Book For The Week - 1/30/2011

Murder In

Chinatown
by



Victoria Thompson

"From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-finalist Thompson's eye-opening ninth Gaslight mystery (after 2006's Murder in Little Italy) examines the culture clash in early 20th-century New York City between Chinese and Irish immigrants, whose poverty prompted many of them to intermarry. While midwife Sarah Brandt is attending pregnant Cora Lee, a strapping Irish girl whose husband is a successful Chinese merchant, Cora's teenage half-Chinese niece, Angel, bursts into Cora's Chinatown flat and asks Cora to save her from an arranged marriage to Mr. Wong, an elderly Chinese restaurant owner. When Angel later disappears, Sarah investigates and learns the missing girl had a secret lover, a young Irishman. After Angel winds up dead in an alley, Sarah turns to her detective friend, Frank Malloy, for help. The action of this thought-provoking novel with its vivid portrait of the miseries of tenement life builds to an unexpected climax. "

(I just finished listening to this on audio while I walked on the treadmill this evening.  It is one of a series that was recommended to me by a contact here on multiply and I really enjoyed it.  Only four of the series is on audio but I intend to listen to all four of them eventually.  I really enjoyed the way the book brought into focus the way women in NYC lived back in the late 1800s.   And the heroine is a nurse who works in the poor neighborhoods  which makes it interesting to me.  I knew about the Chinese Immigration Act but I did not realize women were not allowed to come over in hopes that would make the men go back and instead they married poor Irish immigrant women.   As always click on the name of the book and the author's name to learn more.  I am glad to have found this series.)

Can We End Our World's Deadliest War?

A Historical Look At Deism

This video was posted on my Deism site and I think it has a good historical overview of Deism. People often do not know what a Deist is when I have a conversation with them that wanders into faith labels. This video on the background of where Deism came from is a good start of an explanation.

Book For The Week - 1/19/2011

Thanks For The Memories

by

Cecelia Ahern

"How is it possible to know someone you've never met?

With her marriage already in pieces, Joyce Conway nearly lost everything else. But she survived the terrible accident that left her hospitalized-and now, inexplicably, she can remember faces she has never seen, cobblestone Parisian streets she's never visited. A sudden, overwhelming sense of déjà vu has Joyce feeling as if her life is not her own.

Justin Hitchcock's decision to donate blood was the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time. He chased his ex-wife and daughter from Chicago to London-and now, restless and lonely, he lectures to bored college students in Dublin. But everything is about to change with the arrival of a basket of muffins with a thank-you note enclosed-the first in a series of anonymous presents that will launch Justin into the heart of a mystery...and alter two lives forever.

"Love and déjà vu feature in this wacky fairy tale about a woman 'transfused' with a stranger's memories. The romance is just what you'd expect from the popular author of P.S. I Love You" "   -Good Housekeeping

(While  listening to this book it is a wonder I did not fall off the treadmill laughing!  It is a very funny and a very charming story.  Please click on both the title of the book and the authors name to learn more. )

Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box

Today I had a very special day.   I went to see Madeleine Albright's pin collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.   It is an awe inspiring exhibit that I would highly recommend to people.   The pins will be in Indianapolis till the end of the month and then be moving on to other locations.   It is amazing to me when I think about the things women have accomplished in my life time.   I am glad to have lived during the time period  that I have.   I am very glad for the strong role models that are available for women today.
     It is interesting that I became attracted to brooches this past spring.  As the weather became nicer and I purchased some peasant tops I found that a brooch to help gather the top a bit closer kept the tops  from showing too much cleavage.   I had a few pins in my jewelry box already and I picked up a few more over the summer and fall.  So when I heard about Madeleine Albright's pins exhibit being that near by I wanted to go see them.    Find a slide show of the pins HERE and her book  HERE. 
    There was a special feeling at the exhibit.  As I was hovered over one of the cases with two other women ,  an older woman was telling about one of her own pins that had been  her grandmother's.  She said it was red, white and blue and  had two stones in it because two of her sons served in WWII.   She said that the mothers of soldiers then wore such pins and the color of the stone in the brooch was determined by the status of the son who was serving.  One color stone meant the son was killed in the war while another indicated he was wounded and another color meant he was currently active duty.    While I was very aware that there was meaning to some rings,  such as engagement and wedding rings,  I had never really considered how much meaning is attached to various pieces of jewelry.

Two excellent videos to watch can be found HERE and HERE.

"Living Up To Our Children's Expectations"

This has been a busy week for me.  even having a snow day on Tuesday did not allow me enough time to process the loss that occurred   in my professional life  a week ago and in our nation on Saturday.   I did finally take the time to listen to our President's speech on the Arizona tragedy just now.   It is a speech that once again,  is excellent.  I predict that school children in the future will be memorizing the words of President Obama as they memorize the words of past presidents now.  He has stated many meaningful phrases over the past few years and I am sure he will continue to do so.  During this speech, while being  careful not to  place the blame on any one entity,  he mentioned debating the way we interact with one another,  the way we manage gun laws,  and the way our mental health system works, all as areas that would be appropriate to debate as a result of this sad event.  The following quote sums up one of the points in his speech.  "only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation".
In closing,  in case anyone else missed his speech,  the video of it follows.

Book For The Week - 1/11/2011

Little Women
by
Louisa May Alcott

I took the  above photo  last fall when Peggy and I visited Concord Massachusetts.  It is a photo of the home that Louisa May Alcott grew up in and where she was inspired to write the novel Little Women.  While it is not a true story she did base a great deal of the personalities in the story on her own family.   As I have said before,  while visiting Concord,  I decided I wanted to experience some of the writings of the authors  homes we visited when I returned to my home.  Even though I read Little Women as a child,  I remembered very little of it,  so it was like hearing it for the first time.  The book came even more to life for me since I could remember what the house looked like.  More about the location HERE and more photos HERE.   An ebook of the novel can be found by clicking on the title of the book above.  Or listen to the audio below.

Weather Map

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/mwmap3.php?map=usa
Now I can check the temperatures here at home and at each of the places my three kids live.

From The Email Bag Tonight

Year to date statistics on Airport screening from the Department of Homeland Security:

Terrorist Plots Discovered              0
Transvestites                                 133
Hernias                                          1,485
Hemorrhoid Cases                         3,172
Enlarged Prostates                        59,350
Natural Blonds                             3

From The Email Bag Tonight

-- Fable of the Porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever.  Many animals died because of the cold.  The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.  This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other.

After a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen.

So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.  Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.  This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others.

This way they were able to survive.

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.