Old Tune Tuesday: Tea for the Tillerman – Cat Stevens and Alun Davis

This video has a few songs in it, but it was Tea for the Tillerman that I was really interested in, though I do like the other ones if you want to keep listening. Check out the glasses and cloths of those in the audience! This was recorded in 1971.

Advertisements

Authors Answer 136 – Living in a Book

I thought this posed an interesting question for book lovers. What book world would you like to live in?

Me? The magic of Harry Potter’s world is appealing…

Thank D.T. Nova and Jay Dee for the fun thought!

Source: Authors Answer 136 – Living in a Book

The Orphan Mother by Robert Hicks

This was a new historical fiction audio book in my local library, so I snatched it up.

Stats: Published September, 2016, print 320 pages, audio books: 9 discs read by Adenrele Ojo.

Blurb: In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock–the “Widow of the South”–has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah–no stranger to loss–finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead?
Mariah’s journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people–including George Tole, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own–and forces her to confront the truths of her own past. Brimming with the vivid prose and historical research that has won Robert Hicks recognition as a “master storyteller.”

What I liked: I liked the idea of the book. I was looking forward to leaning about how Mariah Reddick acquired her fortune – the setup in the first chapter of the book. For a woman born into slavery, it is an intriguing question.

What I didn’t like: Sorry to say, Mr. Hicks but most of what came after that first chapter. I don’t know if this fictional story is based off a true story or a fictional story set in a historic post-civil war background. I think Hicks portrays the times and the people (white and black) well, but not so that I care much about any of them. I try to want to find out about Mariah and Mr. Tole’s story, but it is so slow and so poorly edited, that I can’t get past disc 4. I tried, I really did. It just seems like Hicks tried to weave a much smaller story, much larger and the suit doesn’t fit. Adenrele Ojo’s voice as narrator works well, but it’s a bit sing-songie too much of the time for my taste.

Rating: 2/5, though I do like the cover!

How ‘The Red Tent’ invented a new kind of fiction

CKBooks Publishing

I don’t know if your familiar with “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant. It came out in 1997, but I really enjoyed it. It was quite different in how it focused on the lives of the women in that era. I’d recommend it.

Source:How ‘The Red Tent’ invented a new kind of fiction | Jewish Telegraphic Agency

View original post

You READ – but do you leave REVIEWS?

I agree wholeheartedly! It takes a little bit of effort but means so much to the author.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

If not, why not?

I don’t have time

The author probably spent a heck of a lot more time writing the story than you took to read it, no matter how slow you think you are, so why not take a few minutes to record your feelings about it.

I can’t write long fancy reviews like those I see on book review blogs

You don’t have to, Amazon, for example, only ask you to use a minimum of 25 non repeating words.

I can’t express myself very well

No-one is asking you to produce a literary masterpiece, start off with things you liked, didn’t like or a mix of both about the book, e.g.,

I liked this book because –

it reminded me of –

it made me think about –

it made me so scared I couldn’t sleep for –

it made me feel homesick for –

it made…

View original post 505 more words

Old Tune Tuesday – Stevie Wonder

I dare you not to at least move in your seat.
This one got me to stand up 🙂

Photo Phriday – Betty Davidson

Summer artwork of Betty Davidson. Thanks for sharing, Betty!

Octavia Butler – Get to Know Her

I heard this piece on npr this morning and had never heard of Octavia but I am now definitely interested in reading some of her stuff. (click the image to read or listen to the piece on her.) She’s an inspiration to all writers!

The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

I saw the author name on this audio book at my local library and enjoyed the one mystery I had read of hers and my daughter really likes her Maisie Dobbs series, (Maisie Dobbs – the first in her Maisie Dobbs series) so I thought this was worth a go.

Stats: Published in 2014, print is 319 pages, audio is 8 discs – 9.75 hours read by Nicola Barber

Blurb: (Goodreads) By July 1914, the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained—by Thea’s passionate embrace of women’s suffrage and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea’s brother, Tom, who runs the family farm. When Kezia and Tom wed just a month before war is declared between Britain and Germany, Thea’s gift to Kezia is a book on household management—a veiled criticism of the bride’s prosaic life to come. Yet when Tom enlists to fight for his country and Thea is drawn reluctantly onto the battlefield herself, the farm becomes Kezia’s responsibility. Each must find a way to endure the ensuing cataclysm and turmoil.

As Tom marches to the front lines and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unraveling, they hide their despair in letters and cards filled with stories woven to bring comfort. Even Tom’s fellow soldiers in the trenches enter and find solace in the dream world of Kezia’s mouth-watering, albeit imaginary, meals. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face-to-face with the enemy?

What I liked: It was well written and does a good job portraying the life of those in England and somewhat at the French front in WWI. Winspear does a good job with the bad guy in the book – the sergeant who has singled out Tom as his whipping boy. Nicola Barbar does a wonderful job with the narration.

What I didn’t like: Winspear didn’t really get me to care about most of the characters or their lives, except maybe Tom – the farmer and the main protagonist’s wife. Kezia is a wonder in that she takes to farm life like a duck out of water despite not having set foot in a kitchen before this. I think this is possible, but it’s just too tiddy – she really hardly has any hiccups with this new roll, even when she does it without her husband, hitching up the horse and everything!  (Not likely!) And Winspear uses a nice device of connecting with her husband in France through the recipes she makes (or pretends to) but it is way over used. I found myself fastforwarding through the 3rd and 4th and 5th time she uses this device. I won’t give away what happens at the end, but the sergeant does something that seems extreme even for the nasty man he is. It is supposed to be shocking bu just isn’t believable. She also lets you in on the life of their neighbor, who ends up being Tom’s superior, but she ends is participation in the book in a odd way, I think.

Rating: 2.5/5 If you want to read Winspear, stick to the Maisie Dobbs books.

Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland by Ace Atkins

I needed a short book for a car trip and picked this one.

Stats: Audio book is 6 CDs, narrated by the actor Joe Mantegna, print is 306 page, published in 2013

Blurb: Henry Cimoli and Spenser have been friends for years, yet the old boxing trainer has never asked the private eye for a favor. Until now. A heavy-handed developer is trying to buy up Henry’s condo on Revere Beach and sends thugs to move the process along. Soon Spenser and his apprentice, Zebulon Sixkill, find a trail leading to a mysterious and beautiful woman, a megalomaniacal Las Vegas kingpin, and plans to turn to a chunk of land north of Boston into a sprawling casino. Bitter rivals emerge, alliances turn, and the uglier pieces of the Boston political machine look to put an end to Spenser’s investigation.

Aspiration, greed, and twisted dreams all focus on the old Wonderland dog track where the famous amusement park once fronted the ocean. For Spenser and Z, this simple favor to Henry will become the fight of their lives.

What I liked: I liked listening to Joe Mantegna. His voice was perfect for the New York area characters. The story fit the area as well. I have never read any Robert Parker so I can’t say how close Atkins is to Parker’s style, but I did enjoy the humor of Spenser’s character – note: Ace Atkins is apparently trying to write in Parker’s style, though I don’t know if he is using Parker’s outlines or why it’s titled Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland since Parker is dead and Atkins wrote this story. The story itself is entertaining enough though not one in which I couldn’t wait to get back in the car to listen to. The subplot of Spenser and his sidekick “Z” is semi-interesting and adds a bit more depth  and humor to the story, so that was helpful.

What I didn’t like: The real story takes a while to take form. It starts out with Spenser helping a friend with an issue related to his condo being bought from underneath him. Not anything that makes you particularly interested. Atkins throws in some tough guys beating up on each other, but still, it doesn’t peek my interest. When this finally uncovers the real things that are happening – the political involvement, the gambling interest, the dead guy in the trunk – it starts to get a bit more interesting, but the story kind of just plods along. It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing either.

Rating: 3/5