Books, Book Clubs, and More Books

I have finally been invited to join a book club! I went 2 months ago to my first meeting (The Guernsey LIterary and Potato Peel Society), wherein I did NOT get to read the book (although I bought the book and will read it later). This past week was my first meeting for which I read the book, Away, by Amy Bloom. I loved the writing of Away, but did not much like the story. If the writing is that prosaic, I like the story to either be too unbelievable or very believable. The Hobbit (completely unbelievable, but beautiful) and Sophie's Choice (believable, and horrible, but beautiful) come to mind as examples.

As you can see by my sidebar, I love to read. I love books, and I love bookstores and libraries. I am grateful that my love of reading has been passed down to at least 2 of my children. Both of my daughters love to read, and hopefully my son will discover the joy as well.

This month, the book club will be reading The People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. It looks interesting, and I will post after I have read it.

Winners Again

Well, my beloved Tar Heel boys did it again last night--beating the blue devils in Durham. And for most of the game, they looked darn good doing it. Why is it that we, as fans, get so wrapped up in this? We have absolutely nothing, NOTHING, to do with winning, losing--we don't know these boys, will (most likely) never meet these boys, gain nothing but bragging rights (to what?!), waste hours thinking about or researching or writing about the game/rivalry, spend money to watch or commune during a game, and for what? The opportunity to align ourselves with winners. Or, in my case, with a premier program/university. If you have read my previous postings regarding Coach Smith, then you know the influence he has had on my life and my outlook on the world. That is where I come from.

So, here's to you, boys! Let's do it again in March. Show them who's boss.

God Bless those Tar Heel Boys!

New Quilts

This is Austin's quilt that I made for him for Christmas.

This one is for Taylor for her Christmas. It is classic Winnie the Pooh motifs.

This is a quilt I began about 7 years ago and have just gotten it quilted. I am binding it (soon) and will put it on my bed.

I really like the way this turned out, even though I amde so many mistakes on it.

Long Time, No Rants

Wow, has it really been since August that I posted?! So much has happened!

I completed 4 quilts, all of which have been given away as gifts. Kim just called yesterday to thank me for hers and the kids; they love them, and that is gratifying. Now, on to the 8 that I have waiting for me!

School started, and Kate is enjoying her senior year (I think!). She is off to Manhattan, which is making her dad crazy, and I am enjoying every minute of that!

Sam's grades are marginally better, but any improvement is good, right? He is proving to be a good kid, even though he makes his parents crazy.

Emma's one desire of the year was to see Tyler Hansbrough play in a Carolina uniform. To that end, we traveled to Chicago and watched the Valparaiso game. She got the other Tyler's autograph and her picture made with him, and she was happy.

I read several books that I didn't post, notably, Gods Behaving Badly. A memorable premise, but disappointing in the end.

I promise to post more in the future--especially as my beloved Tar Heels begin conference play on Sunday.

Another Book--Another Rant

I finished another book this weekend: Escape, by Robert Tannenbaum. I loved his early books. I really liked how stand-up Butch Karp is, how flawed Marlene is, and how loyal Guma and Espey and the others are to Butch. Escape is about 550 pages long, and of those pages, about 50 are dedicated to a court case, and about 100 are dedicated to the other plot (yet another bombing of NYC that the Karp clan prevents). The rest is backstory. Really frustrating when you have read all the other books. It is almost as if he pulls synopses from the other books and works them in. There was no characterization in this novel--we learned nothing new about any body except the new ADA Kenny Katz. Well, we really didn't learn anything about him either, just that Karp sees himself in him and wants to treat Katz as Garrahy treated Karp. I reallyliked Tannenbaum's books, and I am sorry that I was so angry at this end of this one. I won't read another, and that makes me sad.

I wish I could say that my summer has been spent joyously with my children, putting up scads of home-grown produce, and creating lots of peace and comfort in my home. But, No. My summer has been spent going, coming, cleaning, sewing, reading, picking up, dropping off, ad infinitum. I can say it has been a fairly good summer--no broken bones, no surgeries, no car accidents--nothing to mar the landscape. I did get my very first (and second) quilt tops made, and they are at the quilter's even as I type. Here's a photo of the first one:

I have read several books this summer, and here lately, I have really been on a reading jag. Since June 20, I have finished several books, not all noteworthy, except that they belong on my list. I read Jimmy Black's Tales of the Tar Heels, which is a great account of the 1982 Tar Heel trip to the Final Four, Coach Smith's first championship. I was very pleased to see that he addressed the "dark years" of Matt Doherty's coaching stint at Carolina, and he did it sensitively. I appreciated that. I have read The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci, A Quilter's Homecoming (Audiobook), by Jennifer Chiaverini, Motor Mouth (Audiobook), by Janet Evanovich, Petite Anglaise, by Catherine Sanderson, Inside the Mind of BTK, by John Douglas and Johnny Dodd, You've Been Warned, by James Patterson. Two of these I want to discuss a little: Petite Anglaise and Inside the Mind of BTK.

I thought Petite Anglaise was a chick-lit book. I tend to check these out and keep them in the car to read while I wait for children to get in the car so I can take them someplace else. The cover gave that impression. But no, it is an account of what happened when the author began keeping a blog. It was interesting that she (1) started writing a blog that immediately had a huge readership. No one reads my blog except maybe, sometimes, my husband. And SoSock, but I haven't heard from him in a long time (I hope everything is OK with him). So that in and of itself is pretty impressive. But then, she meets the people who comment on her blog, and who email her about her life as she has written in her blog. It as a very interesting read for a blogger, even without the crux of the book, which was her love life. I enjoyed the book very much, much more because I blog.

The other book I want to talk about is the BTK book. I truly enjoy reading books that make me uncomfortable in my faith, books that make me see things about my knowledge of God and my faith in God from a different angle. Because I live in the city where this gross little man with severe psychological problems committed his crimes, I have been very interested in reading what is written (in a professional, clinical sense) about him. I think I have read all the books that have been written since his capture, including Beatty's book that drove him out of hiding. One book apparently was written after extensive interviews with his minister. In that book, BTK is credited with the thougtht that staying in the church is not only good cover, but that he can ask forgiveness after he kills and still be covered, as it were, on the salvation part. This is while he takes the body of a woman he has killed and poses her in his church (one book said on the altar, or in the altar area, while this book said it was in the basement [ this book had some other things really very wrong, so I am going with the altar]). Anyway, the point is, in relation to my thinking about faith: I know that anyone can be forgiven of anything if they ask. I completely believe in God's grace, and I know that His love can cover any mountain of sin. But can you sin, horribly and purposefully, with the knowledge that "all I have to do is be sorry" and that is OK? or at least forgiven? See where I am going with this? How sorry do you have to be? I don't think that BTK is crazy. I don't believe that he is insane, at least inasmuch as that he was impulsive and couldn't control that. I believe that he is simply an evil, evil man. How does his love of torture be forgiven? Even Nazis were in a better position than this; they at least believed they were being patriotic in some strange, misguided way. Still evil, mind you, but not selfishly so.

Old Friends

Last weekend, I went to the wedding of one of my college roommates. Most of my old roommates were there, and it brought to mind the how and whys of friendship. We were thrown together randomly, and 28 years later, brought together again. We laughed at old times and things we did when we were (much) younger. We talked about where we are going at this stage of our lives. We talked about our children and husbands (and ex-). For a weekend, we were friends again.

When I was younger, I read a book about siblings. One line impressed me a lot: "Your sibling knows exactly what button to push; he or she created the button." That is true, too, of old friends. Each of these friends created in me a facet to the person who went to Chapel Hill in 1980. Each gave a bit of themselves, and (I hope) each took something from me. None of us live in North Carolina any longer, but our history made it important enough for everyone to come together again to see each other, and plan to do it again. I hope and pray that happens.

We are different people from those who lived in Ehringhaus in 1980, but a part of us remembers who we were, and we celebrate that together. Mostly because no one else understands--just those who helped make us who we are now.