Read In November 2019

Ten books this month:

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult - Even when the subject matter doesn't sound like something I would like, Picoult's writing always surprises me. Her's is a diverse and talented pen.

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson is reminiscent of the classic Strangers On A Train. This book is the kind worth reading. 

Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips took me right back to Under The Tuscan Sun and made me wish I had somehow managed a trip to Tuscany when I was still enjoying traveling.

Trail of Blood by Lisa Black is #3 in her Theresa MacLean, forensic scientist series. Unfortunately it is the only one my library has. I would read more of Ms. Black's books, especially if they were, like this one, based on true happenings.

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill - After watching a Sunday Morning segment about Hamill and learning he had authored several books, I decided to give one of his novels a try. Hamill's life as a NYC reporter really shows through this murder mystery. I wish my library had more of his books.

Garlic and Sapphires [The Secret Life Of A Critic In Disguise] by Ruth Reichl was given me by my daughter after she read and liked it so much. When I first began reading it, I just couldn't get into it, but when I picked it back up a couple months later, I really enjoyed it.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert - I resisted reading Gilbert's previous books, but thought I would enjoy this one set in 1940's NYC. It wasn't as good as I had thought it might be.

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier was my favorite read this month, the story of one of England's "surplus women" after her fiance was killed in WWI.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is a story about a brother and sister and their obsessive connection to an iconic house they once lived in.

Akin by Emma Donoghue - When I saw the title of this book I wondered what it could be about because I grew up where the surname Akin was well known. Ah, but the title is a.kin meaning of similar character or related. It is the story of a 79-year-old man entrusted with the care of his 11-year-old great-great nephew that he has never before met. 

November was a month of good and diverse reads.

Look at the Pictures

Home is so Sad
      [Philip Larkin]

Home is so sad. It stays as it was left,
Shaped to the comfort of the last to go
As if to win them back. Instead, bereft
Of anyone to please, it withers so,
Having no heart to put aside the theft

And turn again to what it started as,
A joyous shot at how things ought to be,
Long fallen wide. You can see how it was:
Look at the pictures and the cutlery.
The music in the piano stool. That vase.

Moving Across The Landscapes

              Wild Geese
                                         [By Mary Oliver]

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the small animal of your body
       love what it loves.

Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
Are moving across the landscapes,
Over the prairies and the deep trees,
The mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
      are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
Over and over announcing your place
      in the family of things.

Read In October 2019

Big uptick of books read this month compared to the last few months (more than twice the monthly average the past three months) due mostly to finding a new author I enjoyed and  quickly reading my way through all her books available at one of my libraries.

Murder On Trinity Place by Victoria Thompson is # 22 in her Gaslight Mystery series. Still enjoyable reading for me.

The House At Sea's End and A Room Full of Bones are #'s 3 & 4 in Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series. I dig this forensic archaeologist. ☺

The Shape of Night is a stand alone mystery by Tess Gerritsen, author of the Rizzoli and Isles series. This book reminded me of a favorite TV program of mine from the late 60's, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

A Better Man is Louise Penny's latest (#15) in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. I love these books so much and am always glad when a new one comes out.

A Dying Fall, The Outcast Dead, The Ghost Fields and The Woman in Blue are #'s 5,6,7 & 8 in  Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series and all that the Corning Library has. There are currently two more in the series which I am going to order through Interlibrary Loan.

I have read a number of Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo's books which is one reason I picked up his latest offering.  The other was the title, Chance Are... I mean, how could I not? I enjoyed the book, set on Martha's Vineyard, about the reunion of three friends from the 60's and the mystery that has drawn them together once again.

I liked the Elizabeth Letts novel I read in August, so was predisposed to try her non-fiction The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis.
If you read the book or saw the movie, War Horse, you, like me, probably think of horses as being a part of WWI not WWII, when in fact more than 2,750,000 horses were used in WWII, suffering more than 60% casualties.
Reading this book reminded me of when I lived in central Iowa 50 years ago and the famous white Lipizzaner stallions would perform at Veterans Auditorium in their world famous "Airs Above the Ground". It was something I always wanted to attend, and take my children to, but as I remember, couldn't afford to do so.

Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen is a biography of a young Audrey Hepburn and her time living under the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. This is an interesting read about a woman I only knew as a movie star and, at the end of her life, a UNICEF ambassador.

A first for me - the first time I downloaded and read a book on the i-Pad I inherited from daughter Kari when she got a new one.

Reflections On A Generous Generation by Michael R. Stern is an interesting read about his father's life, including his time during WWII. I became aware of Stern's book when he and my brother became Facebook friends on their authors' pages. And while I enjoyed reading Stern's notable biography, I have mixed feelings about reading a book on an i-Pad. I still prefer an actual book - the feel, the smell, the portability, the freedom from worrying about whether or not the battery is charged. Maybe it's just my resistance to change, i.e. old age.

Sunday Soliloquy

October is winding down. During its last few days, we have a chance for some snow. This year, more than ever, I am not looking forward to winter. Already the days are too short. Already I am back on the recumbent bike and the treadmill. I miss the days of park trails with my Nordic poles. Bud is still venturing out each day. He has proper outdoor weather plus the dedication of a long time runner.

He often brings me back some found item from his walk. This morning it was this pretty little leaf. Such colors!

Another present from Bud a couple weeks ago - a little woolly bear worm - long thought to be a predictor of winter. This one had some black on each end with a wider band of brown. So, cold winter to start and finish, but milder in between?

This hasn't been the best year for colorful Autumnal array, though there are some pretty trees here and there. Like this pin oak at a neighbor's.

And this maple against a bright blue October sky.

We are seeing the deer more often and closer. This one and three others have been coming very near the deck. I get a kick out of watching two of this year's fawns chase one another back and forth across the dam. My photo of them didn't turn out very well because they really move!

And even though we've had several nights below freezing, some of the flowers are still hanging on - like my Mother's Day flowers from Doug and Shelly. Some gaillardia hiding at the bottom of the photo and a pot of red geraniums and sprengeri still bloom. And another pot of petunias and my basil under the patio roof are also surviving.

Even these daylilies have decided to bloom one more time.

There's not much left of the alyssum. I've already emptied 7.55 inches of rain out of that guage this month - a new record for October, beating 1941's October total.

The sun keeps moving incessantly, setting farther south each evening.

Resulting, as always at this time of year, in some glorious sunsets.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday which means I'll be getting up at 4 a.m. for awhile instead of 5 a.m. until my internal clock adjusts.
But the time change won't mean anything, it will still be seven more weeks of darkness until the light begins to return.

"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift."  (Mary Oliver)

An Affinity For Trees

"When I am among the trees, 
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world,
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out: "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again: "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

When I Am Among The Trees
       By Mary Oliver

October Country and Bradbury

I doubt I've ever read a Ray Bradbury book, yet this cover from 1955 looks familiar. The book was a collection of nineteen of Bradbury's eerie short stories.

Three years ago, while looking for a quote about October, I found this image. I was surprised by the author's name.
I loved the quote so much I used it with one of my photos October first two years ago.







This is the full quote of Bradbury's October Country:

"......that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain."

Hmm, that omitted line about coal bins, cellars and attics, if included, would have made me see the author more like the way I perceive him. But I would not have liked the romanticism of the quote as much as I did/do.

October is not all "bright blue weather" it is the month pumpkins, hayrides, bonfires and of ghosties and goblins, too. I aim to enjoy the month in all its glories. 😈💀👻💓