Heading South

We're heading south soon and Lakeside Musing will be quiet for the next two or three weeks. I'm leaving my laptop at home (gasp!), but will keep up with your blogs on my old iPad. Commenting is cumbersome on that device, so you probably won't hear from me. 

I've packed only one book - Tigers in Red Weather  by Liza Klaussmann. It looks like a good vacation read, plus I love the cover. My kindle is loaded with books, too, of course. I'll see you sometime in mid-January… Happy New Year!

My 2013 Favorites: Nonfiction

This is my final list of 2013 favorites. I enjoy nonfiction, and always end the year wishing I'd read more. This year is no different in that respect, but it is unique in that all of my nonfiction favorites happen to be audiobooks. I also seem to have zeroed in on two main topics this year: food and the Kennedys.

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy
by David Nasaw
narrated by  Malcolm Hillgartner
At 31 hours, this may well be my longest audiobook ever. Learning about Joseph P. Kennedy's life is essential to understanding the Kennedy mystique, and Malcolm Hillgartner is a new favorite narrator.

JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
by Thurston Clarke
Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner
An examination of Kennedy's last few months, from both political and personal perspectives. The unique format begins at Day 100 in August 1963 and counts down to that fateful day in November.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
by Michael Moss
narrated by Scott Brick
This book first struck me as nostalgic (remember all the great breakfast cereals of the 1970s?), but slowly drove me to outrage. If you eat, you must read this book.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
by Michael Pollan
narrated by Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan has done it again. Cooked chronicles his three-year adventure learning, and trying to perfect, techniques involved in barbecue, braising, bread baking, and fermenting. Who knew he was such a fantastic audiobook narrator?

More yearly wrap-up:
My 2013 Favorites: Fiction
My 2013 Favorites: Audiobook Fiction

My 2013 Favorites: Audiobook Fiction

2013 was a great year for audiobooks! I listened while walking... on the beach in Florida, on the treadmill, and around my own town. I listened while driving, cleaning the house, and preparing dinner. Sometimes I even listened when sleep eluded me in the middle of the night. Audiobooks have added a new dimension to my reading, and every once in a while the combination of author's words and narrator's voice leads to an experience that is simply sublime. Each of these audiobooks was something special. Click on the titles for my review.

Calling Me Home 

by Julie Kibler

narrated by Bahni Turpin and Lorna Raver

The Good House

by Ann Leary

narrated by Mary Beth Hurt

Me Before You

by Jojo Moyes

Narrated by  Susan Lyons, Anna Bentink, Steven Crossley, Alex Tregear, Andrew Wincott, Owen Lindsay

The Other Typist

by Suzanne Rindell

narrated by Gretchen Mol


Honorable Mention:

Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
narrated by Simon Vance
When my interest in the print edition lagged, Simon Vance pulled me along with the audio version. Tess of the D'Urbervilles  ended up being one of my favorite books this year.

And I need to mention my current audiobook:

The Signature of All Things

by Elizabeth Gilbert

narrated by Juliet Stevenson

I didn't like Eat, Pray, Love very much and wasn't going to bother listening to The Signature of All Things, but Juliet Stevenson is one of my favorite narrators... and she's at her best here. At the 3/4 mark, I may not finish before the end of the year, but if I do, I'll probably regret not including it on my list. 

More yearly wrap-up:
My 2013 Favorites: Nonfiction
My 2013 Favorites:  Fiction

My 2013 Favorites: Fiction

Late December is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the blogging year. I love year-end lists... both reading yours and compiling my own. Typically, I wait until after Christmas to post my lists but, in anticipation of a short blogging break, I'm trying to wrap things up a little early. Here is my favorite fiction of 2013, listed in the order read. Click on the title for my review.

Mudbound 

by Hilary Jordan

…my book club loved it, too

The Burgess Boys

by Elizabeth Strout

…a favorite author tackles sibling relationships

And the Mountains Echoed

by Khaled Hosseini

…another winner from one of today's best storytellers

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy

…redefined my idea of a tragedy

The Woman Upstairs

by Claire Messud

…readers seem to either love or hate this one

A Hundred Summers

by Beatriz Williams

…an utterly perfect summer read and my favorite cover of the year

The Age of Innocence

by Edith Wharton

…the last chapter turns this really good novel into a great one

Stoner

by John Williams

…my favorite book read in 2013

Tell the Wolves I'm Home

by Carol Rifka Brunt

…hard to believe this is a debut novel

I will post my favorite audiobook fiction tomorrow, and will turn the focus to nonfiction on Sunday. Stay tuned...

Wrapping Up 2013: Three Mini-Reviews

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy
by David Nasaw
narrated by  Malcolm Hillgartner
Penguin Audio, 2012
31 hours
source: review copy from publisher

This is the best biography I've read in a long time and a nonfiction favorite of 2013. Joseph P. Kennedy was an exceptional man whose life intersected most major events of the 20th century. He was an outspoken (often to a fault), independent thinker who possessed extraordinary business and leadership skills, along with a strong sense of family, religion, and public service. Learning about Joe's life provides a foundation for understanding the entire Kennedy family.

The Patriarch  is a truly outstanding audio production. In addition to Kennedy's own Bostonian accent, Malcolm Hillgartner's wide variety of voices, including FDR, Churchill, and others brings this book to life. I loved every moment.

My rating:

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
by Julia Strachey
Persephone Classics, 2009
originally published 1932
119 pages
source: personal copy

Motivation: Classics Club Spin

I knew before beginning that this book was best approached as a series of vignettes and that made all the difference in my reading experience. The action takes place over the course of a single day - Dolly's wedding day. Friends and relatives gather at her home, head off to church, and eventually return after the ceremony.  Emotions always run high on a wedding day and in this darkly funny tale, much seems exaggerated. There is nothing especially memorable about this novella, but it  was pleasant way to spend a few hours nonetheless. The beautiful Classics Edition cover added to my enjoyment, too. I have yet to be disappointed by a Persephone title.

My rating:

Tell the Wolves I'm Home
by Carol Rifka Brunt
Random House, 2012
367 pages
source: borrowed from the library

Told from the perspective of a 15 year old girl, this stunning novel takes us back to that scary time in the 1980's when AIDS deaths were sky-rocketing and our understanding of the disease was in its infancy. June's beloved uncle dies early in the book, and as the family copes with his death, she forges a relationship with his partner  - a man whose existence she knew nothing about during her uncle's lifetime. Brunt nails the voice of a teenage girl, but I wouldn't necessarily call this a YA novel. Book clubs will find plenty to discuss with this title.  It's hard to believe this is a debut novel, I can't wait to see what Brunt writes next.

My rating:

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  It's been a while since I last participated, but this week's topic of newly discovered authors had me instantly composing a mental list . As it turns out, new-to-me authors comprised the majority of my reading this year so making this list was no easy task.

Favorite New-to-Me Author of 2013
(in no particular order, click on title for my review if available)

1.  John Williams:  Stoner  was my favorite book of 2013.
2.  Hillary Jordan:  I'm glad my book club selected Mudbound.
3.  Angela Thirkell:  High Rising, the first of her Barsetshire novels
4.  Claire Messud:  The Woman Upstairs was a 5 star novel for me.
5.  Beatriz Williams: A Hundred Summers was a perfect summer read.
6.  Jojo Moyes:  Me Before You certainly deserves all the hype.
7.  David Nasaw:  His Joseph P. Kennedy biography, The Patriarch, is outstanding.
8.  Elinor Lipman:  The View From Penthouse B... now on to her backlist!
9.  Ken Follett:  Fall of Giants kept me turning pages for two weeks.
10. Carol Rifka Brunt:  Tell the Wolves I'm Home is simply amazing.

Have you read any of these authors? Who have you discovered this year?

For more Top Ten Tuesday lists, visit The Broke and the Bookish.

Read-Along Fail: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Read-alongs are the best, even if I ultimately fail to finish... as was the case last month with If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. I'd been curious about the book for years, and more than a little intimidated too, so was happy to learn of Care and Melissa's month-long project.

If on a Winter's Night A Traveler is basically a book about reading a book, or more precisely the quest to read a book. Each of ten chapters features the story of the Reader, and later the Other Reader, procuring a book and then the first chapter of that book. The book purchased in chapter one is incomplete, so the Reader tries to obtain another copy in chapter two, but it turns out to be a different book entirely. This continued for five chapters, the Reader still had no success locating the book he originally intended to read (If on a Winter's Night a Traveler) and I'd read introductions to five very different novels along the way.

In the end, I reached the midpoint early, took a short break, and then lost interest. Why? I was actually enjoying the book… which was strange because I usually run from anything even vaguely experimental. Somehow I had managed to relax, let myself go with the flow, and savor Calvino's language and cleverness. I had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, but was able to simply enjoy the ride. The first five chapters went very quickly so, not wanting to get too far ahead, I put the book aside and read my latest book club selection.

Big mistake.

When I finally went back to If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, I just couldn't get into it. This time the book beginnings just frustrated me and I became impatient with Calvino. Was it my own tension and impatience building over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday? Did I feel a need for closure? I'm not entirely sure, but will chalk this failure up to my own mood.

Overall, I experienced surprise, enjoyment, confusion, and frustration while reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, but ultimately, have no desire to finish the book.

I did learn two thing from this experience though. First, I am most definitely a "mood" reader and second, I have a hard time reading on a schedule. My mistake here was losing momentum. I should have just written the midpoint post early and kept on reading.

Let this be a lesson for the next read along.

The TBR Triple Dog Dare

It's coming…

The TBR Triple Dog Dare, hosted once again by James of Ready When You Are, C.B., begins January 1, 2014. The rules are simple:  read only books in your TBR pile or on your library reserve list as of January 1, 2014 for the entire months of January, February, and March. 

I always love this dare and even though I fell off the wagon early last time, many favorite books read in 2013 came from my TBR pile. Again this year, I will make exceptions for book club selections, but haven't decided about library reserves yet. I'm considering suspending all holds until April 1.

For the last several years, I've gone on book buying binges prior to beginning the dare. This year, thanks to amazon's kindle daily deals and 12 Days of Deals, my binge has been entirely electronic (and much less expensive). Over the last few weeks I've added quite a few titles to my kindle library including:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The India Fan by Victoria Holt
Letters to Alice by Fay Weldon
Imperial Women by Pearl S. Buck
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzman
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

With another week of deals from amazon, it's possible this list may grow. When combined with titles already on my kindle, it's entirely possible I could spend three months reading exclusively ebooks.

But that won't happen because…

…I've also gathered a pile from my shelves. These books are calling to me right now, but who knows what I'll want to read in March? From the bottom:

Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout
Them by Joyce Carol Oates
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell

We'll see how things stand on April Fool's Day. Are you in?

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You
by Jojo Moyes
Narrated by  Susan Lyons, Anna Bentink, Steven Crossley, Alex Tregear, Andrew Wincott, Owen Lindsay
Penguin Audio, 2012
14 hours 40 minutes
source: review copy from publisher

Penguin Books, 2013
400 pages, paperback
source: purchased

One sentence summary:
A high-powered, action-oriented executive turned quadriplegic and his new care-giver, an ordinary 26 year old woman with a dull, conventional life, end up impacting each other's existence in ways neither could have imagined.

My thoughts:
Expectations can be a tricky thing…and I do expect to like whatever I read. However, when everyone seems to love a book, expectations are raised to an often unrealistic level and, more times than not, I end up disappointed. Happily, Me Before You  lived up to my heightened expectations.

Most of the story is told from Louisa's point of view and it grabbed me from the beginning. Moyes does a wonderful job revealing Louisa (Lou) and Will's characters, but the unfolding of their relationship is what makes the book extraordinary. She also tackles the subject of quadriplegia with grace, dignity, and realism.

A word of caution - tears will flow as you near the end, so plan your reading (or listening) accordingly.

Jojo Moyes is a current favorite among book bloggers and, although I'm a little late to the party, I finally understand what all the fuss is about. Her other books are now on my wish list.

I started listening to Me Before You  on CD in the car, but knew there would be no time spent driving around alone over the Thanksgiving weekend. I needed  to keep reading and, since no library copies were available, purchased a paperback at Barnes & Noble. That made my mom happy… she'll be reading it next!

About the audio production:
I love multi-narrator productions and this novel lends itself perfectly to that format. The bulk of the story, however, is told by Louisa Clarke and narrated  by Susan Lyons. This was my first experience listening to Lyons and she captured Louisa's voice and personality perfectly. The other narrators read just a chapter or two, but the various voices certainly added to the overall effect.

My rating:

Tuesday Intro: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

My sister, Greta and I were having our portrait painted by our uncle Finn that afternoon because he knew he was dying. This was after I understood that I wasn't going to grow up and movie into his apartment and live there with him for the rest of my life. After I stopped believing that the AIDS thing was all some kind of big mistake. When he first asked, my mother said no. She said there was something macabre about it. When she thought of the two of us sitting in Finn's apartment with its huge windows and the scent of lavender and orange, when she thought of him looking at us like it might be the last time he would see us, she couldn't bear it. And, she said, it was a long drive from northern Westchester all the way into Manhattan. She crossed her arms over her chest, looked right into Finn's bird-blue eyes, and told him it was just hard to find the time these days.
"Tell me about it," he said.
That's what broke her.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home 
by Carol Rifka Brunt

After my misstep with The Lowlands last week (which I plan to read after the holidays), I borrowed the kindle edition of Tell the Wolves I'm Home  from the library and read half of it over the weekend… it's wonderful! Told from the perspective of a 15 year old girl, it takes us back to that scary time in the 1980's when AIDS deaths were sky-rocketing and our understanding of the disease was in its infancy. I'm not sure whether it's actually categorized as a Young Adult novel, but I'm considering it my annual foray into that area.

What do you think of the opening? Would you keep reading?

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.

The Sunday Salon: December 8, 2013

The scene:  8 AM Sunday morning, relaxing in my favorite chair with a hot mug of coffee. The entire house is silent… bliss.

Reading:  I recently finished two books - Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey and Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (reviews coming soon). After a few days at literary loose ends, Jill's review of Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt caught my attention and I downloaded the ebook from the library. At the halfway point, I'm wishing I could stay home and finish it this afternoon.

Listening:  I spent six hours in the car on Thursday and got a good start on The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. Let me tell you, I seriously disliked Eat, Pray, Love and had no intention of reading (or listening to) this one, but Penguin Audio sent me a review copy… and it's narrated by Juliet Stevenson! I took another audiobook with me (just in case), but the story drew me in right away and Stevenson's narration is excellent.

Blogging:  I have several reviews to finish before the end of the year, as well as my 'best of' lists. We will be away for a couple of weeks in early January and I'm considering a blogging break during that time.

Watching: Very little television and no movies this week, but I can't miss Syracuse University basketball!

In the kitchen: After hosting Thanksgiving dinner for eighteen, not much else happened in the kitchen.  I wrote a Weekend Cooking post about the turkey leftovers and tried one new recipe for Chicken Enchilada Soup, but will wait on serious holiday baking until the girls are home. It's a lot more fun that way!

On today's agenda:  A quick trip to a vineyard in the Finger Lakes this afternoon to pick up the holiday wine for my husband's office, then heading to my sister's for Dad's birthday celebration.

What's on your agenda today?

Weekend Cooking: Turkey Leftovers

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.


I've finally recovered from Thanksgiving, but before I gear up for Christmas baking I want to share a couple of new recipes using turkey leftovers. Usually, my mother comes to the rescue with her famous Turkey Cranberry Wreath and there is always a pot pie or two involved, but this year we wanted to try something new, too. (I love that the girls and my husband heartily support all this experimentation.) We had eighteen at out table on Thanksgiving Day and a 24 pound bird allowed for plenty of leftovers. Pinterest has become a great source for new recipes and my feed was flooded with uses for leftover turkey.

Thanksgiving Leftover Nachos caught my eye. Turkey nachos may not sound all that unusual, but cranberry-jalapeno salsa on the side?  Really? The recipe was created by Girl versus Dough for an Old El Paso holiday contest and, while I don't know if she won, it certainly wowed our crowd. My dish was empty moments after coming out of the oven, so the above photo is from her blog. We loved the sweet-tart taste of the cranberry sauce/lime/cilantro/jalapeno mix and it was really nice to use up all the leftover homemade cranberry sauce, too.

A couple of nights later, I decided to try King Arthur Flour's recipe for Turkey and Dumplings. We all love pot pies, and this recipe appeared to be a delicious variation of the traditional comfort-food classic. I've had nothing but success with King Arthur recipes and this one was no exception, BUT it was more work than I was expecting - mostly due to extra steps in preparing the roux and filling. It ended up being enough food for two meals, so I'm not complaining. The photo is from King Arthur.

What did you do with turkey leftovers this year?

Stoner by John Williams

"In his extreme youth Stoner had thought of love as an absolute state of being to which, if one were lucky, one might find access; in his maturity he had decided it was the heaven of a false religion, toward which one ought to gaze with with an amused disbelief, a gently familiar contempt, and an embarrassed nostalgia. Now in his middle age he began to know that it was neither a state of grace or an illusion; he saw it as a human act of becoming, a condition that was invented and modified moment by moment and day by day, by the will and the intelligence and the heart."  (page 195)

Unfortunately, this has become a habit - the more I like a book, the more I procrastinate writing a blog post. The task of finding the right words to convey what I loved about the book seems overwhelming. Let me say that Stoner by John Williams is undoubtedly my favorite book of 2013. It has also earned a spot on my list of all-time favorites.

The novel, first published in 1965 and purchased after reading Matt's glowing review, has been on my shelf for nearly two years, but I should never have waited that long to read it. With a thoughtful, introspective tone, this book begs to be read slowly, savoring every word. My heart literally ached with sympathy for the main character. If a quiet character study in an academic setting and the most beautiful writing imaginable appeals to you, Stoner  is not to be missed.

My rating:

Tuesday Intro: The Lowland

East of the Tolly Club, after Deshapran Sashmal Road splits in two, there is a small mosque. A turn leads to a quiet enclave. A warren of narrow lanes and modest middle-class homes. 

Once, within this enclave, there were two ponds, oblong, side by side. Behind them was a lowland spanning a few acres. 

After the monsoon the ponds would rise so that the embankment built between them could not be seen. The lowland also filled with rain, three or four feet deep, the water remaining for a portion of the year.

The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Without a book or audiobook in progress, I'm at loose ends. I finished a couple of novels over the holiday weekend and picked up The Lowland  at the library yesterday. The opening doesn't especially grab me, but I've enjoyed all of Lahiri's previous work. We'll see whether I decide to read this now or save it for another time when I'm not so distracted with holiday planning and preparations. Perhaps a lighter novel or mystery would be better right now. I think I'll see what the library has available for download to my kindle...

What do you think of the opening? Have you read Jhumpa Lahiri?

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.