Currently Reading

I don’t want this space to expire or be reclaimed so I’m intending to begin posting again, in conjunction with the books I post on Instagram.



House of Spies
For something so unprecedented, so fraught with institutional risk, it was handled with a minimum of fuss. And, quietly, too. That was the remarkable thing about it, the operational silence with which it was carried out. Yes, there had been the dramatic announcement broadcast live to the nation, and the splashy first Cabinet meeting, and the lavish party at Ari Shamron’s lakeside villa in Tiberias where all the friends and collaborators from his remarkable past—the spymasters, the politicians, the Vatican priests, the London art dealers, even an inveterate art thief from Paris—had come to wish him well. But otherwise it came to pass with scarcely a ripple. One day Uzi Navot was seated behind his large smoked-glass desk in the chief’s office, and the next, Gabriel was in his place.


House of Spies
By Daniel Silva

Delicious!

Two covers.

 

 

Delicious!

Ruth Reichl

 

I was so sad when I finished this book, because I delighted in every phase of the stories and greatly anticipated finding minutes and hours to read it.

A first novel for Ruth Reichl, though she has at least five successful memoirs and food-related books already to her credit. I really hope she writes another novel, soon!

Very likable and interesting characters, though a few times I had to stop and recalibrate my brain cells--reminding myself who was who and what part he/she plays in the story. Still, well-drawn characters and settings. This is a very sensual book; though, mostly not in a sexual context.

 

Reading Stats

But first, a word from our sponsor: Beauty.

 

 

 

Left Neglected

 

 

I think some small part of me knew I was living an unsustainable life. Every now and then, it would whisper, Sarah, please slow down. You don't need all this. You can't continue like this. But the rest of me, powerful, smart, and determined to achieve, achieve, achieve, wasn't hearing a word of it. If, once in a while these kinds of thoughts did manage to wiggle into my consciousness, I shushed them, scolded them, and sent them to their room. Quiet, little voice, can't you see I have a million things to do?

Left Neglected

Lisa Genova

 

This year I'm tracking my reading on my Instagram account (@Marielle1949); wondering if I'll continue to update this blog. I will.

There will sometimes be that special book; a book I want to shout about, recommend far and wide. This is definitely one such.

I love all the business and family references. The whole work balance dilemma. The driven, highly-intelligent Sarah Nickerson. Her loving, competitive, supportive marriage. This fascinating condition--Left Neglect. Sarah's highly complex relationship with her mother; her all encompassing devotion and love for Charlie, Lucy, and Linus.

I'm looking forward to reading Still Alice (2014 motvie version a Best Actress Oscar win for Julianne Moore) and the rest of Genova's backlist.

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The Forgotten Waltz

 

Seán.

He is, for a moment, completely himself. He is about to turn around, but he does not know this yet. He will look around and see me as I see him and, after this, nothing will happen for many years. There is no reason why it should.

It really feels like night-time. The light is wonderful and wrong--it's like I have to pull the whole planet around in my head to get to this garden, and this part of the afternoon and to this man, who is the stranger I sleep beside now.

The Forgotten Waltz

Anne Enright

Pg. 13

 

Beautifully written. The heart wants... No matter the devastation. Looking forward to reading The Gathering.

 

A Long Time Gone

 

We are all separate boats on this river of years, never expecting to see the boat before or behind us except when the current of time unexpectedly pushes us together, touching but never altering our course. We are born to fight the bends and curves of our own rivers, pushing back that which will not give, understanding where we are meant to be only when we let go and let the river take us back to the place where we began.

Pg. 417

A Long Time Gone

Karen White

 

This is actually the last paragraph in the book. Doesn't it just say it all? It just takes a lot of living before most of us can "let go."

 

I like this quote a bunch, too.

 

He gave me a lopsided grin as I turned and headed toward the stairs. "Good night, Booger," he called after me.

If I'd had something to fling in his direction, I would have. Instead I was left to contemplate the relationship between siblings, and how even though we would always get older, our relationship never really would.

Pg. 125

 

 

Whistling in the Dark

 

I never heard exactly who it was that found Sara Heinemann's dead body over at the lagoon. But it was Willie O'Hara who told us that she was lying neatly on the grass between those rotting red rowboats you could rent for a dollar if you wanted to do a little fishing. Sara's pink undies were wrapped around her neck like a bow and she was naked. And some of her blond hair had been cut off just like Junie Piaskowski's had the summer before.

Something like that wasn't supposed to happen on a Vliet Street. But like Daddy always said...things can happen when you least expect them. Things that can change your whole life. How right he was. Because after they found Sara's body, it seemed like our nightly games of red light, green light and the Fourth of July parade and even cooling off in the Honey Creek on days so hot they'd curl the hair on the back of your neck might become part of the good old days that Granny always talked about. Because one dead girl was one thing. But two dead girls...everybody started wondering who would be next. Except for me. I knew I was next.

Whistling in the Dark

Leslie Kagen

 

It seems Leslie Kagen always writes in the voice of a young girl. I love Sally O'Malley--her wild imagination and her wise-beyond-her-years insights. There's a lot going on in the O'Malley Girls world this summer. Dramatic and scary things. But, Sally and Troo squeeze the best out of their world; charming the neighbors and finding adventure, intrigue, and empathy in every nook and cranny of Vliet Street and the neighborhood.