Vicki Lane's Blog, page 517

Yesterday

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A Sunlit Moment . . .

Smiling in the sun . . .Not one of us knows, no none,How soon all's undone.
I came across this archival photo and was reminded of the utter fragility of life . . .
and of the necessity to seize the moment.

Misty Autumn

A misty morning . . . Sun setting leaves afire . . . Then dodging behind bruise-purple clouds . . .  [image error] Mysterious, misty Autumn.

The Goat Woman of Largo Bay

The Goat Woman of Largo Bay is the first of a series set in Jamaica and featuring local bartender Shadrach Myers.  But it's also very much the story of Simone who, tormented by guilt and regret after her daughter's death, has exiled herself to a small island within sight of Shad's bar in a rural fishing village. Simone's struggles with herself are beautifully told -- she's a character that I hope will reappear in this series.

Shad is a charming and very likeable sleuth -- who better than a bartender to know all the local scuttlebutt?  As one reviewer put it, "How can you possibly resist a hero who cools tempers in a heated political exchange by putting on some classic Toots and the Maytals reggae music to get the vibe back on track?"

Gillian Royes is a native of Jamaica and she brings the setting and the people to vivid life. This isn't the tourist's Jamaica but the off-the beaten-track, small village island life, where the local obeah man can provide a woman in danger with Oil of Protection -- and it'll work!

  Gillian was a member of my workshop at Wildacres last summer where we got a peek at the next Shad book. Goat Woman is a fine read, especially if you'd enjoy a taste of island life.

Wordless Autumn

Saffron

A lone Autumn crocus blooming in my entry way flower bed. See those lovely orange-red stigmas? This is a saffron crocus and it's dried stigmas like these that produce this pricey seasoning/coloring ingredient.
Saffron has a long, long history but is best known to me as an ingredient in Spanish cooking. I grew up in Tampa where Ybor City, the Latin Quarter, was the place to go for great food -- and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) meant yellow rice, tinted with saffron and the less expensive anatto.
Seeing the saffron crocus blooming inspired this meal -- Yellow rice with black beans, fried tilapia and shrimp, roasted sweet potatoes with onions and cumin. And a green salad that didn't get in the photo. Apologies for the slightly out of focus picture -- it's a sin to let hot food go cold so I grab a shot and don't always take time to see if it was good. But the food was. [image error]

Columbus Day

Certainly nothing to celebrate -- but it might be a time for reflection . . . Who are the illegal immigrants anyway?

For Want of a Tripod

 What do you suppose I was trying to capture in this photo? 

Reading YA

 YA is the publishing term for novels aimed at Young Adults -- though in actuality, the age range of the readers is fairly elastic -- from preteen to early twenties -- or, in my case, late sixties.  The protagonists, however, are almost always in their late teens and the story is often that of a coming of age.


Recently I've been wandering in this genre. Jo Walton's Among Others is a quietly charming novel about Mori,  a young girl who has run away from her mother in Wales to England and the father she hardly knows. Set apart from others at her boarding school because of a crippled leg, she spends much time reading -- and a great part of my enjoyment of this books was that she reads many of my childhood favorites.


Oh,  and Mori's mother is a witch - an evil one -- and Mori herself can do magic and . . . well, there's a detailed review HERE. I really loved this book
 
 Another YA that I recently enjoyed is Lev Grossman's  The Magicians . It's a kind of  American and more grown up  Harry Potter and there is, I might warn you, Language, as well as Adult Situations. (Not surprising for this late teen, early twenties age group.) I also caught quite a few nods to Narnia. This is another fantasy meets real life. I was completely engaged by the characters and would like to read a sequel. 

Not a YA,  Live Wire is the tenth in Coben's  NYT bestselling Myron Bolitar series.  I've written here before of my total fascination with this wise-cracking, sweetheart of a protagonist as well as his psychotic preppy ninja sidekick, Win. (In this outing Win has two Asian girlfriends, named Mee and Yu, affording the opportunity for a lot of punning.)

And there's another new character -- Myron's nephew Mickey. He's a wonderful, conflicted teen with serious family issues. All of which makes him perfect to be the protag of his own YA novel. 

Shelter, with Mickey in the starring role, is just out. I haven't read it yet but I will, I will!
  

A Mixed Bag of Autumn

Oak leaves. . . Sweet potatoes . . . I wish I could remember what the name of this exuberant rose is ...
Sweet potatoes curing in the sun to toughen their skins for storage . . .There are more to dig . . .
And back to the oak leavesand that rose. . .