Books Read in August

 My reading got off to a very slow start this month. Honestly, Black Cake, the last book I read in July, had a powerful hold on my mind, and I just needed some time to let that story simmer. It was so good that I didn't think I would even be able to find a book to follow it.

I decided that some easy reading from the children's section might do the trick, so I went down to the first floor to Juvy. (I am so sad that Juvy is not on my floor anymore!) I picked two books from the return shelves--a trick I often use, because if someone else liked it and recently read it, same might be true for me. I picked two titles, and they are my #1 and #2 for the month.

1. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg--who cannot resist a Pride and Prejudice retelling? Me, that's who. Especially when they are on the humorous side. So this little YA book did not disappoint. Lizzie is a scholarship student at an elite boarding school, so there are plenty of rich bees to look down their noses at her, despite her fabulous musical talent that brought her to the attention of the school. And there is a boy--Will Darcy--who Lizzie thinks is a pompous jerk. But who is misjudging whom? 

2. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett--this was a familiar book with a familiar cover, though I do not think I have read it before. It has been around longer than I have been--written in 1948--so I have seen it in library after library after library. I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. This particular book is a compilation of three of Gannett's books about Boris the dragon--My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland. Oh, speaking of--the dragon is simply "the dragon" for a long time, until the last story, when Elmer finds out the dragon's name and wonders why didn't he just tell Elmer his name sooner? He was embarrassed by it--and Elmer responds, "It's no worse than Elmer." That made me chuckle! Besides the fact that the original book--My Father's Dragon--was a Newbery Honor Book, it has been made into a movie twice: once in 1997 and again just this year, in 2022.

3. I decided to go up to Level Five and find an old book to read, since I enjoyed that 1948 book, and I have read other old books this year, as you may remember. I ended up somewhere in the PS 3511 section in the Fs, so I picked up The Almost Perfect Murder by Hulbert Footner. (A name that makes Boris and Elmer seem quite nice by comparison in my opinion. But don't feel too sorry for Hulbert--his name is actually William Hulbert Footner, so he probably went by Bill.) This book is five short stories about a psychologist/detective named Madame Rosika Storey and her secretary Bella. The stories were very well told, and the characters well developed and interesting. So I had to look Footner up, and I was very happy to meet him. He wrote 30 stories about Mme Storey for a magazine over the course of many years--1922 through 1935--and this compilation was published in 1933. So some of his earlier Storey stories. (55555!) Interesting factoid courtesy of Wikipedia, at least interesting to this Alberta girl:

"He accepted a reporter job on the Calgary "Morning Albertan" in 1906, which was the year after Alberta became a province. His job was dangerous in the lawless town. He was saved by an assignment that sent him to Edmonton to report on the first meeting of the new province's legislature."

4. The other F book (meaning up in the PS 3511s) I picked up on Five was Miss Marvel by Esther Forbes. If her name sounds familiar to you, she also wrote Johnny Tremain, which won the 1944 Newbery Award. Esther Forbes also won the Pulitzer prize in 1943. Miss Marvel was a marvelous book, written in 1935. Angelica Marvel just never quite saw herself as others see her--we meet her as a young lady, and stay with her until her death as an old lady, but she was living that whole time in her own head. Not really connecting to others very effectively, since she was making things up about other people constantly. Her sister Gwen was by her side--she had been engaged but her intended died--that tragedy figures in the story, too. Also their brother Harold. Interesting family, the Marvels.

5. A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee--I found this in the sorting shelves on Level Five. It is set in Calcutta of 1919. Captain Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective, has been assigned to Calcutta, where he works alongside Surrender-Not Banerjee, and in this story they end up unearthing corruption within the police force and the controlling interests of India. This was an Edgar award winning mystery written in 2016. Interesting story--I may look to see if there are more books by this author about these detectives.

6. We were Dreamers by Simu Liu. I ordered this through ILL, because I am a great fan of Canadian sitcoms, and I really liked Kim's Convenience, in which Simu Liu played the role of Jung Kim. This is a good telling of how Chinese immigrant parents and their children experience their new country in completely different ways--which is, you know, kind of also what Kim's Convenience was all about. (Except they are a Korean family on the show.) Despite pretty big differences between Simu and his parents, they were able to gain some understanding of each other eventually. Fast read. I liked it.

7. On August 26, I got an email reminding that my ILL Me, Myself & Bob by Phil Vischer was going to be due on August 29. Oh my goodness! I had read a couple of chapters a month ago and then the book landed at the bottom of a pile, and I forgot about it. I had not instantly been hooked by this book, so I was going to try to read more of it before it was due--but then I got into it, and finished it by August 28, and I am really glad I read it. This is the Veggie Tales how and why book. And here is a quote that I liked from page 237:

"The more I dove into Scripture, the more I realized I had been deluded. I had grown up drinking a dangerous cocktail—a mix of the gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American dream. My eternal value was rooted in what I could accomplish. My role here on earth was to dream up amazing things to do for God. If my dreams were selfless, God would make them all come true. … The most important thing, though, was to be busy. Industrious. Hardworking. A self-made man—er, Christian. The Savior I was following seemed, in hindsight, equal parts Jesus, Ben Franklin, and Henry Ford."

Other Christians would confuse him—like Mother Teresa. “…she was literally feeding the poor. One at a time. Didn’t she see that her impact would be much greater if she developed some sort of system for feeding the poor that could be franchised around the world?...Wouldn’t that be better?"

 He learns to let go and let God. And that Mother Teresa's way was maybe even better than losing sight of God in the quest for success. Really good book after all.

8. I stayed up way too late last night finishing Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys. This historical fiction book is for September book group. We are all reading one of the author's books--so not all of us will read the same one. This one is about Josie, the daughter of a prostitute, growing up in the 1950s in New Orleans. There are some pretty unsavoury characters, and some pretty kind and wonderful characters. Also a good read. Though there were some things in the telling of the story that were too neat, especially given how very messy the lives of some of the characters were.

On to September reading!

Pictures or it never happened

 So, this never happened today.

I wasn't sitting at my desk working on revisions to an article, when the phone rang and it was my colleague Trevor saying, "Can you please come down to the exhibit? I don't know much about the foundations part of the exhibit, so I need you to come and help give a tour to Donny and his brother Tom."

I was just super happy that I was having a good hair day, and that I was wearing decent clothes. Like, not great clothes, but not my gray pants in which I have worn out the knees so much that it is noticeable (I really like those pants!) like I was wearing when the Clingers were here to see the exhibit!

So, I went downstairs, and there were all the library administrators looking like cats swallowing canaries, and then just a bunch of random people. Like, very ordinary looking people. Even a bunch of old and decrepit looking people, more so than old me. "Where is Donny?" I wondered. Then I saw that he was there, but looking very ordinary. In fact, their whole group was so ordinary that I do not think there was anybody, after, when they were walking down the long hall to the south end of the library that realized there was a pop star in their midst.

Andy introduced me to Donny; we shook hands. We talked randomly together about the exhibit. Then Tom turned to me, having not been introduced, and he said, "You look very familiar to me. I think I know you."

I said, "Well, you have met me before, but it was many years ago." (At a BYU 100th Branch activity when I was like 18.) "But," I continued, "I think you knew my cousin Gilbert Hancock very well when you were on your mission?"

"In Canada," he said. "Yes, in Alberta," I said. "Yes I knew him very well! So you are his cousin!" etc. etc. etc. Then he asked me how Bert was, and I sadly reported that he had died--cancer--about a year ago. Then he asked me if I knew about Sister Lowry, and I said that I know of several Sister Lowrys in Alberta, but I am not sure which one he means. His interpreter had to interpret that for him.

Oh yes, because Tom is deaf. Tom and Virl were the first deaf missionaries called by our church, and they served in Canada. Looking back at my transcript from Bert's funeral, his daughter had said Virl's name, not Tom's, but it didn't matter because Tom did remember Bert. And also, he said he needed to give me a great big hug, which he did.

It was very surreal to be standing exactly beside Donny, completely ignoring him, and having a conversation (and a hug) with Tom instead. Donny was fine with that. He is not arrogant at all--it was like that back in the day when he was a student at BYU. Never arrogant. He can do ordinary.

Unlike Jay. For example, my roommate Jeni had a fabulously wealthy and important father, who shared the same attorney that the O family used. The attorney wanted to set Jay up with Jeni. He called and made a date with her. On the night, he came to the door and asked for Jeni, and when she went to the door, he said, "I just wanted to see what you look like." And turned around and left.

That, my friends, was a tad arrogant!

I did have one bit of conversation with Donny at the end--he was talking about the Clingers, so I told him that Melody and Patsy had come to see the exhibit, too.

And then, the little group of very ordinary, or even like not ordinary, but so that the old decrepit people would attract more attention than the ordinary man walking along beside them, headed on their way, and I went back to my office.

I have no proof. But it happened.

Baby Meet

 I just wanted to put the pictures from this Facetime call here before I lose track of them. Fun to talk to David and Nancy, and to watch the babies interact online.

Also, these cute pictures of all three of our family babies. I asked Nancy to put these together for me for a slide show at work.

This is the one I am using for the slide show.

But this one is cute, too. But Phoebe in the first one is too funny to not use!