Tag: Art

ARC, Books

Book 471: Ray and Joan – Lisa Napoli

Geoff W

What a fascinating story. I figured it would be, I mean it’s about the guy who made McDonald’s what it is today and his wife who gave away billions of dollars, but I was still surprised at just how fascinating it was.

When Dutton reached out to me about a copy of the book* I jumped at the chance because not only do I find philanthropy personally fascinating, but I also work in fundraising, so it was a win-win either way for me.

I mean the subtitle “The man who made the McDonald’s fortune and the woman who gave it all away,” caught my attention pretty quick because I knew nothing about the founding of McDonald’s or the people behind it. I had no idea about most of it.

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Updates

April Recap 2016

Geoff W

2016 04-07 Final To-Do ListHi Friends! I can’t believe I have only posted four times this month, with three of those posts being books from last month. It has been a REALLY busy month. In case you didn’t remember I wrapped up my old job and started a new job in the middle of the month. The hardest adjustment by far has been going back to working 9-5 and not working 7-3 with the afternoons dedicated to blogging.

I’ve also just been exhausted, having spent the last three weeks at my old job working 55+ hour weeks and then starting my new job and working 50ish hour weeks was a big change. I’m starting to catch up on sleep, but even now when I was preparing to blog I labeled all of my photos as if  it were my March wrap up and not April! All of this being said new job is great and I’m excited to see where I go from here. On to the books!

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Books

Book 436: Dragons in the Waters (O’Keefe Family #2) – Madeleine L’Engle

Geoff W

I am slowly making my way through the final books in the Kairos portion of L’Engle’s oeuvre. This is the sixth book in chronological story order and the fourth book published in the Murray-O’Keefe books (AKA Kairos). It takes place about six months after the action of The Arm of the Starfish and a few years (I think) before A House Like a Lotus which my response should be published later this week.

I’m glad I’ve expanded my L’Engle reading if only to fully finish the Murray-O’Keefe story line, which the more I dig into the less I think I have actually read because all of her works are intertwined, but I think I will be giving her a rest after I finish this Super-Series. With only A House Like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time left to go I think that would be both a reasonable and acceptable dive into L’Engle’s works.

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Books

Book 429: The Arm of the Starfish (O’Keefe Family #1) – Madeleine L’Engle

Geoff W

I decided to go down the full L’Engle Murray/O’Keefe rabbit hole. It may take a while to finish with other books burning holes in my kindle/on my shelf, but I will finish them!

I wasn’t as sold on this book as quickly as I was with A Wrinkle in Time, but it grew on me. The final quarter of the book was really strong! (And she didn’t rush the ending, or perhaps she did and I’m just used to it now.)

It’s a bit confusing, but I think I have it sorted out as The Arm of the Starfish is the second book written in the Kairos super-series, the first book of the second generation O’Keefe Family series, and the fourth book chronologically in plot line. Looking at the publication dates, it looks like L’Engle bounced back and forth between the two series (and another one) while she was writing in the ’60s and ’70s.

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Book Group, Books

Book 428: Girl In A Band – Kim Gordon

Geoff W

For our second book in our year of biography/autobiography/memoir books someone chose Kim Gordon’s Girl In A Band. It’s a look back on her time in the band Sonic Youth (never heard of them) and about her life as an artist. Seriously though, not my thing. I looked up a few of their most well-known songs on YouTube and was like “nope.” I just need a bit more structure in my music. It’s probably the same reason I don’t like jazz. I’m also still not quite sure what the difference is between New Wave, No Wave, Punk, and Post punk, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to this book, or at least two more that we’re planning to read. It’s mostly because I know nothing about the subject matter, but it’s also because I don’t find the subject matter interesting. That being said I did find enough in this book to keep me mostly engaged.

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