Mini Bloggiesta January 16-17

This mini Bloggiesta is just what I need right now.  I really feel like I'm starting all over, so my to-do list is pretty basic:

• Rediscover and add links to my favorite blogs.  I've started this but haven't been able to devote a huge chunk of time to it yet. Every time I remember or come across an old favorite it makes me happy.
• Visit other participants and see what they're up to. And other blogs too. I should probably put a number goal on this but I just can't even figure out what that number would be. 
• Complete at least two mini-challenges
• Write a post with mini-reviews of my favorites reads over the past year or two since I've been absent from blogging
• Update my index pages of reviews
• Tweet.  Something.  I'm finding I like Twitter better than I did a couple of years ago.  Probably because I now have a phone that has internet.
• Relearn some basic html. I seem to have forgotten some things.

That's all I can think of for now, and that list might be too much. But it will be fun, no stress involved!  

The Phantom Tollbooth

Author: Norton Juster
Originally Published: 1961
Length: 256 pages
Source: Nook
Challenge: Back to the Classics 2016

Personal Enjoyment Factor:4.5/5

When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going.  Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd bothered. Nothing really interested him--least of all the things that should have.

Young Milo is letting the wonder of life pass by unobserved and unappreciated.  Youth truly is wasted on the young! But that's all about to change when he arrives home to find a mysterious tollbooth waiting in his bedroom.  Without much hesitation, he takes the bait and embarks on a journey to a land filled with whimsy, wonder, conflict and uncertainty. Milo learns to live in the moment and open his mind to new ideas, all while becoming an unlikely hero determined to bring Rhyme and Reason back to a land embittered by a battle between words and numbers. 

I read this because my daughter told me to and you always read what your daughter tells you to read.  I remember seeing this book in my school library when I was in fourth grade. (I can still vividly picture my elementary school library and many of the books I checked out.  I wonder if that's normal?) I never read it, and I've always assumed it was about a ghost named "Tollbooth." And that Tollbooth was a dog with a clock on him.  I was obviously wrong, but there's really no way to anticipate what this book has in store for its readers. A symphony that composes the colors in the world. A Valley of Sound plagued by silence. A market of words.  I loved the witty puns and the power of words. One of my favorites was the wagon that moves when everyone is silent--it "goes without saying."  And I  loved the banquet where they gave "speeches" listing foods, because they "ate their words." My speech would go like this: 

"Avocados, enchiladas, asparagus, Chex mix, Diet Coke Lime, banana cream pie." 

 I think I'd be sick, but in this case I wouldn't mind eating my words.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2016

My first challenge of the year and the first in a long time!! The Back to the Classics Challenge 2016 is hosted by Karen from Books and Chocolate.  Here are my picks:

1.  A 19th Century Classic - Our Mutual Friend  by Charles Dickens or Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.  Two fat books that I've wanted to tackle for a long time. 

2.  A 20th Century Classic -  A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. I have the cutest little hardcover of this one.  It has been collecting a handful of dust on the bookshelf.

3.  A classic by a woman author. Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot.  One of the last of hers that I haven't read.  Not sure what to expect. 

4.  A classic in translation.   The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek.  This one sounds so intriguing to me.  It's quite long, so I hope it's good.

5.  A classic by a non-white author.  Twelve Years a Slave by Simon Northup.  Just on my radar with the movie out fairly recently.

6.  An adventure classic -  Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.  Just for pure fun, I hope.

7.  A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  I started this before deciding to do the challenge, but luckily started on January 1, so it's in keeping with the rules.

8.  A classic detective novel.  The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler.  This will be the second I've read by Chandler.

9.  A classic which includes the name of a place in the title. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson or The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith.

10. A classic which has been banned or censored. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.  I've tried this one once before and was lost.  A friend from a book club was talking about how much she loved it so I'm inspired to give it another try.  Hopefully the second time is a charm. 

11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college).  Undecided.  First I need to remember that far back. 

12. A volume of classic short stories. Roman Fever and Other Stories by Edith Wharton.  I love Wharton and have heard good things about this collection.

(The formatting is coming out weird on this post and I can't figure out how to fix it.  Clearly I don't know what I'm doing anymore!)

Happy New Year!

It's been over two years since I last posted, so this feels like starting all over again.  Nine years ago I started book blogging with my review of I Capture the Castle.  Back then I did quirky things like make some words really big and I divided my reading  into categories like "Read Aloud" and "Comfy-Chair Reading." I remember the discovery and subsequent addiction to reading challenges, and the novelty and genius of Dewey's first 24-hour-Readathons when there were actually less than 100 participants and you could visit everyone. I remember signing up for my first A to Z Challenge and thinking it would be impossible to read 52 books in a year.  How young and naive I was then!  By the end of the year I had read 126 books, completing the 100+ Challenge.  After that honeymoon phase of binge reading and book blogging--my blog was entitled "ChainReader" back then--I tapered off a bit, but still find my life unfulfilled if I'm not juggling a few books at a time, and I feel like a good benchmark is around 75 books a year.

So here I am at the beginning of 2016, ready to blog again, for pretty much the same reason:  I actually want to remember something about the books I read!  My goal is to review every book I read this year.  I used to do that, but then I didn't.

The last couple of years have been pretty busy.  I went back to school and earned my Bachelor's Degree in History. We moved to a new house.  My husband got a new job.  I sent one daughter off to college in Idaho, and one son off to college in Utah and then on a church mission to Kansas. I served in a stressful but rewarding position at church with the youth.  And I gained about 30 pounds, darn it!

But now I have a little more time to commit to reviewing.  I plan to go back to school in the sort-of-near future to either get a teaching credential or a masters degree.  In the mean time, while I decide what I want to be when I grow up, I figure I have time to read and review. I also have dreams of opening an Etsy shop to sell wooden signs of movie and book quotes and training for a half-marathon.  Oh, and I'm going to lose that 30 pounds, and then some.

I realize I maybe be writing to the air.  The last time I blogged I was still bemoaning the death of Google Reader, and reluctantly signing up with Feedly and Bloglovin. I don't even know if Feedly is still a thing.  I check Bloglovin from time to time, so I know it's there, and I'm on it.  If that even means anything anymore.

So if by chance you're reading this--

Hi!  I'm back.

Moll Flanders

Author: Daniel Defoe
Originally published:1722
Length: 339 pages
Source: Local library
Challenge(s): 18th Century Challenge, 1001+

Personal Enjoyment Factor: 3/5

I found by experience, that to be friendless is the worst condition, next to being in want that a woman can be reduced to: I say a woman, because 'tis evident men can be their own advisers, and their own directors, and know how to work themselves out of difficulties and into business better than women; but if a woman has no friend to communicate her affairs to, and to advise and assist her, 'tis ten to one but she is undone.


I love that there is a built-in summary in the long version of the title:

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums.

For modern readers, this may take all the fun out of reading a novel. Back in the 18th Century I suppose it might have been great advertising.  I found it pretty captivating in the beginning, but had to really force myself to keep turning the pages near the end. Moll is a great character because you can admire her one minute, and then be horrified by her actions the next. She gets herself out of devastating situations that a woman without many options would face at that time.  It's sink or swim, and she not only keeps her head above the water, but she makes it to the finish line in first place. On the other hand, she steals from children, takes advantage of people in the midst of tragedies, and tells a lot of lies.  But overall I admired her determination.  In the 17th century, when her story takes place, she survived by becoming a prostitute and a thief, and, perhaps most importantly, managing her money well.  In today's world, she would surely be near the top of the corporate ladder, breaking glass ceilings, without having to commit any crimes.

I read this as part of o's celebration of 18th Century Literature in June.  I really would have liked to have read more.  If only I had a nickel for every time I've said that.

On the Road

Author: Jack Kerouac
Originally published: 1957
Length: 293 pages
Source: Purchased from used books at library
Challenge/Event: Beats of Summer, 1001+, Classics Club

Personal Enjoyment Factor: 3/5


Here I was at the end of America--no more land--and now there was nowhere to go but back.

"Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?"

We all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one and noble function of the time, move. And we moved!

I'm having an "off" day today--one of those days when I just can't focus on anything. It's like my brain is stuck between radio stations and I feel like my chest is full of bubble wrap that needs to be popped. My to-do list looks like ancient runes.  I could clean, but won't it just be dirty and messy again tomorrow?  I could eat, but according to the Internet, 99% of food will be the death of me or the earth.  I could work out, but I've pretty much accepted that my ripped physique will forever be camouflaged by a jealous layer of adipose. Everything I think of doing just seems so...pointless. And then I realized I am in the perfect state of mind to write down my thoughts about On the Road.

Narrator Sal Valentine (real-life Kerouac) and his main traveling companion Dean Moriarty (real-life Neal Cassady) seem to be plagued by this same lack of focus and feeling of futility. Only for them it's not just an "off" day.  It defines their lives. The remedy?  Drive!  They frantically criss-cross America, searching for some insight into the meaning of life.  They don't really know what they're looking for, and maybe they don't even need a definitive answer, but they know that what they seek can't be found in the conformity of post-World War II America.

Sal seems like a nice-enough guy.  He can appreciate a good slice of apple pie, he's passionate about music, and he has a thing for the way people laugh. The excitement he feels about embarking on his first trip across the country is contagious.  I wanted to join him--at first.  At least as long as there was a reliable source of apple pie and ice-cream. But there are other aspects of the road trip that would have me hitchhiking back home faster than Dean Moriarty can park cars in a New York City parking lot.  One of those things is Dean himself. Dean talks too much, drives too fast, and wears me out.  But for Sal, Dean seems to be the crux of it all.  Dean, the manic drug/sex-addict who abandons him in Mexico with diarrhea and delirium. Does his life hold all the answers? That possibility fills me with an empty feeling and I feel truly "beat."

Other reasons I would get off the trip: drugs and bugs. Heavy drugs and bloody bugs.  No thanks. 

But the driving everywhere bit sounds glorious. I've been on some great road trips and passed through some of the same cities Sal visits.  America is beautiful. It all seems like a romantic, adventurous lifestyle for Sal and his companions.  Until you number the casualties.  Wives left behind on a whim.  Children abandoned.  Not to mention the drug and alcohol abuse of these Beat pioneers and the toll it took on their own lives. I sound so stodgy and mainstream, don't I?  I'm a fan of stability, roots, being a productive member of society.  I want dads to be there for their kids and for wives to be respected by their husbands. I don't think people should steal cars.  It scares me that people saw this as an inspirational guide book. Wouldn't Frommer's be adequate?

I'll admit that I don't have a good sense of what they were rebelling against.  Without living during that time period, can I really fathom what societal pressures led them to break free in such an extreme way?  Were those who were considered different severely marginalized?  Did it take the Beat generation to shun conformist society so completely that in the end we at least ended up with a happy medium between responsibility and non-conformity?  Did they feel as though society didn't do anything for them, so why should the do anything for society?  Or was it a matter of principle--that society is inherently too restrictive for anyone to find meaning and happiness?  What do I take for granted in today's world that is a result of the Beat movement? Lots of questions that I haven't answered yet.  But I will ponder them here at my laptop instead of on the road, at least for now.

Tomorrow will be a better day for me.  Most likely I will wake up disgusted at myself for wasting a perfectly glorious commitment-free day.  I will dust something because I like the smell of the lemon oil.  I will eat an apple even though the ones I bought were sprayed with pesticide.  I will work out because my strong muscles at least help me carry that extra fat around, and because it's fun. Sometimes there is a point to doing things just because you enjoy the process or the journey, without worrying about the outcome.  Oh, wait--was that what Kerouac was trying to tell me?

Finish - 48-Hour Book Challenge

I finished up the book challenge last night at 8:30 just as I finished my second book.  Two books sounds pretty wimpy, but I have to laugh when I think that only in the book-blogging world would anyone be disappointed at reading two books in two days!  I didn't keep close track of my time because I'm not entering for the prizes, but I probably spent about 12 hours reading.  Some of those hours were spent in the car with distractions, so the going was slow.

Not impressive, but very enjoyable!  I loved the two books I read:

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner: I read The Thief about three years ago and even though I loved it, it has taken me this long to read the second book in the Queen's Thief series.  I can only wonder how long it will take me to get to Book Three.  Hopefully not another three years.  If that's the way I'm going to tackle series than I might as well go ahead and read the Game of Thrones series...
I love Gen's character.  He's not quite as magnetic as in the first one, but then he does go through some pretty tough stuff.  I had to read what happens to him in the beginning of the book a few times until it sunk in.   The story was rich and complex, and although you kind of know how it's going to end, it's still surprising and unexpected in some ways.

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman: This one reminded my a little of the movie The Sandlot.  It had the same kind of humor and was just a nudge beyond reality.  I was laughing out loud in many places and reading bits to my family. (They don't really appreciate it when I do this, but I do it anyway.)  Shusterman seems to have held something out there for all ages to grasp and appreciate--the different ways anyone can feel "invisible" or unnoticed.  I will look forward to reading the next in the series (didn't even realize that it was part of one until I read the comments in my start-up post.)  I've also always wanted to read Unwind, maybe I'll get to that sooner now.  I think it must be quite different though.


Thanks to Ms. Yingling for hosting :)  I'm sure everyone had a great time (and read much, much more than I did!)