I will confess that February got by me without much reading. Each month I am posting my daughter-in-law’s AP English reading syllabus. I agreed to do the reading, but not the writing assignments. If you want to follow along, my first posts of each month have the syllabus. Each month the reading goes back in time from current days — to now Shakespeare.
I haven’t been able to focus probably thanks to surgery and recovery. Plus once I get done preparing taxes, I hope to do more reading.
So what is keeping me busy? Social events. Photography. Sitting in my backyard, watching birds while reading Amy Tan’s “Backyard Bird Chronicles.” Also, I downloaded the Merlin App and I am learning what bird’s songs and calls are what. The first bird identified was — you guessed it — a Northern Cardinal.
I’m fortunate with March’s reading list. I’ve read “Pride and Prejudice,” “Hamlet” and “The Tempest.” Whew! As far as watching “Clueless” I can do that. I had no idea it was based on Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
What plans do you have for March?
What have you read on this month’s reading syllabus?
Did you know that Clueless was based on Jane Austin? Or am I the clueless one?
Here’s the new month’s syllabus for my DIL’s high school senior’s AP English class. I’m posting the reading assignment on the first of each month, in case you’re interested in adding to your TBR list. October covers the ’60s, ’50’s and ’40’s. There’s some good stuff here including Albert Camus, Eudora Welty and Tennessee Williams.
I’m participating by reading along with them — but not doing the writing assignments. I’m a little bit behind schedule and need to finish Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
HERE’s OCTOBER’S READING ASSIGNMENT:
If you’re interested in reading the poetry or short stories, my son sent me a packet of the material for October. If you send me an email to eawickham31@gmail.com, I’ll be happy to email you the pdf.
Have you read any of the authors or books, poems and short stories on October’s syllabus? If so, which ones?
Before I get to the homework assignment, I’m sharing a photo of the beach from Saturday’s morning walk. We got to the beach extra early because it was the start of Labor Day Weekend at the beach. The freeway was stopped on Friday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. through the night. We were expecting to have no parking at the beach and believed it would be really crowded. You can see going early paid off!
My DIL is teaching AP English to high school seniors this year. She and my son worked together on her curriculum for the year. They were both Lit Majors at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. They selected poetry, short stories and novels to read beginning in modern times and then going back 50 years, 100, 150, etc.
They asked if I wanted to read along with them, as they are planning on conquering the list as well as my DIL’s students. I said yes!
I’m posting the first two pages of the syllabus which covers September. Early October I’ll post those assignments, because I think posting all 13 pages at once would be overwhelming. The short stories were excellent. I also am enjoying re-reading “My Brilliant Friend,” which shockingly was published almost 15 years ago! I can’t believe that much time has passed since I read it.
I remember loving this book which is the first of four in the NeapolitanSeries. I wrote a blog post about it and was surprised at the comments. Many people found it too gritty with too much violence and wondered about my taste! I found it to be filled with details and complex, memorable characters. I think it’s an accurate reflection of life in1950s Naples, where women led a subservient role to their husbands. The characters lived in a violent, poor neighborhood. It was interesting to get so many different opinions on the book.
Here’s September’s reading list:
FYI, I’m trying to do all the reading, but have not agreed to do the writing assignments! So far I’m on schedule. If you’re not interested in this reading challenge, at least you have an abundance of literature to add to your TBR list!
There’s a lot of poetry to read which reflects my DIL as a published poet. Here’s a poem of hers that I love, I know I’ve shared it before, so if you’ve read it, enjoy it a second time! Maybe it will be a first for you.
Coal Oil Point Tonight the sky with its plummy texture Is especially dear to me, and the small purple Flowers shuddering in the sand. Tonight the wind curls soft and salty against My bare arms with that strange lively mourning. You let me look at you and understand that Nobody has ever had eyes like yours, fringed with Red-gold lashes, and nobody will again. I look up at the stars and pity them: The more they burn the faster they die. How I burn makes me live beyond myself.
Catherine Simpson is a cellist who lives in Berkeley. She has been previously published in Big River Poetry Review, Right Hand Pointing, Spectrum, Step Away Magazine, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Poydras Review, and Splash of Red.
Are you familiar with the Neapolitan Series by Elena Ferrante? If you’ve read any of her books, what did you think?
Did you know that Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym?
Elena Ferrante maintains her anonymity for a combination of artistic, practical, and personal reasons, prioritizing the work itself over the author’s public persona. She believes that once a book is written, it should speak for itself, and the author’s identity is irrelevant. — Google’s AI Overview
Red is staring at me through the window. I took this sitting down at the casita table with my iphone, because my Nikon with the telephoto is too much for me to handle a few days after surgery.
Life is taking on a new rhythm post surgery last Friday. I feel like I’m in a time of waiting. Now that my pain is less and I have a knee scooter, I am pretty much self-sufficient. Except for going to the grocery store, cooking, doing laundry — all the things that fall under my jobs. Now my husband is taking on those tasks, along with work. To be fair, hubby often does those, but now it’s all on him.
Once I got the knee scooter, which came four days late from Amazon, I was able to do most little things myself. Before that, I had a walker the surgery center sent home with me. I had to hop on my left leg with right leg in the air. Talk about a work out! Also, that left no hands free to pick up or carry anything. I had to rely on my husband for everything, which after a few days, wasn’t easy for either one of us. My handy dandy knee scooter has a basket and I can zip around the house like a free bird.
I’m passing time watching my birds out the window, reading “Writing Down the Bones,” reading blogs and beginning a new manuscript. There are a few TV shows and movies I’m enjoying, too. I’m waiting for the momentous day of my first pre op appointment a week from Friday. Sometime after that, I’ll start PT. It’s a quiet time of waiting, but to be honest — “hey it’s not that bad!”
P.S. “Hey, it’s not that bad,” I’d tell my coach after my Masters swim practices in Palm Springs. My coach joked about what an endorsement that was for his program. He said that we should make t-shirts, which a friend and I did!
How would use spend a stretch of quiet time ahead of you? Keep in mind you couldn’t leave the house or be weight bearing?
Here are two in a series of four books by author Charles Martin. The series (so far) includes “The Water Keeper”– which I gave to a friend — “The Letter Keeper” and “The Record Keeper,” which I’ve read and still own. The fourth, “The Keeper,” I’m waiting for it to come out in paperback.
One of my blogging friends suggested these books to me. I wish I remembered who. (If it was you, thanks! Please let me know in the comments.) Because the subject matter is rescuing and helping sex-trafficked children recover, my blogger friend knew that I donate time to a sex-trafficking residential recovery center. If you missed reading about my visit last week to the Phoenix Dream Center — Where Hope Lives, and the ribbon cutting for our Mother’s Kitchen — you can read it HERE.
In the “Murphy Shepherd” series, also known as the “Keeper” books, the protagonist hero has helped develop and support an entire town in the Colorado Rockies dedicated to sex-trafficked victims recovery. Not only that, but he makes the dangerous rescues. There’s also more to his story and what he does, but in the reverse of a spoiler alert, I’m not saying another word.
Here’s a snipped of a review of “The Water Keeper” from Charles Martin’s website, written by one of his son:
I can’t explain to you enough the rollercoaster of emotions I faced while reading this… I laughed. At times I didn’t breathe. Other times I read really fast in anticipation and suspense- and then re-read to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. At times I fist pumped in celebration. I even shouted a couple times in celebration and relief. But then yes, I also shed a tear or two. Then I cussed. Then I cussed at my dad. Then I cussed out my dad because he did the whole “rip-your-heart-in-half-thing” that we all love/hate him for. Then I repented of those because the next scene was usually one where he pulled the whole “blind-side-rug-out-from-under-you” move and I was fist pumping in celebration again.
Here’s a snippet from the description from Amazon:
With Charles Martin’s trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story, a heartrending search for freedom, an exploration of the terrible cost of human trafficking, and an anthem to the power of love to create change when it shows up regardless of the cost.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced, well written series of novels with characters you can’t get out of your head, I highly recommend Martin’s Murphy Shepherd series. He’s also written a number of other books. I’ve read a couple including “When Crickets Cry,” which I recommend. Martin writes beautifully and does his research.
If you’ve read Charles Martin’s books, which one did you like best?
What books are you reading now and what can you recommend?
It immediately gave me a Palm Springs vibe. The pink wall, the palm trees, the pool. Plus Snowbirds. That’s what we called the influx of visitors or seasonal residents from the cold snowy north and east.
I read the review and yes, the story takes place in Palm Springs — where I lived for more than 30 years and raised my children.
I wanted to buy it in paperback, but no, it’s not out in paperback yet. I didn’t want to spend the money — or have the heavy lifting involved with reading a hardcover. I went to Audible and downloaded it. I’ve listened to it during the past couple days and finished it over the weekend.
What I liked best was not the story, but all the details about Palm Springs. The author captured many of my favorite haunts like the Indian Canyons, Smoke Tree Ranch, Melvyn’s and even Revivals thrift store. Although somewhat stereotyped, the author captured the gay community, elderly population and homeless. I also enjoyed how the spirit of Palm Springs was portrayed. Endless sunny days and everyone living as though they are on vacation.
Here’s the notes from Amazon:
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER! | “A riveting exploration of midlife yearning.” ―People The Last Thing He Told Me meets Fleishman Is in Trouble in this page-turning story of a couple who flee winter in the Midwest for Palm Springs, where they find their relationship at a crossroads.
Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their “separate but together” partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face.
When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he’s really left her.
Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be―and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.
The only thing I didn’t like about the Audible version was the pronunciation of Mt. San Jacinto. San Jacinto is the dramatic backdrop to Palm Springs. The “J” is pronounced as “H.” The readers on Audible used a hard “J.” I think they need to do a little homework before releasing a reading of a book.
This is the view of Mt. San Jacinto from the park by my former home.
Do you like audio books, kindles, paperbacks or hardcovers best and why?
I’m on a roll of reading good books! Don’t you love that when it happens?
A few weeks ago I finished “Demon Copperhead” and I asked for book ideas HERE.
I got a good list, plus got more ideas from my friends who share books during our monthly lunch. Also, my dear friend from Santa Barbara calls me whenever she finishes a book she loves.
So why did I like “Daughter’s of Shandong?” I am a fan of books about China and the dramatic changes when Mao took over. It’s both frightening and fascinating how evil people can be to each other. “Red Scarf Girl” is one such book which is a YA autobiography by Ji-li Jiang. It’s about her life during the Cultural Revolution as a child. It’s another book I recommend as well as books by Lisa See.
It’s hard to fathom in our comfortable, easy lives how the characters in “Daughters of Shandong” survived so much hardship. Here’s the text from Amazon:
In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.
Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.
From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.
Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.
At the end of the book is an author’s note that really touched me. It added so much depth to the entire novel. This is a debut novel and the author is so talented. Here’s bit about the author from Amazon:
About the author
Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American lawyer and women’s human rights specialist. She has worked on a range of issues, including torture, sexual violence, contemporary forms of slavery, and discriminatory legislation. Her writing is inspired by social justice movements, and the continued struggle for equality and fundamental freedoms worldwide. She currently lives in New York with her husband, two children, and two dogs.
Have you read “Daughter of Shandong? If so what was your opinion of it?
