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The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

The 19th WifeThe 19th Wife by David Ebershoff has two of my favorite things: historical fiction (yay!) and polygamy (wheee!)

I love me some Sister Wives on TLC and was also a fan of Big Love. But even before these shows I was interested in polygamy when Jerry told me one of his relatives is believed to have left his family to help found a polygamous community on the boarder of Utah and Arizona, Colorado City.

Jerry and I have driven through Colorado City. Just like on TV, the women wear long cotton skirts and I Colorado City 4swear a pickup truck followed us. It was a creepy place. When Jerry stopped at outside the general store and suggested we look around I refused to get out of the car. I was brave enough to visit the graveyard though. Sure enough, there are a lot of Jessops who live and lived in the town.

Parts of The 19th Wife is in fact based on Colorado City. The book is actually two stories that alternate. One is the story of a modern polygamous family and the other is the fictitious story of Ann Eliza Webb, Brigham Young’s 19th wife.

In fact, Brigham Young, second president of the Latter Day Saints, did have several wives including Ann Eliza Webb who divorced him and later became a critic of polygamy. Ann Eliza’s story as told by Ebershoff is an interesting one as she was part of the first generation born into the Mormon church. The story, told through fictitious memoirs and college papers, focuses on the incredible faith Ann Eliza and her contemporaries had in their church and its leader. I like to think that the portrayal of Brigham Young as a charismatic leader with a gift for logistics and organization is accurate. Once he begins to promote plural marriage, of course, the reader’s perception of his character begins to sour, as does Ann Eliza’s. I have no idea how accurate the story of how Ann Eliza becomes Brigham Young’s wife is. It borders on the level of an HBO TV series which of course makes the story interesting.

Colorado City 1The modern day portion of the story is a murder mystery. Jordan Scott, a young gay man who was banished from the town when he was a adolescent, returns when he finds out his mother, BeckyLynn, is accused of killing his father. Like Ann Eliza, BeckyLynn is also the 19th wife. As Jordan helps investigate his mother’s case he comes to terms with his relationship to the church and with the people he has in his life. As readers, we get the added bonus of learning what it’s like to grow up in a modern day polygamous/FLDS community.

The ending of both stories are satisfying with Ebershoff cleverly tying them together. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a solid, compelling read. If you are interested in the history of polygamy or the Mormon church, even better!

Five Literary Characters I would want to have lunch with

Lunch mate: The Dowager Princess Clarisse Renaldo, aka Grandmere

Book: The Princess Diaries Series by Meg Cabot

Menu: Sidecars at The Plaza

Up for discussion: Ettiquette and fashion. Unlike Mia I’d drink in everything Grandmere has to say.

 

Lunch mate: Laurie Laurence

Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Menu: Beer and burgers. I know he’s been dying to partake after he promised Meg on her wedding day he would swear off booze. Why would you make such a vow Laurie? That was just dumb.

Up for discussion: Amy? Seriously? We all know, despite her feeble attempts to convince you otherwise, that she clearly married you for your money. If you had simply come home from Europe after Beth died Jo would have ran straight into your arms and we would all be better off and happy.

 

Lunch mate: Melanie Wilkes

Book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Menu: Buttered yams, buckwheat pancakes and ham in gravy; This is what Mammy urges Scarlett to eat before attending the Wilkes barbeque so she will be too stuffed to eat in public and therefore appear more ladylike. I’ve been lusting after this menu since 1982 when I first read the book.

Up for discussion: No need to break the news about Scarlett and Ashley considering she knew all along. I’ll take her thoughts on what makes a true great lady.

 

Lunch mate: Jane Purdy

Book: Fifteen by Beverly Cleary

Menu: Chocolate coke floats at Nibleys

Up for discussion: Hunky boyfriend Stan. I want to know if they stayed together after high school.

 

Lunch mate: Geraldine Porter

Book: Miniature Mystery series by Margaret Grace

Menu: Bagels by Willie

Up for discussion: Tips on how to decorate my dollhouse.

 

When thinking about this list I also considered these characters but decided against them.

The Weasley twins – Who doesn’t love Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter books? Unfortunately I don’t think they’d make very good lunch companions. My guess is they are probably kind of annoying to be around in person. Also I’d be afraid they’d try to sneak me something from one of their Skiving Snackboxes.

Kinsey Millhone – I’m several books into the alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton and certainly growing attached to Kinsey. She’s a recluse who likes her wine so we have that in common. However, she’s also dangerous to be around. There are plenty of innocent people who come into contact with Kinsey who end up getting killed by the latest wacko murderer she’s trying track down. Therefore I think I’ll keep my distance.

Laura Ingalls Wilder – As a young fan of the Little House books one of my favorite fantasies was sending Laura to the future so I could show her what it was like to live in 1970s suburbia. The thought of meeting her now doesn’t interest me so much. I have a feeling she might be kind of boring in real life and also from what I’ve read she was pretty conservative on the political side.

The Dursleys – Also from the Harry Potter books, I’ve always wondered what happened to Vernon, Petunia and Dudley when they are sent into hiding at the beginning of Deathly Hallows. A part of me would like to find out how they are doing and then I quickly remind myself that I really don’t care.

Scarlett O’Hara – I’ve always been fascinated by Margaret Mitchell’s heroine in Gone With The Wind and while I’d love to see what she’d wear to lunch, let’s face it, she’s a racist bitch.

Tiger Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

This book came highly recommended to me by a family member. “You must read this,” she said, “it’s so good. I couldn’t put it tiger tigerdown.” That said, I still resisted the book for several months because of the subject matter.

Tiger Tiger is Margaux Fragoso’s memoir documenting her childhood years when she fell prey to a pedophile. While disturbing, I too found the book very compelling and read it in a single weekend. However it wasn’t the subject matter that held me. The book was so well done I just had to finish it.

I think we can all agree that child molesters are the worst brand of evil and Peter Curran was one of the most insidious of his kind. He first met Fragoso at the neighborhood community pool when she was aged seven. Because she already had an unhappy home life and was starved for affection, Fragoso was immediately drawn to Curran’s attention as he carefully manipulated his way into her family dynamic, slowly sneaking the abuse in under the very nose of Fragoso’s mentally ill mother and alcoholic father.

Fragoso’s childhood coping mechanisms of storytelling and withdrawing into her own made up fantasy world shed light on how she was able to write so beautifully later on. I can best describe her style as…healthy. The level of acceptantance with which she tells her real life story actually made it easy for me to take. She began the book in her early twenties, shortly after Curran died, but did not finish it until several years later. My guess is she went through many years of healing and while I would certainly read anything else from her in the future I would be most interested in her story of recovery.

While I did enjoy this book I feel funny about recommending it to anyone. The few people I discussed it with immediately dismissed the book due to its subject matter which is perfectly understandable. However, if you are willing to give it a try you may be surprised as I was to find that Tiger Tiger is not a story evil but rather hope.

Abandon by Meg Cabot

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. I finally came across a book, a whole series actually, by Meg Cabot that I really don’tAbandon Meg Cabot like. Abandon, which is based on the myth of Persephone the Greek Goddess of the Underworld, just didn’t do it for me.

The story centers around Pierce Oliviera, a teenage girl who has a near death experience. The book loosely covers the following two years through flashbacks, which was my first problem: too much jumping around. Normally I don’t mind flashbacks in a book. They are an important tool to add structure and interest to a story. Unfortunately the flashbacks in Abandon seemed oddly placed to me. Add this to the fact that I took two whole weeks to read the book (my problem) and I had a difficult time keeping track.

My second problem had to do with the tone of the book. I was interested to see how Cabot treated the dark subject matter of death and the Underworld. She has done dark before in Jinx and The Mediator series which I enjoyed very much. However what made these previous books work were the heroines who faced the dark subject matters of danger and death head on with feisty determination. Unfortunately Pierce Oliviera did not embody the typical “Meg Caboty” spunk and her attempts at perky humor just fell flat.

Given Pierce’s situation I guess I can’t blame her. The poor girl did die, visit the Underworld and then came back to life which sounds pretty traumatizing. Not only that but the next two years are fraught with creepy and dangerous experiences that she narrowly escapes thanks to John, the mysterious guy she met in The Underworld, who may or may not be into her. That said, I still had a hard time feeling sympathetic for Pierce. She came off as too victimized for me.

In loyalty to Meg Cabot I am planning to finish the series. In fact I have already read book 2, Underworld, which I did find a little better. Full review is pending.

If you are interested in Greek mythology, particularly the myth of Persephone, I highly recommend these books. Also a bit of practical advice: read the books in large chunks of time so you don’t get lost in all the flashbacks.

Stitch Fix Review

I hate shopping for clothes. I wistfully remember the days when I was young and thin and shopping was fun and inspiring, hampered only by a lack of funds. Now, a couple of decades and a few sizes later, entering the mall and picking out clothes is a frustrating and self-depreciating experience. However thanks to the little miracle I just discovered I may never visit the mall again. That miracle is Stitch Fix.

Stitch Fix is an online clothing store that does the shopping for you. Seriously! Here’s how it works:

You go to the website and fill out a profile with information about your age, size, lifestyle and fashion. The profile is pretty thorough with all sorts of questions about your color and style preferences. You can even give them a link to your Pinterest board with photos of the types of styles you like.

Armed with this crucial information, Stitch Fix then assigns you a stylist who specially chooses five articles of clothing and mails them to you to try on. The clothes you like you keep and pay for and the ones you don’t like you send back. Cost of this service is $20, which gets applied to the price of the clothes.

I signed up for the service back in February when I heard about it and due to Stitch Fix’s increasing popularity, had to wait an agonizing five weeks for my order to arrive which it finally did last Friday.

When I got home I was surprised to see how small the box was. Earlier in the day I peeked at my account so I knew they sent me a pair of pants, a top, a cardigan, a scarf and a whole dress. How could it all fit in there?

Stitch Fix Meg Cabot book

Here it is next to a standard sized Meg Cabot paperback.

 

Note: I tried to get a photo next to Mrs. B for perspective (the box was smaller than a 13 pound cat) but she wasn’t having any of that.

Mrs B Stitch Fixc

Come near me with that box and I will annihilate you with my laser eyes.

With Mrs. B and her hair safely hidden behind the sofa I proceeded to open my box and try on my new clothes. In addition to 5 pieces of clothing you also get an envelope to send back the items you don’t want to keep, cards with suggestions on to style your new clothes and a note from the stylist who put your order together. Stitch fix styling card

Here’s what my stylist Christina picked out for me:

41 Hawthorn Stacey Lightweight Leopard Print Infinity Scarf

Stitch fix scarf

Christina clearly looked at my Pinterest page because it is full of leopard accessories. Nobody loves a leopard scarf more than me and I have plenty in my closet to prove it. So while I don’t really need this scarf I’m still going to keep it since it will be a good replacement for the one I got at Target last week that turned out to be too itchy. It was $32 which is the absolute most I would ever spend on a scarf.

 

Stitch Fix Karen scarf

Margaret M Emer Brocade Print High Waisted Cropped Pants

Sitch Fix pants

One of the things I was hoping StitchFix could help me with was picking out items to get me out of my comfort zone. These pants are a perfect example of that. I thought for sure when I tried them on they would be a “no way” and was pleasantly surprised when they weren’t. The fit is a little snug but the result is pretty flattering. I think the secret is this:

Stitch Fix pants tag

At $98 these pants are not cheap but they go with a lot of things I already own and are comfortable as all get out. Here’s hoping my decision to keep them is a good one!

 

Pomelo Downing Striped Knit Shirt

Stitch Fix shirt

Here’s another example of something I would never pick out for myself. I’m horrible at finding cute tops. I tend to stick with collared button ups and turtle necks. It’s boring. When I saw this my first thought was “Huh? This is way too casual for work.” But Christina assured me in her note that it was “super chic and comfy.” She advised me to pair it with my new infinity scarf and slacks so I did and guess what? It looks great!

The fabric is a little thin, making me cringe a bit at the price of $44 but like the pants I think this will get a lot of wear so I’m going to keep it.

 

Mak Jaclynn 3/4sleeve Button-Up Cardigan

Stitch Fix cardigan

I love cardigans and have about 10 in my closet already. The catch? They’re all black. Thank god Christina sent me this one. The color is spot on and so is the price at $32. I can see myself wearing this at least once a week. In fact I think I’ll wear it tomorrow when I stop off at the Good Will donation bin with a bag full of black cardigans. Sold!

 

41Hawthorn Farah Fit and Flare Striped Dress

Stitch Fix dress

I had high hopes for this dress when I pulled it out of the box. I loved the color, I loved the fabric and $68 seemed like a good price. In fact I figured it would be a no-brainer and saved trying it on for last. Unfortunately it was too small. Even in a bigger size I suspect the fit of this dress would not work for me though. The pleats were too poofy and the waist was too high. Therefore, this dress is going back.

Overall I am very pleased with my StitchFix experience and am looking forward to ordering from them again. If you are interested in doing the same check out their website.

I get a $25 credit if you place an order using my link:   StitchFix

Sweeping Together

One of the best things about being married is the opportunity to sweep together. I dare say that for me and Jerry it is probably photoone of the most intimate things we do.

Last month we were clearing out construction debris in the in-law unit of our Nevada house and naturally we ended the activity by sweeping. It was great. Jerry grabbed a broom, I had a dustpan and together we worked to get the floor swept clean. Jerry would brush sawdust into a big pile and I would scoop it up with the dustpan. While I was depositing it into the trash bag Jerry would brush the remaining debris into another pile for round two.

As we progressed to other sections of the room where the debris was heavier we naturally switched places and I took the broom while Jerry held the dustpan. Little words were said while we focused on the moment and the work.

At one point we both had brooms, each sweeping our different end of the room, but eventually we came back together, combining our piles in to a single one, Jerry holding the dustpan, repositioning it at the end of the line of dirt made by the edge while I filled it.

We really should sweep together more often.

Jessopland Update 2013

Lest you think I’ve turned this blog into a Meg Cabot fan site, and because it’s right at my personal Happy New Year cut off date of January 15th, I thought I’d give a recap of other things I did this past year.

We started January 2013 with brand new stucco on the Nevada house but only a partially built deck.

House partial stair and deck

We spent the next several months filing claims with the Nevada State Contractors Board and waiting for our contractor to surface from wherever he disappeared to. Work finally commenced again in April.

House trucks

By August we finally had a completed deck that was up to code.

House new deck

The next big project will be to get the in-law unit in habitable condition.

House in law unit

October saw me and Jerry married for 10 whole years! We celebrated the milestone pretty quietly since we had big plans for later in the month. And what were those big plans? Why Nevada Day of course!

Jerry has declared Nevada Day his favorite holiday and as such we are bound to keep the day open and sacred from here on out. I don’t think any state in America celebrates their admission day like Nevada.

We started the festivities on a Thursday night by attending Governor Sanchez’s 4th Annual Nevada Day ball at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. The highlight of the evening was meeting another distinguished government official, President of Molassia, His Excellency Kevin Baugh.

President of Molassia

Molassia, is a small country (ie: a micro nation) located on a 1.6 acre piece of property in Dayton Nevada.

Saturday morning the celebration continued with the Carson City Republican Women’s Pancake Breakfast at the Governor’s Mansion. The governor himself was there pouring coffee!

Governor Sanchez

After breakfast we secured a spot for the parade. In the land of gambling, 24 hour buffets, legal prostitution, guns and Republicans (the voting power of Las Vegas is not even acknowledged) there are a lot of floats to accommodate. I’m pretty sure it went on for 4 or more hours.

Nevada day parade 2Nevada day parade 4Nevada day parade

With the fun of Nevada Day under our belt we raced home for our next celebration, my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. I spent most of the summer planning this party with my parents. I had the invitations out by Labor Day and a month later I found out the restaurant we had reserved went out of business after 20 years! This is exactly the type of thing that makes me stress over and hate party planning.

I spent a few frantic days looking for another restaurant to host the party and ended up at Terra Mia in Livermore. The food was great, the service fantastic and a good time was had by all.

anniversary cake

Turns out the anniversary party was our big family event for the year with the added bonus of back east relatives. Thanksgiving and Christmas were quiet (but tasty) affairs with just me and Jerry and Mom and Dad.

New Years was spent at The House in Carson City where those gun totin’ Nevadans made sure we were awake at midnight.

Getting all Meg Caboty at the Library

Meg Cabot often talks about how when she was a child she used to spend summers reading in her local air conditioned library. I used to do the same thing and as a result have developed a lifelong love affair with libraries.

Lately one of my favorite activities is to hang out at the Castro Valley Public Library. It is a great place to work on my telecommute days. I sit at a table in the back, log on to the wireless internet and work quietly surrounded by a bunch of other people doing the same thing. It’s great! It’s like working in a coffee shop but without all the noise and attitude.

Today while I was there a group of noisy children walked in. The kids appeared to be accompanied by a few adults whose main concern was that they all be quiet. Who the hell were these people, I wondered, and why did they bring this group of rowdy children to the library? I glanced up and saw a group of kids sitting in a line of chairs next to the table I sat at. Some of them had books with them and a few were even trying to read. All of them were clearly wishing they were someplace else.

The girl sitting closest to me caught my attention especially. She was bigger than all the others, sitting amongst the boys and even though she was dressed in a pink outfit, I got the feeling she was probably not very comfortable hanging out with girls. She had a weird looking, oversized, spiral bound book, something she probably pulled down because it didn’t look like all the others. It was also closed and my guess was she had no intention of reading it.

Distraction suddenly turned into obsession with these children and the big girl especially. I could tell she was brought here to read and I felt an overwhelming desire to help her.  I leaned over and looked her in the eye. “How old are you?” I whispered.

“12.”

“Keep an eye on my computer,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

I got up, walked over to the teen section of the stacks and started looking at the Meg Cabot collection. Volume One of The Princess Diaries wasn’t there but some of the other books from the series were. I grabbed a copy of Princess in Waiting as well as Shadowland from The Mediator series and Jinx. I then went over to the young man who appeared to be in charge of the group. “Excuse me,” I said, “I was wondering if it would be OK for me to recommend some books to that young lady over there?”

“Huh?” he looked a little surprised, “What are the books?”

“They’re teen fiction novels by Meg Cabot. This one is about a girl who finds out she is a princess.”

“Don’t all teenage girls think they are princesses?” sneered the woman next to him.

“I’m sorry,” I said suddenly feeling horribly embarrassed and foolish. “I don’t mean to be inappropriate or disturb your group.”

“No, it’s fine,” the guy said, “it’s just that these kids only read at a 2nd grade level so she probably won’t be able to read them.”

“Actually,” said the sneery woman, “my daughters have read some of those books. They are really good.”

With a nod of approval from the young teacher I nervously approached the girl and handed her the books. “These are really good.” I said. “This one is about a girl who finds out she’s a princess and these two are about girls with special powers. Just go slow with the words and sound them out if you have to. The stories are so good you won’t mind.”

I went back to my table and back to work, obsession lifted, while the girl quietly sounded out words from one of Meg Cabot’s book. Five minutes later when the group left she stopped by my table to thank me, Princess in Waiting in hand.

My love affair for libraries, helped out by a desire to spread a little bit of Meg Cabotyness, just went to a new level.

You’ve Lost that Meg Caboty Feeling

The best thing about being a Meg Cabot fan is feeling all Meg Caboty. Mandy and Diana and all the other girls participating in the second annual Meg A Readers Blog hop know what I’m talking about. It’s that warm, fun, cozy feeling you get from reading great books like The Princess Diaries and The Queen of Babble or how about her new book Awaken? But reading a Meg Cabot book is not the only thing that can make you feel all Meg Caboty. If you are anxiously waiting for Meg’s latest book so you can feel all Meg Caboty try some of these things:

Write about Meg. Duh! That’s what I’m doing right now and why I am participating in this second annual Meg-A-Readers blog hop. Writing about how much I love Meg Cabot and her books just makes me feel all…well…Meg Caboty!

Write some Meg Cabot fan fiction. Sometimes finishing a series of books can make you feel sad. I know I went through a small depression when I finished the last Princess Diaries book. Luckily I discovered the Meg Cabot fan forum around the same time and yep, I wrote a piece of Princess Diaries fan fiction. It helped saying goodbye to Mia and Michael and Tina and Lily a lot easier. It also made me feel very Meg Caboty!

Meet Meg in person. Even if you aren’t a Meg Cabot fan, I highly recommend attending one of her public appearances. Meg Cabot is a fantastic speaker! She is funny and engaging and comes across exactly the way you expect her to be if you are a fan of her books. Just be careful and keep your Meg Caboty feelings in check otherwise you might start crying in front of her like I did.

Watch a Meg Cabot book trailer. Meg Cabot produces the best book trailers ever! Some of my favorites are these from the Runaway series. And whenever I need a pick-me-up I watch this one:

Very Meg Caboty!

Follow Meg on Twitter. Meg doesn’t just make promotional announcements on her Twitter feed. She also puts in fun things like quick thoughts on movies she just went to or what’s she’s doing for the weekend or …anything!

Meg Cabot tweet

Tweets from Meg Cabot seem more real and sincere than the regular everyday Tweets you see from other celebrities and they make you feel all Meg Caboty!

Subscribe to the Meg Cabot Newsletter. In addition to seeing emails in your inbox FROM MEG CABOT you also get special surprises! Last year at Christmas Meg put out a special collection of short stories which she published in a free ebook for her fans. Honestly? That short story collection was my favorite Christmas gift last year. I saved it to read on Christmas day and I felt all Meg Caboty.

Read Meg’s blog. Meg updates her blog about once a month, which if you are impatient like me is a long time to wait. But don’t fret! Meg has 10 years worth of blog posts on her website that you can read anytime! It’s a great way to feel Meg Caboty.

Listen to a Meg Cabot interview. There are some great Meg Cabot interviews out there! Just Google “Meg Cabot interview” and you’ll find a ton.  Listening to them makes you feel like you’re having a conversation with Meg yourself and that’s just so Meg Caboty.

Strangely enough, my very favorite Meg Caboty thing has very little Meg in it. She did link to it in her blog years also which is how I found it and you can find her at 1:10 in the video. Still I think everyone would agree that the entire feeling of fun loving romance writers all together in one room, raising money for charity is a very Meg Caboty.

What do you do to feel all Meg Caboty?

More Pen to Paper

I’m still hand writing first drafts. It’s working out well. I like the organic, Zen-like flow of words from pen to paper. I’m not sure what that means actually but it sounds good.

For thousands of years the only way people could write was by hand. Pen, stylus or pointy rock to paper, animal-hide or cave wall. It’s the mind moving the hand to form words. Only in the past, 100 years or so, have people had regular access to keyboards to compose thought.

When I replied back to Neal on my last post it got me thinking more about my own progression to writing on a computer. I did not get a computer until my last year in college, which was the late 80s. Even then, I still handwrote the first drafts of my papersrecorder and then typed them in, editing as I went. After that when I started working full time it was several years before I had a computer at my desk and even used a computer all day.

In the first law firm I worked at only secretaries and word processors had computers at their desk. Also one of the paralegals who doubled as the firm’s IT guy. The rest of us had to dictate our work like the attorneys. I used to index documents and summarize depositions by speaking into a Dictaphone. It was strange and intimidating for me especially when I had to hand the finished tape to surely a word processor to be transcribed.

I didn’t get a computer at my desk until 1995 when I started working at a different firm. During that point of the interview when the managing attorney said, “Do you have any questions?” I asked if the paralegals were allowed to have computers at their desk and I’m pretty sure that’s what got me the job. Thus my business writing directly to a computer began.

I still did personal writing by hand. It wasn’t until 2002 did I ever consider keeping my journal on a computer or typing first drafts directly. What changed in 2002? Why this is when I met Jerry and he got me my first laptop!

I didn’t even think about it at first. I just started typing. I liked the tap-tapping noise my typing made on the keyboard; it sounded like words. At lunch I used to sit in my car with that laptop and work on short stories just because I could.

Eventually the newness of it all wore off and distractions crept in. The big one? The Internet! And therein lies my reason to continue to hand writing first drafts. No internet! Sitting at my desk with just a pen and a piece of paper and no Facebook to update or Twitter feeds to check or blogs to read keeps my thoughts focused and hand moving.

No distractions…except Jerry telling me, “Hey, as long as you’re up why don’t we get into work early?” Because the computer is not turned on, so I can’t be doing anything important, right?

 

*Photo ©2010 Cargoplex