A League of Our Own


Billie Jean King: "Champions keep playing until they get it right."



As March winds down and basketball madness ramps up, it occurs to me that this month is a perfect blend of celebrating women's roles in history and sports.

For most of the year, my interest is focused largely on books - definitely not watching or attending any sporting events. Any excitement I have for Super Bowl Sunday is centered on the commercials and food. I can't say with certainty who won the World Series in 2014. But for a few weeks each year, I become a rabid fan of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. My vocabulary now (briefly) includes double double, traveling, bank shot, and transition offense. In my mind, I'm on a first name basis with the student athletes. Sitting on my couch, hundreds of miles away from the game, I'm suddenly an expert on each players' strengths and weaknesses. My interest in the Huskies was first sparked when I lived in Connecticut in the 1990s. Coworkers' enthusiasm became my enthusiasm. It's still just plain fun to watch the team, with its ever-changing names and faces, continue to play hard. 

Tonight the UConn women, now an Elite Eight team, face University of Dayton. We'll know soon if the Huskies will continue the quest to return home as national champs for the third year.

I'll put away my UConn flag and return to being oblivious to the sporting world...until next March. 

Celebrate female athletes' achievements by reading their stories. 

Katie Hnida - Still Kicking, college football
Jan Reynolds - High Altitude Woman, skiing
Billie Jean King - Pressure is a Privilege, tennis
Laura Baugh - Out of the Rough, golf
Pat Summit - Sum It Up, college basketball
Peggy Fleming - The Long Program, figure skating
Serena Williams - My Life: Queen of the Court, tennis
Mia Hamm - Go for the Goal, soccer
Babe Didrikson Zaharias - This Life I've Led, golf
Martina Navratilova - Martina, tennis
Rebecca Lobo - The Home Team, college basketball (UConn)
Brittney Griner - In My Skin, college basketball
Olga Korbut - My Story, gymnast
Patricia Brown - A League of My Own, baseball
Althea Gibson - I Always Wanted to be Somebody, tennis
Wilma Rudolph - Wilma, track
Dorothy Hamill - A Skating Life, skating
Mary Lou Retton - Creating an Olympic Champion, gymnastics
Diana Nyad - Find a Way, swimming (released October 2015)
Dana O'Neil - How to be like Women Athletics of Influence
David Halberstam & Daniel J. Boyne - Red Rose Crew, crew
Geno Auriemma - In Pursuit of Perfection, college basketball (UConn)


                                                        * * * * *

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for follow by email at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your email address. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription.  Thank you! 

                  
                     The Great River*


Rosanne Cash: "A feather's not a bird. The rain is not the sea. A stone is not a mountain. But a river runs through me."         
                                                                 from "A Feather's Not a Bird" - - Cash/Leventhal


There's something deceptive about a river. They're quiet, fierce, good and yet sometimes devastating neighbors. Rivers have helped build states and have also destroyed communities.

One American river in particular has been immortalized in songs, movies, books, and has perhaps inspired a few creative expletives: the Mississippi River. 

The impressive view of the Mississippi River (and Wisconsin) from the historic Effigy Mounds in northeastern Iowa is worth the hike. On that day, after reaching the peak, I stood contemplating the river as it stretched, languid, towards New Orleans.

MS River view from Iowa's Effigy Mounds

Peering through the heavy leaf growth, the river looked charming and gave no indication of its true calling: serving as a 2300+ mile lifeline for the United States. According to the National Park Service, 60% of the grain exported from the US travels downstream to the Port of New Orleans. Other shipped material includes rubber, paper, wood and coal. More than 50 American cities rely on the Mississippi River for daily water use, reported the Environmental Protection Agency. It's not just humans using the river. Migratory birds use the river's corridor for spring and fall migration, while 260 species of fish call the waterway home, according to the NPS. Adding, that at least 145 species of reptiles and amphibians are found in the upper river and its floodplains. Some of these reptiles, amphibians and fish can be seen at the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa. (If you've never seen gar up close, you're in for a nightmarish treat.) 


Quick trivia question: how many states bump up against the MS River?  

The answer is 10. Can you name all 10?

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.

It's easy to dismiss this part of the country - flyover states they're often called. But to shrug off their importance is to forget their cultural contributions to the United States. These heartland states have arguably changed or created American food, music and literature.        
           
Remember the Louisiana Purchase of 1803? The purchase of these flyover states doubled the size of the United States at just four cents per acre, according to the Library of Congress. With that in mind, the LOC called the sale "the greatest real estate deal in history." 

Not long ago, Rosanne Cash, a singer and songwriter who also happens to be Johnny Cash's daughter, took a road trip with her husband around the southern tip of the Mississippi River and its neighboring states. She soaked up the stories and the people along with the humidity while crossing the river, back and forth. What emerged from this road trip was a Grammy award winning album, "The River and the Thread" which features the song "A Feather's Not a Bird." Last month, Cash went home with three Grammy awards: Best American Roots performance, Best American Roots song, and Best Americana album. 

For a treat, listen to Cash's songs. 

And, read a book by a writer with ties to a flyover state that shares the Mississippi River.

Minnesota:
Garrison Keillor - Lake Wobegon Days
Sinclair Lewis - Main Street
Neil Gaiman - Coraline (Wisconsin also claims Gaiman)
Louise Erdrich - The Round House

Wisconsin:
A. Manette Ansay - Vinegar Hill
Edna Ferber - Show Boat
Jacqueline Mitchard - What We Saw at Night
Peter Straub - KoKo
Susanna Daniel - Stiltsville

Missouri:
Mark Twain - Life on the Mississippi; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 
Paulette Jiles - Enemy Women
Evan S. O'Connell - Mrs. Bridge; Custer
Curtis Sittenfeld - Sisterland

Kentucky:
Bobbie Ann Mason - In Country
Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
Sue Grafton - A is for Alibi

Illinois:
Richard Wright - Native Son
Carl Sandburg - American Song Bag
Nelson Algren - The Man With the Golden Arm
Stud Terkel - Working
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms

Iowa:
Donald Harstad - November Days
Timothy Bascom - Chameleon Days
Jeremy Jackson - In Summer
Stephen Lovely - Irreplaceable
Paul Engle - A Lucky American Childhood
Jane Smiley - Some Luck
Mary Kay Shanley - Our State Fair

Louisiana:
Kate Chopin - The Awakening
Lillian Hellman - The Little Foxes
John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
Anne Rice - Interview with a Vampire
Ernest Gaines - A Lesson Before Dying
Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire
Julie Smith - New Orleans Mourning

Tennessee:
Cormac McCarthy - All the Pretty Horses
James Agee - A Death in the Family
Robert Penn Warren - All the King's Men
Rosanne Cash - Composed

Arkansas:
Bette Greene - Summer of My German Soldier
Lois Lenski - Strawberry Girl
Kevin Brockmeier - The Brief History of the Dead
Laurell K. Hamilton - A Kiss of Shadows
Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 

Mississippi:
William Faulkner - A Light in August
Stephen Ambrose - The Wild Blue
Donna Tartt - Goldfinch
Mildred Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Greg Iles - Natchez Burning
Mark Childress - One Mississippi
John Grisham - A Time to Kill
David Halberstam - The Best and the Brightest
Charlaine Harris - Cemetery Girl series




One more river trivia question: which two states are on both sides of the MS River?

Louisiana and Minnesota

*From the Ojibwe name, "misi-zibi, meaning great river. Source: Dictionary of American History.






Mark Twain: "The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise." 














                                           ***  

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for follow by email at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your email address. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you!
      

                              March


Dr.Seuss: "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."


February is exiting much as it arrived - snowy and cold. What surprises await us in March? Will we be shivering this month or basking in the first shining days of spring? Historically, March has teased us with occasional lamblike weather, leaving behind the fierce leonine wind. Regardless of the sun or wind, let's celebrate the wearing o' the green and the birth of the man called Dr. Seuss.

Arriving on shelves are books by Rhys Bowen, Harlan Coben, Marisa de los Santos, Dennis Lehane, J.A. Jance, Thomas McGuane, Kathy Reichs, Debbie Macomber, Jennifer Chiaverini, Mary Doria Russell, Randy Wayne White, and a graphic novel version of Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time."

March is International Women's History Month, National Craft Month, Small Press Month, National March into Literacy Month. 

                                             

                                                   March Days 


1-7   -  National Write a Letter of Appreciation Week
1-7  -   National Words Matter Week
1-7  -   Read an E-Book Week
2-6  -   Newspaper in Education Week
2     -   Birth of Dr. Seuss, 1904 (Green Eggs and Ham)
2     -   NEA's Read Across America Day
4     -   National Grammar Day
4     -   Birth of James Ellroy, 1948 (L.A. Confidential)
5     -   Full Moon
5     -   World Book Day
6      -  Middle Name Pride Day (dedicated to all the Anns out there!)
8      -  Girls Write Now Day
8     -   Birth of Jeffrey Eugenides, 1960 (Middlesex)
8      -  National Prrofreading Day 
10    -  Organize Your Home Office Day
11    -  Birth of Ezra Jack Keats, 1916 (A Snowy Day)
14    -  International Ask a Question Day
14    -  Pi Day
15    -  Ides of March
16     - Freedom of Information Day
16-22- Shakespeare Week
16-22- World Folktales and Fables Week
17     -  St. Patrick's Day
20      - International Day of Happiness
20      - Vernal Equinox (and not a moment too soon)
20      - World Storytelling Day
21      - Poetry Day
22      - Birth of Louis L'Amour, 1908 (Last of the Breed)  
22-29 - American Crossword Puzzle Days
25      - Birth of Flannery O'Connor, 1925 (Everything That Rises Must Converge) 
25      - Tolkien Reading Day (or watch "Lord of the Rings" trilogy)
30      - Pencil Day 

And this closing thought from Charles Dickens, "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade." 



                                          ***

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for follow by email at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your email address. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you!

                        
                          February


John Steinbeck: "What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?"
               

As promised, February arrived with a snow storm in tow. The snow is still coming down, halfway into the day. I imagine that my neighbors are evenly divided - half of them hunkered down in front of a fire waiting for the Super Bowl to begin, and the other half outside with their dogs, cavorting and laughing in the heavy wet flakes. I'm somewhere in between, happy to stand on my front porch, breathe the crisp air and admire the white blanket that has transformed trees and houses into works of art. I can almost hear the jingling of bells on a horse drawn sleigh. Or smell the rich aroma of hot chocolate. I may be dreaming (a little) of Florida, but also feeling captivated by the snow. Winter has settled in. 

Welcome to February!

                                      February Days


February is American Heart Month, Library Lovers Month, and National Haiku Writing Month.


1 - Birth of Langston Hughes,1902 (The Weary Blues). Death of Mary Shelley, 1851 (Frankenstein).

1-7 - Children's Authors and Illustrators Week.

2 - Birth of James Joyce, 1882 (Dubliners).

2 - Groundhog Day.

4 - Birth of Betty Friedan, 1921 (The Feminine Mystique).

6 - Death of Barbara Tuchman, 1989 (Guns of August).

7 - Take Your Child to the Library Day.

7 - Beatles first visited the United States, 1964.

8 - Birth of Kate Chopin, 1850 (The Awakening).

8-14 Freelance Writers Appreciation Week.

9 - Read in the Bathtub Day.

9-15 Random Acts of Kindness Week.

10 - Birth of Bertolt Brecht, 1898 (Threepenny Opera); Birth of E.L. Konigsburg, 1930 (From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler).

12 - Birth of Charles Darwin, 1809 (On the Origin of the Species).

14 - Library Lovers Day. Happy Valentine's Day!

16 - Birth of Richard Ford, 1944 (The Sportswriter).

17 - Mardi Gras.

20 - Birth of Richard Matheson, 1926 (The Shrinking Man).

21 - Birth of David Foster Wallace, 1962 (Consider the Lobster).

22 - World Thinking Day.

25 - Death of Tennessee Williams, 1983 (A Streetcar Named Desire).

27 - "Read To Me Day" is sponsored by the group, Book 'Em. The goal is to get books into the hands and lives of underprivileged children.

27 - Birth of John Steinbeck, 1902 (The Winter Of Our Discontent).

28 - Birth of Lemony Snicket, 1970 (A Series of Unfortunate Events).

Look for new books by Anne Tyler, Steve Lehto, Lisa Gardner, Jeffrey Archer, Kristin Hannah, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Kellerman, Michio Kaku and Daniel Silva.

                                 
                                       *****

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for the follow by email tab at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your email address. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you!
   

                  Wish You Were Here



Don Blanding: "Florida skies are vast and wide, and never two days the same. A panorama that shifts and blends with colors that have no name. Is there a name for the mystic blue that comes at the twilight's close?"  from Floridays, 1941, 1956.



No surprise - it's been bitterly cold with the ground buried beneath snow. Relief arrived along with a late January thaw and a string of sunny days. But winter's cold air is returning soon with predictions of snow this weekend. And that's when the mind starts wandering...south. 

To Florida. The Sunshine State. **Population 19,552,860 and ranked the fourth most populated state. Tourism is the state's number one industry. And why not?? Florida has beaches, Walt Disney World, Kennedy Space Center, and the oldest permanent European settlement in the U.S. - St. Augustine. You can explore history, enjoy a famous sunset (Key West), people watch in South Beach, and eat fresh fish while delighting in the balmy breeze. And temperatures will certainly be above freezing. 

Those of us with no Florida travel plans can listen to a Jimmy Buffett tune or two, turn up the heat to around 85 degrees while wearing a T-shirt and shorts (no coat, hat or gloves) and read a book that's based in Florida. A lot of us may be stuck in the cold and snow, but so many fictional characters are living a warm life.  



   

Just add a book and a cool drink.

  











                                
                                 Warm Reading


Revenge of the Radioactive Lady - Stuckey-French, Elizabeth. What a great and creative story! The title says it all - this is a story of revenge. Also a story of family and friendship.

Swamplandia! - Russell, Karen. Maybe it's the heat or the salty air, Florida just becomes another character in so many books. If you're a fan of Carl Hiaasen, you'll enjoy the story of the Bigtree family in "Swamplandia!."

The Deep Blue Good-By (Travis McGee series)  - MacDonald, John. Vintage mystery series. Get to know Travis McGee and his beloved south Florida.

Alas, Babylon - Frank, Pat. What if a nuclear catastrophe happened and all that was left was a small Florida town?

Stiltsville - Daniel, Susanna. Great novel about the quirky community living in homes on stilts in the Miami area. Daniel is a wonderful story teller. 

The Yearling - Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. A classic story of a young boy and an orphaned fawn. Rawlings won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize in fiction for this poignant story.  

Skinny Dip - Hiaasen, Carl. Along with the aforementioned heat and salty air are some of the zaniest and yet, somehow believable characters. Also - Double Whammy and Tourist Season.

Black and Blue - Quindlen, Anna. Running away from an abusive husband, Fran Benedetto tries to start a new life in Florida.

Duma Key - King, Stephen. The story of Edgar Freemantle is keeping me up late as I try to figure out the power of Duma Key. 

The Orchid Thief - Orlean, Susan (nonfiction). Reads like a novel. This is the story of a man who poaches orchids from the Everglades.

The Corpse Had a Familiar Face - Buchanan, Edna (nonfiction). Award winning reporter brings readers along on some very strange, intriguing stories.

And three more classics: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God; Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not; Thomas McGuane's Ninety-two in the Shade.  





**Thanks to The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2015 for the Florida information. 


If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy. Look for the follow by email tab at the top right hand corner of the blog. Submit your address and click. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you.

                          Inspired by...

Edith Wharton: "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it."


Unless you've sequestered yourself in a cave for the past year, you know there's been a lot of sadness and anger in the news. Just when it all feels demoralizing or too daunting, there can be a brief spot of joy, humor, or reflection. On a gloomy evening in December, NBC Nightly News broadcast a story regarding the power of prayer in "healing the body and soul" according to Brian Williams. It was reported that, within the medical community, there are doctors who believe in prayer playing an important role in a patient's recovery. An accompanying story, shown the next evening, gave air time to doctors who clearly do not share the same belief. It's an interesting debate. 

If you're curious about prayer or looking for inspiration in 2015, here are some suggestions:


Anne Lamott - Help, Thanks, Wow-The Three Essential Prayers; Stitches - A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair;  Small Victories - Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Lamott isn't afraid to ask tough questions as she searches for guidance, and shares ideas through her lyrical writing.   

Jane Pauley - Your Life Calling-Reimagining the Rest of Your Life. The first wave of baby boomers are now in their 60s. Retirement and second chances beckon.   

Flannery O'Connor - A Prayer Journal. As a young student at University of Iowa, O'Connor began writing prayers, asking for guidance and grace.

Jimmy Carter - A Call to Action-Women, Religion, Violence and Power. President Carter educates readers of the inequalities and violence faced by women around the world.

Gail Caldwell - New Life, No Instructions. Life has no road map, and Caldwell reveals her struggle with both physical and emotional changes in middle age.  

Ann Patchett - What Now? Originally a commencement speech, Patchett reaches out to anyone at any age who asks "what now?" 

Suzanne Strempek Shea - Sundays in America. Shea brings us along on her extended road trip to explore Christian faith in America.  

Gretchen Rubin -  Happier at Home. Rubin walks the reader through a monthly guide meant to energize and change life at home. 

John Kralik - A Simple Act of Gratitude-How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life. Kralik's life didn't become perfect but the changes were dramatic after he began a letter writing campaign. His message? A simple "thank you."  

Anna Quindlen - A Short Guide to a Happy Life. A guide on enjoying the simple moments in life which Quindlen calls "small pieces of silver."

Diane Muldrow - Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book. The advice is simple yet meaningful: make a friend, use your imagination and be a hugger, among other ideas.

Jon Kabat-Zinn - Mindfulness for Beginners. A subject of a Time magazine cover story, mindfulness is a meditation technique designed to create a new way of thinking and understanding. 

Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Gift From the Sea. Contemplative essays compare shells washing ashore with the phases of a woman's life.

Caroline Myss - Invisible Acts of Power.  Myss asks her readers how their own daily actions will change the world, and will it be change for the better. Also explored - western and eastern religions.

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet. A Lebanese poet and philosopher, Gibran wrote essays and prayers regarding marriage, friendship, beauty and religion.


                                                         *****


If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Read With Enthusiasm. It's easy - look for follow by email at the top right hand corner of the blog. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you!

                      Brrr, or, it's January


Susan Orlean: "A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder."  Orlean is the author of "The Orchid Thief"



Is it cold enough for you? If you enjoy skiing, ice skating or even ice fishing, this is the perfect weather. As for the rest of us, we're happy to watch the snow fall from indoors, curled up in a comfortable chair with a hot cup of tea. And a good book, of course.


January is Book Blitz Month, National Hot Tea Month, and National Soup Month. Enjoy!


1 -      Happy 2015 

3 -      J. R. R. Tolkien Day. Love a hobbit today.

4 -      Trivia Day. 1) What was the best selling fiction trade paperback in 2013? 
                               2) What was the best selling fiction mass market paperback in 2013? Answers below*.

4 -       Birth of Doris Kearns Goodwin, 1943 (Team of Rivals)

6 -       Birth of Kahlil Gibran, 1883 (The Prophet)

8-14 -  Universal Letter Writing Week. Send someone a lovely surprise...a letter in the mail.

12  -    Death of Agatha Christie, 1976 (Murder on the Orient Express)

13 -      National Poetry at Work Day. See blog post January 13, 2014.

14 -      International Kite Day. It's an interesting choice of month for those of us in the northern hemisphere who may be knee deep in snow, but try it anyway. Or sing the song from Mary Poppins, "Let's Go Fly a Kite."

18 -     Thesaurus Day. Thesaurus is another word for treasure.

18  -     Birth of A.A. Milne, 1882 (Winnie-the-Pooh)

19 -      Birth of Edgar Allen Poe, 1809 (Murder in Rue Morgue)

20  -     Birth of Tami Hoag, 1959 (Kill the Messenger) 

25 -      A Room of One's Own Day. Enjoy an essay or novel by Virginia Woolf.

25 -     Robert Burns Day, Scottish poet (My Heart's in the Highlands)

30  -    Birth of Barbara Tuchman, 1912 (The Guns of August)

30 -     Death of Wendy Wasserstein, 2006 (The Sisters Rosensweig) 



*According to Publishers Weekly, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was the best selling trade paperback in 2013. George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" was the mass market best seller.


If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to "Read With Enthusiasm." It's easy. Look for follow by email at the top right corner of the blog. You'll receive a follow-up email to activate your subscription. Thank you!