Sunday Salon: Autumn Reads

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

I seem to be reading more during this cool weather, in between taking rides to see the changing leaves and to buy pumpkins from local farms. Got some local fruit preserves for gifts and pumpkin bread for myself!

I finished reading Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Ella Macneal, though I flipped through the last third of the mystery novel, impatient for the ending and feeling the book was too padded after a very good first half.

I felt the same about Forgotten by Catherine Mckenzie, an excellent book and plot but padded with  drawn out conversation for pages and pages later on. I also flipped to the end after enjoying the plot lines of the book as laid out in the first half.


Lest you think I'm just an overly impatient reader, I'm reading every word of Joseph Kanon's Istanbul Passage, a thriller and novel of intrigue set in post-WWII Istanbul, featuring international spies and people runners trying to wrap up the frayed edges of the end of the war. I'm in the middle of the book and don't feel impelled or the least bit inclined to flip to the end!

Backyard maple makes a statement

What books have captured your attention this fall?

Book to Movie: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I saw the trailer last week for the upcoming movie The Life of Pi based on the book by Yann Martel. Directed by Ang Lee, it premiered in September at the New York Film Festival.  The trailer was dramatic, showing a young Indian boy on a raft with a fierce tiger for company, in the middle of the ocean. It made me curious about the book and of course about the movie.

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the book is expected to be  a good film, with Ang Lee and his history of cinematic successes such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Eat Drink Man Woman.

 Publisher's book description:  "Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks.

Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again.

The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?  Life of Pi is a realistic adventure tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction."

Author Yan Martel calls the movie version "sumptious," in his comments. I am slowly reading this book at the library, hoping to finish before the film arrives here next month.

Book Review/Tour: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know by Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson

Title: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know
Authors: Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson
Sourcebooks: April 1, 2012

There are 115 humorous essays by dogs who reveal their feelings and thoughts and tell on their owners, many of whom don't really understand or know what their dogs really think about them.

The essays are all told in the first person by the dogs in question and readers will nod their heads in sympathy and understanding, or shake their heads with humor and surprise.

Such are the two page essays that reveal each dog's personality, likes and dislikes, and gripes. They also try to explain their behavior, such as why they eat grass, wag their tails, why one ate the sofa, etc. There is a picture to go with each dog's essay, so we can see what the dog speaker/thinker looks like.

Here are some excerpts from the essays:

1. Bandana the Border Collie wants to tell his owners: "I Raised Your Kids." "For a few years, I was as smart as those two, maybe smarter. It took me a lot less time to get house-broken. Also walking. In fact, I'm the one who taught them. They didn't take their first stumbling steps running to you. No. They were running from me."

2. Tinkerbell the Chihuaha wants her owner to know she is a dog, not a person: " The first time you said it, I thought it was a joke. "Tink doesn't know she's a dog. She thinks she's people." Margo, sweetie, that's just wrong.... For a while I went along. I wore the costumes; I shook hands; I joined your Facebook page: I drank melon swizzles and sang karaoke."

3. Alexrod the Yellow Lab doesn't understand his human's behavior: "Why is it okay for you to pee in the house? Also, why is it okay for me to pee against a tree but not for your brother when he drinks too much beer?"

You get the idea - the life of dogs with their humans, from the dogs' point of view. A clever and humorous book for those who own pets and even for those who don't but who want to understand why so many people adore pets, especially dogs.

For more reviews, visit the tour schedule.
About the authors: 

HY CONRAD was one of the original writers for the series, Monk, working on the show for all eight seasons, the final two as Co-Executive Producer.  His latest TV work was as writer and Consulting Producer for White Collar.

Hy is also the author of short stories and books of short whodunits, which have been sold in fourteen languages.  Hy’s first mystery novel series, Abel Adventures, will debut in 2012 with Rally ‘Round the Corpse.  He lives in Key West and Vermont with his partner and two miniature schnauzers. (www.hyconrad.com)

JEFF JOHNSON spent most of his working life in advertising agencies, currently as General Manager of Cramer-Krasselt in New York City.  He is the author of The Hourglass Solution:  A Boomer’s Guide to the Rest of Your Life and co-authors a national online advice column called Short Answers.  Jeff lives in Vermont and Key West and is on the Board of Directors of the Waterfront Playhouse and the Florida Keys SPCA.

For the book's website, visit www.thingsyourdog.com
Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the authors for a review copy of the book.

Book Review: Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi by Brian Leaf

Title: Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness by Brian Leaf
Published October 9, 2012; New World Library
Genre: yoga memoir

I don't have colitis and don't think I have ADD, but  I often forget where I put my keys, purse, current book, and sometimes even my shoes. This is not to say I am always a scatter brain, but I have my moments.

This book did tell me a little more than I already knew about yoga basics, and it did give me very practical tips for getting through daily life without anxiety. Here is an example: If I make a list of all the things I want to do during the day and follow it, that will avoid any frantic activity on my part about what I should do next among all the things I want to do in life. A list will narrow down what I can choose to do in that one day. Whew!

Next, advice on how to live in the moment so I don't worry about the past and agonize over the future was a big help for me. For meditation, the techniques are simple - if your mind wanders, simply count breaths, or try to feel the breath passing back and forth between your nose and lip. That will focus your attention for sure,  and keep you in the present. Brian also found out his inner feelings through meditation. A great big plus for the practice of yoga. What I learned: if you don't really know what you want to do in a situation, meditate on it.

If not meditating and you are still in a tizzy, you can simply ask yourself, "What is most real?" in that moment. Focus on what you are doing, feeling and experiencing. It could be as simple as saying to yourself, "I am walking; I am eating an apple; I hear a car door closing; children are shouting in the street." That focus will keep you in the present and out of trouble with the past and the future, for sure.

Of course, there is much, much more to this book....and I have simplified and shortened everything as well as put my own spin on it, commenting on what I found most useful. Brian Leaf says it much better than I can ever hope to, as he has been perfecting and working on mastering these for years. Want to know more? Read the book. You will also find out what Brian had to cope with and how he managed to do it with the help of yoga.

There is a sample yoga practice, plus meditation and relaxation techniques, and an Ayurvedic Constitutional Survey in the back of the book.

About the author: Brian Leaf is the owner and director of the New Leaf Learning Center in Massachusetts. He has studied, practiced, and taught yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda for 23 years. Information: www.misadventures-of-a-yogi.com

I received a complimentary review copy from the publisher.

Opening Sentences: A Fatal Stain by Elise Hyatt

Opening sentences can give readers a taste of a writer's style and content. Here are the beginning sentences from the cozy mystery, A Fatal Stain :

The first time I tried to run away from home, I was three. I'd packed all my comic books and a bag of cookies in a book bag emblazoned with Remembered Murder, the name of my parents' bookstore in Goldport Colorado, and I had made it all the way down to the bus station, where I realized I didn't have the money for a ticket. I'd sat quietly in a corner bench and eaten my cookies and read my comics until my grandmother noticed I was missing and came to find me.

Title: A Fatal Stain : A Daring Finds Mystery by Elise Hyatt
Published October 2, 2012; Berkley paperback

Book description: Candyce "Dyce" Dare, owner of the furniture refinishing business Daring Finds, finds a disturbing stain on a table that she suspects is blood. Dyce discovers that the table’s previous owner has gone missing—and once more is drawn into a solve-it-yourself mystery project.

Book Review: The Man in the Empty Boat by Mark Salzman

Title: The Man in the Empty Boat by Mark Salzman
Published February 14, 2012; paperback by Open Road
Genre: memoir

Easy reading, smooth writing. This memoir shows the writer reaching his philosophy of life - man  as an empty boat rocked, nudged, and moved by cosmic forces that are outside of his control.

Mark Salzman records and comments on the events in his life that lead him to the conclusion that we are not really in control of our lives, since our genes, the environment, social conditioning, events that happen to us, and so on, dictate who we are, what we become, and what we can or cannot do.

Mark inherits his family's tendency to depression and anxiety. A recurring back injury forces him to abandon the martial arts that he studied. A successful book (which I have read and liked), Iron and Silk, resulted from his experience teaching English and learning martial arts in China.  Since then, however, he has had trouble producing a book that his publisher will accept, until now.

A breakthrough came, a revelation that helps him explain his life and the tragedy of his family dynamics that includes a death in the family. The one stability in his life is his wife, Jessica Yu, a film director, and his two young daughters. Mark concludes that cosmic forces and nature control life and that he is just a Man in an Empty Boat, being moved around by the tides, with no input from him on a change of course or direction. A fatalistic point of view that somehow helps relieve the anxieties of life.

I found this "philosophical"view particularly Asian or Buddhist, as Buddhism sees life as predetermined or predestined. However, Mark professes to no religion. For an enlightening memoir, thoughts on life and how he coped with anxieties, do read The Man in the Empty Boat. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

A complimentary copy of this book was sent to me for review.

Sunday Salon: Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

Iced Chiffon

I saw Iced Chiffon (Berkley paperback; October 2, 2012) featured so many times on blogs that I thought I was missing out on a good cozy by not reading it right away.  I like the main character, Reagan, who is a young woman turned sleuth, down on her luck, recently divorced, and trying to renovate her home, a Victorian house that she has turned into a consignment shop, the Prissy Fox.

Reagan's ex-husband Hollis has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend and employee, Cupcake, and Reagan may lose her Victorian home if Hollis decides to take it back and  use the money to pay his lawyer to get him off the hook. Reagan wants to keep the house and decides to solve the murder herself.

So far, so good. Lots of humor and Savannah atmosphere, Southern style food, dress, and manners. I'm enjoying this cozy. Of course, there is romance simmering beneath the icy exchanges with Hollis's handsome lawyer, Walker Boone.

Also on the agenda, a wholesome breakfast and a matinee, Argo. I've heard good things about Ben Affleck's movie and hope to see it this afternoon.

What are your reading plans for the day, the week?