Introverted Reader

CeeCee Honeycutt: Character Connection

CeeCee Honeycutt. Bless her heart. She's only twelve years old and her Mama's crazy as a bedbug. She runs around town in old pageant dresses and tiaras, making a laughingstock of herself. She's living in 1951 when she was the Vidalia Onion Queen and isn't taking care of her daughter; CeeCee is the caregiver in this relationship. When Mrs. Honeycutt tragically dies, CeeCee's deadbeat dad decides to let a relative on her mother's side take her to Savannah to live. CeeCee is a little too strong for her own good. Everyone knows that she must be hurting more than she's showing but she just won't let herself go enough to mourn, both for her mother and her own childhood. She's just used to hiding her feelings and being the strong one. And now she really feels abandoned by her dad and unsure of where she's landed. After the rocky beginning her life has had, now she has to start over and try to learn to trust this new family of women she's landed in. To her credit, she lets go and tries. She still has flashbacks to her time with her mother but she does her best to put those memories aside and live in the present in Savannah. She's not sure what to think of all the caring, slightly eccentric women she's now surrounded by. She sits back and watches for a while to see what she thinks. She's a lonely soul. Before her mother's death, all her schoolmates teased her about her crazy mom. No one would get to know her and give her a chance. She really wants a friend. Just one. She was friends with her 80-year-old neighbor but she wants a friend her own age. She's an avid reader and she wants one of those…

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August 2, 2012

Personal Stories

An Absence Explained: Life and Lit

Holy cow. It has been three weeks since I last posted. Three weeks! Where does the time go? I've been desperately juggling a lot of things for a while now and I just finally hit critical capacity. My blog had to go neglected. I accepted a new position at work as a "Clinical Research Coordinator." Sounds way important, doesn't it? Don't let that Coordinator title fool you. There's a director above me who is very hands-on. Thank goodness. There's also a part-time person and that's my whole department. The doctors at the office where I work take part in a lot of clinical drug studies and I'll be helping with those. I have a feeling it's a job you either love or hate. I really think it's going to be a good fit for me. Variety, independence, details, time with patients but not too much... At the beginning, I'm scrambling to get in a ton of training. I've just really gotten started this week but in the interim, I've had a lot of reading to do. A lot. Hopefully I will get caught up on all that soon and get back to some sort of normalcy. Until that happens, I'll only be posting sporadically. I'm not giving up on my blog by any means, and I don't even expect this interruption to last much longer. I ask for your patience as I struggle to find my footing in this new role. I'll be posting a Character Connection on Thursday for sure, and I do still check in on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest occasionally. Meanwhile, let me just say that I've read and mostly loved The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman, and Juniper Berry by M. P. Kozlowsky. I'm currently reading Madame…

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August 1, 2012

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers: Book Review

John Singer is a deaf-mute living a solitary life in a Southern city. His best friend, Spiros Antonapoulos, has been taken away to the state asylum. But as Singer makes his solitary way through life, he draws a group of four lonely individuals to him: Mick Kelly, a poor young girl with dreams of being a famous composer; Jake Blount, an alcoholic trying to spread the word about the evils of capitalism and the glory of Communism; Dr. Copeland, an African-American doctor trying to lead his people to a better life; and Biff Brannon, a cafe owner who is trying to figure out what the others see in Mr. Singer. I read this back in college but couldn't remember a thing about it when we decided to read it for book club. Time for a re-read! Now I know why I wiped it from my memory. This is one of those novels that is probably classified as "Realism" and that I choose to call "Pessimism." No one is happy. No one will ever be happy. They are all going to die alone and misunderstood. And McCullers seems to be saying that's the way life is for everyone. I refuse to buy it. That's my biggest problem. Another problem is that nothing really happens. Nothing. The book just drifts from character to character, each of whom just will not move on to another topic to think about. There's only so much I can read about Mick's "inner room" and how much she loves music. I can list about three or four events that are actual events. The rest of it is just repetitive introspection. I will say that Carson McCullers' writing voice is perfect for the story. It just feels stark and lonely from the beginning. Perfect for this bleak novel.…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted:Life and Lit: Of A Holiday, A New TV Show, and An Amusement Park Character Connection featuring Cal Morrisey from Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie Review: Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint Mini Review: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater Review: Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs Readers' Workouts Read:The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint Currently Reading:The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson, read by Stephen Hoye From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns First Person America by Ann Banks Up Next:I don't expect to finish any of these books this week. What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.

26 Comments

July 9, 2012

Personal Stories

Of A Holiday, A New TV Show, and An Amusement Park: Life and Lit

I don't know about you, but having the 4th of July fall on Wednesday this year threw me all out of whack. Work two days, a day off then work another two days and have another two days off... It kind of didn't work for me. It was nice to have Wednesday off but then I was a little indignant about having to go back to work so soon. And the rest of the week dragged. My aunt had her annual 4th of July cookout so we went to that. I blogged most of the morning and then made my mac and cheese. My family loves it and I make it for most get-togethers. The secret is the sour cream. I got all Betty Crocker-y after looking at Pinterest too and made a couple of patriotic desserts. Here they are: Found at Occasionally Crafty via Pinterest

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July 9, 2012

Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs: Book Review

It's impossible (for me, anyway) to read a forensic mystery without comparing it to the Scarpetta novels. This one was awesome! I haven't read a forensic science mystery this good since the early Scarpettas! These novels are the basis for the TV series, Bones. I've never watched that show, so I didn't come into this with any expectations and I can't compare the book to the show. But the book by itself was really good. This is the first in a series featuring Dr. Temperance Brennan. She's a forensic anthropologist who has just relocated full-time to Montreal. The book opens with Tempe being called out to a scene to decide if bones found by city maintenance are old, archaeological-find-bones or new, current-crime-that-needs-to-be-investigated bones. To paraphrase the book, "Old bones don't smell." The science in the book was fascinating and--I'm assuming because the author is herself a forensic anthropologist--authentic. The characters, especially Tempe, are well-drawn, complex, and interesting. The plot started out a little bit slow, but once it took off, I couldn't put it down. I took it with me to an optometrist visit and didn't even notice that I spent two hours in the doctor's office! My only complaint is that some stuff seemed really obvious to me. Not everything, just some things, but they were kind of big things. I kept wondering, "Am I really supposed to have figured this out already for some reason? Or is Tempe really that clueless sometimes?" I am not a person who figures out Agatha Christie mysteries before Poirot reveals the solution. I read a mystery and I'm surprised at the end. For me to figure out something in a mystery before it's spelled out to me is very unusual. This didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the book. In…

Introverted Reader Features

Cal Morrisey: Character Connection

Oooh, Cal Morrisey. *sigh* The leading man in Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, Cal is a dreamboat. Yes, it's an old-fashioned word but that's what he is. He's good-looking, he's effortlessly charming, he owns a successful business, he's a great cook and a loyal friend... He has it all. But the charm is more out of habit than a genuine desire to charm the woman he's with. He's a heartbreaker. He doesn't set out to be one, but women can't resist him and he's not ready to settle down so he's left a string of disappointed women in his wake. Then he meets Minerva Dobbs. Min puts him in his place. She sees that the charm isn't genuine and calls him on it. Cal is kind of angry at first but then she intrigues him. Who is this woman who sees through him? Does she see the real Cal underneath everything? He tries to stay away from her but they keep getting thrown together. I believe Cal was described basically as tall, dark and handsome. Pierce Brosnan popped into my head and wouldn't leave. So this is my Cal. Cal does have a deep insecurity. He's dyslexic and he struggled with it in school. His father was very hard on him. Anyone wanting to push Cal's buttons just calls him stupid. Stand back when it happens because he has a temper too. Cal sees past Min's apparent dislike of men and starts to rebuild her trust and her own self-confidence. Whenever she needs him, he's there whether she calls him or not. Min is very self-conscious about her weight. Some women are just born with curves and no amount of dieting will change that; Min is one of those women. She sees herself as fat because of her horrible mother…

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July 5, 2012

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR SHIVER AND LINGER!!! Now that Grace is a wolf, Sam finds himself at loose ends. He and Cole are rattling around Beck's house and generally irritating each other. Mr. Culpeper is still determined to do something about the local wolf problem. Cole is determined to find a cure. The wolves' lives are in the balance as this trilogy races to its conclusion. I've waited entirely too long to write this review so it will be short and vague. I still really, really like Cole and Isabel, which is weird because I think I would loathe them in real life. But when contrasted with Sam's passiveness, I'm drawn to their action and determination, even if does appear to be self-destructive. Sam? He's just too good. Like, if you kicked him, he would just look at you with big hurt eyes silently asking how you could do this to him as you drew your foot back to kick him again. Grow a spine, dude. I don't think I was entirely caught up in the book until about halfway through. At first it felt like more of the same. Sam misses Grace and Beck. Isabel is angry. Mr. Culpeper is angry. Shelby is crazy. Cole seems to be angry. But Cole and Isabel are driving this book. When it became apparent what was going on, my interest definitely piqued. When I knew I was getting close to the big climax, I sat for a couple of hours in my dining room chair, hanging over my empty dinner plate, reading for the finish because I could not put the book down long enough to even put my plate away. When I finally finished, I was stiff from sitting in one position too long and I had to do some major scrubbing…

Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint: Book Review

Or, a love letter to Charles de Lint's Newford books Izzy Copley is a college student majoring in art when she first meets world-famous artist Vincent Rushkin. She feels unworthy when he chooses to start teaching her his secrets. There's a reason that he's so secretive. He has a nasty temper and he frequently lashes out at Izzy, both verbally and physically. She's so in awe of him that she lets him get away with it. He finally teaches her the real secret to his work. Each painting is like a doorway to another world, allowing the subject of the painting to take physical shape in our world and stroll around on our streets. Izzy is breathless at the thought. She's delighted when she sees figures that previously only existed in her imagination living their lives on the streets of Newford. And then Rushkin shows her exactly how monstrous he can be. If I'm trying to be objective on this re-read, Memory & Dream is probably 4 to 4.5 stars. But for sheer nostalgia, I'm bumping it up to 5. This was not my first de Lint book but it was definitely an early one. I was working at my little local library as a high school senior, re-shelving books, when I discovered him. The covers (all three that the library owned anyway) caught my eye so I took one home. I'm pretty sure Spiritwalk was the first. I think this was the second. And I can still see why I've been in love with de Lint's work ever since. A 16-17 year relationship. We're on the record books at this point! I would consider this to be the first real Newford novel despite the fact that it's technically number five. The initial book, Dreams Underfoot, is a solid start…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Review: The Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar, read by the author Review: Naked Came the Leaf Peeper by Brian Lee Knopp et al. Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, read by the author Life & Lit: Of Heat, Book Club, and '80's Movies Readers' Workouts Read: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, read by the author--Excellent children's fantasy for all ages Currently Reading: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers--I didn't finish it in time for book club, but I may stick with it anyway. I'm still not loving it. Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint--A re-read. This reminds me why I love de Lint's work. First Person America by Ann Banks--Extremely interesting first person accounts of life in America that were collected between 1938 and 1942. Up Next: I'm going to start digging around for a new audio as soon as I finish this post. No plans other than that. What are you reading this week?

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July 2, 2012