postsecret

 

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

saturday 9

This Is A Very Special Day

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Peggy sings that she feels good enough to climb a hill. Will you be doing anything athletic today? no

2) However she was also tempted to climb back in bed. Is a nap in your plans for today? no

3) She tells us that she looked in the mirror and told herself it was time to "lose the blues." Do you ever speak out loud to yourself? not very often

4) Peggy wrote this song for the 1953 remake of The Jazz Singer. She performs it in the movie, too. In the 1950s, female singer-songwriters were unusual, but not so today. Can you think of another woman who not only sings but writes her own material?  Annie Lennox, kd lang, Bonnie Raitt, Alicia Keys

5) Her co-star in the film was Danny Thomas. Today he is best remembered as a philanthropist and founder of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, but he was quite a star in his day. He appeared in nightclubs and movie musicals and, from 1954 to 1963, had his own sitcom. Do you know the show? I'm not familiar with it

6) When Peggy Lee was trying to break into show business, she supported herself as a short order cook. She was required to turn orders around quickly. Are you fast and efficient in the kitchen? not especially

7) Just when her career started to take off, Peggy had to take a break when she had her tonsils removed. Do you still have your tonsils? I do!

8) In 1953, when this record was released, Matchbox Cars were introduced and they remain popular today. Did you ever play with Matchbox Cars? no, I had a Barbie Beetle and Van

9) Random question: You're walking past a filthy puddle. Floating on top you see a dead bug, a cigarette butt, and a $1 bill. Would you bend over and rescue the dollar? probably not

finished reading

Set during the Great Depression, this novel is about female ingenuity.  The three narrative threads weave Meg, an 11-year-old orphan, Birdie, a brainy spinster, and Charlie, a down-on-her-luck woman, together while exploring 1930s social mores and expectations against a backdrop of financial ruin.  Meg, Birdie, and Charlie, as well as the cast of secondary characters, are so fully developed that they jump from the page.

The author explores heavy social issues, such as eugenics, poverty, gender and racial inequalities, but focuses more on the characters' resilience, persistence, and friendship.  My heart would break for Meg's plight at The Orphanage, only for her precociousness to save the moment from becoming maudlin. 

This novel is too long.  There, I've said it. 

From the publisher:

In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high.

Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together, they form an unlikely sisterhood—but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women’s freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price they pay for their outrageous risk-taking be too high?

The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer—an epic testament to resilience, friendship, and the fierce, funny women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious—the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.

finished reading

This book is not for the faint of heart.  With three narrative threads based on women whose lives have been irrevocably altered by a pedophile: two victims and his mother. Ultimately, the novel explores how victims are protected and sometimes exploited and how the line between justice and retribution is sometimes blurred.  

It is a dark subject matter.  It is thoughtfully written.

From the publisher:

A stunning literary achievement and portrait of three women connected through one man in the aftermath of his murder—the explosive and highly anticipated debut novel from beloved and award-winning memoirist, T Kira Madden.

Birdie Chang didn’t know anything about Whidbey Island when she chose it, only that it was about as far away as she could get from her own life. She’s a woman on the run, desperate for an escape from the headlines back home and the look of concern in her girlfriend’s eyes—and from Calvin Boyer, the man who abused her as a child and who’s now resurfaced. On her way, she has an unnerving encounter with a stranger on the ferry who offers her a proposition, a sinister solution, a plan for revenge.

But Birdie isn’t the only girl Calvin harmed back then. There’s also Linzie King, a former reality TV star who recently wrote all about it in her bestselling memoir. Though the two women have never met, their stories intertwine. Once Birdie arrives on Whidbey, she finally cracks the book’s spine, only to find too much she recognizes in its pages. Soon after, on the other side of the country, Calvin’s loving mother, Mary-Beth, receives a shocking phone call from the police: her only son has been murdered.

Calvin’s death sets into motion a series of events that sends each woman on a desperate search for answers. A complex whodunnit told from alternating points of view, Whidbey is searingly perceptive and astonishingly original. Exploring the long reach of violence and our flawed systems of incarceration and rehabilitation, this is a tense and provocative debut that’s sure to incite crucial questions about the pursuit of justice and who has real power over a story: the one who lives it, or the one who tells it?

finished re-reading

Both of my book groups are discussing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Volume 1) so I did a quick re-read.

Loved it as much.  It's a look at the life of a young woman reaching the age of majority in Victorian England.  She's spirited!

The link to my original post about the book.

currently

 I am...

Reading:  Whidbey by T Kira Madden

Listening to: the lawnmower

Thinking: I'm seriously considering applying for Canadian citizenship--my grandfather was born in Canada, and dual citizenship would be kinda neat

Feeling: I had an eye injection this morning and it is beginning to irritate me; I would love to rub it

Celebrating:  finally rescheduling my dental appointment for my crown 👑

Grateful for: my ophthalmologist is referring me to her mentor for a second opinion; there may be something other than macular degeneration going on

Enjoying:  nothing particular that I have to do today

Weather:  75° and mostly cloudy

A quote I want to share: 

sunday stealing

Click the icon to play along

The Alphabet Meme

Answer these questions with anything from a single word to a paragraph or two. It's up to you.

A is for Age. 60

B is for your Booze of choice. currently teetotaling, but back in the day it was tequila

C is for Career. in August I will begin my 30th and final year of teaching high school social studies

D is for your Dog's name. 😔I don't have one

E is for Everyday Essentials. my morning ritual includes a trip through the Dunkin' drive-thru for an iced coffee

F is for your Favorite Food. today, I'll choose salad because it's summer and I've been eating it so often

G is for your favorite Game. Spite & Malice for cards and Balderdash! for board

H is for your Hometown. yes, I still live here

I is for an Instrument you play.  nothing, really.  But I keep time well for percussive things

J is for your favorite Jam or Jelly flavor. orange marmalade 

K is for Kids. thousands over my career

L is for the Last show or movie you watched. Big Brother

M is for your Most prized possession. uh--drawing a blank

N is for the Name of your first crush. Michael

O is for what you Observe from your window. apartments across the parking lot

P is for Phobias. oh, heavens--too many to list but the dentist

Q is for your favorite Quote. "All you need is love, love is all you need."

R is for Regret.  nothing major

S is for Sweets. yes, please

T is for the Time you wake up. lately it's been 8 am

U is for Underwear. they are of the Granny variety

V is for your favorite Vegetable. the very versatile potato

W is for your Worst habit. slobbiness

X is for X-rays. of my head most recently

Y is for your Yummiest recipe. I discovered the formula for making mint chip ice cream in my home ice cream machine!

Z is for your Zodiac sign. scorpio

saturday 9

Kung Fu Fighting

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Have you ever taken a martial arts class? no, but I've thought about it

2) In this song, Carl Edwards sings about funky Chinatown. Many cities – including San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver, London and Antwerp – have a Chinatown. Have you ever visited Chinatown? I've been to Boston's and London's

3) Many Chinese restaurants give out fortune cookies. Can you recall one of your fortunes? not off the top of my head but I have a few on my bulletin board at school

4) This week's featured artist, Carl Edwards, was born in Jamaica, spent his childhood in the US, and relocated to England. Have you ever lived abroad?  in 1987 I lived in Cork, Ireland, and attended University College Cork

5) In 1974 he became the first Jamaican to have a #1 hit in the US with this song. Have you been to Jamaica? yes

6) When this week's song was on the charts, ABC TV had a hit with the show Kung Fu. Today it's available to stream. Were you a fan? I do not recall the show, so I guess I wasn't a fan

7) Also in 1974, the FIFA World Cup was played in West Germany. Have you been following the FIFA World Cup this year? yes!  "No Scotland, no party!"

8) Two of 1974's most popular toys were popular with adults, too. Would you prefer a Rubik's Cube or a Magic 8 Ball? I have both at school, although the Magic 8 Ball is way more popular

9) Random question: Have you ever cut someone else's hair? yes

postsecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

 

finished reading

The third installment in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series starts off without a murder. Instead, there’s a slow build of tension-literal and narrative-between the main characters, author Anthony "Tony" Horowitz and ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne, as they reluctantly embark on a speaking engagement at a literary festival on Alderney.

When the murder finally occurs, there’s a long line (a clever play on the book's title) of suspects because the victim is so thoroughly unlikable. Also speaking at the festival are a celebrity chef who is full of himself, a children’s author making a deal with Disney, a French performance poet, a blind psychic, and a local war historian. Each of these characters, along with their entourage, is fully fleshed out and in some way tied to the victim.

As always, the real fun of this series is Tony’s endless fascination with Hawthorne, even when they don't seem to like each other.

From the publisher:

The New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death returns with his third literary whodunit featuring intrepid detectives Hawthorne and Horowitz.

When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.

Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.

When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?

Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph—a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements. 

finished reading

This is a fantastic locked-room mystery! The premise sets up a wildly entertaining story: reclusive, world-renowned mystery author Arthur Fletch invites six struggling, mid-list authors to a writing retreat on his private island off the coast of Scotland.

Upon arrival, the writers get far more than they bargained for when they learn Fletch is dead and they are challenged to complete the final book in his treasured mystery series. Having the mid-list authors represent a wide variety of genres and tropes adds so much fun to the narrative. While the central murderous reveal felt a bit ho-hum, the overall premise is intriguing, the plot twists are sharp, and the epilogue wrapped everything up brilliantly for me.

From the publisher:

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.

finished reading

This is one seriously dark, twisty thriller! There are so many possible suspects, including the two utterly unreliable main characters, Anna and Jack, and the killer, whose voice is woven throughout the entire book.

The structure features three distinct narrative threads: Anna, Jack, and the unknown killer. This setup kept me constantly guessing-suspecting one person, shifting to someone else, and finally landing on the actual culprit. It was so well done. There were even times the novel dipped into genuine horror territory. The short chapters propelled the action, rapidly switching points of view and keeping the plot moving at a breakneck pace.

From the publisher:

There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.

Anna Andrews finally has what she wants. Almost. She’s worked hard to become the main TV presenter of the BBC’s lunchtime news, putting work before friends, family, and her now ex-husband. So, when someone threatens to take her dream job away, she’ll do almost anything to keep it.

When asked to cover a murder in Blackdown―the sleepy countryside village where she grew up―Anna is reluctant to go. But when the victim turns out to be one of her childhood friends, she can’t leave. It soon becomes clear that Anna isn’t just covering the story, she’s at the heart of it.

DCI Jack Harper left London for a reason, but never thought he’d end up working in a place like Blackdown. When the body of a young woman is discovered, Jack decides not to tell anyone that he knew the victim, until he begins to realise he is a suspect in his own murder investigation.

One of them knows more than they are letting on. Someone isn’t telling the truth. Alternating between Anna's and Jack's points of view, His & Hers is a fast-paced, complex, and dark puzzle that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

finished reading

While the novel captures significant historical moments, such as the WWII roundups in Paris, its heart belongs to the French Resistance. The main characters carry a legacy as descendants of Robin Hood, a touch that provides the ultimate spark for their rebellion.

The story uses dual timelines, a technique that weaves these characters' lives across generations and kept me completely hooked. Admittedly, I had to suspend my disbelief a bit when it came to an octogenarian Colette effortlessly lifting jewels, but she is so endearing I cheered her on anyway.

Beyond the history, the book shines in its exploration of heavy moral grey areas. Who defines right and wrong? How do you step out from the shadow of a destiny that defines you? Can the stains of a past sin ever be washed away? Harmel doesn't offer easy answers, but watching the characters wrestle with them makes for an incredibly compelling read.

From the publisher:

Two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder...

Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.

But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed” $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.

three on thursday

 

Thing 1:  this has been a good week to reacclimate.  The temperature has not been higher than 80 without humidity, and I've been enjoying the windows open.  Except for the very poor air quality from the Quebec wildfires.

Thing 2:  puttering has kept me busy.

Thing 3:  this year's Big Brother is shaping up to be a good one!  I haven't figured out who I'm rooting for yet, but the game is afoot!

finished reading

This much-buzzed-about book is like a modern-day parable.  Friends of mine who've read it offered mixed reviews.  For me, it was all right.  I liked it well enough.  A gentle book.  And I'm a fan of a found family, so I enjoyed the secondary characters and their quirks.

From the publisher:

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.

Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.