Linda C. Wright's Blog, page 27

The Year of the Family

I always like to do a little recap at year end.  It helps me to keep focused on the good things in life.  I call this year, The Year of the Family because Richard and I spent alot of quality time with people we love. 



In May we gathered in Philadelphia for a funeral and a wonderful tribute to my sister-in-law, Kathy's mother.  We had a heart warming celebration of life with her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.  The women wore gardenias and we all ate angel food cake with blue icing. 



In June, Richard and I celebrated his 70th birthday in Tampa watching our beloved Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles.  I secretly had his name put up on the scoreboard, which he missed and didn't believe me until the picture arrived in the mail a week later.  On the way we stopped to see my nephew, Tommy, his wife Lucy and 2 week old baby, Blakely.  We turned out to be the first from our side of the family to see the new baby.  I think that made my sister just a tiny bit jealous. 



Our niece, Laurel from Vermont, played on the 8th grade girls championship basketball team and came to Orlando to play in a tournament.  Richard and I wore our green and gold and waved our hand-made signs.  We had a blast cheering them on!



July meant a girl's trip to Yellowstone with my granddaughters.  We listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, went spelunking in a cave, whitewater rafting and zip lining in Montana.  The Grand Tetons are glorious and the sight of herds of bison strolling the plains is unforgettable.



Next stop Hawaii for a birthday celebration for Kathy.  The family learned to hula dance, took a sunset boat ride at Waikiki and simply enjoyed the beautiful beach and perfect weather.



I barely had time to unpack and I was off to Boston for a wedding.  Georgia, my friend since fourth grade and who I hadn't seen in too many years, was the mother of the groom.  During the summer while growing up, I spent them with her family at their cottage on a lake.  To see this wonderful, welcoming family again filled my heart with joy.  The wedding was beautiful and that it brought us back together made it even more special.  Thank you, Adam and Crystal.



After all that I need a month to recuperate!



There are so many more friends and family that touched our lives this year.  Even though I didn't list your name here, you live in my heart.  I pray that we will continue to love and support each other in the years to come.  Looking back, each occasion gave me a special memory.  Each memory, a gift.  Now it is the end of a very special year.  I'm looking forward to the gifts the new year will bring.

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge



First off I have to thank Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to enjoy Advance Reading Copies of so many great new novels.  I love being among the first to dig into yet to be published works before the rest of the book buying public. I might not otherwise pick these treasures off the shelf since there is so much to chose from these days.



Love Water Memory is truly a treasure.  Lucie Walker suddenly finds herself knee deep in the ice cold water of the San Francisco Bay with no idea who she is or how she ended up there.  She's taken to a psychiatric hospital where she's diagnosed with a severe form of amnesia.  Her face is plastered all over the news prompting her fiance, Grady from Washington State to rush to her side.  Lucie doesn't recognize him.



Their struggle to understand their relationship and to find themselves as individuals begins.  Back home in Washington nothing about her surroundings is familiar to Lucie.  Nothing is familiar to Grady either as her driven, health conscious self centered lifestyle has disappeared.  No longer taking her routine morning run through the neighborhood, Lucie's body softens, and so does her heart.



It is clear from the beginning, Lucie and Grady are meant for each other.  Her amnesia sets them on a course of deep discovery.  What I loved most about this book is the richness of these characters. They became my friends.  I lived in their neighborhood shopped, worked, and ate in all the same places.  I felt their joy for every step forward and pain at their two steps backwards .  Love Water Memory is one of those rare stories that touches every emotion coaxing the reader to first dip their toe in the water before being immersed in the dark, cool water.  



Love Water Memory is due to be published in April, 2013.  Make a note on your calendar.  It's not to be missed.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton



I have to say right off the bat that novels set in England are not usually my cup of tea.  It always raining, cold and dreary.  The characters live in funny little cottages with thatched roofs and drive little cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side.  Don't get me wrong England is a beautiful place filled with wonderful people.  I really think it's all the rain that drags me down.  I'm a Floridian.  I thrive on sunshine. 



For The Secret Keeper, however, I didn't mind.  This story kept me involved from start to finish.  Laurel, the oldest of four sisters and one brother is an accomplished actress.  The siblings gather at the family home. Their mother Dorothy, is now waiting on her deathbed for the peace that has eluded her throughout her life, to come.  At sixteen Laurel witnessed her mother killing a man in the backyard.  The event had been kept from her sisters.  Her brother Gerry, a baby at the time was there and always felt something tragic had happened but never knew what it was.  The two of them race against time to solve the mystery knowing once their mother is gone, she will take the secret with her.



This novel weaves through time from the London Blitz during the war to present time.  The author brilliantly hops from scene to scene and character to character building a rich web of storytelling.  I couldn't put this book down.  Each time I felt I had figured out Dorothy's secret, I found out I was wrong.  I stayed up late at night and woke early in the morning to read a few more pages.  The deceit is so perfect and I will not tell you any more than that.  The Secret Keeper is a keeper. And it wouldn't have been so wonderful if not set in war torn, rainy, dreary England.  Don't let this one pass you by.

Tippecanoe to Tipp City by Susan Furlong

Tippecanoe to Tipp City by Susan Furlong



Tipp City is a small town north of Dayton, Ohio.  My sister, Susan, is an 'away girl' who wasn't raised there but came after marrying a man who called the town home.  I was still in high school when she became an away girl. That means she's called Tipp home for a very long time that anywhere else is probably 'away' to her now.  I'd say she's just a Tipp 'girl' now.



Tippecanoe To Tipp City is a charming look back into how we have arrived
here in the present day. It's often difficult to imagine a time when a
canal had to be dug to get goods from point to point. And to think
that passengers on the barges often shared their space on deck with the
donkeys pulling them through the canal. We are spoiled by today's modern
cruise ships. The dress of the day was button hook shoes and knickers
for the boys. We've traded that formality for flip flops and jeans. The
town council paid over $500 for uniforms for the volunteer fire
department. Today we think nothing of spending that amount for one cell
phone or an i pad.

This book is filled with delightful stories
and photos of people shopping, going to school, having parties and picnic, doing all the normal
things in life. I'm quite nostalgic for a simpler life in a small town.
Life had it's headaches then too, however. The mail was a constant
source of confusion with a town of the same name also in Ohio. To solve
it, the town changed its name. A simple yet controversial solution to a
problem that would no longer exist today with the use of zip codes.
And besides who gets mail anymore? The email has become our mainstay for
communication.

Tippecanoe to Tipp City is a walk through time, in
a time and place worth remembering. The photographs are amazing and the
stories they tell fascinating.
Susan has done a great job documenting the history of this small Ohio town. Even though my connection to the town is only through my sister's family, the story of it's life is captivating.

The Best Books of 2012

I love best books of the year lists.  So here's mine. 



Best Classic  -  The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.  The book is nothing like the movie that we all remember so fondly.  There's no singing or horses that change color before our eyes.  The story is charming and surprising and a joy to read.  It's always refreshing to take a trip back into our carefree days of childhood to keep our adult world in perspective.



Best Suspense  -  The Breath of God by Jeffrey Small.  This novel took me around the world without a single pause in the action.  It's a page turner with a religious question begging to be answered.



Best Book that Almost Won the Pulitzer Prize  -  Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.  Swamplandia! was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.  No prize was ultimately awarded, the competition ending in a three way tie.  I loved the Bigtree family living in the middle of the Florida Everglades wrestling alligators and selling kitchy souvenirs for throngs of tourists.  Quirky.  Crazy.  Fun.



Best Book Made Into a Movie  -  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  How could I not fall in love with tough, smart and vulnerable Katniss?  Against all odds, she survives.  What's not to like?  The movie didn't disappoint either.



Best Self Help  -  The Magic by Rhonda Byrne.  Learning to express my gratitude each and every day has made an incredible difference in my life.  It's not always easy to keep a positive attitude.  The Magic has taught me that positive thoughts and actions attracts more good things.  A grateful life is a wonderful life.



Best Pick By My Sister  -  Blue Angel by Francine Prose.  My sister recommends books all the time.  This year they've all been good so this was the hardest pick of all.   Writing professor, Swenson and his midlife crisis consumed me.  The author got me so deeply into the workings of his mind, that I got on the roller coaster without hesitation.  And Swenson is not a very likeable kind of guy. Prose is a master.



Best Book Overall  -  The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.   This is not your ordinary novel.  The writing style is unusual but the story is deep and emotional.  I love a novel that makes me feel something inside.  The Buddha in the Attic made me feel, happy, sad, angry, love, friendship, kindness,  disgust and hope.  It's a heart warming and emotional experience about life.



 I wanted to be the first to get my best books of the year list out. 
Sadly however Richard has already given me a few that he's torn out of
some year end magazines.  I still haven't read all the books I found on last year's book lists.  I've saved them though.  I'll add this year's to them and someday, yes someday I'll have read everything I've ever hoped to read.    



  

 

The Ghosts That Come Between Us by Bulbul Bahuguna

The Ghosts That Come Between Us by Bulbul Bahuguna



I'm on the fence about this one.  I received an advance reading copy and was initially anxious to read this.  I love reading stories set in exotic locales such as India.  In fact awhile ago I read a really wonderful book with a similar title, The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar that was also set in India. 



I was all in on this book.  Nargis is a young Indian girl who tells her story.  I became mesmerized by the viewpoint of this child.  The author had a very uncanny ability to submerse the reader into the life of the child.  I saw everything very clearly through her eyes.  As Nargis grew up so did how she spoke and reacted to life around her.  I was hooked. Even though they had very minor parts, the Bollywood actress named Dimple and Nargis' daughter whom she named Mandy, said this book was made for me.  Dimple, without the 'S' was my nickname in college and Mandy is the main character in my own novel, One Clown Short.



In every story something bad has to happen to give the main character an impactful event that will change their view of the world.  Nargis was the youngest child in a military family.  Her father controlled every aspect of the people around him.  Her mother retreated into her shell because of it.  For many reasons, religion, culture, the family of the nineteen sixties and seventies remained trapped in the father's clutches.



The pacing of the first half of the novel kept me interested.  But when Nargis left home to attend medical school in Russia, the story slowed to a crawl. She met and married an Indian boy she met in Russia.  By the end of the book, she's singing her husband's praises yet we know almost nothing about him.  He's never mentioned throughout her entire struggle to mend her relationship with her mother after her father's death.  And yet the conflict with her mother went on for years.  In fact the author dragged it on to the point I didn't care about it any more.  Sure, Nargis' father was a bad man.  But the child's voice I loved in the first half of the book, made me want to say 'grow up' when used to describe her adult battles.  Enough was enough.



The first half of this story, I loved.  The second half, I could have lived without.  It didn't resolve anything for me.  I don't think it resolved anything for Nargis either.  So maybe we're even.  On this one, I'll just have to stay on the fence.

Carnival Fun!

Now that the election is over we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  No more barrage of unwanted phone calls just as we sit down to dinner.  No more taping every single TV show on the planet so we can fast forward through the political ads.  We haven't escaped however, the analysis of how it turned out the way it did. 



What the research says is that the American landscape is changing.  The educated white man no longer rules.  In fact he's in the minority.  People I grew up thinking were minorities are now the majority.  That's what makes America great in my view of the world. But did we really need to spend millions of taxpayers dollars to tell us this?  No.  The journalists only need to visit the local carnival to see what's happening.



Yesterday was a picture perfect day here in Florida.  The Space Coast State Fair was in full swing over at the stadium.  The stadium is so close that at night I can hear the fairgoers screaming while they enjoy the many rides.  With nothing better to do Richard and I decided to take in the festivities. 



We paid our admission fee and stuck our arms through a hole in the booth so the ticket taker could put on our wrist bands.  Next the Gideons handed me a pocket bible.  And then there we were smack dab in the middle of a world of carny barkers, spinning rides and fair food. 



Richard and I are fascinated by the game barkers.  The games haven't changed much. Ring toss and guess your weight are still dragging people in with the lure of a big bright colored stuffed animal.  In the stand up the bottle game, the prize is an ipad or a Wii.  I don't think too many of those are handed out.  The rides still spin but have different packaging like dragons and hanggliders.  I have vertigo so no rides for me but it's fun to watch the kids smiling after a trip on the Tilt-A-Whirl disguised as a magic carpet ride.



It's the food that amazed me.  I've never been to a fair that served egg rolls and fried rice.  The brightly colored booths also sold chicken wings, pizza and fruit smoothies.  The pizza smelled delicious but I was determined to have what I consider real fair food.  We had a hard time finding our tried and true favorites, a sausage and onion hoagie and funnel cake.  But when we did.  Oh my!  Wash it all down with a diet coke and I was in seventh heaven. 



After we ate, a trip to the port a potty was in order.  I pinched my nose before entering but I didn't need to.  It was clean and actually smelled pretty good.  They've got the air freshener part fine tuned.  And don't forget the hand washing station.  I didn't feel like I needed to take a bath the second I exited the portable bathroom.  



I wanted a fair that took me back to my childhood.  But young people today can't even imagine a world with out pizza and chicken nuggets.  To attract a diverse crowd even the carnival knows it has to change with the times.  I enjoyed this new version of the state fair.  The circus, the bulls, sheep herding and even a Flying Wallenda climbing a 100 foot pole entertained me.  I got my fix of junk food.



And guess what? There wasn't a fried Twinkie anywhere to be found.

The Seventh Victim by Mary Burton

The Seventh Victim by Mary Burton



I was fortunate enough to get an advance reading copy of The Seventh Victim when I attended the super, fabulous Florida Writers Association Conference last month in Lake Mary, Florida.  Mary Burton will be the association's guest at next years conference and will conduct a workshop.  I can't say enough good things about the Florida Writers Association and the wonderful things they do.



I don't read alot of romantic suspense.  Mainly because crime and murders don't really float my boat.  And I really hate to say this because I don't want any of you to think I'm being arrogant, but I can usually figure out who did it long before the author chooses to reveal it.



James Beck and Lara Church were strong, believable characters guiding the story through many twists and turns.  The hunt for the Seattle Strangler who was responsible for a string of murders until Lara.  She escaped his clutches but with no memory of the event to help police solve the homicides. After the attack, she wandered around the country until landing in Austin, Texas when her grandmother dies.  The strangler has landed there too.



The Seventh Victim is a well written and tension filled novel.  What left me anxious to move on was that I knew how it would end before I even go to the halfway point.  And the author left the romance until nearly the end of the book in what I felt was a very unnatural point for the characters.   I didn't see sexual tension building between the two leading up to that point.   



If you enjoy reading Mary Burton and romantic suspense novels, you will love The Seventh Victim.  I enjoyed reading it but it left me unfulfilled.  It just wasn't for me. 

Christmas Already?

It smells like fall today, that wonderful odor of decay that signals autumn. It also makes me want to get out a rake, make a pile of leaves and jump in.  But alas this is Florida.  There are no dead leaves scattered across the front lawn, no rake in the garage, no brilliant yellows and reds lighting up the landscape.  Fall comes late here.  And stays but for a fleeting moment. 



Fall means a turkey is cooking in the oven today.  We've decided to skip
Thanksgiving in favor of a car show in Orlando this year.  We'll have a
hot dog for lunch and leftovers when we get home.  Aren't leftovers
always better than fresh out of the oven anyway?   



Tomorrow it will be winter.  Winter by Florida standards doesn't include snow.  It rarely requires gloves or hats or heavy coats.  When it does, we have to dig far into the closet to find those things we brought with us when we came south over thirty years ago and kept on hand just in case. Winter here is a pleasant, cool crispness and blends quickly into spring.



The impending onset of winter means it's time to put up the Christmas decorations.   Oh I forgot.  They're already up. 



The Christmas tree is decorated and standing proudly in the living room.  The patio is strung with lights and garland graces the front door.  But Richard won't turn on the lights until someone else in the neighborhood does it first.  This is a 55 community.  Someone else has to have too much time on their hands like Richard.  The giant blow up Santa surely has to appear in the yard down the street soon. Or do I have to wait for them to smell change in the air?  Tomorrow they'll pop out of bed and rush around putting up the decorations, baking cookies, trimming the tree afraid they've missed it. 



Each year the holidays come sooner and sooner.  Where does the time go?  Just for today I'm going to soak up all the sights and smells of fall.  They will be hard to find and difficult to detect.  Tomorrow it will be winter, the day after New Years and the day after that Easter. I'm going to enjoy it while I can. The holidays will come around again before I know it.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown



The Weird Sisters is a truly weird, and aptly named novel. And I loved it.



Written in third person possessive, it took a little getting used to.  As the story unfolded, the unusual tense became natural and well suited to the story.  Weird.



Three very different sisters, Rose, Bean and Cordy all make their way back home when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer.  Rose is the eldest, and feels it's her duty to take charge of everything.  She had earned her PhD and holds a professorship at a nearby university, never having left the comforts of her parent's home.  Bean, the lively party girl couldn't wait to leave small town life for the big city.  The fast and expensive lifestyle however caught up with her, forcing her back home.  Returning to care for her mother served as a cover up for the trouble she'd created.  Cordy was a wanderer, never sure what bed she'd sleep in or where the next meal would come from.  She loved the freedom, but she too had a secret that drove her home.



One thing all the sisters had in common was the love of books.  Their father teaches literature at the small college in town.  He speaks in lines from Shakespeare leaving his daughters trying to figure out what he is truly trying to say. Their mother suffers silently.



The author's talent at creating extraordinary characters is amazing.  Each sister has a distinct personality.  The parents are so immersed in each other, the girls exist in the outskirts of their private world. Throughout the novel the characters remain true to themselves in all the interactions between them.  An amazing feat in a complex story.



The Weird Sisters was weird.  But also wonderful.