Arrrgh!!!

I'm addicted to books. If there was a Bookanon, I'd have to stand up and say "Hi, my name is Buffy and I'm a bookaholic." I love fiction but I can be pursuaded to read non-fiction. I haven't joined a book club because I was afraid it might feed my habit, but I was sorely tempted on Easter when my sisters were all talking about the books they had been reading.

An online friend introduced to me two sci-fi series. One is the Honor Harrington saga by David Weber, and the other is the Miles Verkosigan series by Lois McMasters Bujold. Honor is a superb miliary officer who has half the galaxy lined up against her, including a number of politicians from her home world, who continually rises to the challenge to save the allies despite incredible odds. She has great personal loss, and a fair amount of personal gain. These stories are heavy on science and technology and military strategy and politics, but Weber has written them so well that I wade through all that to get to the charachter development. I read about six or eight of the books one after the other, and then had to wait for the most recent volume. With the last book, I had to take notes and keep a chart of who was who, just so I could follow the action. There were hundreds of characters! Still....I highly recommend them to anyone who likes sci-fi. Be sure to look for the Tree cats who communicate via sign language. <G>

Bujold's characters are incredibly addictive. Miles is everyone's favorite underdog, who manages to live by his wits in a mostly fictitious world of his own creation. Miles gets into trouble in his late teens while on a trip away from home and tries to bluff his way out of trouble pretending that he is an admiral. The bluff works and becomes his alter ego off planet for the next ten years. Trying to juggle the "Admiral" with his real life provides most of the humor in the books and almost all the delimma. Miles's take on the world is sufficiently off center that he sees options that others miss, and it's that creative thinking that will bring you back to these books again and again.

There are other series that I like. I think I have every one of Nora Roberts books, and maybe those by Linda Howard, too. I prefer the sensual or erotic romance to the ones where helpless women are saved by big strong men and then they go to bed as you read the last page. Save me from Harlequin and Siloutte books!

And then there are the mysteries and thrillers.....Carol O'Connell, Patricia Cornwall, Earlene Fowler, Susan Albert, Sue Grafton...and endless others.

We built our own house about 14 years ago, and we arranged to give up one foot of the depth of the master bedroom so that we could put a bookcase in the hallway. It's been filled about three times over in that time. We cull books to give to the library and to pass on to family and friends. I've had to stop buying gardening and quilting books, because there's no place to put them any longer. And then DH starting buying books on boats, and now we're REALLY in trouble!

In the kitchen, I have a floor to ceiling bookshelf overflowing with cookbooks. Mother has gone overboard and purchased every slow cooker cookbook she could find. We have a lot of the cookbooks published by Southern Living, and an entire section on Christmas cookies and holiday meals. Fred has studied Cantonese cooking, so we have a few of his cookbooks, and there are Mexican and Italian, soup, and bread cookbooks. I have cookbooks dedicated to potatoes, chicken, garlic, tomatoes and BEANS to mention a few! We may be one of the few households in the US who can provide FOUR recipies for Bagna Cauda! I gotta give some of them up or be found ten years from now when someone decides to clear away the mound of cookbooks in the kitchen!

Soooooooo....you could say I'm a bibliophile. Maybe I was supposed to be a librarian in this life! "Marian"........nah......that's no better than "Buffy" <G>

We're voracious readers in this household. We probably single handedly support Borders, and Amazon.com. We also hit the library once or twice a month.

Lately, because I've been getting the house ready for our daughter's wedding, I haven't had as much time to read, so I forced myself not to collect any books that might tempt me. Sunday night I really needed to sit down with a book. My back was hurting and I needed a little quiet time, so I borrowed a book that my mother had just finished.

You can really tell that we are from different generations by the books we read. The book was by Jayne Anne Krentz. It was one of her "modern" books, rather than one of the Regency books she writes under the pseudonym "Amanda Quick." Actually, I like the Regency books she writes, and I dislike the modern ones. It seems to me that the Regency heroines are all self-sufficient, intelligent women who are misfits in their time and very pragmatic about relationships. In the modern settings, you're likely to find a heroine who WANTS to be overwhelmed by a man, and to some degeree measures herself by the men who want her.

I cringe when I read some of the lines she gives the men! "I must HAVE you." "I had you last night, and you were willing." "I'll have you again." What's with the HAVE stuff?? I don't know if she was just an immature author when she penned those lines, or if she really believes guys think and talk that way.

I guess what bothers me most about this is that she's a best-selling author. That means that somewhere out there, women are enjoying what she's writing. Does that also mean that there are women who swoon at the thought of being HAD....or taken? It's one thing to have an emotionally and physically strong partner. It's another to loose your say in what's going on with your body or your life. All this HAVE stuff makes me vaguely uncomfortable.

I know that it's not easy to write women's romance. I'd LOVE to be able to write an entire book, but so far all I've managed is vignettes, and most of them are too pornagraphic to publish! Still, I'd rather see a plot with a strong female lead, instead of someone who worries that the big strong man MAY know her needs better than she does. I think it's a bad idea to promote that idea.

I guess I'm lucky that this is the greatest of my worries tonight. *S* I hope you all have a great night!

Don't you just hate it when you've started a book and something interrupts you and you don't get to finish it? Normally I pick up a book and read it straight through cover to cover, sometimes in one day. Of course, I'm wrecked the next day if I've been reading into the wee hours, but some books you just can't put down. There are three books that I've started, that I really want to finish, that I won't be able to get to for three or four weeks.

The first is a book that was widely popular a number of years ago: "Tuesdays With Morrie." I've started it, and I know the basic arc of the book, but I set it aside, claiming that Christmas was demanding my time. I don't handle death and dying as well as I'd like, and I know there are great lessons to be learned from this book, so once the wedding is over this will be the next book up.

One of my nieces is always reading. She keeps an eye on what the book clubs are discussing and what the best sellers are, and occasionally she will give me a book. Since she knows that I traditionally read trash, she gave me something more enlightening: "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant. The novel is the story of the Biblical character Dinah. I've read more than half the book. I set it down at the point where Dinah's father is going to send her life in a totally unexpected direction. The Boston Globe said of this book: "An intense, vivid novel...It is tempting to say that The Red Tent is what the Bible would be like if it had been written by women, but only Diamant could have given it such sweep and grace." Diamant has done a superb job of showing us what life in those times must have been like.

The last book I need to finish is "Under The Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes. Mayes and her husband purchased a Tuscan villa and renovated it over several summers. The book is based on her journals, and begins with the search for the right villa, and carries us through the vagaries of construction, permits, and contractors to the point where they are able to welcome friends to their summer home. It's packed with descriptions of the local food, and in some places feels like a travelog. The heat of the day, the frustration of getting good help, and the incredible textures of Italian food all pour out of this book. It's the perfect volume to pick up on a chilly, rainy day.

There's one more book I haven't read, but I hope to pick up today. It's called "A Round Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance," by Jane Juska. The author placed this ad in a personals column: "Before I turn 67--next March--I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me." This Midwestern English teacher had endured an unsatisfying marriage and become a single, mostly celibate, mom, and wanted to experience the pleasure of touching before her life ebbed away. I'm interested in the courage it took to pursue this passion, and the story of how she chose the men who played a feature role in her life. My understanding is that she made love to men in a range of ages and that the unifying factor was that almost all of them wanted the same kindness in a relationship that she was hoping to find. There were cads and selfish men, but the majority were gentle men reaching out to make a connection and break the bonds of loneliness. I'll have to let you know if the book lives up to my expectations. *S*

So.....have you read any good books lately??

I was visiting Bogie's blog and found that she had done one of the Quizilla tests. This time, it was "Which Heinlein Book Should You Have Been a Character In?

It seems she and I have a lot in common. We both came up with this:

You belong in the Cat Who Walks Through Walls. You
are creative and cunning. Your works often
feel empty to you, though others love them.
You suspect that the universe and everyone in
it are just characters in someone else's story.


Which Heinlein Book Should You Have Been A Character In?
brought to you by Quizilla

I was browsing in another blog...it might have been the Vodka Pundit or Quit That, and came across a list of 50 Things a Man Needs to Know How to Do. It was a great list, and I wish I could direct you to it. The comments that followed were enlightening, too, but the one that I enjoyed most was this quote from Lazarus Long in the book "Time Enough For Love":

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

I have a lot to learn, and I might become a vegetarian before I butcher a hog, but the rest is worth attempting.

I've been reading "Under the Tuscan Sun" this summer. I pick it up now and then and read a few chapters, then set it down to work a bit more. I keep coming back to it, and it's rare for me to read a book this way.

I've been delighted with Frances Mayes commentary on the rennovation of a house in Tuscany and how they came to adopt the Tuscan attitudes about food. Toward the end of the book she writes about the background of Tuscan cuisine. She suggests that la cucina provera (the poor kitchen) where leftovers were used up, and there was little extra in the way of ingredients, is the basis for much of the Tuscan cuisine in our more abundant times. The Tuscan cook makes use of what's at hand, grapes, olives, oil pressed from your own olives, beans, mushrooms, mint and salad burnet. The cuisine is hearty, generally peasant in heritage, and revolves around bread, and pasta. Now I know where bread salad must have been created.

If for nothing else, get this book and read the recipes she shares.

There was one other line that caught my attention. Mayes wrote that she had heard that our bodies have the same proportion of minerals that the earth has. Supposedly, the percentage of zinc and potassium in our bodies is the same as those found in the earth. This led her to wonder if we have an innate need to emulate the earth's push toward rebirth.

When I was younger, I would have said this was just coincidence, but now I believe that even the smallest details around us are part of a greater plan.

If you haven't read this book, do. Even if you go to see the movie, read the book. And, when you decide to try the recipes......call me! I'll bring the wine.

This week I finished "The Pilot's Wife," by Anita Shreve. It's an exceptional book, not the kind I usually choose to read, but a very absorbing story. Normally, I pick up a book and try to read it from cover to cover in one sitting, or perhaps two. With this book, I read a chapter, or sometimes a paragraph or page at a time. I needed the time to think about the unfolding story, and chose not to push the reading.

I know, I've been talking about this book for the last week. It's absolutely engrossing. I love mysteries, and this one keeps you turning the pages right to the end.

Robert Langdon is a Harvard symbologist on business in Paris. Sophie Neveu is a young cryptologist who works for the French police. Sophie's grandfather, Jacques Sauniere, is the curator of the Louvre. The story opens with Sauniere being stalked and shot in the museum. In his last moments, he leaves clues for his granddaughter and Langdon to solve, to prevent the loss of the secret of the Priory of Sion.

The author, Dan Brown, has done an incredible job of fashioning a work of fiction based on fact. It's difficult occasionally to tell the dividing line between the two, and that sent me surfing the Internet for information. The page before the Prologue states that "All descriptions of artwork, architechture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." It also confirms that the Priory of Sion, a secret society founded in 1099 is a real organization, and that Opus Dei, is truly a Catholic sect with headquarters in New York City.

Have you ever heard of the Fibonacci sequence? This is the sequence:

1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 13 - 21

It is a progression in which each term is equal to the sum of the two preceeding terms.

Dan Brown uses this sequence as part of the clues left behind by Jacques Sauniere, the murdered curator. Sauniere raised his granddaughter, coaching her in endless puzzles. As an adult she became a cryptographer. When presented with the numbers in a scrambled form, she recognizes the sequence, and understands that it is part of a message.

"...since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same."

Said by Cordelia Verkosigan to her son Mark, in "Mirror Dance," by Lois McMaster Bujold

Just a thought to ponder.

This summer I will have the pleasure of my first trip to Hawaii. One of my nephews is going to be married there, and we will go for the celebration and stay six days.

I've been thinking about the eight hour flight, and wanted to take some books with me to pass the time. I also plan to find a quiet corner near the pool, so I know that I will need more than one book.

CopCar, whom you may recognize from Bogie's blog, has recommended "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood. Do you have any other suggestions for me?

I love science fiction. I read mysteries, romance, and regular fiction. I've just finished "Empire Falls," (Russo) "Prey," (Cricton) "Chasing the Dime," (Connelly) and "Rose" (Martin Cruz Smith), books given to me by a friend.

What would YOU take to read?

I have a STACK of books waiting on me. More than I can read in August. I might have to save a few for this Fall, and I'm not complaining.

In the next entry, you'll see a comment about the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. One of my on-line friends introducted me to these books, and I have gobbled them up! There are ten books at the moment. Each title has a number. The last was "Ten Big Ones."

Steph is a crazy character. If I had stumbled onto the first book when it first came out, and had to wait for each succesive book to be written, it would have been a terrible trial. My mother has been reading the books, too. As I finish one, I hand it over, and the discussion in the house has been along the lines of...."I wish she'd make up her mind whether it's going to be Ranger or Morelli!" (having to do with her obsession for two men) or "Don't tell me....I'd rather read the book!"

Evanovich has created two of the funniest characters I've ever read, Grandma Mazur and Sally Sweet. Grandma is a very modern lady who believes that NO one should ever have a closed casket wake (and is willing to go to great lengths to see the dearly departed). She is also likely to be in the midst of a discussion at the beauty parlor about personal firepower. I learned a lot about guns in these books! *G* Sally Sweet is a male musician who also happens to wear dresses, and drive a school bus.

You've got to read these. Go to the library, or visit Amazon. Share the books with everyone you know who reads. That's my summer tip for you.

Other books waiting for me:

"Kiss Me WHile I Sleep," by Linda Howard

"Angels and Demons," by Dan Brown

"Digital Fortress," by Dan Brown

"Crime Schoo,l" by Carol O'Connell

"Heaven, Texas," by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

"Nobody's Baby but Mine", by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

and "Sick Puppy," by Carl Hiaasen.

There are actually a couple of others, but I can't remember the titles, and I'll probably read these first. It's really too bad that I have to WEED! I could spend my days eating bon bons and reading. Now, go read the next post.

I've told you that I've been doing some summer reading. Most of the books are rather lightweight, and all are works of fiction. What totally amazes me is that two consecutive books mention the General Unified Theory (GUT), or the Theory of Everything.

When I was in high school, I missed out on physics and chemistry, so I have relatively little knowledge of those subjects. What little I've picked up comes from DH giving me information from "Scientific American" or "Discover" magazine, or watching science programs on TV.

So, I chose a book from the stack, and read Susan Elizabeth Phillips' "Nobody's Baby But Mine," and one of the main characters is a doctor of physics who is working on top quarks, in the hope that she can add to the General Unified Theory.

What astounded me was to find the GUT mentioned at the start of the very next book I chose to read! What are the chances that two "lightweight" books I chose for summer reading would cover such weighty issues? Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" opens with Robert Langdon being flown to Geneva to visit the CERN facility. As the director of the facility leads him through the residential area, a jogger wearing a t-shirt that proclaims "NO GUT, NO GLORY!" runs by, and they are off on a conversation about the General Unified Theory.

So....will I find it mentioned in the NEXT book, too?

If you've been reading here for a while, you saw a comment last month about the fact that I was reading "Lucifer's Hammer," by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I'd read the book nearly 20 years ago, and wanted to re-read the story.

Frequently, when I am working on something like weeding, raking, washing dishes, doing simple paperwork, folding clothes or piecing quilts I listen to books on tape. Our public library has an extensive collection of them, so I can listen to old friends or visit with new books I've never met.

Right now, I have Stephen King's "The Stand." It's the unabridged version, and there are about 22 tapes. I have to return it on Monday, so the race is on to see if I can hear the entire book this week!

I've read "The Stand" at least twice in the past 25 years. Personally, I think it's the best book King has ever written, although I have to admit that I stopped reading his work after "Pet Sematary." He willingly admits that he goes for the most gross as he sets up the books, and his work lost his appeal at that point.

The interesting thing about hearing "The Stand" on tape is that it makes it scarier, if that's possible. I have always thought that it was better to read a book than to see a movie of the book. When you see a movie, you see someone else's interpretation of the book, altered by the time and money constraints of the film making. Generally, I'd rather have my own vision of the book playing through my mind.

I had an e-mail from Amazon.com touting several "best" lists of books for 2004. I took a little time to browse through the Editor's top 50 for the year, and then I looked through the customer's top 50. Of course, there were books that appeared on both lists. I was surprised to find that I had just two of the books from the lists.

I've culled a few of the books from both lists that interest me, to share with you.

A friend from exercise suggested today that we should start a book club. I've never joined a book club, and I resisted the radio and TV groups when they popped up.

To save you from having to bounce between links and this entry, I'm posting the books from the two book clubs I mentioned in "Books" yesterday.

These are the six books that Oprah has featured (I think she's been doing a travelog):

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Cry the Beloved Country
Anna Karenina
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

I've read "East of Eden," and "The Good Earth."

Kathy and Judy who do the 9 to noon show on WGN Radio (WGNradio.com) have featured 16 books and listeners are getting to vote for the books they loved the most. These are the titles:

Like Normal People
The Rich Part of Life
All Over But the Shootin'
The Secret Life of Bees
The Lost Legends of New Jersey
Driving Mr. Albert
The Kite Runner
When the Emperor Was Divine
Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City
Bel Canto
The Passion of Artemesia
Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague
1984
The Devil in the White City
The Giant's House: A Romance
The Binding Chair: Or, A Visit From the Foot Emancipation Society

The four which are underlined are the four most popular of the 16 books. I've read "Bel Canto," and "1984."

And these suggestions are from one of my nieces:

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Nifenegger

The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant

A Home at the End of the World -Michael Cunningham

The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons - Lorna Landvik

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie

Of Love and Shadows - Isabelle Allende

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel

Of the last group, I've read "Farenheit 451," and I'm familiar with "A Handmaid's Tale," which I picked up after I saw the movie.

Any other suggestions??

Thursday, I discovered a book on my bookshelves that I didn't know I had. I asked Elegant Mother if she had purchased the book. She didn't know anything about it. It's possible that I saw it somewhere and picked it up, but I simply can't remember. It's a shame really, because "Thief of Words" is a GREAT book!

I believe that one of my stepsons gets the award for the Most Generous Stepson of the Year!

Last night he came in and plopped "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" into my lap. He said, "I have all the books, but I haven't read any of them. I thought you might like to read this copy first."

Wowwwwwwwwww!!! Is that cool, or what??

I just wish this wasn't the week from He!!....and that I didn't have two other books I need to read for my book club. I'll read as much as I can until things calm down on Thursday. I may be AWOL from my blog for a bit! *G*

I have FINALLY finished "Pride and Prejudice!" The group of readers from my exercise group decided that we needed to read one of the classics, and this is the one we settled on.

I really enjoyed "Emma," the production with Gwyneth Paltrow, and "Sense and Sensibility," with Emma Thompson. Both of those productions helped me to set a sense of cadence in the language, and the form of interaction that was acceptable early in the 1800s. I thought I'd be able to breeze through "Pride and Prejudice," but it was slow going.

Have you read Fred First's new book??

I ordered one, and received it within three days, and was all set to read it, when I realized that it would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift. Since my youngest sister was with us last weekend, with her husband and daughters, I gave it to her as a Mother's Day present.

This week, I ordered two more copies. I'll give one to Elegante Mother and keep one. I'll FINALLY get to read it. Yes!!

Go see what Fred has to say about the life of an author living in the hills of Virginia.

Go visit Texas Trifles, and take a look at the book meme that Cowtown Pattie has published.

I was astonished to see how many books both she and I have read. Pattie has read 58 of a list of 100 books; I've read 54. I own several of the books on the list and am waiting to get to them.

There's no rhyme or reason to this list, apparently. Just go browse and see how many of them you've read, and say "Hey!" to Pattie while you're there.

My bookshelves are overwhelmed! My mother buys books and then puts them on my bookshelves. Periodically , I have to cull books to be given to the library, or shared with friends. We give the ladies of our exercise group first choice, and what remains goes to the library.

I realized that I need to cull some of the books we have had since we were in our twenties. I'm sure they have not been opened while we have lived in this house, but they provide ties to another part of our lives, and we're loathe to let them go. I need to get several packing boxes and line them with garbage bags, and then empty the top shelf.

We have hardbacks pushed all the way to the back of the shelves, with paperbacks stacked on their sides taking up the edge of the shelf. In places we have paperbacks stacked two deep. I have three shelves filled with quilting and gardening books, and I need one more to be able to put all those books away!

In the kitchen, I have a floor to ceiling shelf that is filled with just cookbooks. I almost ordered one more....the Ultimate Soup Cookbook. But, I restrained myself!

I plan to pack up the books from two shelves, and then rearrange the books that are left. I have to decide what to put on the highest shelf because I'll be the only one who can reach those books without a step stool.

When I have the books reorganized, I need to work on the problem of magazines and Christmas catalogs. We are drowning under a sea of paper. I send any catalog I know I'm not going to use right to the recycling bin. Unfortunately, that chore needs to be done daily, and I'm a twice-a-week kind of gal.

Thank goodness people come to visit us through out the Holidays, or this might never get done! I find impending visits great motivation for putting my house in order. Can't you imagine the books and catalogs falling in slow motion, filling up the hallway and the kitchen, if I don't get this chore done?? Timberrrrrrr!!

If we haven't used it this year.....it's OUTTA HERE!

Bogie is my almost sister. We could be twins! Our bookshelves have the same problems. She knows about double layers of books, and paperbacks stacked up in front of the hardbacks! She knows about textbooks from years ago taking up valuable space. I feel we've bonded, sis! *G*

When we built this house, we realized that the architect (who had designed the house for himself), had omitted bookshelves of any kind. Who can live without bookshelves?? Actually, I wish someone would invent magazine shelves, too. I've got some of my magazines in binders, but I need more space for them.

At any rate, we sat down and talked with him about putting in some built-in shelves. He nixed the idea of the long wall in the living room. He apparently didn't think I could fill 35 feet of book shelves, but he suggested that a wall of shelves would distract from the focal points of the room, and would make it difficult to organize seating in the room. I had a better reason, after we moved into the house. I wouldn't have had a long wall for the display of quilts.if we'd made that wall into bookcase. I'd be better organized, but unhappy about the lack of display room.

We finally resolved the issue in two ways. First, in designing the cabinetry in the kitchen, we added the column of shelves just for books that goes floor to ceiling. Yes, that needs to be culled, too. Elegante Mother has filled the shelves with the little monthly cookbooks you get at the grocery store. She's not the only one at fault. I have a lot of trouble passing up a cookbook, especially if it's about soup or bread. We have TWO garlic cookbooks! *G* No werewolves here!

The second solution was to give up one foot of the length of our bedroom. The loss to the bedroom is minimal, but the gain for books was immense. I'm guessing that we added shelves roughly 10 to 12 feet wide and floor to ceiling in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. And those shelves are full to the brim.

Bogie, the books I'm planning to move are textbooks, and clock repair references, and odds and ends of books that we just haven't been ready to give away. I think it's going to be my chore for first thing tomorrow. We'll have about 25 guests here on Friday, and I better get things squared away now.

It's reassuring to know that someone else has the same bookshelf situation. *G*