Whimpulsive

Touring my TBR Spreadsheet and Shelves – Random Treasures

2013-05-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Again this month I'm sharing some of the random treasures on my bookshelves.

The Hubster's grandmother graduated from the University of Oregon in 1925 and we have the yearbooks from the five years she was there (1920-1925).

(as always click on the photos to see a larger version and then return to this post with your browser's back button)

University of Oregon Yearbooks for 1920 through 1925

I't's just fun to leaf through these and see the photos of life on campus in those years.

This is The Hubster's Grandmother in her Senior Portrait in 1925.

In 1920 the Oregon Football team made it to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and played Harvard. They lost but were still proud of the way they played.

I think it's interesting that it's referred to as "The Harvard Game" instead of "The Rose Bowl" in the yearbook.

I love looking through these and it's interesting to see how many women were attending the University of Oregon in the early 19820's.

What lost random treasures are on your bookshelves?

The Sherlock Holmes Reading Challenge

2013-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Sherlock Holmes Reading Challenge

I'm breaking my only one challenge rule for this one but I have a very good reason. I planned to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes sometime soon anyway and this challenge gives me a reason to not put that off.

Mari over at Mari Reads is hosting a Sherlock Holmes Reading Challenge and I am so in. This is partially related to the TV series which I have not watched (but I want to at some point) but also about reading the Sherlock Holmes books.

Mari has set this up with varying levels of participation so that it works for folks who have read some of the Sherlock Holmes books and stories and also for those who haven't read any.

The Hubster and I have both read the first two books in the series and I have The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but have just not read it yet.

Here's the info about this challenge:

For those of you going through Sherlock withdrawal like me, I have a reading challenge for you. I thought it would be fun, while we wait for Season 3, to go back to the originals and read Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock. Here is the list of all the Holmes books, minus a few short stories that I thought might be hard to get a hold of. You can find most of these as free eBooks.

A Study in Scarlet (1887)

The Sign of Four (1890)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)

The Valley of Fear (1915)

His Last Bow (1917)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

To make this easy and give lots of options for participation you can choose your level of expertise in deduction from the options below.

Inspector
Read all 9 listed above.

Lieutenant
Read 6 of your choosing.

Detective
Read 3 of your choosing.

Officer
Read 1 of your choosing.

The Challenge will run from June 1-Dec 31st.

All who participate will be entered for a giveaway, one entry for each book read and reviewed. The more you read, the more chances you get to win a copy of Sherlock, Season 1 or 2 on DVD.

I'm not going to go overboard on this one and I'm only committing to reading one book but I'm looking forward to reading more Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed the first two and I'm glad to have this challenge as a reason to stop putting off reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Have you read any of the books? If not, this is a good time to give one or more a try. If you have, it's a good reason to read the next one.

Oh come on – click on over to the announcement post at Mari Reads and join the fun.

Wordless Wednesday #188

2013-05-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Trillium in the woods near my house

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Weekend Update May 19, 2013

2013-05-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I’m away from home this weekend so I actually wrote this on Thursday. A real update will have to wait until next week.

Since my last update:

I did finish Fever by Mary Beth Keane. It was good and had a lot of potential but parts of it particularly in the second half fell a little flat for me.

I started Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I’m a little wary of this one because I wasn’t much of a fan of a couple of Atkinson’s early books. I’ve heard such good things about this one though, that I decided to give it a try.

I also finished reading On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This means that By the Shores of Silver Lake will be my new treadmill book and I hope to catch up with the Little House Readalong schedule soon.

On audio I have been thoroughly enjoying He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters. This has a chance of being my favorite book in the Amelia Peabody series so far. After finding Ramses a bit annoying in the earlier books when he was a little child, I’m developing a bit of a literary crush on him now that he’s an adult. I’m not going to finish this until sometime next week but when I do I’m looking forward to chatting with Beth Fish Reads about it since she just finished listening to it recently.

I also started a new graphic novel. I’m reading the fourth book in the Fables series by Bill Willingham. The March of the Wooden Soldiers starts out with a good background piece about some ot the history of the characters in the series and then moves on into an interesting storyline that has me quite curious. Could Red Riding Hood be a spy for the Adversary?

Seriously – If you haven’t started reading the Fables series you really should.

Other than books and reading:
I’m out of town this weekend and have been busy getting ready for that so I’ll just share this video of Abby’s latest obsession. We have a tiny eyelet screw in the top of the door frame that we string a shoelace through. She’ll do this until she can’t jump anymore. She’s developing some excellent jumping skills though.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

2013-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Series: #4 in the Little House series
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: originally 1937, this edition 1971
Pages: 339
Source: library

The Short Version:
The Ingalls family moves to western Minnesota where their troubles include grasshoppers, cows through the roof and prairie fire (again).

Why I Read It:
I’m having both fun and a bit of modern perspective cringing as I revisit this series thanks to Lisa at Books. Lists. Life who organized the Little House Readalong.

The Book:
When we last left the Ingalls family they had packed up and left the Indian territory after Pa’s expectations that it would be retroactively opened up for homesteading fell through.

This book opens with them arriving in Western Minnesota where they make a trade for a dugout style home in a creek bank and some promising land.

Of course, this is the Ingalls family so things don’t quite go as expected. A cow through the roof, grasshoppers, leeches, fires, etc. Plus there’s Nellie Oleson.

My Thoughts:
I am not going to worry about spoilers with this series.

As I started with the last book in the series I’m just going to post a few random thoughts that ran through my head as I read this

This one had fewer cringe inducing references to Indians as in Little House on the Prairie or bullying and violence as in Farmer Boy so that was a good thing.

On the other hand Nellie Oleson arrived on the scene so the Mean Girls thing is on.

There was another prairie fire. Also lots of spinning whirling fire stuff going on. Was Laura a closet pyromaniac?

It’s a good thing for the Ingalls family that easily obtained credit cards were not available at the time.

Yeah – leave for town with a storm on the way and let your parting comment to your kids be a story about children who froze to death in a blizzard. Tell me again why Pa is viewed as a paragon of parenting? Sheesh.

Sarcasm aside, it is enjoyable to experience this series again. Even though I’m reading them from a completely different time, place in my life and general perspective I’m remembering how much I loved these books. The things I loved are still there. Laura was basically a good and happy kid and her family loved each other through thick and thin. They had a hard life and my childhood was so amazingly different. I still love these books but it’s definitely different reading them as an adult.

Rating 4.5/5

The Little House Read-a-long

Click on the photo for a link to the details

Wordless Wednesday #187

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Fever by May Beth Keane

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Fever by May Beth Keane

Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 306
Source: e-galley provided by publisher through NetGalley

The Short Version:
Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary is the subject of this fictional biography.

Why I Read It:
The setting of early 1900’s New York City is one of my favorites and I was curious after hearing some positive reviews of this one.

The Book:
Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who used her skills as a cook to earn her living. What she didn’t know was that she was also a healthy carrier of Typhoid Fever. She was the first person to be identified as an asymptomatic carrier of a disease like this. When she was arrested and detained by the New York Department of Health she fought and refused to believe that she could have been the cause of the deaths that occurred in the households where she had worked.

She was put under quarantine and held for years against her will. When she was released she agreed that she would not work as a cook. She later broke that promise and despite her refusal to believe that she could be the cause of the spread of disease, her carrier status continued to cause trouble.

My Thoughts:
The story of Mary Mallon is an interesting one. The idea of an asymptomatic carrier of disease was unheard of at the time of her quarantine. She was a smart woman but she simply could not believe that the deaths that happened in the households where she worked could be anything more than chance.

Even though this is fiction, the author thoroughly researched her topic. Mary’s quarantine on Brother Island in a small cottage on the grounds of a Tuberculosis hospital is told in a way that gives the reader a good sense of the fear, anger and isolation that Mary endured while there.

Her personal live and relationships before, during and after her first quarantine add balance to Mary’s story. What didn’t work so well for me was the extensive exploration of the story of Mary’s lover their relationship over the years. I understand why it was done this way in the book but for me it slowed the story down and I had to push myself a bit to continue with the second half of the book.

It’s an interesting fictional biography but it was a bit unevenly paced and while I’m glad I read it I don’t think it’s one I can heartily recommend.

Rating 3/5

Weekend Update May 12, 2013

2013-05-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Since my last update:

So last week I finished everything. This week I finished nothing. It was one of those weeks.

I’m nearly done with Fever by Mary Beth Keane. It’s about Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary. It’s been an interesting read and I hope to finish it up today.

The weather was nice this week so I haven’t been on the treadmill much. That means I haven’t read any more of
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I am now officially behind schedule with the Little House Readalong. Not only do I need to finish Plum Creek, I also need to read By the Shores of Silver Lake.

One thing about the nice weather is that I've been getting a lot of walks outside which means plenty of audiobook time. I’m a little over halfway through He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters. I’m having a great time being back with Amelia Peabody and her family. Amelia and her family are archaeologists in Egypt and the series begins in the late 1800’s. This book takes place during World War I. There are a lot of ongoing storylines that are reaching important points in this one and I’m enjoying it a lot.

I haven’t started a new graphic novel yet but I've got the fourth book in the Fables series waiting for me as soon as I finish Fever.

Other than books and reading:

As I mentioned, we've been having a dose of summer weather this week. I stopped by the library after work earlier this week and the fountain in the nearby park was a very busy place..

The sun was at just the right angle for rainbows in the fountain from the west side.

The farmer just on right next to our neighborhood has planted crimson clover this year. His field is just gorgeous right now with all the red.

We took my brother out for a belated birthday dinner this week at La Bistro Montage on the east side of the river in Portland. The food was amazing and the beer was cheap.

They’re known for their creative wrapping of leftovers to take home. We saw a cat, a giraffe, a cobra and I got a snail.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step by Brian K. Vaughan

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step by Brian K. Vaughan

Genre: Science Fiction (Graphic Novel)
Series: #3 in the Y: The Last Man series
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Publication Date: 2003
Pages: 168
Source: Library

The Short Version:
The only surviving male after a sudden plague is on the run with a bodyguard and a scientist who is trying to find out what happened and why he is still alive before some crazies kill him.

Why I Read It:
I enjoyed the first two volumes and at this point I need to keep going to find out what happens next.

The Book:
This volume 3 is a compilation of issues 11-17 of the comic series.

From the Publisher:

Yorick Brown, the only human male to survive a global sex-specific plague, may not be unique for much longer. As he makes his way across the remains of America (together with a secret government agent, a cloning specialist, and the only other male mammal to survive, Ampersand the monkey), the last man on Earth is about to have an unexpected visitation from above. Three astronauts are descending from the exhausted International Space Station, and two of them are men.

My Thoughts:
With Yorick still under the protection of the mysterious Agent 355 and on the way to California to get to Dr. Mann's lab and data, the story continues to become more complex.

Will the space station astronauts survive? In an amazing coincidence our intrepid travelers just happen to be near a secret government decontamination facility close to where the capsule will land. Converging on that same location are the Israeli soldiers who have been tracking Yorick.

When several of the storylines converge there is the expected clash of both weapons and wit. Some this works well and some of seems pretty forced.

This one was a bit more choppy than the previous two volumes but perhaps that was necessary to expand the cast and scope of the story. Some new characters are introduced and at least one simply shows up with no background explanation (ninja?).

Yorick continues to be a bit of an annoying doofus but at this point I'm still enjoying the story.

The artwork is fairly average but I admit that I’ve been spoiled recently with some fabulous artwork in another Vaughan work (Saga). The final section with a tangential story about a traveling theater troupe is done by a different artist and somehow manages to satirize the main story which itself is a satire. The Shakespeare references that I expected with a main character named Yorick are finally showing up.

This is still a fun series and I have the next volume out from the library because I have to know what happens next.

Rating 3/5

Wordless Wednesday #186

2013-05-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Napping in the sun
at the Oregon Zoo

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Weekend Update May 5, 2013

2013-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Since my last update:

I finished reading Little Elvises. I enjoyed this second book in the Junior Bender series just as much as the first. The Hubster read the first one (Crashed) and liked it so I’m looking forward to hearing what he thinks of this one when he reads it.

I started Fever by Mary Beth Keane. It’s a fictionalized biography of the woman known as Typhoid Mary. It takes place I the early 1900’s in New York. I’ve enjoyed many of the historical fiction and mystery books I’ve read set in that time period in New York.

I started On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I This was actually the April book for the Little House Readalong so I’m behind schedule on that. I need to finish Plum Creek and get started with By the Shores of Silver Lake..

On audio I finished Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen (narrated by George Wilson). We had started this on a road trip. It was exactly the kind of craziness I expected from a Carl Hiaasen book and a fun road trip book to listen to with The Hubster. It was longer than our trip so we've both been finishing it on our own.

My new audiobook is He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters. It’s the next one up for me in the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia and her family are archaeologists in Egypt and the series begins in the late 1800’s. This book takes place during World War I. I've finally caught up to the same point in the series as Beth Fish Reads and she and I are listening to this one at the same time so we can chat about it,

As for graphic novels I read the third book in the Y: The Last Man series by Brian K. Vaughan. It’s about the world after a sudden plague has killed off all the male mammals. One young man and his pet monkey appear to be the only surviving males on the planet. It’s been a bit of a hit or miss series but I’m curious to find out how it plays out so I already have the next one out from the library.

Other than books and reading:

We have been enjoying some wonderful weather lately. That’s part of the reason I haven’t been reading my treadmill books (The Little House books) that much. I've been outside on our neighborhood walking trails.

Spring has definitely sprung around here. Everything seems to be in bloom.

We also stopped in at the zoo last Sunday for a little while (taking advantage of our year long membership).

These birds in one of the aviaries are the only ones I couldn't find identified on the zoo website. Does anyone know what kind of birds these are?

We made it to the river otter exhibit right at feeding time and got to see the whole family including little baby Mo

In the black bear exhibit one of the bears was doing some serious people watching from the top of a broken tree.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Audiobook – Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen

Genre: Mystery/ Humor
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: 2003 Recorded Books (Book originally published 1988)
Length: 13 hours, 13 minutes
Read by: George Wilson
Source: Purchased

The Short Version:
Bass fishing tournaments, television evangelists and evil land developers are only part of what gets humorously and thoroughly skewered in this madcap comic mystery.

Why I Read It:
It was road trip time and The Hubster and I had listened to Hiaasen’s first book several years ago so I loaded this one up on the iPod.

The Book:
This one is far too wacky and complicated for me to attempt so summarize so I’ll stick with the print publishers description.

R.J. Decker, star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida -- and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while she's in bed with her new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his arm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the "double whammy" is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder.

My Thoughts:
Trust me, that description isn’t nearly as crazy as half the things that happen in this book. Quirky doesn’t begin to describe the some of the characters. Most of them are over the top bananas or caricatures. The story is loony and at times a bit gruesome. But it made me laugh. It made me laugh a lot.

R.J. Decker is perhaps the sanest character and he’s got issues. Skink (who is a recurring character in Hiaasen’s books) is off the charts odd but I can’t help but like the guy. The bad guys are plenty evil and I now know way more about competitive bass fishing than I ever cared to.

This is just fun and it’s great in audio format. I think that some of the things that happened felt even funnier because I was hearing them rather than reading them. George Wilson has a perfect wry and sardonic tone that is exactly what Hiaasen’s books need.

I’ll definitely be getting more of these and in audio format. It’s not a type of book I like a steady diet of but they’re great fun to listen to on road trips with The Hubster and as a change of pace from what I normally read or listen to.

Rating 3/5 for the book

Rating 4/5 for the narration

SoundBytes is a weekly roundup of audio book reviews hosted by Jen at Devourer of Books.

Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinan

2013-05-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinan

Genre: Mystery
Series: #2 in the Junior Bender series
Publisher: Soho Press
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 347
Source: e-galley provided by publisher through NetGalley

The Short Version:
Junior Bender a sort of private investigator for bad guys gets blackmailed into proving a once powerful music producer didn’t commit muder.

Why I Read It:
After both The Hubster and I thoroughly enjoyed the first Junior Bender book I was eager to continue with the series..

The Book:
Junior Bender is a burglar who has not altogether willingly become a sort of private investigator folks who are themselves on the wrong side of the law. This time around he gets blackmailed into proving the innocence of a music producer. Vinnie DiGuadio made a name for himself in the 50’s pop music scene in Philadelphia. He was known for backing a series of “Little Elvises” who were young, good looking boys with questionable singing talent that happened to look and act enough like the real Elvis to get the teenagers spend their money on records.

DiGuado now lives in LA and is under suspicion for the death of a tabloid journalist. Junior doesn’t want to help but he’s ‘persuaded’ to take the case. He happens to be familiar with the ‘Little Elvises’ because his daughter wrote a paper on them for school.

At the same time Junior wants to help his landlady. Her daughter hasn’t been seen for days and Marge is sure it’s got something to do with the guy she ran off with because after all he wore a pinkie ring.

My Thoughts:
As with the first book in this series, I purchased a copy of the book before I was even finished with the egalley. This is just a fun series with a lot of comic elements and quirky characters. Junior is likable even though he’s a burglar. He’s proud of the fact that he’s a good burglar and has never been caught.

The mysteries are interesting. At times because of multiple stories it gets rather complicated and perhaps overly so but it’s such fun I didn’t care. I just enjoyed the ride.

I was glad to see Louie the Lost (getaway driver extraordinaire) back again. He’s fun. Junior’s habit of living in motels and changing his home base every month or so will be sure to provide a routine change of scenery as this series continues. The motel he’s in for this book is called The North Pole and is all (glued down) Christmas Kitsch and I sort of envisioned it as a Christmas Craft Bazaar turned motel.

I like Junior. He’s a burglar but he’s got standards. He’s also unapologetic about the way he makes his living. Deep down he’s a good guy for a career criminal. It’s hard for me not to root for Junior. He has a real sense of responsibility for his daughter and despite his problems with his ex-wife he doesn’t want to jeopardize his visitation. I was glad to see his daughter Rina have more of a role in this book. She’s a smart kid with a lot of spunk. At thirteen with her first real boyfriend she’s giving her dad a lot to think about. Unfortunately he’s pretty busy trying to stay out of jail and stay alive.

If you like your mysteries with a bit of comic relief and a cast of oddball characters I’d encourage you to pick up both Crashed and this one. The third book in this series will be out in July and they’re great for summertime reading.

Rating 4/5

Wordless Wednesday #185

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Flowering Currant

Click on photos to view full size

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May Photo a Day Challenge

2013-04-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of April. That means that tomorrow starts a fresh new month of Photo-A-Day prompts. If you haven't joined in yet, or haven't been keeping up with the daily photo posting it's a great chance to start new or fresh.

Yes, this is my monthly reminder and review post about Photo a Day. I do this for a couple of reasons. One is to recruit more of my friends to participate and the other is to share my favorites of my photos from the previous month. The Photo a Day Challenge is hosted by Chantelle at Fat Mum Slim. I've been doing this daily photo thing since the middle of March of 2012. I enjoy having more of my online and in person friends join in. I love seeing everyone's photos and how creative folks can be with the daily prompts.

It's not hard and you can participate in so many ways. Looking back through my photos after a few months is fun and I like that it's turned out to be a bit of photo journal with all the little daily memories both small and significant that end up being included.

Every month Chantelle posts a list of subjects or prompts for each day of the month. Chantelle's post about the May list includes some extra explanation and ideas just in case any of the prompts have you stumped.

This is the list for May and Chantelle's instructions:

Click on the image for a larger version or to save to your computer

How to play!

Playing along with photo a day is super easy:
♥ Check out the May photo a day list.
♥ Each day look at the daily prompt and take a photo according to whatever the prompt is.
For example for day 1 the prompt is ‘I bought this!’, so share something you’ve bought. It might be something you purchased today, like a coffee etc or something you love that you picked up some time in the past. It’s a great opportunity to get creative. Be inspired by a little creativity and see what you come up with.
♥ Once you've taken the photo it’s time to share it. There are loads of places you can share it. See below for more details.
♥ Check out other people’s photos. You can browse through them on my Facebook page. Or on Instagram or Twitter just search for the #FMSphotoaday hashtag to see them all.

Where to play?

There are loads of places to be social and share your photos with the #FMSphotoaday community:

♥ Instagram: Just upload your photo, use a fancy filter, add a caption and the hashtag #FMSphotoaday and then share.
♥ Facebook: There are a few options here. You can simply share on your own personal page, among your own friends. Or you can upload to my page’s wall, or I’ve created a Facebook group for 2013. You can join it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FMSphotoaday/
♥ Blog: If you have a blog, you could share each day or do a wrap up of all the photos at the end of the month.
♥ Tumblr: Add your daily photos to your Tumblr feed.
♥ Flickr: You can get their app {for free if I remember correctly} and share your photos there, or upload on their web version. We also have a photo a day group here.
♥ Twitter: You can share on Twitter by uploading the photo and sharing the hashtag #FMSphotoaday. Easy.

To keep this easy for me, I only use photos from my phone. Between Instagram and a few other photo applications I have plenty of options for editing photos on my phone. It's fun for me to see what I can do using just my phone and apps.

If you’d like to check out my previous photos they’re on my Tumblr blog at at Whimpulsiveness

I love using ShutterCal too. It gives me several ways to review my daily photos. Montly collages or scrolling through them all. It's a bit of a visual journal. You can see all of my Photo A Day photos in a calendar format. I think this is my favorite way to scan through my past photos. If you decide to use Shuttercal, be sure to let me know or link up with me there.

The most important thing to remember about this is don't overthink it. For me, using only photos from my phone makes it low pressure so I don't feel like I have to have a perfect shot. That helps me to just relax and have fun with it. Even with the photo prompts that are repeated it's fun to try to come up with something different. Sometimes a prompt that was used a couple of months ago can spark a totally different meaning depending on my mood or circumstances that day.

If you've been participating I hope you'll continue or give it another try if you've gotten out of the habit. Please let me know where you are sharing your photos so that I can find them.

I think my April photos are some of my favorites. It was hard for me to pick six of them to feature today. If you want to see the whole month check the month view on Shuttercal.

April 1st - play	April 2nd - blue
April 6th - air	April 7th - dreamy
April 8th - on your plate	April 10th - a place (Pioneer Courthouse Square)

Just a reminder - click on any of the photos to see a larger version

Weekend Update April 28, 2013

2013-04-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Since my last update:

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and my reading time has suffered a bit but things are gradually returning to normal.

I’m almost finished with Little Elvises. It’s the second book in Timothy Hallinan’s Junior Bender series. It’s been just as much fun as the first. Both The Hubster and I enjoyed Crashed quite a bit and I’m glad that the second in this series has been fun.

I finished Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I need to start On the Banks of Plum Creek for the Little House Readalong. That might be my treadmill book this week.

On audio I finished Year Zero by Rob Reid narrated by John Hodgman. I didn't enjoy that one quite as much as some of my friends. The first half was good but the second half dragged a bit.

We’re took a road trip to southern Oregon a couple of weeks ago and The Hubster and I listened to the first part of Double Whammy by Carl Hiassen (narrated by George Wilson). His books are such craziness but fun and truly entertaining in audio format. I’m still listening to it and enjoying the heck out of it. I should be able to finish that up this week. I’m not sure what I’ll listen to next. so we’ll be listening to a new audiobook together. I’ve got several loaded on the ipod and I’ll let The Hubster make the choice of which we listen to.

I've got a couple of graphic novels out from the library that I need to get to before they’re due so I’m hoping that after I finish Little Elvises I can turn to those for a couple of days.

Other than books and reading:

We saw a couple of great performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. My Fair Lady was just delightful. This year’s production of King Lear is good enough to wipe out the bad memories of a not so good production from several years ago.

We had another race last weekend. The Hubster won his age group in the 5 miler and I got second in my age group in the 5k. The important part was that Hopworks Brewing was one of the sponsors so there was good beer at the finish line.

Hopworks Brewing at the Tigard Earth Day Run

We've been having a run of fabulous weather and I've been enjoying being able to ignore our treadmill and get my walking done outside

My neighbor’s pink dogwood tree is ridiculously pretty right now.

Working from home is sometimes complicated when Abby wants attention

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate by Susanna Calkins

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate by Susanna Calkins

Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: #1 in the Lucy Campion series
Publisher: Minotaur
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 338
Source: Copy provided by publisher through Bookbrowse

The Short Version:
In 1665 London a chambermaid finds herself in danger, in love, and in need of the truth regarding who killed a friend.

Why I Read It:
The description of the book sounded interesting and the cover really caught my eye.

The Book:
From the Publisher:

For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and someone close to Lucy falls under suspicion. Lucy can’t believe it, but in a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren't permitted to defend their clients, and—if the plague doesn't kill the suspect first—public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never find out what really happened. Unless, that is, she can uncover the truth herself.

Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers’ shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer.

My Thoughts:
I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. I had high hopes. The description was interesting. I was interested in the time period and I liked the cover. Even though the author is up front in her note that she’s updated the language of the period to make the book easier to read I wasn't too worried. Based on the author’s background I had a high confidence level in the historical accuracy of other elements of the book.

Unfortunately it just never captured me. It was slow to start and even though Lucy is the main character and this is intended to be the first in a series, I never felt connected to or involved in Lucy’s point of view. The characters all felt a bit flat and that slowness of the early part of the book continued.

Then partway through the main mystery story line is dropped and a section about the plague begins and the mystery story isn't picked back up until that section is wrapped up plus a lengthy time interval.

All in all it just didn't flow well and felt a bit disjointed. It almost seems as if the author had two stories she was working on involving the same set of characters and that the plague story was simply inserted in between two parts of the murder mystery story.

It was truly just OK and I doubt I’ll read more of this series.

Rating 2/5

Wordless Wednesday #184

2013-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Currently // April 22, 2013

2013-04-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

Currently

I am totally copying this post format from Estella's Revenge and CapriciousReader and Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness

Time // 9pm

Place // My recliner in the family room

Eating // nothing because I’m still full from the yummy grilled steak dinner we had

Drinking // the rest of the Cabernet Sauvignon we had with dinner. Natalie’s Estate Elephant Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Reading // Little Elvises by Timothy Hallinan. Both The Hubster and I enjoyed the first book in this Junior Bender series. This book is the second in the series and it’s just as much fun

Watching // Last week’s Hawaii Five-0 from last week. We’re in catch-up mode with our DVR recordings right now.

Listening // My current audiobook is Double Whammy by Carl Hiassen. It’s narrated by George Wilson and is just a wacky trek through Florida.

Pondering // My list of “Items Out” from the library vs. my realistic reading time in the next three weeks. It’s not matching up well at all. I have a feeling I’ll be returning and re-requesting at least one book

Blogging // Hoping to get enough reading time this week to get a couple of reviews posted

Promoting // Fitbit – it’s a pedometer only more. Get one. Join us. There are a bunch book bloggers linked up in friendly competition. It’s surprisingly motivating.

Avoiding // looking at my To Do list after an off the rails week

Anticipating // next weekend. The only thing on the calendar is breakfast with friends.

What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you doing?

Weekend Update April 20, 2013

2013-04-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough week. Both with events that affected all of us as well as some personal things. So I'm just going to post a few photos that caught my eye as I was browsing through old photo files. That works for this week, doesn't it?

Lime Kiln Lighthouse
San Juan Island, Washington

My brother's DeLorean

When Howie was little he had a "all cardboard must die" issue.
It was messy.

King Estate Winery
Eugene, Oregon

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Audiobook – Year Zero by Rob Reid

2013-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Year Zero by Rob Reid

Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: 2012 Random House Audio
Length: 9 hours, 54 minutes
Read by: John Hodgman
Source: Purchased

The Short Version:
Aliens love our music, but when they realize that according to existing music copyright laws they owe us all the wealth of the universe chaos ensues.

Why I Read It:
I heard many positive reviews of this and many recommendations for the audio format and it sounded like a fun listen.

The Book:
If I tried to explain the plot of this book I would talk myself (and you) into a DNA strand like twist so I’m going to go with the publisher’s description this time.

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on American pop songs ever since “Year Zero” (1977 to us), resulting in the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang and bankrupting the whole universe. Nick has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly. Thankfully, this unlikely galaxy-hopping hero does know a thing or two about copyright law. Now, with Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick has forty-eight hours to save humanity—while hoping to wow the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

My Thoughts:
If you think that sounds wacky, then hang on because that’s only the beginning.

I’m very glad I listened to my friends and listened to the audio version of this one. John Hodgman does an excellent job of narrating the story from Nick’s point of view and also of characterizing the large cast of characters both human and otherwise. He’s got just the right amount of wry humor and appropriate cynicism for the convoluted music rights laws that are needed for this book. It’s got some elements of spot on satire and he nails them perfectly with his narration.

On the whole though this book started out great for me and then somewhere in the second half it felt like it went on just a touch too long, with just a touch too much. I found myself checking my ipod to see how much of the book I had left. I still liked it but I don’t think I liked it quite as much as some of my friends did.

There is a lot of humor in this one and I laughed a lot. The idea that aliens first experience with the music of Earth was when hearing the Welcome Back Kotter theme sent them into paroxysms of bliss is hilarious. From there the story of their introduction to our music is my musical history. Theme songs from shows I watched, to AM radio pop songs, then on to FM Album rock pretty much traced my musical life from junior high into college.

I did enjoy this book but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been just a little shorter. I loved the first half but the second half felt a little forced and repetitious.

Rating 3.5/5 for the book

Rating 4.5/5 for the narration

SoundBytes is a weekly roundup of audio book reviews hosted by Jen at Devourer of Books.

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

2013-04-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Series: #3 in the Little House series (or number 2 depending on which list you look at)
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: originally 1933, this edition 1961
Pages: 372
Source: library

The Short Version:
A year in the childhood of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s future husband Almanzo Wilder.

Why I Read It:
Even though this book isn't technically a part of the Little House Readalong, there was no way I was going to reread the series without reading this one too.

The Book:
Laura Ingalls Wilder tells the story of a year in the childhood of her future husband. In 1866 in upstate New York, nine-year old Almanzo Wilder is at the age where he’s not quite a little kid but also not old enough to do many of the things he’d like.

He helps with the family farm as well as the livestock. As the year goes by he occasionally goes to school when not helping at home, learns to care for a young pair of oxen, and helps with the planting and harvest. As the seasons change Almanzo experiences the routine of life including the hard work and fun times.

My Thoughts:
I am not going to worry about spoilers with this series.

I’m just going to post a few random thoughts that ran through my head as I read this

I always liked this book. It was good to get a glimpse of Almanzo’s childhood in comparison to Laura’s. Clearly the Wilder family was better off than the Ingalls family. I’m not sure Pa Ingalls ever had to worry about having a large amount of cash in the house until he could get it to the bank the next morning.

Re-reading these as an adult from a different perspective and time I can see that a child reading these today would definitely benefit from opportunities to discuss them. While they may portray things that were normal at the time and place they occurred, those times are very different from what is considered appropriate in today’s world.

This was quite clear to me in the early parts of this book. When the older students are known to have beaten the previous schoolteacher so badly that he later died is rather jarring to read today. When Almanzo’s father loans the schoolteacher his bullwhip to deal with the these bullies it’s certainly something I hope that today’s kids have the opportunity to talk about as they read this book.

What the heck is an “air castle”?

And over the center-table hung an air-castle. Alice had made it of clean yellow wheat-straws, set together airily, with bits of bright colored cloth at the corners. It swayed and quivered in the slightest breath of air, and the lamplight ran gleaming along the golden straws.

Some things never change.

Mothers always fuss about the way you eat. You can hardly eat anyway that pleases them.

Rating 4.5/5

The Little House Read-a-long

Click on the photo for a link to the details

Wordless Wednesday #183

2013-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

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For more Wordless Wednesday, click here

Touring my TBR Spreadsheet and Shelves – Random Treasures

2013-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today I’m sharing one of the random treasures on my bookshelves.

The White House and its Thirty-Two Families by Amy La Follette Jensen.
*note - click on photos for larger versions

the title spread

Published in 1958, I have no idea how this book ended up on my parents’ bookshelves. I remember picking it up one day when I was bored and wanted something to read. It’s coffee-table book sized so it’s not something you carry around. I remember browsing through it looking at the photos and then starting to read it. It’s actually quite interesting.

During Benjamin Harrison's Presidency

I discovered that it was later updated and republished at least three times adding the 32nd through 35th families to live in the White House but I've never seen one of those later editions.

Quote from a letter by John Adams written while he lived in the unfinished White House

The book is about two-thirds photos and one-third text. It covers the story of the White House and the families who lived in it from the time of the initial design process through the Eisenhower years.

East Room decorated for Alice Roosevelt's wedding

I’ve read through the whole book a few times over the years. It’s got short sections about each president and his family and information not so much about their presidencies but about their life in the White House. The photos are fascinating. I was always particularly interested in the ones of the remodeling, expansion and construction over the years.

Discoveries during remodeling

The near gutting and rebuilding during the Truman years was the most extensive but in reality the White House has been a work in progress ever since it was first designed.

Construction equipment inside during the rebuilding during the Truman years

I've hung on to this book because I still occasionally pick it up and browse through it.

What lost random treasures are on your bookshelves?

Weekend Update April 13, 2013

2013-04-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Since my last update:
I finished reading Blessed Are Those Who Thirst by Anne Hold. It’s the second in a series featuring a female detective in Oslo. I actually read the eighth in the series first (because it was the first to be translated and released here). After that the earlier books have been released and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Hanne Wilhelmsen from the beginning of the series. The third book will be out in June and I’m looking forward to reading it.

I started the second book in Timothy Hallinan’s Junior Bender series. Both The Hubster and I enjoyed Crashed so much and I’m glad to be reading the second in this fun series.

I’m also still reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My plan to finish it this week got derailed but I’m having fun revisiting this series I loved as a child. It’s interesting to look at it again so many years later.

On audio I’m almost finished with Year Zero by Rob Reid and narrated by John Hodgman. I’ll admit that the first half of this book held my interest much more than the second half. Perhaps the uniqueness wore off before the book was over.

We’re off on a road trip this weekend so we’ll be listening to a new audiobook together. I’ve got several loaded on the ipod and I’ll let The Hubster make the choice of which we listen to.

I re-read Saga Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughan this week before I had to return it to the library. I think it was even more impressive the second time around and I rated it five stars the first time. The second volume will be out this summer and I think this is a series I’ll be buying rather than getting from the library. I hope to get The Hubster to read them.

Other than books and reading:

Last Sunday we had another 5k race. This one was in our neighborhood and was put on by the local middle school. It was nice to have a race where the starting line was within walking distance of our front door. The starting time of 9am was nice too. The bad part was that we live in a hilly neighborhood and much of mile three of the course was not only uphill but with an increasing grade on the hill. I shocked myself and finished in a personal best time and got second in my age group. We were also very lucky that the race was almost the only dry hour of the day too.

Today we’re headed to Southern Oregon for one of our trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We’ll be seeing My Fair Lady tonight in a production that doesn’t have an orchestra but the music is provided by two pianos. It’s apparently a version approved by one of the composers (Frederick Loewe). I’ve never seen My Fair Lady so it should be fun. We’ll also be seeing King Lear.

Browsing this week’s iphone photos…
As always click on the photos for a larger version

One day this week I was a bit early and took a nice early morning walk through downtown before work.

I love architectural and artistic whimsy. The bonus about this downtown Portland building is that this is on the side of the building that faces Salmon Street.

I also love the juxtaposition of old and new.

One of the Photo A Day assignments this week was “A Place” and I was very happy how this early morning image of Pioneer Square turned out.

Oh, and Canada . . . your geese are on their way home.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!