returning to under the mountain

My book discussion met last night -- a very long time after I finished reading the book -- but I had begun to reread the book and had been gaining a better appreciation for what Cooke may have been doing. Her descriptions and use of language are beautiful; I wasn't surprised when someone mentioned that the author is also a poet. I love how she wove such poetry into her prose although that irritated others. I had had a nagging feeling that we couldn't trust the narrator -- and the more I read and after our discussion last night, I'm quite convinced that Cooke hasn't fallen flat and broken promises as so many of us in the group had thought. More here later on this book -- although I hadn't planned to reread the book (I will skip the cross-dressing part), a few of us are having another discussion about it.

Thinking outside the box[ing]

Knockout Entrepreneur, by two-time Heavyweight Champion of the World and promoter of the Foreman’s Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine, George Foreman with writer, Ken Abraham, is a motivational, how-to book about succeeding at starting a business (or revitalizing an existing business or career). In 14 easy-to-read chapters, Foreman communicates his secrets of success at boxing, which he develops into principles of entrepreneurial strategies. Weaving in and out of chapters with such titles as “Never Listen to the Crowd,” Know Your Foe,” and “Keep Answering the Bell,” I learned not just how to be a successful entrepreneur, but I also learned a lot about boxing, about George Foreman’s biography, and about the grilling machine that made Foreman an entrepreneurial success.
George’s advice is very comprehensive from how and when to delegate to following your gut instinct and taking risks. Because Foreman shares from his own experience as well as from others, he is believable and inspiring. This book is categorized as Business/Economics with the subcategory entrepreneurship but I think anyone can read this and find ideas to help in any area of their life. I am a volunteer in a small church library and this book gave me ideas about how to relate to those who help out in the library.
Of course, success begets success and George had an advantage that most of us do not have – a famous name. But still, his principles ring true for me.
I must make a comment on the structure of the book itself. My copy of Knockout Entrepreneur, published by Thomas Nelson, (2009, jacketed hardcover, $22.99 U.S.), is what the publishers call NELSONfree. Inside the front cover this is clearly explained, “. . . with Nelsonfree you buy one format and your get two more for free – an eBook and an audio version.” I really love having a book in my hand, but my husband likes to listen to books and podcasts and I have a friend who likes to download books and read them on his PDA. Nelsonfree allows all three! I tried downloading the PDF version and it looks great. I give Nelson kudos for this entrepreneurial idea, and I think George would also like it. Who knows, maybe it was his idea!

connections

over the last 15 or so books i have read, i have begun to notice that each subsequent book has a connection to the previous book, and if i had been keeping track of all the connections, i would have a string of these elements -- an illness, a place, a type of character . . . .
for example, i just finished under the mountain and before that was leo the africanus. the connection? both had cross-dressers in them. awhile ago i read a book called the choice by nicholas sparks and then passed it on to my sister. i waited until she finished then asked her what she thought of the ending. only then did i realize that i was mixing up the ending of the choice with the book i had read, after ann, which i had just read before the choice. the reason? both were about a woman who was at death's door throughout much of the book.
i don't look for these connections. usually after i finish a book, the connection rises to the surface . . . this (place, element, situation, problem, thing) was in the last book i just read.

Under the Mountain

by Sophie Cooke
Cooke has framed this novel by the dining room window that Catherine, the central character, looks out from her sick bed. We are told early on that what we are about to read is Catherine's memories (pg. 4: “Her memory was tumbling backwards . . . “), but most of the happenings in the novel are not within her view. She did see the attack on the dog. Where did she get the rest of her information? Did other family members tell her stories? Did she make stories up to ease the disappointment of being bedridden most of the summer? Can we trust the narrator? We can forget that Catherine is sitting on a stoop remembering that summer until we reach the end of the book where we are brought back full circle. Then we start to realize that there are things Catherine shouldn't know about: her parents' sex life, for one thing.
A clever layering of language and story was when Natasha, Catherine's mother, complains to her husband that he “hides behind his words” because he uses lofty, academic language that appears to but isn’t necessarily meant to genuinely communicate. Cooke’s prose often mirrors George’s style.
I didn't enjoy reading this book, but I have enjoyed thinking about it and writing about it. It's not a book that I would recommend to all of my friends, but I look forward to discussing it in my book discussion group.

leo the africanus

This year I joined a book discussion group and we read a book that I never would have picked up on my own, even though it was an award-winning novel. Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf is a novel based on the true-life story of Hasan al-Wazzin, who lived in the 16th century. Maalouf weaves culture, philosophy, religion, politics and history that spans 40 years and five major disparate cities with humor and intellect -- all in 360 pages. There is nothing superfluous. The prose is unstrained, yet rich and vivid. Definitely reread this book immediately to savor the literary caches you may have missed on your first read.

jason on jeopardy

my sister's husband's brother's son -- jason zollinger -- has won his fifth jeopardy show and his sixth show will be aired in about four hours from the time of this writing. i am overseas and do not have access to the show and I look daily on the internet for video clips of him in action -- so far, nothing (hint, hint).
i am very proud of him and congratulate the whole zollinger family. if you are in the western new york area and haven't yet tried Zollinger's Restarant's fish dinner, this would be an exciting time to do so -- the show airs at 7:30 pm, but you won't be allowed to order anything while it's on, so arrive early or eat late!

crawling out of the dinosaur pit

my kids laugh at me when i mix up google, windows, and firefox. i haven't yet gotten to the place where i can confidently say that i understand the difference between a search engine and a web browser. they were otfl (for those of you who don't have teenagers to translate: ontl means "on the floor laughing") when i asked if windows used to be called ibm. (back in my early computer days there was ibm and mac). today there was something i wanted to do on the internet and it required my blog address. blog address? i don't even know what a blog is. so, i looked up "what is a blog? in google and before i had finished typing the question, google predicted what i wanted to know! see? it wasn't such an outlandish question. i found out that blog is short for "web log." an online journal. sounds very exhibitionist to me. then i read something that said if you linked your blog to twitter you would get more hits on your blog. just as i started feeling brain freeze creeping in, my teenage daughter came downstairs and i asked her, "what's the difference between a blog and tweeter?" and she didn't laugh! i think that means it wasn't a dinosaur question.