The Adventures of the Princess and Mr Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed, by Patrick Rothfuss

Deliciously disturbing. I loved it. Pay close attention to the little details, and when you find yourself wondering why the spikes are on the inside of the wall, you're almost there. As the sticker on the front of the copy I read said, "This shit is not for kids". (Thanks to Pat Rothfuss for writing such a great story, Harriet McDougal Rigney and Maria Simons for turning me on to these books, Ross Newberry for letting me read his copy while I was standing with him in line to have Pat Rothfuss sign our books [they were sold out of the this one and I had the second], and Nate Taylor, the only one of this group I haven't met, for the wonderful illustrations.)

Reading in line for the author to sign (JordanCon VI April, 2014

"This shit is not for kids -- seriously"

Ruthe Rides Again (Reprinted from 6/5/2010)

It was no secret that my mother loved jazz and loved many of the jazz artists she met over the years, both those up-and-coming and the giants of jazz. Even her obituary mentioned her special relationship with some of these oh-so-very talented spirits. But there is no denying it -- she and Tootie Heath has a very special friendship. They sparked off each other, and Tootie made her light up like no one (outside of her family) ever did. Mention Tootie's name and her smile filled the room. In her later years, when she could not travel to the workshop any more, Tootie would call her just to tease and send love. Even when her hearing failed almost completely, she'd hold the phone, insisting she could feel his "good vibes" across the telephone lines. Then she'd give the phone to me to actually hear what he had to say and relay the message to her. "That's right. That's what I felt," she'd tell me. Last year, at the West Coast Memorial to her at Stanford, there was a fabulous, heart-felt musical tribute to her, and Tootie was an essential ingredient. And afterward, he mentioned in an article for the Stanford Jazz Workshop a little piece of workshop lore. In my first few years [at the workshop] I remember an ongoing competition I had with fellow faculty member Stan Getz. During this time, Jimmy's mother, Ruthe Nadel, was a regular attendee at the workshops and would make her way around campus on a powered scooter. As she was inside attending a class, she often left the key in the scooter parked outside. Stan and I would always race to see who could get to the scooter first. Sometimes I won, sometimes he beat me to it. Whoever got there first took the scooter for a short afternoon cruise around campus and tried to get it back before she got out of class and discovered it was missing. I know now that she must have known all along what we were doing. * Yes, she may have caught on, but I distinctly remember her commenting after one early workshop that her scooter just didn't work as well in Palo Alto -- the battery didn't hold a charge as long. But once she figured it all out, I'm pretty sure she left that key in there on purpose. Boys will be boys, you know. This past year, I've been sorting through my mother's belonging. For a little lady, she left a huge footprint, both in hearts and in detritus left behind. And as I've sorted, I've tried to honor her instructions with who to give a little remembrance to. And in the list of her favorite things, there was Tootie. When we heard that Tootie and his equally wonderful brother Jimmy were coming to town for Spoleto this week, my husband and I made a point of going to hear them talk. (Jimmy's got a new book out I Walked With Giants, which, if it's even a quarter as entertaining as the Heath Brothers are in person, will be a phenomenal read. Elder brother Percy went to that great fishing hole in the sky before I got to meet him, but the three of them, together, must have been amazing.) I gathered a few small tokens to remember Ruthe by, trying to make sure they were small and lightweight (flying these days makes packing so much fun). Then, I had an inspiration. It came to me quite clearly what I needed to bring to Tootie. I gathered it up and put it in the bag with the other goodies. So last night, at the Avery Center, I presented Tootie with his Ruthe Remembrances. We went through each item he seemed to genuinely be interested, both in the items and in why they were coming his way. For the last item, I had him close his eyes and put out his hands. And I placed the item in his palm. Tootie opened his eyes and laughed out loud. It may not be the keys to the kingdom, but it was the keys to the scooter. And he doesn't have to fight Stan for them. And somewhere out there, in that great beyond, I know there was a chortle of laughter and a smile to light up the heavens.

The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing, by Mira Jacob

Now that's a satisfying novel. And a debut one, at that.

Mira Jacob carries her readers into the life and world of Amina Eapen and her family, over twenty or so years, from early days in India to the US in the 1980's and 90's. Amina heads home to New Mexico, from her world as a photographer in Seattle, when her mother calls, concerned about the erratic behavior of her father, a prominent neurosurgeon. What those two sentences don't capture is the lush richness of character that Jacobs presents her readers, to tease the palate, and satisfy the appetite. As the story progresses, both retrospectively and in the modern day, each scene, each character, is laced with with depth and detail that make these seem like situations and people you might encounter in your own world: stubborn, idiosyncratic, loving, funny, quirky -- real (but real people you wouldn't mind knowing, and definitely wouldn't mind having a meal with, if Kamala, Raj, or Jamie were doing the cooking.) One of the things I enjoyed most was the role food and flavors played in this novel.

This is a novel of mind and memory, and how the two can interact at different times of our lives. It also is a novel of heart, hope, and ultimately, healing, as we move forward with the bumps and upheavals of life. This book supposedly took Ms Jacob 10 years to complete. I hope we don't have to wait that long for another chance to dip into the rich vibrancy of her world.

Thank you to LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program and Random House for this book. It is available for sale 1 July, 2014.

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

I think this may be one of my favorite memoirs I've read in a long time. If you're looking for recent stuff, such as being nominated and then appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court, you won't find that in this book. What you will find is a candid, forthright description of Justice Sotomayor's earlier life: growing up as a girl of Puerto Rican heritage, in a low income, but hard working family, overcoming economic odds, health threats (Juvenile Diabetes in that time had far worse outcomes), school and university experiences, and life in her early days as a lawyer and wife. It was fascinating, particularly those early days. Justice Sotomayor's description of her interview at Radcliffe was especially great, enough so that I read it to my husband. Essentially, she'd never encountered anyone in a little black dress and pearls giving an interview before, had never seen an oriental carpet, nor a white couch (as was in the interviewer's office) let alone a couch without plastic on it. Then these two little lap dogs came barreling down on her, barking furiously, and she knew Radcliffe was not a fit for her. (Later, my husband and I ran into a pair of lapdogs yapping at us, and christened them "Radcliffe rats".) I was impressed with Justice Sotomayor before reading this book, but after doing so, really do admire her for what she has done with her life, and for holding true to her principles and the law of the US.

A Star for Mrs Blake, by April Smith

In the years after The Great War, before the causes World War II had fully reared their ugly heads, and were just snuffling around claiming ground, mothers of fallen US soldiers joined together to support and comfort each other, but to also provide care to wounded soldiers far from their families. The American Gold Star Mothers, so named from the gold stars hung in their windows to indicate a deceased veteran, still exists today. A Star for Mrs Blake takes place in the infancy of this organization, during an ambitious program of the US government to sponsor a pilgrimage offering mothers of soldiers who died in WWI the chance to visit the graves of their children in Europe. Inspired by the diary of Colonel Thomas West Hammond, whose first assignment out of West Point was to escort the Gold Star Mothers on their journey, this books centers on Cora Blake, a mother from Maine, who lost her only child, Sammy, in the final days of the war.

Though the first half of the book moved a bit slowly for me, the pace did quicken as the mothers got closer to Europe. The personalities and backgrounds of the women featured in the book did seem to cover various walks of life, allowing glimpses into the worlds of different slices of society during the Depression. There were also some memorable characters introduced in Paris, notably Griffin Reed, an expatriate American journalist and Florence Dean Powell (based loosely on Anna Coleman Ladd, an American sculptor, fascinating in her own right, one of the artists who designed lifelike masks for gravely wounded soldiers.) While the book itself was a nice enough read, it was the pages of history it lead me to explore that really have enriched my life. Thank you April Smith, for again bringing these subjects to my attention so that I could delve more deeply, and thank you to dearreader.com and Random House for sending a copy of the book my way. I am grateful, and grateful to the men and women who honor our country by serving in the armed forces.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

I read this delicious book just before we moved. In fact, I think it was the last book I read in the old house, and I was just too dang busy to do a proper review. Now, of course, it's a month after I finished it, and though the book has stayed with me, many of the details have fled. I do remember thinking that I loved some of the details the author included -- the cost of something on a advertisement/sign painted on a building, etc. Those made things more realistic, tangible, for me. I liked the two stories, present and past, and liked that though they were related, there was no denouement where the two characters were blood relations or something. What a great feeling to read a book you like, and to learn something from it as well. In this case, I learned a lot about the Orphan Trains, which were an amazing piece of US history -- well intended, and in some cases, ending happily, but in others, opening up worlds of heartbreak.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Loved this book so much that I downloaded the kindle app for my phone to read it, since I couldn't get a hard copy in my hot little hands -- and I seriously despise going to the dark side with e-books.  My big thing, though, was I wanted more backstory on Simon and Baz! (Will do a proper review at some point, but go read the book. You won't regret it.)