Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #88

PANDEMIC GRATITUDE

I found a couple of things this week that really made me laugh, including this image of a teacher and their class:

I also found this father of triplets trying to close the refrigerator door gosh dang delightful.

Because I threw away my Halloween window decorations last year — they were only about thirty years old — Nick and I colored some pictures to hang in the kitchen. I must confess, Chucky scared the bejeeezus out of me the next morning.

Nick and I got a cookie from a bakery and went to a park by the river. Turns out, the river is much lower than I thought; it hasn’t rained here in ages, not rain of any significance, anyway. And yet, I took some lovely fall pictures.

  • Me & Nick
  • Dried up St. Joseph river
  • A dried up river leaves behind mussel shells
  • Huge fall leaf

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POSTS

Two women-centric novels at Grab the Lapels this week! Joanne Harris’s 1999 novel Chocolat was a delightful look at a small, Catholic French village and the way residents reacted when a newcomer and her daughter, neither religious, open a chocolaterie at the start of Lent.

Into atmospheric fiction with a food theme? You can also check out the Mexican novel Like Water for Chocolate.

Someone who may look like a hot mess just might be an intentional life, one driven by a single goal: to write and publish a novel — even at the sake of a conventional life. In the way that the protagonists both deny a “regular” life, Lily King’s novel Writers and Lovers and Chocolat are similar.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POSTS

Something you may not have seen at Grab the Lapels is coming Tuesday: a review of an experimental satire novella. Stacey Levine’s book Dra– was published in 1997 and reads like a cross between a grown-up version of Alice in Wonderland and the 2008 recession.

Then on Thursday I’ll share my review of Exile’s Valor by Mercedes Lackey. This entry into #ReadingValdemar has a better sense of setting and gets back to the basics — love and spying– rather than the collapse of a nation and earth-shattering magic.

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

I’ve added a couple of spooky audio book novellas for my October commute. Mostly, though, I’m trying to read the books I purchased through Barnes & Noble’s e-reader, the Nook. I’m worried that device is going to cease production and B&N will stop updating their Nook app. Will I lose my purchased books? No one knows.

Thanks to Anne @ I’ve Read This for her ghostly picture book recommendations!

Also, has anyone else ever purchased squash and found a book recommendation on the tag? I did not know produce was a source of bookish advice.

Published by Grab the Lapels

I'm a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at the University of Notre Dame, which inspired me to follow along with trends in teaching, publishing, and reviewing. I also have an MA and BS from Central Michigan University. I used to teach composition, creative writing, and literature in higher education, then did a brief stint at a civic theater, followed by two years at a references desk at a public library. I'm now working toward my ASL Interpreter license.

32 comments

  1. That triplet video is a hoot. They were determined, and he didn’t seem to have a clue!

    Your reference to Like water for chocolate reminded me of a sore point. I lent my beautiful hardback copy to a work colleague over 15 years ago and never got it back. I did remind her once and she said she’s given it back but she hadn’t, and had form with a previous book (though who’s counting!) What was I thinking?

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  2. No Halloween reading for me, I’m much too much of a coward! I enjoy everyone else’s reviews from a distance and that’s about it.

    Lovely autumnal photos this week 😊

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  3. We had a lovely walk along the River here this week too. We went to a section we’d never explored before and it was a beautifully autumn walk, though much rainier than yours it looks like! And I love that your produce is recommending books to you!

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    • Hahaha, this squash lady has her marketing skills down, am I right? What’s funny is later on Nick and I both confessed that we’d been afraid we’d see a dead body. For some reason, those tend to pop up in the St. Joe river….

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          • Some rivers are definitely more dangerous than others. There is one outside of Vancouver that looks calm on the surface but is much deeper and faster than people expect and drownings are not infrequent. This summer there were apparently more drownings than average in our province and they think it was because there were more people out on the water, especially people who are not necessarily experienced with bodies of water.

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              • Huh, I would say most of our river-based accidents are due to people engaging in risky behaviour. We have far more ocean-based accidents but we also have a lot more ocean around than river.

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    • I read the synopsis for 666 Charing Cross Road and found it entertaining, but then I went on Goodreads and discovered it has many low ratings. However, I’ve learned over the years that exactly what some people hate may be just what I like.

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      • Gosh I’ve looked at Goodreads and there are some quite good reviews on there with a 3 or 4 star rating, very odd. It’s silly and light, but I like the range of characters and feel the story is a good one. Not as horrific as some, but wittily done. I didn’t think it dragged, but had a lot of plot to get through.

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  7. thanks for the shout-out girl! And to answer your question, I have not found a book recommendation on a piece of produce up here in Canada but I am in full support of this new marketing technique! Hopefully it catches on here ahaha

    Also-cool big leaf!!!

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  8. Ah, I got a good few minutes of smiling out of that video of the triplets in the fridge! And being forced to watch someone eat cookies out of your reach would’ve been a nightmare as a kid (and still might be as an adult)! The pictures from your walk to the river look so very fall- delightful. 🙂

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