PBT Decathlon—June Reporting

[Olivermagnus]

Three years ago my mother in law, Margaret, passed away at 92. My mom died very young, only 56, and I became very close to Margaret. When she had to move into an assisted living facility, I sent her this book. She was the envy of all her friends because they would deliver the packages at lunch and everyone got a chance to share. I decided to reread this book in her honor and to remind myself that she is still loved and missed.


In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming - 4 Stars

In the first book of the series we are introduced to Russ Van Alstyne, Chief of Police in the small town of Miller's Kill, New York and the Reverend Clare Ferguson, newly ordained priest of St. Alban's Episcopal Church and former Army helicopter pilot.

They meet when Clare finds a newborn baby wrapped in blankets outside the church. The person who left the baby also left a note asking that the baby be given to a local couple who have been desperate to adopt a child, Geoffrey and Karen Burns. Since the Burns' are also members of the church Van Alstyne thinks there may be some connection to one of the birth parents. Clare asks Russ to accompany him on his patrol one night and they discover a young murdered girl who turns out to be the baby's mother.

As they continue to investigate, the married, agnostic chief and the impulsive priest become attracted to each other. They have a lot in common even though it might not seem like it. They both have a need to pursue justice, one through the law and one through religious convictions. The relationship between Russ and Clare is well done and I'm curious to see how it progresses.

Don't be put off by the fact that one of the protagonists is a priest. Clare is much more than that. The religious aspects of the mystery are not heavy handed at all. The pacing is action packed and the author creates a very vivid Adirondack winter atmosphere. My only complaint about the book is the way Clare is constantly dashing off and putting herself in jeopardy. It reminds me of those movies where the audience knows the serial killer is inside the house and the heroine goes in alone. It seemed a tad unbelievable to me. I won't that keep me from discovering what happens in the next book of this entertaining series.

[Jgrace]

June - special event - visit to the Newseum in Washington DC
(the added PBT bonus with this book is that I learned about it from Fran, BooknBlues. Thanks, BnB!)

I had some trouble selecting a book for this challenge. I had decided to focus on my early retirement which allows me to indulge my obsessive reading habits. I'm enjoying A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Love and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books, but I'm not going to finish it any time soon.

Then I started thinking about my brief trip to Washington DC last year. I'd been there many times before so it didn't immediately come to mind. But last fall was the first time I'd been to the Newseum. I was with my sister, her girlfriend, and my son's girlfriend. Before entering, my sister went across the street to take a picture of the first amendment carved into the museum's front wall. We went to the Pulitzer photographs exhibit first. We all left that wall of pictures shaken and shattered. Worth a thousand words? There are no words strong enough.

The museum has a wall listing the names of journalists who have died doing their jobs. Today I read a comment concerning yesterday's shooting, to the effect that it is unusual to add names of those who died on American soil. Just one more way that freedom isn't free.


It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War
Lynsey Addario
5 stars

I’m not usually a fan of memoirs. I find that they deteriorate into a tedious listing of events or a name dropping catalog. Neither is true of this memoir. It was interesting, compelling and terrifying from beginning to end.

In the very first chapter, Addario tells of her March 2011 kidnapping in Libya. At the point where she and her colleagues are bound, gagged and helpless, Addario breaks off this riveting first person account with a paragraph that asks the obvious question. Why was she there? Why did she chose the life of a conflict photojournalist?

“When I return home and rationally consider the risks, the choices are difficult. But when I am doing my work, I am alive and I am me. It’s what I do. I am sure there are other versions of happiness, but this one is mine.”

The rest of the book is devoted to answering that question. She begins with her early years, her loving family, her first camera. She describes how she grew as a photographer and developed her passion for photojournalism. Addario is direct about her competitive professional goals and her artistic aspirations. She is frank about her personal life; the difficulties of balancing her demanding and dangerous career with any kind of healthy relationship. She is passionate about the subjects she photographs. She is committed to the visual power of photographic truth telling.

“I became fascinated by the notion of dispelling stereotypes or misconceptions through photography, of presenting the counterintuitive.”

“Trying to convey beauty in war was a technique to try to prevent the reader from looking away or turning the page in response to something horrible. I wanted them to linger, to ask questions.”

“With my subjects—the thousands of people I have photographed—I have shared the joy of survival, the courage to resist oppression, the anguish of loss, the resilience of the oppressed, the brutality of the worst of men and the tenderness of the best.”

[Nicole D.]

June: A book related to a significant event from the past 10 years.

I'm an emotional wreck right now. Because of the book I just read, and the reason I read it, so forgive a little drama here. You guys, I don't know if you know this, but there are people who don't read. LOL. What? I know. Reading is as much a part of my life as food and sleep. It's daily, and I don't give it much thought. Like, what should I eat, and what should I read are pretty much them same. I'd say it's a passion, but it's more than that - it just is.

So the meaningful event I chose was joining PBT. I had many options, but this just felt like what I wanted to honor. I didn't keep track before PBT, but I've read on average 75 books per year since joining. I've read books I would never have known about - so many! I've met book twins (Anita, Sara and now Susie) and I've got my PBT Besties, Nicole R. and Jen.

What's remarkable about the book I chose is that Anita read it a while back and asked if she could send it to me because she thought I'd like it. I LOVED IT. I mean .... LOVED it. And more importantly, I loved that Anita knows my reading enough to know that I would (even though she was probably a little nervous that I wouldn't ... )

Our community is so important to me and I'm so grateful for it, so without further ado ...

Hallucinating Foucault - Patricia Duncker
5/5 (2018 favorite)

I'm wrecked. The writing in this book was perfect. I laughed, I cried. If I had read it on the Kindle there would be highlights galore.

Less that 200 pages, I was drawn immediately in. A scholarly setting, which I always enjoy despite the fact that I am not scholarly and never been in that setting, often grabs me right away. The topic of mental illness always fascinates, and the story is about reading and writing and love.

This book had the potential to be pretentious and it wasn't. The characters were magnificent. I don't know how you do that in 174 pages.

Amazing.

The literal PERFECT book for this challenge, IMHO.

[Nicole R]

Nicole D. wrote: "and I've got my PBT Besties, Nicole R. and Jen. "

Awww...all of this brought a little tear to my eye. I feel the same way about PBT. And about my PBT besties in you and Jen! <3

[Susie]

I feel EXACTLY the same about PBT. It has enriched my reading life so much, and I feel like you are all very dear friends.

[Jen]

PBT Decathlon (2015): June

I picked the year 2015. November 2015 we took our first family trip (not including visits to family). We took our daughter to Disney for her birthday. The whole thing was pretty magical and it will be one of the trips I remember for a lifetime. I wanted to read a fantasy novel for this prompt since the memory is magical.




Honestly, I'm not sure how to review this book without giving certain things away. The Fifth Season is a fantasy novel that won the Hugo Award. The novel begins with an event that will result in the end of the world. There are a plethora of strong characters, especially strong women, lots of magic, and great world building.

I enjoyed the book and breezed through it in a day. Jemisin is a great writer and I've heard her speak many times about diversity in fantasy. It's nice to read a fantasy novel where the protagonist isn't a white male.

[Hilde]

January: Tribute to Linda (5 star read from her shelf)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3,6 stars rounded up to 4 stars

The book is set in the Jazz Age in New York, where Jay Gatsby himself is the bright star of the Jazz Age with all that follows. The great parties, the distinctive clothes and the casual lifestyle. But this is only the backstory. Even though there is no doubt that Gatsby is the main character in the book, we meet him through the narrator and I-person Nick Carraway. Thus, it is with a certain distance that we are being introduced to Mr Gatsby, who in the beginning of the book is surrounded by mystery when he appears in his newly acquired and impressive summer palace outside New York in the spring of 1922, where the parties he invites to is nothing like the neighborhood has experienced before. The guests appear whether they are invited or not, and many of them haven’t even greeted the host, who is always in the background.

In the beginning, Jay Gatsby tries to convey an impression that he comes from a rich family, but eventually that appears to be false. He has also had a romance with Daisy, his great love, a few years earlier, that he, despite being married to the very wealthy Tom Buchanan, hopes to win back. In spite of the fact that both Tom and Daisy are born with a silver spoon in their mouths and as such have every opportunity to succeed in life, they are both unhappy in the marriage. Eventually Nick, who is Jay Gatsby's neighbor, will play a key role when Jay and Daisy meet, and during the summer, it will build a drama that will have fatal consequences for all the invaded.

While the plot evolves and unfolds to its fullest extent, we witness the overall cynicism and gratitude of the upper class when important values are at stake. The one we believed was the villain is in reality just a romantic dreamer, whereas those who appeared as victims, both directly and indirectly, are guilty of more than they care to admit. And Nick, who is in the middle of the firing line, gets his life and everything he believed on, inverted and stepped on.

The book is well written, flows easily and is quite entertaining once you are a bit into the book (I found the beginning to drag a little). If the book is great, such as the Great Gatsby himself, I’m not sure. But it is an important book that stands to be read more than once.

[Booknblues]

June: Spirit of the Road: The Life of an American Trucker...and his cat. 3 stars -Decathalon Challenge

So I was in a quandary over the June's decathlon pick, and decided that over the past 10 years, my cats have made me very happy and when I found a book about a truck driver who traveled with his cat, I knew that this was the one I should choose, as my husband was a truck driver for many years until retiring.

Huffman made a later in life career change to truck driver and couldn't abandon Kitty to long times at home so he brought her with him. I found the book amusing with his tales of ineptness having newly learned the skill of truck driving.

I would have appreciated a bit more about Kitty, but was happy with my choice. It isn't a deep book and I suppose it could get tedious with all of his tales about his troubles backing up, but I enjoyed it.

[Ladyslott]

I became an empty nester within the last ten years and read this book as I felt I would identify with it

June Decathalon - A significant event from the past 10 years

Title: Text Me, Love Mom
Author: Candace Allen
Genre: Memoir
Completed: 6/30/18
No. of Pages: 220
Rating: ★★★

I really thought I would relate to this book, having three daughters who went way to college, but I honestly did not.

I think what made it hard for me to relate is that my oldest daughter moved to Florida around 19 or 20; my younger daughters went to day camp from the time they were 5 years old, until they moved on to sleep away camp at around 12 or 13 and then went to ATW travel camp around 15. Both my younger girls went to Spain with their school in 11th grade and they went all over the country with ATW for three years. My middle daughter went to college in Florida and my youngest in Chicago. They both went to Israel via Birthright, the older one going once as a ‘camper’ and twice as a ‘group leader’. Although I worried about all of their choices I felt I had prepared them and did my best to let them grow their wings and fly. My middle daughter has been to about 20-25 countries and she is only 28. I just felt this mom was too much of a helicopter parent and I just wanted to tell her to chill a little and trust that she had raised smart children. The only time I felt she was spot on was when one of her daughters made a number of poor choices, and I supported the mother’s worries. But overall I felt she needed to relax a little and enjoy her life with her husband a bit more.. Just my opinion.

[Nicole R]

Head's up that I will be tallying points and closing this thread tomorrow afternoon! Be sure to get your reviews posted before then!

[Joi]

June- Significant event in last 10 years.
2017 vacation to Europe, specifically getting engaged in France.
Tie to Book: This books is set in France, and see review for the weird coincidence about this book.
The Little French Bistro by Nina George
2.5 Stars

Well this book really wasn't what I was expecting. What I wanted was a nice fluffy beach read full of French descriptions, lovable characters, charm, and maybe some food. What I got was a book about an "old" (German) lady re-finding herself after trying to commit suicide. Eek.

Firstly, I chose this because while on a plane from vacation last year the woman next to me was actually reading this! She had her copy of "The Little Breton Bistro", and I had my copy of "The Little French Bistro" and low and behold it is the same book. The American version is just renamed because they didn't think American's would know what Breton is. I did never get to reading this book on the plane that day though.

Well, the book was nice I guess. The descriptions were really lovely, and I felt like I was on the coast of Brittany, enjoying wine in a French Bistro. But there were just too many assumptions, and jump and hoops for me to enjoy this. Marianne comes in not knowing French, and I'm supposed to assume she just learns it in days? Lots of convenient coincidences, side stories about more characters I didn't care about. Predictable pots. I dunno, just very meh all around. It's weird because the book has a "light chick lit" feel- but surrounds the heavy topic of suicide, and I don't think it was done super well.

I'd give Nina George another try though- I bet she could do just a simple beach read really well.

[Book Concierge]

Joi wrote: "June- Significant event in last 10 years.
2017 vacation to Europe, specifically getting engaged in France.
Tie to Book: This books is set in France, and see review for the weird coincidence about t..."

Try this one ... a bit more what you were originally looking for.
You can see My Review HERE

[Joi]

Book Concierge wrote: "Joi wrote: "June- Significant event in last 10 years.
2017 vacation to Europe, specifically getting engaged in France.
Tie to Book: This books is set in France, and see review for the weird coincid..."

Thanks BC, I've seen this book before and waved on it. It looks a little Eat, Pray, Love-y to me, and I strongly disliked that one.

Maybe someday I'll give it a chance :)

[JoLene]

Aagghh.

My big events were getting married 2008 and getting diagnosed with metatstatic breast cancer in 2010. The first event, of course, was actually not only best of last 10 years, but of my life. This month has been a bit hard on the health front, starting with me tearing my meniscus and then having several other issues popping up where my husband has has driven me around, sat in many waiting rooms and making most of our meals!!

I had great plans to read something about Egypt as that is where we went for our honeymoon, but my brain power has been a bit low. I did manage to read The Accidental Honeymoon which was a fun chick lit book about accidentally getting married, but needing to bring the “new husband” to impersonate the cheating boyfriend for a family wedding. Overall some amusing bits, some predictability, but a nice quick summer read.


I have loved reading everyone’s stories!!! Also, I did actually discover shelfari and PBT while I was initially sick because I needed some mini goals while not working.

[Nicole R]

Alright everyone, the points for this month are tallied and I am closing this thread! Please feel free to double check my accounting at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

On a personal note, I did not get to respond to every person's post, but I wanted you to know that I read each and every one of them. Getting married, having children, children leaving, battling illness, parent's dying. We as a PBT community have been through a lot together!

Many of the events that you all described I remember very clearly and feel fortunate that I have shared even a little part of the journey with you all. So, thank you.

Like Nicole D, I am feeling a bit sentimental this month thinking about what PBT has gone through in the last decade and what a big part of my life it has become.