Book For The Week - 12/28/2010

The Persian Pickle Club

by


Sandra Dallas

From Publishers Weekly

"This entertaining second novel from the author of the well-received Buster Midnight's Cafe could be a sleeper. Set in Depression-era Kansas and made vivid with the narrator's humorous down-home voice, it's a story of loyalty and friendship in a women's quilting circle. Young farm wife Queenie Bean tells about the brief membership of a city girl named Rita, whose boredom with country living and aspirations to be an investigative reporter lead her to unearth secrets in the close-knit group, called the Persian Pickle Club after a coveted paisley print. Queenie's desire to win Rita's friendship ("We were chickens... and Rita was a hummingbird") clashes with her loyalty to the Pickles when Rita tries to solve the murder of a member's husband, in the process unearthing complicated relationships among the women who meet each week to quilt and read aloud to each other. The result is a simple but endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises. Dallas hits all the right notes, combining an authentic look at the social fabric of Depression-era life with a homespun suspense story."

(A few years back I blogged about this book.  I read it on one of my train trips out to Denver to visit with my son Nick.  I enjoyed it very much and suggested to my library book group that it be our book for January 2011.  The decision was made to select it.  I just finished listening to it on audio on the way home from work.   It is as delightful as I remembered it.  As always click on the links at the title and author's name to learn more.)

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM] - nccam.nih.gov Home Page

http://nccam.nih.gov/

Book For The Week - 12/15/2010

The House Of

The Seven Gables

by

Nathaniel

Hawthorn

“The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and… becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief.” Hawthorne’s moral for “The House of the Seven Gables,” taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised… but the land’s owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution.

Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing.

One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story.

The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)

(As I have mentioned before in prior blogs and as I have posted in the photo album that can be found HERE, one of the places Peggy and I visited on our trip to the Boston area this past fall was the house that is believed to be the home that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his novel "The House Of Seven Gables".   Although as a teen I read "The Scarlet Letter"  by Nathaniel Hawthorne and remember enjoying it,  I had never read "The House of Seven Gables".  After touring the house,  I promised myself that I would.  I finished listening to it on audio today and really enjoyed the story.  The old fashioned language of Hawthorne makes it all the more special and delightful.  I was able to remember the house from my visit as I listened to the descriptions of scenes in the story.  This really made the book come to life for me.  Hawthorne's moral being that Karma follows from generation to generation is an interesting one and would be a topic that warrants discussion to see what others think.  I can totally understand why this book has been studied in many classrooms.  Please click on the title and author's name to learn more.  I highly recommend this book.)

Instruction Manual for Life

This is worth the eight minutes it takes to watch.

Instruction Manual for Life [cc]

Change in Weekend Plans

I had plans to go away this weekend and the way the morning started out I decided that it would be a disaster waiting to happen for me to be on the highway.  Therefore I decided to cancel my plans and stay home.  This evening I watched a DVD that I had purchased awhile ago and was waiting to watch while visiting my aunt this weekend.  When I talked to her and canceled the trip I told her I could not wait to watch the DVD any longer.  Here is the trailer.  A colleague at work told me about the documentary.  I enjoyed the movie and place it on the must see list for every one I care about.  I am not sure it scared me bad enough to correct my eating habits but it has a lot of good info and is motivating as far as making me want to learn more about the theories they describe in the  movie.