Some good reads and some thoughts about Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Three books, three topics, each worth the time to read. Although each author's last name begins with a "B" (O'Brien - disregarding the O, Berendt, and Berlinski), these authors each receive an A++ from me.

But first, because I purchased two of these books from Barnes & Noble and one from Amazon, a few comments about these booksellers:

- Amazon: I purchase most of my books at Amazon because Amazon nearly always offers a bigger discount than I can receive at Barnes & Noble, and I love being able to look back in my history to see what I've purchased and when. I use that feature all the time.

However, I wish Amazon had a handy way for me to note that I own a book that I didn't purchase from them. I know Amazon could do this because when they make recommendations for me, I can check a box that I already own the book. But I can't find any way to mark a book on purpose. If Amazon doesn't recommend it, I don't have the option to say I already own it.
Update on 3/21/08: Wow! I just found the feature I wanted on Amazon. It's called Your Media Library. For those who knit, having this feature is like having a membership to Ralvelry!!! Boy, am I going to use this!!!

- Barnes & Noble: Unlike Amazon, I can purchase books from Barnes & Noble in a retail store or online. That's kind of nice, but here's the beef:

Even though I use the same member's discount number to get a bit more discount on my purchases both in the store and online, that's the end of the connection between these two ways of purchasing books from BN. I wish BN online kept a record of my store purchases in my online account. What a boon that would be!! It might even encourage me to purchase more books from BN, whether in the store or online, in spite of the fact that BN is slightly more expensive, because I would be willing to pay that little bit more for the nifty record keeping. There are some definite advantages in being able to go into a retail store and leafing through a book before you purchase it.

That said, here's a little bit about these three books.

Tim O'Brien - The Things They Carried

War books aren't my thing, as a rule, but this book caught my eye when I was browsing at our local Barnes & Noble before I left for the Philippines. The things that attracted my interest:

-The book is described as literature on the back cover. For a reader like me, this means that it's probably not just a (fictionalized) historical account (which wouldn't interest me, though it probably should).

-This book a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. This isn't a strong selling point by itself because I don't "get" all Pulitzer-Prize books, but it is a fact that gets my attention.

-The notes on the back of the book indicated this story was about the people in the Vietnam war, and the title - The Things They Carried - is provocative.

I wasn't disappointed in my choice. The writing is fluid and carried me along with it; the characters have depth and unexpected (very human) traits and they captured my thoughts; the truths about life, as described by Tim O'Brien, resonated within me and are memorable. Here's a passage from the book:

You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. ..."Is it true?" and if the answer matters, you've got your answer... You'd feel cheated if it never happened... Yet even if it did happen--and maybe it did, anything's possible--even then you know it can't be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth...

And that, to me, was the theme of the whole story. You can't tell a whole truth, because truth is illusive. You can only draw a picture and then extract the truth from it. The truth is in what you can't tell. O'Brien made me feel what it might be like to have been in Vietnam - for a second or two at a time, because the truth just doesn't stay with you. But his stories do stick to you, and they change you.

Can a war story be beautiful? This one was. It will both haunt me and please me for time to come.

If you search Amazon for "things they carried," you'll see that the book has spawned reader's guides from a number of sources - it's that good!

John Berendt - The City of Falling Angels

This book is nothing like O'Brien's book - it's obvious I'm not reading on a theme.

Berendt is a journalist, and this is his account of the people and culture in Venice when the Fenice opera house burned in 1997. His stories about the events and people there are totally engaging - rising to the level of thoroughly readable great gossip.

I learned a lot about Venice from reading the book, and the learning was all pleasure!

I am not usually a person who goes out of her way to learn about the lives of famous or great people of the world - or the rich and the famous (although I do peek at the entertainment rags while I'm waiting in line in the grocery store), but this book was a delicious account of not only Venetians and Europeans, but of very well-known Americans - artists, socialites, and those who hang around them. The name dropping kept me giddy with pleasure.

What a great read! Now I will have to go back and find my copy of Midnight in the Garden..., also by Berendt, and read it. Berendt is a very, very good writer!

Mischa Berlinski - Fieldwork

I'm about half way through this book, and it's really difficult to believe this is a first novel. This fellow can write, and I hope we will be seeing many more of his works in the future.

This story is about American missionaries and anthropologists in Thailand, but it's not so much about their work as it is about how they go about their work, why they do their work, and how their lives are shaped by their long-term experiences in this foreign land. Added to that, we have the lives of the narrator, a young journalist, and his girlfriend, a teacher, who have moved to Thailand so she can work.

Although the plot is multi-faceted and follows the lives of six principal characters, the narration seamlessly transports you from character to character, from life situation to life situation, from yesterday to today. There are no messy transitions where you feel you have to go back several chapters and see where you left off with a particular character.

Berlinski's conversations are as easy as Amy Tan's - a favorite author of mine. He has a natural gift for story telling.

Read this book!

The Dumaguete Knitting School for Donna ... What We Learned

Those three weeks of Knitting School Donna and I shared were beneficial to us both. Donna gained confidence in where she was in her learning experience and is on her way to becoming an expert knitter - far better than I! As I prepared to provide her with a detailed explanation of a knitting technique, she grasped it after my first few words. The speed of her learning created a strong breeze that blew me away. Everyone should have such a "student"!

After I returned home, Donna continued her learning. Here's an excerpt from an e-mail she sent me:

Well, I am addicted to knitting! I want to knit all the time now. How fun! Since you've left, though, I've learned some things.

1) One should not watch intense parts of CSI while knitting on dpns because one might pull the wrong needle to knit with and pull out one's stitches.

2) One should not try to watch CSI, direct one's three children and settle their disputes while knitting as one will most likely make stitches that are not really stitches and are better classified as knotting than knitting.

3) One should probably not knit small projects while watching CSI, as one will probably forget what row one is knitting and end up knitting the same row several times. This will invariably throw off the pattern and needless to say the finished look of the project.

4) One should pick a project to knit and just do it instead of frogging and then changing to another project. Very unproductive.

GLOSSARY - One: Donna, mother of 4 children, two of which are extremely talkative; wife of busy husband who is gone 3 to 4 nights a week after working full time in the day time at the Bible college; a homemaker who likes to maintain a decently, though not perfectly, organized house with home-made meals; and who is quickly becoming addicted to both knitting and CSI.

But Donna is not the only one who learned things. I had previously bought her Knitting for Dummies when she asked me to get her some knitting materials last year. (The bag I took to her in 2007 is about mid-way down the page in the link.) That book is a serious rival to my Vogue Knitting book (1989 version)! And it's much more portable. I leafed through the pages so much that the book now appears two-times more used than it did when I first picked it up at Donna's house this year.

I found some wonderful techniques, with excellent explanations and tutorials, and I became fascinated with slip-stitch knitting. My interest at first was to use slip-stitch knitting as a way to use two colors without stranding them; but as I worked, I became totally engrossed in the pattern the stitches made.

Thus, this:

Starting just to the right of 12:00, a knitted tam using Bernat Satin Sport. This is the standard tam pattern I used from Anne Budd's book of knitting recipes.

Moving right, a bonnet using the same yarn. The pattern is an Elizabeth Zimmerman makeover by Jacqueline Fee, published in her Sweater Workshop book.

Below that, on the right side of the mat, the same bonnet in two colors using a slip-stitch pattern from Knitting for Dummies , using Bernat Satin Sport.

At about 7:00, the bottom part of a baby sweater in one color using Paton's Kroy. The sleeves are just above it. Enlarge the picture to see the neat design made by the slip stitch. The 7-stitch, 7-row slip stitch pattern is my own.

Here's my pattern, knitting two rows of each 7-stitch pattern:
- Round 1 & 2: S1, K5, S1
- Round 3 & 4: K1, S1, K3, S1, K1
- Round 5 & 6: K2, S1, K1, S1, K2
- Round 7 & 8: K3, S1, K3
- Round 9 & 10: Repeat rounds 5 & 6
- Round 11 & 12: Repeat rounds 3 & 4
- Round 13 and 14: Repeat Rounds 1 & 2
This creates a diamond. Because I'm knitting a raglan sleeve sweater from the bottom up, I didn't want to run into problems when I join the sleeves, so the pattern changes here.
- Round 1 & 2: K2, S1, K1, S1, K2
- Round 3 & 4: S1, K5, S1
Repeat these rounds until you reach the desired length. They should work out OK when the sleeves are joined together by making sure you stop at the same round on both sleeve and body.

At about 11:00, you see a pair of the fingerless gloves from the pattern I used a month or so ago in preparation for helping Donna knit in the round. These are made from Cotton-Ease.

In the center, there's another slip-stitch baby bonnet, made from a baby yarn by Caron. I'm not crazy about the yarn, but maybe I'm just biased toward something with natural fibers in it.

The fabric resulting from slip stitch is thicker than the same yarn worked in stockinette on the same size needles, and it feels luxurious.

Boy, I sure learned a bunch at The Dumaguete Knitting School for Donna! I'm glad she asked me to help her with her knitting!

Night

(Originally written Dec 23 07. I'm not sure why I didn't post it.)

I love the night. I love to quietly sit outside and take in all I hear and see.

This evening, the moon is bright, and it illuminates the roof tops and trees around us in our neighborhood. It's so bright that it lights up streaks of clouds in the sky. It's beautiful. And restful. And somehow peaceful. The moon just does what it does, and I just sit in my back yard and watch it and all that's around it.

A plane goes by, and I wonder where it's going. Maybe I would like to go, too. I hope the people are going places they want to go, not places they must go because something sad has happened in their lives. I hope they're going to where open arms await them, not going away from arms that have refused an embrace.

I see the stars, and wonder if they're really stars or planets. I'm not one who could really ever tell the difference, but if I wanted to disturb my solitude, I could go ask Lauren. He'd know. Dad always knew, too.

I hear coyotes in the distance. They seem so close, but it's at least a mile from here before you find any open territory. I don't hear them all the time, just sometimes, and I wonder what drives them to come so close to neighborhoods. I hope they haven't surrounded someone's pet and are doing what coyotes do. We used to have a lot of them when we first moved here 30+ years ago, but they moved farther away as our neighborhoods expanded. But recently, they seem to have come back.

I see cars over on Poway-Scripps Parkway - people coming home from a day out, or perhaps leaving for an evening out. Maybe some of those people are headed to a holiday party; and maybe some had to work today and are finally getting to come home.

When I wake up in the morning, it's still dark. Usually, I'm up around 5:00, but sometimes it's earlier. There is a steady stream of cars on the parkway even then, and I'm amazed that these people go to work so early. Although I've always loved to get up early in the morning, I've never been one to want to go to work early. I've always enjoyed my quiet time in the morning. I think I got in the habit of rising early when the children were small. If I could get some quiet time before they woke up, I was better prepared to enter their day with them.

Sometimes I sit in this room, a spare bedroom that faces the street, with the lights out, and I watch the night from here. Tonight, I can see our Christmas lights and occasional red tail lights as cars pass the house. I like Christmas and all the lights people put up. It's the only decorating we do at Christmas these years, but we always do it because we enjoy the lights ourselves and we think we owe it to our neighbors so they can enjoy our lights, as well as theirs, too.

I thought about seeing if I could take a picture of the night tonight, but decided I wouldn't. It's really hard to capture a good night scene, especially with a little digital camera. In 2003, I did get some fairly decent pictures of a lunar eclipse, though.

Sitting outside at night - or in the early morning - is settling for me. I do a lot of thinking then, but not about anything in particular. I just let the thoughts come as they will. Sometimes night inspires me to write. Here's a little piece I wrote, inspired by a sunset, and another one, where I actually did get a picture of the night sky while I was thinking of a fellow from church who had recently died.

Tonight, the night inspired me to write, too. Tonight, I love the night.

This is what a mother and grandmother does ...

... when her child and the beloved family of her child is experiencing one of the most important moments of their lives - appearing before a judge asking permission to legally adopt one who has already become one with them.

She meditates and she prays.

She works with her hands because somehow the work becomes its own sort of prayer, and God knows the love and devotion that is always part of the work of a woman's hands.

There is silence except for the words escaping her lips as they are formed in her heart. The movement is back and forth, as she carefully pieces batting together and then just as carefully pins the top to the rest of the quilt sandwich - it's back and forth, except for those moments she is drawn to her knees for a moment - responding to some inner voice that says this is the thing to do right now.

Somehow the clock changed from California daylight savings time to time in the Philippines. Lauren set it just last week to reflect the arrival of our time change for the season, but now it's exactly 15 hours (3 hours, plus 12) from the time recorded by my cell phone and my watch. He even put a new battery in the clock. We don't know how the time managed to do that, but it manages to keep me focused on the morning time in the Philippines.

At 10 minutes before 10, Philippines time, it seems as though I feel some sort of release. I don't know what that's to signify, but I note it to myself, and then I continue for another couple hours, and then I break for supper. I could have put the work aside until the next morning (today), but I continued. Even if the hearing was over, it could be that the court was still considering the petition. Continuing seems to be a good thing to do, and I'm not tired after supper.

The news is that the court seemed to be amiable to the documents and the interviews with the family. I learn later that the interviews were intense, but the family remained calm. Even Erica, at a few months short of five, was quiet. Even she knew it was a very important day in her life.

The attorneys and other interested parties need to complete and submit the balance of their paperwork before the judge will rule, but we're very hopeful that his ruling will be favorable to this bonded family. We should know soon.

We're still praying ...



Today, I'm continuing with the quiet and prayerful work of the quilt, drawing the patterns I will sew in the blocks. I had originally thought I would do an overall design, but I think it would become lost in this busy collection of fabric. So, instead, I am going to quilt each 14-inch square separately, with flowers, plants, birds, butterflies, and things one might find in a garden - in Mammy's garden, that is.

Mammy's Flower Garden has become a prayer quilt.

Travel memories ...

The Family at CCTC
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I'm finally home for a little while, still glowing from travel and being surrounded by those I love so much. I am overwhelmed by it all and so humbled to realize that I am blessed beyond any dream I could have.

The picture above is one of four (all posted on Flickr), and each one showed the family in this pose, adjusted for the movements they would make as I adjusted my camera to make sure I caught them in a good light. All four pictures turned out well, and I couldn't decide my favorite. As I changed settings for the next picture, I see Donna and the kids moving closer together, and handsome Todd stands there looking so proud and beautifully pleased with this family he has husbanded and fathered so well for these many years. Their presence in my life is such a gift to me.

I am surprised that I am not fatigued after traveling a third of the way around the world and back, and then two days later traveling to visit my sister and brother-in-law for a little better than a week, but love provides its own energy. I have basked in it for the last month, and there's more to come as I soon spend a weekend with my beloved friend and her husband in Maryland, then Lauren and I take off for a month of one of our favorite activities together - exploring new places on our own - to the U.K., and then shortly thereafter we will spend a week with our granddaughter and grand son-in-law and my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado. I will have gained energy to last me for months to come!

This is the second time I've traveled alone to the Philippines, and I think I could almost do it now with my eyes closed. People are so helpful. Here I am, this little old lady hauling these two filled-to-the limit (70 pounds) suitcases, trying to get them off the conveyer at the airport, and there's always some helpful younger man, another passenger, who grabs the case and helps me pull it off and put it on a cart so I can handle it.

In San Francisco, coming back, we were late and I was afraid I would miss my connection to San Diego, but the airplane attendants got me off the plane first thing and started me on my way to pick up my luggage and go through customs. We were all fearful of being late for our connections, but, again, there was a man there who took the time to help me get my luggage off the conveyer and on a cart, and then he lead the way as we ran (yes, even I ran, holding on to my cart for dear life - even though I can't lift both feet off the ground at the same time - I wish I had a picture - it must have been funny) to get my luggage to the area where it would be transferred to my next flight. I didn't even have to read the signs about where to go - I just ran, as best as I could, and followed him. He kept looking back to make sure I was still there. What a nice person he was - and how nice so many where while I traveled. So thank you to the many! God bless you all!!!

We expect that this will be Donna and Todd's last year in the Philippines, and as the time nears for them to come home with the children, I find myself with a new thought - I think I will be breathing again, soon. I hadn't been aware that I was holding my breath, but somewhere in me, I must have felt that I have been doing just that for the last nine years. I think I am beginning to breathe even now. How good it feels.

But I will miss visiting the Philippines. I am so glad I have gone there as often as I have and had some time to get to know the people and their customs there. I am enriched by it.

Everyone works in the Philippines. Even though the country is poor and the economy is far below the standards of the U.S., these people take great pride in their work. We could learn much about the honor of work by observing them.

The people are a polite people, and we could learn much about civility by observing them.

Their infrastructure has grown in leaps and bounds since I began traveling there, but it still isn't up to U.S. standards. When things break down, Americans are very impatient, but Filipinos take it in stride. We could learn a lot about patience by observing them.

I am an early riser when I'm there - about 5:00 in the morning; but I am not the first riser in the neighborhood. I can hear a broom sweeping a walkway or lawn across or down the street; I can smell wood-burning smoke as someone prepares breakfast; I hear a motor here and there as someone goes to work. When we go for our early morning walk at 6:00, little home-based cafes are already open and serving their first customers.

The land is a land of humble and honorable people. I'm so glad I got to know that first hand.

There are a lot of things that have crossed my mind as I mentally drafted my first catch-up blog, but most of them slipped right through. Two things about my visit to Kentucky, though, are fresh on my mind, and they are important examples of the kindness of southern hospitality.

We got Whitt's Barbecue for supper one night. It was take out, and we then ate it at home. As I got out my money to pay for it, I thought I might have enough change to make up the 74 (or something) cents for the bill, but I didn't. Judy was getting change out of her purse when the clerk said, "Oh, here. I'll chip in a quarter." And he did! And then - and this is the really interesting part - he gave me the penny change from the quarter!!! I was stunned all evening, and I think I still am a little bit. That is certainly southern hospitality big time.

And the other thing was at the Nashville airport when I was coming home. As a smoker in an increasingly non-smoking world, I look around for places where it seems smokers have been (in numbers), hoping I'm going to find an ash tray and an appropriate place to smoke. I walked along the curb area next to the building and observed all kinds of non-smoking signs, and then I came to a spot where there were lots of butts on the sidewalk and there didn't appear to be a sign. Well, I'd prefer an ash tray and I didn't see one, but I figured I'd just step on the fire end of the cigarette when I was done and throw the filter end into the trash. About three puffs into my cigarette, a security guard came up and asked me if I would mind going over to the center island across the traffic lanes and finish my cigarette. He said the sign wasn't really visible, but he pointed to a little strip about 6 feet above the side walk on the airport window that said No Smoking. I said, sure, I'd be glad to do that, and asked him how I crossed to that island strip. He took me to the crossing place, stopped traffic, and then made sure I crossed the road safely.

Now, what makes that so nice? Well, I did pretty much the same thing at the airport in Anchorage, being well away from the doors (in California, you have to be 20 feet from any doorway), and lit up. A security guard there came up to me and very curtly told me to put out my cigarette because there was no smoking in that area. He pointed to a little strip sign placed on the window about the same place it was on the Nashville airport. I apologized and told him I hadn't seen it, and he said something to the effect that everyone says that and led me to believe he didn't believe me or anyone else who had told him the same thing. (There were butts all over the place.) The guard didn't give me any alternative or guidance, so I just took about 25 steps farther away and finished my cigarette.

So southern hospitality doesn't extend to Alaska, even if Anchorage is in the southern part of it. What a difference between the two approaches. In Nashville, I felt safe and secure; in Anchorage, I was glad to get on the plane without first going to jail!

More memories later as I continue to catch up ... the washing is waiting for me!