Guess who's coming to lunch: Patti Abbott

Fellow writer and blogger, Patti Abbott, was recently in town and graciously agreed to meet me for lunch. We got together in La Jolla, and I ate some kind of delicous salad with beets. Beets happen to be one of my favorite foods. Patti happens to be one of my favorite bloggers.

So, all around, it was a good day!

Patti may be back this way next year. I think we should go further afield--to Julian for lunch and a terrific used book store!

Sorry Patti. I know I promised to photoshop us younger, thinner and richer. But....I didn't have time! (Actually, I'm kind of appalled at how tired I look. Perhaps this will spur me onto getting to bed earlier!)

Oh, what did Patti and I talk about, you're wondering? A little of this and a little of that. Patti is one of those very interesting people who knows something (or more) about everything. Which makes her very fun to chat with.

And, now, I'm off to the hairdresser's for a desperately-needed appointment! Have a great day, everyone!

My Town Monday: Coronado Beach, CA

Coronado Beach at sunset in June (taken with my Blackberry last week)

Welcome to another My Town Monday!

This is the last week of school for my high schooler, my middle grader and my fourth grader.

Which means....Hello Summer Vacation!

And in San Diego, this means Hello Beaches! Because we have, uh, SEVENTY MILES OF BEACHES!

The Travel Channel calls Coronado one of America's best beaches.

A couple of times a week, Child #4 and I drive Child #3 to long-course swim practice at Coronado High School. Given the length of the practice and the distance this school is from our home, Child #4 and I ARE FORCED to spend the evening on Coronado. We generally wander down to the beach with a picnic dinner.

The first thing Child #4 does is slip off her flip-flops. The sand in the evening is pretty cold, and there's often a breeze. (taken with my blackberry)

Last week, we found this treasure! Look at the size of this sandcastle. (taken with my blackberry)


Here's Child #4 climbing on the breakwater. There was originally a scene on this very breakwater in I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES, but it got cut.


Eventually, Child #4 and I hit Spreckels, the candy store located under the Hotel del Coronado. A scene in this candy store was added to I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES.


LINKS TO OTHER MY TOWN MONDAY POSTS:

Travis Erwin of One Word, One Rung, One Day: posts from Amarillo, TX about, uh, meat.

Gabe of Gabe's Meanderings: posts from Winnipeg, Manitoba about the Harte Trail. Welcome to MTM, Gabe!

J. Winter of Edged in Blue: posts about how to take a honeymoon in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.

Debra of From Skilled Hands: posts from Peninsula, Ohio about Mr. Lincoln's visit to her town.


Patti Abbott of Pattinase: posts from Detroit, Michigan about her town's Passport to the Arts.

This week, I'm the hostess with the mostest for My Town Monday. So, if you've put up a MTM post, let me know in the comments section here or on the on the official My Town Monday blog. (Thanks Clair!) I'll link to you here and on the MTM blog. Thanks also to Travis Erwin for getting the whole My Town Monday ball rolling. Happy Monday!

Friday's Forgotten Books: Perry Mason

Before I start my post for Friday's Forgotten Books, I'd like to give a BIG shout-out to David Cranmer of The Education of a Pulp Writer who totally made my day! Child #3 and I stopped in at The Yellow Book Road to drop off some book launch/signing postcard-invitations. Mary, the co-owner, informed me that David had called to order a signed copy of I So Don't Do Mysteries! Yowzer!



And onto Friday's Forgotten Books (how's that for an abrupt transition?). While at Aunt Agatha's bookstore in Ann Arbor,Michigan, I picked up a used copy of The Case of the Sleep-Walker's Niece (EIGHTEENTH printing, 1965, original price of 50 cents) by Erle Stanley Gardner. It is so wonderful to be back in the company of defense attorney Perry Mason, his confidential secretary and love interest Della Street, his private eye Paul Drake, switchboard operator Gertie Lade, Lieutenant Tragg. It's even a pleasure to re-visit District Attorney Hamilton Burger.

Why did I stop reading Perry Mason? He puts me in such a good mood. I should gobble up one a week. And how about Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Ah ha! Another post for another Friday!

Some fun facts about Perry Mason: He's in over EIGHTY novels and short stories. He loves a difficult case. He shines in a courtroom. He lives in an apartment and likes to eat out, especially steak. We know nothing about his background or childhood. I personally feel that he strung Della Street along. But that could just be me.



Some fun facts about Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970): He got kicked out of law school after about a month for fighting. He worked as a typist in a law office, studied law BY HIMSELF, then took the bar and PASSED. He hung out a shingle at THE AGE OF 21 YEARS in Merced, CA. He practiced law until 1933 when The Case of the Velvet Claws was published. He wrote under his own name and SEVEN pseudonyms. He loved the courtroom and steak. He married his longtime secretary (as in, she worked for him for over THIRTY years) when he was SEVENTY-NINE and she was SIXTY-SIX. I think they were waiting for his first wife to die. That Erle Stanley Gardner was some kind of brilliant and some kind of character.

Please pop over to Patti Abbott at pattinase's blog for links to other posts for Friday's Forgotten Books. It's always a fantastic line-up.


Sources: Wikipedia, http://kirjasto.sci.fi/gardner.htm,http://www.erlestanleygardner.com/

Friday's Forgotten Books

Crackpot by Adele Wiseman
1974, McClelland and Stewart

Adele Wiseman (1928-1992) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her parents had emigrated from the Ukraine to escape the Jewish pogroms. Adele did her BA at the University of Manitoba and then worked at a variety of jobs to support her writing habit. She took about three years to complete her first novel, The Sacrifice, which won the Governor General's Award in 1956. That bears repeating. Her FIRST novel won the Governor General's Award! THE most prestigious Canadian literary award. Over the years, Adele was writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities: Toronto, Manitoba, Trent, Western, Concordia). She also headed up the writing program at Banff School of Fine Arts. Oh, how I wish I'd taken a class from her.

A description of Crackpot from amazon.com: "Hoda, the protagonist of Crackpot, is one of the most captivating characters in Canadian fiction. Graduating from a tumultuous childhood to a life of prostitution, she becomes a legend in her neighbourhood, a canny and ingenious woman, generous, intuitive, and exuding a wholesome lust for life."

This story takes place in Winnipeg from World I to World War II. The voice in Crackpot is incredible. The symbolism is incredible. The language is incredible. Parts of this book were uncomfortable to read, though. I squinted my eyes and kept muttering, "No, no, no, don't do that" or "Don't go there." For example, Hoda is the town whore. She gives birth to an illegitimate son, whom she leaves at the door of the orphanage. He grows up to be a teen. I'm sure you can do the math. But Adele Wiseman is such a magnificent writer that I couldn't stop reading.

Oh, and a little trivia. Guess who Adele Wiseman's BFF was? Margaret Laurence! Another amazing Canadian writer.

You can read excerpts of Crackpot here.

Thank you Patti Abbott for coordinating Friday's Forgotten Books. Please visit Patti's blog for book posts and for links to the other participants.

Friday's Forgotten Books

The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone by Matt Cohen
First published: 1979
Nominated for the Governor General's Award

I recently picked up my old copy of this book, but wasn't sure why. I originally read The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone for a university course and promptly fell in love with everything Matt Cohen. But I haven't read anything by him for several years now.

The Sweet Second Summer takes place in a fictional town in eastern Ontario, near Kingston. I'll be near Kingston in August, and I think that's what brought this book to mind.

Anyway...The Sweet Second Summerr is the story of two fringy characters, Kitty Malone and Pat Frank, who're looking for happiness and actually kind of find it. Kitty and Pat finally figure out how to mesh their past and present. Matt Cohen writes great characters, great scenery, great atmosphere.

Here's partly why I'm headed to the Kingston area (except for the winter part!) (from page 114 of the Bantom Seal version):

"Looking through it (the air above the burning tip of a cigarette) he could see the whole flat surface of the lake stretching miles in front of him, so smooth and icy-serene it could have been a giant eye frozen and buried in earth and rock. And the trees around the lake were like dark green lashes, thick and tipped with snow..."

Matt Cohen died of lung cancer in 1999. He was private, prolific (publishing over 20 novels). Weeks before his death, he won the Governor General's Award for Elizabeth and After. After his death, it was revealed that he wrote several children's books under the name Teddy Jam.

I'm happy to be participating in Patti Abbott's Friday's Forgotten Books. Please visit Patti's blog for book posts and for links to the other participants. I noticed Lesa's Books Critiques also reviews a Canadian novel.

Also, there's a surprise post by a bestselling author on the Class of 2k8's blog.

Friday's Forgotten Books

The Chrysalids by John Wydham was originally published in 1955. In the US, it was released as Re-Birth.

The Chrysalids is a post nuclear war sci fi that takes place in Labrador or Newfoundland and, at the end, in New Zealand. It's the story of a backward fundamentalist society with very strict laws concerning the fate of those with mutations. Deviant animals are killed. Human abominations are sterilized and banished to the Fringes.

David Strorm, a ten-year-old boy who communicates telepathically, has a zealot father who follows to a "t" the laws of the rural society. David must keep secret, especially from his father, his mutation and the identities of his friends with telepathy. David's cousin, Rosalind, also shares this gift. And then there is David's little sister, Petra, who has stronger telepathic powers than any of the group. Along his travels, David meets another mutant, Sophie, a girl with six toes. I won't tell you what happens to Sophie, but it isn't pretty.

Some critics consider the ending too contrived (deux ex machina), but I have to admit that when I read The Chrysalids as a ninth grader, I loved the entire book. So much so that I actually re-read it a few times. Last year, I ordered it used from amazon (for one cent which seemed so insulting to a book I so enjoyed) for my eighth grader. I have to be honest; I was a little nervous when we started out reading it together. What if The Chrysalids didn't stand the test of time? Which meant I'd destroy a childhood memory.

BUT, I loved it all over again. And so did he.

Thank you to Patti Abbott who allowed me to join in on Friday's Forgotten Books. Please check Patti's blog for other participants. I'm looking forward to next Friday (July 4) when we'll be posting about forgotten young-adult books.

For other reviews of this book, you can visit Classic Sci Fi Reviews and The Chrysalids Book Review and Wikipedia.