by Malcolm Macdonald, published in 1975 by Alfred A. Knopf
Maybe my favorite genre — reminiscent of Masterpiece Theatre series productions. Its 570 pages are written against the backdrop of the construction of a railway tunnel in England from 1839 to 1841. The story begins with Nora, a poverty-stricken but well-bred young woman who lives by her wits and her body. She meets “Lord John,” former “navvy,” (tunnel laborer), now rising by his shrewdness and uncommon people skills to the position of General Contractor.
The book title describes not only the building of the tunnel, but the couple’s synergy, elevating them to financial and social success. Though the book is ends satisfactorily, you sense that John and Nora are not finished making deals. Their family story is continued in three sequels, The Rich Are with You Always, Sons of Fortune and Abigail.
Though technical in its description of 19th century railway construction and finance, the story is carried by its cast of strong characters. It contains a few explicit sexual scenes, so I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.
The Ladies of Missalonghi
by Colleen McCullough, 192 pages, published in 1987 by Harper & Row
A short, entertaining read, with an ending you might not expect. Missy Wright, 33-year-old spinster, is dominated by her mother and maiden aunt and the other members of the clan that controls her Australian village.
The arrival in town of stranger John Smith, who has bought a nearby valley, coincides with a fainting spell that Missy suffers. After he rescues her, she determines she will not spend another minute as “mousy” Missy.
Her sudden boldness secretly pleases her mother, mortifies the clan — particularly rich, beautiful cousin Alicia — and charms Mr. Smith.
(Some reader reviews claim this book copies the plot of The Blue Castle, written by L. M. Montgomery, most famous for her Anne of Green Gables series.)
Outliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell, 309 pages, published in 2008 by Little, Brown and Company
My notes indicate that I heard about this from Diggy at Upgrade Reality, but it was also a book that one of my sons had requested. Diggy cited from the book that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at anything — 3 hours a day for 10 years.
However, the book covers much more than the 10,000-hour rule. Gladwell proposes that innate talent is important, but the year – and sometimes month — of your birth, circumstances and opportunity, length of school year, Eastern or Western culture of work, have much more influence than mere creative genius.
Despite being driven by extensive research and statistics, the book was easy to read and understand. Gladwell’s other books include The Tipping Point and Blink.
Although it’s not a self-help book, as I supposed it might be, it is an enlightening examination of worldly success.
Book reading is a solitary pastime. When I read, my mind leaves my surroundings and enters a world of mystery, travel, romance, exploration or enlightenment – wherever I want to go.
When I want to get away from it all, I take a book with me. Though I’m not one of them, I understand those commuting travelers who avoid conversations with other passengers by immersing themselves in written words so they don’t have to respond to those spoken.
A book requires no response; it’s not demanding, does not consider it rude if you close its pages in the middle of a sentence.
If it’s a good book, though, it can be akin to taking a vacation by yourself. You double your enjoyment when you share it with someone else.
Book Club Envy
I always envied those who had the luxury of participating in a book club. I’d see notices about book club meetings in newspapers or the library, but somehow the time was never right.
Thanks to a good friend, I finally got to be part of one four or five years ago in Mississippi. “The Book Bunch” gathered at the back of a local restaurant once a month and discussed books over breakfast. When we moved to this smaller town, I was thrilled to find a group who met at the local library to share their reading experiences.
Why?
Many avid readers don’t see the point. Why be forced to read a book of someone else’s choice? Why bother with a book club?
Because of…
Gossip! Though we might not admit it, we get to “gossip” about fictional characters without guilt. We can conjecture about motives. We can decide whether or not they would be our friend, or as my friend Keetha phrases it, “the character I’d most like to have a drink with.” We can be openly critical and even self righteous.
After all, these are fictional characters. Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price won’t be hurt if I express my frustration with her reticence; Atticus Finch will not feel threatened if I declare my admiration for him; the Eliots of Damerosehay won’t even notice that I’m stalking them in sequels.
Revelations. More satisfying than the gossip, though, is our sharing of ideas and personal philosophies. We leave our own worlds behind and briefly travel together into a world of thought and imagination. The meeting is a safe place where, in the process of summarizing the plot, judging the author’s writing style, sharing our discoveries or disagreeing about whether or not it was worth reading, we also reveal our own quirks and foibles, political and religious views.
Getting Out of a Rut. If I chose every book our club reads, three out of four would be novels written by English women, with a story based somewhere in the British Isles or some other foreign land. The book club has introduced me to books and characters I’m certain I would never have met by myself. (This doesn’t mean I would recommend them all.)
Friendship. Reading the same book provides a gathering place for our minds. When we discuss a book – though we may have nothing else in common — we share an unspoken mutual appreciation, a special bond non-readers do not share.
It’s not always about the book, by the way. Sometimes one or more of us don’t even finish the book before the meeting, but we still show up. Don’t want to miss the gossip, even if it’s someone we don’t know!
Talk to me. Have you ever been a part of a book club? What was your experience? What would be your advice to someone wanting to start one?
To Bangkok, Houston, Albuquerque, Lincoln, Denver and back again!
And while I have had article ideas rolling around in my head, I have also been struggling with the focus of this blog, asking one of the best questions anyone can ask when making a decision: “What’s the point?”
Trying to Focus
Actually, focus is a pre-blog struggle, and one that my first blogging mentor, Seth Waite, emphasized in his very helpful but now inactive blog, The Blogging Agenda. At the time, I thought I knew what the focus would be – helping other Baby Boomers take their aging in stride, stay physically healthy and not become jaded because of our or others’ perceptions of what we should be in our 50’s and beyond.
As I progressed, however, I had a hard time gaining an audience – in part, because I wasn’t hanging out with those whom my blog might benefit. I found myself hanging out, instead, with blogging and writing experts who, though challenging and educating me, also made me realize how far behind I am in those realms.
In addition, I’m not considered any kind of expert in the field of aging well. Yes, I am comparatively healthy, take no medication (yet) and continually pursue and think about ways to keep myself from growing feeble as I age. But that doesn’t make me any kind of expert.
It makes me one more voice in this worldwide cacophony of advice and opinion they call the blogosphere.
When writing for the blog, I mentally vacillated between wanting to make it a personal journey and a research project. Response to the blogs seemed to vacillate as well. Probably because of the title, the article on Surfing Snails – written a year ago – remains the most popular blog. It’s significant that it’s one of the ones I most enjoyed writing.
But the unpaid time and effort it has taken to write the articles – popular or not – have not produced a good return. Small return for large effort produces burnout – particularly when the same amount of effort brings financial reward when expended for paying clients.
So where are you going now?
My intent now is to develop a website and blog that are more in tune with what I do for gainful employment.
For at least twelve years I have been doing what is now known as Virtual Office Assistance.
Since moving from the Chicago area in 1998, I have worked as a virtual administrative assistant for a Chicago-based General Contractor, while also working full time – first in the Career Resource Center of a university in western Tennessee, then as an office manager/copywriter/bookkeeper/project manager for a small advertising agency in the Mississippi Delta. I have now become their remote editor, proofreader and copywriter. Recently, I have also expanded into the insurance world, laying out ads and doing some research and web marketing for a small agency in Houston.
Though I still find the learning curve in the web writing/blogging sphere steep, I do not find it so in the area of administrative assistance. The organizational and software skills come naturally. MS Word, QuickBooks and Excel are daily tools, and I have used both Access and PowerPoint. My equipment is new; I regularly take phone dictation and use internet faxing services. It’s all in place. I’m good at what I do and eager to expand my capabilities.
However, I’m still not ready to give up on this blog. I still believe that as long as we have breath we can approach the world in wonder; we can recognize that we live in a wonder-filled world. This blog helps me express that passion and may give others an avenue to do the same. So until time and energy constraints make it impossible, I’m keeping this avenue open — if only to talk about the reasons for all that traveling!
By Alexander McCall Smith. Fiction. c. 2005. Published by Anchor Books.
McCall Smith uses an unusual technique in this book – it was originally serialized fiction for a newspaper, so each chapter has to introduce a scene and finish it.
It was not nearly as enjoyable as the book series – The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – that led me to pick up this work by the same author. He paints his characters just as well — they just weren’t as charming. He also paints a striking portrait of Edinburgh, Scotland, its landscape and levels of society.
What it lacked was follow-up, which can probably be attributed to the format. Characters entered the scenes and left, never to be seen again. He nicely wraps up the stories of Pat, her vain flat-mate Bruce and her clueless employer Matthew and their odd triangle, but I was not satisfied at the end with poor little Bernie’s conflict with his overbearing mother.
My rating? 6 out of 10. It was a good light read, and even compelling in some places, but I didn’t identify well with any of the characters. It’s possible, however, that 6 other people out of 10 would recognize either themselves or someone they know.
by Jeannette Walls. copyright 2005. Published by Scribner.
This is an amazing memoir, written with a lot of conversation and short chapter segments, which makes it very easy to read.
Jeannette and two of her siblings not only survive but thrive under their extremely neglectful parents – both eccentric, fanciful, highly intelligent and irresponsible.
The mother is self-centered, the father an alcoholic. The conditions they force upon their children are unbelievably harsh; they seem to have no conscience about the environment they provide for their children.
Though the mother inherits great wealth, she will have none of it. She prefers the adventures that poverty brings. The father occasionally has a tinge of conscience but is a slave to his drink.
What they do bestow on their children – especially on Jeannette – is a love of learning, intelligence, and a story no one else could tell.
My rating? 9 out of 10, which means I would recommend it to 9 out of 10 people. The 10th person might not appreciate nor see the value of the graphic details of children neglected. Writing style? Something to be imitated. You can tell Ms. Wall is a pro.
It’s a typical busy day in the office. You’re fielding calls, answering e-mails, greeting people as they come into the office.
Then someone calls who is angry before you answer the phone. They are ready – expecting – a confrontation. They have reasons to be upset and are determined you’ll hear them all.
After forty years of experience in the business world — often as the front desk person – I’ve learned how to respond.
I’ve learned how to unruffle feathers. I’ve learned when it’s important to be firm and when to give in, when to insist on what’s right and when to turn the other cheek.
If you’re the target of a complaint – whether or not it’s justified – here are my suggestions for responses to avoid, and some you might want to try. Read more…
Most people talk excitedly about the New Year as a new beginning, a fresh new start. For some reason, I haven’t been able to get into it this year.
Maybe it’s because I’m always making promises I don’t keep, and it gets old after awhile. Why make year-long resolutions when I’m not fulfilling my week-long promises?
I heard one man say he hesitated to make resolutions for things he should already be doing. I tend to agree with him.
Others advise you not to make resolutions; set goals instead. I agree with them, too. Read more…
This is a trilogy set in England spanning from after WWI to after WWII. The titles of the books, in order, are
The Bird in the Tree, published in 1940 The Herb of Grace (entitled Pilgrim’s Inn by American publishers), written in 1948 The Heart of the Family, written in 1953.
About the Author
A quick look at Wikipedia also reveals this about Elizabeth Goudge’s writings: Her favorite among her books was The Little White Horse (1946), which is also a favorite of J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter stories. Read more…
“It’s too hot.” “It’s too cold.” “I’m too busy.” “I don’t have anything to do.”
And the complaints go on and on. Just name it, and we’ll complain about it: our health, money, our age (no matter what it is), the government, the weather, other people, our job, our children, our parents. You get the picture.
Complaining can be such a habit we don’t even realize we’re doing it.
Sometimes it’s how we interact with a certain group of friends: we have gripe sessions. Read more…
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