A lesson on keeping it real.

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A reader's dilemma

There is a fine balance to keeping a number of books on hand to read so one does not run out of reading material. As a reader that relies heavily on the library, this can have complications for me. I prefer to have three or four books in waiting, and this has not been a problem while being a member of two book clubs. I tend to be on several waiting lists for the more popular books at the library, and this is where things can get interesting. For instance, with three books due for book club in the next month and a half I've been taking it easy with "other books" by reading some shorter mystery books. Then all of a sudden, I had several long awaited books arrive for pick-up at my local library. Here's how what I've managed in the past month.

The Diva Runs out of Thyme by Krista Davis

While waiting for my book club books to arrive (Orwell!), I picked up a few mystery books to hold me over. The Domestic Diva mystery series caught my eye, and I've read the first three so far. I'm not a great mystery solver, so my strategy is to read through these quickly to figure out "whodunit" instead of trying to figure it out myself.

The main character, Sophie, ends up solving crimes in old town Alexandria, VA, while running her successful party planning business. Natasha is another party planner in the book that seems to be a younger Martha Stewart. The start of each chapter has a Dear Sophie or Dear Natasha question and response for party planning help. It is hilarious to read their respective responses, and try to figure out how that topic will work its way into the chapter. Note of caution - don't read these on an empty stomach - the descriptive food details will make you hungry.

The Pillsburys of Minnesota by Lori Sturdevant from the Minneapolis Star Tribune

I found out about this book via an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It showed up at the library the same day as my assigned reading, 1984 and Animal Farm. Since the Pillsbury book had a three week limit with no options for renewal, I tackled it first. For a historical book, I was surprised at how much of a page-turner this was for me. This family has had a positive, and widespread impact on the state of Minnesota, starting in the 1850s.

The foreword contains a summary of family values that sticks with me: don't hold grudges, if you do, you become the problem; the arts are important, they communicate in a universal language; integrity is the most important attribute in making choices; joy comes from helping others, character comes from when you don't get credit for it.

If you are familiar with the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, you will recognize many of the names, businesses and locations that were associated with this family. Here are a few: Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Blake School, General Mills, Pillsbury flour, Cargill, Dunwoody, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gale Woods Farm, James J. Hill, Lowry, Loring, the Minneapolis Park Board, Lakewood Cemetery, Orchestra Hall, Peavey, Washburn, Nicollet Island, University of Minnesota and the list goes on...

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

This may be my favorite book of the year. Like the Pillsburys, I read a review about this in the Star Tribune and added it to my library queue. Before being able to start Orwell, this showed up at the library. It too has a three week due date so I had to get cracking. This is the type of book that keeps me up past midnight on a work night. I flew through the 600 page book in two days (with the consequence of a much neglected to-do list). As I reached page 400, I could tell the story would not finish with this book. Sure enough, it is book one of a trilogy, with the other two yet to be published. This made me sad that I will have to wait until 2012 for the next installment, but happy that the story will continue.

It starts with Dr. Diane Bishop, conducting research in the Bodleian library at Oxford. Diane is a witch, from a prestigious line of witches on both her mother and father's sides of the family. She tries to suppress her powers, in order to get credit for her work as a normal human. Diane specializes in 17th century alchemy, and how this lead to modern day science. The book goes on to involve the other "creatures" of vampires and daemons. These creatures may be facing extinction, and an unlikely team gathers to look into this and risks their lives to break thousand year old traditions in their quest. I can't wait for 2012 to see what happens next.

September 24 - 25 is the National Book Festival

Check out more at: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

Now, on to Orwell!

Book club at sea

I just found out the Princess cruise ship line includes a book club discussion as one of it's on board activities. Check out the rotation here: http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/activities/book_club/bookclub.html

last month...

Since returning from our foray into the romantic Pacific Northwest last month, I've felt compelled to finish books that have been lying around my house, waiting to be read. Something about the looming Minnesota winter demands that I take some constructive action against clutter in my home so I don't feel burdened by its weight. Rather than complete reviews, I'll sum...

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave. This is a book about a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee girl written by a middle-aged British white guy. In the same way that I felt troubled by the way Kathryn Stocket wrote The Help (first person), this book seemed awkward. Alternating chapters told a terribly heartbreaking story from the perspective of this Nigerian girl and a thirty-something woman, neither of whom seemed particularly well-written. It was, however, a very compelling story that gave an interesting perspective of illegal immigration that is totally different than what we in the United States encounter.
• Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. (This is the same author, fellow promiscuous reader, Lindsay, will recognize, who wrote The Passion of Artemisia.) This book is eight vignettes telling the story of a painting by Johannes Vermeer. (Vermeer, one might recall, is the similarly glorified painter of Girl With a Pearl Earring, book written by Tracy Chevalier, who writes beautifully.) I read this over Labor Day weekend on the North Shore and it was a pleasant book to keep coming back to. Gently written, concerned with the way light creeps along the edges of days.
• Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees: Honey Production, Pollination, Health by Richard E Bonney and Malcolm T Sanford. Because one must keep one's options open.
• Animal Farm by George Orwell. I'll get to this when I finish 1984.
• King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. This was assigned in one of Dr Poole's history classes at Scholastica that I, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to take. It explores the Belgian king's complete takeover of the Congo River Basin and the gross human rights violations that ensued as he viciously destroyed the indigenous communities for ivory and then rubber during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is gruesome and terrible but readable and informative. An estimated ten million Congolese people died during this period. Look it up.

So! On to other things...

No Shortage of Reading Material in DC

On a recent trip to our nation's capitol, there was no shortage of reading material to be found. It ranged from short instructions on how to ride the Metro to the book shops at the Smithsonian museums to the Gettysburg Address carved in the Lincoln Memorial. The hardest part was tearing myself away from the reading material to actually step back and see the sights themselves.

My number one place to visit was the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. As a biology geek, this was a natural place to want to visit, right? In addition to the animals, fossils and architecture, what I really wanted to see was the Hope Diamond. Before this trip was even planned, I read an entire book solely on the Hope Diamond - The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem. It is by Richard Kurin, who is the Under Secretary for History, Art and Cultural Heritage with the Smithsonian. He traces the path of the mythological blue diamond from its probable discovery in India to the collection of Louis XIV as a 67 carat cut gem, to its theft and reappearance in England. Through several more changes of hand, the now walnut sized, 45 carat gem ended up being "donated" by Harry Winston to the Smithsonian in 1958. My pictures from the gallery do not do this gem any justice, so you'll have to check it out for yourself. I also highly recommend the book, so you can see why a gem of this size and color that would be worth an estimated $20 million on its own, is actually valued at more than $200 million because of its storied history. The one picture I will share is of the Star Wars recipe book - Wookie Cookies - which we found in the basement bookstore of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum:

Since this is a blog about books, I will skip past my other touristy stories and pictures of all of the grand, white marble structures and get right to the Library of Congress. At the end of our trip, I decided to make one last stop to see this set of buildings on Capitol Hill. The pictures I share here are in the Jefferson Building - the Great Hall and the Main Reading Room. The intricate detail throughout the building was breathtaking and the sheer number of books housed within this system was mind boggling. There are 838 miles of shelves in the three buildings on Capitol Hill, holding more than 33 million books and printed materials. My little reading heart was happy to have visited this collection.

The Great Hall - Library of Congress - Jefferson Building

The Reading Room - Library of Congress - Jefferson Building