"Conversation With My Father," by Grace Paley

A woman and her 86-year-old father argue about short stories, life, and tragedy. She had always let him have the last word because of his health issues but this time she doesn't back down. 

This is one of my favorite stories because it's a story about storytelling--two people arguing about the right way to tell a story. 

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

In this 2014 novel, Jessie Burton captures the life of a Dutch wife during the seventeenth century. Petronella has just married and feels belittled by her husband who ignores her.  In keeping with the times, its an arranged marriage.

Burton records the many ways someone can make someone else feel insignificant. Marin and Cornelia, the housekeeper, know how to make Petronella feel invisible. 

Her husband, Johannes, buys her a dress that is way too big and give her a wedding gift that bewilders her, a cabinet-house. The cabinet-house mirrors the rooms that she and him inhabit. Jessie Burton writes about it:

 "The accuracy of the cabinet is eerie, as if the real house has been shrunk, its body sliced in two and its organs revealed. The nine rooms, from the working kitchen, the salon, up to the loft where the peat and firewood are stored away from damp, are perfect replicas."

Go to Part 2 for the second part of the review

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

There are many ways someone can someone else feel insignificant. Marin and Cornelia, the housekeeper, know how to make Petronella feel invisible. 

Her husband, whom she barely knows, also belittles her. He buys her a dress that is way too big and give her a gift that bewilders her, a cabinet-house. The cabinet-house the rooms that she and him inhabit. Jessie Burton writes about it:

 "The accuracy of the cabinet is eerie, as if the real house has been shrunk, its body sliced in two and its organs revealed. The nine rooms, from the working kitchen, the salon, up to the loft where the peat and firewood are stored away from damp, are perfect replicas."

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

There are many ways someone can someone else feel insignificant. Marin and Cornelia, the housekeeper, know how to make Petronella feel invisible. 

Her husband, whom she barely knows, also belittles her. He buys her a dress that is way too big and give her a gift that bewilders her, a cabinet-house. The cabinet-house the rooms that she and him inhabit. Jessie Burton writes about it:

 "The accuracy of the cabinet is eerie, as if the real house has been shrunk, its body sliced in two and its organs revealed. The nine rooms, from the working kitchen, the salon, up to the loft where the peat and firewood are stored away from damp, are perfect replicas."

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

There are several things to love about this novel. I love a book where literature is lauded. The Count's life is saved on account of a poem he wrote, which some thought had a revolutionary message.

Count Alexander Rostov nevertheless finds himself under house arrest in his favorite hotel, The Metropol. He has become in the eyes of the state a "non-person" for the sole crime of having been born a Count.

He loses his grand rooms and is forced to take rooms in the attic where the wait staff live. The Count still considers himself the luckiest man in all of Russia. He is able to keep his desk and its secret stash of gold coins.

No matter how well-educated and well-informed the Count may think he is, life and the people who populate it, never fail to surprise him.

The Count forms, for instance, forms an unexpected friendship with a handyman and he has a love affair with a woman, an actress, who is nothing like she seems.

 

The Count's odd friendship with Nina, a precocious eleven-year-old and daughter of a party leader, results in her sending him Sofia. This girl becomes his adopted daughter, his world, and his greatest accomplishment.

All of these scenes are ironic and comic rather than lugubrious such as the time that Nina goes off to work for a collective farm. Count Alexander knows that "life" will find her.

 

While the novel moves at the pace of an art film, there are wonderful comic moments. This is especially true with the Count's conflict with a waiter-turned-manager that he calls "the Bishop."

 

With sly humor, Towles traces the subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in Russia's changing political landscape.

 

"Ghosts couldn't hurt you directly. They couldn't push you off a cliff, but the could lead you off one, if you were stupid enough to follow..." Razorhurst, Justine Larbalestier. 

"Ghosts couldn't hurt you directly. They couldn't push you off a cliff, but the could lead you off one, if you were stupid enough to follow..." Razorhurst, Justine Larbalestier. 

Writing Tips for Librarians

From Library Journal's John N. Berry III's  "Skills Librarian Need to Survive: Learn to Write."

1)  Delete the first two paragraphs of an essay to see if a better beginning has been discovered.

2)  Do the same for the conclusion of the essay. 

3) Avoid rhetorical questions.

4) Avoid words ending in "ly.
Writing skills are needed more than ever, John Berry explains in "Blatantberry" because it will take "powerful prose" to prove that libraries are not obsolete. 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

This epic story that  reads like a fairytale at times is the story of a Boyar, Pyotr, his sons, Sasha and Kolya and his strange daughter Vasilia. Before his wife died, she told him that Vasilia would be most like her mother who had the "gift."

Vasilia was born with  the ability to see the creatures that populate Russian airytale creatures--the rusalka, the vazila, domonvoi, vodianoy, leshy and the Frost King, Mozorko. While its commonplace to her, others are terrified of her abilities. Much of the town, and her stepmother, call Vasilia ("Vasya") a demon or a witch. 

Ironically, Vasya's stepmother, Anna, also has the ability to see these household spirits and cheyerti of the forest. Anna, however, denigrates what she sees as "demons" or manifestations of her madness. 

Konstantine, a priest sent by Prince Ivan to the wilds of Rus, terrifies the town by labeling the old village ways "demonic." Their fears only multiply the existing dangers. An old rivalry between two supernatural forces is renewed as the terrible Bear of the fairytales is released from his bindings. 

Don't miss the next two novels in the Winternight series: Arden's The Girl in The Tower and The Winter of the Witch.

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky

Women in Science includes great information about little known women scientists who made incredible advances in science. 

Illustrations by Rachel Ignotofsky are adequate but lack color. Each scientist is assigned a single neon color. For instance, illustrations for Maria Sibylla Merian who observed and painted the metamorphoses of butterflies are each some shade of bright blue against a charcoal gray background. Marie Cure's illustrations are neon green and so on. 

Interesting facts can be found in the margins. The entry for Ada Lovelace, for instance, relates in the margins that Lovelace signed each of her letters to Charles Baggage as "lady fairy." In another entry (for Rosalind Franklin) we learn that Franklin, who took the first photo of DNA's double helix structure, also created a huge sculpture of the tobacco mosaic virus for the World's Fair. 


Ignotofsky's Women in Science is a wonderful starting place for those writing biographies on scientists. Since the entries or so short, though, most students will need to consult more resources. 

This book will please everyone but its especially written for young readers, grade 2 through 5. 

Louisiana Flooded

More than 60,000 Louisiana homes were damaged in the flood (the week of Aug 12). My family members who live there were affected; it's hard to understand how this so called 1,000 year flood (chances of happening are 1 in a 1,000 per year) could have happened.

Right now, it feels a little surreal because though the nightmare is very real, it scarcely gets a mention in the news. Everyone is quick to say that Louisianans are taking care of themselves but that hasn't really happened in my family's case. Everyone that has helped them has also charged them. I think they got one free case of drinking water. 

Klickitat by Peter Rock

Klickitat sounds completely different from any YA novel I've ever read.  I'm excited to read it.

http://peterrockproject.com/books/index.html
http://spellsproject.com/

He's Gone by Deb Caletti

Dani's second husband has gone missing. The two of them share an ostensibly fairy tale life. After he rescues her from an abusive husband, they move to a houseboat, far from the gossip of the suburbs. 

All, however, is not as it seems. Dani comes to realize how little she knows about Ian.

Unfortunately, Dani took two Vicodins the night her husband disappeared, leaving her with memory gaps. She remembers arguing with him at the party but very little else. 

Ian appears to have taken none of his clothes or other personal effects. His car was left in its usual parking spot.

Some additional details come to light. Nathan, a partner in the company, offered to buy Ian's share of the high tech start-up. This betrayal, Dani realizes, may have pushed him over the edge.

The missing person case gives Dani some clarity. She realizes her missing husband has been overly critical of her. After years of abuse from Mark, Dani has fallen from someone who wanted to rescue her. Only his rescue feels more like a trap. 

Ian often demanded she do exactly as he wanted. His hobby is collecting insects and what he says about a curious trait of butterflies is particularly disturbing.


Readers wonder if Ian's family will ever find him but another thread in the narrative concerns Dani. Will she ever find the self-confidence she needs?

Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

The author of middle grade novel, Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, has also written a non-fiction book for adults, Haunted Inns of the Southeast. 

Writing tip: Write a non-fiction essay or book and then create a work of fiction based on the facts you've learned. 

Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

The author of middle grade novel, Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, has also written a non-fiction book for adults, Haunted Inns of the Southeast. 

Writing tip: Write a non-fiction essay or book and then create a work of fiction based on the facts you've learned. 

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

American cover of Plain Kate

Everyone calls Kate by her nickname "Plain Kate." As a female woodcarver, she's an outsider. After her father dies, Kate becomes even more of an outcast.

English cover of Plain Kate

To make matters worst, an albino witch convinces Kate to give him her shadow. Kate foolishly agrees to give Linay her shadow in exchange for fish hooks and supplies. She does not realize the full implications of losing her shadow.

Since Kate and Taggle, her cat, cannot survive on their own, they tentatively finds a place among the roamers. The roamers (Roma) are a group that travels by caravan. Daj and Drina protect Kate though some of the roamers are fearful of outsiders. 

When Drina learns Kate's secret--her hasty bargain with Linay-- she becomes determined to help her. Drina's own mother was a healer who was tragically burned as a witch. 

In Toila, all of Drina's efforts, however, backfire. Instead of rescuing her friend from the false charge of witchcraft, the town accuses Drina of witchcraft. The girls barely escape with their lives. 

Bow's prose is poetic yet the action moves swiftly. The characters are strongly delineated against a backdrop of fear and suspicion. Kate is a heroine in the truest sense and strong role-model for girls.

Songs for the Missing by Nan O'Stewart

When Kim goes missing, her parents search frantically for her. They don't know the secret that their daughter's boyfriend and Kim's best friend is hiding from them.

Nan O'Stewart was inspired to write this book because of his own memories of searching for a missing person when he was seventeen. According to novelist M.J. Rose's blog, Backstory, that pivotal event informed several of his novels--Snow Angels and Wish You Were Here.  

This is psychological exploration of the emotions searchers feel as they learn to cope with the loss of loved one. 

The tone of the novel is staid; it's not a suspense thriller. Even if its the work of a skilled writer, it lacks some closure. Some questions about Kim's disappearance are never answered. 

Read more:
M.J. Rose's Backstory in which Nan O'Stewart discusses a continuing motif in his work:
http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/backstory/2008/11/stewart-onans-backstory.html

New Uses for Antarctic sea sponges

Dendrilla membranosa


This type of Antarctic sea sponge, Dendrilla Membranosa, could save humans from infections like the drug-resistant bacteria like MSRA. Scientists have isolated the compound, Darwinolide, from the sponge which has the abilitiy to kill 98% of MSRA.

What She Knew By Gilly Macmillan

Rachel deeply regrets letting her eight-year-old  run ahead of her while walking in the woods. Ben Finch disappears, leaving almost no clues except his clothing, which was found near a pond. 

Britain's CID know this case is serious after a detective finds the child's clothing. Macmillan details the police procedure expertly and poignantly sifts the mother's sorrow.

Jim, who is assigned the case by a hard-nosed boss, really wants to move up the ranks of the CID; this case, if its handled right, could help him do that. 

Unfortunately for him, the press conference at the start of the investigation is a disaster. Rachel, the boy's mother, goes off message. She unwittingly does everything under the sun to make herself look guilty.

Macmillan spends a great deal of effort making other key players look suspicious. Rachel's sister, Nicky, seems unstable as does the teaching assistant at Ben's school. Someone despises Rachel enough to send bricks through her windows and smash her milk bottles on her front step. But is this the person who took Ben? 

Rachel was trying to allow Ben independence when she let him run ahead on their walk. Now, Rachel finds herself rethinking that decision--as well as everything in her life--because nothing is as it seems.