Sunday Salon: The Gift Edition

Thanksgiving came late this year. So now it seems as if Christmas is barreling towards me like a freight train and I might not even have time to brace myself for the impact. I have my children's and my husband's Christmas wish lists, not that any one of them needs one darn thing. And I'm not feeling very inspired to get gifts this year. Bah humbug. I even spent the other day walking around the bookstore listlessly and came away with no ideas. But I always get books. It's sort of my thing (duh!). I just don't have any ideas on what to get them since they've gotten to be pickier about books than I am (because let's face it, if you bind pages between two boards, there's a pretty good chance that I'll be interested in it). Here's where you all come in. Throw your best suggestions at me. My 17 year old son has actually asked for one book, the latest in the Iron Druid Chronicles. He tends to like WWII and some dystopian fiction. My 16 year old daughter likes realistic fiction (she loved If I Stay), teenaged chick lit, and some time travel stuff (the latest she enjoyed was Time's Edge by Rysa Walker). My 12 year old son is the hardest. He sometimes likes dystopian stuff but sometimes not. He's not big on realistic fiction but also not on over the top fantasy. He likes the Greek gods. Happy soul that he is, he does like books that make him laugh. And finally, my husband, I try to find something that hasn't come across his radar yet to surprise him amidst the books he's actually asked for. So thrillers or well-written mysteries or great histories that maybe haven't gotten a whole lot of buss are the sorts of things I'm looking for. Any ideas?

This past week I have been reading a lot. It's like I have to speed up and cram as many books into the end of my year as possible or something. Weird. In any case, my bookish travels have taken me back to Regency England twice to visit with both a rake and a rogue as they each fell in love with completely unsuitable women. I went to an artsy summer camp and then to New York City with a group of friends. I traveled out to California with an unconventional family and the neighbor they antagonized with their happiness. I stayed in California as a woman figures out what is most important in her life and her marriage. I went to Sri Lanka to see the unrest, the fighting, and the personal cost of their civil war. And of course, there are the page places that I am still visiting. Where have your bookish travels taken you this past week?

Review: The Blessings by Elise Juska

There is a well known poem that says the most important part of life is what happens in the dash between the birth and death dates on a gravestone. How you live your life and the people you share that time with are more important than the beginning and the end. Everything that defines a person is contained within that dash. The other is just two dates on a calendar. In Elise Juska's latest novel, The Blessings, she captures the everyday and the extraordinary moments of the dash in many of the people in a close-knit family in Philadelphia.

The Blessings are a large, chaotic, Irish Catholic family living just outside of Philadelphia. They are three generations of a family like any other. They are a community related by blood, one where the members share their lives but also keep secrets from each other. They struggle and they celebrate. They suffer tragedy and they rejoice. In short, they are extraordinary for being so common. Moving through time, the novel is really self-contained short stories about different family members all threaded together by their common experience and the pull of kinship. The major shared touchstone for the Blessing family seems to be the early death from cancer of one of the sons, John Blessing, who leaves behind a wife and small children. John's death resonates through the rest of the stories even decades after it occurred, continuing to have an impact on his siblings, nieces, and nephews as well as his own immediate family.

With each chapter focusing on a different member of the family and their own personal struggles within the larger context of the family, there is a lack of clear narrative arc here. And while connecting everyone through John's death is a good idea, sometimes it is a little forced to make clear how that pivotal event applies to each family member and their continuing choices. The life situations that the Blessings face are those that so many of us face: birth, life, death, marriage, divorce, infidelity. There is some happiness but more sadness and resignation than anything.  In many of the chapters, the characters feel weary, as if life and circumstance has bowed them. The writing about it all though, is beautiful and well done. Juska has created a family that is incredibly familiar, full of characters like people to whom all of us are related. And there is a love and heart to the family, even if their collective feeling is based more in sadness and sympathy than in joy. What Juska has done beautifully is to illuminate the dashes in all of her characters lives.  She show that real life is in the small details more than the big moments but it is the big moments that come to define us, as it does in the Blessing family.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Things Thanksgiving Taught Me

Now that the dust has settled, the carcass has been picked clean (even though the leftovers still linger in the fridge), and the guests are all gone, I thought I'd reflect back on the lessons I learned this year.

First, buy the pie crusts. That Pillsbury dough boy knows his stuff. Me? Not so much. And when you've never attempted pastry before, making it for a holiday is absurd. It won't hold together well enough to transfer it to the pie plate so you'll have to mash and squeeze it all back together to have one piece of crust instead of many raggedy bits. This is not pretty. Then, when you cook it, it will likely char on one side only. (Yes, I know this is more likely an oven issue than a pie crust issue but there's no salvaging the crust when this happens since I defy you to put tin foil on one half of the crust and not have the convection oven blow it the heck off the pie.) Furthermore, store bought will taste better than the tired, overworked, and pitiful looking thing you've created.

Next, when you forget to pull the pecans out of the toaster oven because you get distracted (squirrel!), they will burn. Quickly. And irretrievably. And speaking of squirrels, they do not like burned pecans any better than people do.

If, like me, you not only get distracted, but you are incapable of going to the grocery store for ingredients only once, you need to know that a trio of trips to several different grocery stores all in one day is a bit of a red flag for credit card companies. They will call you to verify your purchases and you will feel like a complete idiot admitting that yes, you've been to three stores in less than eight hours and made six or so trips in 24 hours. Apparently the overly suspicious credit card folks have never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner themselves or maybe they are just far better at writing shopping lists than I am. And when they fluster you by questioning all those charges, you will forget to go back a fourth time and buy the whipped cream for the charred pies anyway, a fact which will distress your children no end.

When you only have one oven, there's no reasonable way to have all dishes hit the table as hot as you might have liked. And someone will helpfully mention this to you. Hopefully when you are not holding a carving knife. Personally I consider it a win if the turkey's hot since food borne illness is not my goal. The rest of it? Well, that's what microwaves are for, right?

If you aim to serve your turkey at lunchtime, you can have pie for a midafternoon snack and everyone will be comfortably passed out in their food comas by 6 pm. Makes for an appealingly short day.

Only crazy people host a party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. (Full disclosure: we are those crazy people but I keep doing it anyway; yes, I am the definition of insanity.)

You will be overly tired from all the Thanksgiving prep and now the myriad of appetizers you have been cooking for days so when you preheat your oven (again), make sure you haven't left something in there to cool for lack of counter space. You will only discover your oversight after the entire tray has been incinerated beyond recognition. And there goes your carefully planned menu.  Pretty sure the squirrels would have even less interest in blackened cranberry brie pastry bites than in burned pecans.  Maybe I'll test that hypothesis another time though.

Consider banning red wine at any large holiday gathering unless you want your kitchen and family room to look like someone mugged a red wine merchant or messily tapped a barrel in there. And when your friends all know where you keep the cleaning supplies because they have spilled so much, it's past time to send everyone home.  Suggesting that recalcitrant drunks get down on hands and knees to wash the floors will get them moving out of the door pretty well.

Pizza is a perfectly acceptable dinner choice following a large holiday and then a large holiday party, especially when you don't want to lay so much as an eye on anything you've cooked again at least until next year. But remember there's no room in the fridge for leftover pizza so order carefully.

And finally, make sure to have just one more smaller event that same week to help clear the fridge of any leftover appetizers unless your family likes leftovers better than mine does.  Apologies in advance to my book club who will be seeing the After the Holiday nibbles redux tonight.

Waiting on Wednesday

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to highlight some great pre-publication books we all can't wait to get our grubby little mitts on.

The Dress Shop of Dreams by Meena van Praag. The book is being released by Ballantine Books on December 30, 2014.

Amazon says this about the book: For fans of Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, and Adriana Trigiani, The Dress Shop of Dreams is a captivating novel of enduring hopes, second chances, and the life-changing magic of true love.

Since her parents’ mysterious deaths many years ago, scientist Cora Sparks has spent her days in the safety of her university lab or at her grandmother Etta’s dress shop. Tucked away on a winding Cambridge street, Etta’s charming tiny store appears quite ordinary to passersby, but the colorfully vibrant racks of beaded silks, delicate laces, and jewel-toned velvets hold bewitching secrets: With just a few stitches from Etta’s needle, these gorgeous gowns have the power to free a woman’s deepest desires.

Etta’s dearest wish is to work her magic on her granddaughter. Cora’s studious, unromantic eye has overlooked Walt, the shy bookseller who has been in love with her forever. Determined not to allow Cora to miss her chance at happiness, Etta sews a tiny stitch into Walt’s collar, hoping to give him the courage to confess his feelings to Cora. But magic spells—like true love—can go awry. After Walt is spurred into action, Etta realizes she’s set in motion a series of astonishing events that will transform Cora’s life in extraordinary and unexpected ways.

Review: 'Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma

There's something a little bit exotic, a little bit magical about Trinidad. And it's not a place that appears often in fiction, or at least not in fiction that I've read. So I was intrigued by the setting of Lauren Francis-Sharma's debut novel set mainly in Trinidad, capturing life on the island, and filling in little bit of the history and politics of the mid-twentieth century as Trinidad moved towards independence and self-governance. But more than a Trinidadian story, this is a family story, a strong woman story, a mother and children story all told with the unique flavor of the place.

In 1943 in Trinidad, Marcia Garcia is just a teenager raising two small boys she calls her brothers and trying her best to keep food on the table for the three of them. She is a talented seamstress but her family obligations weigh on her and prevent her from being as successful as she might otherwise have been. Marcia is a beautiful mixture of many of the races of people on the islands and she catches the eye of an Indian police officer, Farouk Karam, who becomes enchanted with her to the point that he visits an Obeah woman whose black magic and herbs can guarantee him that he will find his way into Marcia's heart. Although their relationship starts under the cloud of the disappearance of Marcia's twin brothers, they quickly come to find happiness together. Marcia falls pregnant and she and Farouk marry. But his proper, successful family is horrified by Marcia and Farouk denies her and accuses her of actually being the mother of the two missing boys she loved so dearly and having an incestuous relationship with her father. Despite his family's vocal disapproval and these terrible allegations, he cannot quit her so while they remain married, they never do live as husband and wife; Farouk visits only occasionally, enough for them to produce four children, Patsy, Jacqueline, Wesley, and baby Yvonne. Marcia struggles along, working to support her growing family, persevering despite hardships. At the same time, Farouk is rising in the police force, seeing corruption and vice within the ranks, even extending to Marcia's powerful, wealthy, mostly estranged uncle who is high up in government. And when there is a huge scandal, it leaves no one in the family untouched.

The heat and magic of the island is coupled here in the novel with the subsistence and borderline poverty in which Marcia and the children live.  Within these pages, there is the Trinidadian version of voodoo, the political corruption of the 1940s through the 1960s, drugs, prejudice, education and the drive to better one's lot, and above all the importance of family. Marcia is strong and a survivor despite the terrible hand she's been dealt by life. She, Farouk, and Jacqueline, their second daughter, each narrate portions of the story, sharing their hopes and dreams and the reality of their lives. Much of the dialogue is in a sing-songy dialect but once the reader gets used to it, it is easy enough to follow. When the story takes Marcia to the US, the plot becomes disorienting and a little confusing but that mirrors Marcia's own experience as an immigrant, abused, held captive, and taken advantage of. Trinidad plays a large background role through most of the book but when Marcia finally leaves it, her desire is not for the land of her youth but for her family, for them to join her and to make a new life with her. Francis-Sharma has captured a dysfunctional family in all its ups and downs, the fates that hold it back, and the ways in which each character is always a part of the same fabric even when life doesn't go quite as planned. The story is well written and if there's no happily ever after but instead a concession to reality, it feels true and genuine and possible.

Thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the publisher for sending me a copy of the book for review.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

With family in town, Thanksgiving, and our annual after Thanksgiving party (with sixty plus guests), I had no time to do anything besides cook and sleep. Now I just have to get the Christmas decorations up and I'll be finished for the rest of the holidays so I can read to my heart's content. Thank heaven! It makes me squirrelly to have so little book time. This meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Books I completed this past week are:

Not one blamed thing

Bookmarks are still living in the middle of:

Ruby by Cynthia Bond
Animal Madness by Laurel Braitman
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

Reviews posted this week:

Ishmael's Oranges by Claire Hajaj
We'll Always Have Paris by Jennifer Coburn

Books still needing to have reviews written (as opposed to the ones that are simply awaiting posting):

Neverhome by Laird Hunt
Burial Rights by Hannah Kent
Euphoria by Lily King
The Blessings by Elise Juska
The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki
Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
Juliet's Nurse by Lois Leveen
We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Mr. Tall by Tony Earley
Gemini by Carol Cassella
The Bride Insists by Jane Ashford
A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford
A Fork in the Road edited by James Oseland
Marching to Zion by Mary Glickman
Reluctantly Royal by Nichole Chase
The Geometry of Love by Jessica Levine
The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton
Highland Scandal by Julia London
Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight
Starting Over by Sue Moorcroft
Falling For Max by Shannon Stacey
Christmas Brides by Suzanne Enoch, Alexandra Hawkins, Elizabeth Essex, and Valerie Bowman
'Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma
The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison
To Marry a Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands
The Way North edited by Ron Riekki
Z by Therese Anne Fowler
While the Gods Were Sleeping by Elizabeth Enslin
I'll Take You by Eliza Kennedy
Inn at Last Chance by Hope Ramsey
The Wedding Guests by Meredith Goldstein
Talk Dirty to Me by Dakota Cassidy
Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron
Gentlemen Prefer Curves by Sugar Jamison
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
Small Blessings by Martha Woodroof
The Rake's Handbook by Sally Orr

Monday Mailbox

Just one again. This past week's mailbox arrival:

Life Drawing by Robin Black came from me for me because it's important to gift yourself sometimes.

The One Book One Facebook group is reading it right now and I am intrigued by the premise of a toxic friendship that affects and possibly interferes with a long marriage.

If you'd like to see the marvelous goodies in other people's mailboxes, make sure to visit Mailbox Monday and have fun seeing how we are all doing our part to keep the USPS and delivery services viable.