Hi all. Does it feel like spring where you are? It probably is. It’s even feeling a bit like spring up here. Most of the snow has melted away once again, and we are enjoying balmy temps. We might even go for a bike ride this weekend, which is a bit unheard of here in March. And the month is flying by, isn’t it?
We are gearing up for our road trip to California in April, just about two weeks away. It’s hard to believe. I’m getting together a few audiobooks for the trip, which include mostly historical nonfiction ones for my husband. Sorry to say, I will be leaving fiction behind for a while on the journey, then fling open my beach bag of novels once we get there, lol. Is it almost time for the beach?
Good news is I saw a pileated woodpecker this past Wednesday when the dogs and I were at a wooded park near the river. They are fun to see, but we don’t get to see them often. Their red heads make them easy to spot. I didn’t take this particular photo as I couldn’t get a good shot of him bobbing around, but I recorded the bird’s sound, which my Merlin Bird app recognized as the pileated woodpecker. Apparently the bird is the largest woodpecker species in North America and likes to eat carpenter ants, among other things. Its strong bill can chip large holes into trees searching for insects. Do you have these birds where you are?
And now you can see my “library loot” for this week. I still have several remainders from the weeks prior. Ann Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful just came in for me. I need to jump on it quickly since it’s long, but I think I’m going to start Ron Rash’s novel The Caretaker next. It looks like a quick, good read set in a small Appalachian town during the Korean War years. I read the author’s 2008 novel Serena, which was turned into a movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, but I think the new one looks a bit better.
And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.
Absolution by Alice McDermott / FSG / 336 pages / 2023
4.4 stars. This is a story about a woman named Tricia looking back on her life and her friendship with a woman, Charlene, whom she meets in Saigon in 1963. Tricia is corresponding decades later with the woman’s daughter Rainey and telling her things that happened there.
In the ’60s, Tricia and Charlene are “helpmeets” to their husbands’ careers in Vietnam early in the war, giving parties and supporting them. Newly arrived and married Tricia, 23, meets Charlene at a garden party when her baby throws up on Tricia’s dress. From this incident, Charlene comes up with a plan to sell Barbie dolls to help fundraise for toys and things for children in the local hospitals.
Soon Tricia is part of Charlene’s “cabal” to try to do good around Saigon, helping with the Barbie sales and traveling to a leper colony to measure the people for new clothes there. It turns out Charlene, a mother of three, is a “dynamo” of altruistic schemes, trading on the black market, pushing people around, hanging at the country club, popping pills, and doing what needs to be done for her causes. Meanwhile Tricia and her husband are trying to start a family, but she’s having trouble with miscarriages. These worlds collide sometime down the line.
This might not sound like much, but in Alice McDermott’s hands with all the things at play she turns it into gold. A lot of things going on mix: with the Vietnam backdrop, early feminism, faith, war, morality, friendship, children. The novel’s structure too is pretty cool as it looks back and is also in the present. There’s a nostalgia looking back and a naivete of one’s life at age 23 amidst a war zone.
I think Alice McDermott said she was wondering about the wives in Graham Greene’s 1955 novel The Quiet American — what their lives were like — and came up with this novel. The time and place came alive for me with these characters in the 1960s. I have not read McDermott before, but I picked up her novel Charming Billy once when it came out in 1997. I’d like to read more of her books, which mostly have Irish Catholic characters and themes from McDermott’s background.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these authors and what did you think? Have a great weekend.
I’d love to see a pileated woodpecker one day! But they sadly don’t live where I live. And we got snow earlier this week…looked like a blizzard outside on Wednesday, but it’s all melted away and the sun is out and it’s feeling like spring outside today. 😀 Enjoy your weekend!
Hi Lark, thanks. it seems there’s still some unstable weather going on. Winter is trying to come back, argh. We’re suppose to get snow next week. I hope your sun stays out. The woodpecker was neat to see. It’s a bit rare here too.
Have a good one. & Happy reading.
Gorgeous bird you got to see. Lucky you! It felt like spring for 2 or three days this week, but we’re going back next week to more normal-ish temperatures. Absolution sounds great. It was on my radar for a while, but maybe I’ll keep it on the wishlist for some future date. Glad you liked it so. I’m close to finishing The Morningside; it’s OK, but no fireworks. I like the pacing and the flow of the story though. Obreht sure knows how to make even the mundane readable. Did you see the Oscars? The awards went pretty much as expected. So happy Oppenheimer won big.
Hi Carmen, oh yes, I did watch the Oscars. And Oppenheimer won quite a lot and Poor Things won a bit too. I need to see that sometime. It was a pretty good year for movies despite the strike and all. Killers of the Flower Moon got shutout!
I’m glad you’re almost done with The Morningside. Her books take me a long while but glad the pacing is all right. I enjoyed Absolution and think McDermott is a bit of a master in the details and how she writes. I should read more of hers.
We’re supposed to get snow towards the end of the week. Hmm. We’ll see if it stays. Enjoy things there and your reading.
I liked Poor Things very much. It is different and cringey but it has heart and it’s funny too. I didn’t think Killers of the… had many chances with Oppenheimer in the race in so many categories. I expected Emma Stone to win Best Actress. I think my big surprise was Best Actor, which was kind of in the air, in my opinion.
Ah ha. I was a bit sure of Cillian for Actor but not of Emma. Thanks for your thoughts on Poor Things. We will get to it sometime. It seems creative, just looking at the trailer. Emma Stone must have shined in it.
Pileated Woodpeckers were pretty common in my neighborhood when we moved in 36 years ago. I seldom see them anymore, although I still hear them calling from time to time down along the creek that runs through the area.
I’ve read and enjoyed two of McDermott’s books – “Someone” and “The Ninth Hour.” I think I might enjoy this one as well.
Hi Dorothy, it’s sad that pileated woodpeckers aren’t more common now and where you are. We rarely see them either — but I will continue to keep my eyes peeled in wooded areas. I might need to go back to that very place where the bird was. He was quite a surprise to me but was making quite a racket with his calls.
Glad to hear you’ve liked 2 of McDermott’s books. I’d like to read another. She’s a bit of a treasure I think. Enjoy your week.
Absolution sounds like it would be good for my book group. Many years ago we read At Weddings and Wakes, which I suggested, and I remember someone accused me of picking a romance because the book had some flowers on the cover. Of course, if I *had* chosen a romance it would have been a good one!
If your library has any Erik Larson audiobooks, they are great for a road trip. I especially enjoyed Dead Wake and The Splendid and the Vile.
Hi Constance, ha funny about someone calling it a romance since there were flowers on the cover. I think Absolution has flowers on it too, lol. You’re right it would make a good book club choice — now that I think about it. There’s some issues to it, but it’s not dense. I think my book club voted to read Apples Never Fall next for our next talk in early May. hmm. Hope it works.
Thanks for telling me about Erik Larson. I was just thinking about getting Dead Wake; it seems good. We once had the audio of his book In the Garden of Beasts on a road trip and were amazed by it; it’s quite an eerie story! Have a great week.
I have been hearing bird song when I open the windows in the morning. It’s sunny today but cold, so I think spring weather is still not here. It will get colder next week too. Have a good trip to California in April. Hope there will be flowers in the hills.
Thanks Harvee. I think California will have some good blooms in April.
We are also expecting winter to return here in Canada — with a forecast of snow by the end of the week. Hmm. Just when it’s been 55 degrees. Enjoy your reads!
Isn’t the Merlin app fabulous? I use it to help me figure out where and what to look for. Congrats on spotting a pileated woodpecker. They are not a backyard bird for us, but I have seen a few and it’s always a treat.
Happy road trip. We have one coming up in May, and I am already planning our listening list.
I haven’t read Alice McDermott yet…should take steps to remedy that.
Happy Spring!
Hi Jane, yes I love the Merlin app. It can pick up sounds & bird calls so well. I’m learning more about birds from it. The woodpecker was a big treat for me to see. Is your road trip a long one? I’m getting some audios together too.
I found out that McDermott is a bit of a master at her tales. So I will pick up another sometime. Hooray for spring, enjoy!
It feels more like summer in Oregon than spring. We’re already at 66 with clear, sunny skies. Time to get out in the yard and do some clean-up around the house. The winter storms leave a lot of branches, pine cones, and assorted debris from the trees all over the yard. It will feel good to get outside and tackle that chore this weekend. I should get my bike down and make sure the tires are full and go for a little ride around the neighborhood. Thanks for the inspiration!
We’re getting ready for our roadtrip, too. Head out on the 4th, and I’m trying to decide which books to bring along with me. Since this is a trip we’ve done several times, there won’t be much in the way of exploring, so I’ll have more time to read than some of our first-time-visit rv trips.
Lucky you to spot that pileated woodpecker. I think most of the ones we see around here are downy woodpeckers. Not positive, though.
I haven’t read anything by Alice McDermott (I get her mixed up with Alice Munro!), but Absolution sounds like it might be worthwhile. The audio has two narrators, which might make for a good listen.
Hi Lesley, wow it’s already been 66 degrees there?! That’s warm. We’ll hit 55 degrees tomorrow and maybe more; we’ll try our first bike ride. Then snow later next week. ha. Oh well.
Yard cleanup is always good to do early. How long will you be on your road trip? We get many downy woodpeckers so you likely have many there too. They’re fun to see at our feeders.
And it’s interesting that there are two narrators in Absolution. The second narrator probably has a small role. But I hope the readers do it justice. It’s a bit of a different kind of story. Happy reading!
Hi Susan, Alice McDermott is a writer I have been hearing about for a long time and Charming Billy is the one I believe she is most known for. And I think it won a major book award. I should try her out but there are just so many books on my TBR list. It’s an embarrassment of riches all the good books out there.
Hope you have a great time in California.
Thanks Kathy. California should be fun. And I still wonder about the novel Charming Billy and if it’s any good. I think I started it once and put it down but that was long ago. Maybe I have a bit more focus & patience now?
I understand about runaway TBR lists. Mine is crazy. Just slowly but surely. Good luck getting to what you want to. Happy reading.
I actually spotted a red-headed woodpecker of some sort outside my front window just a couple of days ago. Its red was not nearly as vivid as the one pictured, and I think the bird was a lot smaller, but it caught my eye because it was literally walking up the trunk of the big Oak tree on the front lawn. It didn’t hang around long enough to do much, but in past years I’ve had to run off more than a few of them because they were trying to do their thing on the eves of my house despite the fact that the eves are not made of any kind of wood…although to the eye they look exactly like wood. They are hardheaded birds in every sense of the word. ha
That Alice McDermott book sounds great. She is a terrific writer, and one I’ve enjoyed in the past.
Feels like early summer down here with temps in the mid-to-high 80s on some days. Thankfully, we are getting regular, small doses of rain to help get things back in order, but the severe freeze we had last winter really did a number on the plants around here. Lots of them are not coming back, and the lawns are looking rough. Gonna be an expensive spring project to get things looking remotely like they did last year.
Hi Sam, wow you’re already in the 80s — that’s early. Sounds like your plants will need some help this season to get back in shape. Usually we don’t do yard work till May but yesterday was 60+ degrees which is crazy here.
Interesting about your red-headed woodpecker — there are a few that have red heads so I wonder what it was. I know some birds can cause havoc to houses & eaves pecking them and you literally have to stop them. But it hasn’t happened at our new place yet.
I’m coming to Alice McDermott late but she is a masterful writer and I liked her latest book. Have a great week.
We have pileated woodpeckers, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen one. There used to be one that showed up in the wooded part of our yard. Since that’s not happening, I guess I need to take more hikes.
Master Slave Husband Wife was one of the books that we considered for book group, but it didn’t make the final cut. I’ll be interested in what you think because I may want to read it on my own.
Hi Joy, I’ve heard such excellent things about Master Slave Husband Wife. I had to return it to the library b/c I didn’t have time before our trip but I still plan to read it another time, hopefully this year. The NYT had picked it as one of the top 10 books of last year. And it would be good for a book club I think.
It’s cool you have pileated woodpeckers there. They are a bit rare to see — I hope you see one this spring. I’d like to see another here. Enjoy your week.
Great to see the big woodpecker! We watched one making a hole recently and could see the wood chips flying out behind him. (Looking with binoculars of course). So impressive!
Thanks for the link to the interview you did, which you left in a comment on my blog.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, I’m impressed with your bird watching and what you’ve seen. You must get quite a few kinds of woodpeckers in Michigan. I will keep my eyes peeled here.
I hope you liked the author interview. Waldman was nice to talk with. Glad you read & liked her book. Enjoy your week.
Looks like you have some good books there to read! Absolution sounds really interesting. I’ll have to check it out.
We’re having spring weather this week but it’ll be back to cold and more cold next week. So I’m trying to soak it up this week as much as possible!
I hope you have a wonderful drive and vacation to California!
Thanks Heather, great to hear from you. Yeah I hear the cold is returning — here too. Argh! Snow is on the way. The road trip should be a bit epic, lol. We’ll see how the trip goes. Have a great week.
It does feel a bit like spring here because I am getting a bit of sun in the back yard (a very tiny back yard, but we have a big lemon tree and space for plenty of potted plants and etc. to take up my time starting soon). Half of the year the back area doesn’t get sun at all because of the orientation (northeast) and the rest of the year we get partial sun that moves around in the yard.
We have some red headed woodpeckers in the area that are always at the very tops of the tall palm trees, but I don’t think we get pileated woodpeckers in this part of California. Too bad, they are beautiful.
Absolution sounds like the perfect book for me to read after having read The Quiet American. It will have to wait a while though. I will put it on the book sale list.
Hi Tracy, yeah I sort of thought sometime after you read The Quiet American, Absolution might be a bit interesting to check out. See what you think whenever you get to it. I think McDermott created it a bit as some kind of response to Greene’s novel. But I haven’t read his …. I should try it.
It’s nice you have a big lemon tree. I’d love to have lemons & a lime tree. We have a few apples trees but they’re too young yet … to get fruit.
And these woodpeckers are pretty elusive. It says they don’t migrate. hmm.
Hope you have a great week. Happy spring!
The sixties are my favorite time period from the past, and I have no doubt that Alice McDermott can carry that time period off. I must look for Absolution. (Ha!)
It was quite warm here but a northern blew in yesterday and it will be down in the 40s tonight. Winter, we thought, was gone, but it has returned.
Hi Deb, yeah it seems winter is returning here this week too. Ouch. We are supposed to get snow later this week. Just when spring was out. I hope your plants don’t get a freeze. Stay warm.
I’ve found out Alice McDermott is quite a master at writing. I think I knew it but hadn’t gotten to read any of her books before this. I’d like to read another of hers sometime. Enjoy your week.
That woodpecker photo looks amazing! I haven’t been taking advantage of the warmer weather and now it’s snowing again. Boo! You mentioned you’re in Alberta, so am I! I’m in Calgary, and if you’re close, I’d love to meet up one of these days.
Enjoy your road trip to California!
Hi Haze, thanks. Wow you’re in Calgary. Nice. We were in Calgary for about 17 years but about a year ago we moved south of Okotoks. It’s peaceful here. We’ll have to meet up sometime. You seem an amazing and fast reader!
The woodpecker is very cool who knows if I’ll see one again. Cheers. Enjoy your week.
Aww thank you, I feel the same about you! South of Okotoks isn’t too far, we’ll make it happen one day! I’m glad that it’s peaceful where you are, it certainly looks like it from your gorgeous pictures. I’m sure you’ll see lots more woodpeckers in the future!
Thanks Haze!
Ok. Something strange is going on. I get RSS feeds from all the blogs I follow and about 8 of your entries just showed up all at once and I hadn’t seen any of them. They went back to mid February. So, I am so sorry that I haven’t been visiting and commenting. I just thought you weren’t posting. But I see I’ve missed a bunch. Sigh.
I also have Hello Beautiful on my TBR shelf and need to get to it, but I know it’s a sad one and I will get all emotional. I kind of need to prepare for that.
Hi Helen, that’s sort of interesting you say that about your RSS feeds dropping my site. I think Lesley told me that awhile back too. Not sure if I changed anything to make my site go off your feed. I don’t think so. Strange eh? But no worries. Some kind of glitch.
I had to return Hello Beautiful to the library without starting it, ugh! Because I was caught up in other books. But I plan to read it this year. It looks sad but I’m ready. You might get to it before me. See what you think. Have a great week.
We have many pileated woodpeckers here, though not as many as before the hurricane. They are beautiful, but notoriously destructive… we actually had to replace the siding on part of our old condo because they were pecking holes in it. They even pecked on the metal chimney caps! Love the Merlin app!
We’ve been pretty warm and humid here. I’ve even had the house closed up and the air on for several days. A cold front Sunday night finally brought our overnight lows down to the 60s and lowered the humidity, so that’s been heavenly!
Absolution is on my short tbr list now. I finished The Mountains Sing over the weekend and loved it. Think I’ll be reading more books set in Vietnam this year. I have Absolution on hold at the library and am looking forward to that one, too.
Erik Larson is a great choice on audio for a roadtrip. I especially loved The Splendid and The Vile. We’ve also enjoyed audio biographies on road trips. It’s been years, but I still remember how much I loved The Patriarch about Joseph P. Kennedy.
Enjoy your trip and happy spring!
Thanks JoAnn. The trip is coming up quickly, before we know it. We have about 3 books on audio. My husband has read Larson’s Churchill book so we might try Caroline Alexander’s The Bounty. hmm. Also have The Story of Edgar Sawtelle as I haven’t read it.
I hope you like Absolution. It’s great you finished The Mountains Sing; I have wanted to read that too. I do gravitate toward Vietnam books.
And wow I didn’t realize the woodpecker was in Florida wrecking havoc, ugh sorry to hear. They are pretty shy & elusive here — but they must be bolder there. They look like they can do terrible damage. Florida has so many birds.
We just got snow! So perhaps it might stay cool this week where you are? I’m following the Miami Tennis Open. It looks humid there. Stay cool. & have a great reading week.
You are having some nice weather there! I hope you were able to get out and do your bike ride. It’s been sunny and gorgeous here but I missed most of the nice weather as we were in Cancun. Just got back. It was tropical: hot and humid, and perfect pool/beach weather. We have those woodpeckers in our yard as well. We have bird feeders so a lot of different birds stop by. I bought a book to identify all the types, but I also have the Merlin app to help with identification and I love it! It is hard to get clear pictures of birds. I can’t believe April is almost here! What part of California will you be visiting?
Hi Rachel, yeah the Merlin app is great on birds. You have a lot of big trees so I think the woodpecker likes those. We’re going to be in Southern Calif — Redlands (where my parents are) and near the Newport Beach area. So we hope to get good weather. It was nice here last weekend and we went for a good bike ride on Sunday but then the weather changed big time and we have snow this week! 4 days of snow! Crazy but it’s good for the mountains.
I hope you had a relaxing, fun time in Cancun with lots of reading. Enjoy your week back!
Wow, you did get a big change in weather! We’ve been having beautiful sunny days but it’s supposed to start raining tomorrow through the weekend. You never know with weather nowadays! I can’t believe you have 4 days of snow so late! We had fun in Cancun, but I didn’t get much reading done while there. Lots of reading on the plane rides back and forth, though, as they were long travel days. Hope you enjoy your time in Southern California! It’ll definitely be warmer.
Yeah this snowstorm is a bit crazy! It’s still going on through Sunday, argh. Luckily it’s a light snow. I’ll post a photo later. SoCal will feel really warm in April.
I’m glad you had a fun trip – and sometimes plane reading is the best! You can get a lot read. It’s nice you had some sun days at home to dry out — before the rain is back again. More reading for the weekend perhaps. Enjoy.
Absolution looks like a good read and I think I’ll add it to Goodreads and my library holds as well.
The woodpeckers are so cool! We have many around our place and they look like big bowling pins flyng across our pasture. So loud, you know exactly where they are.
Hi Tina, great hearing from you. I’ve heard there’s many pileated woodpeckers in Florida. I didn’t know that before but they must like the trees you have. They are interesting looking, quite a bit like bowling pins with red heads.
I think you might like Absolution. It’s a bit of a different kind of read but it’s told well. I was glad for your favorable review of Hannah’s novel The Women and I hope t to get to it sometime. Have a great week.
It certainly feels like spring today – glorious sunshine and relatively warm temperatures. I have a feeling I’ve seen a pileated woodpecker on my travels, but I can’t remember where. Very cool to have them in your neighbourhood. Hello Beautiful is on my radar as well. My library has a copy of the audiobook, but there is a long waiting list. Maybe, I’ll wait for a time, when it is less popular.
A roadtrip in California sounds great!
Hi Stargazer, thanks the road trip should be a good, long one.
And yeah I had to give Hello Beautiful back to the library without reading b/c I have too much right now. I’ll have to get it back another time, ugh! The waiting list is very long. Who knows when you’ll get it or me either. It’s still on the radar though. Have a nice weekend.