Chapter Chat

The Hunger Games

2011-11-01T12:51:00.001-05:00

Some books are best sellers because they are just plain enjoyable reads (guilty as charged with with Janet Evanovitch! and the Stephanie Plum series) Some are best sellers because they are well written and thought provoking like Harry Potter, The Help, and so many more. The Hunger Games falls into the latter. The series is wonderful! Suzanne Collins weaves action, adventure, mythology, sci-fi, romance, and philosophy into the book. My son recognizes some of this from being a fan of the Percy Jackson series! It is a perfect book club read because there is an endless amount of topics for discussion. If I was a ratings kind of blogger I would give it 5 stars. Hmmmmm, maybe I should come up with something clever like Willy Waffles , waffles...perhaps cars!!!
Click here for author interviews

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, 10 year anniversary read!

2011-10-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

In 2006 we read, " A Widow's Walk" by Marian Fontana. This September, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, we chose Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the remarkable book by Jonathan Safran Foer. It has become a "must read" on many college lists as well as a book club favorite. We had a great discussion and I can't recommend it highly enough! The writing, editing and printing were all fascinating. A fresh look at a tragic event!

This video clip is another look at 9/11 which I have never seen!

Back after a long break...

2011-10-17T17:33:00.000-05:00

I am so sorry Chapter Chaters (and all of you thousand of followers LOL) I had computer issues this summer and didn't feel right about blogging at work! (I know big of me right!) Anyway, I am back with a vengence and so excited to share, share share!!!

Mortenson's Cup of Trouble | Rock and Ice.com

2011-04-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Mortenson's Cup of Trouble | Rock and Ice.com

Hi Gals, I thought I would post the Climbing Community's reaction to the Greg Mortensen ...scandel...discussion.. whatever.

I don't think old Greg is living in a mansion or anything.

The Earth Children Series Completed!

2011-04-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. It has been 30 years since I started this series. I have given up, I have kicked,and screamed. I even wrote a letter to the author begging for her to finish. (I'm sure that was the tipping point!) At last my friends Ayla and Jondular return. Here is the official clip. I'll let you know what place I am on the library list!

Book List for 2011

2011-03-09T11:40:00.001-06:00

January 6, 2011
Wishin’ and hopin’ by Wally Lamb
Picked by Deb Henry
Host: Nancy Mock
Facilitator: Deb Henry?

February 3, 2011
The Eight by Kathryn Neville
Picked by Nancy Mock
Host: Sue Sperber
Facilitator: Mystery

March 3, 2011
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
Picked by: Tamara Koester & Carrin Mahmood
Host: Cindy Vilks
Facilitator: Cindy Vilks

April 4, 2011
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Picked by:
Host: Tamara Koester
Facilitator: Deb Henry

May 5, 2011
Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
Picked by:    Deb Wheeler
Host: Deb Henry
Facilitator: Deb Wheeler

June 2, 2011
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Picked by: Geri Okoneski
Host: Geri O.
Facilitator: Geri O.

July 7, 2011
Storm Chasers by Jenna Blum
Picked by: Deb Henry
Host: Pontoon on White Bear Lake
Facilitator:

August 4, 2011 Thursday through Sat. August 7?

Picked by:
Host: Cindy Vilks at her Hayward Cabin
Facilitator:

September 1, 2011

Picked by:
Host:
Facilitator:

October 6, 2011

Picked by:
Host:
Facilitator:

November 3, 2011
Unbroken: A World War ll Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Picked by: Sue Sperber
Host:
Facilitator:

December 1, 2011

Picked by:
Host:
Facilitator:

Books to Movies

2011-03-06T13:25:00.000-06:00

Craig and I went to a movie Friday night. (The King's Speech...as good as you've heard!) But I saw 2 previews for upcoming movies I thought you might be interested in.

1. Jane Eyre. It looked dark and kind of creepy (but in my humble opinion so is the book)
2. Water for Elephants. It looks really good. As one of my all time favorite books I can't wait. Shall we resurrect the outfits we had on for book club and go see it?

Malcolm Gladwell revisited

2011-02-07T11:36:00.000-06:00

When I first read the tipping point I wrote about it,(Check out July, 2010) but now that we are reading it together for book club I am excited to revisit this author. Enjoy the two clips below, he is always fascinating....and if you're brave go to you-tube and see what you think about this controversial discussion starter! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uskJWrOQ97I

Meaningful Work through Passion, not Genius

2011-02-07T11:15:00.000-06:00

Minnesota's Tipping Point: Malcolm Gladwell speech

2011-02-07T11:14:00.000-06:00

The Ten Novels that Every Girl Should Read : College Candy

2010-12-14T20:22:00.000-06:00

The Ten Novels that Every Girl Should Read : College Candy

The Place Where We Were Born

2010-11-19T17:25:00.000-06:00

First Time, Legend of Garrison Fitch by Samuel B. White

2010-10-28T16:37:00.001-05:00

What a ride! And I don't mean in a DeLorean. This first in a series is one of my favorite time traveling books. Interestingly enough I stumbled upon it because I was looking for a book to discuss during a sailing ministry at church.

You know that I have pretty strong feelings about Christian Fiction. I have been delighted by some but worry when people try to box God into a single genre. It can feel forced or caned. How dare one dictate where the sacred can be found. So I googled "The Best Christian Fiction" (because who wouldn't want that?) and a review of "Lost Time" came up. It was the third book in a trilogy so I immediately ordered the first in the series which was appropriately named "First Time, The Legend of Garrison Fitch"

Mr. White has woven a fascinating tale of Garrison Fitch a scientist who grew up geographically in what we know as the United States but it is Soviet ruled. The United States as we know it only lasted for a few years in the 1700s. But then, through a time traveling experiment/accident he winds up back in the 1700s. When he returns it is to a United States that has been altered to what we know as reality today. Should he stay? Should he go back?

All time travel authors need to make decisions about time travel.
1. Do the travelers need some sort of device to travel or is it spontaneous.
2. Can they control the travel
3. Can they alter the future by traveling to the past

White chooses vehicular, quasi controlled travel with obvious alterations, and that's where the fun begins. This is such a great choice for book clubs because there is so much to discuss. I would happily provide a brief discussion guide upon request but don't want to include any spoilers here.

Sam White is a minister, writer and cartoonist living in the Texas panhandle. He is married, has two teenage boys, as well as a cat and a dog, and prompted me to get about my blogging!

Getting Ready For 1,000 White Women

2010-10-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

The Cheyenne Indians- Tribe of Algonkian linguistic stock, whose name means "red talker", or "people of a different speech", lived, and hunted on the hills and prairies alongside the Missouri and Red rivers.

The Cheyenne were commonly known as the Indians of the Great Plains. They once lived primarily in what is known now as Missouri but later became nomadic, moving from place to place usually following the herd of buffalo they were hunting along what is now Minnesota and South Dakota. They continued to be an agricultural people, though, planting mainly corn and beans.

In the 1700s, after acquiring horses from the Spanish like the Comanche before them, the once sedentary Cheyenne became expert buffalo hunters. The tribe usually moved their encampments according to the location of the buffalo herd they were following. Like other plains Indians, The Cheyenne had become very dependent on the buffalo for food, clothing, and other other items such as tools and jewelry.

Cheyenne culture was one of ritual and nature. They recognized the "Wise One Above" and also believed in a god beneath the ground. Their ritual dances and practices centered around the battle and the hunt, the two primary focuses of the Cheyenne after they were oppressed by foreign settlers.
One of the most prominent objects they carried was called a sacred bundle. It contained a hat made from the buffalo and four arrows. Two of the arrows were painted for hunting and two were painted for battle. This bundle was carried into war and the hunt to ensure success.

About 1825, when they were at peace with the Sioux, and making war upon the Pawnees, Kansas, and other tribes, a feud occurred in the family. A part of them remained with the Sioux, and the others went south to the Arkansas River and joined the Arapahoes. Many treaties were made with them by agents of the

United States

, but broken; and, finally, losing all confidence in the honor of the white race, they began hostilities in 1861. This was the first time that the Cheyennes were at war with the white people. While negotiations for peace and friendship were in progress, Colonel Chivington, of Colorado, fell upon a Cheyenne village (Nov. 29, 1864) and massacred about 100 men, women, and children. The whole tribe was fired with a desire for revenge, and a fierce war ensued, in which the

United States

lost many soldiers and spent between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000.

The ill-feeling of the Indians towards the white people remained unabated. Some treaties were made and imperfectly carried out; and, after General Hancock burned one of their villages in 1867, they again made war, and slew 300

United States

soldiers and settlers. General Custer defeated them on the Washita, killing their chief, thirty-seven warriors, and two-thirds of their women and children. The northern band of the Cheyennes remained peaceable, refusing to join the Sioux in 1865.

The Cheyenne creation myth is also interesting, as it offers a story similar to Christianity's Old Testament and God's creation of Adam and Eve, in which we are told that Haemmawihio had created man from his right rib, and woman from his left. After Heammawehio had created man and woman, he placed the woman in the north to control of Hoimaha, who in turn controlled storms, snow, and cold, and was also responsible for illness and death. Heammawehio placed the man in the south to control the heat, and the thunder. Twice a year, the two battle for control of the earth, creating the seasons. Another important figure in Cheyenne mythology is that of Sweet Medicine, a deity responsible for giving the Cheyenne four arrows, two bestowing them with power over men, two giving them power over the buffalo.

Jim Fergus, One Thousand White Women, and More!

2010-09-20T16:51:00.001-05:00

There are mixed reviews on One Thousand White Women, while one critic says: The best writing transports readers to another time and place, so that when they reluctantly close the book, they are astonished to find themselves returned to their everyday lives.One Thousand White Women is such a book. Jim Fergus so skillfully envelops us in the heart and mind of his main character, May Dodd, that we weep when she mourns, we shake our fist at anyone who tries to sway her course, and our hearts pound when she is in danger.Colorado Springs Gazett, other critics say it reads like May Dodd was a mom transported from 1990 to the old west and totally unbelievable. I loved it! It is a good addition in what's shaping up to be our year of, "not so proud moments in USA history."

If you enjoyed One Thousand White Women, You might want to read Fergus' other novel, "The Wild Girl" already being made into a Hallmark film. Clip below:

When Ned Giles is orphaned as a teenager, he heads West hoping to leave his troubles behind. He joins the 1932 Great Apache Expedition on their search for a young boy, the son of a wealthy Mexican landowner, who was kidnapped by wild Apaches. But the expedition's goal is complicated when they encounter a wild Apache girl in a Mexican jail cell, victim of a Mexican massacre of her tribe that has left her orphaned and unwilling to eat or speak. As he and the expedition make their way through the rugged Sierra Madre mountains, Ned's growing feelings for the troubled girl soon force him to choose allegiances and make a decision that will haunt him forever.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

2010-09-19T17:58:00.001-05:00

I loved this book. It is one of those that was indeed bittersweet. I felt like crying through much of it. I suppose it was the shame of remembering a time that was not our finest hour; the sadness that I feel when I think of all war and how it tears families apart; how hard it is for young men to grow up; and how cruel kids can be to one another. This beautifully written story was a love story, told with honor and intrigue. Buoyed with a smokey jazz undercurrent that made it even richer. I loved it! If you missed book cub, here's the clip Sue showed us

The Help and The Cabin

2010-09-10T11:24:00.002-05:00

What could be better than a great book, great friends, and bringing both together at a gorgeous setting. Thanks again Cindy. Pictures attached!

Also from Kathryn Stockett's web page, click here for link for the never fail Creamy Caramel Icing Recipe.

Never Fail Creamy Caramel Icing

2 1/2 c. sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1 stick of butter
3/4 c. milk
1 t. vanilla

Melt 1/2 cup of sugar in iron skillet slowly, until brown and runny. Mix egg, butter, remaining sugar, and milk in a saucepan and cook over a low flame until butter melts. Turn the heat up to medium and add the browned sugar. Cook until it reaches the soft ball stage or until mixture leaves sides of pan. This takes about 10 minutes. Remove from fire, let cool slightly, and add vanilla. Beat until right consistency to spread. If it gets too thick add a little cream. This will ice a 2 layer cake.

As a Yorkist myself...I concur!

2010-09-05T14:00:00.004-05:00

As many of you know, "The Sunne in Splendour" is on my top 10 list of all time favorite books. As much as I love the Bard (and I do truly love Shakespeare) he, out of necessity, wrote with a Lancasterian bent and maligned our poor King Richard III. I have long held this belief and the Sunne in Splendour is a glorious work which happens to bolster my humble opinion so what's not to love about that! Now my fellowChapter Chatters, and fans everywhere, she has done it again! Philippa Gregory has written two novels which she dubs "The cousin's war" which the rest of know as..."The War of the Roses" Here you will discover the mighty Duke of York who did more than march his men up and down and half way up hills! You will meet the Plantagenets, and learn the difference between red and white roses! Ooooh I can't wait to dive in!

Summer Reads

2010-09-05T13:26:00.001-05:00

I've had a great summer of reading, can't believe it's Labor Day tomorrow and everything changes. Would love to talk about any and all! Will try to catch up on my reviews this week!
Here's the list:

Book Club:

Very Valentine and Brava Valentine by Adrianna Trigianni
The Help byKathryn Stockett
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford0
Silent Snow: Weatherman series book 2 by Steve Thayer
1000 White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang

Church:

Welcome to Fred,
First Time, Legend of Garrison Fitch
Can of Peas
(Tons of reference books on Exodus, which no-one wants to hear about !)

On my own:

What theDog Saw
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Girl who played with fire
South of Broad
Singing With the Top Down

What The Dog Saw

2010-07-12T11:54:00.001-05:00

I have just finished a WONDERFUL book by Malcom Gladwell, called "What the Dog Saw" ("Tipping Point") It would be an amazing read for Book Club. A little different but fascinating, and impossible to NOT have a great discussion

"You don't start at the top if you want to find the story. You start in the middle, because it's the people in the middle who do the actual work in the world," writes Gladwell in the preface to WHAT THE DOG SAW. In each piece, he offers a glimpse into the minds of a startling array of fascinating characters. "We want to know what it feels like to be a doctor," he insists, rather than what doctors do every day, because "Curiosity about the interior life of other people's day-to-day work is one of the most fundamental of human impulses." Like no other writer today, Gladwell satisfies this impulse brilliantly, energizing and challenging his readers. http://www.gladwell.com/dog/index.html

"The World is Perishing From an Orgy of Self Sacrificing"

2010-05-10T14:57:00.002-05:00

You have all heard of The tea Party movement I presume...They are connecting themselves with "Atlas Shruggs" Ayn Rand's other famous book.

Thought you all might enjoy this clip, and part 1 of an interview with Ayn.

Here is Rourke's famous speech at his trial, of course echoing Ayn's beliefs.

Also here is part one of Ayn with Tom Snyder...part two is on you tube if interested

2010-05-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

Traveling time

2010-05-04T19:10:00.001-05:00

This about sums it up

2010-04-29T17:57:00.002-05:00

Ayn Rand say selfishness is a virtue but this quote from her book really sums it up. " I love you so much, nothing else matters, not even you." What do you think about THAT!

More thoughts on Ayn Rand

2010-04-26T10:02:00.002-05:00

Ayn said "Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life"

Really!?!?!? This is so self centered...but totally explains why Howard and Dominique are the heros of this book and totally explains why I cannot see them as such.

Ayn Rand's Philosophy

2010-04-26T07:48:00.002-05:00

In casual conversation I asked a friend of mine if he had ever read The Fountainhead.
He said "no, but I am familiar with Ayn Rand's philosophy"
My response "errr?!" Ok, time to use the World Wide Web!
The Ayn Rand Institute is located at my Alma Mater UC Irvine. Her philosophy is Objectivism.

The following is a short description of Objectivism given by Ayn Rand in 1962.

At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged, one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy while standing on one foot. I did as follows:
Metaphysics Objective Reality
Epistemology Reason
Ethics Self-interest
Politics Capitalism
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read:

1. “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.”
2. “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.”
3. “Man is an end in himself.”
4. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to define, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics.

There is more more, click here

Frankly, I find "God is Love" much simpler. But I will give Ayn a bit more of my time.

Been Reading About New York Again!

2010-04-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

So...the weather has been great and my deck chair was calling. I read 3 books this last week... I KNOW! CRAZY! Oh yeah, and BSC is over. A new author (to me anyway) Shanna Mahaffey has done a remarkable job with a book called "Sounds Like Crazy." It is the story of a waitress (yay) in New York city who has 5 people living inside her head. She ends up getting fired (again) from her waitress job and getting voice over work. I have to adnit I was a little resistent to pick this one up because I was so traumatized at age 11 by reading "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden" and of course who wasn't mesmerized and a little freaked out by "Cybil!" I could not put this book down. The characters fascinating and I couldn't wait to find out the impetus for her DID. Thankfully I found it more tender than horrifying and was grateful there wasn't horrendous torture, or worse, involved. This would be AN AMAZING! book for a book club discusson...so many things to delve into!

Adrianni, New York, and Italy..Perfecta-Trifecta

2010-04-14T14:40:00.001-05:00

So...the weather has been great and my deck chair was calling. I read 3 books this last week... I KNOW! CRAZY! Oh yeah, and BSC is over.

Let me tell you about the first two:
Adrianna Trigianni is one of my all time favorite authors. I just finished "Very Valentine" and "Brava Valentine." I LOVE when a I come late to a series so they are all there, no waiting for the author to finish the sequel.
Valentine Roncalli works in the family shoe business Angelinni Shoes, in Grennwich. The character is so rich and believable (written in first person) that you feel like it is autobiographical. You learn the details of making fine shoes, you get to live in a brown stone in Greenwich, and travel to Tuscany, Naples and the island of Capri. There is family to fight with and love, and a restraunt owner to socialize with....what more could you want! (AND... we meet an old friend in this book, very nostalgic!)

Another Suggestion

2010-04-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

In the vein of Red Tent... Here Burns My Candle. Set in Scotland during the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie, but reflective of the Ruth and Naiome story. Liz Curtis Higgs is always masterful so it should be great.

I'm a Gleek!

2010-03-29T13:52:00.002-05:00

If you haven't watched Glee yet, try to catch it when it returns in April. Basic premise Glee club (absolutely amazing talent) trying to make it in school when they are so uncool. One of my favorite characters is Sue Sylvester. She has a TV show within the show and is the "Cheerios" (cheerleading) coach. Here is a bit from her TV show

What's New With Elizabeth Gilbert

2010-03-29T08:16:00.002-05:00

The Author of Eat Pray Love, has been busy.
Her new book "Committed-A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage" would turn Lisa on and Sarah off just from the cover....Why you might ask.... Lisa loves a title and and then a colon (or implied colon) and sub title. Sarah hates a title that is smaller than the author's name. Although if you consider the whole of the artwork in which the title is embedded I think it is bigger :)
This is the story of Ms. Gilbert getting married. If any of you have read it, please use the barely used comment button to reply. Except Nancy of course because "She doesn't BLOG!" Which is actually just reading, but hey I'm done with that argument.

Two interesting videos below. One is Elizabeth Gilbert speaking about her writing muse...I think it is fascinating, the other a trailer for EPL. Let's go when it gets here!

Adrianna Trigiani

2010-03-26T17:47:00.002-05:00

I fell in love with Adrianna Trigiani when I saw the cover of "Big Stone Gap!" The trilogy did not disappoint! I just received "Very Valentine" and "Brava Valentine" in the mail. I can't wait to dig in! I'll keep you posted!

Time Travelers Wife

2010-03-11T13:14:00.005-06:00

I can't wait for book club in a few weeks! (My grandma would say, "quit wishing your life away!") I have loved this book for years and can't wait to share it with you Chapter Chatters. Of course I have a deep love for all things "time travel" and when I figure it out I will come back to book club from some future date to tell you all how it works!

I will throw one question out now....If you could time travel (and safely return) A. Would you do it? and B. if it could be to only one place/time...where and when?

So Audrey Niffenegger. Endlessly fascinating! Her bio can be found at this link http://audreyniffenegger.com/about She has an interesting Q& A session and I am going to include just one of her answers re: e-books Why can’t I find e-book versions of your books? I am not opposed to the existence of e-books; I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books. E-books in their current incarnations are still imperfect and they threaten the arts of book design and typography. As a book conservator I am also nervous about the digitization of books: will they be readable one hundred years from now? Or will thousands of books simply vanish as platforms and programs change? E-books have certain advantages (they are searchable) and disadvantages (they are not beautiful objects in themselves and don’t display images very well). I’m sure they will improve over time, though. I don’t know when or if my books will become e-books. Writing me hostile e-mail about this will not hasten my desire.

Ms. Niffenegger lives in Chicago; has another book coming out; "Her Fearful Symmetry" A ghost story set in and around Highgate Cemetary in London. (Clip included below) She also has a serialized graphic novel, titled "The Night Bookmobile" which ran in the London Guardian, but will be coming out in book form in 2010.
You may remember I have been wanting to read a graphic novel but they are all either so foreign to me that I'm not comfortable, or so violent I have no interest. Mostly I am turned off by how literally and literarily dark they are. (My foray into comic books never went past Archie and Jughead) But this looks fascinating. It has a Jasper Fforde air about it. Can't wait to discuss, and I have a surprise for April 8th for all of you!

Anne Provoost

2010-02-18T09:22:00.003-06:00

Anne Provoost was born in Belgium in 1964 and studied literature at the University of Leuven (Louvain). Her first novel, My Aunt is a Pilot Whale, she wrote while living in Minneapolis, USA. The book was published in Dutch in 1991 and translated into English three years later. My Aunt is a Pilot Whale was awarded with the Book Lion 1991 and the Interprovincial Prize, 1991, two main Belgian Awards. The novel was translated in German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese and Polish. Back in 1991, it was the first book on sexual child abuse for a young audience produced in the Low Countries.
Her second novel, Falling (1994), in which the pitfalls and allurements of extreme right-wing rhetoric are dealt with extensively, was published in Dutch in 1994. The book received five major awards in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was translated into English by John Nieuwenhuizen in 1997, and was made into an English spoken feature film that came out in the fall of 2001, starring Jill Clayburgh and Alice Krige (YouTube trailer). The book Falling has been translated in English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Polish and Slovenian, and was selected for the honor list of IBBY.

MORE... http://www.anneprovoost.be/en/index.php/Auteur/Auteur

In the Shadow of the Ark ...several different covers!

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- VI

2010-02-10T17:43:00.000-06:00

Best of List: New Favorites from 2009
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

*The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Perfection by Julie Metz

The Photographer by Didier Lefèvre and Emmanuel Guibert

Rainwater by Sandra Brown

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Testimony by Anita Shreve

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- V

2010-02-06T17:40:00.000-06:00

2008
Best of List: New Favorites
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

*The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

*Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

*Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

*Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

World Without End by Ken Follett

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- IV

2010-02-02T16:28:00.002-06:00

2007
Best of List: New Favorites
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

*Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

*The Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsLoving Frank by Nancy Horan

March by Geraldine Brooks

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Peony in Love by Lisa See

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

*Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

World Without End by Ken Follett

Bread Alone Plus More

2010-01-25T14:58:00.010-06:00

Below are run downs on more of Judith Ryan Hendricks' works, a link to her Web site and some fun facts about the state of Washington. Enjoy!See you next week at Book Club

http://www.judihendricks.com/

THE BAKER"S APPRENTICE
The sequel to Judith Ryan Hendricks' absorbing debut novel, Bread Alone
Having found her calling, Wynter Morrison is blissful about her new career in Seattle as a baker -- cherishing the long days spent making bread and the comforting rhythms of the Queen Street Bakery. Still, she struggles with the legacy of her failed marriage and with her new boyfriend Mac's reluctance to share his mysterious past. When Mac abruptly leaves Seattle, Wyn again feels abandoned and betrayed, at least until intimate letters arrive in which Mac at last reveals his deepest secrets. But the more she learns about her absent lover, the more Wyn discovers about herself -- and when tragedy threatens, she will have to decide if there is a place for Mac in this new life she has made.

ISABEL"S DAUGHTER
The first time I saw my mother was the night she died. The second time was at a party in Santa Fe.
After a childhood spent in an institution and a series of foster homes, Avery James has trained herself not to wonder about the mother who gave her up. But her safe, predictable life changes one night when she stumbles upon the portrait of a woman who is the mirror image of herself.
Slowly but inevitably, Avery is compelled to discover all she can about her mother, Isabel. Avery is drawn into complex relationships with the people who knew her mother. As she weaves together the threads of her mother's artistic heritage and her grandmother's skills as a healer, Avery learns that while discovering Isabel provides a certain resolution in her life, it's discovering herself that brings lasting happiness.

1. The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.
2. Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961.
3. Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.
4. Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.
5. Washington state's capitol building was the last state capitol building to be built with a rotunda.
6. Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant
7. Medina is the home of the United States wealthiest man, Microsoft's Bill Gates.
8. The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. is Cape Flattery on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
9. King county the largest county in Washington was originally named after William R. King, Vice President under Franklin Pierce; it was renamed in 1986, after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10. Microsoft Corporation is located in Redmond.
11. Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn't confuse it with The District of Columbia.
12. The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
13. The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.
14. Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix (Seattle) and Bing Crosby (Tacoma).
15. The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.
16. Washington's state insect is the Green Darner Dragonfly.
17. The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.
18. Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle.
19. Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair. - 1974
20. The state capital is Olympia, and the largest city is Seattle.
21. Puget Sound's many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.
22. The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests (such as the Hoh Rain Forest) in the continental United States
23. By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).
24. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.
During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.
During World War II, Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, a number of which were quartered at Golden Gardens Park.
25. As of 2004, Washington's population included 631,500 foreign-born (10.3% of the state population), and an estimated 100,000 illegal aliens (1.6% of state population).
26. The six largest reported ancestries in Washington are: German (18.7%), English (12%), Irish (11.4%), Norwegian (6.2%), Mexican (5.6%) and Filipino (3.7%).
27. The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.
28. The state of Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax.
29. Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen
30. Popular games Pictionary, Pickle-ball, and Cranium were all invented in Washington.

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- III

2010-01-19T03:09:00.001-06:00

2006Best of List: New Favorites (According to book clubs contributing to ReadingGroupGuides.com)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

* The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

March by Geraldine Brooks

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

* Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

*Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads II

2010-01-17T03:04:00.001-06:00

2005 Best of List: New Favorites

(According to Book Groups contributing information to Reading Group Guides.com!)

*Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Atonement by Ian McEwan

*Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

*The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

*Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

*The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

*The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Last 5 years! Favorite Reads- I

2010-01-15T02:57:00.005-06:00

2004 Best of List: New Favorites (According to Book Groups contributing information to Reading Group Guides.com!)
Atonement by Ian McEwan
* Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
* The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
* The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
* Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
* Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
* The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Three Junes by Julia Glass
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom-->

Cokie Roberts, née Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs

2010-01-04T11:26:00.001-06:00

So....Ladies of Liberty? What did you all think? I find it fascinating and hard to pick up, all at the same time!

Thank you Cindy for finishing the book, researching the author and generally hand feeding us some fascinating information.

I am amazed at how little has changed in politics since then, and fascinated by how closely the system continued to resemble European hierarchy!

Chapter Chat's 2009 Book List

2009-12-18T15:55:00.005-06:00

January 8, 2009
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Picked by Carrin

Host: Tamara
Facilitator: Carrin
February 5, 2009
Those Who Save Us by Jena Blum
Picked by Wanda

Host: Wanda
Facilitator: Wanda

March 5, 2009
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Picked by: Tamara

Host: Deb
Facilitator: Tami

April 2, 2009
The Shack by William P. Young
Picked by: Laurie
Host:
Facilitator:

May 7, 2009
The Magicians Assistant by Ann Patchett
Picked by: Tami

Host: Tami
Facilitator: open

June 4, 2009
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Picked by: Tamara
Host: Carrin

Facilitator: Tamara

July 9, 2009
She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel
Picked by: Carrin
Host: Pontoon or open
Facilitator: Carrin

August 6, 2009
Angel Strings by Gary Eberle
Picked by: Tami

Host: open
Facilitator: Tami

September 3, 2009
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Picked by: Tamara and Lisa Host:
Facilitator:

October 1, 2009
Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline
Host: Cindy
Facilitator: Cindy

November 5, 2009
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Picked by: Deb H

Host: Sue
Facilitator: Deb H

December 3, 2009
The Alchemist by
Picked by
Host: Tami B

Facilitator:

2009-10-23T11:42:00.004-05:00

The Guernesy Literary and Potate Peel Pie Society

Who knew?! What a delightful read. I went to my mailox and there it was, with a note that said, great books find the right reader. I naturally found that an interesting concept and immediately opened the book to find it was also partially the premise of the story.

Upon further reading, of the note, I found that I had won the book in a contest....the story of books finding the right reader in the this tome thankfully, was far richer. I am so excited this is our pick for this month. Enjoy the pictures, and link

http://www.librarything.com/work/5072307

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2728527.The_Guernsey_Literary_and_Potato_Peel_Pie_Society

Stalking Susan and more

2009-09-29T13:40:00.004-05:00

Thanks Cindy I loved this book. Here is an interesting twist, it is a clip as if this really were a news show. Anyone recognize the voice over? I know Nancy would (except she will never read a blog!) Also an interview and a fun link for her next book, "Missing Mark"

A Few New Books, From Some Old Favorites

2009-08-13T10:02:00.006-05:00

When high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives, but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma. When Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right, and further tragedy ensues.

(Looks like another light novel from our friend Wally. Don't know what to tell you about this one, as I have not read it, but you know my history with Mr. Lamb. To borrow a phrase from Deb, "I mourned the loss of the tree that gave it's life to print She's Come Undone," but sucked it up and read This Much I Know for Sure which I thoroughly enjoyed.)

Next...

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the sweet, sexy, funny journey of Calla Lily's life set in Wells's expanding fictional Louisiana landscape. In the small river town of La Luna, Calla bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood—until it is cut short. Her mother, M'Dear, a woman of rapture and love, teaches Calla compassion, and passes on to her the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair." At her mother's side, Calla further learns that this same touch of hands on the human body can quiet her own soul. It is also on the banks of the La Luna River that Calla encounters sweet, succulent first love, with a boy named Tuck.
But when Tuck leaves Calla with a broken heart, she transforms hurt into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans to study at L'Académie de Beauté de Crescent. In that extravagant big river city, she finds her destiny—and comes to understand fully the power of her "healing hands" to change lives and soothe pain, including her own. When Tuck reappears years later, he presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. But who knows how Calla Lily, a "daughter of the Moon Lady," will respond?
A tale of family and friendship, tragedy and triumph, loss and love, The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder features the warmth, humor, soul, and wonder that have made Wells one of today's most cherished writers, and gives us an unforgettable new heroine to treasure.

( I LOVE Rebecca Wells, and loved the Ya-yas....I'm sure Calla Lily will be a delightful read!)

francessco

2009-07-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

A Beautiful Summer Night

2009-07-09T23:09:00.009-05:00

What a great night! Beautiful ride on White Bear Lake, only a little rain, great food, great company, great sound track, great Crissy doll, and then an amazing treat at Admirals after the tour. After running into TJ and Billy Mac we were treated to a world class, classical guitar concert, by Francesco Buzzurro. (His tickets typically range from $60- $400 and sell out almost immediately, we got in on our good looks!) Every once in awhile you luck out and stumble into the presence of greatness, and that was our fortune tonight. He has played at the Metropolitan Opera, and Classical Music Halls all over the world, and tonight he was under an oak, overlooking beautiful (well okay nearly dry and swampy) White Bear Lake, with a fiberglass parrot holding a Corona, swinging over his head! Poetry! But Oh man could he play! Francessco Buzzurro Born in Taormina in 1969, Francesco Buzzurro started to play guitar at the age of 6. He graduated at the Conservatory of Trapani. As a classical guitarist he won three national competitions. At the moment he is the leader of a quartet and plays at the most important Italian festivals. Checkout the link below! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaBb1GLJiVo

An Interview With Zippy

2009-07-06T15:36:00.004-05:00

Have your family and friends from Mooreland read the book? What do they think?

I think that most of the people who appear as characters in the book couldn't love it more. My sister owns a diner called The Blue Moon just outside of Mooreland, and she has the book cover framed and hanging on the wall there. I feel certain that as the book produces more artifacts Melinda will eventually put together a little shrine. My mom is the same: just unabashedly supportive and delighted. My favorite reaction, though, came from my old friend Andy Hicks, who is featured in the essay, "Favors For Friends." I gave him the book in manuscript, and he and most of his family read it. He sent me a letter and said they all wept when they finished it, because they realized that someone had actually seen them; their family had meant something to someone else. That feeling of having been seen is so important to us all, I think, but consistently a surprise.

The rest of the interview...http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0301/kimmel/interview.html

Also another wonderful interview in a Blog by two fascinating women who read called "Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast; Why Stop at Six" A reference of course to Lewis Carrol's "Through the Looking Glass" and a conversation between Alice and the White Queen. http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=522#comment-84106

And as always, I want to know who they love to read and here is what Haven says...

South of the Big Four by Don Kurtz.

It's become part of my life's work to mention that book and promote that writer.

{Kimmel's essay on the book, "The Most Familiar Book I Ever Read," is included in Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading (edited by J. Peder Zane and available in paper from Norton in February). She also has an essay included in the forthcoming, Killing the Buddha; The Hunter's Bible. In the anthology, thirteen novelists were asked to rewrite a book of the Bible. Kimmel wrote the chapter on Revelations.)}

Little, Big by John Crowley. Harper Perennial brought out his back list. The large format trade paper is breathtakingly beautiful. The book is gorgeous, strange, and deep.

The funniest book I ever read is Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend. I was rereading that book when I was pregnant with my son. I laughed so hard I went into labor.

I would recommend almost everything by Anne Tyler.

Enjoy!

At Last...Pope Joan the Movie!

2009-07-04T12:30:00.005-05:00

Director: Sönke Wortmann
Writers: Donna Woolfolk Cross (novel) Heinrich Hadding (screenplay)
Contact: View company contact information for Pope Joan on IMDbPro.
Release Date: 29 October 2009 (Germany)
Status: Post-production
Genre: Drama | History more
Plot: A 9th century woman of English extraction born in the German city of Ingelheim disguises herself as a man and rises through the Vatican ranks.
After a couple of problems and some cast changes, it seems that Pope Joan, the movie adaptation of Donna Woolfolk Cross’ bestseller about a female pope in the middle ages, is finally reaching its filming stage with the first scenes being shot next month in Morocco and Germany. Among its stars, are John Goodman, who was originally attached to the project just to drop out to do something else and finally coming back again; Johanna Wokalek, who replaced Franke Potente in the lead role; and David Wenham. The original director, Volker Schlondorff, was also replaced by Sonke Wortmann, but it seems that now those troubles are over and everything is in place to make a good period movie. At least we’re hopeful!

Chocolate Cake that you couldn't guess what was in it

2009-06-04T22:13:00.002-05:00

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips melted in microwave
2 cups drained and rinsed garbonzo beans (chick peas)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs

Place eggs in a blender. Add chick peas and puree til smooth. Add sugar, melted chocolate chips and baking powder. Pour into 8 or 9 inch greased pan. Bake for 35-40 min.

Yes, it's this easy.

Favorite Reads of 2008 (Reading Group Guides)

2009-05-07T08:53:00.001-05:00

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)

2. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (Ballantine Books)

3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin Books)

4. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)

5. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Trade)

6. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

7. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin Books)

8. The Shack by William P. Young (Windblown Media)

9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House Trade)

10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (The Dial Press)

Magician's Assistants Throughout History

2009-04-09T15:18:00.009-05:00

Assistants have been part of magic shows for most of the recorded history of magic as a performance art. Despite their often crucial role in magic acts they, and the work they do, have suffered from negative public perceptions. The assistant's role has often been stereotyped as consisting of menial tasks and having the primary purpose of adding a visually aesthetic element to an act. This is associated with the perception that assistants are usually female and often dressed in revealing costumes. Although there have been plenty of instances of male assistants throughout the history of magic, the glamorous female stereotype has made a particular impact because female assistants were a prominent feature of illusion shows during the 20th century, when magic began to reach huge new audiences, first through the burgeoning of live vaudeville and variety shows and then through television. The glamorous female assistant has become an iconic image that continues in modern media and literature
A notable feature of the glamorous female assistant iconography is the frequency with which assistants play the role of "victim" in illusions where they are tied up, apparently cut with blades, penetrated with spikes or swords or otherwise tortured or imperiled. Examples include Aztec Lady, Devil's Torture Chamber, Mismade Girl, .
Radium Girl, Zig Zag Girl, and, perhaps most famous of all, Sawing a woman in half.[1 Noted illusion designer and historian Jim Steinmeyer has identified the advent of the sawing illusion as a turning point in magic history and a moment which, more than any other, marks the origin of the cliche of the female assistant as victim. It is generally agreed that a "sawing" type illusions was first performed publicly by P.T. Selbit in January 1921. His presentations of what he titled "Sawing through a woman" made an enormous impact and greatly affected public expectations of stage magic for decades afterwards. Steinmeyer has explained:

"Before Selbit's illusion, it was not a cliche that pretty ladies were teased and tortured by magicians. Since the days of Robert-Houdin, both men and women were used as the subjects for magic illusions. Victorian gowns often made it unrealistic for a lady to take part in an illusion or be pressed into a tight space."

Changes in fashion and great social upheavals during the first decades of the 20th century made Selbit's choice of "victim" both practical and popular. Steinmeyer notes: "During the 1900s, as a shapely leg became not only acceptable on the stage but admired, it was fashionable to perform magic with a cast of attractive ladies".
That was only part of the story however. The trauma of war had helped to desensitize the public to violence and the emancipation of women had changed attitudes to them. Audiences were also tiring of the gentler forms of magic represented by the likes of John Nevil Maskelyne. It took something more shocking, such as the horrific productions of the Grand Guignol theatre, to cause a sensation in this age.
Steinmenyer concludes that: "...beyond practical concerns, the image of the woman in peril became a specific fashion in entertainment".

In contrast to the publicity given to Selbit, the names of the assistants who made this influential act work have received almost no publicity. There were actually two premieres of the illusion. Selbit first presented it to an audience in December 1920, however on that occasion the spectators were a small group of invited theatrical agents and promoters who Selbit hoped would book the act. The public premiere then occurred on 17 January 1921 at the Finsbury Park Empire music hall after Selbit was hired by the Moss Empire group. According to Steinmeyer, the assistant at the 1920 preview was Jan Glenrose, Selbit's main assistant at that time. The public performances featured principal assistant Betty Barker.

Many of these illusions, together with others that involve appearances, disappearances or escapes, involve assistants being shut in boxes of one sort or another. This has led to the nickname "box jumper" which, although it could be applied to a male assistant, is usually inferred to be a female assistant. One reason that has been given for the predominance of women in this role is that the illusions sometimes require an assistant that can fit into cramped spaces and women have an advantage in that they tend to be smaller and more limber than men.

Feminist critics have taken the above aspects of illusions and performances as evidence to support claims that magic is misogynistic, but this view has been contested by some magicians and assistants. However, a few prominent assistants have gone on record stating that they deserve better recognition for their efforts and achievements (see "Documentaries" below).

Some modern magic acts have preserved the glamourous elements of the female assistant iconography while attempting to give full recognition to female performers by billing women as equal partners in acts. A notable example is the husband and wife act The Pendragons, for which Charlotte Pendragon has worn very revealing costumes and done traditional "box jumping" roles yet receives equal billing with her husband and has been honoured in her own right as a top professional magician. Another example, although with more modest and conservative costuming, is Kristen Johnson, who receives equal billing with her husband Kevin Ridgeway when they perform together as a magic act and often stars in her own right as an escape artist.

The Shack

2009-03-05T17:41:00.007-06:00

It was an awesome Book Club. Cindy thank you, I could barely see you in your gossamer floaty attire!

I was amazed at the depth and breadth of reactions to the story. That is the beauty of this book! So many real and diverse feelings. I think it was one of our longest discussions. Good job Chapter Chatters!

Tip: Start at Video #4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIh7IJHlSf8&feature=relatedIt would make sense to read the book first and then listen.
Here is some info on Paul Young. It is a series of You Tube videos. He tells his dramatic life story and what brought him to writing “The Shack” I can't recommend them highly enough. There is no way I could do justice to his biography when facilitating! Also, did anyone else picture Della Reese as Paul Young's "God" and Sayid from "Lost" as the Jesus character?

Lost Boys

2009-02-16T12:06:00.003-06:00

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mazeministry.com/mormonism/polygamy/boys.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.mazeministry.com/mormonism/polygamy/lostboys.htm&usg=__RkG5ItfmRegHK7pUrgqp9ecuoTY=&h=324&w=379&sz=119&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=qYWlPwR_QgxLyM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlost%2Bboys%2Bpolygamy%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GZHZ_enUS308US235%26sa%3DN
(CBS) "Lost Boys" is the term given to young men who are forced to leave polygamist compounds at a very young age. Many say they're banished on pretexts, enabling older men in such sects to have less competition for younger women and wives.

Most of the Lost Boys are between 13 and 21 when they're kicked out of compounds such as the one in Eldorado, Texas from which authorities removed more than 400 children and teens in a raid earlier this month.

The alleged wrongdoing cited by sect elders when Lost Boys are tossed include things such as watching a movie, playing football, or talking to a girl, Lost Boys say.

Among the many difficulties Lost Boys face is that they're raised to not trust the outside world. They're usually left with little education or life skills and must learn to live in a world about which they know little, while dealing with the deep psychological pain of being shunned by their families and believing they're beyond spiritual redemption.

One such Lost Boy is Brent Jeffs, nephew of controversial imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

Brent chatted withThe Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday, along with Shannon Price, director of The Diversity Foundation, which helps Lost Boys, among others, housing them and helping to integrate them into society.

Brent told Rodriguez, "(The reason) most of these men, you know, just like me, who were tossed out is if we're not following every little single thing that they say and do, they just find little reasons to kick us out. And you know, merely for the big reason of, you know, we're competition for these older men to get these younger women. It's a sad story.

"They'll usually find something, you know, that you've done wrong. Some little thing, then they'll say, 'well, you need to leave town because you've done this wrong thing. And we don't believe that you need to stay in here with us."

" ... when they're kicked out, these boys, their dad, they're told to drop these boys off at the edge of town and just tell them, 'Good luck.' These boys have nowhere to go. They don't have brothers and sisters, you know, anybody to go to. So they rely on somebody like us (The Diversity Foundation, which Brent is working with), who can kind of help them figure out what they're doing in life. Otherwise, they're just lost and, you know, they end up making some bad decisions down the road. And it's just not a good situation. We definitely need to help them."

Asked if young people in polygamist sects even know it's against the law for someone to marry and have sex with a girl younger than 18, Brent replied, "They don't even talk about it at all in the church. The thing they teach in there is, 'What we tell you to do is what you should do, and you should never, ever question what we tell you to do.' They don't say anything about underage marriages and you're being married to this girl that's definitely not of age to be married. They just don't teach that at all."

Price said services her group makes available to Lost Boys vary, "depending on the child and what their availability is of their family back in their community of origin. So most of them I think generally speaking, they're lacking in education, they're delayed in their maturity. So, we do a lot of life skills instruction to make sure that they can integrate into the larger society."

"Under the Banner of Heaven" suggested reading companions

2009-02-16T11:48:00.003-06:00

Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows;
Fawn Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith;
Sally Denton, American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September, 1857;
Judith Freeman, Red Water;
Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History;
John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled: Or Life and Confession of John D. Lee and Brigham Young;
Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East;
Dorothy Allred Solomon, Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy.

"Very Valentine"....For those who love Trigiani!

2009-01-15T11:03:00.006-06:00

I LOVE Adriana Trigiani. I have read all of her books and have them if any Chapter Chatters want to borrow them. Delightful! Her new book "Very Valentine" looks like it won't disappoint. Here is a link to a video of her talking about her books
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vqN0PoKbSc
and some info!

Adriana Trigiani is beloved by millions of readers around the world for her hilarious and heartwarming novels. She was raised in a small coal-mining town in southwest Virginia in a big Italian family. Trigiani chose her hometown for the setting and title of her debut novel, the critically acclaimed and bestselling Big Stone Gap. the first in a series, will debut Tuesday, February 3, 2009. In this contemporary family saga, 33-year-old Valentine Roncalli must save her family’s custom-made shoe company—one of the last family owned business in Greenwich Village (in New York City)—while juggling the personal demands of love, family ties, and an unexpected trip to Italy. The novel’s sequel, Encore Valentine, will debut in February 2010.

Perhaps one popular book critic said it best: “Trigiani defies categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a woman’s novelist. She is an amazing young talent.”

When jeans were tight, and weapons off limit

2008-12-29T12:36:00.002-06:00

The Outsiders
The Outsiders is a novel by Susan Eloise (S.E.) Hinton first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she began writing the novel[1] and 17 when it was published. The Outsiders is the life story of fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Michael Curtis. Hinton explores a multitude of themes throughout the story, such as friendship, and coming of age, by following two rival groups, the Greasers and the Socs (pronounced "soashes" by the author, short for Socials), who are separated by status.

The Outsiders is ranked on the American Library Association's top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990[2] and 38th on their 1990-1999 list.[3] The book was challenged in South Milwaukee because of its portrayal of violence, language, drug and alcohol abuse, underage smoking, and the fact that "virtually all the characters were from broken homes"[citation needed].

Dark Sun Glasses and Floppy Hats Now a Must For Chapter Chatters!

2008-10-13T10:55:00.003-05:00

"Chapter Chat" was interviewed by "Book Browse" and here is part of that interview

Hello Carrin, thanks for taking the time to chat. First off, please tell us a bit about Chapter Chat.

We've been together in our current format for 8 years, but some of us have been reading together for 15 years. We have 16 on our e-mail list but typically 8-12 show up for any given month. We are in our 40's and 50's, all women. Our core started as a Mom's Group at our church, but we have since taken jobs, sent kids off to college, had surprise babies, grandchildren, divorces and marriages. Like most groups of women we have been there for each other through cancer, deaths in the family, and general support and laughter.

So how did it get started?

My friend Nancy and I started a book club at our church in 1992. It went for a few years and we relaunched it with our moms group in 1998. A couple of years later, as the two of us sat looking at each other and only each other, for the third month in a row we determined to figure out what we were doing wrong and start a book club that was exceptional. We began visiting other successful book clubs, and interviewed as many as we could to figure out what the "it" factor was to make a book club successful.

And what was the "it factor you discovered?"

We learned two major things:
Meet on a consistent night. Passionate readers will schedule around the book club.
Meet in homes because when a meeting is hosted by a church or library it's so easy to think…'Oh there will be other people there, I don't have to go" etc. Adding dessert and wine didn't hurt either!

For the full interview go to http://www.bookbrowse.com/featured-bookclubs/

Can it Happen Here?

2008-10-10T09:58:00.002-05:00

If anyone is able try to find the movie "Shadow on the Land" A perfect companion piece to this book, but it was made for TV, shown once and then mysteriously disappeared! Hmmmm

Richard Patterson Biography, and Time interview

2008-09-17T16:36:00.000-05:00

Biography

Richard North Patterson was born on February 22, 1947 in Berkeley, California. He grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1968. In 1971 he graduated Case Western Reserve Law School and went on to serve as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He was a partner in several of the country’s leading law firms and also served as the liaison for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.He started writing at the age of 29 when he had completed law school. He began his first book, The Lasko Tangent, as part of a creative writing course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the category "Best First Mystery Novel (American)" in 1980. In 1993, he retired from the practice of law to devote himself to writing. He is currently chairman of the National Governing Board for Common Cause, and has served on boards of several advocacy groups dealing with gun violence, political reform, and reproductive rights. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard with his partner, Dr Nancy Clair. In addition to winning the Edgar Allan Poe Award, he is also the recipient of the 1995 International Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France).

Bibliography to date

Christopher Paget seriesThe Lasko Tangent (1979)

Degree of Guilt (1992)

Eyes of a Child (1994)

NovelsThe Outside Man (1981)

Escape the Night (1983)

Private Screening (1985)

Caroline Masters (1995), published in the UK as Final Judgement Silent Witness (1996)

No Safe Place (1998)

Dark Lady (1999)

Protect and Defend (2000)

Balance of Power (2003)

Conviction (2005)

Exile (2007)

The Race (Oct 2007)

TIME: What made you decide to take on the topic of the Presidential race?
Patterson: I describe it as the American odyssey. It's the hardest thing a person can do. It's a gauntlet in which privacy means absolutely nothing. Every aspect of character is exposed, and every decision can destroy a [candidacy], and perhaps even the candidate, in a way that's unique to the merciless public exposure that running for President brings. To me, it's like a courtroom drama intensified. There are always surprises. There are always revelations of character, and nothing is out of bounds. It's great drama.

Your main character, Corey Grace, is a former POW who's a Republican Senator and a presidential candidate. That sounds familiar!
I couldn't have made him up without the example of John McCain, but that said, I want to exempt Corey. He, like my other characters, is very much his own man. His experiences are quite different than John's, and his beliefs as you will note are markedly at variance with John's. John is an example of somebody whose character was formed outside of politics, as was Corey Grace's, which is very interesting. But otherwise, this fellow isn't John McCain any more than he's Bill Cohen [former Republican secretary of defense under Clinton], although he has some similarities to Bill as well.

Are you friends with the two of them?
Yes, they're both good friends.

Are you friends with a lot of political people?
Friends in the sense that we really are friends. Friends is an elastic concept in politics, as you know. But yes, Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer are close friends. Congresswoman Stephanie Jones from Cleveland is an old friend. So I learn a lot from them about how this business works, and the cost of it.

Is there something you see in common among the kind of people who take on "the race"?
I think you have to have almost an extra chromosome. You have to have extraordinary dedication and discipline to succeed in politics, because you're never off. You and I can go home, and that's it. But there's no downtime in politics. Things are always happening. You can be confronted by somebody at the supermarket; you lose all privacy. And it's exhausting. John McCain and Barbara Boxer, for two, have a wicked commute just to get back and forth to the Senate. So it takes an extraordinary person. I often say that actually, our politicians deserve a better system than we have, in that the people in office are better than we know. It's the system, the way that we raise money and the way, frankly, that we abuse these people in their private lives, that is so dismal.

Your own career got political when you were a Watergate prosecutor.
Yes, I've always been interested in politics, and I had very early exposure to the stakes involved at the Presidential level when I was sent by the Securities and Exchange Commission to assist in an aspect of the Watergate prosecution. So I've been sort of engaged in things ever since. I was chairman of Common Cause, the public-interest lobby founded by John Gardner, and on the board of Washington advocacy groups which espouse reasonable gun laws, reproductive freedom, women's and family health issues and the like.

Do you ever miss practicing law?
No. It was a great career, but writing books is self-assigned work. You get to write about what interests you. Learn new and exciting things, whether it's about the Middle East, in my last book [Exile], or the Presidential race, for this book, and translate it for readers in a way that hopefully engages them emotionally but also interests them in the subject matter. It's just great work.

You were 29 when you changed careers, right?
I was 29 when I wrote my first novel. But I was 45 when I quit for good. I was a 16-year overnight success.

Initially, was it hard for you to get published?
Oh, yes. I had three rewrites and 13 rejections. But I just kept at it. I've never written anything ultimately that hasn't been published.

You do so much digging and research for your books that it must be like being a reporter.
It's like journalism, but with two advantages. People will tell me things they won't tell reporters, because they don't worry about it showing up on the front page of a newspaper, or an article in a magazine, and I'm also able to say things that reporters can't, in terms of underlying truths that reporters have to be cautious about. In a way, I look upon what I do as intensified truth. It is a more real version of reality than sometimes journalism can get to.

Do you always write in the morning?
I'm like a civil servant. I show up at my desk at 7:30, and I don't leave until mid- to late afternoon, when I've revised what I've written for that day. I do it five days a week until the book is finished.

Does anyone ever confuse you with novelist James Patterson?
(Laughs.) I always say to people, I don't do body parts. He's had a very successful career, but he and I have very different aims.

Where does your middle name, North, come from?
That's my mother's given name. Actually, it goes back to my ancestor Lord North, possibly the worst politician in the history of England. He's the one who blew the Colonies. I come by my interest in feckless politics honestly.

Would you like to run for office yourself? You have the right background.
I know what it takes well enough really to be very happy writing about it. I have a lot of access, so a fair amount of understanding, without having to suffer the consequences of it.

You once said that you were devastated not to be on the National Rifle Association's Enemy list. Have you made it yet?
I did, thankfully. It took hard work, because they were busy focusing on other people. But by God, I finally made it.

A review of the Persian Gulf War

2008-09-17T16:30:00.003-05:00

I
Introduction
Persian Gulf War, conflict beginning in August 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait. The conflict culminated in fighting in January and February 1991 between Iraq and an international coalition of forces led by the United States. By the end of the war, the coalition had driven the Iraqis from Kuwait.

II
Causes of the War
The Iraqi-Kuwaiti border had been the focus of tension in the past. Kuwait was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire from the 18th century until 1899 when it asked for, and received, British protection in return for autonomy in local affairs. In 1961 Britain granted Kuwait independence, and Iraq revived an old claim that Kuwait had been governed as part of an Ottoman province in southern Iraq and was therefore rightfully Iraq’s. Iraq’s claim had little historical basis, however, and after intense global pressure Iraq recognized Kuwait in 1963. Nonetheless, there were occasional clashes along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, and relations between the two countries were sometimes tense.

Relations between the two countries improved during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when Kuwait assisted Iraq with loans and diplomatic backing. After the war ended in 1988, the Iraqi government launched a costly program of reconstruction. By 1990 Iraq had fallen $80 billion in debt and demanded that Kuwait forgive its share of the debt and help with other payments. At the same time, Iraq claimed that Kuwait was pumping oil from a field that straddled the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and was not sharing the revenue. Iraq also accused Kuwait of producing more oil than allowed under quotas set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), thereby depressing the price of oil, Iraq’s main export.

Iraq’s complaints against Kuwait grew increasingly harsh, but they were mostly about money and did not suggest that Iraq was about to revive its land claim to Kuwait. When Iraqi forces began to mobilize near the Kuwaiti border in the summer of 1990, several Arab states tried to mediate the dispute. Kuwait, seeking to avoid looking like a puppet of outside powers, did not call on the United States or other non-Arab powers for support. For their part, the U.S. and other Western governments generally expected that at worst Iraq would seize some border area to intimidate Kuwait, so they avoided being pulled into the dispute. Arab mediators convinced Iraq and Kuwait to negotiate their differences in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 1, 1990, but that session resulted only in charges and countercharges. A second session was scheduled to take place in Baghdād, the Iraqi capital, but Iraq invaded Kuwait the next day, leading some observers to suspect that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had planned the invasion all along.

Sept Book Club

2008-09-05T10:57:00.002-05:00

Deb's review:

Last night was lovely at Sarah's comfy home. She made Polish food that the six of us forced ourselves to taste, again and again to make up for those of you who couldn't make it. She informed us there were no Polish wines, so she offered alternatives. Cindy launched us into the technological book group age by having researched videos of Poland in World War 2 and the Warsaw Zoo whicwe watched on a laptop. Fabulous. She had lots of interesting info about the author as well. We discussed the "maybe" December selection and that it is yet another WW 2 themed book. We decided to open it up for more suggestions. So everyone start offering ideas for the December 4 book. We have usually had a tie-in to Christmas, but it is not a must. Keep in mind most members have expressed that they don't want to buy hardcovers, so focus on choices from 2007 and earlier and they are usually out in paperback. Both the October and November selections are available in paperback.

The Warsaw Zoo on the Big Screen

2008-09-02T11:49:00.007-05:00

Blue Heron International Picture Presents:
A Gary Lester Film
Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo
Featuring
Ryszard Zabinski and Asia Doliner
Feliks Pastusiak, Producer (Poland)
Alex Ringer, Producer (Israel)
Richard Lester, Executive Producer
Charlie Carlson, Associate Producer (USA) See More Here

Would a rose by any other name...

2008-08-14T10:51:00.002-05:00

Hey, we were mentioned in the Readers Group article (I have us registered with them by the way!)....A fun article on names!

Reading Groups Choose Creative Ways to Describe Themselves

It’s not surprising that words are important to book group members. Readers search for just the right word to describe how they feel, what they see and experience, what they might like to experience or feel, and what they abhor. They marvel at their favorite authors’ ability to put words together in a way that evokes deep emotions, both positive and negative. They appreciate and choose words for their meaning, of course, but also for their sound, their nuances, their derivations, and their double meanings.

So it’s probably not surprising that book groups put considerable effort and creativity into selecting the words to describe themselves. The names that they choose somehow reflect the character of the group as a whole, which may be quite different from the words that each member would choose to describe themselves.

Take, for example, the groups that obviously intensely enjoy the reading group experience. A sample of group names from Reading Group Choices subscribers include the Better Than Therapy Book Club; Reading Between the Wines; Who Picked This Book? Club; Chapter Chat; Friends, Wines & Books; Face2Face and Woman2Woman; Boisterous Banter Book Club; Wine, Chocolate & Books; It’s Not Just About the Food Book Club; and Beyond the Book.

Apparently, some groups just like to have fun – and that includes taking the time to name themselves. For example, there are the Marmaladies; the Litwits; the Chapter Chicks; the Alleycats; the Bookworm Biddies; the Literal Hotties; Out on a Tangent; the Literary Lofty Dogs; the Happy Bookers; Girlz R Us; the Deadly Divas; and the Bemused Bibliophiles.

And then there are the groups that take on their own identity – comprised of, but beyond, the identity of the individuals within it. The names tell you a lot about the character of the group – the Benson Bifocals; Book Broads and John; the Amigos & Flamingos Book Club; the Book Club for People Who May Not Be Women; Cool Girls Read; Soul Sistas; Readers Dozen; the Crazy Eight; the Eclectics; English Teacher Nerds Unite; Party Girls; Smarty Pants; Bad Girls Book Club; Babes with Books; Soccer Moms Book Club; Peppy Ladies; Sweet Potato Queens; Sisters n Touch; YaYa Mommas; Women of Substance; the Dirty Girls Book Group; Reading for Christ; the Renaissance Men’s Book Club; and the Bamamas.

Some groups express their appreciation for the written word in the name they choose, such as the B.A.G. Ladies (Books Are Good); the Rabid Readers; Readers Delight; Berthoud Book Junkies; and As the Page Turns. And some actually play with words within their name, like the Literary Locusts of Lochmere; the Louisiana Literati; Secret Sworn Sisters; WOW (Women of Words); Women, Wine & Words; StatIS Quo; and Laughter, Lunch & Literature. Other groups apparently really like the reading experience, like the Spine Crackers; the Joyful Page Turners; Between the Covers; and the Cranial Crunch.

A few groups are literally literary, like the AlaKaye Literary Society; the Bellaggio Cultural Club; the Final Word Literary Guild; the Grand Dames of Literature; La Literati; the Literary Ladies; Joie de Livre – and perhaps Barely Literate.

Some groups are not so obvious about their meaning, leading one to wonder exactly what they are up to! Take for example, the C.H.A.R.I.S.M.A.; the FAUSA; the R.A.F.T.S.; the SLTSBC; the StARs; the KIBBIES; and the TWOGHIES.

But some groups leave no doubt what they are up to. Whether you approve or not, there are the Bath Tub Readers, for example, Andy’s Wives; and the Read Naked groups. You can also guess what goes on during the gatherings at Just Mai Tai’n; Literate Epicureans; the Martini Book Club; Mysteries on Main Street; Fiction Addiction; Not Just Desserts; Read and Feed; Page and Palette; Literary Potluck; Coffee by the Book; and Tea and Tales.

Some groups may use their name to remind themselves of when or where they meet. For example, the BLT Club’s expanded name is Books Last Tuesday. Then there is the Bar and a Book group; the Gazebo Gathering; Booked for Lunch; MysticMommas; Phat Tuesdays; See You Tuesday?; the Fort Dix Chicks; Books on the Bluff; Books By the Bay; Beach and Books; and the Rural Readers. In some cases, though, the mnemonic device may lead to some confusion – consider for example Reading in the Rafters, Across the Ocean, and The Red Truck!

For those of you who may be forming new groups, perhaps there are some ideas here that can lead you to the perfect name. For those – and there are many, we’re sure – who have other creative descriptive devices, please send them to us. We’ll publish a few of them in an upcoming e-newsletter. In any case, thanks for keeping the joy of reading alive.

Charlie and Tea

2008-07-29T18:30:00.005-05:00

A Great Compliment to Three Cups of Tea

Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 biographical drama film based on the true story of Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who conspired with a "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos to launch an operation to help the Afghan mujahideen resist and ultimately defeat the Soviet Union's military occupation of the nation.
For movie clips go to http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3904700697/
For more info on the movie go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson's_War

प्रेपरिंग फॉर टी

2008-07-12T09:57:00.011-05:00

Preparing For Tea: In case you can't read the above! By the way... Here is our Gordon West connection http://www.ikat.org/publications/2007JOH.pdf

#1 New York Times Besteller
Three Cups of Tea
One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time

“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.” -Tom Brokaw

"A stunningly simple story of how to make peace" -Bloomsbury Review

"Fascinating...one only hopes U.S. policymakers read Mortenson's book" -Philadelphia Inquirer

"Astonishing tale of compassion - and of promise kept" -Time Magazine Asia Book of the Year

"Laced with drama, danger, romance, and good deeds" -Christian Science Monitor

2008-07-11T07:01:00.002-05:00

After a stormy afternoon, skies over beautiful White Bear Lake cleared to provide Chapter Chatters with a evening of calm seas and perfect tempertures to discuss our latest read. Donning laurel wreathes on our heads we explored the ancient world from which the Olympic games evolved. Some we squeemish of the barbaric nature of the ancient games but after a little processing we concluded that it's not so different today. Some Chatters have brushed with Olympic greatness and most look forward to watching the up coming games. We munched a variety of Greek inspired foods including humus, olives and baklava. YUM. Thank for a lovely evening!

Garrison Keillor Trivia

2008-06-24T23:27:00.004-05:00

Today in the small town of Isle, Minnesota I found out some interesting Keillor trivia.
On the wall in my Mom's doctor's office was a framed letter from Garrison Keillor to Dr.Bracken (he was my Dad's doctor). The letter started with an apology to Dr. Bracken for reading Moby Dick.....Keillor never meant to encourage that. He said he read the first 30 pages, put it down for he only reads books that give him pleasure.
Here's his interesting quote: " I spent quite a bit of time in Isle when I was a boy and whenever I imagine Lake Wobegon I always see Isle - Isle, Holdingford and a little bit of Anoka."

Gosh, I could have been hanging out with him on Mille Lacs all those years ago........

He went on to recommend his favorite authors who he described as - " Christian comic writers, who write extensively about small towns and rural people." J.F. Powers, Carol Bly, Charles Portis and Flannery O'Connor.

After the Dr. appointment I took Mom to the grocery store where we ran into Dr. Bracken......talk about small town!!! I had a chat with him about the letter and Dr. Bracken went on to talk about some of his favorite authors and books.....I attached a review of one of those books below. Sounds like a great read.......Deb H.

Morte D'Urban

By J.F. Powers

Winner of The 1963 National Book Award for Fiction.
The hero of J.F. Powers's comic masterpiece is Father Urban, a man of the cloth who is also a man of the world. Charming, with an expansive vision of the spiritual life and a high tolerance for moral ambiguity, Urban enjoys a national reputation as a speaker on the religious circuit and has big plans for the future. But then the provincial head of his dowdy religious order banishes him to a retreat house in the Minnesota hinterlands. Father Urban soon bounces back, carrying God's word with undaunted enthusiasm through the golf courses, fishing lodges, and backyard barbecues of his new turf. Yet even as he triumphs his tribulations mount, and in the end his greatest success proves a setback from which he cannot recover.
First published in 1962, Morte D'Urban has been praised by writers as various as Gore Vidal, William Gass, Mary Gordon, and Philip Roth. This beautifully observed, often hilarious tale of a most unlikely Knight of Faith is among the finest achievements of an author whose singular vision assures him a permanent place in American literature.

I want to go to this party!

2008-06-22T21:02:00.003-05:00

Regarding our August pick....

Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea is doing a book tour. He will be very near. Alas, it seems that we are not invited...yet. I am going to call them!

RED WING, MN

Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 5:00 PM (Private)
UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE ELCA
United’s 150th Anniversary Banquet
628 West Fifth Street
Red Wing, MN 55066
Contact: Pastor Randall Johnson
Phone: 651-388-3583
http://www.unitedlutheranchurch.com/
Limited to United Members and Special Guests

For more information go to threecupsoftea.com

Jeanette Walls

2008-06-11T17:17:00.003-05:00

Wanda and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jeanette Walls at the Kahler Hotel in Rochester yesterday. She brought her amazing story to life and inspired all who listened to her story.

She was so gracious and thankful for the outpouring of love she received after sharing her story. She said she was always afraid to tell her story for fear of people rejecting her.

She gave us an update on her family: Sister Lori-an artist in NYC, did not want Jeanette to write the book. Brother- most supportive of her writing the story and helped her remember. He is a retired police officer now teaching school. Younger sister Maureen, in CA, didn't speak to each other for 10 years, now do speak, she lives in a "safe" place in CA. Her mother is now living in a trailer on Jeanette and her husband's property helping to care for their horses.

Jeanette is working on another book, it's in the early stages and she thinks it will be about her mother. She says she's not creative and therefore cannot write fiction. Throughout her talk she never said a negative thing about her parents, she says she learned to dream from her father and learned wisdom from her mother. She's taken these gifts and made the most of her life. She stressed how reading was a gift her parents gave her, she never had TV or any other source of entertainment. We briefly said our hello's to Jeanette as she signed our books......a wonderful day!!

Deb H.

Water for Elephants Revisited

2008-06-01T18:21:00.004-05:00

So this was my favorite read of 08! I loved the insights from the nursing home, brought back many memories of working at the old Ramsey County "Poor Farm" as they called it once upon a time!

Nancy outdid her self as usual, we LOVED going to the Big Top for the evening.

Deb Wheeler, with her exceptional period and circus research, added layers on an already fascinating book.

I won't say more as I'm sure you will add your two cents worth in the comments!

Time Travelers Wife Hits the Silver Screen

2008-05-23T19:07:00.006-05:00

For those of you who have read it... we can only hope the movie lives up to the book. If you haven't....Oh you really should, it is so very, very good!

What do you do when you meet the love of your life when you're six years old? And he's 36, but he's really only eight years older than you are? If you're ClareAbshire, you wait for each of his visits throughout the years until you meet him in real time.

Henry DeTamble is a time traveler, although not by choice. A genetic mutation causes him to spontaneously travel through time, disappearing from view, leaving behind his clothes and possessions, and arriving naked in another time and another place.

Nuala O’Faolain, 68, Irish Memoirist, Is Dead

2008-05-17T16:15:00.005-05:00

Here's another death to report....aren't we cheerful today??? Nuala O’Faolain, 68, Irish Memoirist, Is Dead Nuala O’Faolain, an Irish journalist who mined a rich vein of longing and childhood suffering in two midlife memoirs and an acclaimed first novel, “My Dream of You,” died on Friday night in Dublin. She was 68 and lived in Barrtra, County Clare, Ireland, and Manhattan.

Often seen as a feminine (and feminist) counterpart to Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes,” Ms. O’Faolain’s first memoir, “Are You Somebody?,” created a sensation on its publication in Ireland in 1996. Her unblinking, unsentimental description of Irish life in the 1940s and ’50s, and her loveless, impoverished home, where she grew up the second of nine children, struck a chord with Irish readers and went on to sell well in Britain and the United States.

Nuala O’Faolain (pronounced oh-FWAY-lawn) grew up in the countryside near Dublin in shabbily bohemian circumstances. Her father, who wrote a newspaper society column under the pen name Terry O’Sullivan, spent his nights on the town in Dublin. “He was a dapper, clever, reticent man and he treated the family as if he had met them at a cocktail party,” Ms. O’Faolain wrote. Her mother, a voracious reader and a romantic who never wanted children, sank into despair and alcoholism, to which her mostly absent husband turned a blind eye.

Two of her brothers eventually died of alcoholism. She is survived by six brothers and sisters, Grainne O’Broin, Deirdre Brady and Terry O’Faolain, all of Dublin; Noreen, of London; Marian, of Westport, Ireland; and Niamh, of Tarbert, Ireland. She is also survived by her partner, John Low-Beer of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ms. O’Faolain inherited her mother’s hunger for love and her father’s flair for journalism. After attending a convent school in the north of Ireland — she had been expelled from her first school for sneaking off to dances to meet boys — she studied English at University College, Dublin, and medieval English literature at the University of Hull before earning a postgraduate degree in English from Oxford.
She then returned to University College as a lecturer in the English department. “I had no sense of being at the start of a career,” she later wrote. “My aim in life was something to do with loving and being loved.”

Shortly before her death, Ms. O’Faolain gave a spirited, tearful interview on Ireland’s most popular radio program in which she reflected on life, love and her impending death. “I thought there would be me and the world, but the world turned its back on me,” she said. “The world said to me, ‘That’s enough of you now, and what’s more, we’re not going to give you any little treats at the end.’ ”

Eye-Opener: A Blind Man’s Rare Opportunity to See

2008-05-17T14:22:00.010-05:00

Will a blind person be improved by gaining eyesight, or will an already-complete person become impaired in unexpected ways?

With his first book, “Shadow Divers,” Robert Kurson told the endlessly interesting
story of how divers discovered a mysterious sunken submarine off the coast of New Jersey. “Shadow Divers” also had the human-interest elements of the divers’ bravado and the sub disaster’s casualties to explore. Mr. Kurson set a very high bar for his next nonfiction endeavor.

UGH! No word on who is in it yet!

Robert Kurson
CRASHING THROUGH
A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man Who Dared to See
By Robert Kurson
Illustrated. 306 pages. Random House. $25.95.
“Crashing Through,” a book about much more personal and interior adventures. Mr. Kurson writes about Mike May, who was surely one of the world’s most enterprising blind people even before he embarked on a risky series of procedures to restore his vision. Mr. May lost his eyesight in a chemical explosion at the age of 3. He had gone on, among other things, to set the world’s speed record for a blind skier, climb a 175-foot ham-radio tower to make repairs and travel 85 miles by train, bus and taxi to take his future wife on their first date.
So Mr. May’s life was a can-do success story even before the idea of repaired eyesight became an option. “Crashing Through,” which takes its title from the May style of dealing with any obstacle, describes the many innovative ways devised by Mr. May for moving through the world more vigorously than many sighted people do.
He lived in a remote Ghanaian village. He earned a graduate degree in international relations. He worked for the C.I.A. until it was decided that he could not be an inconspicuous spy. And he studied electrical engineering. “Blind electrical engineers were rare, which was one of the reasons he wanted to do it,” Mr. Kurson explains.
He worried about every risk that eye surgery would entail, including the impermanence of new vision and the use of a possible carcinogen to keep his body from rejecting corneal transplants. As he explained to his wife at the moment of decision, there was every good reason to refrain from taking this chance. The only reason to do it was curiosity.

“Crashing Through” becomes most interesting when the flaws in Mr. May’s new eyesight become apparent. He makes wondrous discoveries of things blind people never hear about — shadows, freckles, the movement and transparency of running water — but has more difficulty with the cognitive aspects of pattern recognition. He can see facial features but cannot decipher facial expressions.
Eventually the joy of sight fades for him and the investigatory challenges begin. Ingenious as ever, he finds ways to meld everything he has learned with everything new he can see, and to navigate the world imaginatively.

Michael May (center) was blinded at age three. Forty-two years later, a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery gave him his sight back. Above, on his first day of vision since childhood, May sees his sons for the first time.

Calif. winemaking patriarch Robert Mondavi dies

2008-05-17T13:44:00.006-05:00

By MICHELLE LOCKE – 20 hours ago
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who helped put California wine country on the map, died at his Napa Valley home Friday. He was 94. Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said.
Always convinced that California wines could compete with the European greats, Mondavi engaged in the first French-American wine venture when he formed a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville. The venture's first vintage was in 1979.
Mondavi was an enthusiastic ambassador for wine — especially California wine — and traveled the world into his 90s promoting the health, cultural
Later there was a bittersweet family moment when Robert and Peter Mondavi, aided by members of the younger generation, made wine together for the first time in 40 years. Using a 50-50 split of grapes from Robert Mondavi and Peter Mondavi family vineyards, the brothers made one barrel of a cabernet blend that sold for $401,000 at the 2005 Napa Valley wine auction.
The auction lot was called "Ancora Una Volta," or "Once Again."

Remembering Rober Mondavi

It happened slowly.

As news of Robert Mondavi’s passing spread through the valley Friday, the winery that bears his name canceled winery tours at 1 p.m. A half hour later, officials at the landmark Oakville winery closed the tasting room and set the winery’s three flags — the American flag, the California flag and the Italian flag — at half mast.
By 2 p.m. an employee set out cones at the entrance to the winery, alerting motorists that the winery was not open to the public.

Eric G. Morham, president of Icon Estates, which operates the Mondavi winery, said the winery will remain closed Saturday and Sunday out of respect for the Mondavi family. However, the grounds will remain open and people are welcome to come walk the grounds and pay their respects.
The winery will reopen Monday.

Morham said Mondavi’s death was unexpected and that Margrit Mondavi, his wife, was in London and would return to Napa Valley immediately.
“(Mondavi) had a vision that Napa Valley wines could stand in the company of the great wines of the world,” Morham said.

He said the family will hold a private service.

But in accordance with Mondavi's wishes, there will be “a big party” at the winery within weeks. A firm date has not been set. The memorial will be open to the public.

Even tourists who aren't immersed in Napa Valley culture understood the significance of Mondavi's death.

Deb Mertz of Connecticut said she was visiting Far Niente winery when she heard the news.

“I know he and his family are so important to the valley,” she said. “In reading some things to prepare to come here, it was obvious how much the family contributed to the area.”

Others, like Mike and Nicole Young of Las Vegas, were aware of Mondavi's reputation primarily through his wines. They said the quality of Mondavi's riesling inspired them to visit his winery.

Jim Silberman, visiting from New Jersey, learned of Mondavi’s death while at the winery.

“Our tour guide was telling us about the wines and mentioned this was one of Mr. Mondavi's favorites and he gets a tear in his eye, then later we heard he had died,” he said.

Ryan is interim city editor at the Register. Duarte is a staff writer for the St. Helena Star. Register Photo Editor J.L. Sousa contributed to this article.

Suite française

2008-05-12T18:30:00.014-05:00

THE CONTROVERSARY
Several reviewers and commentators have raised questions regarding Némirovsky's attitude toward Jews, her generally negative depiction of Jews in her writing and her use of anti-semitic publications in advancing her career. A review of her work published in The New Republic states:
Némirovsky was the very definition of a self-hating Jew. Does that sound too strong? Well, here is a Jewish writer who owed her success in France entre deux guerres in no small measure to her ability to pander to the forces of reaction, to the fascist right. Némirovsky's stories of corrupt Jews-- some of them even have hooked noses, no less!--appeared in right-wing periodicals and won her the friendship of her editors, many of whom held positions of power in extreme-right political circles. When the racial laws in 1940 and 1941 cut off her ability to publish, she turned to those connections to seek special favors for herself, and even went so far as to write a personal plea to Marshal Pétain.

Auschwitz

The name "Auschwitz" actually refers to a complex series of camps and sub-camps in southwest Poland. The photos below are of the camp known as "Auschwitz-I." The camp was ordered constructed in 1940 by Heinrich Himmler, the chief architect of the extermination of the Jews and second in command of Nazi Germany. Thousands of people were murdered in Auschwitz-I, but this particular camp was not known as a "death camp." To be classified as a "death camp," murdering prisoners can be the ONLY function of the guards and workers. Auschwitz-I does not fit this criterion. This camp was also used for forced labor, medical experiments and other activities. The primary killing of Jews at the Auschwitz complex occurred at Auschwitz-II (also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau).

Biography
Irène Némirovsky was the daughter of a Jewish banker from Moscow, Léon Némirovsky. Her volatile and unhappy relationship with her mother became the heart of many of her novels.
The Némirovsky family fled Moscow at the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917, spending a year in Finland in 1918 and then settling in Paris, France, where Irène attended the Sorbonne and started writing when she was 18 years old.
In 1926, Irène Némirovsky married Michel Epstein, a banker, and had two daughters: Denise, born in 1929; and Élisabeth, in 1937.
In 1929 she published David Golder, the story of a Jewish banker unable to please his troubled daughter, which was an immediate success, and was adapted to the big screen by Julien Duvivier in 1930, with Harry Baur as David Golder.
In 1930 her novel Le Bal, the story of a mistreated daughter and the revenge of a teenager, became a play and a movie.
The David Golder manuscript was sent by post to the Grasset publisher with a Poste restante address and signed Epstein. H. Muller, a reader for Grasset immediately tried to find the author but couldn't get hold of him/her. Grasset put an ad in the newspapers hoping to find the author, but the author was "busy": she was having her first child, Denise. When Irène finally showed up as the author of David Golder, the unverified story is that the publisher was surprised that such a young woman was able to write such a powerful book.
Although she was widely recognized as a major author, by Jewish authors like Joseph Kessel and anti-semitic authors like Robert Brasillach alike, French citizenship was denied to the Némirovskys in 1938.
Irène Némirovsky was Jewish, but converted to Catholicism in 1939 and wrote in Candide and Gringoire, two anti-Semitic magazines—perhaps partly to hide the family's Jewish origins and thereby protect their children from growing anti-Semitic persecution.
By 1940, Némirovsky's husband was unable to continue working at the bank—and Irène's books could no longer be published—because of their Jewish ancestry. Upon the Nazis' approach to Paris, they fled with their two daughters to the village of Issy-l'Evêque (the Némirovskys initially sent them to live with their nanny's family in Burgundy while staying on in Paris themselves; they had already lost their Russian home and refused to lose their home in France), where Némirovsky was required to wear the Yellow badge.
On July 13, 1942, Irène Némirovsky (then 39) was arrested as a "stateless person of Jewish descent" by French police under the regulations of the German occupation. As she was being taken away, she told her daughters, "I am going on a journey now." She was brought to a convoy assembly camp at Pithiviers and on July 17 together with 928 other Jewish deportees transported to Auschwitz. Upon her arrival there two days later, her forearm was marked with an identification number. According to official papers, she died a month later of typhus.
Her husband was sent to Auschwitz shortly thereafter, and was immediately put to
death in a gas chamber.

The rediscovery
Némirovsky is now best known as the author of the unfinished Suite française (Denoël, France, 2004, ISBN 2207256456; translation by Sandra Smith, Knopf, 2006, ISBN 1400044731), two novellas portraying life in France between June 4, 1940 and July 1, 1941, the period during which the Nazis occupied Paris. These works are considered remarkable because they were written during the actual period itself, and yet are the product of considered reflection, rather than just a journal of events, as might be expected considering the personal turmoil experienced by the author at the time.

oldest daughter, Denise, kept the notebook containing the manuscript for Suite Française for fifty years without reading it, thinking it was a journal or diary of her mother's, which would be too painful to read. In the late 1990s, however, she made arrangements to donate her mother's papers to a French archive and decided to examine the notebook first. Upon discovering what it contained, she instead had it published in France, where it became a bestseller in 2004.
The original manuscript has been given to the Institut mémoires de l'édition contemporaine (IMEC), and the novel has won the Prix Renaudot—the first time the prize has been awarded posthumously.
Némirovsky's surviving notes sketch a general outline of a story arc that was intended to include the two existing novellas, as well as three more to take place later during the war and at its end. She wrote that the rest of the work was "in limbo, and what limbo! It's really in the lap of the gods since it depends on what happens."
In a January 2006 interview with the BBC, her daughter, Denise, said, "For me, the greatest joy is knowing that the book is being read. It is an extraordinary feeling to have brought my mother back to life. It shows that the Nazis did not truly succeed in killing her. It is not vengeance, but it is a victory."

What They're Up To Now!

2008-05-05T09:21:00.003-05:00

A couple of things to look forward to from authors we've read:
This Wednesday evening from 4-6:30 William Kent Krueger will be hosting a "Totally Criminal cocktail Hour" at the Dock Cafe in Stillwater. Call 651-430-3385 for reservations...I'm sure he'd love us! And so we all can recognize him a photo to study

Also, for all of you Leif Enger lovers, he has now come out with a second novel called So Brave, Young and Hnadsome. He'll be at Edina's Barnes & Noble this Friday at 7:30. The St. Paul Pioneer Press printed a wonderful review of it earlier this week. The theme centers around his love of the wild west. So Brave, Young, and Handsome is this story told of three primary characters, with a few others thrown in along the way. It is a road story telling of a physical journey that brings out the metaphysical of each of the characters, but not in a mushy, spiritualistic, heavy-laden way. And that’s what is so brilliant about the book. It’s not philosophy. It’s a great tale in the tradition of great American writers from decades past.

This is a book about in between times and in between people drawn with immense clarity and insight, while retaining a direct and sparse prose. Enger tells us of an era and certain characters, a story not a message. It is in this story, however, that we see so much of real life as it so often is: in between.

We are between the old and the new, the good and the bad, the honest and the false, the artist and the laborer, the young and the aged, the adventurous an the prosaic. The characters hope, but don’t know how to find this hope. What they do is carry on, having tasted something of who they know themselves to be they won’t let themselves go back. As Enger says in his acknowledgments, “Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic.”

What I like so much about Enger’s work is that it is so hopeful. Absolutely honest, mind you, there’s no false hope to be found here or sentimentalism seeking to manipulate our emotions. These are real people, faults and all. But unlike so much contemporary literature and film Enger doesn’t feel a need to obsess with corruption or ruin. His is a book that shows people who are not handsome, or young, and rarely brave. But they want to be, and be such in ways that matter to them, not to others around them. They are seeking wholeness for themselves.

Not all succeed. Some do, but not in the expected ways.

“For at the same time he lost everything–the very direction of his own steps–he won the thing he held so precious he wouldn’t approach it in words.”

It is a story of real life. Not gritty, corrupted, malformed caricatures. Real people, or at least characters who are desperate to become real people, who learn what it is to be a real person.

With all this depth and insight it might sound ponderous. But it’s not. It’s very gentle and easy-going. It moves along at a varied pace, with enough movement to never seem tiresome and enough twists to never seem predictable. My only slight irritation is that sometimes Enger jumps ahead a bit and is so eager to bring a slight twist that he breaks the moment with unnecessary foreshadowing, sort of a “you’ll love what comes next!” moments. I wish he just let us experience the story as it happened a bit more. But this is a minor qualm and he does even this within the contexts of a fitting narration.

It’s a brilliant book, in craft and theme and insight. It’s the best work of contemporary fiction I’ve read in a very long time and guess it will be my favorite book of 2008

Tatoos, Beards, and More...Sorry Nance!

2008-04-29T17:39:00.003-05:00

The Socially Inclined

There were many people of the sideshow circuit who had nothing wrong with them, but traveled as freaks for the profit and publicity. Perhaps the most popular of these characters was the tattooed ladies. Beginning in 1882 with Nora Hildebrandt, a handful of women became heavily tattooed so that they could travel with circuses and carnival sideshows. Their appeal superseded that of tattooed men for the titillation they engendered in their audiences; not only were "tattooed women" publicly displaying themselves with fewer clothes than women in any other line, but also the stories describing how they became tattooed typically consisted of kidnapping. Nora Hildebrandt's father owned the first tattoo shop in America. Her story was that she and her father were kidnapped by Sitting Bull, who, along with his tribe, forced father to tattoo daughter. Every day for a year, so the story goes, she was tied to a tree until she was tattooed from head to toe. Cesare Lombroso was one of the first "criminal anthropologists" and through his studies he publicly concluded that tattooed people were instinctive criminals. Lombroso's work vindicated all those disgusted or otherwise put off by tattoos, but for the sideshow stage his work was useful because it provided scientific backing for tales of savagery, criminality, and decadence. Hildebrante was only one of hundreds of tattooed performers of her time. During the Depression many tattoo artists were forced to close their shops so they joined traveling circuses and sideshows to support themselves. Jean Furella became a tattooed lady for love. She was a bearded woman when she met her future husband but he would not become involved with her because of her beard. So she shaved her beard and to stay in the business had her body covered in tattoos.

In today's society, the use of mentally challenged or physically handicapped people as circus sideshows is largely frowned upon, if not prohibited. But those who scrutinize this history might not have looked closely enough. Many of these freaks enjoyed happy and long lives, perhaps longer than they would have lived otherwise.
Prince Randian was billed by P.T. Barnum in the late 1800s as the "human caterpillar." After years in the circus business he was married to a devoted wife and had five children. He spoke four languages and his personal philosophy was that "no physical handicap need matter if the mind is dominant."
Another performer named Schlitze was born with microcephaly. This disease caused severe retardation and in turn a small cranium, which led to the nickname of "pinhead" in the circus scene. Schlitze performed in the circus for thirty years and was unusually intelligent in spite of his condition. He was able to dance, sing, count to ten, and was said to be friendly and affectionate. When his guardian and manager died he was forced into an institution where he nearly died of loneliness until a Canadian Circus Promoter found him and bargained for his care. Shlitze traveled the country until his death at the age of 80, which is an unusually long life for a microcephile.
Physical Disabilities

Frances O'Conner was born without arms and toured with the Cole Brother's Circus for many years. She skillfully used her feet to dress herself, sew, and was said to enjoy her life to the fullest, never emitting a hint of self-pity. She was billed as "The Living Venus de Milo."
Johnny Eckhardt was the second son of twins and his brother was physically normal. As their interest in circus life grew they began touring as a magic act. Johnny's brother Robert pretended to saw him in half and a midget posing as his legs ran off the stage chased by Johnny. Johnny developed many exceptional talents and excelled in school. During the circus off-season Johnny toured with his own twelve-piece orchestra in which he led with the piano. He made a few film appearances, including the film Freaks in 1932. He withdrew from public life after his home was burglarized in the early 1980's. One burglar sat on him as the other robbed his house in front of his eyes. After this traumatizing experience his remaining years were spent in bitter seclusion. Johnny is quoted as saying, "If I want to see freaks, all I have to do is look out the window."

What They're Doing Now1

2008-03-27T10:13:00.002-05:00

New Sandra Dallas Book

2008-03-15T14:52:00.004-05:00

From the author of "Persian Pickle Club" Sandra Dallas has written a new book called "Tallgrass". I have read all of her novels and there is not a clinker in the bunch! Now I come to find put she has also written 13 non fiction and they look great as well!
I Loved "The Chili Queen"! Anyway here is her website, http://www.sandradallas.com/index.html and some info on the new book

Tallgrass, Sandra’s seventh novel, is the story of a 13-year-old girl whose Colorado farm family lives next to Tallgrass, a Japanese relocation camp, during World War II. Rennie’s life already has been touched by the war. A brother is in the army, a sister works at a defense plant in Denver. But the girl comes face-to-face with the disruption of war when the internment camp is opened near her town. After one of her friends is brutally murdered, Rennie learns first-hand about the fear and bigotry caused by war. In an account that is gripping but also has its droll moments, Rennie also understands that decency and human dignity transcend evil, that the human heart triumphs. “Tallgrass,” Rennie says, “became our own personal war.”

The God of Small Things: Handbook

2008-03-09T16:25:00.002-05:00

http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/index.html To learn more about Kahakali theNative dance of South India

http://travel.sulekha.com/albums/kerala/16383/slideshow.htm For Pictures of Kerala

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Malabar_Nasrani For information on Syrian Christians (no it's not Craig)

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/howtowear/1/ How to wear a Sari

Ancora Imparo (for those who were wondering!)

2008-03-04T10:52:00.003-06:00

New Bookstore in Stillwater

2008-03-03T10:35:00.002-06:00

Hello Chatters:
FYI-Chestnut Street Books scheduled to open March 1 at 223 Chestnut Street, downtown Stillwater. They plan to carry new and used books.......happy reading adventures......Deb

Oh No! Not Again!! (Or: fool me once...)

2008-03-01T10:24:00.001-06:00

Writer admits Holocaust book is not true

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," has been made into a French film.

Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.
Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II.
"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed," Defonseca said, according to a written statement the lawyers gave to The Associated Press.
Defonseca, 71, now lives in Dudley, Massachusetts. Her husband, Maurice, told The Boston Globe on Thursday that she would not comment.
Defonseca wrote in her book that Nazis seized her parents when she was a child, forcing her to wander the forests and villages of Europe alone for four years. She claimed she found herself trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, killed a Nazi soldier in self-defense and was adopted by a pack of wolves that protected her.
In the statement, Defonseca acknowledged the story she wrote was a fantasy and that she never fled her home in Brussels during the war to find her parents.
Defonseca says her real name is Monique De Wael and that her parents were arrested and killed by Nazis as Belgian resistance fighters, the statement said.
"This story is mine. It is not actually reality, but my reality, my way of surviving," the statement said.
"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed. I beg you to put yourself in my place, of a 4-year-old girl who was very lost," the statement said.
The statement said her parents were arrested when she was 4 and she was taken care of by her grandfather and uncle. She said she was poorly treated by her adopted family, called a "daughter of a traitor" because of her parents' role in the resistance, which she said led her to "feel Jewish."
She said there were moments when she "found it difficult to differentiate between what was real and what was part of my imagination."
Nathalie Uyttendaele said she and her brother contacted the author last weekend to show her material discovered by Belgian daily Le Soir, which questioned her story.
"We gave her this information and it was very difficult. She was confronted with a reality that is different from what she has been living for 70 years," Nathalie Uyttendaele said.
Pressure on the author to defend the accuracy of her book had grown in recent weeks.
"I'm not an expert on relations between humans and wolves but I am a specialist of the persecution of Jews and they (Defonseca's family) can't be found in the archives," Belgian historian Maxime Steinberg told RTL television. "The De Wael family is not Jewish nor were they registered as Jewish."
Defonseca had been asked to write the book by U.S. publisher Jane Daniel in the 1990s, after Daniel heard the writer tell the story in a Massachusetts synagogue.
Daniel and Defonseca fell out over profits received from the best-selling book, which led to a lawsuit. In 2005, a Boston court ordered Daniel to pay Defonseca and her ghost writer Vera Lee $22.5 million.
Lee, of Newton, Massachusetts, said she was shocked to hear Defonseca made up the story.
"She always maintained that this was truth as she recalled it, and I trusted that that was the case," Lee said.
Defonseca's lawyers said Daniel has not yet paid the court-ordered sum.
Daniel said Friday she would try to get the judgment overturned. She said she could not fully research Defonseca's story before it was published because the woman claimed she did not know her parents' names, her birthday or where she was born.
"There was nothing to go on to research," she said. E-mail to a friend

2/08 Eat Pray Love

2008-02-28T19:50:00.000-06:00

Live Lecture from Julia Flynn Siler

2008-02-28T11:50:00.002-06:00

Julia gives a live lecture at this site. It is 46 minutes long and is fascinating. Put a real personal touch on what you've read (or fills you in on what the book is about if you haven't read it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--46ZmSk9no

Also you can take a "walking tour" of Napa Valley with Julia by clicking the link below! 9It is similar to the above link, only without the Q&A session

http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com/siler-tour.htm

And I'll let you read her Bio if you're interested!!

http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com/siler-bio.htm

Good Reads

2008-02-24T16:37:00.005-06:00

This month I read and loved Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, found it in Bookmarks Magazine, requested from WCL and finished it quickly........have recommended to a few male readers and last week it was #1 in the Twin Cities.
If I could figure out how to post the photo I'd try to......need a blog lesson.....love the idea and Thanks to Lisa for getting this going......Deb H.

This fine novel, translated from the Norwegian by Anne Born, was the surprise winner of the 2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and it really is a book to cherish and remember.
Out Stealing Horses eschews the knowing realism of much contemporary fiction in favour of the episodic ebb and flow of the "unending conversation" in the mind of the narrator, as he looks back upon a series of traumatic war-time incidents in the past, and in the face of approaching old age. The narrator, Trond, has returned, following the death of his second wife, to a remote settlement in Norway where he and his family spent their childhood holidays under German occupation. Not only do old faces re-appear, but he has to try to finally understand the familial and political betrayals of that bitter period of resistance and collaboration, and the breaking of families.
The detail of the daily round of wood-chopping, shopping, cooking, dog-walking and immersion in the life of the forest of an ageing widower is beautifully achieved. There is also the occasional drink with a neighbour, and a nightly reading of Dickens, the novelist whose work shaped the imagination of the young Norwegian who, like David Copperfield, desperately hoped to become the hero of his own life. That question overshadows the whole novel: did he achieve this heroic role?
Tragedy and epiphany recur in equal parts, though the deep forest interiors seem to absorb all of human hope and suffering. In his childhood Trond remembers the milkmaids singing the cows home every evening just as vividly as the presence of the Germans and the secretive night-time manoeuvres of local partisans. However, there was one terrible incident involving the accidental shooting of a child by its twin brother, that provides the fulcrum of the novel, and seems to instigate a pattern of family ruptures that marks the lives of nearly all of the male characters we meet. The narrator, like his father before him, and his best friend, at some point in his life walks out on his family, never to return or even maintain contact. Going missing seems to be the price men under stress have to pay in these taciturn, unforgiving times and places.
There is salvation in this world through physical labour. The scenes of harvesting and tree-felling (and the subsequent rolling of the trees into the river to be manoeuvred downstream to the sawmills) are imbued with a Tolstoyan love and deep nostalgia. If these days are happily foreshortened by the blue hour of dusk "when everything draws closer", so too are the final days and months of the narrator as he slowly untangles the mysteries of childhood; the threads of fragmented family and village relationships are gathered in again, and finally understood.
Don't be put off by the title and its unfortunate echoes of Cormac McCarthy's overly poeticised All the Pretty Horses, nor the jacket photograph of the author in full horse-whispering mode. Inside is the real thing, a novel artfully conveying a profound sense of time passing, the consolations of landscape, and a prose style and folded-in geology that makes every sentence do the work of ten.

Books on my"to read" list

2008-02-23T20:22:00.006-06:00

What are you reading besides Chapter Chat picks?

Ok, as usual, I can't decide between my love of all things "Pirate" or all things "Time Travel"So here are the next two I want to read in my spare time...

1.

From Publishers WeeklyIn this light, engaging time-travel yarn, Levinson (The Silk Code) ponders the problem of saving someone who refuses to be saved, in this case Socrates, the Athenian philosopher condemned to death in a shameful moment for democracy. Inspired by a newly discovered dialogue of Socrates in which he's offered escape by time travel, Sierra Waters, classics grad student in 2042, joins her professor, Thomas O'Leary, in a quest to return to the past. Along the way, Sierra gains a lover, the charismatic Athenian leader, Alcibiades, as well as an enigmatic ally, the fabled inventor Heron of Alexandria. Plans are made, betrayed and relaid, all aiming to bring Socrates away before his execution. But the wily thinker, out to embarrass Athens, will have none of it. The plot threatens to fracture as the characters constantly move backward and forward in time, but by the surprise end,
Levinson (http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-books-novels-and-nonfiction-and.html )succeeds in tying the main narrative together in a way that neatly satisfies the circularity inherent in time travel, whose paradoxes he links to Greek philosophy. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

2.
I think it is a biography!

The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson “Back in America, little was known of my life in Jamaica,” wrote Errol Flynn. In 1946, a storm-wrecked boat carrying Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler shored up on the coast of Jamaica, and the glamorous world of 1940’s Hollywood converged with that of a small West Indian society. After a long and storied career on the silver screen, Errol Flynn spent much of the last years of his life on a small island off of Jamaica, throwing parties and sleeping with increasingly younger teenaged girls. Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter is the story of Ida, a local girl who has an affair with Flynn that produces a daughter, May, who meets her father but once. Spanning two generations of women whose destinies become inextricably linked with the matinee idol’s, this lively novel tells the provocative history of a vanished era, of uncommon kinships, compelling attachments, betrayal and atonement in a paradisal, tropical setting. As adept with Jamaican vernacular as she is at revealing the internal machinations of a fading and bloated matinee idol, Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves a saga of a mother and daughter finding their way in a nation struggling to rise to the challenge of independence.

The House of Mondavi; the rise and fall of an American wine dynasty

2008-02-23T08:21:00.002-06:00

So are you all loving this book? I will be done by Monday I think, if anyone wants it. Don't loose my Post-its! That's what my Chapter Chat name should be....Post-it Girl!!!

Review nickel and Dimed

2008-02-21T10:59:00.004-06:00

January 3, 2008

Nickel and Dimed

by Barbara Ehrenreich

Picked by Nancy Mock

Host: Deb HenryFacilitator:

Deb's house was beatiful as usual, and the treats were wonderful. I think we all agreed that Barbara saw only one side of the Twin Cities. While affordable housing is hard to find, she wasn't here long enough to see many of the other 'programs' that are available to help.

We all decided, living by yourself is a luxury and she should have found a roommate!

Am I missng anything?

Chapter Chat Blog is Born!

2008-02-21T07:59:00.000-06:00

Trust me gals, you will love this. We can post our reading lists, ideas, pictures. One stop for all things Chapter Chat. You will soon be addicted.