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Ready, Set, March!

I passed by my nightstand this morning and fully took in the stack of books there waiting for me.  The other day I kind of stacked up what’s to come and seeing it this morning made me want to write a post about them.  I did a little research (because I’m meme challenged) and discovered that the What’s on Your Nightstand meme hosted by 5 Minutes for Books is a fourth Tuesday challenge.  If I didn’t write this post today, I’d never write it.  I’m that kind of a blogger.  So, I’ve decided to go it alone and ramble on about what’s on my nightstand/a look ahead at the month of March.

March is going to be a busy month for me.  I agreed to participate in four book tours.  Now, before you ask me if I did that deliberately, I did.  I hemmed and I hawed.  I thought and I considered.  In the end, I agreed.  Two were books I already had, but two were new to me.  Not too bad.  I will also make my appearance on That’s How I Blog.  I cannot wait!  Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 30th at 9pm.

March that Has Already Been

My first March tour stop has already taken place.  I reviewed The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran last Thursday.  I read this book in February and really enjoyed it.  If you haven’t already, check it out. There’s a giveaway!

The second book, Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein, is finished and I even have the shell of the review written.  I was offered this book by Terra Communications somewhat at the last minute and nearly immediately said yes.  I’m glad I did. It was very interesting and reminded me a lot of the X Files – not because of the characters, but because of the subject matter.  After finishing it, I really like the cover.  It matches the tone of the book, even it if doesn’t betray the stories more bizarre and suspenseful aspects.  There will be a giveaway for this book, so if you’re interested, keep a close eye here next week.

Present Day March

I am currently reading Real Life & Liars by Kristina Riggle.

• What’s cool about this book is that the author is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, my home town.  If that isn’t enough, I received a signed copy of this book for my birthday from Trista, my best friend, who just so happens to be friends with Kristina.  In the world of Kevin Bacon, I’m only one degree removed from her. LOL!
• Kristina was in the 2009 class of  The Debutante Ball, so reading this book would qualify for The Debutante Ball Reading Challenge.  I’m not an active participant in this challenge, but it’s oh, so tempting.  If there is anywhere in my life where I’m exercising some restraint, it’s in signing up for challenges.  There’s no harm in pointing out when something you’re reading intersects with a challenge you support, right?  If you enjoy reading first time authors, you should really check out Jen (Devourer of Books) and Swapna’s (S. Krishna’s Books) challenge.
• When I finish this book, I will also – FINALLY – be able to participate in GalleySmith’s Literary Road Trip.  I’ll do a little write up about Grand Rapids as well. I’m excited to share a little bit about where I came from here.  I love my hometown and my home state.

The March to Come

Here’s where we get to what is waiting in the wings.  Hold on to your seats everyone.  This is quite ambitious for me:

1. Venetia Kelley’s Traveling Show by Frank Delaney. I have wanted to read him for forever, so I really couldn’t turn down the opportunity.  Back in my high school/college days, I was what some might consider obsessed with Ireland and many things Irish.  U2 was constantly playing, pictures of Bono everwhere.  I was reading and becoming consumed with James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw.  As a lover of historical fiction, I’m not sure what has taken me so long to get to Delaney.  March, the home of St. Patrick’s Day, is a wonderful month to rectify that.  My tour date is May 16th, so be sure to stop before you hit the green beer.
2. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.  I’m reading this in preparation for my appearance on Nicole from Linus’ Blanket’s That’s How I Blog show on March 30th!  So exciting!  If you haven’t had a change to listen in and chat during in Nicole’s show, you really should.  Another reason why I’m excited about this is because Revolutionary Road is my oldest requested book at just over a year on my shelves. Disgraceful!
3. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  This is another book I purchased with Christmas money.  Even though I’ve linked up with TLC Book Tours for this book in May, I am reading it early so I can put together some questions for a Q&A with Colum.  I’m hoping that all works out well.  I’ve been really bad about getting around to Q&As over the past year.
4. Seeing Stars by Diane Hammond.  I received an unsolicited ARC of this novel from HarperCollins.  Then I remembered that TLC was hosting Diane’s tour, so I signed up.  This is about a mother/daughter move to Hollywood to pursue the daughter’s acting career.  It should be a fun diversion from winter.  Check back here on March 31st for my tour stop.
5. The Song of Hannah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy.  I’ve had this review copy for nearly as long as Revolutionary Road.  It will be the first book I read for Beth Fish Reads’ What’s in a Name 3 challenge.
6. Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff.  I was pitched this book on the strength of the reviews it has already received from some of my favorite bloggers, including our very own Amy from My Friend Amy.  How could I pass that up?  Who isn’t in the mood for a little romance every now and again?
7. Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman.  I requested an ARC of this novel through Shelf Awareness – a dangerous practice that I’ve stopped. LOL!  This should be a pretty suspenseful read and I like those every so often.
8. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees.  Can I tell you how excited I am to read this book?  I grew up loving Louisa May Alcott.  When I was in the 5th grade, my parents gave me a collection of her novels for Christmas and to this day they are among my prized possessions, even though that copy of Little Women is so warn and abused.  When I read about this book and Trish from Hey Lady, Watcha Readin’ posted about an online bookclub in April, I commented right away.  I’m so glad that I made the cut.  We’ll be dishing about this book on Trish’s blog the evening of April 14th.  It should be a great time!
9. Outsider in Amsterday by Janwillem van de Wetering.  I am reading this novel for Jen’s (Jen’s Book Thoughts) Detectives Around the World theme week, which is April 11 – 17.  I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but I loved the opportunity to choose a detective from the land of “my people” – the Dutch. LOL!  That week I’ll be posting my review of this novel as well as a post about Amsterdam.  I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.  Jen has put so much work into this event.  There are 20 other bloggers who will be participating.  It’s amazing!  If you haven’t already, you should stop by and vote for your favorite detectives in March Madness format.

That about raps it up for me.  Ten books is probably a good week for some, but it’s quite possibly more than I’ve read in a month ever.  No pressure if I don’t get to the last three this month, but I would love to get those in.

I hope that you have a lot of fun bookish plans in place this month, too.

Snow Day!

Today much of Virginia is getting socked with what is for us our third snow storm this winter.  The first storm hit about a week before Christmas and the second one hit last Saturday. Last week’s storm kept the girls out of school until yesterday. Today is a snow day for all of us since my work is closed as well.  I do have a few meetings with vendors throughout the day, but I’ll be sure to sprinkle some fun throughout the day.  I’m sure by Sunday I’ll be climbing the walls wanting to get out of the house, but for today I’m just going to enjoy this.

Here’s what we have on tap:

1) The girls both have their 100 day school project to do.

2) Allison needs to decorate her Valentine’s box for school.

3) Junie B. Jones!

4) Playing in the snow followed by hot chocolate!

5) Shoveling – a great way to get some exercise.

6) Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  I’m about 70 pages in and enjoying it.  It’s a novelization of her grandmother’s life told in little episodes. Later today I’m hoping we can stoke up the gas logs.  Reading by a fire is relaxing, don’t you think?

What do you have planned for today?

Where Has This Book Been My Whole Life?

It’s crystal clear that my recent reading blahs are a thing of the past.  Despite knowing that A Reliable Wife was only published last March, I feel like so much time was wasted before I read it.  Hadn’t I read review, after review, after review, after review, after review?  I may have only myself to blame, but I feel like it’s one of those books that has been written just for me.  Have you ever felt that way?

I started A Reliable Wife on Saturday night.  Just before bed, I read the first chapter.  Hadn’t had to get to sleep in order to keep my points for Game On Diet, I would have read more.  Yesterday, I could not stand to put the book down.  This book is dark, mysterious, sexual, and thoughtful.  Today I was reading it in bits and snatches at traffic lights (a bad habit I try my best to fight), on the elevator between the 1st and 2nd floors at work, and any other spare moment I wasn’t working.  I cannot get enough of it.  I can tell right now by the way I’m getting distracted from writing this post to read one page more that I will be finishing this novel before I go to sleep tonight.

As I’m lousy at marking down passages I love to share with you in my reviews, I used a receipt to mark page 191, the page containing the paragraph that I got so engrossed in that my fellow traveler had to beep his horn at me.  Mea maxima culpa, sir.  I have a feeling you might have needed a little prompting yourself if you had a copy of this book in your car, too:

He had meant to be so many things.  He had meant to be a poet.  He had meant to be a lover and collector of art, to encourage young artists and have them gather around him.  He meant to live his life in an orgy of sensation, according to the sensual rules of attraction and seduction.  He had meant to be a father, to have children to inherit his love of the arts and the flesh.  Instead, he had lost his heart’s deepest passions; one day he woke up and realized they were gone, amputated as surely as an arm, cut off by the death of his little girl and the infidelities of his wife, the intractable rage he felt toward his bastard child.  His affections and obsessions had been replaced by clean shirts and half-slept in sheets and polished boots and clear soups.  The world of the body and its pleasures had closed over, as a scab closes over a wound.

The only downer about this reading experience is that I will be so close, but ultimately too far away to attend Robert Goolrick’s book signing at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond on February 11th.  I will, however, be taking part in the bookstore’s Twitter book club on Monday, February 1st at 6pm EST.  Thankfully a good buddy of mine has offered to get the book signed for me.  I’ll be pouncing on the book as soon as it gets back.

So there  you have it.  I have actually torn myself away from this book long enough to tell you to run, not walk, to the library or bookstore and pick this book up.  If you have a Kindle or Nook, it’s even easier.  You won’t regret it and I can’t thank Brittany from Algonquin Books enough for sending me a review copy.

This Unfaithful Reader

I have been slacking off a little on my blogging duties this week as I try to recover from all the fun last week.  One last thanks to everyone who participated in Dog Days of Summer.  I really appreciate it!  Thankfully my work week this week wasn’t my work week last week (try saying that 5 times fast!) or I would have been the grouchiest woman on the planet.  It’s true that you’re only given as much as you can handle.  Hopefully by next week I won’t be able to handle a darn thing. LOL!

I wasn’t planning on posting tonight.  I’m taking a little break after my busy Dog Days of Summer event last week.  When I read a tweet by J_Kaye from J.  Kaye’s Book Blog about books in a series, I became inspired.   Jennsbookshelf from Jenn’s Bookshelves (Off topic: I love how she recently made the change from bookshelf to bookshelves – I would have to go from pile to  piles myself.  We all know that piles just aren’t pretty.) was lamenting the wait between Catching Fire and the third installment in that series.  J_Kaye responded that she might wait until the series was complete before she began reading it.  I have used that logic in the past with series like Harry Potter and Twilight. The thing is that I never actually get around to reading the series in the end.  At this point I feel as though I’ve missed the Harry Potter boat and, perhaps due to all the hype and media frenzy, I don’t care about ever reading the Twilight series.

In general, I’m not a big reader of books in a series.  As an adolescent I read a lot of them, though. There was Nancy Drew (duh!), Trixie Belden, the Bobsey Twins, and even Little House on the Prairie was a series of sorts.  As an adult, not so much.  I have read a few of the Stephanie Plum books but got a little bored after the 5th one and haven’t picked any more up.  I love Philippa Gregory and I’ve owned her Wildacre series for almost 2 years, but the books remain exactly where I put them when I first brought them home.  I’ve talked about it.  I’ve triple dog dared myself to start it.  I’ve reminded myself about all the scandalous news I’ve heard about incest, but it remains unread on my shelves.  I think that had I known that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was part of a series I might have passed over it while selecting my audio book that month.  It’s fantastic and I’m glad that I’m not so prone to research before I read.

It’s not that I mind the anticipation of the next book in a series.  It’s kind of exhilarating to impatiently wait for something – sort of like Christmas Eve.  While I feel as though I can’t wait a moment longer for the big event, I miss the waiting when it’s all said and done.  I think my issue  has everything to do with a fear of commitment.  I got married without a moment’s regret or hesitation, but picking up the first book in a set of X can give me a cold sweat.  There is no way on earth I could picture myself sitting down to read an entire series back to back – Lisbeth Salander or not.  I crave variety.  I get restless. I fantasize about other characters. Once I’m unfaithful in my mind, it’s only a matter of time before I started smelling and then feeling up other books.  It’s rather sick actually.

Even if I did pick up and start reading Harry Potter, Twilight, or any other completed series today, everyone is already 10 next big things down the road from me.  No one will be as excited to talk about it as I would be.  Part of the experience is the excitement of taking part in the conversation, don’t you think?

To sum it all up.

1) I fear the commitment of a literary series even though I’ll buy 5 stand alone novels the size of Gone with the Wind without batting an eyelash.

2) Putting off starting a series until it’s complete is like me giving the series a death sentence.  In the end I’d rather be at home alone with a pint of Ben & Jerrys than show up to the party late and without a date.  I’d just feel as though I was expected to clean up.

3)  I may be Literate Housewife by day, but I’m Randy Reader by night ( I’m sorry you had to find out about it like this, Mom).  It doesn’t matter how much I adore an author, I feel the need to have a go with them all.  Thank goodness you can’t catch communicable diseases from hoping from one book to the other.  How much do prophylactics cost these days anyway?

How about you? Do you actively read books in series?  Do you read them as they go or do you wait until they’ve all been published? Would you ever treat your hairdresser the way you treat your favorite authors?  Do tell.

I {{Heart}} My Book Buddy!

I love to read.  That’s no secret, really. I feel as though I could read all day and never grow tired of it.  If you’re like me, you know that reading a book can wreak havoc on your hands after a long day’s reading and sometimes it is hard to find a comfortable position in which to read.  That’s where the Book Buddy comes in and saves the day!

Mandy at Reading Comfort contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in trying out a book buddy and I jumped at the chance.  I had seen Lisa’s review on Books on the Brain, so I was very excited.  There are many styles to choose from and I was curious to see which one I’d receive.   I was so thrilled to open the box and find the Chantilly Lace pattern (pictured above).  It is so beautiful and looks just lovely on my couch.  It’s comfortable, too.  Sitting in any position with the Book Buddy on my lap makes reading that much more pleasant. I’ve now discovered what I now consider my most relaxing and physically pleasurable way to read in bed.  I like to lay on my side.  When I lay the Book Buddy down flat, it strains my eyes to even try to read using it. Here’s where I’ve innovated.  I use another pillow to prop the Book Buddy up at an angle and then read in sweet, luxurious laziness.  Can you say heaven?

When I first tried my Book Buddy, I used a hardcover book.  I slid each cover under the coordinating straight ribbons, and used the diagonal ribbons to hold the pages down.  Over time, I stopped using the right strap and just used left to hold down read pages.  Recently, since I’m looking ahead to the end of the next chapter or challening myself to get so far before going to bed, I use the right ribbon to mark that spot.  Now, I also use my Book Buddy for trade paperbacks as well.  So long as I’m careful, I can slide trade paperbacks in and out without adding wear to the covers.  Just out of it’s design, it’s easy on the spines, so no worries about spine creases.  It’s actually double insurance against spine creases because I no longer have to hold heavy  trade paperbacks all the time.  It’s in those circumstances that I’m tempted to throw my personal rules against breaking the spines out the window for the sake of my reading comfort.  I just love that!

My Book Buddy also makes blogging much more convenient.  It comes with a sturdy plastic cover that hooks on using the diagonal ribbons.  Because I use a netbook, there’s enough space on the cover for me to write on a To Do List size notepad if I need to.  If I were a mouse user (I’m too lazy to bother hooking one up if it’s not there already), it would work in that space as well.  I have also used the flat surface to work on some of my less messy steps when I’m making book marks.  What can I say?  It’s great.

If you’re looking for something to make your reading time as pleasant as possible, you need to get a Book Buddy.  It also makes the perfect gift for any reader.  Some of them even come with matching lap blankets, which really tempts me to get the Ruby pattern – especially because there currently is a discount if you buy the Book Buddy and the lap blanket. I think the blanket would look so beautiful over the top of my favorite reading chair with my Book Buddy propted up against one arm.  Just knowing that is waiting for me at home after the kids are in bed makes me feel all warm inside.

Curious what other people think?  Here are links to other reviews:

The Tome Traveller 
The Boston Bibliophile
S. Krishna’s Books
BermudaOnion’s Weblog 
Book Addiction
Drey’s Library
She’s Too Fond of Books
Diary of an Eccentric

Booking Through Thursday ~ Turned Off, Turned On

Suggested by Simon Thomas:

Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse – a biography has made you love an author more?

Great question, Simon!  I can’t say that I’ve ever been turned off by an author based upon something I’ve read about him or her.  As much as possible, I try to disassociate the author from the work.  When I chose to avoid an author’s work, it’s either because something I’ve read has bored me to tears (take that, Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville) or I found the subject matter off putting (and this typically is due to beating me over the head with things political).

Biographies have made me love authors all the more.  I’ve read a biography of Margaret Mitchell by Darden Pyron entitled Southern Daughter that really left a tender spot in my heart for her.  She blessed me with my favorite book, but she suffered from some mental issues that really made me sad for her.  I love people just as much for their weaknesses as for their strengths.  It’s the combination of the two that make them human and someone to whom I can relate.  I’ve also read some wonderful biographies on James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner that really made me love that bunch of disfunctional men.

How about you?  Have you ever been put off by an author’s private life?  Have you ever fallen in love (literarily speaking) with an author for the same reasons?

Three I Can’t Live Without

I found this post that Miss Holly wrote in response to Cheryl’s.  I just had to jump on in…

If your book collection were on fire and you could only save three books from burning, which three would you save and why?

While I’m answering this, I’m going to assume that I’ve already rescued my family.  Yes, I love books, but I wouldn’t put them over my husband and kids – at least not most of the time   Picking the three books that I would save from this fire was actually easier than I had expected.  At this point in my life, they hold the most meaning to me.  What are they?  Here goes in the reverse order in which I would save them:

3) The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.   I treasure this novel for a couple of reasons: it was the book that ignited my love for historical fiction in general and Henry VIII in particular and I got my copy signed by Philippa at the National Book Festival in September.

2) Ulysses by James Joyce.  I could not be without this book, although I rarely pick it up.  I am proud of the fact that I read this novel and can say that it was an enjoyable experience because of the wonderful professor who taught it.  My copy has my hand-written notes throughout and would probably fall apart with much more handling.  My heirs will probably pitch it first thing after I’m gone, so I might have to demand that it be put in my casket with me.  How’s that for sacramental?

1) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  I have four or five copies of GWTW, but this recent copy would be the one that I salvage.  I like the size of this version and I like the way it smells (yes, I’m one of those).  The first time I read it, I checked it out of my high school library.   Then, I bought a mass market paperback version that now has tape all over the spine.  I have two older hard cover versions as well.  I would save this book over all others because I could never get bored with it.  I love all of the characters and I get something new out of it every time.  In the 20+ years since I read it the first time, no other novel has taken it’s place.  God bless you, Margaret Mitchell!

What three books could you not live without?

Hollywood Book Club ~ The Cure for Your Post-Divorce Blues

I ran across an article on oneIndia about Gwyneth Paltrow’s advise to her pal Madonna about coping with her post-divorce blues ~ start a book club.  The article is short, so here is a screenshot (click on the link above to go to the actual article):

What I find interesting about this article other than the funky first sentence is all that is not included: 1) So, did Madonna start or join this Hollywood book club?; 2) If so, what book did they select? (note that the “favorite book” link is not a link to Gwyneth or Madonna’s favorite books); finally, 3) Since literary preferences say so much about a person, what does Ms. Paltrow consider to be “an amazing, transportive novel”? 4) It seems that if these questions were to be answered that they would have already been included in the article.  So, why publish this at all?

Well, I may not be a Gwyneth or a Madonna, but I will agree with Gweneth’s quotes here – even if I wouldn’t state them in the same way.  I think that getting lost in a novel is one of my favorite pleasures as a human being.  There was a time where I thought I could qualify the type of novel that I would find “amazing” or “transportive,” but I’ve discovered over the past two years that so much of that criteria is subjective and fluctuates with my life and mood at the time I pick the book up and curl up with it.  I have to be careful, though.  I can use reading as a way to check out of my life, too. It’s a sure sign that I’m dealing with depression and anxiety and it’s not healthy.  Like everything else, moderation is key.  Reading my help relax, calm, and sooth, but it is not a replacement for living your life nor can it concretely address your problems.

I currently have three favorite places to read ~ the chase lounge portion of my sectional couch, my bed, and the rocking chair in my huge master bathroom.  None of those places compare to my all-time favorite place to read as a child.  There was a built in, carpeted love seat (might not be the right term) underneath my window.  I used to sit there between the window and the curtains and read for hours there.  It really was a wonderful place to get lost in Little House on the Prarie, Little Women, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden.

I am always curious to find out what other people enjoy reading.  I do think the choices people make say something about who they are, or at least why they choose to read.  I would never hold a person’s literary choices against them.  As for me, I will read just about anything that doesn’t fall into the science fiction/fantasy/horror genres.  My favorite genres, however, are historical fiction, gothic fiction, and assorted classics.  If I were to be exiled on an island for the rest of my life and could only bring one book with me, it would be Gone With the Wind.  Hands down and with no regrets.

I don’t have a great deal of personal experience with book clubs, but I will say that I’ve enjoyed my attempts at on-line book clubs.  I’m not recovering from a divorce (do you think that Madonna is really suffering about this other than the hit to her bottom line?), but working with Rusty Weston and starting the Historical Fiction Lovers book club on Facebook has really been enjoyable to me.  I’m in the middle of Soul Catcher by Michael White, the February book of the month and I’m looking forward to sharing it with all those who want to participate.

What do you think about what Gwyneth has to say?  Where are your favorite places to read now and in the past?  What types of books do you love?  Although I wouldn’t object to Madonna or Gwyneth stopping by to answer my questions, I’m much more interested in your answers.

#138 ~ Etta

Etta by Gerald Kolpan

I am not typically one for reading Westerns.  The American West has never held my imagination the way it has for so many people.  Still, when Etta was offered as an Early Reader choice on LibraryThing in December, I requested it and was lucky enough to snag it.  I don’t think I’ll ever become a regular reader of Westerns, but I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read Gerald Kolpan’s novel.

Etta tells the story of Etta Place, a young woman who grew up in Philadelphia as Lorinda Jameson.  Lorinda’s mother died early in her life, leaving her father to raise her.  Her father shares his love of horses and guns with her.  As a result, she grew up to be an unconventional and spirited young woman.  She could charm men with her beauty and dazzle them with her riding and shooting skills.  After her father, who was an irresponsible businessman, dies leaving his finances and Lorinda’s life as his only survivor in a precarious position, she becomes the target of the brutal Black Hand.  Luckily, her father’s attorney was a kind man who saved her from sure disfigurement or death by changing her identity to Etta Place and getting her a position as a Harvey Girl in Grand Junction, CO.

The West was not Etta’s element, but she accepted her new place in life with grace.  Her time in Grand Junction might have gone by without incident if the degenerate son of one of the city’s most prominent families pursues her unsuccessfully to the point of attempted rape.  The result of his crime gets Etta in trouble with the law and noticed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Wild Bunch.  They break her out of prison, and she is initiated into the gang herself. Etta quickly earns her place as one of the gang’s most infamous members through her superior riding and shooting skills.  It was her outspoken disgust at the way in which other women were treated in the gang that earned her the love and respect of Sundance Kid.  In doing so, she creates yet another mortal enemy, Kid Curry.

After joining Sundance Kid, Etta comes into contact with several well-known people of her time, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill Cody.  It was in these connections, and most especially her connection with a prominent socialist figure, that took me outside of the novel.  For example, while I enjoyed Eleanor Roosevelt’s presence, the embarrassing near sexual encounter between her and Etta was out of place in Etta’s story.  It did not add any substance to her character or move the plot along in any way that Eleanor’s loneliness could not.  Their friendship lost its luster to me afterward.  In a novel about Eleanor, this would have been interesting.  Within this novel, it was just noise.

Etta is a strong woman, yet she is compassionate as well.  Her instincts keep her one step ahead of those who would do her harm, but it is the relationships she builds with the poor and the powerful alike that truly keep her safe.  She is an intriguing character and I enjoyed reading about her adventures with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I am not alone.  It is clear through the crafting of his debut novel that Gerald Kolpan found the myths and realities surrounding Etta inspiring as well.  I found the news paper articles and the detective work going on alongside Etta’s story lively and fun.  I can only imagine how much he enjoyed taking the bits and pieces of historical fact surrounding the real Etta Place and capturing her essence in writing.  I look forward to seeing where Kolpan’s imagination will take him and his readers next.

+++++

Etta will be released on March 24, 2009, but you don’t have to wait to experience some of the energy and adventure of this novel.  Gerald Kolpan has created a fabulous website to compliment Etta.  I discovered it after I finished the novel when Mr. Kolpan left a comment.  As much as I enjoyed the site after reading the novel, it would be an excellent way to get excited about reading it.  What are you waiting for?

*******
This novel is set to be published in March of 2009.  To pre-order this book, click here.

#136 ~ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Before the movie hype, I’d never heard of this short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I’m not necessarily sure that I knew that he wrote short stories.  With the exception of The Great Gatsby, which is one of my all-time favorite novels, I never studied Fitzgerald in college or grad school.  I’m not sure if this was because of the courses I chose or if his writing wasn’t in favor at the time.  Either way, I’m planning on reading all of his short stories this year.

For those of you who do not know, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” tells the story of life of Benjamin Button.  Unlike all other humans, he was born as an elderly man, not as an infant.  The doctors, nurses, and his father are all shocked and quite disgusted by this.  Benjamin being only himself, found nothing out of the ordinary in his condition.  The unlikely circumstances of his birth continued on throughout his life.  He continued to grow more youthful as his life progressed.  He did not age.  He did just the opposite, though only those who knew otherwise seemed to be aware of his condition at all.

What stood out the most for me was that his mother was no where to be seen.  We witnessed his father’s reactions throughout his “growing up” years, but we hear nothing from the woman who gave birth to him.  She survived the birth, but how was that accomplished without killing her?  Did she love him despite his oddity?  Are we to assume by the fact that she was removed from the text that she abandoned him emotionally?  If so, how does Benjamin feel about this?  Did it not concern him because one’s mother is typically deceased when one is an elderly man or is that why Benjamin hides the truth from his wife?

Being only 30 pages, this short story was a quick read, although I’m not sure whether I can say I liked it or not.   I would be interested in reading papers published on this short story.  I believe it did highlight the responsibilities that surround raising children and caring for the elderly in a different way.  When you are a new parent, you can ask for other people’s advice, but you still are in many ways on your own.  No one else has ever raised your child.  On the other side of the coin, elderly care is also a question.  While many people do what is right by there parents, aren’t those who don’t just as irresponsible as those who might abandon a newborn?  It’s all the same for Benjamin.

*****

To buy this short story, click here.

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