It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I just left Oxfordshire where I'd been spending most weekends with old college friends at a large country manor. The emotional dynamics got very disturbing and I really wanted to ease myself out of this unhealthy situation. I was working toward this end during a very Gatsby-esque party, but once again got drawn back into the group drama. When the end came, I wasn't sure if it was tragic or hopeful. (The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse)

Join raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading and let her know where your reading is taking you this Tuesday.

Booking Through Thursday: Book Storage

This week’s question is suggested by Kat:

I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I’m just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we’d like to know “How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?”

I have a bookshelf in the bedroom that holds about 100 books. I tend to keep my “special” books there (signed hardbacks, antiques, etc.). A lovely built-in bookcase with doors (and glass knobs!) is in the living room. I double park books in that one, so it currently holds about 200. The fiction books are separated by size and then arranged alphabetically by author. I’d rather not separate by size (pretty much hardbound vs. paperbound), but this does use the space more efficiently and allows me to use vertical space.

I live in such a tiny space (about 500 square feet), and so have had to develop a storage system that doesn't restrict access to my books. The books that don't fit in the house (many and mostly fiction) are stored in my garage in see through plastic bins that are numbered. Those books are each entered into my LibraryThing account with a notation referring to the numbered bin where the book is currently located. If I remove a book from a bin for some reason, it does not have to go back to the same one I took it from as long as I change the notation in LibraryThing. I adapted this method from one used by a California State University library that has many books in storage. Of course their system uses a huge warehouse and a robotic retrieval system!

My storage system seems to be working. It allows me to keep more books than will fit in my tiny space, yet they are very accessible.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fortunately, Mr. Distortion will not be suffering any glaring looks from me. The dinner reservations were made well in advance. Actually, I'm happy just to spend time with my hubby. The dinner is merely icing on the cake.

Senate Candy Desk

Did you know that there is a Candy Desk in the United States Senate Chamber? No, I'm not speaking metaphorically. There is an actual desk with a drawer full of candy located in the back row on the Republican side of the Chamber. Read about it here.



For more information about traditions of the United States Senate, go to their Traditions Reference page. Scroll down to the Legacies section to read about Seersucker Thursday or Senate Bean Soup.

BOOK REVIEW: Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez

Perfumes: The Guide is a wonderful tribute to the art of perfumery written with humor and passion. The authors write about scent like others write about food or wine and, just like a good food or wine writer will have you seeking out food and drink, Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez will have you running for the perfume counter to start sniffing away for that smell that will send you to nirvana.

The book begins with several essays followed by almost fifteen hundred fragrance reviews. A nifty glossary of materials and terms (aldehydes anyone?) is located toward the back of the book for those of us who can appreciate nice smells but are otherwise clueless as to the fascinating art of perfumery.

I'll leave you with a quote by Tania Sanchez from her essay "Beauty and the Bees":

"[Perfume should] engage our attention to a satisfying end, first creating an expectation and then satisfying it in a way different and better than you hoped."

Thanks to Bellezza for bringing this book to my attention!

BOOK REVIEW: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book is a wonderful coming of age story ... with a bit of a twist. This is the story of Nobody "Bod" Owens as he grows from a toddler to a young man. He has a family and the usual ups and downs of childhood as he struggles to grow up. Bod is like any other child, in many ways, except his mom and dad are ghosts, his guardian is undead, and he lives in a graveyard that he may not leave without placing himself in mortal danger.

Silas, Bod's guardian, is a rather endearing figure considering his nature as a creature of the night. He is protective of Bod and, unknown to us throughout most of the story, he strives to right the great wrong that took Bod's natural family from him and placed him in the arms of the graveyard. Silas is every child's dream of that adult who, unlike parents, understands you and will be truthful in explaining the mysteries of the grown-up world.

Most of those who live in the graveyard are protective of Bod, but there are those who would cause him harm. The indigo man, the sleer, and the ghouls are sufficiently creepy, but creepiest of all is Jack the assassin. Jack is a shadowy figure who seems to ooze evil. He reminded me a bit of the child catcher in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang**. Remember him? He could sniff out children with his long ugly nose in order to capture and cage them. Similarly, Jack can find Bod by following his scent. Shiver.

Several of the chapters in The Graveyard Book could stand on their own as short stories and perhaps, unknown to me, they have been published as such. My favorite chapter is the enchanting "Danse Macabre." It sparkles with some of the Gaiman magic found in Stardust and is a bit of a treatise on the idea that there is more to this life than what we see and that "being" is more than the corporeal.

The ending was bittersweet, as are most coming of age stories. There was a palpable sadness and excitement as Bod left the safety of his graveyard home and family in order to venture into a largely unknown and living world. Bod captures this well when he says:

"I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want,” he said, and then he paused and he thought. “I want everything."

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 - Weightier and with more depth than Coraline.

Question: Did anyone else find The Graveyard Book to be a bit Ray Bradbury-ish?

**Trivia: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a children's book written by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame.

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed at:
nymeth at Things Mean a Lot
Fatalis Fortuna at The Fickle Hand of Fate
Natasha at Maw Books
tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I'm in Chicago waiting for my husband to come back from whenever he went to this time. He occasionally disappears into either the past or future, and all I can do is wait for him to return. I worry about him when this happens and always wonder if he will come back. (The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger)

Join raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading and let her know where your reading is taking you this Tuesday.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You?

I'm in a graveyard. My Mom and Dad are ghosts and my guardian is ... well ... I don't want to spoil the fun, so let's just say he is neither alive nor dead. I've just escaped the ghouls, with the help of what you would call a werewolf. They wanted to change me into a ghoul too! Can you imagine that? It gives me shivers just remembering that episode. I wonder if I'll ever get to live among the living? (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)

Join raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading and let her know where your reading is taking you this Tuesday.

BOOK REVIEW: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

The nameless narrator of The Gargoyle is, on the surface, one of the "beautiful people," but beauty truly is only skin deep for this self-centered, cynical and unhappy man. So it is ironic that the very thing that defines him, his beautiful outer shell, is severely burned turning him into a "monster." He is determined to commit suicide and constructs an elaborate and fool-proof method to end a life that he believes has no meaning without his physical beauty.

Marianne Engel is a psychiatric patient who appears at the narrator's bedside. She claims that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. She is, like Scheherazade, a teller of tales and draws this devastated man into her stories of enduring love. Instead of saving her own life though, she saves the life of the narrator through her continuing tales.

Marianne is more than a storyteller though. She is a sculptor of gargoyles, or grotesques. Again, it is ironic that a man who has become a living grotesque, should fall in love with a woman who carves them from stone. Both living grotesque and stone grotesques are shaped through pain and suffering. While the narrator does indeed suffer through multiple physical "sculptings," what is more significant is the inner shaping of his heart, turning it from stone to a living thing overflowing with love.

I wanted to read this book quickly, but I forced myself to slow down and savor this beautiful novel. The Gargoyle is an unusual love story that captures the nature of true, lasting and redeeming love. Davidson weaves several tales of love within his own tale and creates what I think is a beautiful tapestry with unexpected connections. After reading The Gargoyle, I'm even more convinced that love really is something that endures beyond the life we know.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Note to other reviewers: If you've written a review for this book, please let me know by posting the permanent URL for your review in the comments. I'll be happy to add a link to your review with my post.

Also reviewed at:
Marj at Reading Adventures
Jackie at FarmLaneBooks
Margaret at BooksPlease
Chris at book-a-rama