There's always something broken that needs to be fixed

I actually finished reading my latest book yesterday, but instead of posting about it, I braved the 24 degrees to go to the library and get MORE books (and what an exciting collection I got, Faithful Reader!). I then spent all evening cozied up to the fire watching "Ninja Warrior" and "Cops." Forgive me?


10. The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri

This was a nice little slice-of-life story about Kate Robinson, a Seattle trying-to-be fashion designer who goes on an extended vacation after her mother dies from cancer and her long-time boyfriend dumps her at their friends' wedding. She heads for Ireland to see some of the places where her ancestors lived. The story begins with her walking in the rain near the west coast of Ireland. She's done the obligatory tour of Dublin and had gotten on a bus for the west coast, but said bus broke down, and after waiting four hours and still no one had shown up to look at it let alone fix it, she decides to hoof it. After a few days, she's picked up by William the Traveller, a sweet old man who travels the countryside in his wagon "fixing whatever is broken." Well, he does a good job with Kate by dropping her near Glenmara, a dying fishing village. There, she's taken in by Bernie, a sweet middle-aged woman still mourning the loss of her beloved husband. Bernie senses Kate has troubles and is pretty much unanchored, so she sets about subtly "conniving" ways to get Kate to settle in Glenmara. First, she introduces her to the members of her lace making society, and we get introduced to all their hurts and triumphs. The ladies begin to tutor Kate in making lace, first via crochet, then via the pillow with pins and bobbins. After seeing Bernie hanging out her "granny panties" to dry and hearing ladies don't have a lot of choices in intimate wear in the area, Kate's inner designer comes alive and devises a way to dress up the ladies' boring underwear with the lace in intricate designs specific to each woman. The society begins to scheme a business for this idea, and they decide on an email blast to their friends and family to get it started.

I found this book to be a quick read (I read all but about 40 pages in less than half a day), and I found all the ladies endearing -- except Aileen, who is not meant to be endearing, but I did find sympathy for her in the end, understanding why she's so crabby. I had a problem with Kate's romance with Sullivan Deane, not that she had one per se, but more the way it was written. I adored Denny and Niall (especially Denny, da to one of the lace makers), two old men who sit on a bench outside one of the pubs in the evenings, drinking Guiness and gossiping. This book was just a nice treat -- not something you had to think deeply about, but full of characters who elicit an emotional response from laughter to tears to anger to happiness. Not everything/one broken gets fixed by the end, but at least the mending's started.

Be careful what you ask for -- it might be what you get

9. Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit (An Arthurian Novel) by Mercedes Lackey


Though a complete work of fantasy concerning the protagonist's life, Lackey drew on an old Welsh poem that says King Arthur was in fact married to three different Guineveres in his time as High King. This story follows Gwen as she longs to become a warrior in her father's army rather than a Lady with the Blessing/Gift/Power as her mother (herself a powerful Lady) wishes. After one of her father's most trusted (female) warriors notices her gift with horses, Gwen gets all she ever hoped for -- training to be a warrior, and freedom to marry only if she wishes to. But through it all, the connivances of Gwen's little sister Gwenhwyfach (Little Gwen), Morgana, and Arthur's bastard son Medraut threathen everything in Arthur's kingdom, even Gwen's happiness as a warrior. Soon she finds herself on her way to Celliwig as Arthur's betrothed third Gwenhwyfar, and the intrigues thicken.

I was surprised to find myself really enjoying this book. When I read the synopsis, it seemed interesting, but I mainly decided to read it because I like Mercedes Lackey and I like the Arthurian legends. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that it was well written, but I am surprised I enjoyed the tale. If you like fantasy and you're not opposed to an old favorite getting a "reboot," give this a try.

Music, music, music

I've been watching videos on YouTube for over an hour (thanks to an unprecedented good satellite Internet connection), mostly by Celtic Woman and Andrea Bocelli. Being the chick I am, I thought I'd share.

First, Signore Bocelli. This is the first song I ever heard him sing, and I've been a little in love with him ever since. Over the years, as well as his amazing solo career, he's had many notable partnerships, from Luciano Pavarotti and Sarah Brightman ("Con Te Partiro") to Celine Dion ("The Prayer") and Christina Aguilera ("Somos Novios"). However, this will always be my favorite. Even Elizabeth Taylor gets a look of pure joy listening to him sing. I always get goosebumps.





And then there's Celtic Woman. This is my absolute favorite song by them, and I always tear up. The second singer with long blonde hair and blue top (Chloe Agnew) was only about 15 at this performance.





And because I can't resist, my mom's favorite song since she got to see these ladies last November. It's even her ring tone.

Who dat (II)?

::D does her happy dance::

Who dat?

Who dat?

Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints???


Quit while you're ahead, Mr. Manning.

Fall in love whenever you can

8. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman


You've seen the movie, but the book is much different than the movie. Of course. "Magic" is not as obvious in the book (Sally doesn't stir her coffee by twirling her finger, nor does she blow candles a-light), but there are hints and a couple of overt instances. The law man from Arizona doesn't play as big of a part (sadly), and getting rid of Jimmy once and for all is kind of anti-climatic. It took me a couple dozen pages or so to get used to how different this was than the movie, but I did, and I enjoyed it.

Jesus Saves

7. 8th Confession (Women's Murder Club series #8) by James Patterson with Maxine Paetro


Another fast-paced novel featuring Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Yuki taking down bad guys and girls to the best of their abilities. Yuki is trying a young beauty queen for murdering her father and attempting to murder her mother. Cindy discovers the brutal murder of homeless saint Bagman Jesus, then she drags Lindsay in with her. However, Lindsay and Claire are up to their eyeballs with three socialite murders with no evidence and no apparent cause of death. All this intertwines with their romantic personal lives (well, everyone but "old"-married-woman-with-new-baby Claire).

Oh, and did I mention the mobile meth-lab-in-a-school-bus that blows up in an intersection, killing ten people including the bus driver/meth cooker?

These books are great fast reads.

All that mattered was that he couldn't see the baby

6. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder


I adored this book! It is one man's story about living through and escaping the Tutsi-Hutu genocide in Burundi and Rwanda in 1994. The first section chronicles the life of Deogratias (Latin for "thanks be to God") from his boyhood herding cattle in Burundi to his relocation to the US as a third year medical student. This section is not chronological, but it is not confusing thanks to the places and years located subsequent to chapter numbers. Hardest to read is the chapter detailing Deo's six months of running, desperately staying away from both Tutsi armies and Hutu militia. The second part is told by the book's author in first person as he first meets Deo and slowly learns his story then follows Deo back to Rwanda and Burundi as he struggles to build a clinic for the poor of his countrymen. One wonderful observation Deo makes about the genocide to Kidder is this:

He liked to frame his solution jocularly: "I do believe in God. I do believe in God. I think God has given so much power to people, and intelligence, and said, 'Well, you are on your own. Maybe I'm tired, I need a nap. You are mature. Why don't you look after yourselves?'" Deo would pause, then say, "And I think He's been sleeping too much."

I really can't say enough how much I liked this book.

In other news

This article in which the bones of a 10th century English princess may have been found in a Magdeburg (Germany) cathedral. Especially interesting -- "Should the skeleton be positively identified as belonging to Eadgyth, it would be oldest remains of any English royal discovered so far."

Who Dat?

Excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article about the upcoming championship games and Super Bowl. Thanks, Tracie!


May I root against the New Orleans Saints?

No, you may not. Rooting against the Saints is like rooting against Elin Nordegren. They're the Sentimental Team of the Century; if Dick Enberg were calling the NFC championship game, he'd need a trailer truck of Kleenex. Even if you forget everything that New Orleans endured during Hurricane Katrina—and how could you?—they're the Saints, the former Aints, one of the most hard-luck franchises in the history of hard luck. Not long ago, newborns came into the world in New Orleans hospitals with tiny grocery bags on their heads.

If the Saints win this weekend, we expect the Louisiana Superdome to levitate off the ground, stop at Parkway Bakery & Tavern for a roast beef po'boy and fly straight to Miami for the Super Bowl.


My correction: I believe they would prefer to get their roast beef po-boys from Mother's or maybe Zimmer's.

Maybe it all collects in your hair

5. The Appointment by Herta Muller


This was an odd one, and very confusing. Definitely NOT a casual read.

Aaaaaaah, libraries!

Went to ye local library today to get my own card and check out some books. Yes, yes, I have plenty of my own books to read -- I'm just not in a mood right now to dig them out of the boxes, plus it was an excuse to get out of the house.

So, I rolled up to the circulation desk and asked the woman, "My ID does not have my current address on it. Is a bank statement acceptable?" She started laughing and remarked, "I LOVE it when people come prepared!" We gave her back two ILLs I'd gotten on my mom's card and asked for the fourth (I'm still reading the third). I had a list I'd made of nine books I wanted to get.

I got ONE off the list.

To be fair, one other one on my list was checked out earlier today by someone else. I didn't even bother looking for the rest because I got distracted. The other two I got off the displays, and there are three others on the displays that I want to get next time.

All fiction this time. Of course you'll be getting reports.

It was just a story about despair

4. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

It may even be appropriate to say it is also a story about passions, about needs, about desires -- the emotional as much as the physical. No, the emotional MORE than the physical. This novel spins a tale not unknown, a simply written tale of love desired, love lost, love never truly had, love found in unlikely places. The dialogue is spare, both in quantity and in sentence length, because this is a tale of inner motivations, and we rarely say what we truly mean. The prose is sometimes truncated and to the point, sometimes long and convoluted and bordering on rambling. It's often difficult to bear witness to the heartache, and the heartache at times seems never-ending. Even up to the last page, you wonder if any good comes out of it.

I found this to be a rich and splendid piece.

I came with nothing, I leave with nothing

3. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin


A collection of short stories examining class in Pakistan, this is not an easy book to read. None of the stories end happily, but it is at its core (to me) a warning to carefully consider the goals you think you want because in short order you may see that they aren't what you really wanted after all. This disparity holds true if you are an old beggar man who manipulates a servant job at the big house or the rich landowner around whose family every story orbits. I'll be thinking about this one for a long while.

Time is a river . . . and books are boats

2. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown


I had read one reviewer's comment that she did not at all enjoy this book, but I will disagree. As with his two previous blockbuster books, Brown carefully weaves his fiction around that which is well known or at least easily Googled. This story revolves around the Freemasons; symbolism in Washington, DC, monuments and art; Noetic science; and, of course, symbology. While one major plot point is not too difficult to figure out (I literally knew the secret from its introduction), it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the overall tale. In fact, for me it added to the study of human complexity and the things we think should bear resemblance to each other but in the end are light and dark.

Give it a read. Tell me what you think.

2010 Book List

1. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Veiled Detective by David Stuart Davies

SPOILER ALERT -- DO NOT GO FURTHER IF YOU EVER INTEND TO TRY THESE BOOKS



An interesting AU-take on the circumstances surrounding the meeting of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson, but I feel that the author took his "new view" a bit too far. I was intrigued at first, but as certain machinations of the author came to light, I felt like he was messing with things just because he could. If Davies had left out a couple of small details, I would've liked the book much more. I mean, Mycroft can be shady, but in cahoots with Professor Moriarty? And Mrs. Hudson on the payroll of the latter? Puh-leez! Word to the wise -- you don't have to alter EVERY character in an AU to this degree, especially when it comes to personalities.

Good thoughts, please

With the final transcript being logged this morning and my third letter of reference being uploaded moments ago, my Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship application is officially complete. Wish me luck in getting it this time. It's for a stipend of $21,000 for living expenses so I can actually be in NO to complete my final year.

Also, if you have an extra thought/prayer to spare, would you ask that the National Science Foundation have pity on me and resubmit my grant application to the "appropriate program"? We received an email on Christmas Eve morning that my grant proposal had been thrown out because it wasn't appropriate for the Division of Environmental Biology program.

My whole dissertation is about how environmental stressors alter the development and reproduction (both biological processes) of fish. What?

Looking ahead

A lot of people use this time of year to reflect on the year that has passed and try to divine what will come in the year ahead. Unless something truly crappy or truly outstanding happened, I rarely remember too much of what happened the previous year. The minutiae get all balled up until I cannot tease them loose from each other. I do not make up lists of praises and lists of rants and post them on tha Interwebz because they have meaning only to me, and I don't want to get into some heated discussion with someone who takes offense to this like or that dislike. I don't make huge, life-changing resolutions because something always happens to prevent their completion.

Every new year, what I promise to do are "little" things. I hold my head up and smile at strangers as we pass on the sidewalk or in the grocery store, even if they look at me like I sprouted a third eyeball in the middle of my forehead. I say thank you when someone helps me with something, even if s/he does it for me every day and knows I appreciate it, because very few people show gratitude for the little things. I try to do the best research I can. I explore my personal spirituality and endeavor to remain patient with those of a more rigid mindset. I make attempts at creativity in a variety of forms such as writing fiction, making soap, making mosaics, or cross-stitching. Soon I'm going to attempt to make my own portable medicine wheel. I try to read widely. I try to read something or someone previously unknown to me. I try to read as often as I can. Following the example of a friend, I will endeavor to keep a list of everything I read in 2010 -- both books for fun and research materials (the latter for my own edification) -- and I will attempt to write mini-reviews of the books in the interest of those who might want to also read something I've read.

So, in that vein, I am off to drink some tea (green tea with jasmine and passionfruit) in an attempt to soothe my sore throat, then I shall return to the further adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

I hope your year is everything you want it to be.

Thank you for being my friend and helping me grow.