Weekends have gotten a little busy recently between visits to parents and working at the cabin. I'll make this post a little shorter and hopefully post again sooner.
Work is busy, mildly chaotic and frustrating. If it was fun all the time, they wouldn't need to pay me and it wouldn't be called "work", right?
Since post #16, I have completed 3 books (and started 2 more), made 2 new recipes (and have another planned for tomorrow), and walked more days than not. Catching you up with the books in this post and with the recipes in the next.
Books 16, 17, and 18
After ending April with only two books completed in that entire month, I then finished two on the 1st of May and another one three days later.
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken was a book club selection and most agreed it was a little odd. We read another book by the same author very early in our book club (1997/1998), The Giant's House which was about a librarian and a young giant. Bowlaway was about multiple generations of a family and centered around a Massachusetts candlepin bowling alley built by Bertha. Bertha herself was odd - she appeared one day at the turn of the 20th century in a cemetery and no one knew where she came from or who she really was (and she certainly wasn't telling). I learned about candlepin bowling, that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction (Bertha's death seemed highly improbable to me until I learned it was based on a true historical event), and confirmed that families can have secrets that have repercussions for generations. I waivered between 3 and 4 stars for this book. Quirky characters and situations (and lots of them), and the author's many clever phrases and descriptions kept me going. The many characters and convoluted plotline kept me confused.
Later that same day, I finished re-reading Montana, 1948 by Larry Watson. I wrote about this one in 2012 (during the April A-Z Challenge - W was for Watson) so you can read that entire post here or this summary: I am not sure where I picked up Larry Watson's novel Montana 1948 but the slim volume is marked as a library book. I have bought many a discarded library book but this one puzzles me a bit since it is not from the county I live in. That matters not. This little novel packs a punch and I have read it multiple times. There is a powerful sense of place and the characters are people you know, or think you know. Our narrator, David, starts with this line: "From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others from my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them..." And this story is one that made in indelible mark in my mind, too. David's father is the sheriff in the small town in eastern Montana where they live, his uncle is a charming war hero and respected doctor. Marie Little Soldier, David's family's housekeeper, becomes ill but refuses to let the doctor treat her. What is revealed when the sheriff investigates why Marie refuses treatment rocks the foundation of this family and the events that unfold challenge their values, beliefs and ideals. From the back cover, "It is a tale of love and courage, of power abused and of the terrible choice between family loyalty and justice." I don't want to give away too much but once you pick up this book, be prepared to read it in one sitting.
Book 18 was another re-read, one I remembered as a childhood favorite but couldn't recall much about it besides the basic premise that a girl wakes up one morning to discover her mind is in her mother's body. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers has been made into a movie twice that I know of and has probably been "updated" but I re-read the 1972 original edition (digging deep into the library's treasures). I have it in my mind that this is the book I was reading the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade when my parents were splitting up, that this was the book that they asked me to put down because they had something to tell me. That's how I knew it was very serious - no one had ever told me to stop reading before. After re-reading, I think some of the situations in this book were maybe a bit more mature than I would have been at 7, so maybe I have mis-remembered that this was the book of that summer. Or perhaps some of the more serious situations just went over my head at that time. Regardless, it was very fun to re-discover this book and it is still fun to think about literally putting yourself in someone else's shoes for a day. Annabelle, the daughter, is a bit bratty but not over the top so that you dislike her. She is 13 and has pretty typical behaviors and thoughts for her age. And her mom's lesson is not so severe that you think she did it as a punishment for Annabelle's rotten behavior. Some of the language and situations are a little dated but not distractingly so. Women's rights, racial discrimination, and politics - really not so different then as now, unfortunately.
Next time, I'll have 3 new recipes for you!
Until we eat again,
Hallie
Fifty for 50 Tally
Books completed – 18 (6 more in progress)
Recipes tried – 18
Blog posts published– 17
Miles walked in May - 16.55
Miles walked in April - 44.99
Miles walked year-to-date –190.52
Scrap book pages completed –19
Hats donated – 20
Hours volunteered – 0
