What a wonderful little motivational book. Snider breaks down this topic into 10 subjects including inspiration, contemplation, exploration...you get the idea. Each topic is broken down into its percentage of genius with perspiration being the most at 29%. Everything starts with an idea. What a small word that is really the basis of everything. As always, the illustrations are fantastic and Snider has a lot to say.
Back in the 1970s, Ada Vaux Tanner became one of the first Black women on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, fighting hard to earn the fortune she would one day use to build a beautiful "cottage" in Martha's Vineyard and to make sure her three goddaughters had everything they could ever possibly wish for. Now, as she turns 66 and five years after her beloved husband Omar died, Ama is ready to give the keys to the cottage to one of her goddaughters, and has invited the three of them out to the Vineyard for the summer. While Perry, Olivia, and Billie all would love to own the house that was more home to them than any other place they lived growing up, they each have their own challenges that they're bringing to the table — and Ama has some secrets that she needs to share with them before any bequests can be made.
Told in alternating points of view from the four women at the center of the story, as well as a few flashbacks to Ada's early days in New York City, this relationship-centric read focuses on a well-to-do Black family in the upscale African American community of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. So many relationship fiction titles are centered on rich families dealing with secrets and problems, but so few of those families feature people of color. This story is a welcome addition to the genre, and I look forward to additional stories about Ada and her goddaughters.
Once upon a time, Clay Cooper was part of Saga, the most famous (and infamous) band in the land, fighting back monsters, saving villages, diving deep into the heart of Heartwyld, the perilous forest that covers a huge swath of land between Agria and the city of Castia. For the past couple of decades, however, the members of Saga have gone their own ways, settling down and, well, getting old and out of shape. But when Saga frontman Gabe shows up on Clay's doorstep with plans of getting the band back together to rescue his daughter from a monster horde in Castia, well, the old guys dust off their swords and battleaxes to strike out into the Wyld one more time.
This was a fun book to read, full of references to both fantasy quests and aging rock bands. It's equally full of humor and creative beasts, sometimes at the same time (owlbears! bards that fair as well as Spinal Tap's bassists!). So much fun, and a great reunion tour for Saga.
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (2020) 270 pages
Since he was a child, Wu has always wanted to be "Kung Fu Guy," but as an adult in the film industry, he's relegated to roles such as "Background Oriental Male," "Dead Asian Man," or "Generic Asian Man" number 3, 2, or 1.
The lives (and stereotypes) of Asian Americans are examined and compared to those of Blacks, women, and White men. Messages regarding family and values and much more are subtly–and unsubtly–conveyed via this novel's creative structure.
Hints and tips about creativity and how we can all be creative. I think Cleese is a pretty good example. He talks about his writing and how he evolved from a math/science/lawyer type guy into someone who was more creative. Thriving means giving yourself a chance...keep revising, don't make decisions too quickly, give an idea time to percolate. This is truly a short and cheerful guide. I wonder if it is short to maintain the cheerfulness. He does tell of having fallow periods but nothing that seemed to stressful for him. A nice reminder that we can all improve.
Steve and Harry are a bit of an odd couple but their work together is pretty fantastic. This book is the result of their work together, Harry the artist, Steve adding the captions. Interspersed are a few pages that reveal the working relationship between the two and their first meeting. I hope this partnership continues.
I wish I hadn't felt compelled to read this but given the precarious state of democracy, it is a good book to study. Gessen was early to sound the warning of the significance of the 2016 election and the road ahead. Here is 22 solid chapters full of examples of why we need to worry and the march up to each hill that we went over without stopping to see the obvious. It is not uplifting, but it does show that we can't be too careful when we start looking at actually SEEING what is going on right in front of us.
Dannie is a high level lawyer looking for even more prestige. She has a solid five year plan that includes marrying boyfriend David and climbing the ladder. One night, she falls asleep and wakes up 5 years hence. She is living in a different apartment and finds herself with a man she does not recognize. She is confused and discombobulated but then they make love and she thinks maybe things haven't turned out too badly. Now she wakes up again in her own life - present day. She is stunned by this vision of her future but thinks she should stick with her original plan. Life happens and time passes...she ends up meeting the man she saw herself with she doesn't know how to handle her feelings. Her best friend Bella, her polar opposite as far as personality is dating this guy and falling for him big time. Dannie decides to double down on making her original plan happen but can you deny fate?
Detective Inspector Adam Tyler works in South Yorkshire’s Cold Case Unit and is called to the scene when a skeleton is discovered wall-up in the basement of a mansion that is being renovated. The property had belonged to the financier, Gerald Cartwright, who disappeared six years previously. It was thought that he’d had shady dealings and vanished intentionally, but this throws that theory into question. The mansion has suffered from neglect and fire damage from a blaze some years back and the person renovating it is Gerald’s son, Oscar. One snag, seemingly coincidently, Tyler had met Oscar for the first time at a bar the night previously, and they had gone back to his apartment for anonyomos sex. Tyler’s gayness isn’t his only problem with some of the other officers either. The cast of characters will soon include a young Muslim female constable trying to make her mark and facing her own type of discrimination, a hunky local fire chief, and Tyler’s supervisor, who is out to get him. Gerald’s sins are slowly revealed to include far more than illegal business deals. The “Cask of Amontillado” meets fear of being burned alive. Quite well done for a debut mystery. 355 pp.
A few books into her popular “Maisie Dobbs” series, Winspear paused in 2014, the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, to write this non-mystery novel centering on the “home front” and women’s place in that conflict. It is a quietly effective and ultimately tragic book. Kezia and her best friend Dorothea – known at home as “Dorrit,” and who will become “Thea” after school – meet as scholarship students at a prestigious girls’ school in London. They come from the same rural area, but their close bond is formed primarily because of their shared humble beginnings (a country vicar’s daughter and a local farmer’s). This bond is only reinforced when Kezia marries Thea’s older brother, Tom, who manages the family farm after the early deaths of both parents. As the book opens, Thea has become deeply involved in women’s suffrage, while Kezia seems content to move into a more traditional role as a wife. Somewhat miffed, Thea gives her friend The Woman’s Book, a compendium of household hints, cookery, and advice, as a wedding gift, a not-too-subtle dig at the world Kezia will soon enter, subservient to a husband and caught in society’s expectations. However, soon after Kezia and Tom marry, war breaks out and Tom joins up, leaving the inexperienced Kezia to manage not only the household, but the entire farm, its livestock, and those who work on the land. Thea, having narrowly escaped being caught and arrested for her suffrage and pacifism work (and those arrested were often abused and force-fed), sees driving an ambulance as a way to avoid apprehension. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. Chapters alternate between Kezia’s struggles to keep the farm going in the face of shortages and losing help as men join up, Tom’s service in the trenches of France, and Thea’s work in the danger zone. What keeps Tom, and soon his fellow soldiers in the trenches, going are Kezia’s letters to Tom describing (entirely fictional) delicious and inventive dinners she is preparing for him each day. Sounds a bit treacly, but it is quite moving. 319 pp.
