Book: Mothers and Daughters (2011) by Rea Meadows

(WIN a copy of this book when you leave a comment)

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Destination: Austin Texas

Book: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough (2010) by Ruth Pennebaker

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I realize it is a little late for you to be getting these books as Mother’s Day gifts (Yes it IS two days away), however there is never a bad time for giving a gift to Mom.  Are you listening, kids?

It is a truth universally acknowledged (apologies to Jane Austen) that the most complex relationship on the face of the earth is that between mothers and daughters.  The complexity deepens because each mother, of course, is also a daughter.

Book Cover

Therefore, in the novel Mothers and Daughters, Rae Meadows covers fascinating,  if well trod ground.  I read this new novel a couple of months after enjoying Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough by Ruth Pennebaker, and realized they would make a nice pair of books to peruse as we ponder the subject of mothers.

Mothers and Daughters follows three generations (and baby makes four) of mother-daughter relationships.  By far the most riveting one takes place in the late nineteenth century.  We follow the drastically changing life of Violet from the streets of New York to the Midwest. Her single mother copes as best she can, living off the favors of men, but finally gives up her daughter in the hope that Violet will have a better life if adopted from the orphan train by a Midwest family.

Children on orphan train, picture from site of the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia Kansas

The orphan trains actually did transport thousands of poor waifs from Eastern cities to midwest and western families, with very mixed results. An enormous amount of literature has been produced based on the orphan trains. You can find a list of books, as well as lots of history at the Orphan Train site linked above.

This part of the 3-generational history fascinated me.  Meadows captures the street life of the scabby-kneed, scruffy children who live on the streets with their false bravado and survival skills, and the fear and confusion of the children who get aboard the train. But the novel is not just about this slice of history.

Violet’s grand daughter, Sam, the story’s main focus, lives the life of the intellectual class in Madison Wisconsin. Unlike her maternal line, Sam has the choice of whether to become a mother and after one disastrous attempt, is now doting on an infant daughter.

Sam and her mother Iris never grew particularly close, but Sam felt she knew her mother better when she went to stay with her in “God’s waiting room” in Florida where Iris had moved not long before her illness and death.

As readers we get to know the entire story of Sam’s grandmother Violet and most of Iris’ story, but the novel leaves Sam searching for clues–belatedly realizing that these women were complex people–not just mothers.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which I read on my netbook’s Kindle app, also treats three generations–Caroline (15), the mother Joanie (about to turn 50), and grandmother Ivy (in her seventies). But Mothers and Daughters is a walk in the park compared to the lives that Pennebaker has created. Pennebaker has a sharp eye for the way that people function–or dysfunction. She not only creates an amazingly accurate teenager, but captures Ivy’s  frustration at being treated as irrelevant in old age. Ivy tries vainly to stay up to date by learning to use a computer, even while she clings to beliefs and habits that her daughter Joanie thinks are hopelessly outdated.

The various problems and personality differences would be bad enough if these three were living separately, but they are living under the same roof where they predictably get on each other’s nerves.

I am a regular reader of Pennebaker’s blog, The Geezer Sisters, where she amuses her many fans by slicing open her own emotions and reactions to life’s frustrations. Yes, amuses.  The humor in the novel is subtler than the sardonic essays on her blog, but it is there in characters who act out in ways we have only fantasized about. But somehow as you are reading, the actions seem completely real and justifiable–if sometimes pretty funny. Later you may think–are these women ALL nuts? Yet she leaves the three women with hope for growth and self awareness and even some understanding of the others.

Thank goodness you (and I) are not expected to choose between these two books on a very similar theme. The writing style is different, the characters  have markedly different backgrounds, but the novels have in common that irritating, hurtful, consoling, all-embracing relationship between mothers and daughters. So take your pick–New York to Wisconsin and Florida or Austin, Texas.

If you leave a comment during the week after this is published, you will be entered in a random drawing to win a copy of Mothers and Daughters. Sorry about the other book–as I said, I read it on my Kindle app. (Only U.S. residents, over 18 are eligible. Thanks.)

Mothers and Daughters was given to me by the publisher for review.  I purchased Women on the Verge for my Kindle app. If you click on an Amazon link anywhere on this site and buy anything at all while you are shopping there, A Traveler’s Library earns a few pence. Thanks again.

Do you have  a mother-daughter relationship that would make for a comic novel, or a Greek tragedy? And do you have a story about orphan trains?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Valentine Mashup

Happy Valentine’s Day. If you need a sound track for the day of romance, head over to Music Road for some great recommendations.

If you want to know about the love life of a famous Navajo painter, we’re telling not all, but some about Quincy Tahoma and his ladies.

Here’s a guest post about a trip to a romantic spot–Acoma Pueblo.

Going to a movie? Planning a trip with your sweetie? Before you book a flight, read on for some travel deas…

Winning an Oscar reaps financial rewards for any movie. Being nominated helps, too.  But why should the movie makers be the only ones to benefit?

OSCAR

CheapOair points to  special deals to let you explore the settings of six Oscar-nominated movies. (We are not advocating that you look at only one place for tickets and hotels–shop around.)

Since I am always lagging behind in my movie watching, I asked my son Ken (not to be confused with husband Ken), who sees EVERYTHING,  to tell us something about each of the six movies that CheapOair wants you to visit.  Turns out Ken had seen ALMOST everything. Here are his mini reviews and CheapOair’s deals, which must be redeemed by February 21.

BLACK SWAN

Mini review:

Nina Sayers has one goal in Black Swan: a perfect performance as the lead in Swan Lake. To pull it off, she has to set aside the pure precision that makes her ideal to play the White Swan, and open herself to the darker nature, duplicity and passion of the Black Swan. She finds her way partly by breaking out of the overprotective arms of her theatrical mother’s apartment and setting herself free on the streets of the New York.

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal to the Bentley Hotel, in New York, starting at $ 159 per night. Sample round trip airfare is also available at CheapOair starting at $288. (Please go to their site for the fine print on all of these deals–there’s quite a bit of fine print.)

THE KING’S SPEECH

Mini Review

Prince Albert, the Duke of York, faces adversities both physical and emotional in the decade before England enters World War II. His father King George V dies and his older brother the Prince of Wales, utterly unprepared for the monarchy, takes up the crown as King Edward VIII. On top of all that, the advent of radio is a particular problem for a man who has been a stutterer all his life. Fortune favors the Duke as his wife finds an uncommon commoner, Australian Lionel Logue, who proves an able speech therapist and fast friend to the future King. The scenes inside Westminster Abbey alone are enough to make you want to go to London. (Note: One blogger calls this a Women’s Movie About  Men. See if you agree with her.)

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal from New York to London starting at only $363 per person. The package includes roundtrip airfare and a four night stay at the Hilton Wembley Plaza. (Fine print on site)

THE FIGHTER

Mini Review (Jane Boursaw because this is the one that son Ken did NOT see)

The Fighter hits all of the right notes, telling the real-life story of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a blue-collar guy from Lowell, Massachusetts who goes on to win a welterweight title, but not without a lot of losses, family frustrations, and tough talk from his bar maid girlfriend Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams). (See Jane’s total review at Reel Life With Jane)

Note: Lowell is CLOSE to Boston.  And any excuse to go to Boston is a good one. (Two years ago I featured a book with a walking tour of Boston. If you’re going to take this trip, be sure to pick up Walking Boston: 34 Tours Through Beantown’s Cobblestone Streets, Historic Districts, Ivory Towers and New Waterfront . The CheapOair trip includes the Kimpton Marlowe hotel. I love Kimpton hotels and stayed at Kimpton’s Nine Zero near Boston Commons on our trip to Boston.)

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal from Los Angeles to Boston starting at only $477 per person. The package includes roundtrip airfare and a four night stay at the Hotel Marlowe- A Kimpton Hotel. (Fine print at CheapOair site)

INCEPTION

Mini Review

In addition to being a challenge to follow as you watch it, Inception is a challenge to follow in the real world, as most of the movie takes place within the minds of the characters. A few exceptions include exteriors in Osaka and Tokyo, a street scene in Tangiers, and several early scenes in Paris where Dom Cobb opens the eyes of his protege Ariadne to the possibilities of creating impossible architecture in lucid dreams.

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal to visit the location where Leonardo DiCaprio taught Ellen Page the tricks and trade of The Pasiv dream machine. Starting at $ 119* per night, stay at Holiday Inn Paris La Villete. Sample round trip airfare is also available at CheapOair starting at $468. (More fine print at CheapOair site)

TRUE GRIT

Mini Review

The story may be set in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma, but the scenery is pure Texas in this updated western from Joel and Ethan Coen. Fourteen year old Mattie Ross travels from her home in Arkansas to retrieve her father’s body from a small town in Oklahoma. To track down her father’s killer, she enlists the aid of a crusty US Marshal, Rooster Cogburn, and they are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. They ride off into Indian territory, much of which looks the same today as it must have in the late 1800′s.

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal from Los Angeles to Austin starting at only $611 per person. The package includes roundtrip airfare and a four night stay at the Renaissance Austin Hotel. (More fine print on CheapOair Site)

SOCIAL NETWORK

Mini Review

Born at Harvard, Facebook is now firmly entrenched in Silicon Valley, with headquarters in Stanford Research Park in Palo Alto. While entertaining, this story of Mark Zuckerberg’s creation tends to take some liberties with the reality of building a web startup. Enterpreneurs are not typically rock star types with sex-crazed groupies. To view them in the wild yourself, you’d have better luck hanging out around the ubiquitous Santa Clara county office parks than in downtown San Jose clubs. (Note: Ken was one of those techie nerds in Silicon Valley, so listen up.)

CheapOair is offering a vacation deal from New York to San Jose starting at only $608 per person. The package includes roundtrip airfare and a five night stay at the four star Four Points By Sheraton San Jose. (More fine print at the CheapOair web site.)

All reservations must be made by February 21, and there is a lot of fine print involved, so be sure to check the CheapOair web site for details.

If you could go to one of these five places–which would you choose?

(Disclaimers: The photos came from Flickr and the talented photographers have other work there, which you can see by clicking on the picture.  Unfortunately for me, CheapOair, true to their name did not pay me ANYTHING to write this entire post plugging their website. And out of fairness, I should repeat that you should shop around–and be sure to look at Cheap Flights, which DOES advertise on this site. )

Thanks to son Ken for providing four mini reviews, and for Jane Boursaw for allowing me to cadge off her site for one. Couldn’t have done it without the two of you.

This content is a post from: A Traveler's Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler's Library. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

City of Buffalo, NY

Destination: Buffalo, New York

Book: City on the Edge by Mark Goldman

My great aunt Maude Bartlett lived in Buffalo with her husband, dearCarlos.  She always referred to him as though his name had three syllables. I never visited Aunt Maude in Buffalo, and Carlos died before I was born.  He was a lawyer for the railroads, back when the railroads were very prosperous, so they lived a solid upper middle class life and Maude belonged to Women’s clubs and Shakespeare societies and hosted teas. DearCarlos died when he was only 42 years old, but Maude continued to live a comfortable life in Buffalo.

She finally moved back to the small town in Ohio where she grew up, and where my Grandmother Vera lived all her life.  Maude and Vera fought constantly. Two sisters were never so different. Apparently great-grandmother had shown  great favoritism to Maude, the older sister, the refined one, the one who played the piano and knew all the best brands of silver and china. But they called each other every day.

When my family moved back to the same town, I sometimes visited her, and as her eyesight failed, she wanted my brother and me to read to her. I dutifully spent summer afternoons one summer reading a book about Alaska to her, but I didn’t like doing it and soon got out of it.

I have always regretted that my self-centered teenage self didn’t have the sense to ask about Buffalo, and what her life was like in that city on Lake Erie. Because of these memories, for our road trip stop in western New York state, I chose to read [amazonify]1591024579::text::::City on the Edge[/amazonify] a history and analysis of Buffalo by Mark Goldman.

I gobbled up the first few chapters about Buffalo’s peak days, when they idolized industry, glorying in giving away lakefront to shipping and manufacturing companies and allowing railroads to split the city. Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of Central Park, was invited to lay out boulevards and parks for Buffalo. Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses for the wealthy. But  industry eventually toppled from its pedestal and crushed the economy of the city along with other rustbelt cities in the northern tier of Midwest states.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Despite a decade by decade retelling of grim mistakes and economic disaster,the book points out a rich cultural life.  The Albright Art Gallery, later to become the Albright-Knox, starting early in the 20th century, built what is still one of the best modern art collections in the country.  And in music,  Buffalo became known for supporting avant-garde music, and the Buffalo Philharmonic, founded in 1935, performs in a historic hall designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Buffalo also boasts the 2nd oldest Chamber Music Society in the U.S.

It would have been wonderful to see the beautiful elm trees that crowded the edges of Buffalo streets before the Dutch Elm disease thinned out those trees. Today, Goldman says, volunteers are replanting trees and restoring the plazas and parks designed by Olmstead.

Blizzard

Yes, I wish I had asked Aunt Maude more about her life in Buffalo, which was at its hey-day when she lived there. But is this a book for road trip travelers? Is Buffalo even a city for travelers? The Buffalo-Niagara Falls web site proclaims “Be Surprised.” And the Albright-Knox Gallery site says “Experience the Unexpected.” As in, ‘you weren’t expecting anything, so whatever you find is going to be better than what you were expecting’?  Warning: unless you really love blizzards, do not visit in the winter.

As for this book,  the danger in writing history is the temptation to use every fact you uncover and City on the Edge is crammed with facts. I also got the feeling that Goldman, a investor and restaurateur when he’s not writing history, also used some of the book to settle some political scores. Let me suggest that you might use it as a reference, if you are going to stop in Buffalo. For more information on Buffalo, Goldman suggests Buffalo Rising, an on-line newspaper.

Music Road tells about three western New York songwriters for our road music to go with the road trip to Buffalo.

Photos by M.H.Baker from Flickr, used under Creative Commons license. Click on a photo to see more of this Buffalo photographer’s work.

So, have you stopped in Buffalo when you were on a road trip to Niagara Falls?  I shared the high culture, but what about the strictly fun stuff?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: New York City, New York

Book: Charming Billy (1998) by Alice McDermott

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Naturally, Music Road will have some great Irish music for our road trip today.

This passage is from an NPR NewsHour interview just after Alice McDermott won the National Book Award for Charming Billy. McDermott said:

Being Irish-American, myself, Irish-American material is readily at hand to me. I know Irish-American people. I know what their homes look like. I know what they have for dinner. I know how they turn a phrase. And so since it was readily available, it saves me lots of research time, and I can spend the time instead trying to develop the things that I think are important in fiction, and that is the inner life of the characters.

The story of [amazonify]B000O5LGA::text::::Charming Billy[/amazonify] starts at the wake in the Bronx for Billy Lynch and spirals backward through time with the stories of family members and friends.  Although the story goes back to the early 20th century, the narrator, child of a World War II veteran who is Billy’s best friend, carries us into the twenty-first century.

Dialogue is uncanny, as McDermott  uses the ritual clichés people pronounce, like “its unbelievable still” or “it’s a terrible thing, Father” about the death. People talk about the differences between Protestants and Catholics (Protestants use the lord’s first name) and the coarseness of Midwesterners (because they’re around farm animals.)

McDermott’s sentences  feel just right. “The narrow house was a gallery of Billy’s life that evening–how could anyone help but think it?”

These lines play out against extraordinary observation of ordinary details. One widow marries a second time because the husband-to-be owns a house.  By marrying him, she has the luxury of being able to set up her ironing board and leave it up, instead of sharing space in a crowded apartment basement. She now has the luxury of closets to hang clothes in.

Irish lace doily

Doilies on the tables, the framed cross-stitched Prayer of St. Francis,  the cement steps out front or the peeling paint on wooden steps or the marble steps of slightly more prosperous homes all denote Irish-American life in the Bronx.

Dialogue rolls poetically, echoing earlier thoughts, as when Marie, wife to the alcoholic Billy and daughter to an alcoholic father repeats her fatalistic, “It doesn’t make a difference.”

These are people who never stray far from the teachings of the church, their thinking framed by nuns and priests even when they question whether religion is merely fairy tales. And if those illusions help get them through life, then what other illusions do individuals depend on? Finally, we are asked to consider whether truth is important at all?

McDermott has written a small miracle of a book.  I felt that I had attended Billy’s wake myself, met the reliable Dennis, plain Marie, Eva and Mary, the girls from Ireland who worked as nursemaids. I vividly saw a part of New York City that is new to me, since, like most visitors, I stick to Manhattan.

McDermott has published six novels–the latest, After This, in 2008. She sticks strictly to the Irish American families, for reasons explained in the interview referenced above.

As for our Great American Road Trip, I confess to a slight cop-out when it comes to New York state. In my mind, New York City practically constitutes a separate state, so on St. Patrick’s Day I chose to feature a book for the Irish there. Next week, we’ll return to New York State, to the city of Buffalo. (Click on the photo of the Irish lace doily to learn more about the photographer)

Read about Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day,HERE: Music for the Traveler to Ireland, Blasket Islands, DuMaurier book, and McCarthy’s Bar.

ELSEWHERE:

Listening to music in an Irish pub

Irish music and landscape

Win a sterling silver shamrock

A family vacation in Southern Ireland Part I

A Family vacation in Ireland Part II

Have you visited other boroughs of New York, other than Manhattan? What took you there?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Last year I talked about my favorite romantic city, romantic book and poetry, hotel, restaurant, etc. in this post. Please take a look because I have not changed my mind. And read on for two East Coast suggestions for this Valentine’s Day (if you can get there through the snow).

Happy Valentine’s Day

Unfairly, last year, I told you about a hotel experience that you cannot have because it does not exist any more.  But you CAN go to the Kimpton Hotel in Boston, Nine Zero.

A toast

Are you ready for this? The package is called “Rub the One You’re With.” It includes a one-night stay, a massage lesson for the two of you by a masseuse, champagne, take-home package of lavender and lemon oils, salts and candles, and for the practical in you–free overnight parking. $414 for a View Room in Boston on the night I checked, but the rates vary by date and city. (If the web site does not show availability when you want to go, call the 800 number.)

Since I stayed at the Nine Zero, I can tell you that if you are not satisfied with the contents of your overnight bag–or you just decide to go on the spur of the moment sans luggage, there are hangers in the closet with sexy little nothings, and lovely robes and slippers–all available for you to buy.

Actually most Kimpton hotels offer these packages, but I have stayed at the Nine Zero and can vouch for the fact it is special. Please check the Kimpton site to see where all the hotels are located and for all the fine print that accompanies the offer.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Like most writers, my mail box gets clogged with promotional pieces around holidays.  Here’s a P.R. release that caught my eye, and I just wish I were going to be in New York City on Valentine’s weekend, to take advantage of this good deal. (Are you reading this, Ken?) I’m presenting the press release, pretty much the way it came to me.

Take a Trip on the Love Bus: Gray Line New York’s Valentine’s Day Deal

New York Greyhound Bus Tour

Tired of the same old teddy bears and chocolates as gifts on Valentine’s Day?  Treat your special someone to one of the most stunning and romantic treasures you might have overlooked: a star-filled, skyline-topped late night ride throughout New York City – a quintessential New York City moment on a double decker bus.

Gray Line New York is offering a special Valentine’s Day bus tour where customers will receive a $25 Gift Card from Restaurant.com to use at one of NYC’s choice restaurants such as 5 Ninth or Circle Rouge with the purchase of two Gray Line New York’s world famous Night Tours tickets*.

This special Valentine’s Day promotion must be purchased online only.Tickets can be redeemed at the Gray Line Visitors Center located at 777 8^th Avenue (between 47^th & 48^th Streets) prior to the tour.

Night Tour tickets cost $39 per adult; departure times and locations of tours are as follows: 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm from 777 8th Avenue and 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm from Times Square.

*Tours are valid for travel only on Friday, 2/12, Saturday, 2/13 and Sunday, 2/14. The Gift Card has no cash value, and may not be substituted for another item or tour.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What are you hoping for on Valentine’s Day? Or do you wish it would just go away? Where would you like to go? What would you like to read?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Reading quotes like this, “My main advice to a first-time traveler would be to read something from, or at least set in, the place they’re going.” and “The books that are most compelling to me have always been books that transport me to another place or time…”, it is all I can do to stay chained to my computer chair instead of flying directly to JFK.  But before going to Manhattan, according to DelVecchio, I need to read…” Bartleby the Scrivener and Washington Square, which are both set in the 19th century of course, and Three Bedrooms in Manhattan, a Simonen book from the 1940s that has a very Hopperesque feel to it. Enemies, A Love Story is another great book, also set in the ’40s.”

And besides, I can, if I don’t mind skipping the tactile and olfactory  joys of a bookstore, shop at Idlewild on line.

I encourage you to stray away from A Traveler’s Library and read the interview with Del Vecchio. The Book Slut’s introduction reveals that she is one of us, also. “My preferred way of learning about any subject is through reading literature,” she says.

Thanks goodness for places like Idlewild Books.  Here are a few more bookstores for travel literature:

• Get Lost Books , San Francisco
• Globe Corner, Cambridge MA
• The Complete Traveller, Antiquarian Bookseller, NYC

Do you know of another wonderful store that understands that travelers need more than guidebooks and maps?  Please share.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.