LEFT Neglected

This post's title could cover a slew of current events --- Harold Camping's non-rapture event, President Obama's recent statement on Israel's borders, and even the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.


But it actually refers to a book title by Lisa Genova, the subject matter of a working mom left with no sense or recognition of the left side of her body after a car accident leaves her with this brain condition known as, you guessed it, "left neglect." After closing the book (hope I'm always able to say that), I was left (okay, that will probably be the last "left" ) with stronger than ever confirmation that if you can read --- and comprehend --- you can do just about anything, maybe not brain surgery, but certainly train your brain to think, re-think or think differently about anything, maybe everything.


So imagine a scenario that has you waking up one day with this condition and having to continually remind your brain that even though you can hear your husband's voice, but can't see him, it doesn't mean he's in the other room, it means he's on the left side of your body.  And what does "continually remind your brain" involve? For the protagonist, countless hours of physical therapy that bring her to a place in her life that she's able to handle most of her daily routine pre-accident, but differently. In her first session, she's asked to imagine her watch and wedding ring on her left hand; I can't do justice to the author's conveyance of the physical and emotional wreckage this first session wrings from the protagonist; just read the book! 


The book had a bit more personal impact as I have 100% hearing loss in my left ear and so throughout my reading it, I was continually appraising my mindfulness and attention to matters on the "left" side of my life.  At the end of it all, I was "left" with a greater appreciation of both the magnificence and mystery of the brain and mind.

You Must Have Patience and Fortitude Like the NY Library Lions to get through this post's title regarding birthdays, centennials, libraries and feast days, not to mention a joyous spirit to sing along with Sheriff John!

Whew!  You made it through the post's title.

~Patience and Fortitude, the New York Public Library Lions will celebrate 100 years on May 23, 2011, guarding the north and south sides of the library. Thought I should get a shout-out to them and to all libraries in case the world does end tomorrow, should you believe Harold Camping and his broadcasts.

~And speaking of Library Lions, someone else who's celebrating a birthday today (more on that next) sent me the following book after reading a few of this blog's posts regarding, what else, libraries and lions!

The author worked in the New York Public Library and had the good sense not to name the lion in her story.

~May 20: Birthday of second-oldest sister (I will not use her nickname here . . .) and feast day of St. Hilary (more on him later).

Second oldest sister, this is for you (and everyone else who has wondered what the remaining verses were):

~Feast Day of St. Hilary, May 20:  "4th century, Bishop of Toulouse, France. Nothing is known of his life."  Seriously, if nothing is known of his life, how was it determined that he's a saint and that May 20 is his feast day?!  Regardless, I think it's an open invitation for the birthday girl to do and make anything of her life!

~My local library will also celebrate its centennial on July 22, 2011, but in the meantime, the community has been treated to a number of exhibits and author/historian speaker series. 

B.A.D.: They're Everywhere . . .

Today is the full moon that conjures the wolf baying at the same and what's a wolf but the ancestor of the dog?  And what's a dog but a motivating force for reluctant readers or a book's narrator or . . . books and dogs, they're everywhere . . . Doug's best friend, as this story in my local, online paper relates:  "Dogs unleash . . . " 


This local SCPA isn't the only organization to have employed dogs in literacy efforts, but it is the first to have demonstrable results in improving reading progress at the end of a three-year study.  Give those dogs a treat!


And speaking of B.A.D.s, while at an author reading last week, I was perusing the recent-paperback releases table and came across this gem:

Stella, referring to her human guardian

The title alone had the book in my hands within nano seconds and then there is the praise from various authors and publications ramping up my reading anticipation level to off the charts:

~"In this age of extended adolescence, here's a coming-of-age novel about a middle-aged man who's had no luck at much of anything, especially love.  The fact that Pete Nelson can tell such a story without making the narrator's charming talking do seem unusual is proof of his power as a writer.  This book will make you laugh, cry, and want a dog you can really talk to."

-Wyn Cooper, poet and author of Postcards from the Interior

~"'I thought you were dead,' Stella says to Paul when he returns home from a bar, on page one of Pete Nelson's new novel. Delivered by an aging, arthritic Labrador/Shepherd mix, the line displays the dry wit and dog logic that makes Stella and, by extension, much of this novel a delight . . . Yes, Stella talks.  And the conversations are so charming and matter-of-fact that it hardly seems worth asking from whence this special power comes."

-Bark magazine

Readers of some earlier posts will know that this isn't the first entry to deal with dog-narrated books.  Chet (the dog) and Bernie, in Spencer Quinn's series, solve mysteries with Chet deducing and cleverly nosing his human companion to "see" what he sees or more accurately, smell what he smells. And then there's Garth Stein's breakout novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, now in its umpteenth printing and recently adapted for young readers with a different title, My Life as a Dog: Racing in the Rain. 

So what compels these authors to bring these stories to life with dog as narrator? Perhaps they've discovered, like many a reluctant reader, that dogs don't judge, criticize or correct you, but as Doug and his teacher discovered, dogs, "[just] walk up to you and sit in your lap" and "you are the most exciting person in the world and everything you do will be the perfect thing."

Arf!

S.Y.K.M Future Releases!

From the future releases page on Stop, You're Killing Me! :


For Jeanie and MB:


*Ghost Hero [Lydia Chin & Bill Smith] by S.J. Rozan


For Anne and Jeff & Lynne:


*The Dog Who Knew Too Much [Chet & Bernie] by Spencer Quinn


*The Perfect Suspect [Catherine McLeod] by Margaret Coel (the female Tony Hillerman)


For Janet (who introduced me to Sue Grafton's mysteries way back when and spurred both Bud and me to guess what each alphabetical title would be; "V" is the only one we got right, so far):


V is for Vengeance [Kinsey Millhone] by Sue Grafton


For anybody who loves a good mystery well-written, character-driven, laughter-infused and/or not-plodding plotted:


*Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger


*A Trick of the Light [Armand Gamache #7!] by Louise Penny


*Physical Education [Murder 101 #5?] by Maggie Barbieri


*Pirate King [Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes] by Laurie R. King


*Murder Most Persuasive by Tracy Kiely (very cleverly done, present-day Jane-Austen-type protagonist on East coast)


And, as Stop, You're Killing Me! says, "You've reached the end, now go read a book!"

When A Book Isn't A Book: Remembering Mom

When a book is a . . .

Box!

Even though I received the above book-box as my "Easter basket" from my sister, it immediately brought my mom to mind.  She was "Heloise" to our family and, yes, she had her own copy of the book.  But this book-box also brought to mind the timeless cliche, "Don't judge a book by its cover," and I would add to that, "or its jacket blurb."

I've read countless book jacket blurbs over the years and purchased and/or borrowed a significant number of books based on the jacket alone only to be thoroughly disappointed, miffed, mystified or irritated as the book didn't live up to the blurb, or in some extreme cases, I was convinced the wrong jacket had been placed on the book.  To get around this, I now read the first few pages of a book when presented with an author new to me or a beloved author has ventured into a new series or genre.  And, fortunately, today's technology allows me to do this without having to physically have the book in hand (see Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" feature or an author's website with chapter one excerpts).

Speaking of "today's technology," Blogger has had some major glitches since Wednesday of this week and I wasn't able to post until today. A perfect case of the book (Blogger) not living up to the jacket (Google) or is it the other way round?

It's Friday the 13th:  go out and do something you "fear!"

May's mishmash, melange and medley

On the royal wedding (I know it was in April, but I couldn't resist): 

"I can't write without a reader.  It's precisely like a kiss --- you can't do it alone." [or just once] ~John Cheever


On the Kentucky Derby:


"Wear the old coat [hat] and buy the new book." ~Austin Phelps (Clergyman 1820-1890)


On Osama bin Laden's demise:


"Men of power have no time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power." ~Michael Foot (British Labour Party politician; journalist; author; died in 2010 at age 90-something)


On enjoying each day in May and every day:


"Read in order to live." ~Gustave Flaubert (most-known work, Madame Bovary, 1857)