Light between Oceans (copy)

Isabel looks over the edge of the cliff and slightly swoons at the vastness that is her view. She loves the little island and her life, but the loneliness and sadness sometimes takes her for a brief moment only to be released as the feelings crash on the rocks.

Tom was also watching the same waves from the above tower. “The water sloshed like white paint, milky-thick, the foam occasionally scraped off long enough to reveal a deep blue undercoat. At the other end of the island, a row of immense boulders created a break against the surf and left the water inside it as calm as a bath.”

“He had the impression he was hanging from the sky, not rising from the earth. Very slowly, he turned a full circle, taking in the nothingness of it all. It seemed his lungs could never be large enough to breathe in this much air, his eyes could never see this much space, nor could he hear the full extent of the rolling, roaring ocean. For the briefest moment, he had no edges.”

Isabel turns to walk down the hill, her path leading straight to the new driftwood cross and rosemary bush she planted last week. In her hands she carried a watering can left by a previous light keeper. It was a fine April day and she hummed a little tune as she drew closer.

The island’s graveyard had three little plots Isabel tended daily. She remained a happy soul even though her losses were beginning to mount. Tom was wary. He felt she portrayed one thing with her smile but worried her feelings jagged, lying beneath unseen like an undertow.

Isabel heard it after watering the bush and standing the cross upright. At first she thought it her imagination. Hearing an infant’s cry 100 miles away from civilization was not possible, but she stood.

Looking towards the mainland of Australia, she yells, “On the beach – a boat!” Tom makes great haste and is at her side within seconds having seen the apparition moments earlier on his last scan. “It’s a boat all right and – oh cripes! There’s a bloke, but–”

You will be entranced by M. L. Stedman’s first book, The Light Between Oceans. Set in the early 1900s, this book is destined to become a book club favorite.

Light between Oceans (copy)

https://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2012/09/light-between-oceans-copy.html

Greek Myths (copy)

One of my favorite books growing up was D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri D'Aulaire and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. The funny thing about it, I never read it. I flipped through and made up my own stories with the illustrations or drew the characters like the D'Aulaires. Their illustrations look like pencil drawings filled in with coloring crayons.

In Ann Turball’s book, Greek Myths, she explains that her father loved the old stories and shared them with her. His favorites were the stories of Homer, but she was partial to Pan.

“I was captivated by Pan and by the mysterious nymphs, fauns, and satyrs, the spirits of woods and streams. I liked the way they could change shape, go from woman to tree, god to river, so that life and nature became one.”

Turnball continues, “To the ancient Greeks, the whole land – rocks, trees, rivers, caves, springs – was alive and inhabited by nature spirits. Tmolus was a god but also a mountain. Arethusa, a nymph with human form, could turn into a stream and emerge as a new spring. Pegasus, the winged horse, created springs with a stamp of his hoof. Hades lived in the Underworld and burst forth from fiery fissures in the earth.”

In Turball’s book, she tells the stories in a timeline fashion. She says that many stories standalone like Archne, but others flow into the next like a continuing episode such as Minotaur leading into Ariadne on Naxos.

My favorite is her retelling of “Phaethon and the Chariot of the Sun.” Phaethon finds out he is the son of the sun god, Helios, but his friends all call him a liar. In order to prove his lineage, he leaves Ethiopia and travels east to where the sun rises.

Once Helios sees Phaethon, he knows without a doubt that is his son. Celebration ensues, but Phaethon feels unsatisfied. He begs his father to allow him to chariot his horses through the heavens where everyone will see him and know he is the son of Helios.  

Helios agrees but regrets it instantly knowing the horses will be too strong to control. As the story goes, Phaethon cannot control the chariot and the chaos sets both the heavens and the earth aflame. Zeus steps in and kills Phaethon before he destroys the world. In his guilt, Zeus raises the dead Phaethon to the heavens where he is known as the Charioteer constellation.

I bet Ann Turnbull loves the D'Aulaires' book, too. Wonder if she drew any of the gods or goddesses? 

Greek Myths (copy)

https://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2012/09/greek-myths-copy.html

Sugarhouse (copy)

You know this story. If you have ever bought a fixer-upper, you know this book. You know the ineptness felt as you walk into Lowe’s or Home Depot about to do something better left to the professionals. You might be intimidated seeing the aisles filled with tool-belted workers taking a break from “real jobs” in order to pick up some more nails, screws, tiles, or wood.

You look the part. You wear the stained and paint splashed coveralls or the Carhartt pants with steel-toed boots ensemble. You hold a styrofoam cup of black coffee in one hand as you stare down the end of a two-by-four hoping others will recognize you as a man or woman of great wood knowledge. Being mindful, the first word you utter might give you away. 

Matthew Batt has written a story all of us can relate to at some point in our lives. Not necessarily the renovation project, but he exposes a family hurting and in need of some plaster, grout or caulk. The glue is needed to keep them together as members die and others are stricken with cancer.

The major loss for the family is Matt’s Gram. She was the reason the family met for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She took untold abuse from a philandering husband whom the family remains unaware until the affairs continue after her death.

Grandpa, being  a solid 82 years, visits a Ruby once a week and still finds time to sneak off to Vegas for all night gambling and dancing with the home health nurse turned lover, Tonya. The animosity felt towards Tonya from Matt’s mother makes me feel like I am also being disloyal by mentioning her name.

The marriage between Matt and Jenae, sounds like Renee with a J, is also in jeopardy. They have moved around to accommodate his education while letting her professional life suffer. This last move to Utah and the purchase of an odorous house might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Robin Hemley, author of “Do-Over!” comments, “A DIY book to end all DIY books, full of wit and generosity and mercy for the foibles of family members, friends, hucksters, and most importantly Batt himself.” Pick up Sugarhouse by Matthew Batt and enjoy a life restored.

Sugarhouse (copy)

https://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2012/09/sugarhouse-copy.html

First 20 Minutes (copy)

I am so tired of hearing that Mississippians are the fattest and most out-of-shape in the country! Since my return to running three years ago, I have seen an increasing number of people out on the road just like me. They are walking dogs, bicycling, running, walking fast, etc. I am thrilled not to be alone.

One woman in Como who walks every morning has lost over 70lbs and one day I expect to see her break into a jog. Maybe, it is because of the bad publicity that we are out there, but we are getting out there. Give us some credit America!

The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer by Gretchen Reynolds is ready to help. She wrote the book to inspire us to work smarter no longer and she provides the science to back her words.

In the first chapter Reynolds retells an experiment to prove her point. National Institute of Health and Nutrition, located in Japan, subjected two different groups of rats to a swimming test. Rats are not diverse swimmers. They basically do a dog paddle move until reaching land.

The first group endured three hours in the water swimming. The experimenters took them out for a 45 minute rest then exposed them to the water for three more hours. Afterwards their little feet and legs were dissected the muscle fibers showed an increase in endurance and fitness.

The next set of rats was subjected to the water, but this time they had to support 14% more of their weight. These little bodybuilders swam in short intervals of 20 seconds and rested for 10 seconds. The whole experiment for them took four-and-a-half minutes.

The shorter but heavier rats yielded the same aerobic and muscular growth as the seven hour rats. Reynolds provides other examples, but this one is very direct. Interval training works whether one is lifting weights, running, walking, bicycling, or forced to do a swimming test in water.

She sums up her call to the masses with this paragraph in the introduction: “We don’t, after all, have to be athletes to want to know how best to move. We need only to listen to the voice bred deep into our blood and bones that says, ‘Hey, let’s go for a walk.’ The body wants to move. Go with it.”

First 20 Minutes (copy)

https://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2012/09/i-am-so-tired-of-hearing-that.html