Before Mrs. Snyder could react, the giant seized her and beat her so roughly that she was left unconscious for six hours. Then he and his confederate went to Mr, Snyder’s bed, strangled the poor man with picture wire and stove in his head with a sash weight from a window. It was the sash weight that fired the public’s imagination and gave the case its name. The two villains then turned out drawers all over the house and fled with Mrs. Snyder’s jewels, but they left a clue to their identity in the form of an Italian-language newspaper on a table downstairs.

The New York Times the next day was fascinated but confused.

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What's Going On in the (Sunday) Salon, 1/12/2014

Since it's a new year, I'm trying out a new format for my Sunday updates here in the Salon. I reserve the right to tweak or toss it without prior notice.

What I'm Reading

• In Print

I'm still working on my official "First Book of the Year," The Book Thief--and I learned just yesterday that my sister is also in the middle of reading it. She usually posts her book reviews on Goodreads, but perhaps I'll try to entice her into a joint review/Q&A here for this one... I'm alternating it with The Race Underground, a history of the rivalry between New York City and Boston in building America's first subway system, which I'll be reviewing for Shelf Awareness if I can finish it by deadline. I'm hoping to spend some time with both books today!

• On Audio

My first audiobook of 2014 is the novel Fin and Lady by Catherine Schine, read by Anne Twomeny (who often sounds like a youngish Betty White). The story hits a lot of my sweet spots--New York City in the 1960s!--and I'm finding it thoroughly charming.

What I'm Watching

The holiday hiatus is over for most of our regular TV shows, and having cleared the buildup on the DVR, we can actually watch Parks and Recreation as it airs for the rest of the current season! (Fingers crossed this won't be its last...) We will probably never get to that point with Supernatural, but we're up to Season Two on Netflix now.

What I'm Writing

Most of my posts for the past week looked back at 2013 in reading and blogging. This week I'll be posting my thoughts on the last two books I read last year, along with my #OneWord for 2014. Beyond those, I have no posts scheduled, but I'm sure that will change by this time next week...and if it doesn't, I don't intend to worry over it too much.

What Caught My Eye This Week

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I'm a big link-sharer, which is the main reason I stopped doing link roundups here on the blog. I miss it, though, so I'm going to try holding back a few particularly bookish and/or bloggy links for this section every week. Today I have these:

> "According to the article, readers are on the internet in the millions, but…well, they’re just recommending books to each other without any academic or professional credits whatsoever. It’s appalling, these filthy commoners just saying to each other 'you might like to read this' like they’re allowed"--from "The Decline and Fall of the Book Reviewing Empire", a Book Riot response to a New York Times literary lament (which I will not link here, because you can find it there) 

> "That's your safest bet. If you're not 100% sure it's okay to use, don't. This includes things like celebrity photos. Someone owns those. There are enough free pics out there that you don't need to risk violating someone's copyright."--from "Blogger Beware: You CAN Get Sued For Using Photos You Don't Own on Your Blog" (PSA #1 of the Week) 

> From Good Books and Good Wine (via The Perpetual Page-Turner), a flowchart guide to culling your books (PSA #2 of the Week)

What Else is New?

I've got about 8½ years left of the ten-year timeframe that Tall Paul has given me to learn Italian for travel purposes, and inspired by one ofAlison's New Year's resolutions, I've gotten started on that project. I'm using the free Duolingo app on my iPad (if we're Facebook friends, you may have seen some status updates about my progress over the last week)--it works like a computer game, but it really seems to be working, and I hope to have enough basic vocabulary to get around when I get to the end. (And since I'm getting an early start, maybe we can take that trip to Italy well before the ten years are up!)

Gratuitous Photo of the Week

When did crab apples become something so exotic you'd pay for them? Is it a California thing? Growing up in Connecticut, crab apples were just for throwing at each other.

So, what's up with you this weekend?

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Flashback Friday: Traveling Photos

After buying a house last summer, Tall Paul and I agreed that we'd keep our Christmas 2013 gifts to each other pretty low-key (although we did purchase a very nice new set of cookware as a "to us, from us" present). I asked him for just one thing: to select a couple of his own photos that he especially liked, and frame them for me to hang in my office.

He chose these two from our New England trip last June, highlighting the tranquility of New Hampshire's White Mountains and the glorious architectural hubbub of downtown Boston. They're in my office now--propped against the wall until I get someone to come and put them up.

Country (White Mountains, NH) and City (Boston, MA), June 2013
Original photographs by Paul Vasquez; snapshots of framed photos by me

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A New Year of Reading: Planning 2014

I used to steer clear of things like resolutions and reading goals--maybe it's a function of midlife, and an increased awareness of less time to be managed, that draws me toward them now. In any case, I liked Bellezza's presentation of her 2014 Reading Goals in a Meme, so I thought I'd borrow the format for some planning of my own.

1. If I could commit to a "reading rotation," it would be based on book format rather than source, and it would probably be more likely to be a "concurrence" than a true rotation since I no longer seem to be a monogamous reader. At any given time, I would be reading a combination of at least 2 of the following: print book (probably an ARC or review copy), audiobook, and/or ebook.
2. I no longer want to be concerned (quite so much) about having something to say about every book I read. Some books just don't lend themselves to profundity, but they're still perfectly enjoyable reading.
3. My goal for this blog is to write posts about what I'm reading, doing, and thinking (note: this is nothing new--I'm just stating it for the record).
4. I want my reading for 2014 to include more books from the long-term TBR--especially now that the bookshelves are organized, and I can actually see all of it!
5. It's important to me that I give myself permission to set books aside--and to accept that I may not end up picking them up again.
6. An author I'd like to read more of would be Margaret Atwood. Related to #4 above, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood have been languishing in TBR Purgatory; when MaddAddam comes out in paperback (August 2014, according to the publisher's website), it might be time to dive into the whole trilogy at one fell swoop.
7. A genre I'd like to become more familiar with is speculative fiction (see also #6--this may be a trending topic).
8. I'd like to leave more comments on the blogs I read because I was NOT good at it this year, and it's caused me to feel less connected than I want to be.
9. When it comes to accepting Advance Reader Copies I will accept very few offers, but I will be more proactive about making specific requests from Shelf Awareness rather than just waiting to see what they send me for review consideration.
10. When it comes to reading challenges I am not signing up for any year-long ones other than my overall reading goal, although this year I'm tracking it through BookLikes instead of GoodReads. Audiobooks have become a part of my reading routine now, so I don't feel like I need that challenge any more. I may join short-term challenges or readalongs as they come up during the year, but otherwise I'll just take it as it comes.

Are you planning your reading for the New Year..or are you planning not to plan it very much, and take it as it comes?

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2013 Reading in Review, Infographic-style!

I thought of presenting my year-end stats in snazzy little charts after I saw what Melissa at Feminist Texican Reads did with hers. Hover over any item on a graph to see the exact number.
 

Books read in 2013 (by category) | Create infographics

Books Read in 2013 (by format) | Infographics

BOOKS REVIEWED in 2013 (by rating) | Create infographics

Infographics

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That Was 2013: End-of-the-Year Survey

Since I've really enjoyed reading other people's responses to Jamie's End-of-Year Book Survey, I'm cherry-picking some of her questions to use as a template for my own year-end wrap-up, and I gave the the first question--"Best Book(s) You Read In 2013?"--its own post. Book titles not linked in my survey responses were featured there.

On Books

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
I Want My MTV, by Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks--It was fun, but not terribly insightful--it would probably work better as a TV documentary.

Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?
Then Again, by Diane Keaton--I never thought I'd be so charmed by the memoir of an actress (of whom I'm not a particular fan) reflecting on her mother's life after losing her to Alzheimer's.

Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
Five Days at Memorial--I called it "The Most Important Book I Read This Year."

Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?
I doubt she's just mine; I think everyone's favorite "discovery" this year was Rainbow Rowell.

Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?
Five Days at Memorial...although, as an audio, it's probably more accurate to call it "Book That Actually Made You Want Your Commute to Last Longer."

Most memorable character in 2013?
Franny Banks, from Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham

Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
It's hard to choose between my two Fiction Books of the Year selections, Telegraph Avenue and Beautiful Ruins, so I just won't.

Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Handling the Truth--it's helped me be a more discerning reader, inspired me to work at being a better writer, and made me appreciate the privilege of calling Beth Kephart a friend more than ever.

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read?
We Need to Talk About Kevin--the best book I doubt I'll ever read again.

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Shortest: Saffron Cross, by J. Dana Trent, 144 pages;
Longest: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, 704 pages (and SIX YEARS to get to the end!)

Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Sisterland, by Curtis Sittenfeld, an audiobook that also put Rebecca Lowman on my favorite-narrators list

Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else
If you count "award recognition" as a "recommendation"--and I do--this has to be Society's Child: My Autobiography, by Janis Ian.

Best 2013 debut you read?
The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker (Nitpickers: Yes, this was a 2012 debut, but since I didn't read it till 2013 I'm claiming it for last year.)

Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell, a YA-crossover firmly set in the real world...of St. Louis Omaha in 1985. (*thanks to Alison for the correction!)

Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?
This has to be my audio re-read of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. Those books will be the "most fun" reads of almost any year.

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?
Again, this one goes to Eleanor & Park. Curse you, Rainbow Rowell!

On Blogging and the Reading Life:

Best discussion(s) you had on your blog?

• "An Open Letter to Restless (Book) Bloggers: Don't Forget Who Makes the Rules";
• a two-part consideration of fiction and nonfiction that touched on changing reading preferences and the Common Core

Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?
Jeanne's "Why I Blog" post

Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
Sheila's Banned Books Week celebration

Best moment of book blogging/your book life in 2013?
FINALLY getting my Book Review Archive spreadsheet built!

Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Google Analytics says it's still the all-time search-traffic leader, "Factors for a Successful Marriage--The Pew Survey," from 2007. The most-viewed post from 2013 is my review of Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, which I read with the She Reads Book Club.

Post(s) You Wished Got A Little More Love?
I really hoped to have some more conversation on my two posts during Doctor Who's 50th-anniversary week, just because I like talking about Doctor Who!

Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I fell just short of my GoodReads Reading Challenge goal of 52 books. I didn't think I'd hit my 5-book target for the Ebook Challenge, but when I crunched the numbers I saw I'd actually exceeded it by one. And I crushed the Audiobook Challenge--my target was 12, and I read 19. Clearly, I wouldn't have gotten near the book-a-week average without the audios!

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be A Priority in 2014?
The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer--I bought it as an ebook months ago, but I seem to have so much trouble getting around to reading ebooks!
(And two more, because...why not? The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson)

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2014?

I'm planning to go back to New York City in May for BEA and the Bloggers Conference, after skipping 2013! (And I'll be looking for a roommate. Can we talk?)

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