Reading yes... blogging, not now.

Hey there.  Just dropping in to say that I will be on a blogging hiatus for a spell.  I have hit my 100th book for the year this month and reading more and faster than ever.  Though that may be why the blogging has to wait.  I am deciding how and whether to rework the format of the blog so it is more manageable for me and more user friendly for you.  Thanks.

Memoirs to remember...

I love memoirs.  There is something to be said for understanding others' life experiences to make you more empathetic and educated.  You can be transported to another time and place or simply another place by a contemporary.   You can't go wrong with any of these memoirs, but read about them each individually since they are quite different and may appeal to unique audiences.

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey (2013)

This page-turner of a memoir reads like a mystery though it is the life story of the author's father, or moreso the story of his death.  The author is a reporter, like his father before him.  The details surrounding his father's death, as fed to him by family, non-existent.  When he delves deeper and finds contradictory obituaries, he begins a search for the truth.  But what he encounters is a wall of silence by the old boys network and learns more than just how his father died, but how he lived and even more about his beloved mother.  Most likely one of the best books of 2013.


Rapture Practice: My One Way Ticket to Salvation by Aaron Hartzler (2013)

Hartzler grew up with the expectation that at any minute, Jesus could return to earth and sweep away believers, leaving behind those who were not saved.  A scary way for a child to live, but also exhilarating.  Until it wasn't.  He loved his parents, but also knew, as a teen attending parochial school and then an even more fundamentalist evangelical parochial school, he had to lie to his father to be allowed to listen to his beloved unsanctioned music, like Amy Grant, because she wasn't 'Christian enough.'

Rapture Practice chronicles Hartzler's upbringing and adolescence in a fundamentalist world where if you spared the rod you spoiled the child.  So, simply going to the movies as a teen is a rebellious outing that his parents cannot discover.  There was no television in his home for the corruption it would bring was unfathomable.  And when he questioned his faith, he had to do it alone for there was no one to whom he could openly speak about his doubts.

A wonderfully honest memoir about faith, friends and family, Hartzler shares a world most of us know little about in a way that shocks, but also with love and care for the family that raised him.


Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan (2013)

In a world where gays and lesbians are slowly being better understood and accepted, transexual and transgendered individuals are still terribly misunderstood and discriminated against.  Finney Boylan, a Colby professor and prolific writer, is a wonderful advocate for transgendered people since she is bright, articulate and open about her trials, tribulations and joys throughout her journey from James to Jennifer.

In Stuck, she shares her family life and how transitioning from being a male, where she never truly felt 'herself,' and a father to her two sons with wife Deedie, changed her as a parent when she became, "Maddy," another mother to her two sons, miraculously maintaining an intact family unit with Deedie when many families break up with far less stress and change.

The book builds bridges of understanding, not just of the Finney Boylan family and their struggles, but between those who didn't comprehend or wanted to learn more about the transgender experience when a full gender reassignment is undergone as well as how it affects lives when more than just the individual is involved.  The strengths in the book lie in Finney Boylan's writing and narration and less so the interviews with others brought in to share experiences.  But I find her so interesting, in addition to wife Deedie, that I would read more from just the two of them.

Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu (2013)

Jeff Chu struggled with the apparent dichotomy of his homosexuality and the Christian teaching that it was a sin.  But his faith was strong.  Strong as his sexual orientation, and he went off in a search to determine whether there was a way to reconcile the two.

He embarks upon investigative reporting throughout America to determine whether a Christian can be gay and accepted in the faith.  His research ran the gamut from hate group, Westboro Baptist Church to the Episcopal Church filled with love and acceptance. He was fair-minded and open to all opinions.  It became a matter of  interpretation and beliefs.  The personal stories in the book were quite poignant.   If you are interested in the Christian gay experience in America, this book is certainly one worth exploring.

I read therefore I am,
the lowercase b

A sampling of new non-fiction--

Heavy on the pedagogical and professional.  The psychological and the political. Woven in are memoirs and within those a bit of pop culture.  Even if you are not naturally a fan of non-fiction, there might be something here for you.  Nine books and not a clunker in the bunch.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg (2013)

Facebook Chief Operating Officer shares her observations about women in leadership and why there was an upswing in female leadership years ago, but still, men hold the majority of positions in leadership while women are attending college, law, business and graduate school in record numbers.

She is refreshingly respectful of women who choose to have families, herself being one of those women.  She understands the burdens of a family with a stay-at-home-parent and does not disparage them or engage in the mommy wars.  Sandberg simply looks at facts, data and research and states that without more women in leadership to make it the norm, there will not be more women in leadership in the future.

It's true, factually and anecdotally, that men are given more allowances for the same behaviors exhibited by women when women are condemned for them.  If there were more women in leadership, this would have to shift.  In fact, even when men want to accommodate women's needs, they don't always know what those needs are and often women will not speak up to make requests lest they be reprimanded for it.

Sandberg adeptly shares her experiences regarding mentorship, balancing home and career, her own missteps and misgivings and how she says in spite of her standing in the business world, she still feels guilt and questions herself, something men just don't do.  Whether you want to climb the ladder professionally, in the volunteer world, make global change or are raising daughters OR sons this is a valuable read.


Instant Mom by Nia Vardalos (2013)

First, she achieved instant fame when her movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" became a blockbuster.  The title is deceptive but after many failed attempts at in vitro fertilization, Vardalos became the eponymous 'instant mom' to a beautiful little girl through the foster care adoption system.

With honesty, sincerity and her signature humor, Vardalos shares a very personal story to get the word out about the little known fos-adopt system and how it blessed her with a daughter.  In my mind, I read this book in Vardalos's voice.  She was very candid, sharing that she knows the average person cannot spend what she did on fertility treatments and that she was horrified to discover celebrity perks when it came to private adoptions, ones of which she could not in conscience avail herself.

You get a bit of celeb memoir and more of her infertility/adoption experience.  It's a readable account by a likable person.  So, if you don't eat no meat, that's OK.  She will get you lamb.  And yes, windex is mentioned in the book.

The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis by Steven J. Harper (2013)

Harper's thesis is that the legal profession is overridden with attorneys and up and coming lawyers.   He says the fault lies with law school deans and big firms eager to sell their products (seats and positions), not being honest about the reality of the profession today.

In addition, prospective students heavily rely on US News Rankings of schools when the metrics used are questionable at best and unethical at worst.

Law firms, with only a small percentage of high paying positions open to top ranking students at the 'best' schools mislead regarding this fact.  Studies show that lawyers are most dissatisfied with their career choice when they work for large firms where they are increasingly detached from their clients, less able to be on the partnership track because of the proliferation of competition for those spots and the newer two tier partnership tracks today, where fewer are made 'equity partners' which were the actual partners of yesteryear.


A Year Up: How a Pioneering Program Teaches Young Adults Real Skills for Real Jobs, With Real Success by Gerald Certavian (2012)

Written by founder of non-profit, Year Up, this book shares the challenges and triumphs of this once small Boston start-up which has now grown to teach skills to over one thousand students in nine American cities.

Chertavian's goal as a tech entrepreneur was to bridg the 'Opportunity Divide' and provide a way to help underprivileged youth gain skills to become marketable and climb out of poverty.  From this grew Year Up, an intensive program that requires its participants to sign a contract and buy into the program. Lateness is penalized.  Professional dress required.  Internships are arranged with major corporations and mentorship is provided.  Peer support is set up and the students become a tight knit community rooting for the success of one another.  Guess what.  It works.

Graduates of Year Up secure positions with Fortune 500 companies after they learn not only their technical skills but also the social and professional skills they need to succeed.  Some leave to go on to traditional college programs that were only a dream a couple years before.

Students and staff of Year Up share their successes and failures in this book, not only inspirational to b sure, but also extremely informative about social mobility, nonprofits, philanthropy but most importantly that it's never too late.


Simpler: The Future of Government by Cass R. Sunstein (2013)

Are you a behavioral economics junkie?  Did Freakonomics awaken a curiosity inside you that you never knew existed?  Try Simpler!

President Obama's former 'regulatory czar' shares his insights about simplifying government but also how simplification lends itself to good business practices.  How reducing decisions and simplifying labeling lengthened the life span, improved our health and saved time and money.  How did the food pyramid become a plate and why?  What changes were made to the FAFSA forms, appliance energy efficiency labels and mortgage applications?

This is a book about policy-making and the thought it involves.  Smart government saves us time.  Hours in fact.  It saves money by using cost benefit analyses.  Big corporations need small nudges.  This is the future of government, says Sunstein, the man Glenn Beck called the 'most dangerous man in America.'


Square Peg: My Story and What It Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries, and Out-of-the-Box Thinkers by L. Todd Rose with Katherine Ellison (2013)

Conventional wisdom says that if you're bright, you will sit still, do your work, work hard, get good grades, challenge yourself and go on to a prestigious college so you can be successful.  For author, the intelligent Rose, it was more like, create havoc, marginalize yourself, don't do your homework, fail classes, frustrate your parents, drop out of high school, get your act together later and then become a Harvard professor.  Not exactly every parent's dream, but is it their nightmare?  Is it fair to treat all children the same and expect them to fit the institutional mold and doom them to a life of 'not good enough' and 'never amount to anything' if they do not take the road well-traveled?

This quick read gives us another way of looking at our children.  Especially those who don't fit the prototype.  Rose is now a researcher and professor of, what else, psychology and educational neuroscience.  His hypothesis is that today's 'misfits' can be tomorrow's innovators because they learn and see the world differently.  He knows this first hand.  Any parent reading this surely feels for his parents whom each had different parenting styles which he fairly attributes to nurturing him at different times in his life, even though he knows how trying it was for them to parent him.

The book touches upon nature, nurture, bullying, social safety nets and more.  Well worth a look if you have a child, work with children or have some intellectual curiosity and a few spare moments.


The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius by Kristine Barnett (2013)

One day, Barnett's little toddler stops developing and actually regresses.  She is faced with a devastating blow when she is given a diagnosis of autism.  Enrolled in special services for preschool, she is told her will never read or tie his shoes and is there just to get basic social skills.  Her instincts tell her otherwise and she pulls him out of the program against the advice of the 'experts' and her husband.

She embarks on a journey with her son Jake, that will change the outcome of their lives as well as the lives of many families with autistic children.  Her premise is that no one should focus on what children cannot do.  Focus on what they can do and run with that.  She begins a program to help kids like Jake and Jake himself.  She nurtures their gifts and talents and starts to see Jake thrive.  He indeed is able to read, to read shockingly well, and Barnett discovers that his IQ is of genius level.

Her journey with Jake is not an easy one, especially since she runs a daycare, has two other sons, one of whom was ill, and money was a constant challenge.  Over time, she pulled him out of elementary school, an environment that left him bored though he was mainstreamed.  He was enrolled in college at the age of 11, a paid physics researcher at age 12.

This is not a book about curing autism, nor a book about what parents with autistic children are doing right or wrong.  This is one mother's journey with her son and her outlook and attitudes, his story and how he thrived.  Like myself, you won't agree with all of Barnett's decisions and choices, but there is no denying that she put everything she could into her son: faith, time and energy.  And she did the same for the families in her community.


College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students by Jeffrey J. Selingo (2013)

Selingo takes a critical look at American higher education and offers advice and alternatives for those embarking on this today.  He says the debt incurred for a bachelor's degree from mediocre institutions is not a wise investment since the majority of students are led to schools by shiny marketing materials, campus amenities and emotion rather than academics and job prospects.

Other options are proffered such as online a la carte credits, community college as good value, Khan academy (education for education's sake), and looking to the future where credentials might be given for life experiences and competency rather than time spent in a lecture hall.

Whether these are realistic now or in the long run, it is food for thought as to whether our system of higher education is broken, how our tuition dollars are actually being spent and whether the extreme annual increases are as necessary as the institutions make it appear.  They aren't, if you're talking about straight education.  If you're talking about fancy dorms and bells and whistles, that's a different discussion.


Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And all the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (2013)

For anyone who watched The Mary Tyler Moore Show, first run or in reruns, and television of the era including All in the Family, Maude and M*A*S*H, this is a wonderfully engaging look at the making of the show, the cultural ramifications of it and the lives and struggles of the creators, producers and writers and not just some light tell-all book about its stars.

Mary Tyler Moore never set out to be a feminist role model and the feminists were displeased that she wasn't doing a tougher portrayal of the independent woman.  She wanted to revitalize a career on the decline and with husband Grant Tinker created a show that would leave Laura Petrie in the past.  No one realized how large Mary Richards would be in the annals of television history, with such a rich ensemble cast, launching the careers of writer/producers Brooks and Burns and many sought out female comedy writers, unheard of in the 1970s.

If you like reading about nostalgia, pop culture and hollywood, but not gossip, this is a stellar choice.

I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b

A survey of new books for fiction lovers!

There has been some good buzz for fiction as of late and what better time to grab a book, get outdoors and lose yourself in a novel?  These six are an eclectic mix of debuts, returns by award winners and some nice solid entries by established authors.


Benediction by Kent Haruf (2013)

In this novel of small town America, rich with characters we get to know and appreciate, a place becomes real and problems recognizable because family is not always without drama.  A man is diagnosed with terminal cancer and one of his grown children returns home to be with her parents and tie up loose ends.  Along with them, we watch and we wait.

The community rallies round to support the family and throughout we learn more about the dying man, the town and the other players.  More than one family has trials of their own and each family is drawn with care by Haruf.

Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (2013)

This strong debut by Selasi is set in Boston and then Ghana as four children reconvene to mourn the death of their renowned surgeon father.

We are told the stories of Kweku Sai, the surgeon, his first wife, and the lives of his 4 children.  We come to know them and the substance of these people as a family.  These are not just Africans.  They are people with strengths, weaknesses, skills, talents and flaws.  They happen to have a rich heritage.

Stylistically, the writing takes twists and turns so it is unclear when time changes and to whom the narration refers.  This is the one shortfall of the novel.  It was a distraction interrupting the flow of the story which was intriguing until you had to work hard to absorb it.  That said, it was worthwhile.

Harvard Square: A Novel by Andre Aciman (2013)

Told as a flashback, a lively immigrant Tunisian cabbie meets a culturally Jewish Harvard PhD candidate and they form a strange but symbiotic friendship in late 70s Cambridge.  Reminiscent of The Stranger (Camus), perhaps only because we have two Francophiles with ties to Northern Africa and their hangout, Cafe Algiers, they have a relationship that does not cross all facets of each others' lives.  Likely due to embarrassment, the nameless narrator keeps Kalaj, his taxi-driving friend, compartmentalized from his upper class student experience...   until he can no longer.

Their lives become entwined, one knowing how to play the games of the social and academic world, the other brash and obstreperous with professionals and women alike.  In the end, does the value of the friendship override the shame held because a poor immigrant is inferior to the hopeful professor?

Elders by Ryan McIlvain (2013)

Two young men with pressed shirts and name tags are serving their mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Brazil.  Or as the book reminds us, we know them as Mormons.  But the main thrust of this story is not to sell or demonize proselytizing or comment on the LDS as a people.  Interestingly, the focus is on the relationship between the two young men, the two 'elders' on their mission.

One is having a crisis of faith and the other is a ladder climber who wants to do what he must to ascend the ranks of Mormon leadership, no matter the cost.  Things are not aways what they seem and this story, written by a former LDS member, offers a bird's eye view into a life experience that most see only from the other side of their doors.

Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley (2013)

A mother escapes a fundamentalist cult with her two adolescent daughters who are ignorant to the ways of the world and brainwashed beyond reason.  How did it happen and why?  Why are the two girls bound at the wrist?  Will the escape ultimately lead to freedom?

This novel is unique in that the fundamentalist cult story popular now, usually told while the family is intact and living their polygamous lifestyle, is here told from the perspective of three who escaped.  And not all three wanted to leave.

Sorrow, the older sister fiercely believes that her father, bound to 50 wives, was going to lead them all to heaven.  Convinced that the world outside is evil, she tried to end their suffering and have them returned to their compound or end the world so they can be saved in the Rapture.

The Humanity Project: A novel by Jean Thompson (2013)

Author of the NYT bestselling, The Year We Left Home returns with another page-turner.  Admittedly, this one has many storylines that even an avowed bookworm can have trouble following.  The book is chock full of misfits who need a hand.  The ties that bind them are not evidenced until you get quite deep into the book.

One teen is left to care for his father, who is losing their house, rather than go to college.  Another teen is the victim of a broken home and a school shooting and tries to start over with her estranged father.  A nurse becomes engrossed in the project of a wealthy, elderly patient.

But the book asks, can people be paid to be good?  And I don't think this is the real premise nor do I think it's actually answered.  So, if it was addressed, for it does give food for thought, and if it was somehow answered by the novel, I would praise this far more.

Humanity Project  was certainly a skillfully told story that keeps your interest and worth the time it takes to read as well as the time you devote to pondering its questions.  However, you think it raises certain issues, will go in one direction and then it goes in quite another.

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I read, therefore I am

Books about women, by women, but not just for women.

Three books about three women.  Two memoirs and one biography, all penned by women.  It was a coincidence that these were the books I had to read this week but they juxtaposed nicely, examining lives of varied types of women at different eras.


Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani (2013)

As evidenced by my relationship with my sister, siblings may share a special bond, a unique love, but it can never compare to that shared by twins.  In fact, when one twin dies, regardless of circumstances, even accident, it is 50% more likely that the surviving twin will pass away within the following two years.  Chilling.

Christa Parravani, upon losing her twin Cara, was no less than paralyzed by her young sister's death.  This heartwrenching memoir chronicles their bond, their devotion to one another, their imperfect love and what happened when Christa could not save Cara from her demons.

Born to an insecure mother and a father who was not interested in raising one girl, much less two daughters, they had a less than ideal childhood.  Later saddled with a second father figure in their step-dad who was no better than the first, they continued to struggle in poverty.  In spite of this start in life they went on to Bard College, together, and studied the arts.

Finding their way in the world together, it seemed happiness would be in their grasp.  Until a horrifying rape ended life as both twins knew it--although physically, it happened only to Cara.  The downward spiral could not be stopped and Christa was left alone.


My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor (2013)

This smart memoir by about a gifted lady is at once informational and inspirational.  By no means was Sonia a perfect child living in a idyllic world.  Having nothing handed to her except a brilliant mind, this woman worked hard for everything she became.

Regardless of what political team you bat for, it is difficult to imagine someone reading this and not having enormous respect for the ambition and diligence with which Sotomayor approached everything she tried.  Her integrity is impressive but she was also honest about the role affirmative action played in her life and how without it she would not have even known about Ivy league schools because she was too busy just trying to get homework done in her widowed mother's household where they lived paycheck to paycheck, eating rice and beans in her poor Bronx neighborhood.

Seeking an ADA placement right out of Yale Law instead of vying for a coveted, moneyed, firm position because of her commitment to public service, Sotomayor saw her commitment to people and the law as more vital than dollars.  Even when she later left private practice for the Federal bench, her own mother was proud but confused since she would be surrounded by less savory individuals and take a large cut in salary.

Diagnosed with Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes as a young child, Sonia Sotomayor had a precarious existence as a youth, with an alcoholic but loving father and a hard working, always supportive mother.  She rose to the top and is living a life worth reading about.  Smartly, the book is also published in Spanish.


Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall (2013)

This well-researched, thorough biography chronicles the life of Margaret Fuller, early feminist, transcendentalist, book reviewer, author and correspondent.  Her family life, relationships with other famed contemporary transcendentalists, her aspirations, romantic life and experiences in Rome as a correspondent during the revolution are fully explored.


I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b

"Power is of two kinds..."

The two books I read last week reminded me of this quote by Gandhi:

"Power is of two kinds.  One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love.  Power based on love is a thousand more times effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment."

Each of the following, the first a debut novel and the second a non-fiction travelogue/memoir/business-economics genre, has a lot to offer:

Wash by Margaret Wrinkle (2013)

Wash, a young slave, is followed in this story as he loves the local healer, also a slave, as he is bred by his owner for money, and as he recalls his life with his mother who was bought while pregnant with him, his destiny a fait accompli.

Richardson is the relatively kind slaveowner, Revolutionary War veteran, chosen by Wash's mother rather than the other way around.

Detail transporting you to the moment but not weighing you down makes Wash a realistic historical slave narrative.  

This novel spans West Africa and the American South telling the story from the points of view of the slaves and the slaveowners.  So many stories, voices we should never forget.


The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time by Bob Harris (2013)

This book is many things:  a travelogue, a memoir and an most interestingly, an introduction to microlending in developing countries.

When ForbesTraveler.com hired Harris to stay at various elite hotels around the world and write about the accommodations, his experience in Dubai and the juxtaposition of extreme wealth backed against dire poverty opened his eyes to the dichotomy of people drinking $136 cups of coffee just feet away from impoverished men working for under $10 a day.  He wanted to do something about it and discovered the world of microfinance.

Kiva.org, an organization that facilitates loans for individuals in countries around the globe, has a repayment rate over 98%.  The motivation for many borrowers is to be able to send their children to school, knowing the best way to get out of poverty is education.  Hard to argue with that.

Also explored are the failures of microloans and the reasons why.

Depending on your opinion of footnotes, this book could be quite enjoyable.  For me, the footnotes, although often educational, were a distraction that disrupted the flow of the book.

I read, therefore I am,
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Reading with a vengeance!

Leisure time = reading time!  And hopefully something you'll be interested in picking up and maybe even sharing.  Lots here to learn from, entertain and enjoy.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (2013)

A zen Buddhist priest writes a beautiful two-pronged novel about a suicidal girl whose diary washes ashore and is found by a Canadian writer.  In the diary, the Japanese-American girl shares the story of her life amongst bullies in Japan and time spent with her centenarian, Buddhist nun great-grandmother.

This novel is Ozeki's junction of fiction and reality and it's difficult for us to parse through it, determining where she writes what she knows and where she creates from her imagination.

The concrete thinker in me does not enjoy the book as much as the abstract reader will.  But it is a wonderfully made story that draws the reader in as the diary draws in the novel's writer who finds it.


Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)

All the YA (Young Adult) books are wasted on the young.  Maybe this was written for a young audience and maybe it has young protagonists.  But enough about that demographic.  This story is placed in 1980s Omaha and it has 80s references that today's YA whippersnappers can't appreciate, characters we quickly come to know and care about and a gripping plot.

Eleanor and Park meet.  There's a romance.  But it's not like that!  They don't even speak to each other at first.  Heck they don't even like each other.  He's not popular.  She's not even on the fringe of not popular.  The both get by.  She, barely.  His home life is idyllic.  Hers is horrible.  They are different as can be.  Or are they?

A great story, an unpredictable ending set to 80s new wave and the sharing of X-Men comic books.


The Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp (2013)

Heartbreak and literary philosophy between the covers.  A mother cathartically relives the devastation of learning her beautiful boy is not going to blossom into all the hopes and dreams she has for him, but will instead soon die of Tay-Sachs disease, a terrible, degenerative illness.

Rapp begins this crushing memoir with the medical appointments that reveal her son's diagnosis.  Rather than give the day-to-day trials of living with a slowly deteriorating baby, she talks about how she dealt with the truth of his diagnosis, the reality of the prenatal Tay-Sachs testing many people take (her son's was a rare and untested variety) and how she came to terms with the fact that she and Ronan would share very little time here together.


The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America by Ernest Freeberg (2013)

Fact-filled book, exploring the change in society once the incandescent lightbulb hit the scene.  Quite honestly, this book did not light up my life in an entertaining way, but it was educational historically, socially and scientifically and for that it had value.

Drama in the scientific community surrounded the fame that Thomas Edison garnered, as it was not he alone who invented the lightbulb.  He did, however, revolutionize the processes by which the lightbulb was used and brought to the people at large and for that his fame was earned.

There were many deaths and dangers present in the initial years of light being spread upon the city streets.  Stories are gruesome and disturbing.

Europe conceded that America reigned supreme when it came to ambition and ingenuity and it was a new age.  The late 1800's were an Age of Edison.


The Dinner by Herman Koch (2013 USA)

Is there a genre called disturbing fiction?  The Dinner might fit the bill.  Or it might be called confusing fiction.  This book has been a bestseller in Europe for a few years now and has just found its way to America.

Teen cousins get into trouble and the narrator and his brother, a political big-wig in Amsterdam, along with their wives, meet for dinner to discuss how to handle the problem.  The book is largely flashbacks and intermittently, we find them back at this dinner.

Perhaps most disturbing is the way one of the parents wants to 'handle' the trouble the teens caused.  Or maybe more disturbing is what the teens actually did.  Or it could be that none of the characters in this book has enough redeeming qualities so you would run screaming from dinner with any one of them.

The concept was a good one, though you get one-third of the way through the book before you even get a hint of what the problem was in the first place and perhaps your interest wanes by then.  All said, it takes less time to read this book than it does for them to finish their dinner, so you can decide what you think for yourself.


Out of the Easy by Ruta Septys (2013)

After reading how many books by a particular author can I consider myself a fan?  I've read Septys's debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011) and decided whatever book is her next, I will be reading.  She has hit the ball out of the park twice, with YA historical fiction.  And both times, I started the books at night and stayed up into the wee hours to finish in one sitting.  I didn't love Ms. Septys in the morning due to my reading hangover, but I did love her books.

Out of the Easy is the story of a girl, Josie Moraine, raised in New Orleans, or not really raised, by a prostitute with links to the criminal underworld.  Josie wants more than a life of tricks and crime.  She has her sights set on college, in the Northeast no less.  In the 1950s, that was not exactly on the poor girl's menu.  But Josie, a smart and savvy girl with ambition was going to make this happen.

A richly drawn cast of characters both for and against Josie, a mystery to be solved and the backdrop of the French Quarter conspire to make a grand novel.

I read, therefore I am,
the lowercase b