My True Love Gave To Me

My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins (2014)

This is a collection of short stories, mostly Christmas themed, and all with a bit of romance, written by some of the most popular authors who write for teens. Out of the twelve authors in the collection, I've read books by six and have heard great things about four others, leaving only two authors I hadn't heard of before. What a treat! These stories run the gamut from realistic fiction to fantasy, with many somewhere in between.

One of the new-to-me authors I was excited about was Kelly Link and her story "The Lady and the Fox" did not disappoint. Miranda's mother is in prison in Thailand so Miranda spends every Christmas with her godparents, the Honeywells. Every time it snows on Christmas a mysterious man appears outside the house and Miranda is determined to find out who he is. Matt de la Peña, another author I'd heard of but never read, wrote one called "Angels in the Snow," which I think was one of my favorites in the collection. A young guy is housesitting over his college Christmas break because he can't afford to go home, but he also can't afford to eat. He befriends a young woman in the building but tries to hide his hunger from her. "The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor was a fantasy, fairy-tale like and totally beautiful and kind of weirdish in a really good way. She's the author of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, which has just jumped up a few notches on my imaginary TBR list.

Those were all on the more serious side of the collection, comparatively. "Welcome to Christmas, CA" by Kiersten White (who I hadn't heard of before) takes place in a diner when a new, magical, and definitely good-looking cook is hired. The food bits were super fun, although there was a fairly serious subplot, and a pretty touching story about Maria's family. Another great one was "Star of Bethlehem" by Ally Carter in which a teenage girl impulsively trades plane tickets with a similar-looking girl from Sweden who wants to fly to New York instead of going to Oklahoma to visit her long-distance boyfriend. For reasons we learn later, our protagonist is trying to escape her life and although she knows her scheme is not going to work she's willing to try. So she goes to Oklahoma and meets the Swedish girl's boyfriend and his family.

So far, all these great stories I've mentioned were by authors I hadn't even read before. But there are also authors in this collection that I already knew I liked! "Polaris is Where You'll Find Me" by Jenny Han is about a human living among elves at the North Pole and doesn't quite fit in. It sounds like the movie Elf, but it's totally not. (Although I also love Elf.) It was fun and light and festive. "It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown" by editor Stephanie Perkins is about a somewhat-accidental acquisition of a Christmas tree by a teenage girl, and the boy who helps her bring it to her apartment that doesn't actually have room for it. Rainbow Rowell's "Midnights" began the collection with a romance that takes place on several New Year's Eves and, like her books, it's hard to describe why it is so wonderful.

This is the problem with short story collections. I just end up summarizing what the stories are about as briefly as possible and take up a ton of space just with that, without even going into everything I like about them. And that's not even all of them. (I didn't even tell you about "Krampuslauf" by Holly Black or "Your Temporary Santa" by David Levithan even though I liked both of them a lot.) I liked that there was a variety of styles and genres included, and that the stories covered Christmas, New Year's Eve, Advent, and Hanukkah, and some of the characters were Jewish and the romances were between a girl and boy or a boy and another boy or a girl and someone who is maybe not quite human. And although they're mostly festive and fun and light they also touch on serious issues, and one asks a question that I keep thinking about and can't answer. ("Would you rather be great at something you like, or just ok at something you love?" Man, I don't know!)

If you just like fantasy or just like realistic fiction you'd have to pick and choose from this collection, which I recommend if you recognize the authors from your most-loved genres. But if - like me - you read in various genres you'll probably enjoy the whole thing as much as I did.

Top New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2016

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is the top ten authors I read for the first time in 2016. It's always fun to look back at my Goodreads list for the year, because I'm often surprise by what I find. It turns out I read a lot of authors for the first time this year, so it was just a matter of narrowing it down to the ones I liked the most and who I'm most likely to read again.

As it turns out, there were eight that really stood out. I spent some time waffling around trying to pick another two - and there were definitely other books by authors I read for the first time and really liked - but they didn't stand out nearly as much as my original list, so I'm sticking to eight.

1. Kate Morton: I read The Forgotten Garden
Historical family saga and mystery set mostly in the English countryside. Immersive and atmostpheric.

2. Taylor Jenkins Reid: I listened to One True Loves
A young woman finds love for the second time, only to learn that her presumably-dead husband is still alive. Angsty contemporary that I couldn't put down.

3. Jennifer Crusie: I listened to Bet Me
Older contemporary romance/chick lit with wonderfully amazing main character and a ton of humor.

4. Peter Swanson: I read The Kind Worth Killing
A guy decides to murder his wife and a woman he meets in an airport offers to help him, but his wife has her own agenda they don't know about. Excellent psychological novel that's full of surprises.

5. Courtney Milan: I read The Suffragette Scandal
Historical romance full of feminism and hilarity. Courtney Milan is also excellent to follow on Twitter.

6. Beverly Jenkins: I listened to Forbidden
Another historical, this one about a black woman making her way in post-Civil War America. Really interesting issues addressed, but also great main characters and a sweet romance.

7. Nicola Griffith: I read Hild
Difficult but excellent historical about a strong young woman. Dripping with detail of life in seventh-century Britain. Not quick or easy to read, but definitely worth it.

8. Elizabeth Gilbert: I read Big Magic
Inspiring part-memoir, part-self-help book about creativity. Recommended for all creative types or creative wannabes.

I'm hoping to read more by all of these authors, each of whom impressed me in a different way.

Did you discover any new favorite authors this year?

The Tempest

The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1610)

Although I'm technically finished reading plays for my Bardathon Challenge, I'll be seeing a performance of The Tempest in December so I decided to read it ahead of time. In this play, the magician Prospero has been living in exile on a remote island with his daughter Miranda. He conjures a storm which brings to the island several people who had conspired together to oust Prospero. His complicated manipulations result in the marriage of Miranda to the son of the King of Naples, and Prospero's own restoration as the Duke of Milan.

My experience reading this was pretty meh. I enjoyed some of the wordplay and humor, such as when a ship was described as being "as leaky as an unstanched wench." When Trinculo notices the monster caliban he remarks: "What have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish, he smells like a fish - a very ancient and fishlike smell, a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-John. A strange fish." Later, that same character says, again to Caliban, "Monster, I do smell all horse piss, at which my nose is in great indignation." So that was all amusing.

Again I read the Folger edition, as I've been reading with the other plays. This time I noticed that some unfamiliar words and phrases weren't explained, though "maze" was defined, which seemed a bit odd. I also had a hard time keeping track of the characters since so many of them seemed interchangeable. And I had a tough time understanding what was happening near the middle, but when all was said and done I think I get the idea.

At this point I sort of think if you've read one Shakespeare play, you've read them all so I probably won't be making a point to read any more. I'm looking forward to this play though - the island setting, storm, shipwreck, monster, and various spirits should lend themselves to a more visual experience.

Big Magic

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (2015)

I don't read much self-help and was a bit put off by the sub-title, but I'm intrigued by ideas about creativity. After hearing this book mentioned on a few different blogs, I impulsively picked it up at the library even though I had several books at home already. I'm glad I did! This was an easy, pleasant book to read and turned out to be an inspiring missive encouraging everyone with even a spark of creative interest to pursue our interests.

Gilbert works through typical fears that prevent one from doing creative work, and dismantles several myths about what it means to live a creative life. If I had to sum up her basic premise, it would be: Do whatever you want, however you want to do it and regardless of how good at it you are. These basic ideas are expressed through various beliefs about creativity, and I ended up making a ton of notes in the course of my reading.

Some of her beliefs are a little out-there, but in a way that is productive and helpful. Like, she talks about ideas having lives of their own in a magical way, and finding people to bring them forth. If an idea picks you, it will try to get your attention and if you don't latch onto it, it will find someone else. To any rational thinker that's ridiculous, but given how little control one has over things like inspiration, it seems like a pretty useful way to think about it, and has definitely served Elizabeth Gilbert well. Like the time she spent a couple of years working on a book and then neglected it, and Ann Patchett ended up writing basically the exact book. She could been upset and angry and allowed it to ruin their friendship, but instead she just took it for granted that it was out of her control and she moved on to the next project.

A related idea comes from the ancient Greeks and Romans, which is that genius is something external. A person isn't inherently genius, but they may have genius for a time. Having a brilliant idea doesn't mean that a person is always brilliant, and failing to come up with a brilliant idea isn't necessarily one's own fault. This keeps the ego in check and lets people off the hook a bit. Which is all to say that you can't control inspiration.

Gilbert also believes that authenticity is more important than originality, that your work doesn't need to be important, and that the idea of tortured artist is hogwash. Those who were great creators and were alcoholics or drug addicts were great creators despite their addictions not because of them. Interestingly, she doesn't seem to value education in the arts very much. While it's obvious that you don't need a degree to be good at your art, she seems to think that the only thing gained from getting an MFA is debt. I'm not qualified to argue about this because, like Gilbert, I don't have an MFA and was, in fact, (also like her) a political science major. But I imagine there is value in getting the degree because if nothing else it's forcing you to focus on and practice your craft.

She cares less about success than about fully engaging in your creativity for its own sake, saying that if she weren't creating she'd be destroying. She says "I firmly believe that we all need to find something to do in our lives that stops us from eating the couch." And there's value in trying different kinds of creative work, too. If you really want to write but you feel blocked, go spend some time drawing or take the dog for a walk or just switch gears and do something different, and when you return to your writing you might be in a better spot to keep going. I've heard this advice before, but it's worth a reminder.

A couple of her ideas especially stood out to me. The first one came from her mother: "Done is better than good." Which Gilbert later paraphased as: "A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never." Her point being that most people don't actually finish things, and finishing a thing is a pretty big deal even if it's not perfect. "You do what you can do, as competently as possible within a reasonable time frame, and then you let it go."

The second thing I was very happy to hear her say is that she doesn't believe in telling people that all they need to do is follow their passion. She finds this unhelpful and sometimes cruel, explaining that chances are that if someone has a clear passion, they are probably already following it. The reality is that many people don't know what their passion is, or has multiple passions, and had one but now it has changed. Her version of this advice is to follow your curiosity. Not everyone has a great passion, but most of us are curious about things, and investigating those can lead you on a path to a satisfying project.

I think what I liked most about the ideas in this book is just how democratic her views on creativity are. What she seems to emphasize over and over is that you don't have to be good, you don't have to make a living just from your creative projects, and that it doesn't matter if a million people are better at it than you. What matters is that you're pursuing something that you love for its own sake, and you shouldn't let other people's ideas or your own fears of failing stop you from doing that.

I've never read anything by Elizabeth Gilbert before. Years ago I picked up a copy of Eat, Pray, Love and read about a page before deciding it wasn't for me. Reading this book, however, kind of makes me want to try that one again just because I really like the way she thinks about things. Personally, my creativity tends to involve dabbling in various things rather than pursuing a great passion whole-heartedly so I found much here to be validating. But I think there's also a lot that would be helpful for someone who does have a great, driving passion for art or writing or music or origami or some other creative work. It's a very quick, easy book to read but it's packed with a whole lot of food for thought.

Have you read any books about creativity that you loved? Please share your suggestions in the comments!

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished (The Rules of Scoundrels #3) by Sarah MacLean (2013)

I've been reading this series completely out of order. I began with #4, Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover, then progressed to #1, A Rogue by Any Other Name. Now I've just finished #3, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished and I can confidently say that this series should win some sort of prize for Best Titles Ever. The one I haven't read, #2, is called One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. I rest my case.

But about the story. It begins with the Duke of Lamont waking up and expecting to find a woman next to him in bed, but finding only blood. He has no memory of the night. He does remember the woman though, because she was engaged to marry his father. Now she's apparently dead and for the next twelve years he's known as the Killer Duke.

Then one day she appears - Mara Lowe. She's been in hiding this whole time, but now feels a lot of guilt about setting up this innocent guy. She offers to finally clear his name and they enter into an agreement in which he will pay her to spend time with him in public and then she will be revealed as who she truly is, exonerating him. The money will go towards saving the orphanage she runs. She's desperate for money because her reckless, irresponsible brother has lost everything. Of course, even though Temple (as the Duke is called these days) and Mara should be sworn enemies because of their history, they are drawn to each other despite how much they each try to resist.

Mara has all the best qualities of a romance heroine. She is strong, witty, doesn't take crap from anyone, and despite living in the 19th century she can take care of herself perfectly well, thank you very much. I loved some of the things she said and, in fact, would love to start using the words "scallawaginous" and "scoundrelly." Also, she has a pet pig named Lavender who sleeps on a cushion. As pet pigs should. This novel also has one of my very favorite tropes: Temple becomes gravely injured and Mara helps nurse him back to health. Well, she doesn't help a whole lot since she isn't allowed near him for a while, but it still works for me.

The only issue I really had is that the characters seemed determined to make things more difficult for themselves than they needed to be, which is an all-too-common problem I encounter in romance novels. There was a point where it seemed like they were pretty much all set, but Mara still insisted they couldn't be together. Oh, and the word "worrying" was really overused. Not as in an anxious feeling, but as in fiddling with something (like a lip or a nipple.) It was used about 5 times in the course of just a few pages, which seems excessive. But these are very minor issues with a book that I found overall pretty enjoyable.

You may recall that I struggled a bit with the last book I read because I wasn't really in the mood to read about Soviet oppression around the time of the US election, but do you know what I did want to read? This. This is exactly what I needed. I actually began it before finishing the last book because I really, really needed some comfort and pleasure. Sarah MacLean came through for me, as I knew she would. I have only one more book in this series to read, and I was surprised to learn that on Goodreads it has the highest rating in the series. I've enjoyed them all so far, but I absolutely loved Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover, and now I'm looking forward to reading the one that, apparently, many people loved even more.

Ten Things I'm Thankful For

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. This week is a Thanksgiving freebie - things you're thankful for or books you're thankful for. I can't pick out specific books that I'm thankful for so I'm going more general with this one.

1. Books - all of them!
There are so many out there that there really is something for everyone, and I appreciate that here in the US we have the freedom to read whatever we want. Not everyone in the world has the freedom to do so, or the access to the books they want.

2. Meditation and my meditation room
I started meditating back in May and it really has made a difference in my life. For one thing, I sleep much better these days, but I also think it's just made me more calm in general. We have a room that's small enough to be kind of useless and I made it into my meditation room (also called "room of solitude" or "room of requirement.") It feels absolutely luxurious to have a space set aside for mindfulness and contemplation.

3. The US government's system of checks and balances
I always take it for granted but I think we'll be getting more use out of it soon.

4. Organizations like ACLU, SPLC, and fact-checking websites like Politifact
Protecting our rights and helping us figure out what's true and what isn't. I've been lax about donating, but soon I'll be setting up some monthly donations so I don't fall behind again.

5. Financial stability
I'm all too aware of the growing economic inequality in this country and I'm incredibly lucky to be in the position I'm in.

6. The city I live in
There are many reasons why I live in Somerville, and specifically East Somerville. My neighborhood has a huge immigrant population, which gives it a diversity and vibrancy different from many other places. Not to mention delicious tasty foods. We are one of the sanctuary cities that have been mentioned in political discourse recently, and our mayor has strongly reaffirmed that status. This makes me very happy.

7. My job, especially my department
This was on my list last year too, and it has not changed. My job is still amazing. Even though it's been a bit rough lately because of being so incredibly busy and some post-election safety-pin-related drama, I still wouldn't trade it for any other job I can think of. I'm especially lucky that the people in my department make being a department head much easier than it could be. Every person in my department is passionate about their job and that makes all the difference in the world.

8. That guy I live with
He doesn't get much airtime here, but I need to give a shoutout to Eric. I've been reading a lot of posts on Pantsuit Nation (the secret FB group Clinton referred to in her concession speech) and the MA offshoot of Pantsuit Nation, and a lot of women have expressed that their husbands voted for Trump and/or don't understand why many women don't want a president who has bragged about sexually assaulting women. I'm very grateful to live with someone whose masculinity isn't threatened by feminism or anything else, and whose basic beliefs are very similar to mine. He also does all the cooking, so.

Someone doesn't like her new winter coat.

9. Petri's greatly improved behavior over last year
Getting a dog has been incredibly disruptive to daily life and making plans, not to mention a whole new skill set I've had to learn. Last year at this time we were both tearing our hair out and really honestly didn't know if we'd be able to keep this dog. She was horrible! Biting, grabbing at our clothing, running around like a maniac, pulling hard when we tried to walk her, freaking out at other dogs, not to mention her ongoing intestinal issues. But as soon as her health issues cleared up we were able to send her here for an intense board-and-train program for 5 weeks. Then again in the spring for another 6 weeks. At this point she's pretty much a regular dog which feels like a miracle.

10. My health
It's true that I've been having problems with my wrist preventing me from doing yoga or knitting as frequently as I'd like, and I've also had to start wearing reading glasses this year. Aging means falling apart and I'm quite grateful that I seem to be doing it slowly. I realize I'm only in my early 40s, but there was a time that was the extent of our lifespans. I just started running this year and although I won't be winning any marathons (who am I kidding? I won't be entering any marathons) I'm glad I've been able to stick to a regular exercise routine.

I think we can all agree that 2016 has sucked in a lot of ways. We lost amazing people like Prince and David Bowie and then elected a hot-headed reality tv star as president. Now more than ever it's important to think about all the important little things that make our lives fulfilling.

What are you thankful for this year?

Symphony for the City of the Dead

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson (2015)

It's been over a week since I've posted about a book, and it's no coincidence that my last book post was the day before the US presidential election fiasco. I actually started this book a couple of days before but had too much anxiety to read, and that only increased after the results came in. It took everything I had to force myself to read this because Soviet oppression is exactly the opposite of what I actually felt like reading at the time. But it was for my book group at work and I'm glad I made myself read it because it was actually very good and we had a great discussion!

The Siege of Leningrad was a significant but often-overlooked part of World War II, and I imagine most people know little about the composer Shostakovich and the role of his music during that time. Anderson expertly weaves together two different threads; the political aspects of the war, and Shostakovich's life and music. The result is a rich, vibrant story filled with unforgettable imagery.

A lot is covered, so I will just mention a few things that stood out to me. One was the resilience of the Russian people. Last night at my book group someone mentioned that Russia is declining, and another person said "Yes, but it has always been declining." This speaks to something essential about the country, which is the determination and strength of Russia and its people to keep going even when everything is fighting against them. The Siege lasted for something like two and half years, Hitler's troops surrounding the city so nobody could leave and food couldn't be shipped in. Even while literally starving to death, the members of the orchestra came together to rehearse and perform Shostakovich's 7th Symphony. It's what kept them going. People who just huddled in their beds to conserve energy were the ones who died; those who kept active lived. When the Symphony was being performed, starving people gave up their daily rations to afford tickets. And in the end, Hitler lost.

Another part that stood out to me came earlier in the time leading up to the siege. Stalin and Hitler had communicated a bit and come to an agreement about how far each could send their troops, essentially divvying up eastern Europe. As Hitler's troops came closer and closer, many different people alerted Stalin, who refused to believe it was happening. He would contact Hitler, who would tell him that the reports was lies to throw him off and he should ignore them. Stalin believed him, much to his own detriment. This would be mind-boggling with any leader in a time of war, but even more so because Stalin didn't trust anyone. But he chose to trust Hitler.

Life for the Russian people in this time was filled with fear and paranoia. If you wanted to survive it was essential to toe the party line and make sure you didn't say anything that the government didn't approve of. This was incredibly difficult because it kept changing. This extended to artistic expression, so Shostakovich had to keep politics in mind with his music. We don't think of music without lyrics as expressing specific opinions, but it can be interpreted and not always in the way the composer intended. Shostakovich wasn't put in a good position at all. Of course we'll never know what he actually thought about anything since he couldn't speak freely, which is also addressed in the book.

Despite the fact that I was completely not in the mood to read this, I ended up liking it a lot and I'd highly recommend it. This work is pretty dense for a teen book, but not as dense as most adult non-fiction books, so it was just perfect for me. As you can probably tell from my stream-of-consciousness thoughts above, Anderson tackles a lot here. But it's necessary because so much is tangled up together that can't really be separated. There's no doubt that Shostakovich's music played a role during the Siege and exploring that requires looking at the larger context. It was fascinating!