Stay Home and Read! (or, Lockdown, Part 2)

Well, I got one book read!!! Whoo hoo!

Our family has now completed two full weeks of self-quarantine.  Except, we (the parents) have left the house 3 times.  Twice for groceries and once (with kids in car) just to drive around before NC went on lock down.  Now we can't even joy ride.

And you know what?  I am OK with that.  After all, that is what Quarantine means.  NO CONTACT.  This whole thing of "Oh, it's ok as long as we are six feet apart, so let's party!" is what is making me crazy.

NO!  JUST STAY HOME!  The six feet thing is only a recommendation if you HAVE to be out.  Yes, I am using capitals because I am YELLING AT YOU PEOPLE!!!!

My father is immunocompromised and 80 years young and very active- a big traveler.  He has to stay home.  A lady on his street tested positive.  My hometown lost a fine man last week to this virus.  Everyone knows someone that is affected, and now, at this point, pretty much everyone knows someone who has died from or is seriously ill from this virus, or will do within the next 10-14 days.  Because we are not yet at the peak.  So, stay home!  Save my Daddy!!!!!!

The other thing that is making me crazy is the negativity on social media. (We are not going to talk about how much time I spend looking at all the crazy, that is for another day, but suffice to say that is exactly why I turned it off and came here to my place of comfort.)  Stop posting memes that are incendiary.  Stop linking iffy stories or horror stories that will make depressed, anxious people even more so, or angry people really bubble up and point all the fingers.  Want bad news?  Watch the News.  Please for the love of sunshine give me something HAPPY!!!!  That is what our world needs - happy.

Like the story of Phil.  At the University my daughter attends (attended?  Online attends???), one student forgot to pack his philodendron plant.  Named Philip.  After his father, Phil, and his sister, Phyllis.  Yes, all were cut from the same plant owned by the student's father from his days at this same University.  But poor Philip was left behind.  And then the roommate knocked him over and broke his house, er, pot.  So Philip's prognosis was not good.

Mom emails housing, and pleads for this admittedly low priority item to be looked into.  Lo and behold, we have a new tradition, as Philip was gallantly rescued, placed 6 feet away from all other plants in the Office of Housing, and has since had a few Flat Stanley-like posts of his travels over campus before lockdown.  He even had "surgery" to transplant him (a-hem) to a new pot, complete with medical chart and band-aids.

Oh, the joy I have gotten from watching this hilarious and heartwarming story!!!  That is what I want my Facebook feed to be full of!!  That is how we will all get through this!

Huh.  This is not at all what I meant to write when I sat down.  Is this how authors do it?  Sit down with one thing in mind and then WHAM they are 1,482 miles west of where they started??

Huh. In any case, I feel better.  Back to my book, which is set in Florida in 1935, and there is a storm coming.  Appropriate.

Hope these characters do not end up in Mexico.  ;-)

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

If you are receiving this as an email, please remember to click the link to read the entire review on the blog.  Thank you!!


Ahhh, literature. 

Good writing, excellent scene description, mystery, love, horses, veiled faces, and veiled plans.  I just love a really good and well executed book.

Pun not intended, haha.

du Maurier is of course best known for Rebecca, that Grandmere of Gothic Romance.  There is a reason why that novel is so famous and well loved.  The author is amazing and creative and tells a fabulous twisted tale of star-crossery.  England, sometime in the early part of the 19th century. Philip's beloved cousin and surrogate father Ambrose goes on vacation in Italy and suddenly this confirmed bachelor writes that he has married.  Phillip is jealous of course, but soon the letters from Cousin Ambrose become concerning.  Philip goes to Italy, he who has never left the house and farmlands of his youth, to track down Ambrose and meet this mysterious woman.  And so is set in motion the next year of his life.  Meet Rachel he finally does, to strange result. Is Rachel guilty or innocent?  Was Philip doomed from the start?  Was he too sheltered, too innocent, or did fate just intervene??  Such a great story, a fabulous escape, with just enough foreshadowing to make you a wee bit nervous, but are you nervous for Philip or for Rachel? Or both?

My version of this book has the movie for a cover, and a wonderful introduction by the man who brought us the film.  He explains how the characters and the novel itself are perfect ambiguity.  I agree.  A great read, a classic read, and now I want to go read her OTHER 15 novels.  WHAT??

Pandemic. And no, I am not talking about a book. (Lockdown, part 1)

Hi Friends,

So, here we sit.  In our houses.  Quarantined.  Today is March 24, 2020.  For me and my family, it is Day 9 of self-isolating because of COVID-19.

And I have only read one book.

What is HAPPENING IN MY WORLD????

Everyone's worlds are being rocked right now.  We have a new language:  Pandemic, Zoom, Quarantine, Wash Your Hands, and Flatten the Curve.  We are finding creative ways to stay busy and stay in touch.  So far I have cleaned out my clothes closet, producing 6 bags of clothes and shoes I will no longer wear (ok, fine, they don't fit.  At the end of this quarantine I will probably find another bag or two that don't fit either, but that is off point.).  I have actually vacuumed the baseboards, written some letters - BY HAND - and finished a scrapbook of our trip to Australia last year.  I have cleaned out some things in my craft room, done a yoga video every day (almost), colored with my daughter, and introduced the kids to MY James Bond - Pierce Brosnan.  And my hubby and I are binging The Blacklist until midnight every night - omg I love James Spader!!!!  But one thing I am NOT doing is cooking - you people are on your own for that.  Teaching my kids to cook by default, I am.

But I have only read one book.  Maybe because I think I should be busier than that.  Maybe because I feel guilty reading.  I thought at first that oh, I will have time to finally get through that shelf of books I keep putting off, books that my mom or my sister in law have given me, books I bought I cannot remember when, books I passed over in favor of newer purchases.  I started in January, and have read about 3 of them this year, but now I am actually one book behind on my Goodreads Challenge.  ACCKKK!!

I am on my second book of the quarantine now - a Daphne du Maurier called My Cousin Rachel - thank you Dottie!!  I had no idea she had written so many books!! (17 Fiction, plus 8 nonfictions) This one is dark, a bit gothic, and so far VERY engaging.  Who knew it was written 70 years ago?  Man, she is good.  Plus, Rebecca is one of my top five books, and one of the first I remember reading as a teen - along with Gone With the Wind.  I am glad I finally picked it up.  I am hopeful that I will be able to read several more during these uncertain weeks, especially now that today NC declared a Stay at Home order, and my local bookstore sadly must close by tomorrow.   I will continue to read what I have, and support local businesses as I can.  Meanwhile, I am focusing on any silver lining I can find:  more time with my college freshman, home from college a wee bit early; time to enjoy a TV show my husband and I both enjoy; time to clean, purge, do all those little projects you keep putting off in the house; time to craft and color and make a playlist and have some simple fun.  Make those phone calls (I gotta call Uncle Bill), pull out those "Been Meaning To's" in the back of the laundry room or locker or bedside table.  Make a list (my favorite!!) of the movies on Netflix or Amazon that you would enjoy, IF YOU HAD TIME.  Cuz, guess what?  Time is what it is all about right now.

Tell me what you are spending this Found Time doing, even if it is just dreaming up new stuff you COULD do, if you had time.

Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

If you are receiving this via email, please click on the link to the blog to read the entire review!

First off, Karleen Koen is also the author of one of my favorite Historical Fiction trilogies:
Dark Angels (a prequel, I read the other two first...)
Through a Glass Darkly
Now Face to Face

So I was excited to find this gem, focusing back on Louis XIV, and covering only four months of his early reign, before moving to and changing forever that French residence, Versailles.  A pretty quick read, and switching back and forth between the perspectives of Louise, a Ladies' maid to Madame, who is married to Louis' brother Phillip, and Louis himself, as well as the Viscount Nicolas who controls the finances of the court, this book dramatizes what life could have been like in 1661.  Louise is the star here and while she is extremely innocent and mostly naive, the story of her relationship with Louis, with the court as a whole, and this long ago extravagant way of life is still pretty good escapism.  I especially enjoyed the antics of Madame herself.  Simple writing, a bit of intrigue and of course secrets, both new and long-held, keep the reader's interest.  If historical fiction is your thing, this is a good stand alone.  The author does much with a very short time frame, and imagines these real life characters' emotions, motivations, and a bit of growth for the King in fine detail.  Good escapism!!!!

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Note:  To read the entire review, please click on the link to my blog.  Thank you!!

Another reviewer summed it up for me:  "What a yawn."

Maybe because it was under edited.  Or that there is really no point.  Or that the ending, if you can call it that, didn't really end anything. Or that the narrator told us the ending the chapter prior.  Or that the narrator was unnecessary and obviously a plot point for the author to get stuff off her own chest that had nothing to do with the main story.  Or that Toby didn't get off his ass and LOOK FOR HIS WIFE.  Or that his wife was a sniveling social climber who never LISTENED TO HER HUSBAND or even tried to be a team.  Or that this book was so sexually explicit that it was distracting (gross, and I love Outlander, so I am not a prude).  Or that it made all single women seem like horndogs.  Or that the best part was the quotes on the workout tee shirts.  Or that it hit you over the head with its feminist "we can't really have it all and be liked, even by ourselves" drama .  Or or or or or.........

Or maybe I just hated that the author kept doing THAT.

I skimmed.  I read it because it was the only book I brought on the plane.  I read it because it was the buzz book.  When the perspective changed toward the end and we see what really happened to Rachel I thought, ok, here we go, maybe this is the good part.  Nope.  I will say the description of a breakdown was probably the truest part of the book, so there's that.  And maybe the title refers to Rachel.  So, two stars for that "twist."  If it is one, I am reaching here.  However, I would still NOT recommend this book.

This Book Is In Trouble.

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith

(Note:  to read the entire review, please click on the link to my blog.  Thank you!!)

Corm is back! 

After the cliffhanger of the third book (Career of Evil), I couldn't wait for this one to come out.  Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) has created a character I love in Cormoran Strike - an English PI who has issues, who has history, who is gruff and tough and smart and rude.  His sidekick Robin continues to grow and comes across a little less as the maiden in distress this go round (although, she still is of course).  She is still a bit annoying and way too accommodating, but she finally comes into her own.  They are hired not to solve a murder here, at least not at first, and two coincidences are of course NOT. 

But what I like is the banter.  I like a flawed main character who figuratively shoots himself in the foot (he only has one), but still gets the job done.  Reminds me a little of Amos Decker, but the English bit here is perfection - the accents are perfectly represented so that you can hear them in your head as you read.  Undercover work in Parliament and Covent Garden, a new girlfriend for Corm, a jealous husband or two, a politically charged activist and an obviously disturbed young man who thinks he witnessed a murder all come together in a way you cannot predict.  But of course, Cormoran Strike can.  He always gets his man.  But will he get his woman????  Stay tuned.

(PS - The fifth book is finished and should come out soon!  Yippee!!!)

(PPS - nice, subtle title here too.  You might just learn something in this novel!)

(PPS - Hi Barbara!  This one's for you!!!!  ;-))

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

(Note - to read the entire review, please click on the link to my blog rawlesreads.blogspot.com )

How is it that I am FROM South Carolina and was a History major, and yet I did not know who the Grimke sisters were but I knew Lucretia Mott?

Ugh. 

On the positive side, this is one of the many things I LOVE about reading - you learn, even when you are not aware of it until the end of the book.

Charleston, 1803.  Eleven year old Sarah Grimke is given ownership of a slave girl, Handful, for her birthday gift.  She refuses, writes an emancipation letter, and tries to give the girl her freedom.  So begins such shocking behavior from a daughter of a well known Southern judge from a well known slaveowning family that her life is ever changed and estranged.  Sarah knows in her soul that slavery is wrong.  But Sarah is a victim of a different kind of entrapment - her gender.  It is unTHINKable that a woman would have an opinion, much less express it - out loud!!!!  Eeeee Gads!!!!!

The relationship between Handful and Sarah provides the basis for this reenactment, and while the author does a great job of including real historical figures and events, Handful is fictional - mostly.  Kidd does not shy away from the atrocities of slavery and human ownership and the mindset of many a slaveowner, that it is God's will that they own and "care for" and keep in line the Negro population.  When Sarah leaves her church and begins to truly campaign for emancipation, and this bleeds into women's rights, her home city evicts her, her family despairs for her soul and her future.  Sarah and her little sister Nina bond over their convictions and shake up the world in doing so - as women. Sarah, like few women in her time, truly struggles with the desire for love, marriage and companionship and her belief that her voice, her words, her natural desire to DO SOMETHING.  In several chapters I was frustrated because of Sarah's wallowing in self pity and inaction - she is frozen between two worlds and has a hard time moving between them.  Easy for me to say now, when a woman "having it all" is what I was brought up with.  Sarah was brought up to only believe that a husband and children and running the house were the ONLY aspirations for a woman.  Could she be content with that??  She constantly queries her purpose.

Alternating between Sarah's POV and Handful's, the reader gets a good sense of what both women struggle with - their relationships with their mothers; the oppression of body, soul, mind and freedom; their lack of control over their lives; and how they feel about each other - are they friends?  Master and Slave?  How much they learn from each other!!!!

Sue Monk Kidd is a fantastic writer - this book, even with its horrific subject matter - was a beautiful read.  Maybe part of that beauty was because she did not shy away from telling true stories of how slaves lived (if you can call it that).  She relates torturous punishments for the smallest infractions and tells how one kind comment was so very huge to Handful.  The history of quilting, of music, of tradition and holding on to self- awareness and truth to self is the other central piece of this novel.  It will make you think, it will make you cringe, it will make you cheer, and it will make you so thankful that we live in the current time.  Both of these communities have come a long way since 1803, but nothing is equitable yet for either.  But for the absolutely society-busting bravery and convictions of women like Sarah, Nina and Handful, who knows where we'd be now?