This is my symphony

A man and his robot: A Robot in the Garden (review)

Laurie Larson

June 10, 2016

A Robot In the Garden (NetGalley)
Deborah Install
Sourcebooks Landmark

A tender story about a boy and his dog–I mean a man and his dog … I mean a man and his robot. You read that correctly–a robot. As in a little mechanical wire and steel contraption, not, I learned, to be confused with an android, who is much higher up on the man + machine hierarchy.

robot in the garden I really read this book because of the cover, which struck me as so whimsical. I’m not a sci-fi reader, I don’t have a great fascination with artificial intelligence–it just looked out-of-the-box interesting. I read a lot, no surprise there–but when you read as much as I do sometimes the stories blur. Same plot, different names and places: girl meets boy; elderly woman remembers; someone killed the girl; ruthless man ruthlesses; war is hell.

But then I read the blurb for A Robot In the Garden. Ben is jobless and his marriage is slipping away. He finds himself still living in his childhood home after his parents tragic death several years before and he’s stuck. Rudderless. (The story line was already starting to blur …) Until he “discovers a battered robot named Tang in his garden” and “without a crucial bit of machinery, Tang will stop working, and Ben can’t let that happen.” Whaaaa?!

My first thought was, “Well it can’t be a real robot. It’s a metaphor …” Nope. It’s a robot, fashioned (it seemed to me) on the Wall-E of movie fame: clunky, out-dated, and thoroughly lovable. Set in the not-so-distant future, it’s a world where androids serve dinner, wash clothes, and drive cars. Little Tang worms his way into the numb heart of clueless Ben–they travel, friend and sidekick, from London to Texas to California to Japan to Malaysia–Ben’s heart melts and he starts to get a clue.

I don’t in any way mean to make the novel sound silly. It was a simple (and familiar) story of finding oneself told in a fresh way with a very unlikely main character–and it was just plain fun.

Flea market holiday

Laurie Larson

4 comments

June 2, 2016

A favorite vendor sells succulents in every container imaginable.

Twenty-five years ago I was newly divorced, a single mom of three, and holiday weekends had a tendency to drag on. Add to that I had just broken up with my boyfriend and a little diversion was in order. My dad, never real keen when it came to understanding relationships, thought an hour ride in his classic car to a flea market–with three kids in the back seat, mind you–would cheer me up. (And you wonder why he was married three times?!) We got lost. The kids had to use the bathroom. It was hot–circa 1950-something classic cars don’t have air-conditioning. I don’t really remember much about the day other than that drive. But something must have stuck because I still return at least once a year to that same flea market.

We people watch. Eat carnival food. Buy baked goods from the Amish. And hubby always has to chuck puppies under their chin, and look at me with his own puppy dog eyes, as if we can take home every puppy for sale. (Or bunny or kitten or guinea pig or … ) Sometimes Memorial Day in Michigan is cold and rainy, so we have to wait until July 4 or Labor Day. But this weekend the weather was about as postcard perfect as it comes: 80 degrees, blue sky, and just a hint of a breeze.

It was also crowded. We parked half a mile away and waited in line to get in. The main aisles were packed–but there’s a buzz when it’s busy, an energy that is absent on dreary weather flea market holidays.

Amish woven rugs!

This year I was on a mission. The woven Amish rugs I’d purchased ten years ago (and machine washed) were unraveling so badly I demoted them to the basement. For the past few years, the color selection has been just ‘meh’. Browns and tans. But this year I saw the bright jewel tones from two stalls away–BINGO! I was in business.

We also found a little treasure I’ve never tasted: cider slushies. Just cider in a slushie machine, no sugar or additives. Autumn meets summer. The consistency was a little more crystal-y than, say, a 7-11 Slurpee, but I think that might have had to do with the sugar content? Whatever the case, we’ll stop again for one of those goodies.

So a couple miles of walking, two hand-woven rugs, a package of molasses cookies later, it was a wrap–a perfect day trip with my hubby, who, by the way, is that boyfriend I once broke up with so many, many years ago.

Blogs I love: part 2

Laurie Larson

1 comment

May 29, 2016

Hopefully you had a chance to check out a few of my favorite blogs when I posted about them here. It’s always fun to send readers to bloggers I love myself. So without any further ado …

blogs I love The Truck Traveler
Zelijka lived in Serbia and her life was like so many of ours: she had a desk job in an accounting office, working 9 to 5 … or something like that! When her partner took a new job as a long haul trucker in Eastern Europe, she decided to join him on the road as often as she could. Just. Imagine. Chucking the desk job in favor of seeing Russia. Belarus. Croatia. Montenegro. Her posts always give some historical background of the sites she writes about. Photos included! Zelijka’s blog is so original–it’s a must read for anyone who has ever dreamed about the open road.

Miss Anna Pie
Miss Anna is a mommy blogger, and I suppose I’m much too old to read her. But I don’t care. I can’t for the life of me remember where I found her blog, but I’ve been following for a couple years. Anna is an accountant, her hubby a seminarian, and they are people of faith committed to living intentionally and simply. Now this might sound like quite a few other bloggers out there, but this is also a young couple who felt called to foster children. Anna is honest and open about the challenges of raising two (then three!) Littles, as well as navigating the bureaucracy of our social welfare system. Several months ago the family’s petition to adopt their Littles was granted and just last week they became a forever family. You’ll love Miss Anna Pie’s voice–she’s real through and through, with a little sass thrown in for good measure.

Retired English Teacher
One of my life’s goals is to become a retired English teacher, so imagine my delight in finding one to ~~stalk~~ follow ~~in the wild~~ on line! Sally Weesely lives in Colorado and writes about her girlfriends, books, writing, family–all things I have come to love even more passionately as I creep pretty darn close to 6-0. There is no glam or glitz in her blog, but her voice is sincere and her heart just shines. I’d love to go to coffee with her. Give me a call, Sally!

Not the Average Mama
I’m no stranger to step-moms. My kids have one, after all. I’ve had two–yes, you read that right, but that’s another story for another post. Now meet Jessica–a twenty-something young wife and step-mom who is more together than just about any other mom (or step-mom!) I know. Her relationship to her kids (and, gulp, their mom) amazes me. There are no games in this step-mom’s life, I’m guessing. She is way too thoughtful and straightforward for that. I’ve never sailed the step-mom waters myself–but if I was to use my own relationship with my kids’ step mom as any kind of measure, I’d have to say I pretty much capsized that boat. So I am amazed and encouraged and even a little jealous that there are women out there like Jessica.

That should give you some good reading over the next few days! And I’ve got more where these came from, so stay tuned to … part 3?!

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven (review)

Laurie Larson

no comments

May 26, 2016

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven (NetGalley)
Chris Cleave
Simon & Schuster

I read Chris Cleave’s Little Bee for book club just about five years ago. And I liked it–with a few reservations. I liked this new novel of his–which also received a great deal of hype–with the same uncertainty.

London, 1939. Mary North, a Pimlico blueblood, signs up to help with the war effort before her parents can intervene. She expects excitement–espionage, even. What she gets is a teaching position. But at nineteen, Mary is ~~still~~ almost as rebellious and childish as her young charges; she doesn’t last long in her first assignment. She does, however, meet Tom Shaw, a young administrator with the Education Authority. Mary importunes until he gives up and offers her a classroom of her own.

[Now did you see how that word ‘importune’ is a little out of place there? It’s just a little too stuffy–the word almost calls attention to itself, doesn’t it? Well author Cleave is a master of using words that call attention to themselves, as in this little beauty: “”Her confusion grew, the heart lucent and the mind lucifuguous, the great clash of music …” What the heck?!]

But her classroom is made up of London’s cast-off children–the ones who couldn’t be evacuated to the countryside: children with mental handicaps and physical disabilities. Oh, and a negro child Zachary, whose father is an American performing with a minstrel show in London. But Mary treats the children tenderly and offers them some sense of normalcy, even during the London Blitz. She also takes up with Tom, and their love story is a respite in the midst of wartime.

Mary also meets Alistair, once Tom’s roommate, now on leave for a few weeks, a seasoned officer in the British military . She’s drawn to him in ways she wasn’t with Tom–and then he’s gone to war again, this time to Malta. There’s also Mary’s friend Hilda who plays the plain girl sidekick role. We have a jar of blackberry preserves and more than a few near-death situations. A little morphine addiction. A foray into ambulance driving. A loyal servant and a father in Parliament.

I know I sound overly critical–it’s a rollicking World War II saga. But maybe that’s a problem when it comes to war stories, no? It comes too close to trivializing a horror. I’m not the only reader who had some misgivings–USA Today’s review was lukewarm, at best; The Washington Post also had some misgivings. I did read Everyone Brave Is Forgiven straight through one weekend, so that says something–apparently I was able, on some level, to forgive the story’s faults.

But if you want a really good World War II novel, try to get your hands on a copy of Marge Piercy’s Gone To Soldiers.

Writing Wednesday: Packing

Laurie Larson

no comments

May 24, 2016

She clutched Richie’s hand, held on, it seemed, for dear life. She pleaded. He tried to smooth her still fingers, then patted them reassuringly.

“You ARE home, Momo.”

“No–I’ve got to go home. Now. Help me, honey–where did they put my clothes? Trudy needs me.” Grandma

So he lugged her suitcase from the top shelf of the closet and they packed. She folded the blue nightie and tried to ball her socks, but her hands fumbled the stretchy cotton.

“Here, let me,” he said.

“I saw the horse again last night. Right out there,” she pointed towards the window. “He slept under the tree.” Richie started with “There’s no … ” but stopped himself.

On top went the yellow sweater and last of all her underbroekes, she called them. Her hands patted everything down and tucked in the edges. Those same hands that had tucked in four-year-olds and pushed back hair test for fever with the back of her hand. Those hands whose fingers wrinkled prune-like after canning forty quarts of tomatoes. The hands that lifted the trailer hitch to the car to take the kids camping.

“Let’s sit a minute before we go, Grandma” and he patted the spot next to him on the bed, then reached again for her hand–the hand he held onto for dear life.

Write now with Writer

Laurie Larson

no comments

May 22, 2016

Last year I started using my Chromebook for most things webbish. I liked the quick and easy access to the internet–and since I don’t do anything fancy like gaming or film editing, a Chromebook can meet just about all my screen needs. Recently, I started attending a Writing Circle at a local studio and was a little worried when I arrived sans paper–but with my Chromebook!–only to find out that there was no wifi.

Thankfully, the studio owner had the solution: Writer. Available in the Chrome Web Store or at the Writer website, the app is billed as an Internet typewriter that is “the coolest … distraction-free writing tool around.” And it is.

http://www.yourememberthat.com

I was a bit put off at first by the ~~outdated~~ retro green on black screen, but that was easily changed in settings to the more ~~boring~~ standard look of any other word processing tool. Now truth be told, when I have access to wifi, I’ll use Google docs. (I mean, it’s a Chromebook, right?!)

But the biggest boon for me is that Writer is also functional off-line. Mind you, I have no idea how this works–my mind sees technology working a little like those tiny behind-the-screens dinosaurs in The Flintstones. I figure there must be a little critter or two carving my words on the Writer screen.

But it works like a dream, so I don’t care how. Writer is available as a free app, but I paid to get the premium for (wait for it!) five dollars a month. After I’ve typed off-line, I save the document and export it to Google Drive when I reach wifi again. I’ve had only one minor glitch and when I emailed tech support, I got an email within an hour or two offering some solutions.

The app is the project of web developer John Watson, who also has some pretty cool projects linked on his Google+ profile. According to his About page, John, God bless him, still uses Oxford commas.

How could I not love the app?!

Mrs. Brown's LBD: My Mrs. Brown (review)

Laurie Larson

2 comments

May 19, 2016

My Mrs. Brown (Edelweiss DRC)
William Norwich
Simon & Schuster

Mrs. Brown is something of an anachronism. In a world that is all social media, selfies, and reality shows, she is a genteel widow who avoids excess at all cost. At sixty-six she has no bucket list and instead works at a small beauty salon sweeping floors and washing out sinks in her retirement. She sews her own clothes in shades of gray, brown, and black. Her modest home is her own, an unremarkable side-by-side duplex.

But since she was a schoolgirl, Mrs. Brown had admired (almost to infatuation) the town’s Grande Dame Millicent Groton–tasteful and stylish, Mrs. Groton lived a life of service usually attributed to royalty. The Grotons had lived for years in a fine Federal-style home: twenty-two rooms of Old Money elegance. Now Mrs. Brown counts herself too lucky to have been chosen to inventory the contents of that old house after Mrs. Groton passes away.

And so begins Mrs. Brown’s Great Adventure.

my mrs. brown She meets young Rachel Ames, Mrs. Groton’s devoted assistant who seems to have loved the old lady almost as much as Mrs. Brown. She meets Delphine Staunton, a haughty (and condescending) expert from the auction house that will settle the Groton estate. And, finally, Mrs. Brown meets The Dress.

Black and elegant, it hangs in an almost empty closet. It’s cap-sleeved with “a single-button jacket made of the finest quality wool crepe”. Mrs. Brown is so taken with its simple elegance–Miss Ames tells her that “almost every First Lady in the past thirty years has owned” it–she can’t bring herself to touch it with her work-roughed red hands. The fabric, the lining, the workmanship: exquisite.

So she sets out to save enough money–$7000–to buy the dress for herself. Yes, this same Mrs. Brown who never vacations or eats in restaurants, who still sweeps up after others, whose life has always been so very circumscribed. This single act of extravagance defines Mrs. Brown in ways the reader–and maybe even Mrs. Brown herself–couldn’t imagine.

The novel is definitely an homage to Paul Gallico’s Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris which I read on a whim years ago when I found it in a library discard pile. I didn’t know until I searched for the cover image that writer William Norris is a fashion writer and editor-cum-novelist, and at times the writing was a bit ponderous, especially when characters launched into monologues about fashion that I could do without.

But Norris’s poignant ending makes a fine finish to Mrs. Brown’s sweet story.

Blogs I love: part 1

Laurie Larson

1 comment

May 15, 2016

I read quite a few blogs and would love to share my favorites with you. Here’s my first installment of Blogs I Love:

Kristina B@Flickr.com

Caty Dearing
Caty writes about being a wife, mom, teacher, and writer. She’s a refreshing mommy blogger because she’s incredibly insightful and doesn’t shy away from tackling difficult subjects in an honest manner. (Read: she’s not all beauty hauls and recipes and cute kiddie photos.) She’s also a woman of faith, but she is thoughtful, not heavy-handed. I enjoy her posts … and I’m hardly a mommy blogger. Grandmommy, maybe!

Drink More Decaf
Imagine chucking it all and living in an RV, roaming the country from East to South to the Great Wild West, stopping every now and then to settle in somewhere for a week or two or three. Sounds romantic, right? Well that’s exactly with Sharon, Dave, and their dog Frodo did–and you can follow their adventures and her musings on her blog Drink More Decaf. Sharon gives me a glimpse of a life I think I might love, sharing the ups and downs along the way.

And So It Goes
Janet Givens is a woman of a certain age–like me!–but she’s not about to sit back and let life pass by. Janet has opinions and she isn’t afraid to share them in thought-provoking posts. A recent favorite of mine is about clothes lines–but not about the beauty and nostagia of them as I might write–and the ecology, economy, and liberty they might afford us. Janet also served in the Peace Corps in their over 55 program, and the book about her experiences, At Home on the Kazakh Steppe, is on my TBR pile.

Denice’s Day
If you read my blog, you’ve probably followed some of my links to Denice’s Day. Denice is a Renaissance Woman, in my mind. She’s a reader, blogger, photographer, baker, and quilter–I swear there’s nothing she won’t tackle. (And do well, by the way.) Her posts let me peek in on things I’ll never attempt, not because I wouldn’t want to … but because I just don’t have her talents. I’m also one of the lucky ones who can call her friend and let me tell you–our coffee dates never last less than 2 or three hours!

That’s it for Round One of Blogs I Love … I’ve got plenty more where these came from. Until then, pop by any one of these blogs today and you’ll be happy you did.

Time and tide: The Railwayman's Wife (review)

Laurie Larson

11 comments

May 12, 2016

The Railwayman’s Wife (NetGalley)
Ashley Hay
Atria Books

There’s nothing like a story set in a time long ago and a place far away, and Ashley Hay’s new novel The Railwayman’s Wife fills the bill. The fact that the main character Annika Lachlan is a reader and a librarian? Icing on the cake, my friend, icing on the cake. And would you look at this book jacket? I’d pack up and fly away quick as you could say ‘koala’!

Ani grew up in the Australian inlands “on the plains, dry as a biscuit”. When she met and married husband Mac, she moved to the coast where the light is clear and “soft breezes tease and tickle with the lightest scent of salty water”, where the sight of the ocean–vast and rolling–surprises her even after a dozen years. Ani has it all: a lovely home, beautiful garden, sweet little girl, devoted husband. World War II has just ended, vets are returning, and the news–finally–is full of hope.

But of course it’s all too precious, isn’t it? There would be no story if there wasn’t some sort of struggle for Anikka Lachlan–so disaster strikes and struggle she does.

We get the story of Ani’s life with Mac in her memories of him as she tries to make sense of his awful death. (That really isn’t too much of a spoiler since the tragedy occurs in the first several pages.) Ani’s grief is made a little easier by the fact that she begins a job as the town librarian within a few weeks. She busies herself with shelving and ordering and record-keeping, barely managing to keep her overwhelming grief at arm’s length.

One of the first visitors she meets at the library is Roy McKinnon, returning soldier and poet. His best friend Dr. Frank Draper arrives home from the war soon after and the two men attempt to put the war behind them and resume the life it interrupted. But shell shocked and disillusioned, they scramble to regain their footing. The three share a kind of camaraderie in pain–which also brings about healing. And as Ani comes to the place where she can talk about Mac, she hears stories of his life apart from her that make us realize we never really know those to whom we are closest.

Anikka might have “had it all” at the novel’s beginning, but it’s at the end that she embodies a strength and a depth of heart that I admired.

[Thanks for reading! To return to the FICTION WRITERS BLOG HOP on Julie Valerie’s website, click here: http://www.julievalerie.com/fiction-writers-blog-hop-may-2016]

Time to reflect (A-Z Blogging Challenge)

Laurie Larson

no comments

May 11, 2016

I never imagined I could write 26 posts in 30 days. (Ok, for me it was 24 posts in 30 days, but more on that later!) I read about the A-Z Blogging Challenge on a Facebook group I joined after I started Jeff Goins’ Intentional Blogging Challenge. Disclaimer: note that I said I started Goins’ Challenge. I was ready for a little inspiration! I’d also finished my first Writing Workshop at Voice and Vessel and was finally a to z survivor 2016 able to call myself a writer.

What I learned from the Blogging from A-Z Challenge:
1. I’m a slow writer.
2. I can write more than just book reviews–that “life” in my tag line always gave me fits
3. Writing every day takes discipline, but …
4. Writing every day is probably the best way to improve writing
5. Bloggers are interesting–and talented–folks
6. It helps to have a buddy to Challenge with–someone who can sympathize with your 6 AM ~~wail~~ email before work:”I’ve got nothin’ for Q!” (Thanks, Denice!)
7. I’ll do it again in a heartbeat and I’ve found some more blog fun already–Julie Valerie’s Fiction Writer’s blog hop

Over the next few weeks, I plan to write about some of the new bloggers I’ve discovered, so you can pop by their blogs and take a peek, too. Oh, and those missing 2 posts? I actually used XYZ to end the Challenge because those letters just go togther, don’t they? And seem so. very. final.

And that XYZ business reminded me of a book I read at least a dozen years titled Ella Minnow Pea. (The book made its way to my classroom and, sadly–or maybe not–it disappeared from my shelves forever, into the hands of some teen reader.) It’s a novel in letters–epistolary, that is, and then some. The main character Ella (and, indeed, all residents of the island of Nollop) must obey the Council’s edict and omit certain letters of the alphabet from their daily speech as the letters drop–seemingly prophetically–from the founding father’s statue in the town square. Author Mark Dunn drops the letters from his narrative, as well, and the book is a word lover’s playground. The title Ella Minnow Pea–LMNOP–was the inspiration for my ABC and XYZ post.

I guess once a book blogger, always a book blogger.