Beginning ~ with a walk home from school

Beginning

It was a nothing day.  Nothing exciting had happened at school, and nothing good was going to happen tonight with all the homework weighing down her backpack as she plodded along Wildwood Lane, heading home.

And Then She Was Gone ~ by Rosalind Noonan, 2014, legal thriller (Oregon), 384 pages

Eleven-year-old Lauren O’Neil vanished one sunny afternoon as she walked home from school.  Six years later, her parents — Rachel and Dan — still tirelessly scour their Oregon hometown and beyond, always believing Lauren will be found.  Then one day, the call comes.

Lauren has been rescued from a secluded farm mere miles away, and her abductor has confessed.  Yet her return is nothing like Rachel imagined.  Though the revelations about what Lauren endured are shocking, most heartbreaking of all is to see the bright-eyed, assertive daughter she knew transformed into a wary, polite stranger.

Lauren’s first instinct is to flee.  For years she’s been told her parents forgot her; now she doubts the pieces of her life can ever fit together again.  But Rachel refuses to lose her a second time.  Little by little they must relearn what it means to be family, trusting that their bond is strong enough to guide them back to each other.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

The book I'm finally reading

Last Train to Istanbul ~ by Ayse Kulin, 2002, historical fiction (France and Turkey), 417 pages

As the daughter of one of Turkey’s last Ottoman pashas, Selva could win the heart of any man in Ankara.  Yet the spirited young beauty only has eyes for Rafael Alfandari, the handsome Jewish son of an esteemed court physician.  In defiance of their families, they marry, fleeing to Paris to build a new life.  But when the Nazis invade France and begin rounding up Jews, the exiled lovers will learn that nothing — not war, not politics, not even religion — can break the bonds of family.  For after they learn that Selva is but one of their fellow citizens trapped in France, some brave Turkish diplomats hatch a plan to spirit the Alfandaris and hundreds of innocents, many of whom are Jewish, to safety.  Together, they must traverse a war-torn continent, crossing enemy lines and risking everything in a desperate bid for freedom, from Ankara to Paris, Cairo, and Berlin.

From an online comment about this book:

The action takes place from 1933 to 1941, and the main characters are sisters Sabiha and Selva, who grew up in Istanbul as happy, well-educated, and beautiful blondes who want for nothing.  Older sister Sabiha marries Macit, who works directly under President Inönü's Foreign Minister; they and their beautiful child live a charmed life enjoying all the advantages of their wealth and prominent standing.  Yet Sabiha is too depressed to care, because she's ravaged by guilt at having had a hand in her younger sister Selva's decision to marry the Jewish man Rafael Alfandari.  That is what led to the couple's complete ostracization and subsequent flight to southern France, where they found themselves hiding from Nazis.

I've decided to read this for the 2022 Big Book Summer Challenge

(to read a book over 400 pages long), hosted by Sue Jackson at Book by Book.

I have only this week to read the book before Labor Day weekend (which I can do).

I've already read 16 books in August, and I've started this book now, anyway.

I purchased this on April 18, 2018 (Amazon says), so it also applies to my

TBR 22 in '22 Challenge to read 22 books I already own.

Jonesing for? What's that mean?

What does jonesing mean?  It means "a strong desire or craving for" something.  I came across the word in a comment about Mark Reutlinger's cozy mystery Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death.  I don't remember hearing this word before, so I looked it up even though I could tell in context what she meant by her comment:  "And now I'm Jonesing for Motzah Ball Soup."  (Yes, she misspelled "matzoh," and "jonesing" doesn't need a capital letter.)

Backspacing ~ think again

Imagine we are all characters in a book.  Can you do it?  Are you the main character?  Or am I?  Maybe neither of us, but then who is the main character here?

Here's another thought:  "We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts, we make the world." ~ Buddha

As the song says, we've got personality

Colleen posted this on her blog:  "INTJs are analytical.  Like  INTPs, they are most comfortable working alone and tend to be less sociable than other types.  Nevertheless, INTJs are prepared to lead if no one else seems up to the task, or if they see a major weakness in the current leadership.  They tend to be pragmatic, logical, and creative.  They have a low tolerance for spin or rampant emotionalism.  They are not generally susceptible to catchphrases and do not recognize authority based on tradition, rank, or title. — Meyers Briggs"

In a comment, she added:  "I already knew I was a INTJ from other tests."

I left her this comment:  "Ha!  I am also INTJ, according to an official Myers-Briggs test I took with a work group decades ago.  I definitely fit the profile.  I was told, though, that I was right on the cusp for one category:  the I or the E.  When I asked, the person who administered the test said it's all about how I would go about refreshing my energy.  I realized I definitely want to be alone to recharge (like an Introvert) because a party with lots of people tires me out (unlike an Extrovert).  We are kindred spirits, Colleen!"

The Myers-Briggs personality test was developed in the 1940s  — to classify the various ways people perceive their environment and behave accordingly.  The test has four categories: introversion or extroversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. Each individual is assigned one of the two traits in each category, which produces the 16 different MBTI personality types that we know today –– such as INTJ or ESFP.  Here are the people shown on the illustration:

• INFP = A. A. Milne
• INFJ = Mahatma Gandhi
• INTJ = Ayn Rand
• INTP = Albert Einstein
• ISTP = Frank Zappa
• ISTJ = George Washington
• ISFJ = Mother Teresa
• ISFP = Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• ESFP = Peter the Great
• ESFJ = Henry Ford
• ESTP = Winston Churchill
• ENTP = Benjamin Franklin
• ENTJ = Napoleon Bonaparte
• ENFJ = Martin Luther King, Jr.
• ENFP = Oscar Wilde

I've written about Myers-Bringgs before, so go ahead and explore what I said in 2013 and in 2021.  It's a fascinating subject.  Click HERE if you want to learn more.

A book, a video, and construction

Homesick: A Memoir ~ by Sela Ward, 2002, memoir, 272 pages

Millions of TV and film viewers know Sela Ward as the Emmy-winning star of the series Sisters and Once & Again.  But before she became a successful actress, Sela was first and foremost a small-town girl, the daughter of a family that lived for generations in a Mississippi homestead they called "Homeward."  It was there, within a tightly knit community of neighbors and kin, that Sela learned ways that would remain with her through life — humble virtues, like generosity, selflessness, and respect, that are "forged in the hearth of a loving home."  Now she has woven together nostalgic reminiscences, stories from throughout her life and career, and lessons on drawing strength and wisdom from a simpler place and time, to give us a very special book on the challenge of raising a family, maintaining perspective, and carving away time for happiness amid the challenges of modern life.

Did you also love the "Sound of Music" movie?  Here's a YouTube video of the cast returning to Salzburg for a 50th Anniversary Celebration.  (And here I am, wondering how it could possibly be 50 years since this movie came out!  It seems like yesterday.  Well, a year or two ago?  Some things just don't seem "long, long ago," you know.)

On Monday, I shared a time lapse video of the construction of our new building here at the Crown Center.  Here's a couple of drone photos, which were taken this past Tuesday.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

What I'm reading now

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man ~ by James Weldon Johnson, 1912 (my edition, 2011), fiction with biographical introduction, 118 pages

First published anonymously in 1912, this is James Weldon Johnson's fictional account of a young biracial man living in America during the second half of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century.  The so-called "ex-colored" man makes his living as a jazz pianist playing ragtime music at a popular New York club.  It is here that he catches the attention of a wealthy white gentleman who takes a curious interest in him and employs him to play at his parties.  Although he becomes friends with the man, a feeling of subservience reminiscent of slavery prompts him to part ways.  He travels to the South, where he intends to work on his music in an attempt to glorify the artistry of his race.  However, after witnessing a terribly horrific lynching, he abandons his desire to embrace his black heritage, opting instead to "pass" as a white man.  This book explores the complexity of race relations between whites and blacks in America and the search for racial identity by a man of mixed ethnicity.  Through the experiences of its unnamed protagonist, the issues of class, race, and discrimination are discussed with an openness that was unusual in the literature of the time.

* Click on the book's title to read what I posted about this book in February.

** Footnote added after reading the book:  The author used the word "mulatto," now considered outdated and offensive, three times in this book (my Kindle search shows).