Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of I See You Everywhere, by Julia Glass

This is a good book, and I’m recommending it, but it isn’t at all like Julia Glass’s first two novels, Three Junes and The Whole World Over, both of which I reviewed favorably. I See You Everywhere is much darker, and more serious, than Glass’s previous work. This isn’t a criticism, but it’s important information for anyone who might read this book.

It begins lightly, however, and at first I thought it was going to be one of those novels about sisters that makes me glad I have brothers instead (thanks for not being girls, John and Steve!). With rather unexceptional parents, Louisa is the older daughter who is expected to be good at everything (been there), who wants a more conventional life, and who’s not much of a risk-taker. Clem, short for Clement, is 4 years younger, wilder, uninterested in settling down despite the occasional love interest, and a devoted animal lover. Louisa becomes the editor of an art magazine after giving up on being an artist herself, and Clem makes her career as a field biologist, starting with oceanic mammals and ending up following bears in Wyoming.

So they have interesting lives, they bicker, and they turn to each other for comfort even though they don’t understand each other very well. Eventually, the bickering turns into their way of communicating, and they understand each other all too well. It’s an intriguing psychological journey. It’s also very sad throughout most of the book. Both sisters will break your heart at different times, one more than the other. Books don’t make me cry, but if that’s ever happened to you, it’s entirely possible here. You are warned.

And this is a beautifully written, well-told story with great depth. I strongly recommend it, but not for when you’re already blue or want something light.

As for animals, it’s heartbreaking on that front as well. When I read books for this blog, I stick tape flags on the pages with relevant animal activity. I ran out of tape flags while reading this book. Animals die in I See You. Some are mentioned in passing, a few are characters. And yet there are some lovely passages relating to wildlife, like the injured hawk whose mate was there waiting for her when she was released after wildlife rehabilitators helped her through a broken wing. There are cats, horses, seals, birds, animals grown for food, and bears. One of the few light sequences has to do with foxhounds, a devoted caretaker, and puppies, in which Glass shows her characters’ capacity for warmth and compassion. But the bears — oh, the bears will tear at your soul. That’s not to say they all come to a bad end, but they will break your heart nonetheless. After considerable thought, I am declaring this book MOSTLY UNSAFE for animal lovers. I still recommend it for animal lovers, but go into it with your eyes open. This isn’t a beach book.

NM/AZ 2009 Vacation: Phoenix

As usual, we stayed at La Posada in Winslow, Arizona in order to break up the long drive between Santa Fe and Phoenix, dining once again in The Turquoise Room, where I had a magnificent churro lamb sampler. Then it was over the Mogollon Rim, past the Mazatzal Mountains, into greater Phoenix.

Phoenix is sprawling and lacks the kind of urban neighborhoods I prefer. I just go there because that’s where Dave’s baseball seminar takes place, and since the seminar anchors the vacation, I go there once a year. But there were some pleasant surprises this time. First, we discovered a delightful and affordable French restaurant, Petite Maison, where we had a lovely meal  on Thursday, then went back on Sunday because we liked it so much. This is a place to rediscover escargot, dessert souffles, and basic French entrees. It’s all good, and we hope to go back next time we’re in Phoenix.

The next night, I caught some pictures of the setting sun off of the hotel outdoor walkway:

 

And on Saturday night, we  went to the all-star game of the Arizona Fall League, which is a developmental league for promising young players who are expected to make the major league. I used this as an occasion to play with the stop-action feature on my camera, which was fun. Here are a few shots, first of batters, then of a pitcher in slo-mo. It was fun! 

 

       

And these only include every other shot, so I actually had a much finer level of stop-action photography.

So that’s it for the vacation. In a few days, I’ll resume the book reviews.

NM/AZ 2009 Vacation: Acoma Pueblo/Sky City

Not all pueblos are alike. This is true both culturally and in terms of how they present themselves today. The Acoma Pueblo people seem to have decided that if there is money in tourism, they are going after it. In addition to the usual roadside casino, gas station, and convenience store, the Acoma have a visitors’ center, museum, restaurant, gift shop, and guided tour. This obviously required an investment in infrastructure, which can be a gamble or a leap of faith. It also provides jobs and, from a tourist’s perspective, offers insight into Acoma history and culture. Economically, this all seems to have worked. The Acoma plow their casino and tourism income back into the tribe’s social and business ventures, resulting in an unemployment rate lower than that of the overall United States and a fairly high (75%) rate of young people who go on to college. Our wonderful tour guide, Kevin, is taking a break from his studies but hopes to someday be a college professor. But I get ahead of myself.

The Acoma Pueblo village itself, aka Sky City, is based on top of a mesa and has been continually inhabited since the 11th century at least. Kevin spent almost 2 hours guiding our small clutch of tourists, showing us first the mission and next the living area. There is no electricity in the village, though most of the villagers appear to have cars or trucks, and there are port-a-potties everywhere in lieu of indoor plumbing. Not all of the homes are continuously occupied, but they are passed down matrilinearly, with a provision for families that have only sons. Homes cannot be sold; if they are abandoned, they are allowed to stay unused. I can’t possibly summarize everything Kevin told us during the 2 hours, but here are some pictures:

   

 

Gordon, our host in Taos, cautioned us to not take “white guilt” to the pueblos, and I agree. They have other things to deal with and really don’t need us dumping our desire to be forgiven or whatever on them. They’re moving forward, and while history is important, it’s also not what they’re dealing with right now. Being our shrinks is not a priority with them. So we took in the information we were given, asked questions, took photos (for an extra fee), and bought a small piece of pottery. I like this little pot because the artist used horsehair to create the black background. His design around the top of the pot begins with a roadrunner and includes a representation of mountains.

 

This side trip was one of the highlights of our visit. The Acoma Pueblo is only about an hour outside of Albuquerque, so we’ll have opportunities to return on future trips. It’s a must-see, and I’m not sure once is enough.

Next up: I actually have something nice to say about Phoenix for a change.

NM/AZ 2009 Vacation: Taos to Santa Fe

Our last day in Taos — which was only our second day in Taos, as this was a very “jumpy” trip — had us leaving Gordon, Maggie, their pets, and their lovely B&B and starting off to see the Rio Grande River Gorge. It’s deep, and scenic:

     

From there, we visited the Taos Pueblo, which is just on the edge of the community of Taos. In fact, according to Gordon, the Taos Pueblo sold some of their land to the community, with the stipulation that should any member of the Taos Pueblo tribe be accused of a crime in Taos, that person will be turned over to the tribe for discipline instead of being subject to local laws. The day of our visit, the pueblo was only open to visitors for a few hours due to the fact that there had been a death in the tribe. While guided tours were an option, Dave and I chose to wander around ourselves in the limited area that was open to visitors.

From what I understand, the Taos Pueblo people keep their religion and language secret. Only a few members of the tribe live in the old pueblo buildings, which lack modern plumbing and electricity. I believe those tribal members feel they have a calling to live there, whereas most Taos Pueblo live in more standard homes. Here are some pictures; the dog appeared to be the “rez dog” that dominated all the other dogs in the area.

   

 

We then hit the road, heading south to Santa Fe along the High Road to Taos (which is what it’s called even when you’re taking it from Taos). The High Road is scenic:

 

But the fun part of the High Road was discovering the Sugar Nymphs bistro in the small town of Penasco. What a delightful place for lunch! And it is housed in the same building as the Wise Fool theater, which appears to be a kind of arts theater, educational center, and community gathering place.

Once in Santa Fe, we landed at our inn of choice, the Pueblo Bonito, where we were warmly greeted by Strelsa and Phyllis, two of the innkeeping staff. Dinner that night was unspectacular, and the next morning we decided to take it easy. We began by perusing the jewelry for sale by various Indians on the plaza. I had already decided I didn’t need anything, but if I saw something I felt I couldn’t live without, I’d at least inquire as to price.

You know what? I can indeed live without that necklace I wanted, being that it cost $3500. In my world, that’s not a necklace, it’s a big chunk of a car downpayment. Beauty has its limits. On the other hand, I was massively disappointed by the redecorating at La Fonda, where we had lunch. The beautiful turquoise trim around the windows has been replaced with white, which looks fine from a distance but weak close up. As I said to a staff member who also intensely disliked the change, yes, it’s only a building, but it’s also a matter of beauty, and beauty has value. I think the recent redecorating diminished the value of the place, and I look forward to a restoration of the much lovelier turquoise. When we later went out to dinner at The Shed with our friends Bonnie and Pat, they agreed, as did some people we spoke to at Pueblo Bonito. Fortunately, The Shed has not changed. It’s perfect as it is, and its owners know not to mess with it.

One of the highlights of the visit to Santa Fe was the New Mexico History Museum, which opened just a few months ago. This is where I started to feel like I might someday understand New Mexico, to the extent that it’s possible. As I said to Dave, you can make a visit to New Mexico almost like a visit to another country, what with the Indian and Hispanic influences. An important thing to keep in mind is that the Hispanic culture in New Mexico is home-grown, coming from Spanish settlers (or invaders) centuries ago rather than being imported from a Latin American country. The museum’s Telling New Mexico exhibit brought that all together for me. I left feeling like I was just beginning to get a sense of what I didn’t know, and where I needed to go in order to learn more.

The next day, that process moved forward with the subject of my next post, the Acoma Pueblo.

NM/AZ 2009 Vacation: Albuquerque to Taos

Our vacation pattern is to go to a very specific area of the country and get to know it thoroughly, which is what we’re doing with our multiple trips to New Mexico. To this end, we left Albuquerque by way of Route 550, looping to the north to Route 4, which took us through the town of Jemez Springs. There we stopped for lunch at the Laughing Lizard Cafe and toured the Jemez State Monument. This was the first trip in which we began immersing ourselves in the pueblo cultures, and the Monument was a good place to visit in that regard.

And yes, there was snow on the ground. Next, we saw the Valles Caldera National Preserve, where we saw elk:

 

  

Shortly after that, we arrived at Bandelier National Monument, which was basically a hit-and-run visit.  We will be returning when we can spend all day.

From there, we headed to Taos, where we stayed at the Little Tree B&B, with our hosts Gordon and Maggie, their 4 dogs, and their 2 cats. We were in the Spruce Room, which has its own hot tub. That was great! And Gordon and Maggie sent us to a wonderful restaurant that first night, El Meze. This is a new favorite — we absolutely loved it. We shared hummus, the buffalo tamale, chicharrones, and the cardamon doughnuts. It was all glorious.

The next day, we headed out to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area, where we walked around a bit and took photos of the scenery. We followed that by a drive through the Enchanted Circle, deemed one of the most beautiful routes in the country:

  

Finally, we had dinner at Joseph’s Table in Taos. It was an amazing place, in one of the most comfortable and beautiful spaces I’ve ever been in, with absolutely great food. Saying we liked El Meze better is like grading Joseph’s 98 percent and El Meze 98.1 percent. Both restaurants were extraordinary, and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit them.

In the next vacation post: Taos Pueblo, the Sugar Nymphs, a new museum, and Santa Fe.

NM/AZ Vacation 2009: Albuquerque

Sarah and Rol at Adobe Nido in Albuquerque are the best innkeepers in America. Period, end of discussion. We absolutely love them, and it would never occur to us to visit New Mexico without spending at least one night at their B&B. So that’s where we landed after our day flopping around the Denver airport, and we began the next morning with their usual excellent breakfast and their usual excellent advice on where to go and what to do. We’re pretty good at crafting our own agenda, but we’ve also learned to listen to the experts. We always listen to Sarah and Rol.

So on this visit, we ended up first at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. It gave us a good, quick overview of the 19 pueblos in New Mexico, with a focus on the 9 northern pueblos. Next, we visited the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which was a bit more interesting simply because of the impending Day of the Dead celebration. The Center also had an exhibit of Cuban artists, which was fascinating both for the art and for the fact that this was only the second time since this country’s ban on travel to Cuba that Cuban art has been brought here. Anyway, I’ve long been fascinated by Day of the Dead observances, in which people honor the dead by creating small altars for them, with their pictures and emblems of things they loved. The Center had lots of altars made by school classes throughout Albuquerque. With young children, of course, you’ll get mostly grandparents and pets. Quite sadly, there were also soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The high schoolers were so typically adolescent it was kind of funny, though. One altar was full of artists and writers and actors — who ever thought Shakespeare, Salvador Dali, and Farrah Fawcett would be lumped together like that? And another high school altar was a display of t-shirt jersey, cut into rectangles, with causes of death written on them. It was very soulful, goth, and 16. But I love Day of the Dead. I love the tradition of honoring loved ones, and I love the imagery. In the spirit of the latter, I bought a Day of the Dead nightlight, shown below unlit and lit:

 

Cool, huh? We also picked up a couple of Day of the Dead wine bottle stoppers, which are basically crystal laughing skulls. Then we had lunch in the Center’s cafeteria and headed off to the Sandia mountains for a bit of walking. This was mostly a continuation of my camera testing, but we encountered a beautiful dog and saw some mountains and plants of note:

     

Later that night, we found ourselves at Zinc once again. This is a favorite restaurant, as is the more casual Flying Star Cafe. Given only one dinner in Albuquerque, though, we chose Zinc, and it was absolutely worth it. Next time, we hope to sit at the bar surrounding the kitchen area and watch the chefs do their magic.

Coming up: Jemez Pueblo, Taos, the Enchanted Circle, and dueling up-and-coming chefs!

NM/AZ 2009 Vacation: Getting There

On our most recent trip, we discovered two awesome new restaurants, a national park we’ll definitely return to, a lovely B&B in Taos, a couple of splendid museums, and an amazing tour of an Indian pueblo.

But first, we had to get from the Washington DC area to Albuquerque through Denver via Frontier Airlines. That proved a bit difficult.

Despite the fact that this is the second trip in a row where we had problems, and the second trip in a row where we took Frontier, I remain fond of the airline. Last June, they took a plane out of operation due to safety issues, and I’d rather be inconvenienced than endangered, even if it screws up my arrival time, which it did. This time, it was weather at the Denver airport that caused our connecting flight to be cancelled. Frontier booked us on the next flight out. No complaints there, either.

But instead of a tight connection of just under an hour, we had lots of time to kill at the Denver airport. For dinner, we returned to the Chop House, which we first visited in June. Stuckattheairport.com mentions it, and here’s the website for the place. We each had a beer and the filet mignon (to make up for not having dinner in Albuquerque), and we shared the chocolate cake. The Chop House chain should keep an eye on Craig, the maitre ‘d, who was a friendly presence, well in charge of the hungry masses of frazzled fliers. If I were running a restaurant, I’d consider him promotable.

We then discovered a quiet space for reading, well away from the normal airport chaos. I have difficulty describing how to maneuver in the interior of large spaces, so I’ll just say that if you’re ever at DIA and want to chill out, investigate what’s at the end of the various escalators, where you might be pleasantly suprised by a sort of reading deck.

Finally, we were off to Albuquerque, although it was later than scheduled and there was a problem with the ticket-taking that required a head count. Our concern was that we’d arrive too late to pick up our rental car. Instead, we got to the Hertz counter about 15 minutes before their scheduled closing time. There, we were greeted by a large African American man with a warm, calming presence, just what tired and cranky travelers need. In fact, I nominate this man to play God in the next Hollywood movie that has such a role. This guy also seemed highly promotable, and I hope Hertz appreciates him. We sure did. He took care of us quickly, and we headed off to the B&B, arriving a minute after 1 a.m.

Next up: Albuquerque, the world’s best B&B, Zinc, and the Day of the Dead.

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of Shining City, By Seth Greenland

When I travel, I like to bring along a few reliable books, which usually means books by authors who have made me smile in the past. On my most recent vacation, I took books by Julia Glass, Jenny Shortridge, Mary Doria Russell and, reviewed here, Seth Greenland.

In discussing The Bones a few months ago, I praised Greenland for giving depth to even his most minor characters. I have a place in my heart reserved for authors who treat their characters with compassion and give them great complexity. Even a villain has an internal logic that comes from somewhere other than an inherent evil. And in Shining City, Greenland’s villains all make sense as people instead of being cardboard cut-outs. While Shining City’s protagonist, Marcus Ripps, is not the most complex man in fiction, he’s got dimension — as does his wife, his son, his mother-in-law, his attorneys, his competitors, his boss, and his “business associates.”

About those business associates — they’re hookers. Early in the story, Marcus loses his job as a factory manager. His wife, Jan, owns a failing boutique, and their middle-class life is about to disintegrate in a flood of debt and over-extension. Conveniently, Marcus’s estranged brother dies, bequeathing to Marcus a business known as Shining City drycleaners, which is really a front for an escort service. In desperate need of both income and validation, regardless of source, Marcus takes over this little goldmine, eventually bringing in Jan as his partner and her mother as their bookkeeper. Of course, this is not a simple business, and the unique twist that Marcus gives it is cause for some of the humor. Greenland keeps the story moving, and I was sorry to see it come to an end.

The only problem I had with Shining City was the appearance of a competitor in the escort service business. I keep mentally “fixing” her interactions with Marcus, which seemed like they could have been mutually beneficial while still allowing Greenland to proceed with the rest of the story as planned. Every novel asks us to suspend belief in at least one spot, but my brain couldn’t let go of this particular passage. That’s not a flaw, however, it’s just an observation. As with The Bones, I strongly recommend this book. If you have to pick between the two, in fact, I suggest Shining City.

As for animals, there is a terrier named Bertrand Russell who shows up periodically and comes to no harm. The death of a goldfish is mentioned in passing, and Marcus feels as if a coyote is following him. So this book is completely SAFE for animal lovers. Enjoy!

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of The 99th Monkey, by Eliezer Sobel

Pop quiz: I am a slightly fretful and occasionally cranky bookworm who could manage her money better. I also accept myself as such. So … am I enlightened? Yes or no.

See, this is where some of the spiritual quests for enlightenment annoy me, because enlightenment presupposes that you accept yourself as who you are. And to me, this is an excuse for bad behavior. For the record, I don’t think I’m enlightened, whatever that is. This is where Sobel’s delightful and engrossing story of his lifelong spritual quest sort of lost me. I kept wanting to tell him to just shut up and be. On the other hand, I really enjoyed this book, so him shutting up would be against my interests. But … I’m just going to move on to the review.

Sobel has tried it all: est, yoga, various gurus — including Ram Dass — and just about anything you can name, plus a lot of things you probably can’t. He’s spent time in India and Esalen, he’s been thrown off guard by free spirits, he’s risen through various systems’ hierarchies. And all along, he’s maintained just enough skepticism to keep from completely buying what anyone else is selling in the way of spiritual paths. I like this, because I have a hard time believing anyone has all the answers. Skepticism is healthy.

Through it all, Sobel is an engaging storyteller, relaying his encounters with various people in a way that made me feel like I was there with him. I recommend this book.

As for animals, this book is SAFE for animal lovers. There are pet tortoises, personal menageries, references to a couple of quick animal deaths, Sobel’s pet cat, and a bit of wildlife. If the topic interests you at all, you should enjoy this book.

Does the Dog Die? A Brief Review of Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan

“Loving Frank” received excellent reviews, and it’s easy to see why. (I have some quibbles, but what else is new?) Frank Lloyd Wright’s love affair with Mamah (Mame-a) Borthwick Cheney ended when Mamah and six others died in a horrible crime at Wright’s Wisconsin home. Wright was in Chicago at the time; after his first wife, Catherine, finally granted him a divorce several years after Borthwick’s death, he married twice more. In this novel, Horan goes beyond the limited historical record to imagine who Mamah Borthwick was, both in relation to and separate from her famous lover.

Mamah left a husband and two children to be with Wright. Unlike today, the default custodian in a divorce was usually the husband, and divorce was treated as a scandal that warranted disdain and shunning. Both Wright and Borthwick were hounded by reporters and ripped apart in the press for having deserted their families, though Borthwick’s reputation suffered most. Now, hardly anyone is expected to stay in a loveless marriage, and divorce is mostly sad and little remarked upon past that. So credit is due to Wright and Borthwick for having helped blaze a trail so that the heartsick and miserable are no longer doomed to live unhappily forever.

Past that, however, I wasn’t that wild about the protagonists. Wright was wildly irresponsible with money and thought his contributions as an architect meant others should put up with his idiosyncracies and failures to pay his debts. Borthwick didn’t seem to think things through, and they both appeared to expect others to pick up after them, so to speak. Still, the story is intriguing, Horan writes well, and the well-researched background about Wright is enlightening. I’m recommending it unless you really, really insist on likable characters.

As for animals, there is a dog, Lucky, who disappears after the murders. Farm life, with its pros and cons regarding animals, is recounted with a smattering of detail. Borthwick visits a zoo. And of course there are horses. I am declaring this book is SAFE for animal lovers.