challenge day 25

 

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April 25th:  What's the most useless talent you possess?

I don't know if I can still do it--but when I worked in retail and handled money all day long, I was very good at identifying what coins people would jingle in their pockets. This skill won me lots of free drinks at bars! I even impressed myself!

finished reading

This was a grueling and shocking book--the narrator of the audio was fantastic!  Based on first-person accounts from journals and logs.

This is well-done non-fiction!

From the publisher:

A story of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.

On 28th January 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s ship The Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon, The Wager was wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The crew, marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2,500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
 
Then, six months later, another, even more decrepit, craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with counter-charges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. While stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

challenge day 24

 

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April 24th:  Would you rather have super strength or super speed?

At this stage in the game, I would take super speed. I think of it like teleportation.

finished reading

This mystery-thriller is more like a sudsy soap opera.  I liked that the chapters are a mashup of first-person, letters, news, and magazine clippings.  The characters are rather unpleasant and unreliable.  But that's what the story is about--dysfunctional family members squabbling over a massive fortune.

I figured it out.  But I enjoyed it.

From the publisher:

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

ten things tuesday

Ten “Z” things.

1. Someone I love:  my former student ZW, even though he graduated a decade ago we keep in touch

2. Something I like to eat: zoodles

3. A color:  I cannot think of one

4. A good movie:  I can't decide if I'm embarrassed that Zoolander is what popped into my mind

5. A place I’ve been: zoo

6. A thing I really don’t like: zaps of static electricity

7. A critter I like:  Zebra

8. Something I can do: zip up my clothing

9. Something I can’t/don’t do: play a Zephyr

10. Something I wish for:  I would love to meet Zippiknits!

challenge day 23

 

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April 23rd:  What fictional character would you most like to be best friends with?

I would like to be friends with Myrna Landry from Louise Penny's Three Pines Mysteries. Myrna is a retired psychologist and now owns the bookstore in Three Pines. Originally from Montreal, she is one of few ethnically diverse characters as the only Black recurring character. She is a source of great comfort and wisdom to her dear friends although known to give unsolicited advice. Described as a large woman, she often wears flowy, colorful clothes. Really, I just want to be part of the community in Three Pines.

currently

I am...

Reading:   The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins (I'm just starting it)

Listening to:  The Wager by David Grann

Loving:  peanut butter & jelly Uncrustables

Thinking:  I'm trying to figure out what time I should go to bed

Feeling:  post-vacation tired

Celebrating:  there are 5 more Mondays in this school year

Grateful for:  I had a fun activity in the Personality unit in AP Psych today

Enjoying:  I had a laughter-filled visit with my parents after school today

Weather:  it is 36° and mostly sunny and windy

A quote I want to share: 

challenge day 22

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April 22nd:  Earth Day! Share your favorite way to be eco-friendly in your daily life.

My love of all tote bags comes in handy for this one! I never get bags at stores because I always have reusable totes.

challenge day 21

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April 21st:  Easter weekend! Chocolate bunnies or colorful eggs? (Or both?)

Ok, so it's not Easter weekend--but my choice stands.  Chocolate bunnies.  Actually, Reese's Eggs!  

postsecret

 

 PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week. This week two spoke to me.

finished reading

The premise of this novel is uniquely clever--it reads like a television transcript of a true-crime documentary.  The narrators range from suspects to investigators, producers, friends and family, teachers, bosses, and other commentators.  It's challenging to figure out who's telling the truth, partial truth, or outright lying.  And it's a commentary on the obsession with true-crime entertainment.

Because of the structure, it's not like a character-driven novel.  I didn't get a sense of the characters other than their interviews.  There is very little backstory on any of them, although their interplay reveals a general sense of integrity.

From the publisher:

When sixteen-year-old Sara Parcell goes missing, it’s an utter tragedy—and an entertaining national obsession—in this thoughtful and addictively readable novel that offers a fresh and provocative take on whodunits and true crime.

Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial television docu-series that followed her disappearance in real time--but is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all? Ten years after these events, the people who knew Sara best are finally ready to talk. 

In this genre-bending novel, Daniel Sweren-Becker fashions an oral history around the seemingly familiar crime of a teenage girl gone missing--yet Kill Show, filled with diabolical twists and provocative social commentary, is no standard mystery. Through “interviews” with family members, neighbors, law enforcement, television executives, and a host of other compelling characters, Sweren-Becker constructs a riveting tale about one family’s tragedy—and Hollywood’s insatiable desire to exploit it.

By revealing the seedy underbelly of the true crime entertainment machine, Kill Show probes literary territory beyond the bounds of the standard whodunit. It’s a thoughtful exploration into our obsession with the mysteries, cold cases, and violent tales we turn to for comfort. Groundbreaking, fast-moving, and informed, this is a novel about who’s really responsible for the tragedies we love to consume. 

#52bookclub prompt 11: title starting with the letter "K".

challenge day 20

 

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April 20th:   Would you rather be able to talk to animals or understand all languages?

I would like to understand all languages. The ability to read texts in their native language would be fun.

saturday 9

Only Love Can Hurt Like This

1) In this week's song, Paloma Faith sings that she thought she wouldn't care if her lover left but now she's begging him to stay. Can you think of something you were surprised you missed when it was gone or over? it surprises me how much I miss my school routine over the summer break

2) Paloma obviously has a powerful, versatile voice. She's also a trained dancer. Tell us about two things you do well.  I am exceptional at creating clutter and napping

3) She was a judge on two British TV shows: The Voice and The Voice Kids. Do you watch competition shows (The Voice, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, etc.)? If so, are you any good at picking the winners? back in the day, I was an Idol fanatic and was excellent at choosing the winner early in the season

4) This week's song was written by Diane Warren. She's one of America's most successful song writers, having written more than thirty Top 10 hits. Think of your favorite song. Do you know who wrote it? this week I'm going with "Let It Be" which was a Lennon-McCartney song

5) She's made a fortune writing love songs, mostly from her Hollywood Hills office. Diane spends up to 10 hours a day in a room she describes as "cluttered," and admits it's an unlikely setting to write about romance, yet it works for her. Describe a setting you consider romantic. dusk atop the Eiffel Tower as the City of Lights lights up before your eyes, a sight I will never forget

6) In 2014, when "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" was popular, Joan Rivers died. Best known as a comedienne, she was also a successful businesswoman, promoting her jewelry line on QVC. Do you ever watch shopping networks? yes--when I need background sound on TV that I don't have to listen to

7) The Apple Watch was introduced in 2014. Are you wearing a watch as you answer these 9 questions?  no, I do not wear a watch--I don't like how it feels on my wrist

8) One of the best-selling books of 2014 was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. It won awards for best YA (young adult) fiction. Is YA a genre you often read? I used to read quite a bit when we had a school librarian that would funnel titles my way

9) Random question: What's something on your to-do list that you just can't get around to doing? I have some organizing to do since I moved in February  I just can't get up the gumption

finished reading

What a timely novel.  It deals with cultural appropriation, cancel culture, diversity, racism, and other themes.  Written by an Asian-American author the story is told from a white woman's perspective as she steals and publishes her Chinese-American friend's novel about Chinese laborers in WWI.  It's about who gets to tell stories.  

It's an excellent book group selection!  There is so much to talk about.

Synopsis:

June, a struggling writer, witnesses the death of her more successful friend Athena, a Chinese-American author. Seized by jealousy and ambition, June steals Athena's unfinished manuscript about Chinese laborers in World War I. Editing it heavily, June publishes it under a pseudonym and a hint of Asian heritage, achieving the acclaim she craved. However, her success crumbles as accusations of plagiarism and cultural appropriation surface, forcing June to confront her actions and the skewed priorities of the publishing industry. 

#52bookclub prompt 41: a sticker on the cover.

challenge day 19

 

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April 19th:   If you could have any historical figure as your neighbor, who would it be and why?

I considered Benjamin Franklin but knowing he's a man about town, it might be too much commotion and coming and going all day and night.

I considered Henry David Thoreau thinking he'd be fascinating to talk to, but he's a rabble-rouser and I don't know if I want that right next door.

Thinking of Thoreau got me thinking of Ralph Waldo Emerson and how thoughtful his writings are. He might be a good neighbor. But wait!

Why do I automatically think of male historical figures? Why not an influential woman from the Transcendental movement???

So, my final answer: Elizabeth Palmer Peabody! She was key in the Transcendental movement and opened a bookstore hosting intellectuals and leading lively discussions. She also opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. My neighbor is a bookstore owner and teacher. That's perfect!