Confessions of a Binge Reader

My friend, Jennifer D. Munro, responded to a Facebook challenge and listed books that had influenced her. Instead of passing on the challenge, Jennifer gently suggested she would like to see my list. So, I'm putting together today's version of that list.

I'm a binge reader and I tend to think of books in clumps linked by my craving at the time. Here are some of the most vivid clumps in my ever-dimming and cluttered memory;

• The Oz books. I obsessively collected, read, and wrote all over the original fourteen Oz books, in order, of course, from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz through Glinda of Oz. Someone gave me one of the "pseudo Oz" books written by Ruth Plumly Thompson, but I wasn't taken in, only the L.Frank Baum originals make my list. When my younger brother Ken, was old enough to enjoy them, he read them and left his marks on the pages, and then younger sister Valery took her turn. As a young mother, I reclaimed the set and passed them on to my children who also read and wrote in the books. Just this year, my son Kevin asked if he could have them. I gathered those I could locate and shipped them off to him. Some of the books are missing and Valery has a couple of them she is not quite willing to part with yet. Kevin has just finished reading the first one to his foster children. 
  
  
  

• The Nancy ,Drew mysteries by Carolyn Keene, again collected and read in order from The Secret of the Old Clock through number 28, The Clue of the Black Keys. I guess I lost interest or aged out of the series by then. Nancy Drew was a wonderful role model for girls in the pre-women's lib days (if only she would dump Ned).
• Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins, and Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott. Oh, Jo, my hero, my role model. And why, oh why, did Beth have to die?
• Late in high school, my binge reading became even more serious. I wanted really big books that would satisfy a deep thirst for escape. In this group I lump Forever Amber, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Marjorie Morningstar, and Gone With the Wind. My mother thought Forever Amber was scandalous and nearly forbid me to read it, but I prevailed.
• Next came more Herman Wouk, James Michener, and Leon Uris. History in painless doses. 
• The holocaust. When I discovered the holocaust at about eight years old in 1947, I couldn't believe it and I still struggle to believe both the horror and how little we learned. I read everything about it I could get my hands on. And I still do. Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise, an amazing novel/memoir, written in occupied France is a recent and powerful contribution.
• English Literature -- all the usual stuff from Shakespeare, through the Brontes, Thackarey, Dickens, and Trollope, to P. D. James and Ian McEwan.
• Russian Literature -- Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Bely (Petersburg), Chekhov. Interesting how English lit. is about human nature independent of place, but Russia is always a central character in Russian Lit.
• Twentieth century American men of letters -- Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, and John Updike. More important than Steinbeck and Hemingway to me. I think American writing opened up in the second half of the twentieth century; the first half suffered from inhibition. I like John Updike's book reviews in the New Yorker even better than his novels.
• Twentieth and twenty-first century American women -- Amy Tan, Anne LaMott, Barbara Kingsolver (Poisonwood Bible should have had the Pulitzer), Diana Gabaldon (yes! literate and full of great history, albeit a bit formulaic after a while), Ann Morrow Lindbergh, and Joan Didion. I know I'm leaving many important writers.
• The Mann Booker Short List -- whenever I'm at a loss for what to read next, I check out the Mann Booker Prize Short List for the past few years, I love British writers.

I'm sure if I made a list tomorrow, it would look nothing like this. I've been blessed by having thousands of books in my reading past and an ever-diminishing memory.

Reunion, Reunion, Reunion

When my 55th (!) high school reunion was in the planning stages a couple of years ago, a few of my classmates and I began exchanging emails. We really wanted to see each other, but didn't care much about all the other folks. So, we decided to stage out own mini-reunion. Much planning and fussing over dates and places ensued until we finally settled on this week at Little River Inn in Mendocino, CA. Today the fun begins!

Well, that's not entirely true, the fun truly began last Friday when I arrived in Sacramento and was picked up at the airport by sister Valery. The good times have rolled non-stop ever since!

Planning to leave gets simpler with each excursion as Ben and Logan grow up. They take responsibility for pet and plant care, their own meals, transportation, and laundry. Grandpa Steve and Julia look in on them, spend the night and provide back up transportation. I'm working myself out of a job!

I had feared travel would be arduous -- I haven't been on a plane in about three years. But in fact, in spite of a two hour delay, and a seat across the aisle from a baby-in-arms on a sold-out plane in Dallas, all went very well.

 A beautiful new terminal, a tram to the boarding gates, and a hotel that had disappeared led me to wonder if I had landed in the right city. Sacramento has really grown up. My wonderful sister circled the parking lot while we talked on the phone and figured out where to connect. From there it was straight to Trader Joe's and then I knew I was back in the land of milk and honey. A stop at Raley's confirmed it. Oh, how I miss California grocery stores!

And I miss my California grandsons (and their mom). I was so happy to see Colleen and my newly-tall sweet and funny grandson Robby. I hated to see a very long day end and I can't wait to see them again next Saturday.

Saturday afternoon was filled with friends from the San Jose days dating back to the pre-school years of my kids.  Nancy, Allen, and Elaine drove up from the bay area to visit while Nancy's son Seth and his boy, Jake came over from their home in Valley Ford. The afternoon zipped by as we reminisced,  talked about the current state of our lives, and discussed the state of the state, nation, and world. How nice to be surrounded by democrats!

Sunday morning, I reunited with Mary Maaga, the former pastor of the church we attended in California. She helped pull us through some tough times and then suffered the tragic loss of her husband to a fast-moving cancer. It was great to hear her preach again (she is the world's best preacher, bar none), to be treated to lunch, to pick up several copies of her book: The Alabaster Orphan, and to spend a couple of glorious hours sharing our stories. I love that woman! And I forgot to get a picture of us together, dang!

Mary delivered me to Lisa Cardwell's house in El Dorado Hills. Lisa and I spent some time catching up and of course, I was amazed at her teen-aged kids, by how grown-up and gracious they have become. Cameron is around 6 feet tall now and Alexandra is taller than her mom. Both are great musicians; Cameron provided some mellow background music and Alexandra performed some of her soul-felt music. I was impressed by the talent of both and touched that they would perform for us.

Valery, Lisa, and I visited Robin's grave in Coloma, where I picked up some old time-worn mementos that had been left at her grave. As is my tradition, I washed off her gravestone with champagne, and drank the last sip from the bottle. Little pink flags had been placed at many of the graves, including Robin's, but I have no idea what they signify. Lichen is beginning to fill in the lettering and make it look softer, I rather like the look.

Lisa is so good at playing the hostess and feeding her guests and last night was no exception. Along with dinner she and I drank the wine I had purchased six years ago to share with her when she visited Missouri with son Cameron. Unfortunately, she never made it to Ozark because a severe winter storm diverted them to Chicago and it never cleared in time for her to come to our house. So, she and Cameron spent the weekend on airplanes and in a Chicago airport hotel. The bottle of wine (Beringer's 2001 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon) waited in my wine cabinet until I finally brought it with me this trip.

I expect high school friends Jack, Linda, and Merle to arrive here at Valery's around noon today and then we three women will take off for Little River Inn to meet up with a fourth friend, Janet. More about all that later.

Home Again, At Last!

Logan's home from his visit with Tom, Nichole, and Mallaika. At least I think that's where he was. In typical teen-aged fashion, he hasn't told me much about it, but I'll piece it together over time by eavesdropping when he talks to his friends. I told him to take lots of pictures of the people and what I got was this photo of Brown University's gate, one of his left hand holding a lobster, and one of his right hand holding a large burrito. I'll spare you those and instead post my own food pictures. He did come home very excited about trying to get into Harvard. He has a plan in place to try to establish a project with the Christian County Courts to demonstrate leadership, commitment, and community service, and to bolster his chances for admission to Harvard. It sounds interesting and possible, I hope he stays with it.

He was two days late getting home because of a fierce storm that closed the Providence airport, cancelling his scheduled flight. When I called the airline to rebook him, they told me the first available seat was Friday, two days later. Seemed odd to me, so I looked online and found eight coach seats available on the plane a day earlier. Not willing to spend another half hour on hold while I tried to negotiate for the earlier flight, I left well enough alone. But, I really don't understand. It left me feeling sad about the state of the industry and just a tad anxious about my upcoming trip in September.

Here's my food picture -- the table topper of the month, and the week's haul from the Farmer's Market. I got long red beans, eggplant, and beets from the Millsap's and carrots, corn, and cantaloupe from other vendors. The carrots aren't very good -- woody and bitter, but the rest is yummy. We're having the corn tonight with cedar-planked salmon (Ben gets a cedar-planked veggie burger).

Friday was Ben's seventeenth birthday. He seems so adult in many ways and yet so young in others. I guess that's what adolescence is all about. We celebrated quietly, he started the day with his traditional birthday batch of monkey bread and opening gifts from me -- a few nature and science books. I hope he likes them. And then ended the day with strawberry shortcake.

As the Page Turns

I read a lot and I forget a lot, so I can reread a book a year later and find it new all over again. This has some advantages:

• It saves money - don't have to buy the book again
• It's a known good -- I wouldn't have kept the book if I hadn't liked it
• It's convenient -- don't have to try to find something good to read

On the other hand, I kind of feel it's a waste of time and an indication of my decline. Usually about half way through the second reading, I have recalled enough of the story to make it pointless to plow on.

As a way to hammer a book into my memory, I've begun writing book reviews on amazon. com. I have now climbed to the staggering rank of 50,172 in Amazon's ranking of top reviewers. I find that when I reread  a review I've written, it brings the book back to mind. And it's kind of fun to watch the ranking numbers climb while collecting comments and "helpful" tick marks. My reviews are pretty brief and superficial, mostly about why I liked or didn't like the book -- not much meaningful analysis. I tend to focus on a critique of the writing with enough of a glimpse at the story to bring it to mind.

What have I read lately, but not yet reviewed?

• Freedom   by Jonathan Franzen. This is a second reading because my book club has chosen it for this month and I can't recall enough of it to discuss. 
• Another Kind of Cell by W. Paul Jones. Recommended by fellow book club member Sharon Harmon, a strange and compelling account of the relationship of a murderer and Roman Catholic monk.
• Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges. A very intense and fascinating discourse on how we have come to delude ourselves and the consequences of those delusions. Convincing, powerful, and frightening.
• The Good German by Joseph Kanon. Twice I have bought and read part way through this book, only to lose the book before finishing it. I don't normally lose books (yeah, I misplace them for a while, but they always turn up).  Both times I was traveling and the book was left behind and irretrievable. I tried to tell myself it was an omen; I wasn't meant to read the book. But, I couldn't shake the feeling of unfinished business and an intriguing story, so several years later, I broke down and bought a third copy, this time on my Kindle. I'm glad I did.
• Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy. When I'm really desperate for something simple to read and feeling overburdened by heavy thoughts, I turn to Maeve Binchy. She always offers an Irish holiday from the cares of my world. Her stories (and her writing style) are pretty sappy, but they serve the purpose.