Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale...by Gwen Cooper

Remember Dewey Readmore, last year's suddenly famous library cat? Librarian Vicki Myron hit the best seller lists with her feline tale, and even Hollywood paid attention. Meryl Streep will be playing Vicki in a movie based on the book.

This year cat lovers have another chance to experience both tears and laughter reading Homer's Odyssey: a Fearless Feline Tale, Or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat by Gwen Cooper. I couldn't stop telling people about the book once I started it. The cat lost his eyes to an infection when he was only two weeks old, and his eyes were sewn shut. Along comes Gwen Cooper, already the owner of two cats, a twenty-something Miamian who can't even afford her own apartment after a romantic break-up. Yet she felt called to adopt this kitten, a plucky all-black furry ball of joy. She named him Homer. Soon she felt like Mary with her little lamb, for Homer followed Gwen wherever she would go.

Happy-go-lucky Homer knows no bounds, except for the prudent boundaries Gwen carefully arranges wherever they end up living. For instance, he is not allowed out on high rise patios. But Homer scales draperies, bookshelves, blue jeans and counters as easily as a born mountain climber. He unerringly finds his food, water and litter, etc. He is also something of a opera star, revealing a wide repertoire of trilling meows. He loves to both communicate and cuddle. He is cheerful and brave, never needy. He charms most everyone he meets, much like Dewey Readmore. And he serves in many roles: gamekeeper, rubber band guitarist and even security guard. One night Homer attacked and scared away an intruder in their apartment, waking Gwen up in the process before any harm was done.

Gwen Cooper reinvents herself as the chapters fly by. Her jobs in marketing and publicity come and go, until the dot com boom goes bust and she leaves Miami for Manhattan. Homer and his two step-sister cats, Scarlet and Vashti, handle the transition fairly well. Then comes 9/11. Gwen lives very near the World Trade Center district and following the terrorist attacks, days go by before she can get back to her apartment and the cats. Her first hand reports of life in the city at that time are vivid. Thank goodness her three cats and apartment were okay.

Gwen was single and looking. I don't want to give away all the book's outcomes, but suffice it to say that reading about her love life is part of the memoir's appeal. This is also an extended coming of age tale. Gwen becomes more confident and independent. Like young Homer, she takes blind leaps into the unknown and lives to tell the tale.

Another thing that really impressed me: how the author used relevant quotes from The Odyssey by Homer at the beginning of each chapter. I've had very little exposure or patience for ancient classics, but reading these quotes made me want to go back to the original Homer, the blind poet. What an uncanny, inspired name for this cat. Homer's perpetual journey continues, and we the readers are lucky to follow along.

Bookmarks, Not the Electronic Kind

Enter the word "bookmark" into a search engine and you will get lots of links to the noun and verb as related to computers, meaning: a list of favorite website addresses and the act of saving this list. Well, I'm all for such lists, but what about the other kind of bookmark, the original bookmark, the lovely paper or card stock gizmo that marks a reader's place in a book? I'm still not over loosing the book card pockets in library books since that is where I used to park my bookmark when I was reading the book, thank you very much. But book card pockets were phased out of book processing at most libraries when date due cards became obsolete due to the use of computerized receipts.

I have a small collection of bookmarks stashed here and there all over the house, wherever I might need one, next to reading hangouts and in my nightstand. Some are quite worn but I hold onto them as if they were old friends. They have been with me on many journeys through the world of words. I gathered some favorite bookmarks for the photo above. On the left in screaming neon orange and lime green, the Queen of Hearts shouts "READ ... or off with your head!", an American Library Association bookmark. How about the Garfield bookmark with this caption" Does your mother know you're reading this stuff?" I have some Paul Goble bookmarks perfectly preserved since the late 1970s, little slices of his Caldecott Award winning artwork depicting Native American legends. Longfellow gets quoted on a sweet Mary Engelbreit bookmark: "The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books."

I researched the history of bookmarks and learned they first came into use during the medieval period. Queen Elizabeth I was known to be a bookmark user. Bookmarkers, as they were also called, began to be mass produced in the 1860s, usually made of silk, ribbon or leather. The Victorians loved giving and getting bookmarks. Paper and card stock bookmarks became widely used by the end of the nineteenth century as book ownership became more commonplace. A Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention is planned for February 2010. There is also a Flickr group for vintage bookmarks. I am encouraged that interest in bookmarks runs high.

Librarians love bookmarks for the opportunity they pose to plug books, reading lists or their library services. They are an inexpensive giveaway. Kids love making bookmarks. It's fun to design them yourself and there are lots of templates available online. Long live bookmarks and the books they dwell in!

Baking Cakes in Kigali

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin (Delacorte, 2009) : does the title catch your attention? For me it did, not even though I have to admit I was not familiar with Kigali, which come to find out, is the capitol city of Rwanda (central Africa). I'm always agog for books which have even the slightest tie-in to food, restaurants and/or bakeries. The cakes being baked in this gentle novel are lovingly created by a Tanzanian woman named Angel Tugaraza. She also has a few other things to do, as she and her husband, a university professor/consultant, are raising their five orphaned grandchildren. She grieves for the recent loss of her two adult children. But most often, whenever a cake customer knocks on her apartment door, Angel is delighted to stop whatever it is she is doing, put the kettle on for tea, and discuss the particulars of the event the cake is to be designed around.

These are no ordinary cakes. Each one is a well-frosted masterpiece, made to look like an aeroplane, microphone or flag. Drinking tea, listening and sometimes gently counseling her customers, Angel also juggles languages. Her Cake Order Form is available in four languages: Swahili, English, French and Kinyarwanda, of which Angel speaks only the first two. But the problems that lie beneath the surface of even this most innocent act of commerce are many. The Rwandan genocides, the AIDs epidemic, even the practice of female circumcision are gently interwoven into the narrative.

Angel Tugaraza could easily be mistaken as a sister of Precious Ramotswe of Botswana, the starring character of Alexander McCall Smith's Number One Ladies' Detective Agency series. Angel drinks her tea with cardamon added, whereas Precious drinks bush tea, but I'm sure they'd find much to talk about over their mugs of tea. Both are compassionate women of a certain age who have found they need thier waistbands to be more expansive. Both find self esteem through what some might call minor entrepreneurship, but readers know better. We see how even their smallest acts of kindness and compassion lend civility to modern madness. Cake crumbs, delighted giggles and chuckles likely to follow. Big women, big hearts, the milk of human kindness personified.

Authoress Gaile Parkin knows of what she writes; born in Zambia, she has worked in many African countries and counseled women and girls who survived genocide. Their stories are the inspirational basis for Baking Cakes in Kigali, her first novel. Here's hoping there are many more to come.

Books I Couldn't Put Down

Here are the best novels I've read lately: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo, Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen, The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and The Walking People by Mary Beth Keane.

Sworn to Silence (Minotaur, 2009) by Linda Castillo instantly intrigued me because its main character, Kate Burkholder is a Police Chief who was raised Amish, a great premise that made me want to know more about how she got from there to here. Kate still speaks Pennsylvania Dutch, but does not live by their credos. Two years ago she came back to her small hometown of Painters Mill, Ohio to accept the chief position. Now someone is torturing and killing young women, and there may be a connection to a criminal who figures darkly in Kate's own past. I'm currently reading this one so don't yet know how it turns out, but just give me every spare moment I can find today to get to that last page and hopefully I'll see justice for all. Castillo has had a number of suspense paperbacks published, but this hardback looks like her breakout title. I was glad to learn she is working on her next Kate Burkholder thriller.

I love books about hyphenated-American immigrant experiences. In Short Girls (Viking, 2009) by Bich Minh Nguyen, the focus is on the relationships between two Vietnamese-American sisters and their eccentric father. Van Luong is the studious older sister who became a lawyer, married a Chinese-American and moved into a McMansion, except the mansion is empty because her husband has left her, and her job is far from perfect. Yet she finds herself unable to tell anyone in her family that her world is falling apart. Her sister Linny, a caterer, is in a relationship with a married man. Yes, they are the "short girls" of the title, always measuring themselves against much taller Americans. When their father, a tiler and inventor of products for short people, summons them home to Grand Rapids, Michigan for his citizenship party, the sisters are forced to reconnect and reevaluate their lives as well as the myths their family has been raised on. Nguyen's first book was the well-received memoir, Buddha's Dinner (Viking, 2007).

If you enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006) by Diane Setterfield, try The Forgotten Garden (Atria, 2009) by Kate Morton. Both are door stopper whoppers with gothic elements, perfect for fall reading. We meet one of The Forgotten Garden's main characters on its first pages, a four year-old girl abandoned on a dock in Queensland, Australia. How did she get there? She doesn't even know her name. She carries a small white suitcase containing an exquisitely illustrated book of fairy tales. Much later in life, she begins to investigate the mystery of her origins. But not until after her death when her grand-daughter travels to England to take ownership of the cottage with an overgrown garden her grandmother has left her, does the whole story really begin to unfold. Long lasting fat novels of this sort give me a particular satisfaction; often they are enchanting and more substantial than most standard modern fare.

The Walking People (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009) by Mary Beth Keane starts in 1963, when teenagers Greta and Johanna Cahill leave their home in remote west Ireland, bound for America. With them is Michael Ward, a boy who walked away from his nomadic clan, the travelers or walking people. These characters do the usual things once they get to New York: they work, love, marry and raise families. They struggle and survive. Yet there is a secret buried deep within their lives that both divides and unites them. I found myself caring deeply for all who populate the pages of The Walking People. Keane's writing style is deceptively simple, straightforward and well-crafted, especially for a first novel.

All of these titles came to my by way of the Texas Library Association (TLA) Lariat Award task force assignment I accepted upon retirement. I can't believe this commitment started only four or five months ago. I feel like I've been reading much faster and more critically since I started on this journey. The novels above are only a handful of the 2009 titles being considered for the final Lariat Reading list. It will be very interesting to duke it out and vote for favorite titles when our group sits down for a marathon discussion and voting session at the 2010 TLA conference. Until then, back to reading!

State Fair of Texas, 2009

Big Tex sends his regards!

Best Fried Food eaten: Fried Peaches and Cream (scrumptious!)

Fried Foods seen, believed but not eaten: Fried Butter, Deep Fried Latte, Fried PB & J.

Best Animal Show: Spirit of the Horse, featuring a demonstration of horse whispering.

Best way to relax during a long day at the fair: trying out the expensive massage chairs for sale.

For further info, see the official State Fair of Texas website.

Reason for my short post this week: I sprained my ankle when we got back to town and need to take it easy. Hopefully I'll feel up to writing a more substantial post next week.

photos: Texas Star Ferris Wheel, Big Tex 2009, Braggy Fried Food Sign - by KAO 9-29-09

Georgia O'Keeffe's Mountain

I enjoyed taking a look at a young college woman's new blog, A Bit of Rain, after she left a comment about one of my posts. When I saw that she was a fan of Georgia O'Keeffe, it made me remember my joy of discovering that artist decades ago. It looks like the Bit of Rain blogger was introduced to the artist via the new Lifetime biopic, "Georgia O'Keeffe" starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons.

In an earlier post, I mentioned my Elderhostel trip to New Mexico, a six day course fashioned on all things O'Keeffe. I recently found my notes from that trip in 2006, page after page of tidbits and trivia about the artist, her art and her life and having also watched the Lifetime movie, I fell back into my fascination with her.

O'Keeffe particularly loved one flat-topped mesa, Cerro Pedernal. She called it "my private mountain", which she could see from the front yard of her home at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. It is featured in 28 of her paintings. She paired it with flowers and with bones. She painted it up close and from faraway, under blue skies and moonlight. During my six day stay at Ghost Ranch, I too grew very fond of the Pedernal, which you could not help but recognize from her paintings. It is also the place where O'Keeffe's ashes were dispersed.

Another interesting aspect of Cerro Pedernal is its connection to the Navajo myth of Changing Woman, who also holds a place of power for the Apache. Changing Woman represents the turnings of the wheel of time, as well as eternal timelessness. She is the beneficent female deity of all the seasons of life: birth, growth, life, aging, death and rebirth. Symbolizing balance, beauty and harmony, Changing Woman came to life on Cerro Pedernal, a child born of sky and mountain. I wonder if O'Keeffe felt a connection to Changing Woman's timeless wisdom.

In future posts I will explore further topics related to O'Keeffe. I'd like to go back to Ghost Ranch in the fall, when I'm told the cottonwoods turn yellow as liquid butter. But for this year's fall field trips, my husband and I are bound for the State Fair in Dallas and then on to Missouri to visit family there. I am really excited about finally visiting the State Fair. I've lived in the state of Texas more than half of my life now, so clearly it was time to pay my respects to Big Tex, the super tall iconic State Fair Cowboy, he the wearer of a 75 gallon hat and size 70 boots!

photo: KAO at Ghost Ranch. Cerro Pedernal in the background, Spring 2006.

Cocobolo, Purpleheart & Other Exotic Woods

After a visit to Clark's Hardwood Lumber Company here in Houston, during which I scribbled down names of woods I'd never heard of before, I just had to do some research on their exotic origins and qualities. Their names were pure poetry: cocobolo, purpleheart, bubinga, zebrawood and lignum vitae.

The Cocobolo wood really caught my eye. It looked like slabs of marble halvah, having broad contrasting bands of dark brown and cream. Rare and expensive, it is used for making such things as musical instruments and cue sticks.

Purpleheart (species Peltogyne), also known as violetwood, has to be seen to be believed. It looks as if it has been soaked in a vat of purple tint or stain, but indeed the color is natural. There are some twenty-odd species of Peltogyne, grown in tropical Central and South America. It is very dense, easily takes on a high natural polish, and is well suited for inlay work. I found myself wanting to buy a small piece of it but decided to wait until I have some idea of what I might do with it.

Bubinga, bubinga - now there's a word that makes me smile. Luthiers use this African wood to make harps, and it is also used for making drums and archery bows. Applied as veneer, it can have a wild swirly pattern something like curly maple, but with colors in the orange or red-brown spectrum.

As you might expect from its name, Zebrawood, also known as zebrano, has dark stripes on a lighter background. It comes from Central Africa, and much like the endangered animals it is named for, is considered a threatened species. Its use is mainly for fine inlay or marquetry woodwork involving such items as guitars and handgun stocks. In order to manifest the unique stripes, it is usually quarter-sawn.

Lignum Vitae, from the Latin for "wood of life", also known as greenheart or palo santo, is said to be the absolute hardest wood; it even sinks in water. It is used to make cricket balls, croquet mallets and mortars and pestles, among other things. I was interested to see that it is considered an ironwood. Back in the 1970s, I made a mirror frame from an ironwood slab I harvested in upstate New York, but now I realize that ironwood is not one wood but a group of very dense woods. Another threatened species, lignum vitae has seen a fall in demand due to alternate use of alloys, polymers and various composite materials.

Well I hope reading this has not been too much like scanning a child's school report. I get excited by Mother Nature's beautiful raw materials, and never knew I had such access to them so close by. My cabinetmaker husband has a workshop full of less exotic woods such as oak and pine. We have enough scraps from leftover projects to build a small barn, so I don't think we'll be buying any great amount of exotic woods soon, but visiting Clark's Lumber Company is a fun, hands-on field trip I highly recommend for artists, craftsmen and all other curiosity-seekers.

photo: Ironwood and Crochet Mirror by KAO