The Pulitzer Prize

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I’ve got less than 100 pages left in American Pastoral by Philip Roth, but will not write a review until after class next Wednesday.  American Pastoral won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.  I thought I’d take a look at the Pulitzer list and see if I’d read any others.  I highlighted the ones I’ve read in green.  Sadly, American Pastoral will only be my fifth.  I’ve got several other in my stack of books to be read, so maybe after I’ve finished with Roth I will try another Pulitzer.  How many have you read? 

 The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It replaced the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.

  1. ^ The fiction jury had unanimously recommended the 1974 award to Thomas Pynchon‘s Gravity’s Rainbow, but the Pulitzer board, which has sole discretion for awarding the prize, made no award.

Full Cleveland, by Les Roberts

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Cover ImageFinished 9-18-08, rating 3/5, mystery, pub. 1989

“Cleveland is a great city.  When the people who live here start believing it and stop heeding the knocks in the press and the bad jokes on television, things are going to be all right.”   -Chapter 7

Private detective and ex-cop Milan Jacovich is back in his second Cleveland mystery.  A few of his friends are back to help him in his latest case and his girlfriend, Mary, is there to add comfort.  Milan is hired to track down a man who has swindled local businesses and with this new job comes a sidekick appointed by the mob.  Sidekick Buddy provides extra muscle and some comic relief while the two of them track down suspects.  Milan is shot at and kills and drinks way too much.

This mystery series brings the neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio to life and anyone who enjoys reading and lives in the Cleveland area should really check this series out.  The first chapter took Milan and Mary to Johnny’s downtown, which is a favorite of mine and the neighborhoods are described with ethnic flavor and pride.  Actually, I think this series would be a perfect gift for anyone moving to the area.

I enjoyed the first book a little more than this one, but would still recommend this one.  Who knew Cleveland could be so exciting?

Odds & Ends Quiz

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Here’s how to play… Leave a comment with the # and the answer and I’ll cross it off the list. No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun! If you know them all, please don’t guess every one, maybe five max?  GUESSES ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED 🙂

1. What Herman Hesse book gave its name to a rock group?  STEPPENWOLF, rock on Donstuff

2. What book was Mark David Chapman carrying with him when he killed John Lennon on 12/8/1980?  THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, the wild and crazy guy, Donstuff

3. Who is the woman on the cover of Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter? TAN”S GRANDMOTHER

4. The book Peter Pan was responsible for the creation of what name(s)? 

WENDY- first time Wendy was used as a girl’s name

TINKER BELL, pretty fairy dust for Bermudaonion.

5. What renowned Irish writer wore an eye patch? JAMES JOYCE

6. What writer was expelled from West Point for showing up for a public parade wearing only a belt & gloves? EDGAR ALLAN POE

7. What Irish-born playwright was sentenced to two years at hard labor for homosexuality?  OSCAR WILDE, two cheers to Elena Margo Gould

8. What game, played by Alice while in Wonderland, was banned in Boston in the 19th century as being too “immoral”?  CROQUET, kudos to the morally correct Elena Margo Gould

 

10. What Watergate figure was the author of numerous spy novels?  E HOWARD HUNT

My West Virginia weekend

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Last night we arrived home at 10:30pm from a weekend in West Virginia to a dark house.  It seems that while we were enjoying beautiful weather Hurricane Ike moved all the way to Ohio and took out trees and power.  Lucky for us, it is back up.  Eight of us stayed in a cabin and the men went whitewater rafting while us two gals hiked, shopped, and took in the area by foot, car and boat.  It was more beautiful than I expected.

new river

We were having a wonderful Saturday until Ohio State lost (and that’s kind) to USC.  The campground showed the game outside on the big screen and there were many unhappy Buckeye fans that night. 

Since there were three guys in the car with me I chose comedy cds for some entertainment.  We listened to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour on the way down and the Blue Comedy Tour Rides Again on the way back home.Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White each took a turn entertaining us.  If you need to pass some time in a car full of guys these cds are a good choice, and I even got them from the library.  The second one was a little more mean spirited at times than the first, but still funny.

November Election

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Today I spent 4 hours and 15 minutes in training for the election in November.  This will be my third time as a poll worker, but my first Presidential election.  Each election there are rule changes and different equipment, so every time you must spend another 4 hours learning everything again, although they could train us with just the changes in about an hour.  Sigh.

My recommendation for November?  Vote Absentee if you can.  In my county, which is always rife with problems, we will be using paper ballots again.  Paper and pen!  Your ballots must be counted at the end of the night (not the votes, just the ballot) by poll workers (me) and if that sounds simple read my entry from the primaries in March.  Some people can’t or don’t like to vote absentee and that’s okay, just be patient.  If you think it should take 15 minutes to vote, allow an hour.  Hopefully it won’t take an hour, but prepare yourself for it anyway.  If you think poll workers aren’t very nice, please remember that we get there at 5:30 am and don’t get to leave until well after the polls close at 7:30.  We try to put on a happy face, but we get tired  and frustrated too.

Craig Ferguson is on CBS at 12:30 am and last night I really liked his take on the election, so I’m including the youtube video.  Craig became a US citizen this year just so he could take part in the election process.  He did a series of shows on citizenship that I’m sure you can also find on youtube.  Enjoy and, please, VOTE.

Philip Roth class

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Today was my first Philip Roth class.  We are reading American Pastoral first and were to have read the first 100 pages today.  I can’t go too much into the book because I haven’t finished reading it yet, but wanted to tell a little about the class itself.  It’s a continuing education class from a local university, so there is no credit or grade given.  You take the class to learn about something new. 

I had American Pastoral in my ‘to read’ pile and thought there was no better opportunity to read it and learn.  There were 20 people in the class and I was by far the youngest.  But, even if I felt a little conspicuous I was not alone since there is also only one man in the class.  Most of the discussion was taken up by the setting of the book, growing up in the 1950’s and I enjoyed the many perspectives of the class.  I did not grow up in the 50’s and certainly do not speak for a whole generation, so, I’ll have to wait and see if I have anything of real value to add.  To be honest, I really did enjoy hearing everyone else’s take on the decade, the war, the culture.

Our instructor loves Philip Roth.  The most interesting thing I learned about him today was the fact that he writes standing up due to severe back pain.  Virginia Woolf also wrote standing up.  Does anyone know another author who writes standing up?  I can’t even imagine it really. 

If you have a chance to take a class and learn something new you will be better off for it.  It’s not just the subject matter you learn, but also the knowledge that everyone in the class has to share.

The Other Boleyn Girl, dvd

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Cover ImageThis movie is based on the the successful Phillipa Gregory series of books.  I have never read this book, but the cast intrigued me, so Jason and I watched it yesterday.  I enjoyed this movie and the cast.  I thought Natalie Portman was wonderful as the conniving Anne and Eric Bana was a great King VIII.  It was fast paced and there was never a dull moment. 

This is the twisted story of ambition and betrayal during the reign of Henry VIII.  Anne and Mary Boleyn were both sold out by the men in their lives in order to catch the King’s eye and move into his bed.  The story’s only real sympathetic character was Mary (played by Scarlet Johansen), as everyone else was a backstabber with a motive.

I liked the movie, but was curious about its accuracy, so I looked around on the internet yesterday and found that it is not all that accurate.  If you already know the story of Anne Boleyn then you might enjoy this fictional story, but for me, who has very little knowledge of the truth, the story can leave a distorted view of reality.  But, since most of us watch tv and movies specifically for a distorted view of the real world maybe that’s not a bad thing.

RITA Award Winners

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Many of you who read this blog regularly know that I like romance novels, good romances.  I think some people look down on romances without having read a good one or maybe none at all.  I usually suggest that the cover can tell you a lot about the book.  Is there one (or more) scantily clad person on the cover?  I might not read it unless it was recommended to me by someone whose opinion I trust or it’s an author I like.  But, here is another way to choose a romance.  Romance Writers of America gives out awards every year to the best of the best.  This is taken from their website…

“Romance Writers of America proudly sponsors the romance-publishing industry’s highest award of distinction — the RITA Award. RITA awards are presented annually to the best published romance novels of the year.  Up to 1,200 romance novels from 12 different categories are entered each year in the RITA competition. Novels can be entered either by their authors or by the books’ publisher.”

Although I haven’t read any of these yet, I will choose one or two to read soon.  If you haven’t tried a romance novel or it has been a while maybe you should try one too.

And the RITA Awards go to…

Best First Book…Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey

Best Contemporary Series Romance…Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson

Best Contemporary Series Romance:Suspense/Adventure…Treasure by Helen Brenna

Best Contemporary Single Title Romance…Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

Best Historical Romance…Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter

Best Inspirational Romance…A Touch of Grace by Linda Goodnight

Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements…Silent in the Graveby Deanna Raybourn

Best Paranormal Romance…Lover Revealed by JR Ward

Best Regency Historical Romance…The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

Best Romance Novella…”Born in My Heart” by Jennifer Greene in Like Mother, Like Daughter

Best Romantic Suspense…Ice Blue by Anne Stuart

Best Young Adult Romance… Wicked Lovelyby Melissa Marr

 

Ohio State vs. Ohio football

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All I can say about Ohio State’s 26-14 win over Ohio University today is…I’m glad I attended last week instead of this one.  Yikes!  For those who were not watching, OSU was losing until the fourth quarter.  I would like to say ‘Bring on the Trojans’, but I think it may be foolish to taunt them 🙂

Play Dirty, by Sandra Brown

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Cover ImageFinished audio 9-5-08, rating 2.5/5, fiction, pub. 2007

Millionaire and wheelchair bound Foster Speakman hires disgraced, fresh out of prison, ex-NFL star, Griff Burkett to ‘make his wife wife pregnant the old fashioned way’.  Laura, the wife, goes along with the plan and meets Griff monthly at a rented house to do the deed.  Laura loves her husband and her job at the Speakman’s airline.  Griff wastes no time in falling in love with Laura.  Griff also has a detective following him around trying to put him back in prison. 

This is the first Sandra Brown book that I have not liked.  None of the three main characters were appealing, even if she tried to make it so by the end, and the weak plot was very predictable.  I was listening to this in the car and in the time it took me to drive from one block to the next Griff and Laura were in love.  I thought I’d missed a cd or something, but no, it happened just as quick as that. 

If this had been the first Sandra Brown book I’d read I would not read another, but since I usually love her books I will put this in the miss column and consider it an anomaly.  Don’t bother with this one, choose another Brown book if you are a fan.