We Were Liars * Dare to Disappoint * The Story of a New Name

We Were Liars by e. lockhart - This is what teens are reading and I might have loved it myself back in the day. In the nowaday, not so much! The premise of a family island and the map and family tree helped launch me into the story, but I didn't love the narrator. One thing I will say though, is that if you hang in there to the end, you will get a big surprise.

Dare to Disappoint Growing Up in Turkey by Ozge Samanci - My second graphic memoir and I hope to discover more. Ozge is delightful and thoughtful and observant of her family as she grows up in a society that is sometimes a double edged sword. She persevered and I love where she ended up. This is as special as Persepolis. 

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante - Book Two of the Neopolitan Novels. I'm reading these in order because supposedly Book Four is wonderful. We'll see. Our narrator is growing up, but still annoying to me. Will she break out of her provincial way of thinking? What will become of her old friend from the neighborhood? Will I care? These are the questions.

I'm writing today through the Blogger app on my iPad. If I can successfully get pictures if the books onto this post, it may mean the end of desktop computers for me. Which will mean that desk upstairs away, and I could operate with one desk rather than two. Why can't I just do that now? I don't know.

It's a beautiful summer Sunday with the house to myself, kitchen cleaned up and windows open. Desk full of work, lists like you wouldn't believe and all I want to do is play Pokemon Go.  

STATION ELEVEN * LOVING AMY

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - Station Eleven is really good. It's the story of a group of characters connected by the most unusual and distressing of circumstances. One of the main characters is only featured for a minute at the beginning of the story, so it's fascinating to me that connections to his life might have been what the story was about were it not set in such an unusual time. I was thinking it's science fiction, but on second thought there is no science fiction here at all. Read it and decide for yourself. 

Loving Amy A Mother's Story by Janis Winehouse - Amy Winehouse was like this flash of music and voice and style - here and gone. But to her family, she was a daughter, granddaughter, sister and cousin. Wayward and wary of authority on the outside, so that she wouldn't have to reveal whatever she was feeling on the inside. What did come out in her music was beautiful and powerful. This biographical memoir fills in some of the blanks about her life. I know my book reviews aren't particularly inspired today, especially since I liked both books. I'm still preoccupied with getting things in order, though. I participated in a neighborhood yard sale on Saturday and moved a lot of stuff out of here. What didn't sell isn't going back in the cupboards, either. Half of it is packed for Goodwill in the car. The other half is annoyingly gracing the dining room table while it waits for me to list it on Craigslist or one of the Facebook virtual yard sales. I also started playing Pokemon Go which is fun and a huge escape from the concerns of life on any given day. It's fun to be outside walking around with a goal, and when I find a particularly darling Pokemon, it's even more fun. I like searching for things to collect, and the Pokemon don't take up any room! (Just time.) Today I'm going to clear off the dining room table if it's the last thing I do. And it might be. 

KITCHENS OF THE GREAT MIDWEST

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal - This is pretty much the best book I've read in ages no matter what I said or wrote the last few weeks. First of all, it's not depressing and sad and emotional like the others. The writing is much more streamlined, not designed to artificially pull at your heart, but if it does, it's on you. The only reason I'm depressed is because it's over! I want to keep reading these short stories where each main character might appear as a supporting character in the next one's story. Today I'm going to make Pat Prager's award winning Peanut Butter Bars. I'm not normally a bar lover, but the ingredients are few and fast to put together, so even though it's going to be 90 out there, I'm going to bake since we're sailing tonight, and a little chocolate something something is a very happy thing. Eva Thorvald is someone you will know because you knew her when she was young, except that you won't know if you know her, will you? It's modern and moves along and I can't say enough about this book. Thanks to Laura D. for the recommendation and thanks to J. Ryan Stradal for writing it. I could turn around and read it again right now.

WHERE THE LIGHT GETS IN * WAR ROOM

Where the Light Gets In - Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again by Kimberly Williams-Paisley - This true story is about a family's experience with the sad and early medical diagnosis of one of their own. Kimberly is married with children, and her smart, confident mother is the victim of early onset dementia. It's a slow and relentless disease, and Kimberly writes with love and compassion. She and her family came to understand that you've got to meet the patient where they are in every situation. Anger, frustration and impatience will not change a thing. It always makes me sad to see anyone being impatient with someone who has memory/brain issues because don't you think the person would be better if they could be?

War Room - This is an incredible movie. It's not about military war and military men strategizing ways for their side to win. The war room here is a room where larger battles are fought, and the elderly woman who leads the way knows how to gather her forces and the best way to prevail against the biggest enemy of all. She mentors a younger professional woman whose life seems to be slowly disintegrating, and the powerful performances by all the actors are more than inspirational. It's an excellent and powerful story.In my own war room (every room in my house) things are coming along. Very slowly, but every day a bit of an accomplishment. I can't wait for the process to be finished. I started on the huge pile of stuff loaded on a lucite cart in the dining room. I want to make cards. I want to make scrapbooks. I want to bead. That's downstairs. Upstairs, I want to sew. And all over the place I want to organize and I want to decorate. Slowly slowly I will get there.