LORD OF MISRULE * A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA

It's funny about my blog.  I have been neglecting it for the longest time while attending to long term projects and new distractions and a super fun Thanksgiving visit from my family.  It's like the blog is a sourdough starter.  It's a living thing that is always there, waiting to be accessed and used and added to, but since it's in the back of the fridge, it's also easy to ignore and even forget.   I never really do forget, though.  Sometimes it's very pleasant to bake bread, and sometimes it's more like something that gets fit in among other tasks and pleasures.  Funny enough, I also use this analogy for my garage sale stuff.  After every sale, I get rid of most of the items that didn't sell.  There are always a few things that was hoping to sell but got left behind.  I box these up into a small container, label it, and hang onto it for the next year.  During the year, a new garage sale pile starts, and when it's finally time, it's so nice to go back to that original starter box where I've also kept the price tags and markers, and to know there are a few really nice things that might sell this year at lower prices.  Just like the sourdough starter, if I really don't want to have a sale that year, the little box sits quietly on the shelf, waiting for its moment in the sun.  
Blog-wise, sometimes the sourdough starter doesn't make as nice a batter, and here at the blogspot, since things have changed, it's not as much fun to write with the new ways of labeling, attaching pictures, etc.  Fonts and colors are all different, too.  There must be an easier way, but of course, there is no one to call.  Just an impersonal "HELP" menu which doesn't help at all.  
I've been reading......

Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon - This one is a National Book Award Winner, but I'm not sure why.  It's difficult to read, which is fine, and the characters do grow on one, which is nice, but it's a story that you don't see where it's going until you are there.  It's about a small time race track in West Virginia and the horses and the small time operators who work the races.   When I was younger, my Uncle Peter took me to the track all the time, and I loved betting and watching the races.  There was something exotic and mysterious about it all.  Uncle Peter loved it, and I have a photo of us in the Winner's Circle.  His horse had won and he was so happy that day.   From that standpoint I read and enjoyed.  

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes - At some point during the narrative of this charming story about children and pirates, I realized that it might not be a modern book.  Sure enough, with a few pages to go, I checked the copyright page and found that the book was originally copyrighted in 1929!  That's mainly a comment on the writing style which is enjoyable and not so old-fashioned as you might think.  Not necessarily a delightful story, but a delightful read.  For me, anyway.