Today has started off as one of those chilly, cloudy days. Our Japanese maple tree has turned a very bright red and is beautiful.  The leaves have started to fall and drift to the ground much to Ollie’s delight and soon enough will be bare. Then I will be able to see the small memorial bells hanging from its branches designating the lives of our past pets. I often hear their gentle tinkling when outside with Ollie and it makes me think of happy times with our previous generations of animals we loved.

Today I am featuring three quite different books from my shelf beginning with the letter C.  Off we go…

Cc

*1.  The Chosen (1966)  by Chaim Potok (17.2.1929 – 23.7.2002). I read this book and its two sequels The Promise and My Name is Asher Lev back in the 1970s and have never forgotten them. Growing up a Hasidic Jewish boy to man in New York City I loved this trilogy.

Chaim Potok was an American author and rabbi. His first book The Chosen, was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies. Potok received a rigorous religious and secular education at Yeshiva University, a school very similar to the fictional Hirsch Seminary and College in The Chosen. … As an author, he is best known for exploring the interplay between religious Judaism and the broader secular world, a fundamental tension in his own life. (Wikipedia)

The book itself is about two Jewish boys who become friends. Danny comes from the strict Hasidic sect that keeps him bound in centuries of orthodoxy. Reuben is brought up by a father patiently aware of the 20th century. As six million Jews go to their deaths in Europe and the state of Israel first draws breath, their friendship is battered by conflicting loyalties and beliefs. This is a book I will always keep on my shelf as I enjoyed it so much.

**2.  Cane by Jean Toomer (Lived 6.12.1894 to 30.3.1967 – A Penguin Classic Originally published 1923, reprinted 2019).  Jean Toomer’s Cane is a masterpiece in American modernist literature because of its distinctive structure and style, and one of the most significant works identified with the Harlem Renaissance. It is a story told through a series of vignettes. It uses poetry, prose and play like dialogue to create a window into the varied lives of African Americans living in the rural South and urban North during a time when Jim Crow laws pervaded and racism reigned. Flouting the stereotypes associated with African Americans during the period, Toomer’s novel portrayed its characters in an accurate and entirely human way breaking the mould and laying the groundwork for how they are represented in literature. (Penguin)

***3. Now going from New York and Washington DC to Sydney I came across this book somewhere or other. Its title appealed to me as I have had a couple of interesting experiences in taxis when I was working on the National Speech & Hearing Association Council in Melbourne. This book is a compilation of various experiences written by the late Sydney Morning Herald columnist James McClelland. James McClelland was born in Melbourne in 1915 and studied at both Melbourne and Sydney Universities. He survived a brief political career as a minister in the Whitlam government to become the first chief judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW in 1980 and 1984. He described himself as a ‘child of the Great Depression and a fugitive from religion and Marxism…a former lawyer without illusions about lawyers; a former judge without illusions about the judiciary and a present journalist without illusions about the media.”  He was writing for the Sydney Morning Herald as a columnist at the time of this writing before his death in January 1999.

He described this book as “A collection of my weekly columns in the Herald that contains only a couple of pieces that deal with conversations with cabbies. Nevertheless the title is justified by the contributions that these purveyors of truth, falsehood and scuttlebutt have made over the years to my nodding acquaintance with what is going on in the world.

The title of the book may be regarded as a metaphor for keeping one’s feet on the ground.”

I found this to be an interesting read as I read it in my earlier days of life in Australia.  I have not revisited it and have no idea if it still holds up to this interest.

There we have it. Now to fill in the rest of the day with something interesting during these days of self isolation.  I can hear Mr. Penguin saying “Ollie, NO!” so it may be time to get him out for a walk. Ollie, Not Mr. Penguin.

It’s a rainy day in Hobart and the news reported this morning that we should be prepared to be stopped by either the police or the defence forces if we venture out in our car. We will be asked where we are going and if it isn’t essential,  fines may be imposed or we might spend up to six months in jail.  I wonder where they will put everyone if everyone goes to jail.  Mr. Penguin and I are getting into a pretty steady routine. Books, garden work, Ollie exercise, animal care of two dogs and three indoor cats, writing, studying and a bit of Netflix. I had to take Ollie for a long walk yesterday because a 7 month Jack Russell goes ballistic without exercise.  Our local pub, the Cascade Pub is selling takeaway meals from Wednesday to Sunday and we took advantage of that last night, to have a break in routine and to support them. It is quite interesting how one can establish new routines if only they are open to change. I must say I am enjoying the amount of free time not having to run around and quiet interludes when I want to read. I hope everyone out there stays healthy and keeps an open mind about these things.

So onward and upward, keep calm and all that…..today we talk about B books.

Bb

 1*  Barbed Wire  and Cherry Blossoms (2016) by Anita Heiss (b. 1968 Australian). I acquired this book only recently when a couple of Aussie book bloggers spoke highly of her work.

Dr Anita Heiss is the author of non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles. She is a regular guest at Writers festivals and travels internationally performing her work and lecturing on Aboriginal Literature. She is a lifetime ambassador of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and a proud member of the Waradjuri Nation of Central New South Wales.  (information taken from her web page)

The blurb on the back describes it: “Over 1000 Japanese soldiers break out of the No. 12 Prisoner of War compound on the fringes of Cowra, New South Wales. In the carnage, hundreds are killed, many are recaptured and some take their own lives rather than suffer the humiliation of ongoing defeat. But one soldier, Hiroshi, manages to escape. 

At nearby Erambie Station, an Aboriginal mission, banjo Williams, father of five and proud man of his community discovers Hiroshi distraught and on the run. Unlike most of the townsfolk who dislike and distrust the Japanese, the people of Erambie choose compassion and offer Hiroshi refuge. Mary, Banjo’s daughter, is intrigued by the softly spoken stranger, and charged with his care. “  This is their story.

2** Between Mexico and Poland (2002) by Australian/American author Lily Brett.  I have written about her books in the past as she is one of my favourite authors. I especially enjoy her biographical tales of growing up in Melbourne with parents who survived Auschwitz. She is now a long time New Yorker residing in New York City.

This book refers to her time in Mexico and Poland. The blurb on the back states, ” In Mexico, she tries to write a novel, while the toilet explodes in the house, the gardener hoses her notes and the young maid questions her about plastic surgery. In Poland she retraces the steps of her much loved character from Too Many Men, Ruth Rothwx, and finds herself surprised to hear Ruth’s words coming out of her own mouth. In between she writes for the first time about the devastation of losing her New York home to fire and having to rebuild not only a life but a history. She also offers over insights into her adopted city New York, both before and after the tragic events of September 11. “

There is always quite a bit of humour and some cynicism in her books that I think make her an interesting woman.

3*** Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2019). Okay, I admit it freely. I bought this book because I loved the cover illustration. I loved the title and I loved that it is by a Japanese writer which always gives an interesting experience.  I really do like everything about the Japanese culture. In this book it states: “In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

We meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time travelling offer, in order to make use of the cafe’s time travelling offer, in order to confront the lover who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has begun to fade, see their sister one last time and meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the cafe, and finally they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. 

The author explores the age old question of what would you change if you could travel back in time.

Well that is another day completed.  I might add before I get too far into this April project that I tend to buy books that I have a feeling for when I handle them. I know, I know. Sound a bit silly but I have never been one to follow the award winners, the popular, the books everyone is talking about.  I get burned out quickly from books that have too much hype around them, no matter how good they may be.  I like stories, authors, characters that go to fascinating countries, have remarkable experiences, have a different point of view to mine (unless they are right wing fundamentals which I won’t touch or I should say I’ll listen to them but only once and usually dismiss the craziness of most of them. Think American Republican Party or gun control lobbies. But I digress.)

I like to scrounge through the shelves of both new and second hand book stores and look for something maybe really old or very different or something I’ve never heard of. I’ve been known to go to the library, walk down a row of shelves with eyes closed and pull something off the shelf and not look at it until I get home.  I’m sure there are other bookish friends out there who know exactly what I’m talking about.  So until tomorrow.

I was reading blog posts today and I have noticed there are a few challenges happening while people are stuck at home. Booker Talk who lives in Wales, is one of my favourite bloggers to follow and I noticed a challenge she is going to do during April about blogging. I am looking forward to reading her daily posts for the month.

I fail miserably at challenges but mostly because I have had too many other things on the go all the time. Well, that has all come to a screaming halt and I need something to keep me going. I have decided to make up my own challenge for April. “So”, I thought; What will it be?”  My favourite thing about reading blogs is hearing about other books. It might be a long review of something I’m interested in or something like  describing your latest second hand shop purchases or your library haul.

I have decided that I will share three books a day (if possible) during the month of April. I will do it in alphabetical order and the books must be on my shelf, either read or unread.

As today is the first of April I will begin with the letter A. (I will not use a, an or the).  That will get me up to day 26.  To make up for the other four days I will not do the alphabet challenge on Sunday. Instead I will continue with Simply Sunday that captures the week and past travel photos paired with books that have the same subject name as the photos. That will allow four more posts in that field and by then we might all be tired of them.  I’ll have to plan something new for May if we are still quarantined.

On that note- Let us begin.

Aa

   1. An Accommodating Spouse (1999) by Australian author Elizabeth Jolley  (4 July 1923 – 13 Feb 2007). While I have read a couple of her other books this is one that remains unread on my shelf.

Elizabeth Jolley was born in the industrial Midlands of England and moved to Western Australia in 1959. She is acclaimed as one of Australia’s leading writers and has received an Order of Australia, honorary doctorates from Curtain University and Macquarie and Queensland universities. She also won many other major literary awards in Australia. Tim Winton, Australian writer, has stated in one of his memoirs that she influenced him quite a bit as she taught him in university.

An Accommodating Spouse states in the blurb on the back:

When the Professor marries Hazel, Lady Carpenter warns that his new wife is so like her twin, Chloe, he will have trouble telling them apart. So inseparable are the twins that the Professor lives with both women under one roof. 

Into their generous and harmonious household return their daughters-triplets-fresh from the round the world travelling, and ready for whatever excitement they can grab next in their lives. 

Family life in the otherwise quiet house swells to a chaotic dazzling crescendo as the Professor struggles to keep in step with the seven women in his life and strange request from Dr. Florence. 

2.  All The Books of My Life (1956) by Sheila Kaye- Smith  (British 4 Feb 1887-14 Jan 1956). Kaye-Smith’s fiction was noted for being rooted in rural concerns: the nineteenth-century agricultural depression, farming, legacies, land rents, strikes, the changing position of women, and the effects of industrialisation on the countryside and provincial life.

I picked this book up second hand because it is a book about books which I love.

She states on the dust jacket overleaf- “In the course of a reasonably long life I must have read many hundreds of books, some of which I have forgotten, but most of which I remember, and all of which, remembered or forgotten, must have left some mental deposit, so that in a sense I am mentally as much the books I have read as I am chemically the food I have eaten. Their sequence is very much the sequence of my life. Certain of them have marked my way like milestones and others have lit it up like lamps. In writing about them I am taking the reader along the road which I have travelled through the years and telling what, though it cannot be called an autobiography, is nevertheless my own story.”

I do like the idea of thinking about how books shape one’s life over the course of many decades.

3.  Another unusual Australian book is entitled Angel of Death (2019) by author Leigh Straw. It is described as Dulcie Markham, Australia’s most beautiful bad woman. Leigh Straw is an academic, historian and writer. She is passionate about telling Australian stories. Some of her other books are The Worst Woman in Sydney; The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh (2016); After the War: Returned Soldiers and the Mental and Physical Scars of WW I (2017); and Lillian Armfield: How Australia’s First Female Detective Took on Tilly Devine and the Razor Gangs and Changed the Face of the Force. Leigh is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Notre Dame Australia at the time of this printing.

The book is about Dulcie Markham who was a key figure of the underworld of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane during the most violent years of Australian crime- the 1920s to the 1950s. The descriptions states she had movie star looks but impeccably bad taste in men, she ‘saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia’s history; according to one crime reporter. Dulcie’s killer smile matched her deadly reputation. I’d rate her twelve out of ten; said one detective of her beauty. But to fall in love with her (and many men did) was to risk death. 

Until tomorrow 😍😍😍