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Leave of Absence

I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and kind words about my Grandfather.  He will always be loved and missed.  I am heading home for his Memorial Service over Labor Day weekend and hope to see a Tiger home game in his honor.  I am now and have always been a lucky girl.

I haven’t really been in a reading mood since Grandpa passed away.  That changed with the arrival of Mockingjay, though.  I’m about a third of the way through and am enjoying it.  I’m still not to a point where I read with abandon, but that’s not a reflection on the book at all.

It’s not just my reading that’s distracted.  There are several reviews and other blog-related projects for which I just haven’t been able to build up any motivation.  I’m hoping that this will subside after my trip to Michigan.  So until then, I am going to keep a low on-line profile here.  I may surprise myself and post a review, but I’m leaving that all up to whim.  My plan is to be back after the holiday and  I know I’ll return rejuvenated and ready to go.

One beautiful thing about life is that it marches bravely forward.  My girls have started their new school year this week and they are stronger, happier, and lovelier than ever.  Emma is now in the 2nd grade and Allison is in 1st.  They were excited to get started and are loving their teachers and classrooms.  I am very proud of how they are growing up and just have to share a couple of pictures from their first morning.

My Grandpa, My Friend

Egbert Morris Dodde ~ 10/15/1917 – 08/17/2010

A girl is lucky when she has a Grandpa she’s always loved to joke around with like a friend. I’m one of those. My Grandpa Dodde is 92 years old.  I’ve always loved  to play tricks on him and tease him.  He did the same.  I would run away from him instead of giving him a hug when we went to visit up in Ludington, but I always really wanted to get caught.  He always played along.  As I grew older, we used to talk Tiger baseball.  He was with me when I went to my first Major League game.  He certainly helped me learn to love the underdog.

He always promised a grand to any of his kids a who named their child after him.  With a name like Egbert, it should come as no shock that he kept his money.  When I was in high school and had to carry around eggs, I thought I might earn some money by naming them after him – Egbert and Egbertabelle.  I got two bucks. LOL!

Grandpa is a proud Dutchman.  He’s found of saying “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much!”  I can also remember him saying:

Jennifer, there are two kinds of people in this  world – Doddes and those who wish they could be Doddes.

That pretty much sums up his personality and his sense of humor.

The last time the Tigers were headed to the World Series, I called him from the airport.  It was his birthday – exactly one week to the day after mine.  His hearing got really bad, but I wanted to call anyway.  When he picked up the phone, I said, “Grandpa, aren’t you glad I got the Tigers into the World Series for your birthday?”

“What?”

I spoke a little louder, “Grandpa, aren’t you glad I got the Tigers into the World Series for your birthday?”

“What!?!”

Even though I felt like everyone waiting at my gate was looking at me already, I yelled while carefully enunciated, “Grandpa, aren’t you glad I got the Tigers into the World Series for your birthday!?!”

“LeeAnn?”

That’s my sister.  Just thinking about that cracks me up.  It’s all kinds of fun trying to kid a kidder who’s hard of hearing.

Most recently when I’ve traveled home I played cribbage with Grandpa.  I love to play cards, but it’s safe to say that I’m cribbage challenged.  Grandpa is a pro.  In his spare time, he loved to make cribbage boards of any shape and size.  He retired from his work in tool and die when I was just a little girl, but he loved to create things in his shed.  He once had the perfect cribbage hand.  In my favorite cribbage board, he had the little newspaper write up from that hand and he decorated it with that combination of mini cards.  I think he always beat me.  If I ever won, it was because he was honest when he helped me count my cards.  He also made little things to keep count during Euchre.  The counter he made me has this beautiful horse’s ass on it. What a way to show how much you care… LOL!

Last week Monday Grandpa was admitted to the hospital.  His kidneys were failing.  They got his function to start returning at a high price to his comfort.  Grandpa and Dad decided together that they wouldn’t ever catheterize him again.  He was on the upswing and joking around with the nurses toward the end of the week (if you were his waitress or his nurse, I’m sure you never forgot this character).  I was able to talk to him on the phone last week and tell him that I love him.  He knew who I was and started talking about the Tigers with me.  He is ready to go, so he wasn’t necessarily as happy to hear that he was improving as I was – especially since the Tigers have let him down as the season has gone on.  I told him he was “too Dutch to die” and he laughed.  I bought my tickets to fly home for Labor Day.  Unfortunately, he has taken a downturn Sunday night and is now on comfort care.  His vital signs are all very strong, so there is a chance I may still get to see him.  What I really want is for him to find peace and be out of pain.  He deserves it.

Here’s to you, Grandpa.  You’ve blessed my life and gave me so much.  My love is with you always.

It’s Penguin’s Anniversary and We Get the Presents!

Today is a special day for Penguin.  It’s their 75th anniversary!  For 3/4 of a century, Penguin has been making some great books available to readers around the world.  It  started out as a small English publishing company with a vision for making reprinted paperback books affordable (for the price of a pack of cigarettes at that time).  Over time, they’ve expanded to the point that their logo is known just about everywhere.

I’ve always loved to own copies of Penguin Classics.  It always made me happy to see them stacked up on my college bookshelves as part of my assigned reading.  I love Penguin Classics so much that when I found out about a program Penguin was hosting, I jumped at the chance to have a random Penguin Classic sent to me to read and review.  I’m not sure how lucky I was, but I was sent Melmouth the Wanderer.  It wasn’t my favorite classic, but it still sits on my shelf, another Penguin Classic for my collection.

Penguin has a website dedicated to their 75th Anniversary and it has some really interesting features.  There is a timeline, an essay about the first 10 books published by Penguin, and a gallery of photos featuring Penguin employees, book covers, and advertising throughout the years.  What I found the most interesting  was the evolution of book cover art over the years.  It reminded me of a recent interview I read in ReadyMade with one of Penguin’s cover artists, Paul Buckley.  I was thrilled to see that he designed one of my favorite book covers since I started blogging, Special Topics in Calamity Physics.  His work is just the tip of the iceberg.  I love some of the innovative covers Penguin has – from the iconic Classics, to the tattoo art , to the cartoons, it makes the physical experiences with novels fun.  I don’t think I would have ever bought The Three Musketeers had it not been for this cover…

In celebration of their anniversary, Penguin has generously offered me and one of my lucky readers  each one of a choice of 75 of their titles (thanks, Lindsay)!  Go here to see the list of the titles to choose from.  How do you pick just one? LOL!  Actually, I’m leaning toward the Graham Greene title, but they have White Noise by Don DeLillo, a book whose cover was designed by Paul Buckley and featured in his interview, the newest Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice covers that I love, and a comic cover for Lady Chatterly’s Lover, another classic I’ve always been meaning to read.  Decisions, decisions…  Enter my contest by filling out the form below and you, too, may face my delicious dilemma.

Happy Anniversary, Penguin!

It’s A Mystery

I don’t read a lot of Mystery/Thrillers.  When I ask myself what I want to read, Mystery/Thrillers don’t come up.  However, after reading Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series and Tana French’s In the Woods (loved – review to post soon), I have been wondering why that is.  There is just something about a character who is embroiled in a situation in which they do not know all of the facts and are not in control.  Add an element of danger and you have an enjoyable, compelling read.  Especially since reading In the Woods, Mystery/Thrillers have quickly made their presence known in my reading process. Maybe asking myself what I want to or feel like reading is confining myself into a tighter box than I’d like.

Now that I have a better idea of why I do enjoy Mystery/Thrillers so much, I thought it might be a good idea to put into words why I read from my other “go to” genres:

Daydreaming about Beach Reading

My beach vacation is only 9 days away.  I’m dreaming about the sandy beaches, no work, 6 days and 5 nights of relaxation with my family, and more sandy beaches. I cannot wait.  As with all vacations, you must focus on preparation.  Luckily there’s one thing I love to do in preparation of vacation time – pondering which books to bring with me.  Here are some of the books I’m thinking about:

The House at Oyster Creek by Heidi Jon Schmidt

This Penguin paperback looks just like I hope to feel while I’m on vacation. Isn’t the cover so relaxing and inviting? Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Sensitive but practical, Charlotte Tradescome has come to accept the reticence of her older, work-obsessed husband Henry. Still, she hopes to create a life for their three-year-old daughter. So when Henry inherits a home on Cape Cod, she, Henry, and little Fiona move from their Manhattan apartment to this seaside community. Charlotte sells off part of Tradescome Point, inadvertently fueling the conflict between newcomers and locals. Many townspeople easily dismiss Charlotte as a “washashore.” A rare exception is Darryl Stead, an oyster farmer with modest dreams and an open heart, with whom Charlotte feels the connection she’s been missing. Ultimately he transforms the way she sees herself, the town, and the people she loves…

Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier

I love reading about spunky women who aren’t afraid to defy convention.  If you mix that with a little scandal, more’s the better.  I couldn’t pass this book up when I saw this Sourcebooks reprint on the shelves.  Here’s a synopsis from Sourcebooks’ website:

She set men’s hearts on fire and scandalized a country.

Master storyteller Daphne du Maurier evokes the rise and fall of one of her most unforgettable characters.

An ambitious, stunning, and seductive young woman, Mary Anne finds the single most rewarding way to rise above her miserable cockney world: she will become the mistress to a royal duke. In doing so, she provokes a scandal that rocks Regency England. Mary Anne glitters with sex, scandal, corruption, and the privileged world of high society.

Based on the true story of one of du Maurier’s own distant relatives, Mary Anne’s love of money and the men who spend it embroil her in risks that threaten her very existence.

A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth

It’s not that common for novels to be written about heavier women, at least not as the main character.  In this Europa novel, the main character isn’t just heavy – she’s morbidly obese.  That caught my attention right away.  Upon further research, she’s a little off kilter and may prove to be an unreliable narrator.  I just love that.  Ever since this book appeared in my mailbox, I’ve been intrigued.  Here is the synopsis from the publisher (quick word of warning – don’t read the Publishers Weekly write up – it gives away more of the plot than you might like):

Tracing the dark possibilities of best intentions gone awry, this darkly comic novel about a dysfunctional young woman’s life in the suburbs offers interesting psychological insights. Annie—morbidly obese and lonely—moves into a new home hoping for a clean slate but is convinced she has seen her next-door neighbor before. She embarks on a series of increasingly bizarre attempts to ingratiate herself with the boy next door, but wrong turns and snap judgments lead to a compelling and bloody climax.

Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan

I bought this book back in May having no idea whatsoever that it takes place in Michigan.  I bought it because it was published by Amy Einhorn.  I loved the idea of an imprint challenge.  Had I realized that it takes place in Ann Arbor, I would have already read it.  Fortunately, the review at Beth Fish Reads has put this on my beach reading shortlist.  Here’es the synopsis from the publisher (which will prove that I don’t do a whole lot of research before compulsive book buying – Michigan is mentioned in the first sentence…):

The man who calls himself David Loogan is hoping to escape a violent past by living a quiet, anonymous life in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But when he’s hired as an editor at a mystery magazine, he is drawn into an affair with the sleek blond wife of the publisher, Tom Kristoll-a man who soon turns up dead.

Elizabeth Waishkey is the most talented detective in the Ann Arbor Police Department, but even she doesn’t know if Loogan is a killer or an ally who might help her find the truth. As more deaths start mounting up-some of them echoing stories published in the magazine-it’s up to Elizabeth to solve both the murders and the mystery of Loogan himself.

Those are some of my front runners.  I’m sure that I’ll look at and think about others.  For now, these won’t weigh down my suitcase too much…

What kinds of books do you like to read on vacation?

Tales of a 5th Grade Readaholic

Every time I think about Louisa May Alcott and Little Women in particular I think about one of my most embarrassing school memories. So, while I was (finally!) working on my review of The Last Summer of Louisa May Alcott I thought I might as well write about this as well.  It was on my mind anyway. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has gotten in one kind of trouble or the other because of reading…

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The Christmas I was in the fifth grade, my parents gave me a set of Louisa May Alcott’s novels. To this day, it’s one of the most memorable gifts I ever received. They are certainly the most cherished and loved. I can’t remember if I’d read a graphical novel based on Little Women before receiving that set, but I had never read the novel itself. Over that Christmas vacation, I read it once and was about half way through it a second time when I went back to school.

I was so enthralled with Little Women that I didn’t want to stop reading it. My school teacher organized the fifth graders in such a way that we had two teachers to better prepare us for Junior High. My homeroom teacher, Mr. Jagger, was a strict, but good teacher. The second teacher, Mr. Elhart, who was just plain mean in my opinion (the man gave me a C- in penmanship the marking period that I had broken my right arm and had to write with my left).  Mr. Elhart taught penmanship, social studies, and one other subject. That first week back to school, I got the bright idea that my copy of Little Women would be hidden quite nicely behind my social studies book. That Friday, I brought Little Women with me to Mr. Elhart’s classroom. When we started reading from our social studies book, I set my plan in action. Boy, did I feel all sly and smart!

I wish I could remember where I was in the novel or how much I actually was able to read when that ruler came slamming down on my desk, but I will never forget the hot fear that ran from the top of my head and down my belly and back afterwards. Mr. Elhart took my book from me, giving me no indication that I would ever see it again. Had I wet myself I don’t think I could have been felt more humiliated and dejected. I could only pray that he didn’t call my parents. I would be dead for sure then.

That weekend I did nothing but worry about my book. On the bus ride home, I anticipated my parents waiting for me at the door. They seemed to be oblivious. Still, would they ask me where it was? Isn’t it funny you assume things that are significantly important to you to be on every one’s mind? What would I tell them if they did? I decided I would just tell them that I accidentally left it in my desk (sort of true…) Most importantly, what could I do to get it back? I prayed at Mass that Sunday like I’d never prayed before.

I’m not sure why the books aren’t in the picture, but there are some interesting early 80s tidbits – like the K-Tel record (behind the Ken doll), the Rubik’s Cube and the Underoos…

I decided that dressing up and apologizing would be my best bet. Even though I felt like a dork, I wore a skirt took special care with my hair that morning. I can’t say that impending labor made me more nervous than the thought of talking to Mr. Elhart that morning. I decided to get it over with. So, before heading to Mr. Jagger’s classroom, I stopped by Mr. Elhart’s. My cheeks were red hot as I walked up to him and my eyes started watering with tears before I even made it up to his desk. I told him how sorry I was and asked him very politely if I could have my book back. He got it off of his shelf and told me never to do that again.

Once I had the book in my sweaty, shaking hands and turned to leave the room, I was starting to feel pretty indignant. I spent that whole weekend in extreme anxiety, wore a freaking skirt to school, and all I got was a “Don’t do it again.” That was it? Seriously? Well, I’d learned my lesson anyway. I never tried to hide enjoyable reading materials behind text books ever again. I’m still pretty much a big readaholic, though. That will never change.

Celebrate Bloomsday

There are religious holidays, there are state holidays, and there are personal holidays. Today is a literary holiday, Bloomsday! It celebrates the anniversary of day that Leopold Bloom traveled through Dublin as chronicled in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Incidentally, June 16th is also the anniversary of James Joyce’s first date with his future wife, Nora.

Reading Ulysses is my most prized educational accomplishments. Thankfully that course was taught by Dr. Susan Swartzlander, a woman who is so passionate about James Joyce and Ulysses that it would have been nearly impossible not to catch the fever.

How do I celebrate Bloomsday? I keep my Bloomsday Brigade pin that Dr. Swartzlander made for our entire class at GVSU that semester close at hand. I also make a point of picking up my marked up and well loved copy of Ulysses and read a few passages. My favorite section of all is the last chapter narrated by Molly Bloom. I wrote my final paper in that class about that section. Yes, I must dig that paper out and re-read it. Yes.

Whether you’re new to Bloomsday or someone who loves this day as much as I do, here are a couple other ideas for celebrating:

1) Why not pick up a copy of South of Broad by Pat Conroy? It’s fully of Joycian references and imagery. The main character is named Leopold to boot.

2) I got an email from Frank Delaney’s staff announcing the launch of the author’s podcasts about Ulysses. Called, “Re:Joyce,” they will be a:

“spirited weekly podcast on James Joyce’s Ulysses. Each segment will feature Delaney taking a short passage from Ulysses and exploring its multitude of references with insight, eloquence, and passion—as well as a good dose of humor. Accessible, yet not in any way dumbed-down, the Re:Joyce podcasts will bring listeners historical and biographical information, lively interpretation, and many amusing anecdotes—all illuminated by Delaney’s love for and robust knowledge of James Joyce and Ulysses.

“Ulysses is often called the world’s most famous and most irritating novel – irritating because it’s deemed so obscure and inaccessible,” says Frank Delaney. “I maintain that it’s none of those things.” Delaney’s approach is not typically academic—as he has done in so much of his broadcasting life, he takes obscure and difficult literary subjects and breaks them open by treating them entertainingly.

Re:Joyce launchs today in honor of Bloomsday. The 3-5 minute podcasts will all be available for download on Frank Delaney’s website.

So why not go out and make the most of this literary holiday?

Spilling the Beans ~ My Bloggiesta Round Up

My first Bloggiesta was a success, even if it did end on Saturday night.  I was happy to learn that Bloggiesta ran through 8am this morning.  God knows I have much more that I can do, but life had other plans for us yesterday.  While meeting a friend at a local park for a walk while the girls played, we sat under the pavilion to chat in the shade.  There were colonies of ants around the picnic table that was freaking Allison out, so I told her to sit of top of the table (she would have preferred to sit on my lap, but it was way too muggy for that).  Emma did the same.  At one point, Emma laid down on her tummy to rest.  When she moved to get up, a good sized splinter from the table poked through her jeans and got stuck in her thigh.  I could feel it under her skin, but I couldn’t manipulate it to even see it.  We took a trip to Urgent Care, which took several hours.  As scared as she was of getting a shot or having someone touch her leg, she was a real trooper.  I am so proud of how she handled it.  I am even a little proud of how I did. LOL!  Seeing a doctor prepare a scalpel to use on your child is not an easy thing.  In the end, Emma had to get two stitches because the doctor needed to cut a little more than expected to get that stubborn splinter out.  Now, Emma has a story to tell.  Let’s hope we’ve got our one and only summer injury out of the way!

In the end, I was just too wiped out to do much of anything but read a little bit last night.  I am still happy with all that I’ve accomplished over the weekend – on top of exciting development Friday night.  Here’s a break down of what I did since Bloggiesta began:

1. Write reviews for the Three (used to be 7) audiobooks I have waiting in the wings and schedule them for Devourer of Books’ fabtabulous Audiobook Week later this month.
2. Write reviews for the three paper books I’ve got waiting and schedule those.
3. Add the things back to my blog that I had to remove while I was hosted at LunarPages and monitor what affect they might have on CPU usage at my NWH.
4. Add the new WordPress plug-ins that my NWH suggested by sending me this link.
5. Get things set up to change my comments so that I can reply in more of a forum fashion.
6. Add my BBAW Board button to my sidebar.
7. Figure out how long ago I stopped adding links to my Library page and update it to include the reviews I’ve missed.
8. Create a review listings page by author and by how much I liked the book. This would require me to develop some kind of ranking system, which I’m just not sure ab0ut. Hmmm….
9. Mail off a couple of books that I’ve been meaning to ship. That counts, right?
10. Write up questions for an upcoming author interview. Since she’s previously written a screenplay, I’m counting watching her film part of Bloggiesta. That counts, right? LOL!
11. Spend some time mining my bookshelves for some upcoming Tuesday’s Temptations posts. I want to have some ready to go so I’m not scrambling on Tuesdays.
12. Drool over books to potentially read while we’re on our vacation at Myrtle Beach this summer and post about those. Fun, fun, fun!
13. Write a post for Audiobooks Week about being an audiobook convert. (new as of 1st update)
14. Mystery post preparation!  (new as of 1st update)
15. Mystery post prepared and scheduled (new as of 3rd update)

Writing four reviews was no small task for me.  I’m so prepared for next week’s Audiobooks Week that I don’t know what to do with myself.  The only thing I have to do for it is to write my review of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson.  Why do I have to write that review for Audiobooks Week?  Well, it’s vital (IMO) to this weekend’s big secret you see…

Spilling the Beans

I am not good at keeping my own secrets, especially when I’m excited.  So here goes.  I can hold it in no longer.

Simon Vance said YES!

When Jen announced Audiobooks Week, I knew I had to acknowledge the narrators.  They are so important to the reading experience with audiobooks.  It’s no secret to my readers that I’m a huge fan of Simon Vance.  It was while listening to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo that I “got” audiobooks for the first time.  The truth is that not everyone can narrate a book.  I’d started and stopped any number of audiobooks because the narrator (famous actors all) put me to sleep.  I’d listened to some decent ones, too, but until I was blown away by the experience, I didn’t understand the appeal.  So, I took a deep breath and took the plunge.  I asked him if he might be interested in answering some questions I had that I would publish as part of my Audiobooks Week coverage.

Yeah, when he said yes you can say it made my weekend. Trolls and stitches couldn’t dampen my mood. Mark your calendars for June 25th.  I’ll be posting our interview that day.  I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

God, it’s good to be a book blogger!

Since I Can’t Be Captivated…

I’m doing the Bloggiesta thang this weekend!  This will be my first voyage into this blog clean up, perk up, improvement celebration.  I’ve always wanted to take part with it since the first time Natasha from Maw Books scheduled it.  This time, no excuses, I’m doing it!

I figure if I can’t get into anything I’m reading right now, even though I can acknowledge that it’s good, I need to focus my energy elsewhere.  Am I right?  After a weekend of review writing, widget fixing, review listing updating, and countless other things I’ve thought to do buy haven’t, I’ll be dying to read afterwards. LOL!

Here’s more of a breakdown of what I’m hoping to accomplish beginning tomorrow night:

1. Write reviews for the SEVEN audiobooks I have waiting in the wings and schedule them for Devourer of Books’ fabtabulous Audiobook Week later this month.
2. Write reviews for the three paper books I’ve got waiting and schedule those.
3. Add the things back to my blog that I had to remove while I was hosted at LunarPages and monitor what affect they might have on CPU usage at my NWH.
4. Add the new WordPress plug-ins that my NWH suggested by sending me this link.
5. Get things set up to change my comments so that I can reply in more of a forum fashion.
6. Add my BBAW Board button to my sidebar.
7. Figure out how long ago I stopped adding links to my Library page and update it to include the reviews I’ve missed.
8. Create a review listings page by author and by how much I liked the book.  This would require me to develop some kind of ranking system, which I’m just not sure ab0ut.  Hmmm….
9. Mail off a couple of books that I’ve been meaning to ship.  That counts, right?
10. Write up questions for an upcoming author interview.  Since she’s previously written a screenplay, I’m counting watching her film part of Bloggiesta.  That counts, right? LOL!
11. Spend some time mining my bookshelves for some upcoming Tuesday’s Temptations posts.  I want to have some ready to go so I’m not scrambling on Tuesdays.
12. Drool over books to potentially read while we’re on our vacation at Myrtle Beach this summer and post about those.  Fun, fun, fun!

I’m sure there’s a ton of other things that can be done.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze in a full 24 hours, but that’s my target.  Throughout the weekend I’ll be posting my progress and tweeting along.  I hope to see you all this weekend while we’re doing our early summer clean up.  I have a feeling I’ll be feeling so free after getting out from under some of this stuff that I’ll feel like a new woman come Monday.

Tuesday’s Temptation ~ June 7

Despite how wonderful my current reads might be (or, this week, how incredibly disturbing), I really enjoy being able to look over my shelves and drool over the as-of-yet unread goodies. I don’t know about you, but I could spend a half hour or more just touching the spines and, because I have to double park my books for lack of space, pull out the first row so I can rediscover what’s behind them.  Granted, this is most likely to occur when I’m procrastinating getting the laundry started or doing the dishes, but I would enjoy it just as much if I planned to do it.  So, why not plan on deliberately combing my shelves?  Going forward, I’m going to take a look at my (horrifically gigantic) TBR pile and highlight a book that I’d really like to pick up right now if it weren’t for …  Sigh.  Here you’ll find the who, what, why, when, and where of one of my greatest literary temptations of the week.

Here it is almost Wednesday again…  Tuesdays have a way of sneaking up on me.  One of my goals for Blogiesta this weekend is to get some of these posts written and scheduled.

Now let’s hit the June 7th edition of Tuesday’s Temptations!

Who?

Jennifer Rosner is the mother of two daughters.  It isn’t until they are born deaf that she learns of a family history of deafness in her family.  She has written several articles addressing her experiences as the mother of special needs children.  This week’s Tuesday’s Temptation is a memoir Rosner has written about her experiences.  She has a beautiful website dedicated to her writing and her memoir.  It doesn’t provide much information about her, but you pick up on her personality reading her articles.  One of her daughters has a cochlear implant and I enjoyed the article she wrote about Juliet’s ability to turn her hearing on and off at will (I must admit that I wish I had that ability myself sometimes).

What?

Why?

I don’t read a great deal of non-fiction.  When I do, I typically choose memoirs.  This memoir appeals to me on two main levels – as a mother of daughters and as someone interested in family history.  There are so many things about our ancestral history that we wouldn’t even think about if it weren’t for something like what happened in her family.

I’m far from being a genealogist, but I love to learn more about where my family comes from.  Just today I learned that a song I really like from my childhood, Golden Earring, is from the Netherlands.  Danny made an off the cuff comment about the shock of learning there is a Dutch person who can sing (he’s personally never met one – my family is renown for its lack of musical talent).  This egged me on to prove him wrong.  Let’s just say that my attempts to prove him wrong seem to do just the opposite.  I hope that this doesn’t sound like I’m making light of the author’s story.  I’m not.  It’s simply interesting how traits you think specific to your family are actually traits of your larger ethnic family.

Even though the cover has fall colored leaves on them, for some reason it is sticking out to me today because the girls are about finished with school for the year and are very excited for their summer vacation to start.  Honestly, I can’t explain how those two things come together in my mind.  They just did.  Who am I to judge. LOL!

Here is the description from the pubisher:

Jennifer Rosner’s revelatory memoir explores family, silence, and what it means to be heard. When her daughters are born deaf, Rosner is stunned. Then, she discovers a hidden history of deafness in her family, going back generations to the Jewish enclaves of Eastern Europe. Traveling back in time, she imagines her silent relatives, who showed surprising creativity in dealing with a world that preferred to ignore them.

Rosner shares her journey into the modern world of deafness, and the controversial decisions she and her husband have made about hearing aids, cochlear implants and sign language. An imaginative odyssey, punctuated by memories of going unheard, Rosner’s story of her daughters’ deafness is at heart a story of whether she – a mother with perfect hearing – will hear her children.

If a Tree Falls is a poignant meditation on life’s most unpredictable moments, as well as the delights and triumphs hidden within them.

When?

Anjali from Feminist Press who contacted me about If a Tree Falls: A Family’s Quest to Hear and Be Heard in March.  I let this pitch sit for a while because I was really starting to feel overwhelmed with review copies at that time.  When I kept thinking about the pitch, I had to say yes.

Where?

If a Tree Falls is sitting on the “on deck” shelf I created just before my post from last week.  Remarkably, that shelf is still arranged in order by size with tallest books on the left and shorter books on the right.  Rosner’s memoir is the third book from the right, sandwiched between The Happy Hooker* and The Great Lover.

What kind of non-fiction tempts you?

*That’s a crochet book, people!  What kind of a reader do you think I am?  Well, I also just realized this morning after reading Meghan’s review of Foreign Tongue that erotica in literature doesn’t phase me any more than cussing does.  Maybe it’s best that you don’t answer that question.

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