Book Review: The Goldfinch

Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Format: Kindle
Reading Dates: 14 Jul 2014 - 23 Aug 2014
Rating: ****1/2

There’s this weird thing that happened to me when I read The Goldfinch, and I don’t know how much I’m supposed to tell about the beginning of the book, so, let’s try this. There is this part near the start when the protagonist, Theo Decker, as a young boy, has a chance encounter with an old man. The old man starts to mumble away about long ago times and asks whether Theo remembers them. Then the old man says something about knowing the boy’s mother when she was young.

So immediately I started thinking that this book was going to be some kind of fantasy novel with perhaps time travel or something similarly magical involved. Theo goes away from this unexpected meeting and the rest of the novel starts. Theo has to deal with some trauma early, but no magic appears. I was reading quickly through that part of the book because I knew the magic part had to start happening soon after. Then the next big thing happened and but that didn’t bring magic either. I was literally halfway through the book when I realized that there’s no magic happening here. It was all going to be real. (Although somewhere deep down inside me even at the very end I kept waiting for at least one of the other characters in the book to finally admit s/he was a witch/warlock or a werewolf or a vampire or something other than a regular person.)

The hard part about reviewing this book is that it never met my expectation of what it was going to be and so there was this bit of me that was disappointed even though this was a really good book. It was one of those books that I wanted to grab whenever I could because I couldn’t wait to read more. The story was well-drawn and suspenseful and the characters complex and dimensional.

But the thing that was most striking about the book was the literary flair that xxx brought to the table. Every sentence was jam-packed with insights, similes and metaphors that I found myself reading over and over again because they were so good. And when I say jam-packed, I mean jam-packed. Every sentence. Every paragraph. If I had highlighted all the ones I wanted to remember later, most of the book would have been bright yellow. It was as if Tartt turned on the firehose in the first chapter and didn’t turn it off until the last sentence.

So I recommend this book—entertaining story, great writing—with only one caveat. If you’re looking for magicians or time travel, this isn’t that book.

Book Review: Dr. Mütter's Marvels

Title: Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
Author: Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
Format: Paperback
Reading Dates: 04 Sep 2014 - 28 Sep 2014
Rating: *****

Watch out Erik Larson, you've got some serious competition in Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. I thoroughly enjoyed her new book, Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine, an excellent example of narrative non-fiction.

Although well-known in his time, I had never heard of Dr Mütter before reading this book. Aptowicz's story, however, made him jump off the pages. She followed the familiar pattern of short chapters with punchy endings that make you want to jump to the next chapter as quickly as possible. While many others have tried this formula and can make it seem tiring, Aptowicz really nailed it. The cliffhangers never seemed contrived and really did move the story along.

I'm not sure I would characterize this story as one of "intrigue," but "innovation" definitely! And though mentioned briefly at the beginning, the "Marvels" of the title aren't really discussed until the end, but I enjoyed Aptowicz's narrative in her acknowledgements as she described how she learned about Mütter and his marvels. Now I think I'd like to see them, too--and that's how you know you've found a really good author. I'm looking forward to more, Ms Aptowicz!

My New Obsession: Part 1

Houston, we have a problem. My house is being overrun by book pages. See, look. There are some on the steps up to my craft room.

And upstairs these two tubs are full of them.

And there are more stacked under the two tubs...

Ok, I lied. There are four tubs. And there are pages stacked under all of them.

And also in those plastic drawers...Don't judge.

It really is getting out of hand, so last week I did what any paper crafter with half a lick of sense would do in a similar situation. I went out to Pinterest and started poking around for ideas.

Hey, what did I just say about judging??

Anyway, like I said, I was out on Pinterest and ran into this thing called Zentangles. It's just the doodling on paper that we did as kids taken to a whole new level. Some people draw Zentangles on plain paper, but others draw them on book pages(!). 

Ding! Ding! Ding! Thank you, Internet gods, for solving another of my seemingly unsolvable problems--like when you taught me how to shuck corn and peel garlic.

I decided to give this whole Zentangle thing a try. The cool beans part about using book pages instead of plain paper when you doodle is you've got words you can play with in addition to the doodles. 

I picked up the nearest page I could find and started looking for interesting words and settled on Paul.

  

Why Paul? I don't know. Why not? Paul Newman. Paul McCartney. Paul Simon. It's a good name, Paul.

Then I started looking for designs to make and about a half a gel-pen later I got this:

OK, not perfect, but not bad for a first effort either, I thought. So the next day I grabbed another page and came up with...

A little better! And the rumor that I chose Paul for the first try because if I screwed up I didn't want to screw up Stephanie is not true.

OK, maybe a little bit true.

OK, true. Geez, you guys are a tough audience. But let's face it. Stephanie is screwed up enough already.

Back to the action...

So on my third try I found a phrase to highlight...

and after I tangled it and mounted it, ta-da!

Here's the close-up, Mr DeMille.

I decided to keep the torn edge when I mounted the page. It reminds me that it had a life before I reimagined it.

And then....and then...and then on the next day...I discovered...

PAINT PENS!

Can you believe it? They make such a thing as 

PAINT PENS!

I think I'm in love! But for that story you're going to have to wait for the next installment. Stay tuned!

The F Word

It's the end of August and you know what that means, right?

FOOTBALL!

Maybe your team hails from the ACC...

Or maybe you cheer for the SWAC...

Maybe your team plays in the SEC...

Or maybe you cheer for a Big 12 team...

Or maybe you can't decide...

Maybe you have so much pride it spills out into two books...

Know what I mean?

No matter which team you root for, it's time for

Football!

(And if you need some help decorating your shelf, Reading With Scissors is here to help!)

Fall Book Covers

One of the reasons I love working with RDCBs is because the covers have the most beautiful colors and patterns. There are some for every season. And the ones for autumn are spectacular! 

There are some beautiful rich brown and orange herringbone (and bright blue and green if you're not over spring yet).

If you're not into herringbone, how about stripes?



Then are the ones in lush ochres and deep greens. The green one is made more special by metallic gold highlights.

These are two of my favorites! Both remind me of home and wheat.

More metallic gold on the one on the left! It's a real show-off on a shelf.

I made this Harvest from a book like the one on the right.

And the books are so very versitile, too. I made this vase of wheat from the same kind of book.

Now's the time to order your books for your fall decorations and gifts. Just click this link and tell me which cover you'd like me to use. If you can decide...

Types of Texas

There are some books you run into more than others. When I'm out hunting books, I run into this one a lot.

Under that book jacket it has a beautiful cover accented in copper... 

...with a lone star on the front.

I can do a lot of things with this book. For instance, I can fill it wildflowers...

Bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, yellow roses.

Or sometimes, I spell out Texas, as big and bold as the state itself...

Or sometimes a picture does the trick...

Come On and Fly Me!

The first time I went up in a plane, I was about 11 years old. I was at the Fairview Flying Farmers Fly-In and the pilots were taking anyone up for a spin around the countryside for a penny a pound. Marion Ratzlaff strapped me and my brother and my mom in his plane and we made the jaunt to Canton Lake and back.

I am not sure if the Flying Farmers still offer that treat. If they do I bet it is more than a penny a pound these days. Even if it were still a penny a pound, I don't think I could afford it anymore.

Several years and a college degree later I met a guy in an Air Force flight suit who invited me to go flying with him in a rented plane one afternoon. 2nd Lieutenant America was right out of college, too, where his degree had taught him all kinds of aerobatic moves. I don't remember a lot about that flight except the hammerhead stall. For those who don't know what happens during a hammerhead stall it goes something like this: you go straight up into the sky until the engine stops and then you scream a lot--well, I did, Captain America was just laughing--and then the plane noses over and heads straight for the ground until you get enough airspeed to start flying again.

Somewhere in all the screaming I think I promised to marry him if he let me live--either that or I blacked out. It's all a fuzz now. So began my life as a pilot's wife.

Anyway...

A couple of weeks ago, Captain America made a trip to North Carolina and came home with our own plane!

Here he is at the helm. Hubba hubba!

And here's what the world looks like from the co-pilot's seat...

 

All of which leads me to this beauty I snagged recently at an estate sale. 

And now it looks like this...

I normally don't keep dust jackets on books, but this one is stellar. It really makes the whole piece pop!

If you're looking for a special gift for the pilot who has everything, click here. I know just the thing. And I promise no hammerhead stalls involved.