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Living Out Loud. Finished 4-19-13, rating 3.25/5, essays, 278 pages, pub. 1988

A collection of Quindlen’s columns that she wrote for The New York Times starting in 1986 until the book was published in 1988.  The columns range from her looking back to growing up in the 1960’s to her raising her own children.  I found that I really couldn’t connect with much in these columns.  There was such a focus on being a woman and what that meant for her in relation to feminism, having a career and children that I felt like I was past the birth cut-off date for optimal reading enjoyment.  It was dated, but since I am a woman and mother I was hoping to get more out of it.  I’ve enjoyed her novels but I’m not sure if I’ll read more of her nonfiction. There were a few of the columns that really spoke to me  and I’ll include a bit from them.  This was from my own library.

I work out for a very simple reason, and it is noy because it makes me feel invigorated or refreshed.  The people who say that exercise is important because it makes you feel wonderful are the same people who say a mink coat is nice because it keeps you warm.  Show me a woman who wears a mink coat to keep warm and who exercises because it feels good and I’ll show you Jane Fonda.  I wear a mink coat because it is a mink coat, an I work out so that my husband will not gasp when he runs into me in the bathroom and take off with an eighteen year old who looks as good out of her clothes as in them.   (from Stretch Marks)

It reminded me that too often we take our sweet time dealing with the things we do not like about our children: the marriage we could not accept, the profession we disapproved of, t he sexual orientation we may hate and fear.  Sometimes we vow that we will never, never accept those things.  The stories my friend told me about the illness, the death, the funeral and, especially, about the parents reminded me that sometimes we do not have all the time we think to make our peace with who our children are.  It reminded me that “never” can last a long, long time, perhaps much longer than we intended.  (from Gay)

I accept the fact that mothers and daughters probably always see each other across a chasm of rivalries.  But I forget all those things when one of my friends is down with the flu and her mother arrives with an overnight bag to manage her household and feed her soup (from Mothers)  in honor of my own mother who did this very thing for me this week.  Love you 🙂

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Collision Bend. Finished 4-12-13, rating 4/5, 275 pages, pub. 1996

Book 7 of the Milan Jacovich series. (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6)

And the differences aren’t all physical differences, either.  It’s in the thinking.

Men, for instance, have great powers of concentration, almost a tunnel vision, that allows them to laser in on one spot;they are imminently suited to microsurgery, to rebuilding the transmission of a 1956 Thunderbird, and to many types of engineering.  Women, on the other hand, make wonderful executives because they are able to do several things at once, efficiently and well, and have remarkable peripheral awareness, something that is lacking in most males.  A woman president would probably do a hell of a job-better than many of the men we’ve had in the White House.

Chapter 15

Ex-cop and current Cleveland private detective, Milan Jacovich, is as old school as  they come.  He tells it like it is and doesn’t take any crap from people.  Milan has an ex-wife and two teenage boys but they don’t make an appearance, but his ex-girlfriend Mary, does.  When Mary blows back into Milan’s life it’s to ask for a favor, she wants him to prove her boyfriend innocent of murder, of murdering the other woman he was sleeping with.  Milan only wanted to hurt the guy, but he could not resist Mary and he takes the case.

Virginia Carville, a young television reporter is murdered in her home and Milan starts there, with her neighbor, bestselling romance novelist, Rosemary Kelley.  Milan shows his willingness to man up by reading one of her books, but then shows his prejudice by dismissing it.  This is one instance I thought Milan was being a little too old school 🙂 Milan has to dig to find other suspects, but when he does the storylines are compelling.  I wasn’t sure who did it, but they all deserved to get sent away for it.

I have expressed my love for Milan since discovering his first book years ago.  The fact that they take place in Cleveland and it’s nice to see my city represented was the attraction, but it’s Milan  that keeps me coming back for more.  He has such a common sense intelligence and steadfast character that you can’t help but love him.  The fact that he is tough enough to take care of himself and those he loves just makes me love him more.

This was not my favorite, BUT, I have never been disappointed in any of these mysteries and love recommending them.  Great main character and complex storylines make this series great.  Come on, get on the bandwagon 🙂  This was from my own library.

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Kelleys Island:An Island Story by Claudia M. Brown. Finished 4/11/13, 80 pages, pub. 2006

Jason and I have been taking a yearly vacation to Kelleys Island, Ohio, with my parents since 2007.  Jason wanted somewhere close and relaxing.  I found Kelleys Island, the largest of the US Lake Erie islands at 4.4 square miles, less than an hour and a half away.  This island is so quaint and isolated that we fell in love with it as a place to get away.  There is no bridge, you’ve got to take your car over on a 20 minute ferry ride, so the place never seems overrun, even during the summer when many tourists go island hopping using the different boat for day visitors without cars.

I thought this book was fascinating.  For such a small place there is a lot of history.  Inscription Rock is there to see.  The pictographs were done by Native Americans between 1200-1600 since the latest of the pictures have white men, but no guns.  The Glacial Grooves exist from the last Ice Age, about 18,000 years ago, when the glaciers scoured into the soft limestone bedrock.  Stripped of soil these grooves are 400 ft by 35 ft. and contain a fossil record for all to see. Both of these are under the care of the Ohio Historical Society.

In the 1700′ s the Native Americans used it as shortcut to Canada but by the War of 1812 the military was using it and the Native Americans were driven away.  In 1827 only four people lived there and that’s when continuous habitation began for the white folks.  In 1833 the Kelley brothers began investing in quarrying and the rest is history.

Because it’s so isolated I’ve always been curious about the population. In 1863, there were 600 people and that was up to 1,174 in 1900.  The 2010 census had the permanent population at 312.  That’s quite a drop!  In the winter the lake freezes over and you are stuck there with no doctor, but a plane that may or may not be able to fly you to the mainland.  I love the charm of this island but don’t think I could do it. Summer residents compose about 75% of the island’s population.

Anyway, this book is a very detailed history and as someone who knows the island, I loved it!  Makes me look forward to our trip this year.  Here are links to past posts about our trips and a few pics. 2012 2011 2009