MARCH READS, PART 1

Since I'm shortly to embark on a trip to Dubai (which will include long plane rides, 3 days on the beach in Oman, and a stack of books), I thought I'd get the first 7 books for March out of the way.

HARDSCRABBLE ROAD by Jane Haddam: a Gregor Demarkian mystery. The retired FBI agent is struggling in his personal life and can't quite wrap his head around the oddities of his newest case--a missing homeless man who was accused by a radio personality of procuring drugs for him. Haddam's politics have moved into her books over the years, but they never overtake the story. Her plotting is superb, with corpses turning up where they shouldn't and surprise identifications of said corpses. Recommended series.

MISERY by Stephen King: I picked this up after watching the movie on TV one night. Paul is the popular writer of Misery Chastain, a 19th-century heroine who gets into one romantic scrape after another. Annie Wilkes is Paul's "Number One Fan." When Paul is seriously injured in a car accident in the Colorado mountains, Annie discovers him and takes him to her isolated farm. Crippled by the injuries to his legs, with no phone in the house, trapped with a woman he quickly realizes is insane, Paul must literally write for his life.

WATER LIKE A STONE by Deborah Crombie: Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. When Duncan brings Gemma and their boys to spend Christmas with his family in Cheshire, he doesn't expect to walk straight into murder. But his sister, Juliet, has discovered the body of a baby, walled up inside an old barn. Juliet's marriage is falling apart, her daughter is increasingly secretive, and another body is found by Kincaid's son. I love this series, and I loved this entry with its mix of family troubles and outside violence. Crombie is brilliant at getting inside people's heads and I love that about her writing.

RED LEAVES/INTERROGATION by Thomas H. Cook: I'm a fan of Cook, who writes psychological standalone novels. RED LEAVES was on many award lists last year and I agree. When an 8-year-old girl goes missing from her home, her teenage babysitter is suspected. The boy is not easy to love, withdrawn and moody and unmotivated. But could he really have hurt a little girl? The story is told through the father's viewpoint, and he comes to see that not only does he not know his son but he doesn't know all the secrets of his own past. Not an easy read and not an easy ending, but beautiful and compelling and the last chapter is very satisfying. INTERROGATION I read immediately after and didn't like as much. A girl has been killed in the 1950s. A suspect has been arrested. But there's no evidence and they can only hold him twelve more hours. So the police give one more try in interrogating the suspect. The story is complex in spite of that simple set-up, but I found it too relentlessly sad for me. Somehow, even with its dark subject, RED LEAVES left me satisfied. INTERROGATION didn't.

DEATH COMES FOR THE FAT MAN by Reginald Hill: Andy Dalziel is the heart and soul of Mid-Yorkshire. When he's severely injured in a terrorist bombing, Peter Pascoe is on a mission to find out what happened and why. While Dalziel floats above his world in a coma, Pascoe puts himself in harm's way by joining up with the British anti-terrorist officers, one of whom may be the enemy. Behind the complicated cover of a new group of Knights Templar who believe in an eye for an eye (or a head for a head), lies the true mystery which is, of course, personal. An excellent addition to the series and one I'll have to read again soon to savor--I was too busy the first time wondering about the outcome for Dalziel.

PAPER WOMAN by Suzanne Adair: in 1780, Sophie Barton is tired of the continuing war. Courted by a British officer and weary of her life working her father's printing press, the twice-widowed Sophie longs for escape. When her father, a patriot, is killed, Sophie determines to find the killer. From Georgia to Florida to Cuba, from spies to assassins to Creek warriors to mysterious emeralds, the book is an interesting look at the south during the Revolutionary War. At times the setting and history overwhelm the story, and I'm still not sure I entirely understand the wrap-up of the plot.

It's official: I'm going to be published.

Before you all start jumping for the phone to congratulate me and/or ask me for money, let me clarify. It's not a big deal. It's not a book; it's not even fiction.

Last year, a friend in my online writing group posted a link to a contest called "Letters to My Mother". They were soliciting submissions for an anthology entitled the same to come out this year around Mother's Day. Last March for my birthmother's birthday, I wrote a letter telling her the reasons I was grateful she was my mother. With a bit of tweaking, I easily had a suitable submission.

While in Kenya last June, I received an email telling me I was a finalist and should know by the end of September if my entry would be published. Yes, that was indeed six months ago. Welcome to the first lesson of publishing--Patience is a Virtue.

In any case, I got the notification today that my letter will be in the anthology, which should be available shortly. As soon as I have purchasing information, I'll be sure to put up a link.

And I am getting paid for it, the first time I can say that about my writing. Of course, it's all of ten dollars. I figure I might throw caution to the wind and frame the check rather than cash it. Or, as a writer friend suggested, I can scan the check to frame, and then spend it. The best of both worlds!

I'm in mourning.

Our computer died Monday.

It's not an irretrievable loss. I don't feel the need to throw myself on the burning pyre of its remains. My writing still exists, nicely backed up on my laptop. But there are some losses.

The one I'm noticing most at the moment? The loss of my favorites list online. My laptop had a few of my favorite sites, but most everything I've saved for research purposes over the years was on the other computer. Medical sites on neurosyphillis. Medieval Welsh castles. Common poisons. Tudor battles. History of the Welsh longbow. English/Welsh dictionary. Victorian women's education. History of the British police force, including the number of officers in any London station in 1900. WWI trench poetry. Agents and publishers.

Of course I can find them again. I hope. But it doesn't feel the same. I spent hours on that old computer researching those sites. I loved them, and I loved what they represented about my writing. (If my husband ever dies suddenly from monkshood poisoning, I might have a hard time explaining it away.) My favorites list is a peek into my psyche. Maybe not a pretty one, but revealing.

Now I start over.

FEBRUARY 2007 READS

THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield: Vida Winter is a famous novelist whose life is coming to an end. Margaret Lea is the woman chosen to write Winter's biography. Not an easy task, given that Winter has spent her life making up backgrounds for herself as easily as she made up her stories. A tribute to the best gothic novels, in the tradition of Bronte and du Maurier, this book is a wonderful story of twins, haunted houses, mysterious deaths, mistaken identities, and the power of literature. I didn't see the resolution coming, but it was perfect and supported by everything that came before. I loved, loved, loved this story.

I LOVE EVERYBODY AND OTHER ATROCIOUS LIES/THE IDIOT GIRLS' ACTION-ADVENTURE CLUB by Laurie Notaro: two books of humorous essays about one woman's life. I needed easy reading that would make me laugh, and these books did it. My favorite essay has to be about Jerry, the homeless man who shows up to do yard work for her without tools. His method of bringing down a dead orange tree is to throw himself bodily upon the tree and rip off branches with his bare hands and then kick them when they're down. Her writing is funny and her take on life suits my own skewed sense of humor.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte: book club choice. Heathcliff, Cathy, and the Yorkshire moors--I fell in love with this book when I was a teenager and I was glad to see how well it held up for me twenty years later. Though there aren't many likeable characters in this book, the power of the writing and the imagery and the story itself is unique in Victorian novels. Someone said it was poetry masquerading as prose and I agree. Emily Bronte wrote a beautiful book that captures a time and place and people like few writers ever have.

APRIL FOOL'S DAY by Bryce Courtenay: by the writer of THE POWER OF ONE and TANDIA, this is a non-fiction account of his son Damon's life and death. Damon was born with haemophilia and at the age of 17 was infected with HIV from a transfusion. He died of AIDS at 23, on April Fool's Day. Not an easy book to read. I'm glad I did, for it helped me understand things I will never experience, like the constant and increasing pain of a haemophiliac, the crippling of joints as they grow older, and then the terror of a new disease which brings not only physical ruin but social ostracism. The saddest part of the book was when Damon was in the HIV ward in hospital and the boy in the room next to him died all alone because his family wouldn't come see him. My compassion increased in reading this book.

MY COUSIN RACHEL by Daphne du Maurier: I read this so long ago that I couldn't remember the story. I love du Maurier and this is a classic: a young man whose cousin and guardian falls in love in Italy, marries, and then dies after sending several letters that more or less accuse his wife, Rachel, of killing him. Phillip is determined to hate Rachel, but that doesn't last long when she actually shows up in England. At first bewildered, then fascinated, by Rachel, Phillip ends up in love and showering her with gifts. Is it the money Rachel wants? Why has she come to England? And what really happened to her husband? You'll have to read to find out.

CHAOS AND THE POWER OF BREAD

I don't do chaos.

I think that's partly due to my mom. When I was young, I suffered from the same sickness I now see infecting my daughter--what I call "the need to possess many adorable trinkets and keep them all on display even when the shelves are groaning from the weight of them." And don't even get me started on what my drawers used to look like--my mom has a good story there :)

But my mother taught me that important lesson (in both decorating and life)--Less is More.

And that's translated into a love of order, a love of neatness, a love of going to bed each night with every floor in my home picked up and every counter clear. (We'll just ignore the little thing called The Play Room--pretend it's a bigger version of the drawers in my adolescence.)

Last week, my house was in chaos.

We're having new floors installed in several key rooms of our house, including the master bedroom. Which meant furniture and clothing and books and videos had to be crammed into other rooms and for several nights none of us slept upstairs. It also meant long hours of sawing and pounding and dust settling and, well, all sorts of things that qualify as chaos. I had to use my laptop rather than my desktop, I couldn't take a nap (which is important with this lingering mono), and I couldn't watch whatever I wanted on my very own TV in my very own bedroom.

And into the midst of this cacophony came bread, apples, cheese, and one of my best friends. For several hours Tuesday afternoon we settled on one of many couches in the family room, ignored the hammering upstairs, and talked. Her new baby is an angel and slept in my arms almost the whole time. Her daughter and my son played together and generally left us alone. What better Valentine's week treat could there be?

As I've said before--I've got the best friends in the world.

And a loaf of French bread can cure nearly anything.

THINGS I'M EXCITED ABOUT . . .

The groundhog didn't see his shadow

Sun

The reappearance of the mountains after two weeks

My husband's good job

Good schools--and having all four children in school

Good books

New-to-me authors

Hamish MacBeth on DVD

Weekend posse shopping trip to Park City

March trip to Dubai

June trip to Mexico

A whole brand-new day each day in which almost anything might happen!

THINGS I'M TIRED OF . . .

Winter

Below-freezing temperatures

Smog

Snow that won't melt

Mono

Laundry

Cooking

Science fair projects (there is a reason I majored in English!)

My husband traveling

Children indoors all the time (see below-freezing temps above)

Sigh . . .

January 2007 Books

AMONG THE HIDDEN by Margaret Peterson Haddix: a younger YA book about a society where third children are illegal. The first in the Shadow Children series. My boys and I have read them all, but this one remains my favorite. Luke has lived his whole life isolated on a family farm. Then houses are built behind their farm and he makes friends with another third child, Jen. Reckless where Luke is cautious, Jen is determined to change the plight of the shadow children.

A LONG SHADOW/A FALSE MIRROW by Charles Todd: the two most recent in the Inspector Rutledge series. Set in 1920, Ian Rutledge is still haunted by the trenches and the many men who died under his command. I like Rutledge and the feel for post-WWI England and I generally like the involved plots--but the author often hides information near the end so that I often feel thrust outside Rutledge's experience since the writer doesn't share everything Rutledge knows or does. It's a fine line between being coy and cheating and these books are starting to stray into cheating.

THE WELL OF SHADES by Juliet Marillier: my husband had a work friend in Australia send him this third in a trilogy for my Christmas present (it won't be published in the U.S. until May.) Marillier writes historical fantasies, and she delivers a winner in this conclusion to The Bridei Chronicles. Set in Pictish Scotland in about 500 A.D., Marillier has wonderful characters, complex love stories, battles and traitors and a spoiled, psychopathic princess who has no problem killing when life gets boring. Plus the magic of the Druids--what's not to love!

PARDONABLE LIES by Jacqueline Winspear: the third in this 1930's series find Maisie Dobbs trying to prove that a WWI pilot actually died when his plane was shot down more than twelve years before. It's Maisie's most personally difficult case yet, taking her back to France where she served as a nurse and where her first love was taken from her. I love the mood of these books, it feels like you're in a different time and world reading them. Maisie is a sympathetic and strong heroine, one of many English women who were left behind when a generation of young men died.

TOWER OF SILENCE by Sarah Rayne: Secluded Scottish town. Asylum for the criminally insane. Quiet spinster whose childhood was marred by tragedy. When Joanna Savile arrives in Moy with the aim of interviewing its most famous inmate, she sets off a course of events that began with a bloody uprising in India fifty years ago. No one is quite who they seem and connections are everywhere as the story moves back and forth in time. A new-to-me writer, I devoured this book in two days. Not for the faint of heart or those prone to nightmares, but a great story for a winter's afternoon when you just want to be swept away and not think too hard.

BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE by Rennie Airth: John Madden used to be a Scotland Yard Inspector. Now, in the early 1930's, he's a gentleman farmer with a doctor wife and two children. But when he's caught in the search for a missing child, Madden can't keep entirely clear of the subsequent murder investigation. A portrait of England still reeling from one war and verging on the brink of another, I especially enjoyed the German detective who's working on what may be connected cases involving and the delicate negotiations between protecting a British spy and the rise of the Nazis to power.

FREAKONOMICS by Levitt and Dubner: "Morality is how one thinks the world should work. Economics is how the world actually works." A book club read, with titles like "Why do Drug Dealers still Live with their Mothers" and "What do the Ku Klux Klan and Real-estate Agents have in Common?", this economics book barely talks money at all but rather shows thinking beyond the conventional wisdom and opened my mind to a new way (upside down and sideways) of asking questions and gathering information. Recommended.

TWILIGHT/NEW MOON by Stephenie Meyer--a BYU graduate, Meyer woke up one morning from a vivid dream which she promptly wrote down. That scene, of a girl and her vampire boyfriend in a meadow, became the linchpin of her first novel, TWILIGHT. Within six months of that dream, Meyer had written the book, found an agent, and signed a six-figure, multi-book contract. Amazingly, I don't hate her. Mostly because TWILIGHT is a fabulous book. I devoured it. I inhaled it. I dreamt about it and completely forgot I was reading someone's work and just dove into the story itself. Bella Swan doesn't know what's she in for when she moves to Forks, Washington and meets the enigmatic and unearthly beautiful Cullen family. But I can tell you what you're in for if you pick up TWILIGHT and the sequel NEW MOON--storytelling at its best.

ART OF DETECTION by Laurie R. King: I'm a big fan of King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes' novels. Not so much her contemporaries. I picked up this Kate Martinelli police procedural because it involves the death of a Sherlock Holmes fanatic and includes the text of a previously unknown Holmes story. I thought with King crossing lines between her two series that I would enjoy it, but I didn't. It was okay, just not for me. I'll stick to waiting for another Mary Russell.

ELLA MINNOW PEA by Mark Dunn: my brother-in-law recommended this and I'm so glad I finally read it. Ella lives on the fictional island of Nollop, where the villagers revere Nevin Nollop, the creator of the infamous sentence that uses all the letters in the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." When letters start to fall from Nollop's statue, the council begins to forbid their use. As the letters disappear from the islanders' vocabulary, they also disappear from the novel. The book is more than a clever exercise--it's also a spirited look at totalitarianism and one girl's fight for freedom of expression.

THE CHRISTMAS SECRET by Anne Perry: a Christmas novella featuring one of Perry's minor characters. Dominic Corde and his wife, Clarice, have come to a quiet Oxfordshire town to take over the parish for three weeks. But when the vicar is found to have never left home at all, the Cordes must sift through a multitude of village secrets to find the one worth killing for.

THERE IS LEARNING IN EVERYTHING

I've been reminded recently of all the many, many things I have still to learn.

Like how to draw a scalene triangle.

The difference between a percentage and a percentile.

Where Muscat, Oman is located. (Nothing like children's homework to make an adult feel stupid!)

But I think I'm drawing closer to learning one lesson, the one I call: IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ME!

I gave a friend of mine THE SPARROW to read recently and we've had a lively e-mail discussion about the book and especially the main character, Emilio Sandoz. Emilio goes through some horrible events. Emilio's pretty mad about those events. Emilio (a Jesuit priest) has lost his faith in God due to these events.

My friend did not care greatly for Emilio. She thought he took too much to himself, arrogant in assuming that all the bad things that happened were solely from a single decision he made. Emilio, in short, was in dire need of learning IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ME!

For good and bad, things happen in this world. Children are born, children die, wars are fought, peace is made, jobs are gained and lost, manuscripts don't sell, manuscripts are published and then books don't sell, some people love you and some people dislike you and often it has little to do with you at all.

2006 READING IN REVIEW

I just compiled my list of top-ten mysteries read in 2006 (as oppsed to published in 2006) for DorothyL. It's one of my favorite parts of that listserv--the annual listing of subscribers' favorite mysteries. Sometimes I get great books out of the process, sometimes I look at a list and know from the titles it's not for me.

As I looked back at my record of books read last year, I broke them down into genres, just for the interest of seeing if I'm completely unbalanced in my reading. Lots of people on DorothyL read mysteries almost exclusively. I am not one of them, though they do figure largely.

NON-FICTION: 22

MYSTERY: 46

GENERAL FICTION: 19

YOUNG ADULT FICTION: 15

SCI-FI/FANTASY: 9

Out of 111 books read, there wasn't a simple majority in any category (except that fiction beats non-fiction by a mile.) No surprise there, being the lover of stories that I am. I'm also posting my list of favorite mysteries, though I've included the 3 that were on my preliminary list for the top 10 and had to be cut.

TOMB OF THE GOLDEN BIRD, Elizabeth Peters
THE GHOST ORCHID, Carol Goodman
THE STRANGER HOUSE, Reginald Hill
HALF BROKEN THINGS, Morag Joss
TO THE POWER OF THREE, Laura Lippman
ALL MORTAL FLESH, Julia Spencer-Fleming
WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER, Elizabeth George
THE LIGHTHOUSE, P.D. James
THE HEADMASTER'S WIFE, Jane Haddam
ON BEULAH HEIGHT, Reginald Hill
DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD, Reginald Hill
THE CONSTANT GARDENER, John le Carre
NO NIGHT IS TOO LONG, Barbara Vine

But my three favorite books of the year are not on this list. One is historical fiction, one is literary fiction (though I could argue for it being a mystery) and one is loosely sci/fi.

HERE THERE BE DRAGONS, Sharon Kay Penman
POSSESSION, A.S. Byatt
THE SPARROW, Mary Doria Russell

Happy reading to all of you in 2007!

DECEMBER READS


THE RECKONING by Sharon Kay Penman: the last in the 13th-century trilogy of Wales. This one focuses on the grandson of Llewellyn Fawr, Llewellyn ap Gruffydd who is also known as the last true Prince of Wales. He was actually accorded that title during the reign of England's Henry III, but a combination of Welsh infighting, a brother who swung back and forth between loyalty and betrayal, and the simple fact that England had time and money on its side meant that it couldn't last. Llewellyn ap Gruffydd married Simon de Montfort's daughter, lost her in childbirth, then was killed later that year (1282) in a completely random stroke of bad luck. His brother David held off England's Edward I for a time, but was finally betrayed by his own men. Edward I is also known as Longshanks for his unusual height and also as The Hammer of the Scots for his brutal repression of Scotland's rebels. But he honed his strength and vengeance in Wales thirty years earlier and his trial of David was the first time that a rebel was sentenced separately for each offense. Thus David ap Gruffydd, once Edward's close friend, was hung, drawn, and quartered. His daughters (and Llewellyn's single daughter) were sent to convents to live out their lives without fear of having children, and David's young sons were kept imprisoned until their deaths. From the Welsh chronicle, after relating the death of Llewellyn ap Gruffydd near Llanganten on the eleventh day of December: "And then all Wales was cast to the ground."

END IN TEARS by Ruth Rendell: an Inspector Wexford novel from one of my favorite writers. A teenage mother is dead, and when Wexford starts investigating no one's secrets will remain hidden. From the heartless plans of two girls preying upon the hopes of infertile couples to Wexford's own daughter's unusual pregnancy to a fanatically modern police woman who endangers her life in the investigation, Rendell weaves a story that I read in two days. Fabulous characters, tense storytelling, and Inspector Wexford. I couldn't ask for more.

HATESHIP, FRIENDSHIP, COURTSHIP, LOVESHIP, MARRIAGE by Alice Munro: a collection of short stories that I inherited from my birth mother. Not really for me, sorry to say. I liked the first story, which gives its name to the collection, but other than that I found them a bit depressing, a bit "so what?", and a bit not my taste. Okay, a lot not my taste. But they were short :)

COLD GRANITE by Stuart MacBride: a first novel, it got great reviews on DorothyL so I read it. Not for me, I'm afraid. I did read to the end, but I won't be buying anymore by him. It's a police procedural set in Aberdeen and the great strength of the book is the setting--bleak, cold, rainy/snowy, etc. I did feel that I was there. But it wasn't a place I wanted to be. I'm not generally a fan of serial killer books because they're most often boring and cliched. (An exception is DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD by Reginald Hill--I highly recommend that one.) This wasn't only a serial killer book, but a serial killer of children book. And it was very detailed in terms of autopsies and conditions of the bodies and other sorts of things I really don't need. But the worst of the book is that it was relentlessly cheerless. I didn't like any of the characters, except the poor children, and I really don't want to spend any more time with DS Logan McRae.

LIGHT FROM HEAVEN by Jan Karon: could not have gone more different in this next book. The last in the Mitford series, a relentlessly cozy world in which there is no murder, just minor mysteries at most, involving Episcopal priest Father Tim and his writer wife, Cynthia. I believe I've skipped several in the middle, but this isn't a series that requires a lot of attention to detail. It's warm and soft and quick reading and not a bad way to cleanse my palate after the previous book.

THE MURDERED HOUSE by Pierre Magnan: another DorothyL recommendation. I did like this better, but not my favorite of the month. Translated from the French (which might be part of the problem for me, I'm generally not wild about translations), it's set immediately WWI in a small French village. The house of the title has just been inherited by the only surviving member of a family who was massacred there twenty years earlier. A baby at the time, Seraphin becomes obsessed when he learns the details of the murders and winds up tearing down the house stone by stone. Of course there's a mystery about the murders that is eventually solved, but the book focuses on Seraphin and his desire for vengeance. Soon, the three men he has identified as the killers start dying--but he's not the one doing it. Who is anticipating his vengeance and what really happened the night of the massacre? An interesting enough story, until the last chapter which completely lost me. I hate finishing a book feeling confused.

SKELETONS ON THE ZAHARA by Dean King: for our new couples' book club. In 1815, the Connecticut merchant ship Commerce shipwrecked on the west coast of Africa. The crew was taken into slavery and spent months wandering the Sahara. Primarily the story of Captain Riley and his efforts to free himself and what men of his he could, it's a compelling account of the desert and those who lived there nearly two hundred years ago. Eventually freed, Captain Riley wrote an account of his travails that was famous in the 19th century (Abraham Lincoln is said to have loved the book when he was young). Keep a cup of water near you while reading--you will appreciate water as you never have before!

LABYRINTH by Kate Mosse: an impulse buy, it sat on my shelf until mono hit and I needed something fast-paced and interesting. The story of two women--Alice who stumbles upon a significant archaelogical find in southern France by accident (or was it?) and Alais who lived in the early 1200s in the same region. Enters DA VINCI CODE territory with three books and the secret of eternal life, but better written and historically more interesting as it moves back and forth between the two women's stories. Deals heavily with the Cathars in southern France and the Crusade that was launched against them until they were wiped out. (The first Crusade to be preached against Christians.) I recommend it as a good winter break read, or save it for the beach next summer.

WIVES AND DAUGHTERS by Elizabeth Gaskell: a big, fat Victorian novel to sooth my bored and restless mind while I'm lying around. I love Victorian novels, like those of Anthony Trollope, and thought I'd try out Gaskell. A contemporary of Charlotte Bronte (she actually wrote the first biography of Bronte), Gaskell was a wife, mother, and successful novelist in the mid-1850s. This is her last novel, and it actually remains unfinished because it was written in serial form and she died before the end. But it's sufficient to not disappoint. Molly Gibson is the doctor's daughter in a small English town in the 1830s who, in the course of the novel, acquires a stepmother, stepsister, and several suitors. It's a typical Victorian tale of imprudent marriages, deceitful men, twitterpated women, and the celebration of goodness, innocence, and true love. A wonderful way to end the year.

Those of you in Utah have almost certainly heard about the mother and two children killed by a drunk driver on December 24. Cheryl Ceran, 15-year-old Ian and 7-year-old Julianna died in the accident. The remaining family members, Gary and his two children, 19-year-old Clarissa and 12-year-old Caleb, spoke to the Deseret News this week. I'm including a link to the article for two reasons.

First, because I know Clarissa and Caleb. Two years ago I performed in the LDS church presentation of "Savior of the World." During the months of rehearsals, the cast was separated into "families" of between 5-7 members. We were staged together as families and spent lots of time talking during rehearsals. Clarissa and Caleb were in my family. I loved them both from the moment I met them. I knew their mother a little and watched Julianna, 5 at the time, run around the green room during performances while her siblings were on stage.

Second, because I've rarely read a piece filled with more faith and hope and true charity than this one. Gary Ceran says that during the first 24 hours, when they were flooded by more than 500 visitors, he kept wondering who was praying for the young man who was in prison. This is a family I desire to emulate.

I will continue praying for them, especially Clarissa who is a dance major at BYU and whose legs were badly injured in the accident. The link to the story is below.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650218223,00.html

What To Say About A Christmas Gift You Don't Like
(Not original to me)

10. Hey! There's a gift!

9. Well, well, well ...

8. Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would've fit.

7. This is perfect for wearing around the basement.

6. Gosh. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires.

5. If the dog buries it, I'll be furious!

4. I love it -- but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.

3. Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Federal Witness Protection Program.

2. To think -- I got this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.

And the Number One Thing to say about a Christmas gift you don't like:1. "I really don't deserve this."

THE POST OF WHY

WHY can a five-year-old go from dancing around and perfectly happy to throwing up in the car ten minutes later?

WHY can that five-year-old be holding an open plastic bag and still manage to throw up only on himself?

WHY do I have mono for the third time? Right before Christmas?

WHY did I lock myself out of my cold storage room?

WHY are all the Christmas presents in the cold storage room?

WHY haven't I read a really fabulous book lately? WHY do the ones I've read either confuse me or bore me?

WHY do I not feel the slightest guilt about buying pre-made sugar cookies, ready for my kids to decorate? Am I missing a piece of Mormon mom DNA?

WHY are newborns so intoxicating? WHY am I so lucky to have a brand-new niece (my first!) right before Christmas?

WHY do I love my family so much?

WHY am I as excited for Christmas as my children?

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BOOK CLUB

Last night was my favorite book club meeting of the year, the dinner where we plan what we'll be reading for the year to come. Good food, good friends, lots of good books to anticipate . . . topped off by cheesecake and chocolate!

We're beginning our 8th year as a book club. (By the way, we've been looking for a good name for a long time--any suggestions, please comment!) Fourteen members, five of us original. The first couple of years, we didn't plan more than a month in advance. We calendared who would be hosting a given month, and then the host would have full discretion of what we read. The second year, we assigned themes to each month (YA, mystery, biography, classic) and let the host choose within those themes.

At the end of two years, we needed a radical change. We were reading far too many self-help books, far too many depressing books, and far too many books that made us feel bad about ourselves as mothers. Thus was born our December tradition.

On the first Thursday of December, we meet for dinner. Every member who wishes brings recommendations. We sell our books, much like editorial meetings in a publishing house, and then we vote by secret ballot. The eleven books with the most votes are on our schedule for the next year.

There have been slight modifications to this system over the years. For one, we now ask that every book you recommend be one you have actually read. (This after the disaster of a book that shall remain unnamed which we chose because "it sounded really interesting." It wasn't. It was one of only two books I haven't finished in book club. Both of those books had the word "Red" in the title. Coincidence?) For another, we now limit recommendations to two or three per person. This avoids having those who read more than others dominating the choices. I plead the fifth on whether I am one of those :)

The selling of our books is not for the fainthearted. As we've grown closer to each other, we've grown more outspoken as well. One book that made it on to this year's list (no, I'm not telling which one) I don't like at all. Presenters are peppered with questions and comments. "It sounds like a soap opera." "I don't like science fiction." "What exactly is a changeling?" But it works. Each year we have a wide variety of genres, lengths, and subject matters. We never entirely agree. I don't think there's ever been a book that absolutely everyone loved or detested. (Except for the aforementioned unnameable one with "Red" in the title.) But watching everyone last night, laughing and enjoying themselves and each other, I was struck by how lucky I am to have a group of friends who trust each other so entirely that disagreement is never mistaken for a personal attack. (Okay, so there was the book-throwing incident. But I plead the fifth on that as well.)

Books for 2007:
Among the Hidden—Margaret Peterson Haddix
Freakonomics—Steven Levitt
Wuthering Heights—Emily Bronte
Stolen Child—Keith Donohue
The Chosen—Chaim Potok
Night—Elie Wiesl
Speak--Laurie Halse Anderson
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging—Louise Rennison
The Sparrow—Mary Doria Russell
The Four Feathers—A.E.W. Mason
Beekeeper’s Apprentice—Laurie R. King
Nobody Don’t Love Nobody—Stacey Bess

CHRISTMAS MeMe

I had no idea these fun little information lists were called MeMe's--but it's certainly appropriate. Filling it in makes me feel like I'm four years old waving my hand in the air shouting, "Me! Me! Me! Ask me!" But it makes for an easy blog entry and I love all things Christmas.


1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate. With whipped cream. Or little marshmallows. Yes, I have very sophisticated tastes.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps. With the same paper everyone else in the house wraps with. My oldest son came to the rescue a few years ago when the second son asked about that coincidence. While my mind was still stuck on "Now what?", the oldest son said, "You don't think Santa can afford wrapping paper for every gift, do you? He uses the wrapping paper at whatever house he's at."

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Ah, a true example of marital diplomacy. I'm for colored lights, my husband is for white. So we two trees, one of each. And house lights? Are you kidding? Not as long as my husband holds his current job, in which November and December are his busiest months.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but I'm gonna! Right over my bed :)

5. When do you put your decorations up? Day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Honeybaked Ham. It's yummy and requires nothing more of me than providing it refrigerator space.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Coming down the stairs every Christmas morning. The tree was in the living room right off the stairs, so my dad made us come down single file with our eyes closed so we could turn to the left and go into the family room and open our stockings first before we saw the tree and presents.

8. How and when did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth? There's a truth? Fingers in my ears: "Nah, nah, nah, nah . . . I'm not listening."

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Mrs. Claus brings us pajamas. (She also wraps with our household gift wrap.)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Two trees: one white lighted and elegant, with glass angels and silver and blue snowflakes and glittery balls; one color lighted and sentimental, with all the kids' handmade ornaments and olive wood ornaments from my husband's trip to Jerusalem and the felt and plush ornaments made my grandmother that used to hang on my family's tree when I was a little girl.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Depends on whether I have to drive in it.

12. Can you ice skate? No. And I don't plan to. Some things should probably not be attempted after the age of 35.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a child: the year I was 12 and my dad gave me pierced earrings. It was his way of giving me permission to get my ears pierced. As an adult: my husband always surprises me with wonderful things. A laptop two years ago. A new cell phone last year. A diamond solitaire pendant on New Year's Eve 2000 (that's close enough to count as Christmas, right?)

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Watching my children and making people happy.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Trifle. Or the newly-discovered Raspberry Cream Cheese pie that I'm making for Christmas Eve this year.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Opening gifts one at a time on Christmas morning. After watching my 8-year-old daughter tear through her birthday gifts last week in 45 seconds flat, the wisdom of doing one present, one person at a time was reinforced. It makes Christmas last longer, everyone gets to see what the others receive, the giver enjoys the experience of the givee, and we can savor each individual gift.

17. What tops your tree? Both trees are topped by silver, three-dimensional stars.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. But I don't mind receiving, either :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? For the True Meaning of Christmas: "O Come All Ye Faithful" as sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Welsh tenor Bryn Terfel. Strictly for fun: "The Twelve Days After Christmas."
"The first day after Christmas,
My true love and I had a fight.
And so I chopped
The pear tree down
And burnt it just for spite.
And with a single cartridge
I shot that blasted partridge
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me."
And on from there, through boiled French hens and gold rings that turn green and one particularly cute drummer.

NOVEMBER READS

CHILDREN OF GOD by Mary Doria Russell: a follow-up to THE SPARROW, which you all should know by now is one of my favorite books ever. In this book, Emilio leaves the priesthood, falls in love, prepares to marry--and ends up back on Alpha Centauri without his consent. Because of the time it takes to travel, more than fifty years have passed by the time he arrives to find that one of the party they thought lost actually survived. Civil war has erupted, the oppressed have become the oppressors, and Emilio struggles for personal redemption in the midst of negotiating a better future. A satisfying conclusion to the characters and story from THE SPARROW.

CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME by Mark Haddon: I grew curious about this book about after the Salt Lake County Council caused a firestorm by choosing it as a countywide adult book selection. Yes, there is swearing in this book. Yes, there is the f-word. But honestly, after all the criticism I'd read in local papers, I was surprised to find how little it actually appeared. It didn't bother me, and the story itself is quite interesting. Told from the POV of an autistic teenager who finds the body of a dog on his neighbor's lawn. He decides to detect what happened, which leads him into secrets about his own family and a terrifying journey to London. The most compelling part of this book is the look at the world through someone who processes everything differently than I do. I recommend it for that experience.

BLADE OF FORTRIU by Juliet Marillier: my favorite fantasy author, Marillier writes fantasy set in actual historical times and places. This is the second in her trilogy about the Picts in southern Scotland in about 500 A.D. Like all second acts, this one has several different storylines going--from King Bridei who is about to launch an ambitious attack to retake Pictish land from the Dalriadans (Irish) to his most trusted spy, Faolan, whose current job is to deliver a royal bride to a secretive forest leader in order to cement a treaty. The focus is on Faolan and Ana, the bride, and the mysteries they uncover while at her betrothed's court. Marillier has never disappointed me yet, and my only regret in finishing this book is that I'm not Australian, where the third book became available in September. I, alas, shall have to wait until May.

FALLS THE SHADOW by Sharon Kay Penman: the second in the trilogy that began with HERE BE DRAGONS (see last month's reads.) This is primarily the story of Simon de Montfort, the rebel baron who married Henry III's sister, Nell, lived an indecently happy 27 years with her, fathered seven children, and led England into its first serious rebellion for the people's rights. He defended the Magna Carta, demanded that the king be subject to its principles, and believed that rulers were responsible to their subjects. He was also arrogant, unforgiving, inflexible, and unlucky. His rapid rise, capped by the miraculous battle of St. Albans, was succeeded by a dramatic fall, ending with his death at Evesham in battle against the army of Prince Edward, later Edward I. His body was mutilated, his head and limbs hacked off and sent around the country as battle prizes. One son died with him, one was dangerously wounded but later escaped to France, the son who failed to get to his father in time with a relief army never forgave himself. His wife, Nell, held Dover Castle for three months against the king's army before accepting surrender and fleeing to France with her only daughter. I knew next to nothing about Simon de Montfort before reading this book, and now he's one of the men I admire most.

THE DEVIL'S FEATHER by Minette Walters: a Reuters reporter thinks there are links between serial murders in Sierra Leona and Iraq. She suspects a former British soldier and begins researching the story. The day she is set to leave Iraq, she is kidnapped and held for three days. When she is released, she refuses to speak about her capture, fleeing to England where she rents a quiet house in the country to escape the questions of reporters and her parents. But quiet English houses have their own secrets and she's soon thrown into the mystery of an old woman's being left to die in the cold. And what happened to her in Iraq most definitely doesn't stay in Iraq, for some demons cannot be outrun, only outfought. Powerful psychological novel of fear and hostages, though I was mildly disappointed in the very ending which leaves unanswered the question of what really happened to the bad guy.

AMERICAN GOSPEL by Jon Meacham: this book was given to me by a neighbor. I usually avoid all poltical/religious/current events topics, since I deplore rigidity and intolerance. But this non-fiction piece, by the current editor of Newsweek magazine, was a pleasant surprise. Meacham goes back to the founding of America to uncover the Founder's real thoughts and intentions in the separation of church and state. Using contemporary sources, Meacham makes an excellent case for our current society having strayed too far on both sides of the debate of where religion belongs in public life. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

UNDERWORLD/RECALLED TO LIFE/ARMS AND THE WOMEN by Reginald Hill: another orgy of the Dalziel/Pascoe mysteries. Now I'm all caught up with the series, and have to wait until spring for a new one! I definitely prefer Hill's later entries in the series, which get deeper and more complex, both in plot and character. My favorite of these three was ARMS AND THE WOMEN which deals with a threat to Pascoe's wife, Ellie. The police believe it's some bad guy from Pascoe's policing past come to threaten him, so Ellie takes her daughter and retreats to the country at Pascoe's insistence. Unfortunately, Ellie is the true target and she's just put herself straight into the middle of the most dangerous situation of her life. Ending with a killer storm that literally sends a building falling into the sea, I liked it tremendously. Although I still don't like Ellie Pascoe and wish her husband had chosen a wife with more care ;)

HISTORIES OF THE HANGED by David Anderson: I bought this for my husband before our trip to Kenya last June. A history of the British colonization in East Africa, beginning in 1900, and an examination of the events leading up to the Mau Mau rebellion, the most serious and bloody colonial rebellion against Britain in the 20th-century. It helped bring independence to Kenya, but at an awfully high cost in both African lives and British ethics. There's plenty of blame to go around here--from the Mau Mau rebels who killed women and children without compunction to the British justice system which pretty much threw out the concept of rule of law and, well, justice. THE HANGED are those who were executed by colonial courts with occasionally less than circumstantial evidence. No one really comes out looking great, except perhaps Jomo Kenyatta, who endured years of imprisonment before becoming Kenya's first president.

ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY by Eoin Colfer: I'm an Artemis Fowl fan and I don't apologize :) In this newest installment of the Irish boy genius who used to be a criminal mastermind, Artemis stumbles upon the fact that a lost colony of demons is breaking down and may soon disappear altogether. With the help of Holly Short, Foaly, Butler, and a pretty and equally brilliant 12-year-old girl, Artemis must make a dreadful sacrifice to save the colony. I did not expect the end of this book, was very surprised in a good way (unlike so many of the YA books I've read this year), and can see that Colfer is ready to take a leap with this series. I can't wait until the next one.

I'M GRATEFUL . . .

Because Thanksgiving is over.

Because my kids are back in school. (Yesterday I said to my family, "It's time for you all to get out of my house." My ten-year-old said, "It's our house, too." To which I replied, "Not during school hours it isn't!" This conversation was done in a very loving fashion. Truly.)

Because my house is now decorated for Christmas. I love Christmas trees and Christmas lights and Nativity scenes and snowmen and all the darling crafty things my friend, Angie, makes me because, let's face it, I am her service project.

Because it snowed today and I didn't have to go anywhere.

Because I don't have to think about cooking for another four weeks. (Christmas Eve, to be exact.)

I do not like to cook. I CAN cook. I DO cook, if only because my children just keep waking up every morning hungry again. But I do not like it. I do not enjoy baking. I do not enjoy roasting turkeys. I do not enjoy mashing potatoes. I do enjoy making my family happy and so, since there were no family dinners on offer this year, it was up to me to provide Thanksgiving. Eight days ago, as we talked about the Thanksgiving week ahead, we planned what we would do on Wednesday. Making pies. And pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. And everything else, since we had decided to have our dinner on Wednesday night. (Face it, we're rebels.) Every single child, from the 8th-grade cooking class boy to the kindergartener, said, "I want to help! I want to help!" My reply? "I'm so excited! This will be mom's favorite day ever! Spending all day in the kitchen with my four children helping me do everything!"

The sad part of this story? My 13-year-old said, without missing a beat, "You're being sarcastic."

Yes, I'm a bad, bad mom.

But I try. We did spend Wednesday in the kitchen. They did help make pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes and baste the turkey. I did not lose my temper. The food was yummy. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

I will never be Martha Stewart. I will never be my mother-in-law. My children won't learn from me how to make pie crust or french onion soup or anything more complicated than roasted turkey. My husband will never come home to a three-course meal kept fresh until the moment he walks in the door.

But they magically seem to love me anyway--unless they're all much better actors than I give them credit for.

And that's what I'm most grateful for today.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

I have a new sister-in-law. Seeing as I only have one brother, that's quite a big deal! Paul and Kelly Sudweeks were recently married and I couldn't be more delighted to have another woman in our family. She's smart, she's pretty, she's well-read, and she's articulate. In other words, she fits right in. Welcome to our family, Kelly!

PRAISE

Humans like praise.

Writers are human.

Ergo . . .

Praise is a rare commodity for a writer. That's why I had a wonderful day last week when I received praise from someone I've never met. My parents are serving a mission in Nairobi, Kenya and their next-door neighbors are also American missionaries. My parents have copies of some of my writing. They loaned my Tudory alternate-history book to the woman who lived next door. And then she proceeded to write me an e-mail about how she read it in two days and hated having to stop to eat and sleep and work and what an amazing book I'd written and how much she loved the characters and how she cried through the last twenty pages . . . well, is there anything better calculated to win a writer's heart? Okay, if her e-mail had ended with, "I just happen to know a senior editor at Viking or Random House and could I please send this book to so-and-so", that would have been perfect, but I've managed to go this long without finding a single person with publishing connections so it's no great surprise.

I wrote back to her today, and I don't think she'd mind if I share part of it.

"You have no idea how wonderful your email was for me. Praise is few and far between in the writing/publishing business--and so far, praise from the publishing side has not gone beyond "I liked such and such part but it's not quite right for us" or "Here's what you could improve and I'd like to see other writing from you". No one falling over themselves to offer me six figure contracts yet.Still, the kind words make it possible to forget the others: the form letter rejections, the agent who said of this book, "I love the idea but wasn't enthused about the writing" (How's that for a knife to the heart?), or the other agent who said, "It's not historical fiction. Historical fiction is whatmight have happened." (Yes, I thought, this is what might have happened if Anne Boleyn's son had been born! She didn't see it that way.)
So you can see how gratefully I accept any kind words that come my way. I'm not a quitter, fortunately, so this book is still making its slow way through the unfriendly world, as well as some short stories that can't seem to find a home and the early chapters of another book. And I just keep writing. Since I've been a much happier wife and mother in the three years since I began writing, I figure I'll just write until I die and than maybe someone will want to publish it when I'm dead."

Of course, if anyone out there wants to publishing a living author, I'm available.