The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared -- Take 2

Back before Christmas, I started reading The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, which was part of my 2022 Reading Challenge.

Prior to S and I leaving for our most recent trip, I had to skip forward several months in my 2023 Reading Challenge to find books that were available as e-books.  What I did find, while I was searching my library databases, was an audiobook version of The Reading Promise.  Several hours on airplanes gave me the opportunity to spend some time listening to this book, which I finished up shortly after we returned home.

During the paper book portion of this read, I found much of the author's writing to be somewhat trite, but I handled that just by skimming through the offending portions.  One of the wonders of audiobooks is the ability to listen to them at an accelerated pace, which I very much did in order to speed through the remainder of this book.  It's a very sweet story, and for a 22-year-old author, quite an accomplishment.  Occasionally I found her innocence and perspective to be endearing, but more often I had enough of it and just wanted to move to the next chapter.

Having said that, I cannot overlook the book's unabashed championing of reading for reading's sake, which is a message I can get behind, wholeheartedly and unreservedly.

What I'm Reading Now - Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

Since I needed to move on to a new book while we were on vacation (and I didn't want to take any paper books), I was limited to books that were available as e-books from one of my libraries.  The next book on my 2023 Reading Challenge which I could find as an e-book was Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz.  It's the June book on my list, but one of the leeways I allow myself is to go out of order.  I'll have to go back and catch the missed books later in the year.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls -- Take 2

While S and I were traveling recently, I finished up my March book for the 2023 Reading Challenge, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. 

It's a coming-of-age story about young Thea Atwell, cast out of her home during the depths of the Great Depression and sent to the titular camp.  She excels as a rider, and the reason for her being cast out is revealed as the story goes on.

I like the conceit, where you learn little bits of the past as the story goes on.  For the most part, though, the revealed story is pretty much what I expected it to be, at least once I learned who the major players were.  There was one twist which I didn't quite see coming, but it was minor in the grand scheme of the backstory.

I don't really have a complaint about the book, but generally I'm past the point in my life where coming-of-age stories do much for me.  The writing was fine, the story was fine, I love a good historical drama, but I couldn't get invested in the characters.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

I'm really struggling with my February book for my 2023 Reading Challenge (obviously, since it's halfway through March).  Though I haven't fully given up on it yet, I have decided to move on to my March book, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.

I'm a couple of chapters in, and it's every bit the easy read I was hoping it would be -- and that was before my work went completely sideways in the last couple of weeks.  I just wish I had more time to read!

Return to SLSO -- Part Two

I used to write about each symphony I went to.  It's been a while since I've done that -- partially I got busy with life, partially symphony performances were interrupted by the pandemic.  I saw several virtual shows, which was convenient but lacked the all-encompassing nature of an in-person performance.  The latter started up again last season, and have continued into this season.  Due to other conflicts, my attendance so far this season has been lighter than normal, but I have tried to swap out my tickets when I've had a conflict to go to a different show.

Such was the situation this past weekend.  I had swapped some other tickets for the Saturday morning coffee show.  I like it's "countries of the world" motif.  When we arrived, we discovered that a Wynton Marsalis violin concerto, which had been written with his wife, Scottish violist Nicola Benedetti (of Italian heritage, obviously) in mind, was being postponed.  The reason was that Ms. Benedetti herself was supposed to be the featured violinist, but she had taken ill.  After the programming changes, here's what we saw and heard:

Claude Debussy, March econssaise sur un theme populaire (Scottish March on a Popular Theme) - complete with opening bagpiper!
Ernest Chausson, Poeme, op. 25 - inspired by a Russian love story
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane - inspired by Hungarian gypsies
Claude Debussy, Iberia from Images - seven years in the making after the composer spent one afternoon in Spain.
Maurice Ravel, La Valse - the composer set out to compose a waltz as an homage to Johann Strauss, but ended up with something both bigger and darker.

Both S and I liked every piece, which doesn't happen often, so I thought I'd share.  Maybe you can take yourself on a musical journey around the world!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

If this isn't romantic, I don't know what is.

 

Happy Birthday, E!

(And also Abraham Lincoln.  I hope he has a happy birthday, too.)

What I'm Reading Now -- Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology

The February category for our 2023 Reading Challenge is "a book with red on the cover or spine."  Newer editions of Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology have either a tan or white cover, but it just so happens that the 2003 edition which I inherited from K has the red cover.

Please note that my edition of this book is 20 years old.  I have to imagine that -- based on the subtitle -- it's high time that this book get a rewrite (if it hasn't already).  A lot has happened, technologically speaking, in the last 20 years.

We'll see if the first version holds up over time, and just how prescient our author was back then.

House of Sand and Fog -- Take 2

I won't give any specific spoilers, but suffice it to say, House of Sand and Fog is dark.  

Kathy Niccolo, a newly-single recovering addict, loses her house to the county for unpaid taxes.  It's bought at auction by Massoud Behrani, an Iranian immigrant, formerly a colonel in the Iranian military.  It turns out that the tax sale was an error, but Kathy didn't know that because she couldn't be bothered to read her mail.  The third major character is Les Burdon, the police officer who initially puts Kathy out of her house but later can't seem to leave well-enough alone.

The structure is interesting; it's told in the first person from the perspectives of Kathy and Massoud, and third person regarding Les.  This arrangement leaves it open to the reader to pick a side as between Kathy and Massoud.  I know who I picked, and if you read it, I'd be interested to know your selection. 

If you've seen the movie, it it worth watching?

Overall, I didn't love the book though.  I usually don't mind dark material, but this story just had such a miserable, hopeless quality to it that it wasn't terribly enjoyable.  But, despite that, I'm now 1/12 of the way through my 2023 Reading Challenge, so that's something.

What I'm Reading Now -- House of Sand and Fog

Here I am, starting my 2023 Reading Challenge with my January book: House of Sand and Fog.  It's another dark pick right after reading Dracula.  I didn't think about that when I picked my January book, but I didn't have too many choices with a "home" word in the title (my January category), so I don't know that I could have picked something else if I wanted to.

I remember hearing about the movie of the same name based on this book when it came out, but I haven't seen it.  However, because of it's publicity, I have some general idea that this book is about two people who think they own the same house.  I'm about to get the full story.