Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners by Josephine Ross

This book is a must-read (or peruse) for any Jane Austen fan. It goes behind the scenes of Austen's world to give insight into the "Compliments Charades and Horrible Blunders" of her day -- from "Forms of Introduction" to "Calling and Conversation" to "The Subject of Matrimony." It's written as if to members of the Regency Era, and it mixes lightheartedness and wit in a perfect blend.

I loved that it had one of those built in ribbon bookmarks -- the kind that you would find in a Hymnal.  I imagine it comes in handy if you want to mark your favorite page.  Maybe this one from "Calling and Conversation" (it made me laugh out loud): "It was an awkward ceremony at any time to be receiving wedding-visits, and a man had need be all grace to acquit himself well through it.  The woman was better off; she might have...the privilege of bashfulness."  Haha!  Poor men.  They get to weather the awkward moment all by themselves.

However, my favorite part of the book was the watercolor illustrations of Henrietta Webb. They're beautiful and charming and a treasure all their own.

The World According to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers

I picked up this little gem on a walk around the library.  I thought it would be memoir-like, but instead I was happily surprised with a colleciton of quotes and excerpts from Mister Rogers writings.

"A timeless collection of wisdom on love, friendship, respect, individuality, and honesty from teh man who has been a friend and neighbor to generations of Americans"

Here's a taste from each section of the book:

• The Courage to Be Yourself - "The values we care about the deepest, and the movements within society that support those values, command our love.  When those things that we care about so deeply become endangered, we become enraged.  And what a healthy thing that is!  Without it, we would never stand up and speak out for what we believe."
• Understanding Love - "In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers."
• The Challenges of Inner Discipline - "I hope you're proud of yourself for the times you've said "yes," when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to someone else."
• We Are All Neighbors - "The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings.  Some people have many blessings and hoard them.  Some have few and give everything away."  Bonus: "'L'essential est invisible pour les yeux.' (What is essential is invisible to the eyes.) The closer we get to know the truth of that sentence, the closer I feel we get to wisdom."

I grew up watching Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and this kindhearted man is one of my heroes.  With every page turn, I could almost hear his voice, and picture him in his foyer dolling out his final thought of the day while donning his outdoor coat.  

When I was doing a lot of paper-writing in college, I collected books like these to augment and inspire my writing.  I'll be adding this one my little shelf of treasures.  It's not one that you read cover to cover, but one that you come back to when you need encouragement or a little reminder about what's really important.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

**Spoilers this time**

This may be considered as cheating in book-blog land, but I want to talk about all five Percy Jackson books together. Because to me, there really is one big story arc that ties them altogether. They’re broken down into very digestible pieces (which is good considering they are young adult adventure fiction), but to me, once you get going it’s hard to stop until the resolution in book 5.

I watched the movie before I embarked on the journey though the books. Because of that, in some ways The Lightning Thief was ruined for me. The movie changes quite a number of things from the book, and I was pretty distracted by them. Instead of being able to sit back and enjoy the extra characters (some of them quite important) and the different circumstances (some of them quite pivotal), I found myself impatient to get through to events I knew were coming. Probably not the books fault. If I had read it first, I’m sure I would have had a different experience.

One of things I really enjoyed about this series is that Percy Jackson isn’t the only hero. For example, in The Sea of Monsters, he isn’t chosen to lead (or even go on) the quest to recover the Golden Fleece. So for me, the Percy Jackson series shares more with Lord of the Rings than it does with Harry Potter. Why? Because each member of the Fellowship had moments of glory, and things that made them heroes in their own right. Frodo had to carry the ring, Aragorn had to claim the throne of Gondor, Glorfindel saved the day at Helm’s Deep, etc. I really like that in this series lots of the demigod children get the chance to shine and have their moment. Getting back to book 2. I love the character Tyson -- Percy’s cyclops half-brother. He can seem a little simple at times, but appearances are deceiving. He’s got the heart of a lion, and is constantly proving that a person doesn’t have to follow the stereotype. What a great character! And I adored the final line of the book. It was a game changer, and makes you want to pick up the next book and keep right on going. (That’s exactly what I did).

The final three books really string together. The big bad guy remains the same, and some key characters face challenges that span through the rest of the story arc to the end of the saga.

I think The Titan’s Curse was the first book I really truly enjoyed. Percy is off on another rescue mission (a common occurrence in the series). And for some reason, things started hitting their stride for me -- from the different characters to the pacing to the humor. I also love it because you get to meet Nico. He’s one of my favorite characters in the series. I really liked the way he grows and develops. He doesn’t walk an easy path, and I enjoyed watching his choices and character unfold.

The Battle of the Labyrinth gets heavier and darker in tone. Much more time is spent in the realm of the Underworld, so there are more eerie and spooky things. I didn’t notice at first because I was firmly in Rick Riordan land. But I found out that a friend’s daughter had started with the fourth installment, and was strongly discouraged from reading the others. That changed my perspective a bit, and I started seeing how it could be quite scary for younger readers.

After another cliffhanger ending, the fast paced plot that started in Titan’s Curse carries through the end of The Last Olympian. And while I liked the 3rd book a lot, I think the finale is my favorite. You learn a lot of back-story of Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia. And the theme of “family” comes full circle. **Big spoiler** I loved the theme of family that concludes in The Last Olympian. The love of family, even if it’s a family of choice and not of blood, is what helps Luke to make an important decision. The importance of family is a major bargaining chip in confrontations between Percy and several of the gods. And there is a strong message for parental support, attention, and involvement in the last book (really in the whole series). i.e. If the Greek gods had been more involved in their children’s lives, many things could have turned out differently. And I think Percy’s last big choice (and his reasons behind it) in the book would make for wonderful discussion with one’s own child.

Overall: I thought it was a satisfying series. True, it is a little juvenile in tone. But I think that’s completely appropriate since it’s meant for a younger audience. I liked the contemporary spin Riordan gives to classic Greek mythology. It was fun to remember (and learn more of) the tangled web of roles and relationships held by the Titans and Olympians.

One other thing I really liked: Each of the main characters has a “fatal flaw,” and each are given the chance to overcome it. As I mentioned before, I found Nico’s journey the most dramatic. But all the major characters – Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Clarisse, Grover, Tyson, Luke – are given the chance to face their flaws and triumph (or fail *wink*) in turn.

And it will be redundant, but I love good message of love, family, loyalty, and selflessness. All are included in the Percy Jackson series. Add in the constant stream humor and action, and I think it makes for a wonderful literary adventure. It’s just plain fun…with a lot of heart to boot.

Decoding the Universe by Charles Seife

This was a happy find during a random walk-through my library.  I was hooked from the moment I read the subtitle:  "How the new science of information is explaining everything in the cosmos from our brains to black holes."  How could I resist?  Then I read the first line:  "Civilization is doomed."  Yep.  This one was going to to be a winner. *grin*

I found this book fascinating.  Sometimes it got a little heavy and I had to pause and process what I was reading, but Seife does and extraordinary job pulling everything together.  You know why analogies work?  Because things are connected.  And Seife puts quantum physics, information theory, and other such fare into language I could understand.  But better than that, it was language that I enjoyed!

One thing I love about science:  While we're constantly figuring out new and mind boggling things, the old saying holds that "the more we learn, the less we know."  To me, this reinforces a state of wonder and amazement for both the created world, and the creator behind it.  I think I enjoyed this book so much because Seife writes from a similar optimistic and amazed point of view.  He welcomes the paradoxes and questions, and admits that there are things we have yet to answer or figure out.  Those questions keep us pushing and discovering. 

If you want to exercise a different part of your brain, if you're curious about science, astronomy, or mathematics, or if you're just in the mood for something different...pick up this book.  I think you'll like it!

Cleaving by Julie Powell

"Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession" is Julia Powell's second book. I picked it up because I was curious. I had seen the movie "Julie and Julia," and wanted to read more about the woman behind the movie.

Of course, the person Julie is much more complex than the character in the movie. In fact, I had to giggle over a quote by Amy Adams (the actress who portrayed Julie Powell in the movie). When an interviewer told her that Julie was coming out with a new book which talked about her extramarital affair, Amy exclaimed "Not my Julie! My Julie Powell would never do that."

But of course, the real Julie did. And as "Cleaving" recounts, it was not just a short term thing. Her affair truly was an obsession. It encompasses every part of her life.

"Cleaving" follows Julie's thoughts during an "Eat Pray Love" type year. She gets sick of her affair and decides to stop it (sort of), takes up butchery to get her mind off things, and ends up going on a trip to visit with butchers around the world to continue her soul-searching.

But like "Eat Pray Love," I don't know that the soul-searcher ends up any different at the end of the journey. Some of Julie's analogies and comparisons are pretty good, but overall, I was disappointed.  I probably wouldn't recommend this book to others.

One last note. At the end of her book, Julie writes this acknowledgment: "Most of all, I thank Eric and D. Writing your own story is easy enough; having your story written by another is hard. I am grateful down to my toes for you both, for your generosity and grace in handling a situation difficult and not of your choosing." I realize that in a way, Eric is probably simplified from his real-life self (then again, this book is very raw and an "overshare" in several places), but he's a saint. I can't imagine the sheer amount of grace, forgiveness, and patience this man has. I hope for his sake that the Powell's survive this storm and experience marital bliss once again.

Reading Update

I thought I would post an update on my reading so far this year:

Raw Stats:

• 12 books read.
• 8 new (67%).
• 4 re-reads (33%).
• 5,601 pages.  

Challenges:

• TBR Challenge - Goal:  12 books.  Completed: 2 books.  Not bad there.  I'm on pace to finish by the end of the year.
• Audio Book Challenge - Goal: 20 books.  Completed: 4 books.  I'm almost done the 5th, with number 6 waiting in the wings.   You haven't seen any reviews/reports yet because I'm waiting to finish the whole series first.
• Support Your Local Library Challenge - Goal: 50 books. Completed: 8 books.  Almost done the 9th (an audio book), and am in the middle of number 10. 

Books I'm reading right now:

• The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan - part of my quest through the Wheel of Time series
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - a book club assignment.
• Cleaving: A Story of Marraige, Meat and Obsession by Julie Powell - the follow-up to "Julie and Julia."
• The Pursuit of God: A 31-day experience by A.W. Tozer- a Bible Study assignment.
• Decoding the Universe: How the new Science of Information is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from our Brains to Black Holes by Charles Seife - surprisingly engaging and really interesting stuff.

Coming up:

• The Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan - the quest continues
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - both for the TBR challenge and for book club.
• The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riodan - After enjoying the movie, I'm looking forward to diving into the books.

Anything I should add to the list? *grin*

The Boys are Back by Simon Carr

I'm discovering a love for memoirs.  Well, cleverly written ones anyway.  This one certainly fits the bill.   

This is what Amazon had to say:   

"So there we are, a father and two sons in a household without role models, males together in a home different from anything I'd known--an idyllic Lost Boys' world with a house full of children and as few rules as possible."

When Simon Carr's wife Susie lost her battle to cancer, Carr was left to raise his 5-year old son, Alexander, on his own. Soon after, Hugo, his 11-year old son from a previous marriage comes to live with them. Now, this motley crew of boys have to learn how to be a family. Along the way, Carr reveals some illuminating truths about parenting and the differences between mothers and fathers. His messy household bears no similarity to the immaculate home his wife kept; his response to mothers on the playground fretting about his son's safety on the handlebars is, "If he falls, at least he'll know not to do it again." Emotionally honest and sharply witty, Carr's story is at once heartbreaking and wonderfully life-affirming.

One thing I'll readily admit:  There were some parts of the book I just didn't get.  But I won't blame that on the writing.  I'll blame it on the differences between men and women.  I think it would be interesting to discuss some of my "huh?" moments -- whether it was a joke I didn't get or an anecdote that didn't quite resolve -- with a bookworm of the male persuasion. 

One thing I really liked:  I discovered this book because I watched the movie "The Boys are Back" starring Clive Owen as Simon Carr.  And moments I loved most in the movie were taken word for word from Carr's original. I love that.  Now granted, Carr is a writer by trade.  So he's used to expressing himself through words.  But I still adore that Hollywood chose to stick with him. Not all details of Carr's life remain the same.  But I bet you that the lines that will get quoted from the movie are straight from the inspired pen of Simon Carr.

This memoir is full of clever lines and touching moments.  "Death by tetanus would have had disastrous political consequences on my theory of hygiene."  "I found myself sobbing too -- not exactly because I was unhappy, but to make him hear me up three flights of stairs, to show him he wasn't alone."  Totally worth picking up and devouring.