Happily Ever Madder: Misadventures of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee

Happily Ever Madder: Misadventures of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee

This book should come with a warning label that reads something like: “Do not read this book when you’re in a quiet area where you’re not supposed to disturb others.” I haven’t laughed out loud this much while reading a book in awhile. I kept my husband awake, disturbed the toddler while playing …all because I was laughing so hard. 

This is the sequel to McAfee’s Diary of a Mad Fat Girl (which was just as good—although I would say that McAfee is just getting better and better). Here Graciela (Ace) Jones moves to Florida to be with her fiancé and live her dream of running her own art gallery. Ace, who might be described as someone who has a bit of a temper, is determined she’s going to be nice. She tells herself that she’ll keep that awesome Southern attitude in check and be sweet as pie. Well, it’s not that easy for Ace to hide who she really is especially when confronted with a few mean ladies of Pelican Cove society—especially one Lenore Kennashaw. Thankfully Ace makes some great friends she can rely on while her fiancé Mason is working long hours at his law firm. Too many mean run-ins with those ladies of Pelican Cove lead Ace and her friends on a mission to reveal who Lenore really is. 

If you haven’t read McAfee's first book, grab it quick and then snap this one up. The ending will make you nuts, but I am relieved to see that the next one, Down and Out in Bugtussle: The Mad Fat Road to Happiness, will come out in July (and we will have it at the library). If you enjoy the humor of Janet Evanovich and Dave Barry, you’ll have fun with this.

 

Do Nothing! How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader by J. Keith Murnighan

Do Nothing! How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader by J. Keith Murnighan

I’m a sucker for titles and covers. They get me every time. So you can understand why, when I read a review for a title called Do Nothing!, I had to check it out. Who wouldn’t want to become better at something by actually doing nothing?!? 

Murnighan has filled his book with practical examples that make this an easy and memorable read. I joke about doing nothing, but what I took away was that leaders are doing something but it’s not the jobs of the people on your team. Leaders are encouraging and cultivating the talent that is on their team. He also spent time talking about creating goals and how to lead a team that is defined by goals. I loved this reminder of the bigger picture because so often it’s easy to get lost in the daily tasks. I also found his description of  learning goals vs a performance goals enlightening. Life would become so boring if we stopped learning and only focused on tasks. And last but not least, I loved his idea about “no more postmortems” and instead to focus on four basic questions: “What did we do well? What did we do poorly? What surprises did we encounter? What can we do better?”

I’d recommend this title to anyone in a position of leadership – this isn’t a boring business book that you’ll drag yourself through.  Enjoy learning to do nothing!

An Introduction to Esotericism

Do you like the magic in Harry Potter? Or maybe you enjoy some of Dan Brown's works like the Da Vinci Code. Were you ever interested in where some of these ideas come from? As it turns out, a great deal of fiction (mostly fantasy) is largely inspired by history. Or at least inspired by certain aspects from history. Ideas about magic, mysticism, and other strange or 'spiritual' phenomena have been around for at least as long as recorded civilization. What this blog post intends to do is act as a bit of a primer on some of the key influences on 'magical', 'occult', or 'esoteric' thinking that have influenced Western Culture and subsequently some ideas of pop culture (or pop occulture if you will).

The Watkins Dictionary of magic by Nevill Drury is a great introduction to some of the main concepts intrinsic to various magical traditions. It gives an overview of numerous grimoires (or spell books), esoteric traditions such as Alchemy, Kabbalah, and Hermeticism, and also describes some key figures within the tradition. A very good starting place for someone not very familiar with magical and occult traditions.

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim is an organized compilation from the sixteenth century of various occult notions. This is one of the most important primary sources for various occult traditions after its creation. The collection details astrological correspondences, numerology, natural magic traditions, folklore, some ideas on the nature of black or demonic magic, and various other facets of occultism. A definite classic.

The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie details certain dogmas and rituals developed by a fin de siècle British occult order. Members included such notables as world famous poet and Nobel Laureate W. B. Yeats and notorious occultist Aleister Crowley, at one time labeled "the wickedest man in the world". The order's acolytes studied complex symbol associations and advanced in a semi-masonic hierarchy wherein they would later supposedly learn such practices as astral projection, spirit evocation, talisman creation, and various other arcane activities.

Ideas from the occult traditions such as the nature of mandrake roots espoused in Agrippa and repeated in Harry Potter or the clandestine nature of secret orders like the Golden Dawn or the groups detailed in Dan Brown's novels find their way into pop culture very frequently. This post barely scratches the surface of these strange and mysterious traditions. Those interested should definitely take a gander at some of these books or if curious about particulars feel free to ask me questions on this blog. I received my M.A. studying Western Esotericism and Mysticism so I know a goodly amount about these things and am more than happy to inform the curious.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 
- Hamlet (1.5.166-7), Hamlet to Horatio
William Shakespeare

Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews

 

Mary Kay Andrews hits another one out of the ball park with Ladies' Night , another sunny, breezy,fun summer read.  This author manages to never hit a sour note with light books of women's  fiction custom-made to read on the beach or pool side.  She expertly weaves a story of love and family drama in a small town atmosphere where everyone seems to know everyone and their business, unfortunately.

Grace Stanton's perfect life and marriage comes to an abrupt end with driving her husband's $175,000 car into their backyard swimming pool in a fit of anger.  Soon she finds herself in divorce court and mandatory anger management classes with other soon-to-be divorced spouses. But all is not what it seems in these classes, where she meets the maybe man of her dreams and women who will stick with her through thick and thin.  Everything gets really interesting when they start meeting after the court-mandated sessions for "Ladies' Night".



The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio

Imagine this: Rebecca meets Sound of Music meets The Secret Garden in a Kate Morton-esque sort of way. Perhaps this seems a bit far-fetched, but I think this aptly describes Sarah Jio's latest mystery thriller.

Set in two time periods, present day and at the eve of World War II, the story takes place at an English country estate.  What is at the heart of the mystery is a rare camellia called the Middlebury Pink. Originally stolen from the gardens of Buckingham Palace in the early nineteenth century, the coveted flower has been witness to adultery and murder for more than two centuries.

The Last Camellia is captivating and chilling, sometimes making the reader fearful to turn the page, wondering what could be on the other side of the door. A spellbinding as well as romantic tale expertly woven as only Sarah Jio knows how to do.

If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin

Okay, so this review will be outside of my normal focus but since it was written by one of my best friends I read it. And indeed, it is a very good book!

If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin is a heart-wrenching novel about two teenagers, our protagonist Autumn and Phineas (or Finny), who were one-time best friends but have drifted into distinct social groups in recent years. Given the closeness between their mothers and their shared history they still often interact with each other on holidays and special occasions but only in a cursory and awkward way. Throughout the story Autumn starts to develop semi-conscious romantic sentiments towards Finny but their tacit dissociation from each other causes a severe sort of tension and denial in Autumn. The book ultimately is about how things would have been different had Finny been with Autumn on a fateful night detailed at the very opening of the book.

As a rule, I am generally uninterested in teen-romance literature. I honestly wasn't sure what I would think of this book but it was a great read. The book is well structured, full of emotion and sincerity, and the immersion within Autumn's world is so overwhelming at times that the reader can't help but feel Autumn's longing, joy, and desperation. If you're interested in reading a beautiful but tragic book by a burgeoning local author then I highly recommend this for your summer-reading list!

The Very Best Of / Eagles

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra : "It's like deja-vu, all over again."

 A month or so ago, I saw on Showtime a documentary on the Eagles aptly named History of the Eagles: The Story of an American Band and I fell in love all over again with their music. Their insightful music still rings true after more than forty years and the memories still remain sweet when I hear all of their hits.  So I highly recommend The Very Best Of.  It is a thorough but concise collection of Eagles hits on two discs with a bonus disc of their first concert back together, the Farewell 1 tour. This is one of those library materials that will be checked out often on my card!

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and other clinical tales/ by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and other clinical tales by Oliver Sacks is a fascinating account of various unique cases of individuals with different neurological conditions. These conditions affect basic perceptual abilities and cause definitively different experiences in those afflicted. The book's title relates specifically to one of Sacks' patients whose case of visual agnosia causes the apperception of seeing his wife as a hat.

The book is divided into essays which are further split into four sections, each dealing with a patient or patients dealing with a given mental condition responsible for their uncommon experience of the world. Some essays include 'The Lost Mariner', which is about a man with Korsakoff's syndrome. He is unable to make new memories, even those which occur a few moments ago and due to his injury he is unable to recall anything since World War II, thus leaving the man thinking it is still 1945. Another essay called 'The Disembodied Lady' deals with a woman who has lost all sense of proprioception. What this means, is that her ability to recognize the position of her body in space and in relation to her other component body parts is so impaired that she would have severe trouble walking or recognizing the strength of her grip, often leading to her dropping items. 'The Twins' is an essay dealing with a pair of autisitic savants. This pair that is unable to multiply are described in the book playing a game of finding very high prime numbers, something which astonished Sacks.

I found this book to be utterly fascinating. The variety of ways in which people are capable of interacting with reality on a basic mental level are revealed in no short account. Sacks recounts the details of each person with patience, humor, and compassion. The reader laments the detriments but also is left thinking about how much of normal perception is 'normal'. What is especially interesting about Sacks' account is how he leans away from pathologizing many of the conditions and notes how the patients adapt and in some cases prefer their condition to 'normal' states of consciousness. A great read for those interested in the nature of mind and the resilience of the human spirit.

Interview with Author Joseph Schuster: One Book, One Kirkwood

Joseph Schuster will be at the library on Tuesday, June 18 at 7 pm to discuss his book and the library’s One Book, One Kirkwood selection The Might Have Been.  Mr. Schuster was born in St. Louis but grew up in Ohio.  He has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and an MFA from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.  He has been a member of the faculty at Webster University and department chair of the communications and journalism department at Webster University for 14 years.   Previously Schuster was a staff writer at the Riverfront Times and an editor at St. Louis Magazie.  He’s an avid Cardinal’s fan and does writing for their publications.  Schuster is married with five grown children and a proud grandpa to two.  

Did you grow up with lots of books?  What are your memories of being read to as a child?

My house was full of books when I was growing up -- bookcases full of them--and  I remember my father starting to teach me to read when I was in kindergarten, using an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer about the moon. I don't remember what the article was about -- just that I pointed to the picture of the moon in the newspaper and asked him about it so he sat me on his lap and began helping me to sound out words. Perhaps because we moved so much when I was a child -- I went to six schools between kindergarten and the eighth grade and then two high schools -- I read voraciously, because I spent so much time alone, as the perpetual "new kid." I remember one of the happiest days of my childhood was the last day of the fifth grade. One of my classmates had eight or ten Hardy Boys books in his desk and he didn't feel like carrying them home so he asked if anyone wanted them. I did and he gave them to me and although I had to carry them a mile on my walk home, and had to stop several times to set them down to rest my arms, I kept thinking what a wonderful summer it was going to be because I had all of these books to read.

What are you reading now?

I have had a stretch over the past few weeks when I have read some marvelous books: Kent Haruf's Benediction, James Salter's All That Is, but at this moment, I am reading Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son, which just won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It's an amazing novel -- he has so much going on in it; it's so rich and compelling. It deserves all of the praise and honors it has received.

What are you planning to read next?

I have a pile of books that I intend to get to as soon as I finish Orphan Master's Son -- on the top of it are Jean Thompson's new novel, The Humanity Project, Jill McCorkle's Life After Life (which I heard her read from last summer and am excited to get into), Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child. 

What book has had the biggest impact on you. 

This is a tough question, since I gain something as a writer from just about everything I read. If I had to choose one book, it would be Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. In my graduate program, we had to spend one semester writing a critical essay centered on craft and so I lived with that book for six months, reading and re-reading it so I could break down its structure, figure out how Flaubert had built his narrative. It's an incredible edifice; he constructs it so patiently. If there is a flaw in the book, I couldn't tell you what it is. Most everything I know about structure begins from that book. 

What might we be surprised to find on your bookshelf?

I have an odd collection of reference books, which I have found at second hand shops and rummage sales, things like the 1962 Who's Who in Baton Twirling, and a book from 1977 for the fifteenth reunion of the class of 1962 of Harvard College, which is a collection of short autobiographical sketches of the people from that year, telling their classmates what they've been up to since graduation; some are a line long, some go on for paragraphs. I have a 1937 high school year book from Allegheny High School in Pennsylvania. Books like these give me a glimpse into the lives people who, on the surface, seem pretty much ordinary, but\really aren't all that ordinary after all. Partly, they're interesting since I can find characters in them -- not using any of the people who are actually in the books, but paging through them and thinking about these people who are all strangers to me but who had these lives that were important and meaningful leads me to start to form notions of characters for my own fiction.