What the heck is a NEAPOLITAN NOVEL and who is ELENA FERRANTE?

When I first stumbled across a mention of Italian author Elena Ferrante, I wondered what she had written to be crowned one of Italy's most renowned novelists.

I heartily agreed with an article in "The Economist", which called her "the best contemporary novelist you've never heard of."

Her series of Neapolitan Novels begins with My Brilliant Friend, the first in the multi-volume set.  I was intrigued as I have a deep love for Italy and its people.  And, at the risk of sounding shallow, I liked the cover art.

For some reason, I have been ensnared by multi-volume novels of late (such as Outlander and Poldark) so I decided to flip a coin.  After all, unlike the other two series, this one only has four books.

Set in the 1950's  near Naples, Italy, Ferrante tells the story of two young girls, Lila and Elena. Translated from the original Italian, it was not an easy book to read.  Even the best of translators cannot precisely duplicate the lilt and flow of the author's language.  My grammatical background did battle with the occasional run-on or incomplete sentence.  I had to force myself to chalk it up to artistic license. 

The story is deeply personal, often violent, and I felt that Ferrante's goal was to reach through the page and slap me, reminding me that this was her story to tell, not necessarily one that I would love to hear.  As I moved through the first hundred pages, I was irritated by the ever-shifting friendship of these girls as they matured.  Yet I was drawn back, wanting to know how they could possibly remain friends   The author captures the insecurities of girlhood in a male-dominated culture surrounded by grinding poverty with the honesty of first-hand experience. 

Though I fought valiantly to dislike this book, the characters repeatedly sucked me back in with their raw, honest descriptiveness.  I knew I could walk down any poor street in Naples and run into each and every one of them.  Damn it, now I'm going to have to buy book two, The Story of a New Name.

EAT THIS, NOT ANYTHING GOOD

 

Ever since going through chemotherapy, when I began to eat to comfort myself, my weight has been on a slow, upward spiral.  Once or twice I've managed to drop ten or twenty pounds with exercise and kind-of-dieting, but decades of bad habits have always managed to sabotage my efforts.  When I recently went through my closet to get rid of outdated clothing, only the "fat clothes" remained, and they were getting pretty ratty-looking since I've worn them over and over for years.  Any shopping trips have ended in dressing room tears and a bowl of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream as soon as I got home.  I'm hoping this time will be different.

Denial is a convenient state.  You close your eyes when photographs of you with your grandchildren appear.  The only time you weigh in is on a doctor's visit.  You avoid joining old friends who aren't overweight too.  You wear shorts and a top to the beach rather than the embarrassment of a bathing suit.  Notice that I've used "you" instead of "I" in my denial.  Life gets lonely, which leads to more food comfort.

And then comes the 50th high school reunion.  The initial reaction is to let it just slide by quietly.  No one will notice my absence, right?  Maybe not, but this may be the last chance in my lifetime to see these old friends.  What to do?  Show up and hope everyone else is fat too?  Hope that the snarky whispers of long-ago won't happen like they always did at an all-girls school?  After all, how much weight can I lose in ten weeks?

About two weeks ago, I pulled out my old Weight Watchers points program materials.  It really does work well.  Slowly, but well.  The hardest part for me is drinking water.  You'd think it would be giving up ice cream, processed crunchy snacks, and the other high-sugar things I've been lulled into thinking were just normal.  I can't remember ever seeing my parents drink water while I was growing up.  It was always iced tea or lemonade, both heavily laced with sugar and lemon during warm weather or coffee in the winter.  Now I've managed to put down 16 ounces a day...not the recommended 32-64, but it's progress.

The next part will be to get moving.  It may not be much in the beginning, walking one or two miles several times each week, but I learned long ago that I am a creature of habit, good or bad.  One of the most embarrassing things is that I used to teach exercise classes.  I used to run 5 days a week.  I used to play raquetball often.  Then the stressors began to accumulate:  divorce, cancer, having to reinvent my former housewife self into a career woman with classes to advance more quickly.  Then the kids began to peel off, becoming adults, getting married, having children and moving away.  I had to learn how to live alone, and it wasn't easy.

So, I won't tell you my starting weight or my goal weight....not until I'm finished and proud of it.  I will say that I've dropped 7 pounds in the last two weeks purely from willpower.  When I reach ten, I'll reward myself with something for that and for every ensuing five pounds.  I need to tie more than a carrot on my stick.  Wish me luck.  I'll need it.          

"THE BOYS IN THE BOAT"...A review

*****Please note that this review appeared previously in the blog "Girl Who Reads"*****

I rarely read non-fiction, and I've never rowed.  I can count on one hand the number of crew races I've watched on television in my lifetime.  The books I choose to read are based on suggestions from a trusted circle of friends, and they are invariably fiction.  So, whatever possessed me to buy this book? 

A friend outside my reading circle raved about it on Facebook, so I decided to look it up.  I'd never heard of it and was knee-deep in my third re-reading of the Outlander books in preparation for the start of its second season in April.  Olympic rowers were not on my radar screen.  Yet when I checked on Amazon, there were over 17,000 reviews, and 81% were five stars.  The other 19% were four stars.  My interest was piqued.  How could so many people love a book that sounded kind of ho-hum to me?  I still had some money left on a holiday gift certificate, so that made it a little less painful to take a chance and check it out.

Yowza...I'm glad I did.

The sport of crew (rowing) is, for the most part, Eastern elitist.  What kind of chance did Depression-era young men have in the Seattle, Washington area?  I wondered if I were in for a deadly dull read about Rowing Rocky-types.  Yet author Daniel James Brown knows how to weave everyday details and historical timelines into a magic carpet ride of hope, determination, team bonds and glorious triumph.   The magical alignment at that point in the 1930's of British boatmaker George Pocock, the brilliant University of Washington coach Al Ulbrickson, and an unlikely group of young men from economically-devastated America is nothing short of historical lightning. 

The story centers on Joe Rantz, a boy who had been abandoned by his family, but survived through his wits and ability to endure a daily amount of hard labor that would have crushed a lesser spirit.  Thrown together as freshmen, the assortment of young men from dairy farms and lumber mills soon coalesced into a very special crew.  As they learned to submit to the harsh master that is team rowing, they ascended to a level of excellence that allowed them to represent the United States triumphantly at the infamous 1936 Olympics, otherwise known as Adolph Hitler's plan to showcase German superiority. 

Author Brown's ability to tell the story by blending descriptive detail and the euphoric memories of a dying Rantz make this an extraordinary tale that will enchant and inspire readers for years to come.




Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Kathleen Barker attended Catholic elementary and high schools before graduating with a B.A. in English and Education from Towson University. She also attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. After 20 years as the widely-traveled wife of a U.S. Navy pilot and mother of three, Ms. Barker worked in New Orleans, LA for a Forbes 500 company until just before Hurricane Katrina. During her tenure there she wrote multiple feature articles for the company magazine, and received the Field Reporter of the Year Award. She returned to her beloved home state of Maryland in 2006, where she still resides.  Her published works include "Ednor Scardens", "The Body War", "The Hurting Year" and "On Gabriel's Wings".  Barker maintains a blog, "Dashboard Confessions of an Undisciplined Mind" at http://kateinla51.blogspot.com/

"The Summer of Letting Go" by Gae Polisner - A Review

Navigating the murky waters of adolescence is difficult enough, but when your little brother drowns on your watch, your best friend transmutes into someone else's girlfriend and your father appears to be having an affair with a neighbor...

Life for Frankie (Francesca) Schnell is spinning out of control.  Choking on the guilt of her brother Simon's death, she feels invisible.  Her mother's grief drives her to devote her time to a drowning prevention foundation, while Frankie's best friend has acquired a swoon-worthy boyfriend. An unexpected summer job offer lands her face to face with a little boy who is the same age as Simon was before he died, a boy who unnervingly resembles him and says things that shake Frankie to her core.  Is she losing her mind, or is this boy a reincarnation of Simon?

Her father's friendship with a pretty neighbor across the street from her house begins to make Frankie suspicious.  And when her best friend goes out of town, she finds her self the knee-quaking object of her absent-friend's boyfriend.  Should she stay true to her best friend and resist or give in to his spectacular kiss?  Should she confront someone about her father's perceived infidelity?  Confront who...her father, the neighbor, her mother?

As much as I loved her previous book, The Pull of Gravity,  author Gae Polisner scores a home run with The Summer of Letting Go as she lovingly peels back the layers of a young teen's fears and vulnerabilities. Polisner allows Frankie to work through her multiple dilemmas without resorting to an unrealistic sitcom resolution.  As in real life, not every question is answered.

I read this book to screen it before gifting to my granddaughter, but found myself falling in love with the characters as well.  Polisner's understanding of the fragile young heart and mind is a gift that resonates, weaving a bond between the reader and the characters she has so lovingly created.  


****This review appeared previously in "Girl Who Reads", a book review blog.    

IF IT'S WINTER, IT MUST BE CORNWALL

If you are like most people, you watch more television during the cold, winter months.  That was me, too, until the arrival of a streaming box.  You are scratching your head now, wondering why I would not watch even MORE television with this commercial-free viewing device.  I did…at first.  I cannot diminish the joy of snuggling under a down throw and binge-watching shows I’d postponed or just plain missed.  Two series were so addictive that I wound up reading the books (more than once) as only a single season had been filmed.   First was the Starz channel adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” and the second was Masterpiece Theater’s “Poldark”.

My viewing of the “Poldark” series was completely by accident.  I was depressed by the long wait for the next season of “Outlander”, which is supposed to resume in March 2016, and had already read the approximately 10,000 pages of the books.  Slowly, the story of the British soldier returning from America to his neglected, inherited property in Cornwall began to grow on me.  By the time I finished the televised series, I found myself in a similar state of mind as post-Outlander before discovering that the Masterpiece series was based on actual books.

Quickly doing a google search, I found that Winston Graham had written a slew of novels – 32 in addition to the Poldark books (of which there are 12).  They have opened a new world to me: the world of 18th century Cornwall with all the mountains and valleys of human existence in this mixture of society.  The first of the series was written in the 1940’s and more than once has been the subject of a television series.  The BBC broadcast an adaptation of the first seven books back in the 1970’s.  I haven’t watched the older series, as I don’t want to lose my identification of Aiden Turner as Ross Poldark.  Author Graham also wrote “Marnie”, which was made into an Alfred Hitchcock motion picture in addition to a Nazi spy thriller and a history of the Spanish Armadas.
If you want to try one of this prolific author’s works, they include the following:

• 1945 – Ross Poldark (original U.S. title: The Renegade)
• 1946 – Demelza
• 1950 – Jeremy Poldark (original U.S. title: Venture Once More)
• 1953 – Warleggan (original U.S. title: The Last Gamble)
• 1973 – The Black Moon
• 1976 – The Four Swans
• 1977 – The Angry Tide
• 1981 – The Stranger from the Sea
• 1983 – Poldark’s Cornwall (non-fiction)
• 1982 – The Miller’s Dance
• 1984 – The Loving Cup
• 1990 – The Twisted Sword
• 2002 – Bella Poldark

Other works

• 1934 – The House with the Stained Glass Windows
• 1935 – Into the Fog
• 1935 – The Riddle of John Rowe
• 1936 – Without Motive
• 1937 – The Dangerous Pawn
• 1938 – The Giant’s Chair (revised edition, 1975, as Woman in the Mirror)
• 1939 – Keys of Chance
• 1939 – Strangers Meeting
• 1940 – No Exit
• 1941 – Night Journey (revised edition, 1966)
• 1942 – My Turn Next (revised edition, 1988, as Cameo)
• 1944 – The Merciless Ladies (revised edition, 1979)
• 1945 – The Forgotten Story
• 1947 – Take My Life
• 1949 – Cordelia
• 1950 – Night Without Stars
• 1953 – Fortune Is a Woman
• 1955 – The Little Walls (Gold Dagger Award)
• 1956 – The Sleeping Partner (filmed as Sócio de Alcova / Carnival of Crime)
• 1957 – Greek Fire
• 1959 – The Tumbled House
• 1961 – Marnie
• 1963 – The Grove of Eagles
• 1965 – After the Act
• 1967 – The Walking Stick
• 1970 – Angel, Pearl and Little God
• 1971 – The Japanese Girl (short stories)
• 1972 – The Spanish Armadas (non-fiction)
• 1986 – The Green Flash
• 1992 – Stephanie
• 1995 – Tremor
• 1998 – The Ugly Sister
• 2003 – Memoirs of a Private Man (autobiography)

Kathleen Barker is the author of“The Charm City Chronicles” which include the following:

“Ednor Scardens” http://www.amazon.com/Ednor-Scardens-Charm-City-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B008BODK0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454536041&sr=8-1&keywords=ednor+scardens

“The Body War” http://www.amazon.com/Body-Charm-City-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B008D983ZY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454536168&sr=8-1&keywords=the+body+war+by+kathleen+barker

“The Hurting Year” http://www.amazon.com/Hurting-Year-Charm-City-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CR8K8T6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454536228&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hurting+year+by+kathleen+barker'

“On Gabriel’s Wings” http://www.amazon.com/Gabriels-Wings-Charm-City-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00EG5VK54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454536276&sr=8-1&keywords=on+gabriel%27s+wings+by+kathleen+barker

Barker also is a contributor to "Girl Who Reads" and Myrddin Publishing.

A True Baltimore Superhero

When it comes to politicians, especially career politicians, I have little use for them.  Most are best at keeping power in order to feed at the public trough for a lifetime, sharing little of the average citizen's struggles.  My favorite has always been former Mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, who served the citizens of B-town for more than 50 years at both the state and local level.  He loved the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland with a passion that you either cheered or booed, but his efforts on behalf of the everyday Joe made him a perennial favorite to voters.
 

Yet another is about to join him on the pedestal of honorees - Senator Barbara Mikulski, a small (4'11") yet ferocious woman who has made her way into the history books

The daughter of a Highlandtown grocer, Mikulski's ear-to-the-ground talent and megaphone mouth gave her grassroots appeal when she blasted onto the scene in the 1960's.  A social worker who was also a community activist, she led the opposition to paving over a giant swath of downtown Baltimore for an interstate highway.  Buoyed by her success, she ran for and was elected to the Baltimore City Council at age 35.  She beat formidable odds to become the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in 1986.

The Fair Pay Act for women would never have made it to President Obama's desk without her.  Mikulski is the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Congress as well as the first woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee.

For all of the groundbreaking factoids, she is my hero for a most important reason:  she comes from an era when politicians actually did things for the people who voted them into office.

I love that she is a graduate of my alma mater, the Institute of Notre Dame.  I love her bulldog-like ability to get things done.  If it's beginning to sound like I'm just another Democratic drum-beater, I am not.  I don't even belong to the Democratic Party.  However, I am an ardent supporter of anyone in office who remembers who she represents.  Mikulski's ex-staff members are strewn about the state in legendary numbers because they failed to live up to her standards of service to the public.  So powerful that Presidents fear getting on her "wrong side", she is the rare exception to the political hacks who are elected with huge PAC funds and corporate contributions.

At 79 years of age, she is not seeking re-election despite the fact that she would surely win again.  I don't begrudge her a more restful lifestyle, but I will miss her tenacious drive and ability to represent the common people of this state as well as showing women everywhere what one small, but loud voice can accomplish.

Thank you, Barbara, for all you have done.  The City of Baltimore, the State of Maryland and the United States of America will miss you.

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Moving to a new home presents multiple do-over opportunities:  a chance to purge enough junk to pretend you're not a hoarder, a chance to change your decor from forty-year-old traditional mahogany pieces that cost a fortune to Ikea (since your old furniture didn't fetch much on craigslist), and a chance to simplify, since you're only taking what fits in your Prius.

I'm doing all of the above, plus getting a new mattress. since I don't remember when I bought the last one.  An intriguing piece on the internet caught my eye, about a start-up in Los Angeles called Casper with a novel approach to the totally boring process of mattress shopping.   I know what kind of mattress I want.....a Tempurpedic.....but I just can't bring myself to spend 3 or 4K on a freaking mattress.  Yes, I know, we spend a third of our lives in bed...with the exception of prostitutes, but that's a different story......but two-thirds of my life is over, so I discount that statistic.

Casper will ship me a memory foam and latex mattress rolled up in a box for about 25 percent of the cost of the Tempurpedic, let me sleep on it for 100 nights, and if I don't like it, they will come pick it up and refund 100% of my money to boot.  I like that, but I still want to have some idea what it feels like.  

There aren't many places to test drive a Casper, but since I was in Los Angeles - their corporate home - for a few days, I decided to do just that.  My youngest daughter and I took the 4-year-old and the 10-month-old to Griffith Park to ride the ponies and visit the trains at Traveltown.  Trusting Waze to help us find the Casper showroom, we drove up the steep, narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills and wondered what kind of business could be located in this affluent, residential area.  A home with a big "C" on the front door and a Casper shipping box on the sidewalk came into view.  We looked at each other, wondering about the safety of entering a private home and asking to try out the bed.  She stayed in the car with the kids while I ventured inside.  

The living area's walls were all glass, affording an expansive, scenic view, like a Hollywood home in the hills should.  Four people sat at a table with desktop computers, answering customer calls.  A twenty-something with impossibly white teeth and blonde hair asked if I had an appointment.  An appointment? To lie on a matteress??

It must have been a slow day, as she checked her tablet and saw they had an opening, so I was admitted to a bedroom with an equally gorgeous view and given a clean pillow.  I mentioned my waiting family and the blonde with the blinding smile lured them inside with promises of water and juice.  The four-year-old propelled herself onto the bed and the ten-month-old spied an opportunity to nurse before vomiting copiously on the clean carpet.  She spent a few minutes gazing out the window while the other one pushed Trader Joe's rocket-shaped cheddar crackers into the vertical fan.  I shut my eyes and tried to decide how the mattress felt while calculating how long it would take to get home in L.A.traffic.  Would the wiser course be to hunker down at Magnolia Bakery until rush hour was over? 

I remain undecided.  I still prefer the Tempurpedic experience, but keep coming back to the Casper price.  At least I have 100 vomit-free nights to see if I want to keep it.