mrs. parkinson's law - c. northcote parkinson (1968)

mr parkinson in his element delivering snide digs at the institution of modern courtship marriage the home family life and the aftermath. surprisingly sharp and to the mark too, which one expects not to find in a book written when one was a toddler. the only problem is he takes seven chapters to actually get to mrs p's law, and i get there to find it is a variant of the second law of thermodynamics. his own law was better. but as a study in domestic science this book is a delightful rip.

the years of man are three score and ten, but the psalmist forgot to add that a man may be married for fifty of those years, and even married to the same woman.

the expats - chris pavone (2012)

thumping good read, is what i say. sharp competent non-bungling female james bond character in a satisfyingly multi-layered whodunit. no, make that whodunwhat. satisfying to the second last page, and that's only because the last page is simply the concluding paragraph about people merging into the crowd.

the accidental bride - janice harayda (1999)

all i can say is, wit does not guarantee good writing. like a chain of semi-precious stones held together by raffia. 

recommendation: don't.

miss clare (1962) and emily davis (1971) - miss read

miss read is the english version of laura ingalls, only more complex and substantially more satisfying. smashing good reads, that's all i can say.

under the tuscan sun - frances mayes (1996)

she writes with a light lyricism that invites you into her world. i am drawn into her whimsical efforts to restore her old villa in tuscany. i love her kitchen - white, with thick marble countertops, sealed brick floor - so much that i try to find pictures of it on the internet. i get hungry reading her descriptions of the fresh produce and effortless meals. the bourgeoisie in me shows after that, i'm afraid. her recipes read disappointingly. gimme the food, not the labor, i want to say. the travelogue part of the book loses me after the excitement of the hgtv part. 

it's a lovely book for a certain reader. a tad slow after a steady diet of murder stories.

village diary - miss read (1957)

every once in a long while one discovers a new enchanted series that hearkens to a cleaner and gentler style that delivers its punches with sneakily ironic wit. even more charming if the series is set in a village in post-WW2 england, that special time suspended between modern brash britain and miss marple's spidery lace-filled era.

the surprising thing is it doesn't read like a dated magazine article, all italics and delicate innuendo. the child today, used as he is to much praise and encouragement, finds it much more difficult to keep going as his task gets progressively long. ... and the negative attitude, in so many homes, of how-much-money-can-i-get-for-how-little-work? does nothing to help them ... unexpectedly current and forthright, i must say. surely enlightenment comes lately? 

panacea

wanted:

satisfying plot not requiring intellectual engagement wrapped in good writing to while away the evening hours of post-house-unpacking fatigue.


it's proving elusive. largely because good writing and mindless plot seldom get together.
also, the library is closed.

the size of thoughts - nicholson baker

mr baker is delightful. he writes about the most mundane subjects (fingernail clippings! punctuation!) and, with a few deft descriptions, makes you look at them from an utterly unexpected and yet totally familiar angle, and you think, why didn't i think of this first? his humor is sneaky and dry and catches you when you are looking the other way. his metaphors are funky apt. his problem is his propensity for extremely extended sentences which demand of the reader mental assiduousness of contortionist proportions and to which this sentence does not even begin to approximate. what i say is, only st. paul is allowed to write a sentence that becomes a paragraph.

it's a sparkly little book. the question is, can i finish it? or will long distance fatigue set in first?

what the dog saw - m gladwell (2009)

a pleasurable anthology of amazingly diverse proportions that is an enjoyment to read after his distinctly underwhelming outliers. not to mention blink. so yes, i am a fan again, after the fashion of the tipping point. 

the only problem is that the writings in this book mostly predate his two latter books. for someone whose mind creeps so effortlessly into so many fields, i totally hope he comes up with another like this - a big picture discourse to delight the hearts of generalists and put to shame the armchair philosophers of the age.

the friday night knitting club - kate jacobs (2007)

quite simply a celebration of women's friendships and second chances, and the most enjoyable book i've read this year to date. also, i almost want to start knitting again.

they should make an official chick lit subgenre of these women's friendship books that come in trade sized paperbacks with subdued non-fuchsia jacket designs. good writing helps too, but that's harder to come by.

letters from prison (1953, 1970) - bonhoeffer

stifter once said 'pain is a holy angel, who shows treasures to men which otherwise remain forever hidden ...' ... we shall not and need not talk it away. but it needs to be overcome every time, and thus there is an even holier angel than the one of pain, that is the one of joy in God. 
(letters, 21 nov 1943)

once in a while you read about failure futility and dashed hopes and are somehow inspired to live responsibly, fully and freely in a world that is broken.

shame

before thee we are sinners.
afraid of suffering and poor in deeds, we have betrayed thee before men.
we saw the lie raise its head, and we did not honor the truth.
we saw brethren in direst need, and feared only our own death.
we come before thee as men...

and that which burned in our hearts, remained silent and unnamed;
we quenched our fiery blood and stamped out the inner flame.
- night voices in tegel, bonhoeffer (1944)


stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted... wounded... bruised...
- isaiah 53:4-5

the last knight - cantor (2004)

considering the title and the stuff at the back of the book, i think cantor is remiss not to introduce him right at the start and i have to figure out gradually who John of Gaunt is. in any case, two words: (fairly) educational. (relatively) organized. he does have his idea about what he wants to say, which appears to be some version of plus ça change etc.

but i have to say this. this guy is not a writer in the sense daniel yergin is, or thomas friedman, or even in the sense that my university friends are, and cantor is a history professor. his is a loosely cobbled together undemandingly informal style that lacks drama and pulse. history for the masses deserves more.

verdict: my run of misses continues.

unfortunate books

girls in white dresses - jennifer close

when you get one third of the way through a book and still have no idea what the premise is, it's time to be done with it. a pity, because i do like female bonding stories, and this book has a really pretty cover.

good enough mother - rene syler/karen moline

mostly a self congratulatory ode to her successfully brought up kids who you quickly discover aren't even teens yet. plus i dislike humor that tries just too much.

it's getting hard to find an angst-free entertaining read these days.

is this familiar?

he had been instructed only in that innocent and ineffectual way by which the Catholic priests teach the aborigines, by which the pupil is never educated to the degree of consciousness, but only to the degree of trust  and reverence, and a child is not made a man, but kept a child.   

- walden, visitors, thoreau

authoritarianism in a nutshell.

intercourse*

communication

conversation

confession

the one utilitarian, the other communal, and the last sacramental. a wise person would distinguish between them.

*letters & papers from prison, dietrich bonhoeffer.

walden - thoreau

high-minded scrupulous ascetic minutely educated snidely humorous unexpectedly readable and really quite sharp, thoreau is at once compellingly lyrical and ploddingly verbose. 

it's amazing how you can imagine glimmerings of almost every recently fashionable organic mother-earth back-to-basics anti-big-business grow-your-own-vegetables trend in his book. perhaps that is why he comes across as being just the tiniest bit self righteous.

i'm not sure i can finish the book. there is only so much activism a modern girl who needs all her creature comforts can handle.

letters from prison (1953, 1970)

reading the correspondance between bonhoeffer and his parents i learn several things. i learn that one doesn't graduate from parenthood, as long as life is not done. i learn that it is no small gift to be able to participate in shaping my children's worldview, and a wise mother will not quickly resign such a gift. i learn that the heritage i impart can play a redeeming role in their lives, by the grace of God.

also, i learn that the path we travel may meander through almost unimaginable anguish, and that this is both a cross and a gateway to joy.

families & other non-returnable gifts - lazebnik (2011)

finally, chick lit where the heroine is more than primarily a pretty pair of boobs. why, she's actually smart; in fact i suspect she is capable of being downright intellectual too, without her brains in any way detracting from pure lightweight entertainment.

any one who grew up on a diet of mills & boons/barbara cartland romances will understand that it is a tremendous relief to meet a non-bimbo-wannabe some time.

also, that part when she wakes up with a slowly spreading horrible sinking feeling after sleeping with the wrong guy is a pretty accurate description of how i feel when i wake up from a really bad dream.

galatians 4:19

i want some good books to read, J1 says, so i bring him carlin's invictus and bonhoeffer's discipleship. the one to open to him grand quixotic possibilities, and the other to show him the unspeakable joy from the shame of the cross. 

i want to pass on just two things to J1 and J2 i think: a deep reverence for an almighty God, and a love for reading.