Summer heat, long days and, if you're lucky - a screened-in porch. Who can ask for anything more to set the scene for a great summer read?
These days I'm lounging in the white wicker rocking-chair, reading Channeling Mark Twain, a novel by Carol Muske-Dukes. Muske-Dukes was born in St. Paul, but lives in both New York City and Los Angeles, and her novel reflects that midwestern-girl-goes-to-the-big-city feel. Her main character is Holly Mattox - a young, politically minded poet whose idealism drives her to teach a poetry workshop at the Women's House of Detention on Rikers Island.
I've just begun the book, and I'm curious to see how well Muske-Dukes captures the depth of character of the inmates. It sounds like there's potential for magic in this book, with one inmate claiming that as a descendent of Samuel Clemens, she can channel his voice. But I'm also skeptical. Will it just be your typical "one woman sets out to do good and learns alot about herself in the process" story? If nothing else, it will send me back to my portable Mark Twain to read some of my favorite essays.
So what's on your reading table this month? And where are you reading? The porch? The park? The deck? The dining room? Set the scene for me...
- Marianne Combs
MPR reporter and MN Readers Forum host
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Comments: 22
So, I'm attempting to focus on The Chalice and the Blade for our next bookclub meeting. I love the subject, it is well-written, but I am having a devil of a time staying with it. I think it would have been a better winter read for me...but, alas.
My favorite romance author, Mary Bly aka Eloisa James, has a new book out that is burning a hole on my bedside table...can I stay away from it while struggling with the Chalice and the Blade?
Has anyone read the Chalice and the Blade who could offer me some encouragement to keep going...?
Trying to make this a women's studies summer.
Reading the editors, at least so far, is kind of like starting out on a blind date with an angry, blaming monologist.
The editors are neither entirely right or entirely wrong. So far, as best I can tell, the editors are trying to sound entirely right.
Without having finished the book, I recommend it for everyone. (Would suggest junior high age through adult.) For this American of Scottish and Scandinavian descent, it provides a great look into peoples' lives/cultures I would never get to know otherwise. It's an enjoyable, easy read. PLEASE add it to your reading list.
I recently finished Katrina Firlik's book Another Day in the Frontal Lobe which was very entertaining and interesting. I highly recommend it. Before that I read Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris - an author I'm sure we'll see a lot more of.
Read "Three Cups of Tea" - it's out in paperback now.
Our bookclub's next book is Per Petterson's "Out Stealing Horses" which just won high praise from Alan Cheuse (sp?) on today's All Things Considered. I'm looking forward to reading it. Anyone read it yet?
Three Cups of Tea was really a great book and I think it ought to be required reading somewhere along the line. The journalist who assisted Greg Mortenson is David Oliver Relin. His style is not a literary one but the story isn't pure reportage either. I think it's Relin's first attempt at writing a book and probably won't be his last - especially if he comes across another story that's anywhere near as fascinating as Mortenson's.
I also finished Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (also known as John Banville, author of the Booker Prizewinning book The Sea). It was a pretty good mystery and I believe Black is planning more books based on the protagonist-detective.
Equanimity? Misogyny? Misanthropy?
From a twenty-first century perspective, American history is a record of national and international self-improvement. Seems like the America at the end of this book's tunnel is taking forever to get to. Reading historical documents while remembering the present and looking to the future is taking a bit of effort.
"1889.
My work has not been confined solely to women and children, but to all of earth's toilers, as I am of the opinion that the time when we could separate the interests of the toiling masses on sex lines is past. If it were possible, I wish that it were not necessary for women to learn any trade but that of domestic duties, as I believe it was intended that man should be the bread-winner. But as that is impossible under present conditions, I believe women should have every opportunity to become proficient in whatever vocation they choose or find themselves best fitted for." Leonora Barry, " 'Report of the General Investigator and Director of Women's Work.' Proceedings of the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, 1889." [from AMERICA'S WORKING WOMEN, A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY-1600 TO THE PRESENT. page 124].
Leonora Barry, in the same 1889 report, added, "Therefore, I recommend the abolition of the Woman's Department, believing, as I now do, that women should be Knights of Labor without distinction, and should have all the benefits that can be given to men--no more, no less--thereby making it incumbent upon all to work more earnestly for the general good, rather than for sex, Assembly or trade." (ibid., page 125).
Leonora Barry was a mother of three who went to work as a hosiery worker after the death of her husband.
Have not read every page in this book, have read more than half though. Started out reading in sequence, then read out of sequence, returned to reading in and out of sequence. Reading the editors' introductions is like choosing sides among strangers in a contest with violent overtones.
August 2007 / Books for: Marianne Combs' What are you reading?
SHATTERED DREAMS, Charlotte Fedders and Laura Elliot. 1987.
"JOHN FEDDERS, SIX-FOOT-TEN AND VERY SMART, WAS A SUPERLAWYER HUNGRY FOR STILL MORE MONEY, POWER, AND FAME. CHARLOTTE FEDDERS JUST WANTED A COMFORTABLE HOME AND A HAPPY FAMILY. HIDDEN BY A VENEER OF COUNTRY CLUBS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND A BIG WHITE COLONIAL HOME IN POTOMAC WERE SHOCKING SECRETS--A LIFE OF FEAR, VIOLENCE, AND . . . SHATTERED DREAMS." (from a preliminary page before the title page and text of the book SHATTERED DREAMS).
INTIMATE VIOLENCE, THE DEFINITIVE STUDY OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE IN THE AMERICAN FAMILY. Richard J. Gelles & Murray A. Straus. 1988.
"Gelles and Straus explore the consequences of living in a violent home, and find evidence that the emotional and psychic wounds suffered from the family violence are far more damaging than the bruises and fractures of physical injuries. Finally, the authors suggest the changes that must take place and the programs that must be implemented if we are to decrease and ultimately eliminate violence in the American family. Focusing on cures as well as causes, INTIMATE VIOLENCE is the authoritative account of the tragic and often deadly social problem of family violence." (from the front flap of the book cover of the book INTIMATE VIOLENCE).
SPEAKING OF FAITH, Krista Tippett. 2007.
"SPEAKING OF FAITH is of monumental importance and a source of light in a day and age when the darkness of intolerance, ignorance and hate blinds humanity from itself."--Dr. Haled Abou El Fadl, professor of law, UCLA; author, THE GREAT THEFT: WRESTLING ISLAM FROM THE EXTREMISTS." (from the back cover of the book SPEAKING OF FAITH).
During the day, I read outside on our patio, and in the evenings in the den or in bed.