So on the first day of April I did an annoying, non-reading, annual household management task. After completing it with a little less stress than usual I found that I wasn't in the mood to focus on any of the books on hand so I spent the afternoon and evening poking around online.
I did manage to get a bit of organization to the online reading. I decided to explore the web sites of some of the authors I've recently read and enjoyed. I was hoping to find some links to some of their online writings--short stories, essays, blogs, etc. I actually managed to stick to this plan and avoid wandering off on tangents until I came to the Wiley Cash site. I had to find some of Jaki Shelton Green's poetry, explore Walter Magazine, find more work by Mallory Cash....
...and so the surfing begins....I found some things about Green but then...got distracted by other things in the magazine....
I was going to look for more of this type of local magazine but....I decided to check on one of my regular online journal reads and found the Altadena stories... Then something drew my attention to Eid/Ramadan...
On the second day of April I read an OK book and was reminded of Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry, a favorite of mine. I found the film on YouTube (pirated?) but resisted the temptation to watch it. Instead I decided to clear out some things that have been lingering on my "Currently Reading" list. Some of these really stretch the definition of "current" but I have been reading them in bits and pieces.
By the sixth day of April I had rejected an ARC, read three library books, read a short story about a little man, finished a book of Forster short stories, read a bit of John Muir's
Our National Parks, and decided to concentrate on another ARC which I managed to finish. Then I started another ARC (
Sacramento Noir). After reading two stories I got sidetracked because I wondered if the author of one of the stories (
Naomi J .Williams) had anything available online....she does.... I also went to a library site to place a hold on her novel (
Landfalls).
On the seventh day of April I finished the noir ARC and researched some more of its contributors.
I realized that this entry was getting rather lengthy. It's been a while since I've written this much on the blog! I decided to post the week and see what happens for the rest of the month.
Here is what I read:
Fiction:
Drop Dead Sisters (The Finch Sisters, #1) by Coombs, Amelia Diane
This was OK but not enough to make me care to read the next in the series. (Love the Tahoe area setting.)
Who killed Guy? and where's the body?
Maigret's Secret (Inspector Maigret) by Simenon, Georges; translated from the French by Watson, David
I'd never read a Simenon book before. It was OK, I may read another.
To Save the Man by Sayles, John
A good subject - Native Americans forced into boarding school coupled with the Ghost
dance movement - but something about this novel fell flat. I was a bit bored and felt like I was reading a dull textbook.
Lucky Night by Kennedy, Eliza
A Goodreads giveaway that I couldn't stand to read. Abandoned after five attempts only got me to page 30.
The Colors of April: Fiction on the Vietnam War’s Legacy 50 Years Later edited by Ha, Quan Manh and Tran, Cab
This was an ARC via LibraryThing. Well worth reading.
Sacramento Noir (Akashic Noir Series) edited by Freeman, John
A good anthology. I liked most of the stories. This was another ARC via LibraryThing.
Contents: Take as needed / Shelley Blanton-Stroud -- Sakura City / Naomi J. Williams -- A significant action / Maceo Montoya -- The fomer detective / Jamil Jan Kochai -- The Sacrament / Reyna Grande -- Ghost boy / Jen Soong -- Downriver, November 1949 / José Vadi -- The key in the Tignanello bag / Janet Rodriguez -- Intersections / John Freeman -- One thing about blue / Maureen O'Leary -- A reflection of the public / Willliam T. Vollmann -- A textbook example / Luis Avalos -- Painted ladies / Nora Rodriguez Camagna.
The Little Match Man by Luigi Barzini, Sr.; Illustrations by Hattie
Longstreet; Translated from the Italian by S. F. Woodruff. The Penn Publishing Company, 1917
Contents: The Machine Stops, The Point of It, Mr. Andrews, Co-ordination, The Story of the Siren, The Eternal Moment
Nonfiction:
Our National Parks by by John Muir
" In this book, made up of sketches first published in the Atlantic Monthly, I have done the best I could to show forth the beauty, grandeur, and all-embracing usefulness of our wild mountain forest reservations and parks, with a view to inciting the people to come and enjoy them, and get them into their hearts, that so at length their preservation and right use might be made sure.
Martinez, California
September, 1901"
Online:
(requires free registration)
Red Clay & Jewels by Wiley Cash; photography by Mallory Cash
A visit with Jaki Shelton Green, the ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina
A reading by the poet available with or without musical background.
The River Speaks of Thirst by by Jaki Shelton Green
Selections from Green's debut album. Very nice, some selections feature musical interpretations by others.
Slant of Light: Poetic Vignettes"As fall turned to winter, photographer Juli Leonard visited the
JC Raulston Arboretum. North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green
created poetic vignettes inspired by the images she captured."
from the November 1, 2020 issue of Walter Magazine. A search for "Jaki Shelton Green" st Walter Magazine resulted in some more of her poetry and an interview.
The magazine (named for Sir Walter Raleigh) covers life in Raleigh, North Carolina including: food & drink, people, art & culture, Travel (not limited to NC), history, home & garden, events, and attractions. It's a really nice regional magazine with super photography. Past issues (from founding December 2012) are archived and searchable. Fun to explore.
“Altadena: Four Stories,” by Myriam Gurba, Moriah Ulinskas, Carolyn Castaño, Merrill Feitell, Places Journal, March 2025. Accessed 01 Apr 2025
"When I relocated from Pakistan to London, I knew Eid would be different and that was OK—until I realized the things that I missed, including the festive foods."
Jen Soong Author's web site with links to her online writing (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction). Also has some of her art work (collage)
