Kate’s 2¢: “Shardik” by Richard Adams

“Shardik” by Richard Adams

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m

—   Richard Adams is the author of “Watership Down”.

— John Lee did a wonderful job of reading this lengthy story.

–Shardik is about the religious impulse and the ardor of worship…themes of power, politics, corruption, ant the nature of religious faith.

–To remove the burden of guilt is the purpose of all religions.

–“…an odd cult that has no little influence of the life of this province,…worship the memory of a gigantic bear, which they believe too been divined. The death of this bear, somehow availed, …to free certain enslaved children and, on this account, they consider the security and happiness of all children to be of importance to them and their welfare a sacred duty…”

   I thoroughly enjoyed this made up story in a made up land with its foreign names and places and the rich descriptions of the topography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_AdamsActions for this site

Richard George Adams was born on 9 May 1920 in Wash Common, near Newbury, Berkshire, England, the son of Lillian Rosa (Button) and Evelyn George Beadon Adams, a doctor. He attended Horris Hill School from 1926 to 1933, and then Bradfield College from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he went to Worcester College, Oxford, to read Modern History. In July 1940, Adams was called up to join the military. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army during World War II. Afterwards, he completed his studies, and then joined the British Civil Service.

   Adams is the author of “Watership Downs”, The Plague Dogs”, and “Shardik” among other books.

From NLS/BARD/LOC”

Shardik DB103486

Adams, Richard. Reading time: 23 hours, 51 minutes.

Read by John Lee.

General

In this fantasy of adventure, horror, and romance, the author tells of the gigantic bear Shardik and his appearance among the Ortelgan people. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 1974.

Kate’s 2¢: “The story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel” by David Wroblewski

“The story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel” by David Wroblewski

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

Excerpts:

   The glass was crude and warped…He produced a long thin reed whose tip was cut on the oblique and sharpened to a needle’s point; a minute quantity of liquid had wicked into the reed and a drop shimmered on the point…The rain fell and the three-legged dog laid still.

   Edgar’s grandfather began the unsual dog strain…Edgar’s father was interested in what the dog’s chose to do…Edgar’s mother was a trainer of the dogs…Edgar was born mute, but could hear…the dogs obeyed his hand signals.

   Almondine was a special dog who loved Edgar and could mentally communicate with him…omniscient point of view…Edgar was silent in contentment and silent in distress, but the dog understood…Gar’s brother, Claude, comes to stay and repairs the old barn where the dogs live.

   Edgar knows his father’s death wasn’t an accident…The old vet’s death was an accident…Edgar’s death was no accident…Claude got what he deserved.

   I enjoyed observing the silent interactions of Edgar with his mother and with the dogs he trained and worked with.  His travels with the dogs when he flees his home is amazing and a tribute to loyalty.

David Wroblewski – Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wroblewski

David Wroblewski was born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. He earned his master’s degree from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. As a child and through high school, he had a dog named Prince that was the basis for the dog in his novel.

Born: David Wroblewski, 1959 (age 61–62), Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, United States

Nationality: American

Occupation: Novelist, software researcher and developer

Period: 2008–present

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel DB66656

Wroblewski, David. Reading time: 17 hours, 34 minutes.

Read by Steven Carpenter. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Disability

Adventure

Family

Animals and Wildlife

Bestsellers

Wisconsin, 1970s. Gar and Trudy Sawtelle raise an intuitive and intelligent dog breed on their farm. One dog, Almondine, can communicate with the Sawtelle’s mute son Edgar. After Gar’s brother arrives, Gar dies and fourteen-year-old Edgar flees into the forest with three of the dogs. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2008.

Kate’s 2¢: “The Envoy” by Edward Wilson

“The Envoy” by Edward Wilson

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   In every story there is a kernel of truth. I wonder if our foreign offices in certain countries are actually told to not process the locals who apply for visas or asylum.

   I liked the twist at the end of the story.

   I enjoyed listening to Gregory Maupin read this story.

From the WEB:

Edward Wilson served in Vietnam as an officer in the 5th Special Forces. His decorations include the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal for VValor. Soon after leaving the army, Wilson became a permanent expatriate. He formally lost US nationality in 1986. Edward Wilson is a British citizen but has also lived and worked in Germany and France.

   From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3132126-the-envoy

Apr 01, 2008 · The Envoy, Edward Wilson’s second novel, will prove familiar territory for fans of A River in May. The setting is 1950s London, at the height of the Cold War. Kit Fournier is ostensibly a senior diplomat at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, but is also CIA Chief of Station. This job and its secrets prove deadly and Kit faces a crisis of the soul as the threat of the H-bomb.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The envoy DB84067

Wilson, Edward, (Novelist). Reading time: 10 hours, 20 minutes.

Read by Gregory Maupin. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Spy Stories

London, 1956. Kit Fournier, a CIA agent under diplomatic cover at the US embassy, is troubled by the arms race and obsessed with a woman whose husband works at a secret nuclear research facility. Kit makes a series of catastrophic decisions. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2008.

Download The envoy

Kate’s 2¢: “Cold July: A Dave Garrett Mystery” by Neil Albert

“Cold July: A Dave Garrett Mystery” by Neil Albert

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   It is always disheartening to read about dirty law enforcers, but, I know, it is a reality. Hopefully, the good guys out-number the bad ones.

   I appreciate Dave Garrett’s fidelity to Lisa. He is a man of character and morals. A rarity in this day and age.

From Neil Albert’s website:

Even as a child I wanted to write, and probably for the same reason that drives others to write—an isolated and unhappy childhood.  My parents moved frequently.  Being the new kid in school is bad enough; being an only child with no extended family is worse.  After a while you give up and retreat into the world of your imagination.  My first book-length work was an adventure story set in the present day (1965) that came to 300 longhand pages and took me all summer to write.  Blessedly, it has disappeared.  If anyone reading this has it, I will pay good money to make sure it never gets out.

In my thirties I tried my hand at short stories.  The only good that came of that was the suggestion that I try a mystery, because it was clear what belonged and what didn’t.  My advisor had a short story in mind, but I misunderstood her and wrote The January Corpse by mistake.  The book was written over the space of two weeks in 1988, and appeared in 1990.  It was nominated for Best First Novel by the Private Eye Writers of America but lost out.  It was a very edgy book for its day; saying anything more would be a spoiler.

The structure of my series stole shamelessly from Sue Grafton and her A is for Alibi system.  The months of the year seemed much less ambitious.  The fact that Sue died without getting to Z proves my point.  Between 1990 and 1996 I churned out a book a year, while practicing trial law full time on the side.  It was the best of days and it was the worst of days.  I attended many conventions and book signings and met dozens of wonderful people—fans, other writers, editors, book dealers, collectors—and it was a pleasure to deal with everyone.  Anyone who thinks that mystery writers feel that they are in competition with each other is mistaken.  I have seldom been in any social setting with as strong a sense of collegiality.  We were genuinely happy when somebody broke out.  I knew Harlen Cobin and Lisa Scottoline in the early days and when one of us hit it big, we were as happy as if it had been us.   And it was the days when there were still independent bookstores.  I got my start because shop owners liked my work and hand sold it.  Those days are gone.  I feel very lucky to have been in the trade at the time.

And it was the worst of times.  Writing to a deadline when it’s your side job isn’t fun.  For six years I never had a vacation.  If I accompanied my friends on a ski vacation, for example, I would take a laptop and write 5,000 words a day while they were on the slopes.  At any given moment I was touring for the current release, editing the book that was in process, working on the first draft of the new one, and making research notes about the one after that.

 And then Fred came into our lives.

Fred was a $2,000 horse of uncertain age and breeding that the woman who was my wife at the time was persuaded to buy as a fox hunting horse.

Of course, $2,000 wasn’t the end of the commitment.  There was the $2,000 used saddle, about $1,000 in blankets and bridles, just enough to get started, and the $10,000 trailer and the $20,000 truck.  And then we needed a place where Fred could live with us, which involved a broken down farm of 50 acres.  I won’t mention the price.  But the horse was a bargain.

How all this was going to affect my writing wasn’t clear at the time.  I had never ridden a horse and I was vaguely frightened of them.  But after a year on the farm, seeing the horses on a regular basis, I had a gestalt moment.  The horses were right there.  Not riding was like living in Colorado and not going skiing.  At age 47 I got on a horse for the first time for a lesson.  I was instantly hooked.  Five months later I participated in a no-jump fox hunt, which is a ridiculously dangerous rate of progress for a beginning adult rider.  Two years after that I got a well-trained jumping horse and joined a hunt with jumps.  Big jumps.   Writing was off the table.

I stopped hunting when my mare Madison became arthritic and just did trail riding for a few years until it was time to let it go. My last years of riding were spent with Ev, the woman who is now my wife (and proofreader). I hunted in the front for fifteen years and never got hurt, thanks to some wonderful horses.

And here I am again, still working full time but out of the saddle for good, and eager to continue where I left off. I hope you enjoy the journey with me

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Cold July: a Dave Garrett mystery DB103154

Albert, Neil. Reading time: 6 hours, 42 minutes.

Read by Steven Carpenter.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Months ago, Elsie Mankovik died while helping private detective Dave Garrett, and now he works to help her daughter, Angela, who Elsie claimed was framed on drug charges. But everyone is out to stop him, and he can only rely on his assistant Lisa. Strong language and some violence. 2019.

Downloaded: July 3, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “Elliott and Win” by Carolyn Meyer

“Elliott and Win” by Carolyn Meyer

 Kate’s 2¢: I down-loaded this book upon the recommendation of a Behind Our Eyes colleague.  It is a YA novel that addresses some of the issues children  have when they are raised by only one parent. ‘Los Amigos’ is an organization that pairs boys whose fathers are absent with men who can befriend and be a role model for the boys. Sometimes, they become friends and sometimes,  they aren’t a good match.

   I’ve included my colleague’s review of “Elliott and Win”.

From ‘The Blind Perspective”, an e-mag,  September 2021 Volume 7 Issue 9

By Bonnie Blose

…In the 1980s, books for teens underwent great change. Like romance writers who learned readers wanted real life stories with believable problems, novels for teens underwent similar change. As a result, broken families were everywhere. Sometimes fathers left, but mothers did too. This left teens beginning to find their own identity with complicated romantic relationships with questions of how and when love can be lost and what, if anything, can be done to make it stay.

…Teenagers and adults often make quick judgments about others. Often, it is to hide something they wish not to face or to feel better about themselves.

… As Win grows closer to Elliott, he decides to take on some of his interests, in particular cooking healthy meals.  He invites Heather to what is a dangerous place to share a picnic. That time together changes the future for both. Knowing he can confide in Elliott when he can no longer hide his tears and sadness, he tells him the terrible truth and what happened on that awful night. How difficult it is for anyone and perhaps most of all a teen to discover no firm ground underfoot.

…As I read this wonderful but short novel, I imagined the fragility of teenage years and remembered uncertainty and doubts  face during that time. Carolyn Meyer illustrates the stark reality of the pain caused by what we believe. Imagine you are a teen finding your way in a world which seems to change constantly. What we believe at any age comes from experience and what friends believe. How easy it is to plant doubt! This book is about trust. It’s about what to believe while trying to figure out with whom we can share doubts and fears.

…”Elliott and Win” was published in 1986 during the Aids crisis. This is a sensitive portrayal of the importance of both adults and children and the need they have for each other.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born June 8, 1935,[1] as an only child in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Meyer began her first “novel,” Humpy the Caterpillar and Gladys the Snail: A True Life Romance at age eight. However, she completed only three chapters.[1]

   Meyer’s latest work published is Beauty’s Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy, published October 2013.

Her previous published work was The True Adventures of Charley Darwin, focusing on the life of Charles Darwin, quite a leap from her usual subjects, for she has gone from royalty, to European artists, and now to scientists. The True Adventures of Charley Darwin is unusual in that it breaks from Meyer’s formula of always having a female narrator, as Charley narrates his own story. The hardcover version of this book was published on January 26, 2009.[2][3] Before Darwin came In Mozart’s Shadow, a historical novel about Mozart and narrated by his older sister, Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl, released in 2008.[4]

   Mother to three grown sons, she resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her husband, E.A. “Tony” Mares, a New Mexico poet, essayist and historian, and professor at the University of New Mexico, died January 30, 2015.[1]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Elliott and Win DB25341

Meyer, Carolyn Reading time: 4 hours, 46 minutes.

David Palmer National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Young Adult

Fourteen-year-old Win has just moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his divorced mother, who has arranged with an agency to pair Win up with an adult male volunteer “role model.” To his chagrin, Win is matched with Elliott Deerfield–who doesn’t own a TV, attends the opera, jumps rope, and serves Win gourmet chicken salad instead of burgers and fries. Some violence and descriptions of sex. For junior and senior high readers.

Download Elliott and Win DB25341

Kate’s 2¢: “Maelstrom: Destroyermen” and “Distant thunders: Destroyermen” by Taylor Anderson

“Maelstrom: Destroyermen” and “Distant thunders: Destroyermen” by Taylor Anderson

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I didn’t expect to like this alternate universe science fictional story, but, the characters are so well developed, albeit, weird, I found I enjoyed the first book I read. So, I read anotherone!

Home

Taylor Anderson has created an amazing world in his alternate history series. He will have you on the edge of your seat with battles against unknown creatures.

Straits Of HellNew York Times bestselling author Taylor Anderson’s phenomenal alternate history …

Taylor Anderson – Fantastic Fiction

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/taylor-andersonActions for this site

Taylor Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Destroyermen series. A gunmaker and forensic ballistic archaeologist, Taylor has been a technical and  gun-maker, and forensic ballistic archeologist who has been a technical and dialogue consultant for movies and documentaries. He has a Master’s Degree in History and has taught at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.

   Anderson a well known and one of the prominent authors from The United States of America, who likes to write novels in the Historical Fiction, Science Fiction and Fiction genres. Apart from being an author, he is also a re-enactor, a history professor and a gunsmith.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Maelstrom: Destroyermen DB69174

Anderson, Taylor. Reading time: 15 hours, 39 minutes.

Read by Michael Scherer. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Science Fiction

War Stories

Supreme Commander Matt Reddy returns with allied expeditionary forces from a Lemurian mass exodus after the Griks and the Amagi repel their siege. But with the Amagi badly damaged, the allies gain time to prepare for an upcoming battle. Sequel to Crusade (DB 69110). Violence and some strong language. 2009.

Download Maelstrom: Destroyermen

Distant thunders: Destroyermen DB72212

Anderson, Taylor. Reading time: 14 hours, 51 minutes.

Read by Michael Scherer. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Science Fiction

War Stories

Commander Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker are repelling attacks of the Griks when a missing ship commanded by Commodore Jenks of the New Britain Imperial Navy suddenly appears. Reddy wonders whom he can trust. Sequel to Maelstrom (DB 69174). Violence and some strong language. 2010.

Download Distant thunders: Destroyermen

Kate’s 2¢: “Slingshot” by Mercedes Helnwein

“Slingshot” by Mercedes Helnwein

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

–One’s strongest asset at that age, is youth.

–I’m just being an unhinged bitch, which kind of helps  the way to feel good about feeling bad.

–Maybe everyone is a human being with a whole complicated life attached to them.

–I might be a person; totally on my own. The idea that I could exist. Just by the sheer force of myself.

   It is unfortunate that younger teenagers believe other older teenagers, until it’s too late to realize it was really bad advice.

Advice from a grandparent:

Subject: on being sexually active

Character, Courage, Conscience

It’s been brought to my attention that you and R* are sexually active. It deeply and over-whelmingly saddens me that you aren’t showing the character, courage, and conscience with which Granddad and I demonstrated during the 13 years we raised you.

   You are 16; however, you are not like a cricket nor rabbit. Both hop about copulating without thinking about the long-term consequences and ramifications. As a human being, a homosapian, you have the mental capacity to understand morals and right from wrong, instead of just pleasure of the moment.    You have the courage to say “No!”.You have the conscience to know that sex within a committed, marital relationship is infinitely more satisfying than a quickie, that doesn’t really satisfy anything or anybody.

   The only “safe sex” is no sexual intercourse. School has taught you about the mechanics of how the pieces and parts fit together. Now, you know your male part fits her female part. It works that way for each male and whichever female that comes his way.

   The right way is to focus on graduating from high school, getting a college degree or military experience, and establishing your career. Then when you’re 25-years old, look around for a woman who has also followed a moral life-time goal. Then, together, you can venture forth on building a home, family, and future that celebrates your triumph in being a human, instead of a cricket.

I love you and nothing you do can destroy my love for you. There will always be a place for you in my heart.

Mimi

From her Webiste”

Mercedes Helnwein was born in Vienna, Austria, daughter to Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. 

She moved to Ireland with her family in her teens, where she spent her time writing and drawing. Consciously choosing not to attend art schools, Helnwein developed a distinct visual style that remained fully untouched by outside opinions, peers or fads.  Instead she drew her inspiration from personal influences,  ranging from Southern Gothic traditions to the cartoons of Robert Crumb, nineteenth Century Russian literature, American motel culture and the Delta blues, amongst others. 

Her first art shows were self-instigated, unorthodox one-night events in Los Angeles often with one or two other inexperienced young artists, most commonly photographer Alex Prager.  Sponsored by various alcoholic beverage companies, magazines, and unlikely supporters such as Land Rover, these shows generated a surprisingly genuine response and enabled Helnwein to continue developing her ideas, styles and experimenting with her interests and themes.  She exhibited regularly in Los Angeles during this period at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery, as well as in Europe, steadily garnering interest and collectors, amongst them Damien Hirst, who bought out a London show.

With her series “Asleep in the Wind”  Helnwein broke from the primarily pencil-focused style of her early work, moving onto large-scale formats and experimenting with oil pastel as a medium.  In 2015 she further developed her work in this direction with  “Living Room Fire”,  expanding into a wider range of media and delving deeper into the theme of American living rooms and the “almost normal” activities of its characters. 

Film and photography has also long been an integral part of Helnwein’s work, whether behind the scenes as reference material or in the forefront with films for her exhibitions, such as the “Cops and Nurses” film in 2013.  Her brother, composer Ali Helnwein, often collaborates with her on these projects.  

Her novel SLINGSHOT is being published by Wednesday Books/ St. Martin’s Press and becomes available April 2021.

Mercedes Helnwein currently lives and works in downtown Los Angeles and Irelan

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Slingshot DB103439

Helnwein, Mercedes. Reading time: 11 hours, 37 minutes.

Read by Jesse Vilinsky.

Growing Up

Young Adult

Romance

Grace Welles is barely surviving life at a third-tier boarding school in the Florida swamps when she accidentally saves new student Wade Scholfield and everything changes. Strong language and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2021.

Downloaded: July 31, 2021

Download Slingshot

Kate’s 2¢: “Live A Little” by Howard Jacobson

“Live A Little” by Howard Jacobson

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

  The character voices Allan Corduner uses brings us right into the middle of an argument on the phone between the 91-year old mother and her 70-something youngest son. It is a dramatic and funny opening to “Live a Little”.

   Anyone over a certain age can identify with the “mislaid” words and memory. That is why (have I told you this before?) I have written my auto-biography. My husband or children can read it to me if I lose my memory. It will be, at best, a reminder of my life; or at least, it will be a beautiful story.

   It takes the story quite a while to revisit the events, lives,  and loves in each of these elder folks, until the meet each other. Then, they slowly bond over talking about Shimi’s recently deceased brother.

   I enjoyed much of the droll “elder” humor, such as: “…Though all the world ignores us, you alone are my thesaurus.”. However, I found the story moved rather slowly, except for the beginning phone conversation and the surprise at the end of the story.

From Wikipedia:

Jacobson’s fiction, particularly in the six novels he has published since 1998, is characterized chiefly by a discursive and humorous style. Recurring subjects in his work include male–female relations and the Jewish experience in Britain in the mid- to late-20th century. He has been compared to prominent Jewish-American novelists such as Philip Roth, in particular for his habit of creating doppelgängers of himself in his fiction.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Live a little DB96925

Jacobson, Howard. Reading time: 9 hours, 40 minutes.

Read by Allan Corduner.

Humor

Romance

Ninety-something Beryl Dusinbery keeps forgetting everything, including her own children, but spends her days stitching morbid samplers. Shimi Carmelli, last of the eligible elderly bachelors in North London, remembers everything–including a shameful childhood incident. But their combined talents allow them to eke out new adventures. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

“There Plant Eyes” by M. Leona Godin

From Joan Myles, jmyles63@gmail.com:

From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the

invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin

explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with

her own story of gradually losing her sight.

There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our

ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what

it means to be “blind.” For millennia, blindness has been used to

signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faith”), irrationality

(“blind rage”), and unconsciousness (“blind evolution”). But at the

same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special

powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John

Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil).

Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the

often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the

myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of

generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture

(from King Lear to Star Wars) with a study of the science of blindness

and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed

printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural

history.

A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential

blindness and vision are to humanity’s understanding of itself and the

world.

About the Author

M. Leona Godin is a writer, performer, and educator who is blind. Her

writing has appeared in The New York Times; Playboy; O, The Oprah

Magazine; and Catapult, where she writes the column, “A Blind Writer’s

Notebook.” She was a 2019 Logan Nonfiction Fellow and has written and

produced two theatrical productions: The Star of Happiness, based on

Helen Keller’s time performing on vaudeville, and The Spectator & the

Blind Man, about the invention of Braille.

She founded the online magazine Aromatica Poetica as a venue for

exploring the arts and sciences of smell and taste; not specifically

for, but welcoming to, blind readers and writers. She holds a PhD in

English Literature from NYU and has lectured on art, accessibility,

disability, and technology at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, Rice

University, and the American Printing House for the Blind, among other

venues.

Praise for There Plant Eyes

“…elegant, fiercely argued.” —Wall Street Journal

“‘The dual aspects of blindness—that it is a tragic horror on the one

hand and a powerful gift from the gods on the other—remain stubbornly

fixed in our cultural imaginations,’ Godin, a blind writer and

performer, asserts in this thought-provoking mixture of criticism,

memoir, and advocacy.” —The New Yorker

“There Plant Eyes is so graceful, so wise, so effortlessly erudite, I

learned something new and took pleasure in every page. All hail its

originality, its humanity, and its ‘philosophical obsession with

diversity in all its complicated and messy glory.’”

—Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts

“Godin guides readers through the surprising twists and turns in

Western blind history, from ancient seers to contemporary scientists.

The lively writing style and memorable

personal anecdotes are delightful. This book is a gift to both blind

and sighted readers.”

—Haben Girma, human rights lawyer and author of the bestseller Haben:

The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law

“This sighted disabled person learned so much from There Plant Eyes!

The book took me on a cultural journey that showed how blindness is

beautiful, complex, and brilliant.”

—Alice Wong, Editor, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from

the Twenty-First Century

“In the fascinating There Plant Eyes, Leona Godin moves effortlessly

from erudite explorations of the construction of ‘blindness’ in the

times of Homer and Milton; to incisive and often funny examinations of

technology that helps—or does not—the blind individual; to personal

stories of her own life as a writer and performer. I was only a few

pages in before I realized that what I thought about being blind was

either wrong or woefully insufficient. The reader will be lost in

admiration for the breadth and sweep of Godin’s gifts as a writer and

cultural critic.”

—Riva Lehrer, author of Golem Girl: A Memoir

“I’ve been waiting most of my life for a book like There Plant Eyes to

demystify what it means and doesn’t mean to be blind. With eloquence

and wit, M. Leona Godin articulates what our culture has gotten wrong

for centuries. Blindness, she makes clear, is a feature, not merely a

difference. I’ll be recommending this book every chance I get.”

— James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff

“We are inevitably blind to realities outside our own experience, and

it takes a sensitive writer like Godin—with her poet’s ear—to give

insight into sightlessness.”

—David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford, author of Livewired

“…erudite, capacious…As Godin wonderfully shows, we’ve come a long way

in our quest to understand what blindness means.”

––Kirkus Reviews

“By turns heartfelt and thought-provoking, this is a striking achievement.”

—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

From Bookshare:

Synopsis

From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be &“blind.&” For millennia, blind­ness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (&“blind faith&”), irrationality (&“blind rage&”), and unconsciousness (&“blind evolution&”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil). Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture (from King Lear to Star Wars) with a study of the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural history. A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity&’s understanding of itself and the world.

Copyright: 2021

Book Details Book Quality:

Publisher Quality Book Size: 352 Pages

ISBN-13: 9781524748722

Related ISBNs: 9781524748715

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Date of Addition: 07/29/21

Copyrighted By: M. Leona Godin

Adult content: No

Language: English

Has Image Descriptions: No

Categories: Nonfiction, Disability-Related, Biographies and Memoirs, Literature and Fiction, Social Studies, Language Arts

Submitted By: Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions: This is a copyrighted book.

Kate’s 2¢: “Complete novels: the heart is a lonely hunter ; Reflections in a golden eye ; The ballad of the sad café ; The member of the wedding ; Clock without hands” by Carson McCullers

“Complete novels: the heart is a lonely hunter ; Reflections in a golden eye ; The ballad of the sad café ; The member of the wedding ; Clock without hands” by  Carson McCullers

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

“the heart is a lonely hunter”

–Mr. John Singer who is a deaf-mute (He used to speak, but the sounds were scarry.) loses his friend and apartment mate to mental illness.

–Biff and Alice run The New York Café where Jake Blinder gets drunk; Singer takes himto his boarding house.

–Mick Kelly is a teenager, who minds her little brothers and wants a piano, while her parents cater to boarders in their large house.

–Dr. Copeland’s sons are Hamilton, Karl Marx and daughter, Porsha, is cook I the Kelly’s boarding house.

–From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is the debut novel by the American author Carson McCullers; she was 23 at the time of publication. It is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia.

“Reflections in a golden eye:

–Deals with elements of repressed sexuality, both homosexual and heterosexual, as well as voyeurism and murder.

–Reflections in a Golden Eye is a 1967 American drama film directed by John Huston and based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Carson McCullers.  The film stars Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor.

“The ballad of the sad Café”:

–The Ballad of the Sad Café is a work that best represents McCullers’ fictional art. In this novel Carson McCullers portrays destructive infatuation, sexual ambivalence, longing for communication and the human need for love. The novella features three main characters and it is set in a Southern town that is melancholic and desolate.

–“The Ballad of the Sad Café” is a novella by American author Carson McCullers, first published in 1951 by Houghton Mifflin as part of the author’s short fiction collection The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories. The novella tells the story of a bizarre love triangle in a rural Georgia mill town, where a general store proprietress falls in love with a hunchbacked man—much to the ire of her convict ex-husband

“Twelve Mortal Men”

The so-called epilogue  or coda, “The Twelve Mortal Men,” seen in the context of the character-narrator’s struggle becomes not a cryptic appendix to a gothic tale but, instead, the positive act of a man of changed perspective. In this section the narrator fulfills his own earlier inchoate suggestion to “go down to Fork Falls highway and listen to the chain-gang.”

“The Member of the Wedding”

— From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Plot[edit]

The novel takes place over a few days in late August. It tells the story of 12-year-old tomboy Frankie Addams, who feels disconnected from the world; in her words, an “unjoined person.” Frankie’s mother died when she was born, and her father is a distant, uncomprehending figure. Her closest companions are the family’s African American maid, Berenice Sadie Brown, and her six-year-old cousin, John Henry West. She has no friends in her small Southern town and dreams of going away with her brother and his bride-to-be on their honeymoon in the Alaskan wilderness.

The novel explores the psychology of the three main characters and is more concerned with evocative settings than with incident. Frankie does, however, have a brief and troubling encounter with a soldier. Her hopes of going away are disappointed and, her fantasy destroyed, a short coda reveals how her personality has changed. It also recounts the fate of John Henry West, and Berenice Sadie Brown’s future plans.

“Clock without hands”

— The main thread is Malone’s dying of leukemia, but his friend, the Judge, Sherman, and the grandson are more often featured with all their prejudices.

   I realize these stories reflect the period during which they were written.  The narrator did a good job of reading what was written, however, I got very tired of hearing the stereotyped poor grammar and speech of the racist diatribes.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States. Her other novels have similar themes and most are set in the deep South.

McCullers’ work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her southern roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her stories have been adapted to stage and film. A stage adaptation of her novel The Member of the Wedding (1946), which captures a young girl’s feelings at her brother’s wedding, made a successful Broadway run in 1950–51.

McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith in Columbus, Georgia, in 1917 to Lamar Smith, a jeweller, and Marguerite Waters.[1] She was named after her maternal grandmother, Lula Carson Waters.[1] She had a younger brother, Lamar, Jr.[1] and a younger sister, Marguerite.[2] Her mother’s grandfather was a planter and Confederate soldier. Her father was a watchmaker and jeweler of French Huguenot descent. From the age of ten she took piano lessons; when she was fifteen her father gave her a typewriter to encourage her story writing.

Smith graduated from Columbus High School. In September 1934, at age 17, she left home on a steamship bound for New York City, planning to study piano at the Juilliard School of Music. After losing the money she was going to use to study at Juilliard on the subway, she decided instead to work, take night classes, and write. She worked several odd jobs, including as a waitress and a dog walker.[3] After falling ill with rheumatic fever she returned to Columbus to recuperate, and she changed her mind about studying music.[4] Returning to New York, she worked in menial jobs while pursuing a writing career; she attended night classes at Columbia University and studied creative writing under Texas writer Dorothy Scarborough and with Sylvia Chatfield Bates at Washington Square College of New York University. In 1936 she published her first work. “Wunderkind”, an autobiographical piece that Bates admired, depicted a music prodigy’s adolescent insecurity and losses. It first appeared in Story magazine and is collected in The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.[5]

From 1935 to 1937, as her studies and health dictated, she divided her time between Columbus and New York. In September 1937, aged 20, she married an ex-soldier and aspiring writer, Reeves McCullers. A New Yorker profile described her husband as “…a dreamer attracted to big, capable women.”[6] They began their married life in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Reeves had found work. The couple made a pact to take alternating turns as writer then breadwinner, starting with Reeves’s taking a salaried position while McCullers wrote. Her eventual success as a writer precluded his literary ambitions.[6]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Complete novels: the heart is a lonely hunter ; Reflections in a golden eye ; The ballad of the sad café ; The member of the wedding ; Clock without hands DB91754

McCullers, Carson. Reading time: 30 hours, 27 minutes.

Read by Mare Trevathan. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Disability

Literature

Five novels published between 1940 and 1960. In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, John Singer, who is deaf and mute, becomes confidant to several town residents. In The Member of the Wedding, a young girl invites herself to the honeymoon. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. 1960.

Downloaded: August 21, 2021

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