Dan White

You (my one reader) have carped. You claim that I’m giving you too many dark and unsettling book recommendations. Too much old age (Emily Alone), too much bigamy (Silver Sparrow) and romantic regret (Say Her Name.). Well, here’s another dark one, but maybe you should read something uplifting and zany before making your descent into Alice LaPlante’s Turn of Mind, a novel written from the perspective of a former surgeon, long retired and speaking through the clouds of advanced Alzheimer’s. This is a story about an aging woman’s “half state” existence, and her “life in the shadows.” Does this sound like a bummer to you? All I know is that I’m hooked. I just started reading Turn of Mind this week; that’s why I had to (politely) shush someone in the audience at the Capitola Book Cafe, where LaPlante read on Thursday evening; I feared she was about to spoil…

I have it on good authority that a certain local dog owner takes his fuzzy friend to The Buttery and feeds it a warm croissant every week. My eyewitness saw the whole thing. “He leaned over and gave the dog half,” she said. “It seemed like it went down in one bite.” This doesn’t sound like a good idea. Wouldn’t a dog react to a rich puff pastry in disgusting ways? The people over at Answers.com addressed the issue in a recent posting. Their verdict is this: “Yes dogs can eat croissants, but i wouldn’t recommend feeding them croissants regularly, on occasions as a treat would be fine but dog food or treats are better.” Wow. That is one of the most horribly written sentences I’ve read in a long while! Anyhow, you’ll never guess the breed of dog. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

First of all, I am glad you liked Emily Alone. That is good to hear. Now, the one to read is Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. The book is a pitcher plant. You just fall right into it, right from the beginning, and you never get a chance to escape. After a while, you dissolve. OK — block that metaphor — but it’s nice to see a literary work that consumes you like this. One other thing — I like the way it hauls the problems that drive the story into the light, but it doesn’t try to solve them all like some cheesy ABC After School Special. It does what a good story should do — shines a light on human lives and situations, and when the book ends, the characters go on living without your help. In several instances, I wanted to intervene — help these people out…

“Why are all the other drivers honking and waving their hands at me right now? Why are they tailgating me and flashing their lights? There’s a guy driving close to my bumper now, and he’s mouthing out something but I can’t understand what he’s saying. Why is he so upset? People keep swerving out of my way. What am I doing wrong? Geez. I guess I’d better stop typing this and put my hands back on the steering wheel.” http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Thanks to Mr. Victor White for contributing this theme-appropriate photo, taken during a visit to Paris. (this is part of reruns, series five. Working on a new post about Amy Stewart and the new Wicked Plants exhibit, but it’s taking me a long, long time. don’t rush me.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Sometimes I hear people complain about taking seven or eight years out of their lives to go to graduate school. And then there’s this guy. When he started working toward his Ph.D., Nixon was still in office, the Beatles had only just broken up, Jim Morrison was still alive, and “All in the Family” was the number-one TV program. I think it’s good to remember, in this era of instant gratification, that worthwhile goals can take a long (long!) time… I was so surprised by his story that I decided to write something about it. Here’s my recent posting: Earning an advanced degree can seem to take forever. In the case of one recent UCSC graduate, it almost did. History of Consciousness Program grad Peter Miller received his Ph.D. last week at the Graduate Division commencement ceremony. It took him 40 years. “I’m probably the person who has the record…

This just in. Someone just sent me the Amazon link to the upcoming The New York Times 36 Hours book, published by Taschen and containing updated and expanded versions of two of my travel columns. I’m really excited about this, although it seems (from the Amazon thread) that it won’t be hitting the shelves of your local store until early October or so. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I just found out about this. Remember that game, Mousetrap, involving a highly complex, Rube Goldberg-esque contraption? Rose has undertaken an enormous, human-sized version of this game. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. The accordions are a great touch, too. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

A group of Jewish emigrants from Latvia passes some time in Rome while waiting for the next way station in their lives. America, perhaps, or maybe Canada. Doesn’t this sound like the recipe for a truly shmaltzy novel?In lesser hands, it would be, but this work of diaspora fiction is field-stripped of sentimentality. You will wait, patiently, for the stodgy old patriarch, Samuil, to reveal the tenderness within. You keep thinking he’s going to redeem himself with an adorable gesture, or some unsolicited act of generosity. It never happens. You keep waiting for nostalgia, and the novel’s romantic setting, to overwhelm the story. It never does. This must be the least sentimental story about the immigrant experience that I’ve ever read. You get the overwhelming impression that life, for these people, was a real struggle. Every day they face moral compromises. Rome is an in-between place for them in more…

Last year I was proud to be the inaugural author featured in the brand-new Atherton Book Club, otherwise known as Reading In Good Company. Now the book club continues with a whole new lineup of great events. Book Club leader Annie Pena tells me that Mary will be participating via Skype during the June 14 meeting about Roach’s latest book, Packing For Mars.Even if you don’t live on the Peninsula, this is worth the drive. (Mothra/Godzilla photo from Toho Archives.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default