FMS Photo A Day - November

Playing catch-up!

Since I failed to post my FMS photos here on the day I should have, I'm going to post them now, and then start posting them daily tomorrow.  Daily meaning - when I actually take one.  I won't be participating every day.



Day 1 - Something Blue

art glass by Jak Brewer



Day 2 - I Saw This

Piggie in a carriage at the Sour Wood Festival, Black Mountain, NC




Day 3 - Weather








Day 4 - Can't Live Without








Day 6 - Made Me Smile

Being Interviewed by Cathy Lee Carper

Cathy Lee Carper interviews me at her blog this morning.  I hope you'll drop by -


http://www.leecarper.com/author-interviews/author-interview-with-kaye-barley

The Given World by Marian Palaia

I found this book through Netgalley.com and decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure if it would actually be something I could read and enjoy, but I was intrigued. 

Marian Palaia has given us a gift with "The Given World." A heartbreaking, but extraordinarily beautiful gift. We follow and get to know Riley over 25 years of strength and vulnerability as she moves from Montana to San Francisco to Saigon. 

We see pieces of an American culture many of us lived through, but usually lived through at a distance. Riley puts us in the middle of it and has us wanting so badly to protect her from it. And if we can't, we're going to stick with her all the way to the end.

It's hard for me to believe this is Marian Palaia's debut novel.  It's as perfectly written as anything I've ever read.  Lyrical, strong, devasting, uplifting and enthralling.

"The Given World" will more than likely live on my Top Five list forever


Here's what Goodreads has to say about it -

Spanning twenty-five years of cultural upheaval, moving from Montana to San Francisco to Saigon, The Given World is a major debut novel about the effects of war on those left at home, by an author who is strong, soulful, and deeply gifted (Lorrie Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Birds of America).

When Riley and her parents get the news that her big brother, Mick, is missing in action in Vietnam, it blows a hole in the family bigger than any landmine could. Riley takes refuge in isolation and drugs but a few years later falls in love with Darrell, a boy from the local reservation who tells her of his induction into the Army just as Riley discovers she's pregnant, at seventeen. Left behind again, Riley begins a journey that takes her to San Francisco, Saigon, the haunted tunnels of Cu Chi, and finally back to Montana. Maybe she is searching for her brother, but mostly she is searching for a way to be in the world without him, a way to trust love again.

The Given World introduces an extraordinary cast of characters; including Primo, the big-hearted, half-blind vet; Lu, a cab-driving addict with an artist's eye; and Grace, a banjo-playing girl on a train carrying her grandmother's ashes; all are members of a lost generation coming of age too quickly as they struggle to put together lives interrupted by loss. At center stage is Riley, a masterpiece of vulnerability and tenacity, wondering if she'll ever have the courage to go home again.

Marian Palaia is a writer of startling grace and sensuous lyricism; reading her, you feel as if you've never heard language this beautiful and this true. The Given World deserves a place on the shelf beside the pantheon of extraordinary war novels of our time, such as Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried; (Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife).


Disclaimer:  an electronic arc of this book was provided by NetGalley.com.  No review was promised and the above is my unbiased opinion.

A note from me, to me - -

Today I'm at Jungle Red

First Sunday of the month and I'm doing my "Oh, Kaye!" gig at Jungle Red.

This month I am not talking about the weather, politics, Harley or my new hat.

I am talking about music and food (again).

I hope you'll drop by!

http://www.jungleredwriters.com/

First Snow

Most of you are familiar with Vicki Lane, her blog and her books.  All wonderful!

This morning at Facebook my friend Jill pointed out that Vicki's blog was about her first snow.

Vicki also lives up here in our gorgeous North Carolina mountains, just not the same part as we do.

And Miss Birdie from Vicki's Elizabeth Goodweather series has a delightful philosophy about walking barefoot in that magical first snow.

You'll enjoy reading and seeing Vicki's amazing photography here -

http://vickilanemysteries.blogspot.com/2014/11/that-barefoot-walk.html


Miss Birdie believes if you walk barefoot in the first snow, you'll be healthy all year.


Well. 


I'm all for that.

And, I'm quite happily a sucker for mountain lore.


So -

Harley decided to check out the footprints, and make a few of his own.

And a few pics of our first snow here in Meat Camp -  Enjoy!

Vote! And, Why I'm Voting Blue

Happy Halloween!

From our house to yours -

Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenges

I heard about this group a couple years back, and was intrigued. So I did it for awhile, loved it, but then stopped. Then joined another photo group, loved it, but then stopped. I'm thinking it might be fun to do this again.
www.facebook.com/groups/FMSphotoaday/

More reasons to vote -

Do you still need more reasons to vote this year?

Still think voter suppression is a myth?

https://www.aclu.org/voting-rights/frank-v-walker-fighting-voter-suppression-wisconsin

via Seth Reeker - -  Ruthelle Frank is a resident of Brokaw, Wisconsin, where she has served on the Village Board since 1996. She was born at her home in Brokaw in 1927. She is an eligible voter registered to vote in Wisconsin. She has no accepted form of photo ID under the photo ID law and lacks a certified copy of her birth certificate, which she needs to prove citizenship to the Wisconsin DMV. Though she has never had a birth certificate in her possession, the state Register of Deeds has a record of her birth and can produce a certified copy of her birth certificate, but at a cost. The record on file, however, has an incorrect spelling of her maiden name: Wedepohl, and is consequently an unacceptable form of identification. The process to correct the birth certificate is lengthy and costly, with some reports suggesting it might require $200 or more. She has voted in every election since 1948 and intends to vote in Wisconsin again next year.

ACLU has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on behalf of ‪#‎Wisconsin‬voters like Ruthelle Frank. She will be unable to vote if the state's voter ID law goes into effect so close to the upcoming election.

Happy Birthday to Pat Conroy

Last year, just in time to celebrate my birthday, Pat Conroy did a book signing in Charlotte.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that I was first in line.

Today's his birthday . . .

Why I Vote

I was #289 in line the first day of early voting

This is one of the reasons why

Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" Redux

Leslie Gore recorded this song in 1964. 

We're once again fighting for the same things we were fighting for then. 

PLEASE VOTE!!!

 

The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley

My pal, Lesa Holstine, has introduced me to a lot of books I would never have discovered on my own.

If you're not familiar with her blog, you really really really need to check it out. Here 'tis: http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/

One she recently shared with us on her blog was Christopher Morley's "The Haunted Bookshop."






I'm stunned that I had not heard of it, or it's companion book - "Parnassus on Wheels." (which I plan on reading next). "The Haunted Bookshop" actually continues the story of Roger Mifflin, the book seller introduced in "Parnassus on Wheels."


It's not a novel of the supernatural as might be assumed from the title. It refers, instead, to "the ghosts of all great literature," to quote Roger Mifflin.  The story is actually a spy thriller with some romance tossed in.


It was published in 1919, is set in Brooklyn and takes place during the end of World War I, and we get to listen in on some of the discussions the characters have about war, as well as play witness to some surprisingly timely views shared by Mr. Mifflin.


Two, in particular, struck a chord with me:


"The first thing needed is to acquire a sense of pity. The world has been printing books for 450 years, and yet gunpowder still has a wider circulation. Never mind! Printer's ink is the greater explosive: it will win."


There are many others, but here's just one more:

"But I tell you, the world is going to have the truth about War.  We're going to put an end to this madness.  It's not going to be easy.  Just now, in the intoxication of the German collapse, we're all rejoicing in our new happiness.  I tell you, the real Peace will be a long time coming.  When you tear up all the fibres of civilization it's a slow job to knit things together again.  Yu see those children going down the street to school?  Peace lies in their hands.  When they are taught in school that war is the most loathsome scourge humanity is subject to, that it smirches and fouls every lovely occupation of the mortal spirit, then there may be some hope for the future.  But I'd like to bet they are having it drilled into them that war is a glorious and noble sacrifice."

Thought provoking?  Especially when keeping in mind when it was written.

The book is also quite charming with its many references and allusions to other books and authors.  Many were mysteries to me, some were not.  Those that were mysteries had me scooting to Google to see what they might be all about.  

Like many readers, I'm a fool for books about other books, and was thoroughly captivated by this one.

Polly's Iyer - A Place at the Table

My friend Polly Iyer has written a terrific piece about self-published vs. traditionally published authors on The Blood Red Pencil.http://www.bloodredpencil.blogspot.com

Those of us who are self-published are holding tight to the hope that one of these days there will be no "versus" involved. Any of you think that's possible? 

Hop over and read Polly Iyer's piece, A Place at the Table. -http://www.bloodredpencil.blogspot.com

Fall at Our House

Fall in the mountains is beautiful in the fog or in the sun.  Here's some of both around our house and around the neighborhood.

Enjoy!