Twitter Pics Tuesday

The one good thing I noticed about Twitter is that I love posting photos from my phone. I tend not to have my camera on me a lot, since I go places after work or just forget it. So I thought I'd sometimes post some of my Twitter Pics.

My sister was in town for a conference this weekend and had never been to NYC. So we took her out a bit.

Her hotel was right around Times Square so we braved the madness and met up with her there. By the way, the Marquis Marriott Hotel is really huge and gorgeous. And I love Marriott's beds. Here's the view from where we were waiting.

That night we took her down to the Financial District near Wall street. There's a great restaurant/bar called Ulysses that has tables out on Stone Street so you can enjoy the evening. The food was great and so were the huge margaritas :)The next day as the sun was setting, we took her for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. A definite must-do if you visit the city.We were going to go to the famous Grimaldi's pizzeria which is under the Brooklyn Bridge. But even for a Monday, the lines were crazy long. So we headed into the Heights and ate at a local Italian restaurant. Super yummy food.

And this is a random photo of Tracks. A great place to grab a pint while waiting at Penn Station. The bartenders usually are super nice with thick Irish accents. It has great fish and chips and apparently an oyster bar (I'm allergic so I can't tell you how they are). Anyway, it was a few days after MJ died and it was blasting his music. Thought it was kinda funny.

Those are my Twitter Pics of the week. Hope you enjoyed!

A Madness of Angels - Kate Griffin

I first heard of Kate Griffin's new book, A Madness of Angels: Or, the Resurrection of Matthew Swift, on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. And it just sounded awesome. So I thought it would be a fun pick for Carl's Once Upon a Time III Challenge. And for the most part it was.

Here's the story:

Matthew Swift wakes up in London, naked and disoriented. The last thing he remembers is dying. It's been two years since he was brutally murdered.

Matthew Swift is no ordinary person. He's a sorcerer. And in the two years he's been gone, other sorcerers have disappeared or been killed. Who killed him and why? And who resurrected him?

And he's not alone in his body. He says "we" instead of "I" or "me". Who are these "we' who call themselves the blue electric angels?

I love this quote at the beginning of the book which is a running theme. And it seriously sticks with you:

We be light, we be life, we be fire! We sing electric flame, we rumble underground wind, we dance heaven! Come be we and be free! We be blue electric angels. -Anonymous spam mail, source unknown

What ensues is a lot of revenge, retribution, and a lot of death and killing. Which is fun and entertaining because there's a lot of magic.

While I liked this book my mind did tend to wander a bit. I think it's because the action scenes, for me, seemed to be best portrayed visually. This would make an awesome Hell Boy type movie. But that's not saying that the writing was poor. The writing was great! I loved that he took his "magic" from the life in the city. The pulsing of the trains, the whiz of the cabs, the flow of the water and electricity in the pipes and wires...I loved it. Just make sure you're in the mood for tons of action and magic.

House at Riverton - Kate Morton

I heard about Kate Morton's book, The House at Riverton, a while back and wanted to read it. When I found a copy at the library for sale shelf I had to grab it.

In a nut shell, I liked it. It reminded me of Atonement or Atwood's The Blind Assassin. So if you liked either of those books, well, it's similar themed. That said, Ian McEwan pulled off a great story in a whole lot less number of pages. At almost five hundred pages, it was a tad bit long.

Here's the plot...and I can't give too much away because there's a mystery, well, I don't want to spoil that for you.

Present day: A movie is being made about the legendary Riverton House and the one fateful night in 1924 when a young poet shot himself, witnessed only by the two young wealthy daughters of the manor, Emmeline and Hannah. Why did he do it? Was it over the sparkly celebutante Emmeline or over the beautiful but married elder sister?

Only one person alive knows the truth. Now an elderly lady, Grace was just a girl when she started working at the Riverton House. She was the same age as Hannah and grew up fascinated by the glamorous Riverton children. Grace finally reveals the truth behind a horrible incident that happened at the Riverton House.

It is a beautiful story. The way the story unfolds and flashes back and forth in time. I really felt swept back in time to when young men were going off to fight in the Great War and the loss everyone felt afterwards when a whole generation of young men were gone. And the roaring twenties that Emmeline thrived in. And Hannah. I liked Hannah. She reminded me of my sister, so strong-willed and beautiful.

At times I felt like Grace was just a tad bit obsessed with the Riverton House. But then again I think that was the point. And while the book was a bit too long, it did totally immerse me in the story and time-period. After a certain point, I knew what happened that night...and then there was still a twist!

End of an Era

Some co-workers and I were talking today about how sad it is that Michael Jackson passed away. And how surreal it is. Kind of like his whole life. And how we all grew up with his music and music videos.

So I said, "Yeah, remember that weird movie-thing he made where he was running from fans, there was a couple of kids, and rabbit." (Insert crickets chirping). "Um, what?" my co-workers said.

I'm not crazy. This was always my favorite part of the movie:



And see...the crazy fans!! And the rabbit part is at the end of this clip:


So see there was a movie and I'm not crazy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Michael Jackson's friends and family. It really is an end of an era.

2nd Anniversary

Today is Robb and my second wedding anniversary. Woohoo! I can't believe it's already been two years. Although we have gone through a ton of stuff since then...you know, a whole move to New York thing.

Robb is an amazing, wonderful, and thoughtful husband. I fall in love with him more and more each year. And he makes me laugh. :)

For our First Anniversary, we took the weekend off and went to a relaxing cabin in the Catskills. This year we are a bit more broke since Robb just got back from a fishing trip in Florida with the guys and I'm going to London with my sister next month. So we're just doing dinner and a movie tonight and are just going to enjoy each other's company this weekend.

Housing Works Loot

Remember earlier this month when I went to the Housing Works Street Fair? Well, here's some photos from the day.

I love Crosby Street because it's so old school New York with cobbled streets (make for fun walking...I always trip):

I also love all the signs. Like the Live. Work. Create. and the Trucks Must Keep Off This Sidewalk:

The further downtown you go in New York, the more canyon-y feeling you get with the narrow streets.

My method for getting to the books is to sneak in behind the tents. You have to maneuver around the poles and tons of empty boxes on the sidewalk but it's worth it to actually be able to reach the books:

While I wanted to get there earlier in the day, there really isn't a bad time to go because they keep opening more boxes and replenishing the stacks. You never know what you're going to find:

And finally, here's my loot. My wonderful husband helped me lug these around for the rest of the day. So sweet. Oh, and he got a few CDs too.

While we were out and about we popped over to Brooklyn to check out an Etsy sponsored craft fair. I didn't buy anything but it was pretty fun to check out all the awesome crafters and their wares. Most had business cards for their Etsy sites.I'm glad Robb was wearing red that day or I might have lost him in the crowd.The fair was held around this park and in the middle of it all, a soccer (or football for you international readers) game was going on. After wandering around for a while and enjoying the rare June sun, Robb told me it was beer-thirty and so we headed for the nearest dive for a pint. This place (can't remember the name...something with alligator in the name?) gives out free cheese pizzas with your pint. Weird but yummy.
Hope you enjoyed photos of my fair day!

Random Me

A short while back my husband decided he was going to sign up for Twitter. This just cracked me up coming from a guy who hates any social site such as Facebook, MySpace, etc. So he had me join too. You can follow me here.

I do have to warn you that I'm really not that good at it yet. It's been pretty boring here recently because all it's been doing is rain rain...and then more rain. And I'm horrible at keeping my phone charged...or using it. But it is nice to sometimes take pictures with my phone. Here's just a couple random ones:

A view from the office one rainy morning. Yes...it was around eight o'clock in the morning and this is what it looked like...sigh:
And the biggest city rat I've seen so far, taken just up the block from my work:
The view from our seat at our local Shakespeare in the Park...Merchant of Venice was showing (they asked to not take photos of the actual play):
The margaritas we had at Blockheads Burritos (try with delicious stuffed quesadillas) before the Pink Martini show at Carnegie Hall:Do you use Twitter? If so, why did you join?

Charming Billy - Alice McDermott

A while back I was reading a book blogger's post (I wish I remembered which one) about how much she loved Alice McDermott's books and how Charming Billy was one of her favorites. The next day at a library book sale I saw a copy for seventy-five cents and grabbed it up. I'm glad I did because it's my first book read for my National Book Awards challenge.

The book starts out with family members gathering together at a pub in the Bronx for the wake (they are Irish-American) of Billy Lynch. Yes, the charming Billy of the title is dead. He's left behind his wife Maeve, no children, but a slew of other family members. Maeve is holding up and even has a drink to toast her husband...which is noticeable since Maeve doesn't normally drink and since Billy died from alcoholism. And of course, as all big families do...gossip abounds. The main topic, of course, is the Irish girl Billy loved back after the War and whom he was going to bring to America and marry. And how she died before he could bring her over and how that affected his life.

So the story flips back and forth between the present day of Billy's funeral and the past. It's narrated by the daughter of Billy's cousin Dennis. And snippets of other family's members past events are thrown in.

Honestly, this book is really hard to review because it's really about a single plot. Instead, it just revolves around the life, love, and relationships of Billy's family. And it works because I was just absorbed by the story and the writing. And this is really impressive since there really is no single plot.

And I really liked all the characters, especially charming Billy. Here's an excerpt:

Billy drunk, in those days, was charming and sentimental. He spoke quietly, one hand in his pocket and the other around his glass, his glass more often than not pressed to his heart. There was tremendous affection in Billy's eyes, or at least they held a tremendous offer of affection, a tremendous willingness to find whomever he was talking to bright and witty and better than most.

I really liked this book because it offers an honest and beautifully written glimpse into the life of Billy Lynch and his family.

Billie Letts Giveaway Winner!

Sorry for my tardiness about the Billie Letts giveaway. Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is:

ALISSA!!

I swear this contest wasn't rigged (she's my sister) but she entered it too.

If you didn't win, please check back soon because I'll be reviewing and giving away more books this summer as part of a make-more-room-on-Amanda's-shelves summer cleaning thing. The next giveaway will be The Red Leather Diary, one of my favorite reads so far this year.

Carnegie Hall and Pink Martini

My husband wanted to surprise me with tickets to a favorite band of mine, Pink Martini. They were supposed to be an early anniversary (our 2nd!) gift. But then he realized that they were on a day when he was going to be out of town for a fishing trip with the buddies. Darn. So I went with Rachel because we are both big fans.

It was at Carnegie Hall, a venue I've never been to before. How exciting! We went after work so I didn't have my camera with me. But here's a photo from wikipedia of the inside:
Isn't it gorgeous!

And Pink Martini was great. They have a huge group:
Their lead singer, China Forbes, has an amazing voice and a great stage presence.
I was introduced to Pink Martini by a good friend of mine who bought me their second CD. She has great taste in music and said it just sounded like something I'd like.


Here's a video on one of my favorite songs. Not that great quality since it's live.


Here they are on David Letterman.


This is a great song too and only music video I could find of theirs:

National Book Awards Challenge

This challenge is in honor of the National Book Foundation's 60th Anniversary of the National Book Award.

The Foundation will be celebrating the month of July with a blog (will link soon) paying tribute to the past award winners. The blog's tributes will be written by a select group of commentators composed of past Winners, Finalists, judges, and other prominent writers, editors, bloggers, librarians, booksellers, and critics.

Rachel from A Bohemian's Book Reviews and I are co-hosting this challenge.

Please head over to our National Book Awards Challenge site and sign up! You can also post a link to your reviews here.

Option 1: Bronze Medal
Read one book from the list between June 15th and December 31st.
Option 2: Silver Medal
Read three books from the list between June 15th and December 31st.
Option 3: Gold Medal
Read five books from the list between June 15th and December 31st.

Amanda's National Book Awards List
**Going for the Gold**
1. Europe Central - William T. Vollmann
2. Charming Billy - Alice McDermott (Finished June 23, 2009)
3. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier (Finished July 3, 2009)
4. Three Junes - Julia Glass (Finished August 11, 2009)
5. Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann (Finished May 25, 2009)


National Book Awards List
1950 The Man With the Golden Arm - Nelson Algren
1951 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
1952 From Here to Eternity - James Jones
1953 Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
1954 The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow
1955 A Fable - William Faulkner

1956 Ten North Frederick - John O'Hara

1957 The Field of Vision - Wright Morris

1958 The Wapshot Chronicle - John Cheever

1959 The Magic Barrel - Bernard Malamud

1960 Goodbye Columbus - Philip Roth

1961 The Waters of Kronos - Conrad Richter

1962 The Moviegoer - Walker Percy

1963 Morte D'Urban - J.F. Powers

1964 The Centaur - John Updike

1965 Herzog - Saul Bellow

1966 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter - Katherine Anne Porter

1967 The Fixer - Bernard Malamud

1968 The Eigth Day - Thornton Wilder

1969 Steps - Jerzy Kosinski

1970 Them - Joyce Carol Oates

1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet - Saul Bellow

1972 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor - Flannery O'Connor

1973 Chimera - John Barth

1973 Augustus - John Williams

1974 Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories - Isaac Bashevis Singer

1975 Dog Soldiers - Robert Stone

1975 The Hair of Harold Roux - Thomas Williams

1976 JR - William Gaddis

1977 The Spectator Bird - Wallace Stegner

1978 Blood Tie - Mary Lee Settle

1979 Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien

1980 Stained Glass - William F. Buckley, Jr.

1980 The World According to Garp - John Irving

1980 Bendigo Shafter - Louis L'Amour

1980 The Green Ripper - John D.Mac Donald

1980 Jem - Frederick Pohl

1980 Sophie's Choice - William Styron

1980 The Book of Dun Cow - Walter Wangerin, Jr.

1981 Birdy - William Wharton

1981 Sister Wolf - Ann Arensberg

1981 The Stories of John Cheever - John Cheever

1981 Plains Song - Wright Morris

1982 Dew Dales Loves Sophie to Death - Robb Forman

1982 So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell

1982 Rabbit is Rich - John Updike

1983 The Women of Brewster Place - Gloria Naylor

1983 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

1983 The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty - Eudora Welty

1984 Stones for Ibarra - Harriet Doerr

1984 Victory Over Japan - Ellen Gilchrist

1985 White Noise - Don DeLillo

1985 Easy in the Islands - Bob Shacochis

1986 World's Fair - E.L. Doctorow

1987 Paco's Story - Larry Heinemann

1988 Paris Trout - Pete Dexter

1989 Spartina - John Casey

1990 Middle Passage - Charles Johnson

1991 Mating - Norman Rush

1992 All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

1993 The Shipping News - Annie Proulx

1994 A Frolic of His Own - William Gaddis

1995 Sabbath's Theater - Philip Roth

1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories - Andrea Barrett Ship

1997 Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier

1998 Charming Billy - Alice McDermott

1999 Waiting - Ha Jin2000 In America - Susan Sontag

2001 The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen

2002 Three Junes - Julia Glass

2003 The Great Fire - Shirley Hazzard

2004 The News from Paraguay - Lily Tuck

2005 Europe Central - William T. Vollmann

2006 The Echo Maker - Richard Powers

2007 Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson

2008 Shadow Country - Peter Matthiessen
2009 Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann

Foreign Films

I have to say that aside from books, I love watching movies. Growing up, both my older sister and brother worked at video stores. That meant I got to watch a TON of free movies. And I've always loved old movies. I have to watch White Christmas every holiday season and I've even swooned with a elderly lady over Tyrone Power while her husband just rolled his eyes.

That said...I also love foreign films. I used to watch them a lot more when I was in college and had a roommate who shared my love. Today, I usually watch them alone only sometimes getting the husband to watch along with me. Apparently reading subtitles is too much work sometimes :)

Today I found an article from Paste Magazine listing it's opinion of The Decade's Top 25 Foreign Films. Go check it out...there's video clips for each pick.

Paste's List of The Decade's Top 25 Foreign Films:
*One's I've seen are in bold

1. Pan's Labyrinth - amazing cinematography. A must-see.
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - love the music.
3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - finally saw this and it's very moving.
4. City of God - wow. Scary wow. Kids with guns wow.
5. Talk to Her - my personal favorite. Here's a past post with a great clip to a song.
6. Spirited Away
7. In the Mood for Love
8. The Lives of Others - can't believe people were watched like that. Very moving.
9. Amores Perros - LOVE this one. But some parts are not for the weak of stomach.
10. Cache
11. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days - just saw this one; great film but very scary to me
12. Amelie - so sweet. Another personal favorite. Who doesn't fall in love with Amelie.
13. Y Tu Mama Tambien - can't believe I haven't watched this one yet.
14. The Best of Youth
15. Nobody Knows
16. The Class
17. Yesterday
18. Paradise Now
19. Downfall
20. Gomorrah
21. Oldboy
22. Let the Right One In (really want to see this as well as read the book)
23. Volver
24. Persepolis
25. Maria Full of Grace

I'd probably add Motorcycle Diaries and The Host as well.

Have you seen any of these movies? Loved or hated them? Would you recommend one I haven't watched?

Night Music - Harrison Gradwell Slater

A while back I found a copy of Harrison Gradwell Slater's novel Night Music in our basement's freebie shelf. I had never heard of the author or the book before but it intrigued me. A blurb stated it was a mystery for Mozart lovers. Hmmm. Sounds good to me!

It was pretty good! I have to say the main drawback is it's length, almost five hundred pages. Egad!

Here's the story:

Matthew Pierce is a Mozart scholar. I won't say a "prominent" scholar because he's a little down on his luck and hasn't made his big break. While on a trip in Europe, he gets stuck in Milan and happens to see an estate sale. He notices, stuck between some other miscellanous papers, what appears to be parts of Mozart's diary. No one else had noticed so he get's the papers for next to nothing.

And then the whirlwind starts. He gets invited to a swanky event hosted by a Viscount in France on his estate. And this is a fancy fancy get together lasting weeks with some of the world's wealthiest and talented people: opera singers (of course), royalty, etc. And everyone has something to do Mozart. So of course there's gossip, masked balls, and of course....DEATH.

A few people wind up dead, there's scary threatening notes, and attempted murder. Of course there is. So Matthew Pierce needs to know a few things: 1) is his Mozart diary for real? 2) is his life in danger? 3) who is threatening the guests?

It was actually a pretty fun whirlwind mystery. I have to say Harrison Gradwell Slater knows his Mozart. I loved reading the diary pieces and it even inspired me to pop in and listen to some Mozart while reading parts of the book. I absolutely adored the European descriptions. He makes the cities and settings come alive. I loved that.

The only thing is that it drug a bit sometimes. And sometimes Matthew Pierce was so kowtowed (I had to look up how to spell that word...ha!) that I wanted to slap him upside the head. And like I said before, it's a bit too long.

But now it's got me all interested in the life of Mozart.

Here's the hard back cover. I'm a bit torn which version I like better.

Billie Letts Giveaway

Hopefully you've read my reviews for two of Billie Lett's novels, Shoot the Moon (paperback) and Made in the U.S.A. (hardcover). If you want to win these two books, please leave a comment. The contest is open until June 19th. For extra entries you can leave a comment on those two reviews. This contest is open world-wide.

National Book Awards Challenge

While I was at BEA a while back I met a couple of lovely people from the National Book Foundation. They brought to my attention the fact that this is the 60th Anniversary of the National Book Awards. They will be celebrating this all of July with various people commenting on past winners. (I will post a link as soon as their blog is up.) I was looking over the list of past winners and thought it would be a great idea to do a National Book Awards Challenge. I can't believe I've only read one of these (The Color Purple). I do own three others though.

If you'd like to participate, here are some options for you:

Option 1: Bronze Medal
Read one book from the list between June 15th and July 31st.

Option 2: Silver Medal
Read three books from the list between June 15th and July 31st.

Option 3: Gold Medal
Read five books from the list between June 15th and July 31st.


National Book Awards List

1950 The Man with the Golden Arm - Nelson Algren
1951 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner - William Faulkner
1952 From Here to Eternity - James Jones
1953 Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
1954 The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow
1955 A Fable - William Faulkner
1956 Ten North Frederick - John O'Hara
1957 The Field of Vision - Wright Morris
1958 The Wapshot Chronicle - John Cheever
1959 The Magic Barrel - Bernard Malamud
1960 Goodbye Columbus - Philip Roth
1961 The Waters of Kronos - Conrad Richter
1962 The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
1963 Morte D'Urban - J.F. Powers
1964 The Centaur - John Updike
1965 Herzog - Saul Bellow Herzog
1966 The Collected Stories - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 The Fixer - Bernard Malamud
1968 The Eighth Day - Thornton Wilder
1969 Jerzy Kosinski - Steps
1970 Them - Joyce Carol Oates
1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet - Saul Bellow
1972 The Complete Storie - Flannery O'Connor
1973 Chimera - John Barth
1973 Augustus - John Williams
1974 Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
1974 Crown of Feathers and Other Stories - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1975 Dog Soldiers - Robert Stone
1975 The Hair of Harold Roux - Thomas Williams
1976 JR - William Gaddis
1977 The Spectator Bird - Wallace Stegner
1977 Master Tung's Western Chamber Romance - Li Li Chen
1978 Blood Tie - Mary Lee Settle
1979 Going After Cacciato - Tim O'Brien
1980 The World According to Garp - John Irving
1980 Sophie's Choice - William Styron
1981 Plains Song - Wright Morris Plains Song
1982 Rabbit is Rich - John Updike
1983 The Women of Brewster Place - Gloria Naylor
1983 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
1984 Victory Over Japan - Ellen Gilchrist
1985 White Noise - Don DeLillo
1986 World's Fair - E.L. Doctorow
1986 Arctic Dreams - Barry Lopez
1987 Paco's Story - Larry Heinemann
1988 Paris Trout - Pete Dexter
1989 Spartina - John Casey
1990 Middle Passage - Charles Johnson
1991 Mating - Norman Rush
1992 All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
1993 The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
1994 A Frolic of His Own - William Gaddis
1995 Sabbath's Theater - Philip Roth Sabbath's
1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories - Andrea Barrett
1997 Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
1998 Charming Billy - Alice McDermott
1999 Waiting - Ha Jin
2000 In America - Susan Sontag
2001 The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
2002 Three Junes - Julia Glass
2003 The Great Fire - Shirley Hazzard
2004 The News From Paraguay - Lily Tuck
2005 Europe Central - William T. Vollmann
2006 The Echo Maker - Richard Powers
2007 Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson
2008 Shadow Country - Peter Matthiessen

The Given Day - Dennis Lehane

I've been reading good things about Dennis Lehane's novel The Given Day on a few book blogs lately and it really enticed me to pick it up. I've been wanting to Lehane's books since they are being devoured by Hollywood. Two of his books, Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have been made into films. I haven't seen them yet but I've been wanting to. A third, Shutter Island will be released soon staring Leonardo DiCaprio...a favorite actor of mine. So not surprisingly I was a bit curious about his books.

And wow. I was not disappointed. Talk about a nitty gritty crime novel. And the writing is superb! A warning...there is violence...a lot of violence. But it's not unnecessary violence if that makes sense. And I love historical fiction like this that takes a time and place and really fleshes it out and makes it come alive.

So here it goes:

Boston: 1918. The Great War is finally over. President Wilson is preoccupied with peace in Europe with his Fourteen Points...making him a hero in Europe but not one in the States. Due to the War, people are now wanting fair wages, sensible working days and hours, safety on the job...you know, all those unreasonable requests. And what are the employers saying?? COMMIES! BOLSHEVIKS!! Oh yeah, Russia is in Revolution right now...talk about a red scare. It was really interesting to see the parallels between 1918 and today...threats of being "un-American" or "un-patriotic" etc. etc. scared a lot of people into silence. Still, unions were starting to make a headway into the system.

Enter Danny Coughlin of the Police Department. He's kind of a loose cannon. He has his father, a Boston PD elite on one side and his loyalty to his department and the deplorable conditions they were working in. Get this: Boston policemen had to pay for their own uniforms, guns, bullets, you name it. Their buildings were in such horrible condition that they should be condemned. And on top of it all...pay freezes during the War meant that in 1918 they were being payed 1905 wages...even though there was a 75% inflation increase. This means that the people out protecting the people were being payed below the poverty level. O yeah... and 80 hour work weeks were very common. Wow.

Enter Luther Lawrence, an African-American factory worker and baseball player. On the lam for being involved in a mob-related shooting...he ends up in Boston working for the Coughlin household. And Luther is a really good guy. But while slavery has been abolished for a while there is still a lot of oppression.

Enter Nora O'Shea. Irish immigrant and Danny's love interest. Because you've got to have a bit of a love story in there.

This book's also got:
Spanish Influenza
AFL American Federation of Labor
The famous Boston Police strike
Babe Ruth
The weirdest disaster ever
Terrorist attempts
Riots

So yeah. This is a great book. Epic and kind of hard to wrap all up in a neat review. I want to read ALL his stuff now. And since I like pictures...

The Boston Police Strike:

The Molasses Disaster:

And Babe:
Also Reviewed By:
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?

1001 Book Update - Heart of Darkness

The other day I finished the book I was currently reading on the subway to work. My commute each way is about an hour...long I know but it gives me time to read. So I thought I'd swing by the library and grab a short novel for the ride home.

Back in high school I was supposed to read Joseph Conrad's book, Lord Jim, but never did. I kind of feel guilty about that one. So I grabbed this slim book which has two of his short books. Surprisingly, I really liked them. The Secret Sharer was a bit more easier to read than Heart of Darkness.

The introduction was really interesting though. I did not know Joseph Conrad...a great "English" writer was really Polish. His name is really Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Wow, huh? That and he didn't really learn the English language until he was twenty. His books, well at least these two, have real moral and psychological undertones. I love that.

Heart of Darkness
Published in 1902, Heart of Darkness begins the story on a ship leaving London. Marlow, one of the English passengers on the ship tells a story of when he was a Captain of a boat in the Congo doing Ivory trading. He is given the task of going down the Congo River to retrieve a fellow ivory trader, Kurtz, who has quite the reputation in the region.

While the writing is very very wordy (the introduction even notes that), the imagery is very strong. He depicts the horrible conditions of the slaves in the area. And when he finally does meet Kurtz, the absolute lack of humanity in him is just...well plain scary. And that's when it gets sort of into the psychological aspect of the story. I mean Kurtz is a horrible trader who will do anything to get more ivory. I mean the guy has heads on stakes around his place. Just as a warning. But Kurtz has presence. Just pure evil genius. And Marlow actually starts to admire him. Not admire what he does or did but just the genius of it all. It really confronts that idea of the ability of everyone to be or do evil. Kind of like in World War II...how do regular people end up doing horrific things? Even the title of the story, Heart of Darkness is a psychological twist. Africa used to be called the "Dark Continent" but it's really about the darkness of the human heart.

The Secret Sharer
This short story, published in 1910, was a bit more straight forward than Heart of Darkness but still pretty good. The story is about a newbie Captain of a ship. He really hasn't gotten to know his crew or his ship. While he on watch during the night, he finds a naked man hanging onto the ladder of his ship in the water. He takes the man on board, hides him in his cabin, and learns his story. The man is named Leggatt and is from the ship, Sephora, which is nearby. During a horrible storm, Leggatt, in a fit of rage, killed a fellow shipmate because Leggatt thought the shipmate was being lax in his duties. He escaped punishment by diving in the water, feigning drowning and hiding.

So the Captain actually sides with this guy! He hides him, lies to his crew, and lies to the Sephora Captain. He even goes as far as to call this guy "his other self"...I mean he really identifies more with this murderer than with anyone else. Kind of crazy.

Conclusion:

I'll have to read more Joseph Conrad. I love the psychological/moral twist in these stories. They really make me ponder things long after I've read them. And I love that Joseph Conrad actually went to these places since he worked in the French and British Merchant Navies. It makes me wonder how much of his stories he took from real life...which is kind of scary.

Made in the U.S.A. - Billie Letts

I recently read Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts after I read her book Shoot the Moon (my review). I won this book from Bookshipper in a huge 14 book giveaway from Hachette Books (my post on that). Isn't the cover gorgeous! And yes, catching fireflies does come up at some point in the book.

Anyway, the book was pretty good. I liked Shoot the Moon better but it does keep you engrossed and I finished it in about a day and a half.

Here's the plot:

Fifteen year-old Luttie and her brother eleven year-old brother Fate have a problem. Their mother died years ago. Their dad went to Vegas a year ago and left them with his ex-girlfriend, Floy, and they haven't heard from him since. Floy just keeled over from a heart attack at Walmart and child services just doesn't seem appealing.

What are two kids to do? Logical answer is to steal/borrow Floy's car, dig up as much cash as they can, and head to Vegas to find their father.

Uh oh.

Here's the thing. Luttie is not a very likeable character. From the very beginning she's a compulsive stealer. And she's bitter, rude, and selfish. Even to her little brother. But oh Fate is so adorable. He's one of those brilliant sweet kids who spout random facts and has no friends. Now these type of kids can either be annoying or cute...and he's the second type. So I kept rooting that they'd be ok.

But Vegas has a dark side. I know that because I lived there and saw it. And those parts of the book are just heart-wrenching. Be warned...violence, child pornography, and all those Vegas underbelly stuff. At one point I was almost angry at Billie Letts for not saving them sooner...like "just don't write it and they'll be ok" or "where's their saving angel already!?!".

And then it gets better. And there's fireflies.

My only beef is that it sort of wraps up a little to quickly and nicely at the end...especially Luttie's story.

But it's still a pretty good story...especially since the book had me yelling at the author here and there!

**BIG NOTE: I will be giving away this hardback copy of Billie Letts novel along with a paperback copy of her novel Shoot the Moon. Comment on this review for an extra chance to win!

Housing Works Fair

Happy Friday everyone! It's raining (again) here in the City but hopefully this weekend will be nice and sunny.

For all you in the NYC area, Housing Works is having a street fair tomorrow. You might remember my jaunt last year to the street fair and the haul I got. Seriously...dollar books people...and records, CDs, clothes, etc. Love it

AND Housing Works is an amazing place. 100% of profits go to aid the homeless and those with AIDS. How amazing is that.

And I'm posting this photo I took last year in the bookstore just because I love it. I swear that lady posed just for me (or I'd like to think she did).

Shoot the Moon - Billie Letts

A while back I won a paperback copy of Billie Letts novel, Shoot the Moon, from Bree at The Things We Read. I figured this seemed like the perfect book to kick off summer. It's been a little rainy and dreary here in NYC so I needed a dose of summer reading.

And this was the perfect summer reading book. I whizzed through it in a day. Seriously. I mean it's not the best book ever but it's a great feel-good mystery story.

Here's the plot:

Small town Oklahoma, 1972: 18 year old single mom found stabbed to death and her 10 month old son, Nicky Jack, is missing. Unsolved case.

About 30 years later, a man shows up in town saying he just found out he was adopted. He wants to confront his biological mom and ask why he was put up for adoption. Problem? He claims he is Nicky Jack.

So there's a great little mystery here. Why was his mom murdered? Who did it? Is he really Nicky Jack? Who was the father? Etc. Etc. Etc.

But I really liked the characters. It's written through the perspective of Mark, a.k.a. Nicky Jack, and I really liked him. And he stays with his Aunt and Cousin who are just great characters. And what I really liked was how Nicky Jack tries to figure out who his mom was...and interspersed with the story are excerpts of his mom's diary she kept through high school. So it makes her a real character and her death that more personal.

Funny thing about Billie Letts' novels, well the three I am familiar with, are they 1) have some setting in Oklahoma and 2) involve a Wal-mart somewhere in the story

If you've never read a Billie Letts novel you may be familiar with one of her books, Where the Heart Is, that was turned into a movie. I normally would have never watched that movie but it has Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd in it. And I actually did think it was a kind of cute movie.

***BIG NOTE: I will be giving away this copy of Billie Letts novel along with a hardback copy of her novel Made in the U.S.A. in a day or two. Comment on this review for an extra chance to win!

Misc Tuesday Stuff

I am a bit behind on my posts but promise to update you on the BEA. Had a fabulous time on Saturday and met a few cool bloggers. It was like meeting celebrities, really! So I'll get my few photos uploaded and update you on everything.

In the meantime, check out this awesome post from Cake Wrecks...delicious cakes based on children stories. You'll have to check the post out yourself to see all the cool designs but here's one from one of my all-time favorite children's books (our copy was so worn the first couple of pages were missing):

100+ Challenge Update

I was reminded by the Urban Bachelorette's post that I need to post an update on my 100+ Reading Challenge progress.

So far this year I've read FORTY books. Woo hoo! Sadly I am WAY behind in posting reviews. That's ok...I will get around to doing it. I've read some awesome books.

Here's my list for May:

Photographing Fairies - Steve Szilagyi
The Red Leather Diary - Lily Koppel
The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen

The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson

When You are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

Daphne: A Novel - Justine Picardie

Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman

Night Music - Harrison Gradwell Slater

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad