Learning about the Birds and the Bees at the James Museum

Gunnison Sage-Crouse

The James Museum of Western Art is now home to an interesting exhibit entitled "Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees." The show features the work of wildlife illustrator Sarah Kaizar (with text by Scott Meiser) created for a book of the same name. Kaizar's objective is to make people both notice and appreciate the amazing species at risk of extinction. 

The entire exhibit is worth spending time with, but it was the birds that won the day for me. Seriously, how could you not smile when you come upon this image of a Gunnison Sage-Crouse? As I'm sure you know, it's the male birds that have flashy appearances. (Just to drive the point home, click here to see the female of this species.) Still, these birds rely on more than their appearance to attract a mate. Click here to see the Gunnison sage-crouse at work. Whoa. The male's performance includes both a mating call (sadly, this video has no sound) and moves worthy of a dance floor. Apparently if you come upon a group of these birds mating in the same place -- known as a lek -- your ears might think you've come upon a huge pot of boiling water. Who knew?   

California Condor

The California Condor population fell to 23 birds in the 1980s, a number that qualified the species to be categorized as extinct in the wild. One of the causes of the decline was lead poisoning caused by the scavenger's consumption of ammunition fragments. Thanks to a successful captive breeding and reintroduction program, the population of these somewhat ominous looking birds now stands at 500 strong. The breed is still "critically endangered," meaning that they face a very high possibility of extinction in the wild. 

Now for some fun facts about the California Condor. It is the largest bird in North America and can have a wingspan of 10 feet. They can weigh up to 25 pounds. Just think about trying to get airborne at that size. I would like to see one of these birds taking a running start before jumping off a cliff and heading off to places unknown to search for food. Because they feed on animal carcasses, they are considered the "clean up crew" of the wild. The thought of it makes me turn up my nose, but their scavenging provides a vital service. Because carcasses can be a source of disease and contaminate the environment, they are a health risk to wildlife, lifestock and even humans. So, thanks, condors! 

Portrait of one of 250+ species of bumblebees

For a bit of variety, let's turn to the humble bumblebee. If you're like me, you flee any time a bee buzzes near you. But these insects serve an important function in our ecosystem as pollinators. "Buzz pollination" is a special skill wherein the bee takes a flower in its tiny jaws and vibrates its wings to shake pollen loose. As a bit of an aside, the "bee" portion of the expression "the birds and the bees" comes from this pollination prowess. The reference to "birds" is derived from the opportunity to give a child a little sex education when it sees a bird lay an egg. 

One reason bumble bees are important is that they can function at colder temperatures than many insects. This is because they shiver when they fly in cooler climates as a way of warming their bodies. As a result, they are able to provide their pollination services later into the fall and earlier in the spring than other pollinators. 

If this talk of bumblebees has made you think of the song "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Rimsky-Korsakov, click here to hear floutist James Galway perform it. How could I resist?

Black Rosy Finch

I'll leave you with Kaizar's illustration of a Black Rosy Finch. It's a bird even the most dedicated bird watcher might not check off her list because they nest high above the treelines in snowy mountaintops, cliffs and rockslides in only a few Western states. As a result, they are sometimes referred to as the most mysterious bird in North America. 

Because they live in a somewhat inhospitable climate, finding food nearby is not always easy for the Black Rosy Finch. This could be problematic, especially for a parent with a baby bird at home. But the species has adapted. Black Rosy Finches have a special pouch under their mouths for storing extra food. (I call that pouch a purse.) 

And here's another fun fact. During non-breeding season, the beaks of a Black Rosy Finch are yellow; during breeding season they turn black. This change is a result of both diet and hormonal changes. It's kind of like seasonally changing your hair color. I like it. 

These are just a few of the creatures featured in "Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies and Bees." The exhibit runs at The James Museum in St. Pete through September 14. Click here for more information. And for more on artist Sarah Kaizar, click here.  

Direct from Gee's Bend - Quilters Loretta Pettway Bennett and Louisiana Bendolph

Loretta Pettway Bennett and Louisiana Bendolph 

"The quilts gave us a voice." 

With these simple words, Louisiana Bendolph summed up the history of the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama. The tradition of women quilting in this small community -- current population approximately 250 -- dates back to the days of slavery. They scavenged fabric from whatever was available -- be it a worn out work shirt, a frayed blanket or a feed bag -- cut the materials into pieces and stitched them together into quilts. There was no pattern or purposeful design; the creations were strictly utilitarian. A quilt might have been put on the floor and used as a rug or on the bed for warmth. It might even have been hung on a wall, but not as art. Instead, its purpose would have been to keep out the cold. Fast forward to the 1960s, when a minister on the hunt for folk art came through their tiny community and saw their work in a new light. That happenstance not only changed the lives of the people in Gee's Bend forever; it also impacted the world of modern art. But first, more about the history of the community. 

Housetop Variation quilt by Louisiana Bendolph (2007)

Gee's Bend is located in the bend of the Alabama River and is part of the region known as the Black Belt. The name comes from the rich black soil there that made the area perfect for growing cotton and tobacco. In fact, Louisiana grew up picking cotton. She noted with an ironic smile that the same cotton she hated to pick now hangs on museum walls. Camden, the county seat, is located just across the River from Gee's Bend and can be reached by taking a 15 minute ferry ride. An easy journey, until it wasn't. 

The people of Gee's Bend were politically active during the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King visited Camden, and many of the Gee's Bend citizens went to hear him speak. They were inspired by his words, and many residents both participated in demonstrations and registered -- or at least tried to register -- to vote. The County's response was to terminate the ferry service, an action that made Camden much more difficult to reach. What had been a short ferry ride now required a 45 minute drive. The ferry service was not reinstated for more than four decades. The community became so isolated that they didn't hear about MLK's assassination until well after it had happened. 

Maquette for American Housetop (for the Arnetts)
by Louisiana Bendolph (2005)

It was in the midst of this political turmoil that Father Francis X. Walter spied a quilt made by one of the women of Gee's Bend hanging from a clothesline. Walter had $700 in his pocket to buy folk art that would be auctioned off in New York, with the proceeds going to his church. When he met the women of Gee's Bend, that plan went out the window. 

Walter did use the funds to buy quilts from the women (for $10 each) and sold them at auction in New York. But the proceeds went back to the community rather than to his church. Suddenly the same quilts that the women of Gee's Bend had been making for more than a century were no longer utilitarian; they were art. The women gained economic independence from the sale of their work, and they liked it. They established the Freedom Quilting Bee as a vehicle for their business. After a few years, they diversified into making corduroy pillow shams that were so popular that Sears Roebuck came calling. At the height of their work for Sears, the women produced 30,000 shams every six months (which, if you do the math, is 200 shams per day). While the original Freedom Quilting Bee is no longer in existence, a new non-profit named the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy has been established, and Loretta is a member of the Board of Directors. For more information on the Bee, click here. 

"Blues" by Loretta Bennett (2007)

Today the quilters of Gee's Bend are established artists in the world of art. Their first museum exhibit was held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston in 2002. Since then,their work has been exhibited in group and solo shows at museums and galleries across the country, including the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. As I write, their work is on display at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. And, like other popular artists, their work has been reproduced in many forms. There are Gee's Bend puzzles and bags and notecards. One of Louisiana's quilts was converted into a sculpture made of ceramic tile that hangs in the San Francisco Airport. (You can see it by clicking here.) And thanks to Paulson Fontaine Press, the work of the Gees Bend quilters has been immortalized as prints. some of which are now on display at Sarasota Art Museum (SAM).   

I mentioned at the top that the quilts made by the women of Gee's Bend have inspired many artists working today. Take, for instance, Amy Sherald's official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. Sherald chose the dress Obama is wearing in part because the design evoked the work of the Gee's Bend quilters. You can see it once you know what you're looking for. Lillian Blades, an artist whose work is now on display at SAM, noted in her artist talk that the creations of the Gee's Bend women are recalled in the improvisational nature of her own work. Like the quilters, Blades makes her art of whatever bits and pieces have found their way into her studio. Her veils in particular have a quilt-like quality to them. Click here for an example of Blades' work now on display. There are many more examples, but I've already gone on too long. 

"Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press" runs through this Sunday, so time is short to see the exhibit. There are quilts, maquettes for prints and prints on display, so you get to see the entire gamut of their work. For a wonderful video of Louisiana and some of the other women working at Paulson Fontaine, click here. And for a deep dive into the quilters of Gee's Bend, click here. It's an incredibly special story. 

"Chris Friday: Where We Never Grow Old" at Sarasota Art Museum

I've been a docent at Sarasota Art Museum for a while now, and Chris Friday's "Where We Never Grow Old" has been of my favorite exhibits to share with visitors. The works in the show -- her first solo museum exhibit -- are extremely personal. There are paintings of her mother and her daughters. There are sculptures of foods that she associates with her childhood. There is "bling" that recalls the heavy gold jewelry she wore when she was younger. But her art is more than just an homage to her family and her younger self. Each work has layers of meaning, so it can be appreciated on multiple levels. To me, that's the best kind of art. The icing on the cake (or should I say yolk in the deviled egg?) is that Friday created every work in the show for this exhibit. 

One of two parts of "Future Venus" 

When you enter the gallery, the life-sized paintings grab the viewer's attention. I always invite visitors to get up close to one of the works to see if they can figure out the medium. It's clearly not paint, but what are the other options? Pencil? Nope. Pastel? That's not it either. Hmm. Then comes the reveal: It's chalk that Friday bought at Target. Cue the surprise. It's mind-boggling to think that the same piece of chalk a kid might use to draw a hopscotch board on a sidewalk could be used to create something so detailed and beautiful. The chiarascuro (light/dark) effect that Friday achieves by using black paper as her canvas is truly remarkable. Caravaggio himself would be proud. 

Visitors often ask what Friday uses as a fixative to ensure that the chalk doesn't smudge. Once again, the answer is surprising. Nothing. What??? Yep. If you were to brush up against a work, you'd come away with some chalk on you. Yikes! This might lead you to wonder what happens when the exhibit closes and the work has to be moved. Friday will place each painting between two sheets of glassine paper, roll it up, and turn it over to the art handlers. If the work gets dinged up in transit, the damage serves as a simile for the way Black bodies are often harmed. Yes, even the way her art is transported has meaning.

One of three parts of "Mother/Midas As Liminal Space"

An image of Friday's mother surrounded by deviled eggs and bologna and other types of food can be found on another wall. The food items are made of ceramic, a medium that Friday noted is simultaneously durable and fragile. Again, the works serve as an analogy for the body. Then there's the installation's backstory. 

Friday recalled coming home from school with friends and her mother asking, "Did you eat?" Of course, kids are always hungry, so her mom would open the refrigerator and peer in to see what was there. To Friday, it didn't look like much. Somehow, though, her mother would put together a veritable feast. One day there would be hot dogs and potato salad; another some fried bologna and deviled eggs. (Note: The name for the ceramic eggs collectively is "The only thing deviled here are the eggs." I love it.) To see a video in which Friday pays homage to her mother's ability to put together a meal for Friday and her friends, click here. Creating the sculpture comprised of 1,000 grains of ceramic rice was a true labor of love. 

Sadly, the last day to see "Chris Friday: Where We Never Grow Old" is Sunday, August 9th. So time is short, whether seeing this exhibit has been on your "to do" list or you've been meaning to make a return visit. Do not miss this show! While you're there, make sure to check out "Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press." This exhibit features prints made by artists known for their work in other mediums and is also closing on August 9th. Click here for more information. Happy viewing! 

 

Bruce Holsinger talks "Culpability" at Tombolo Books

For the record, I already had plans to see Bruce Holsinger speak about "Culpability" when the novel was announced as Oprah's July book of the month. (Side note: He was quite funny about getting the call from Orphah, which he thought was a deep fake for the first couple of minutes.)  Having read his two previous novels -- "The Gifted School" and "The Displacements" -- I was interested to hear about his latest offering. As always, it was a treat to hear an author speak about his work. 

Like Holsinger's other recent novels, the general theme of "Culpability" is a family dealing with a modern day crisis. In the opening scene, mom, dad and three kids are riding in an autonomous car with Charlie, the 17 year old son, at the wheel. Charlie is "driving" the car hands free as he contemplates his upcoming lacrosse tournament. His sister Alice suddenly cries out from the backseat, "Charlie, stop!" He jerks the wheel with his left hand, a response that sends their car into the other lane and the vehicle of an elderly couple. The couple is killed on contact. 

What a start to the story, which gets very complicated very fast. The primary issue is who -- or what -- has legal responsibility for the accident. Charlie seems the obvious choice, since he was the one in the driver's seat. But because Charlie was a minor, the law required a "supervising adult" to be in the front seat with him, a role his father had assumed. Does this make the dad the one at fault for paying insufficient attention? Did Alice and the other backseat passengers play a contributory role? Did the technology have some sort of deficiency? If so, how does that play out? It's a whole new world out there, one our legal system hasn't caught up quite yet. 

With Bruce Holsinger 

I'm not going to tell you more about the story, which will have your head swimming with all its twists and turns. But I will share one wrinkle with you that the reader learns on the first page of the book. Charlie's mother Lorelei has a dual doctorate in engineering and philosophy, and her work focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence. She is suddenly smack dab in the middle of a very real world example of the consequences of using AI. 

Holsinger shared that he writes the first drafts of his books without thinking too much about themes or even style. His objective is to get the basic story on the page as a starting point. Once he has a draft, he shares it with a group of trusted readers while doing his own review. The most significant change that came out of that process in this case was changing the point of view from which the story was told. Instead of a more objective third person narrative, the story is now told from the perspective of the father. 

Holsinger said the book really started coming together once that decision had been made. In addition to the structural shift, he added a new character - a Chatbot that serves as Alice's sounding board and best friend. After her first read of the book, his agent told him, "We need more bot." And so the role of Blair (the ChatBot) grew. It turns out that his agent wasn't Blair's only fan. Oprah told Holsinger that Blair was her favorite character in the book. "That [as a character in the novel] is how I wrote her," he told us. "Correction, that's how I wrote it." 

Poet Jenny Boyar chats with Holsinger

While to many of us the idea of conversing with a ChatBot might seem odd, "anthropormorphic projection" is a phenomenon most of us engage in every day. To that point (among others), Holsinger shared a passage in the novel from Lorelei's thesis. 

"Like our children, our intelligent machines often break rules and disobey commands. The danger comes when we start to assume that such behanvior is intentional, when we regard an algroithm as a willful child. Such habits reflect a common and understandable tendency to humanize Artificial Intelligence. These systems are designed to respond in recognizably human ways. We give them names like Siri and Alexa. We speak to them as if they share our worldview, or care about our feelings and futures. This behavior is known as anthromorphic projections. We want our helpful machines to be like us, and so we tend to project onto them our ways of understanding the world.

Yet such human-seeming systems comprise a small fraction of the AI shaping our everyday experience. Even as you read these words, there are AI systems at work all around you, with profound bearing on the disposition of your food, your money, your shelter, your safety. They manage investment portfolios, coordinate global supply chains and keep networks secure. They direct air traffic, drive trucks and cars, detect fraud... 

Increasingly, they fight wars. 

And there is almost no one teaching them how to be good." 

Yes, there's a reason Oprah selected "Culpability" for her book club. It's not only an interesting story. It's a commentary on the world in which we find ourselves today. I, for one, am not ready. And note to self: Check with my financial advisor as to who's actually managing my portfolio.    

Thanks to St. Pete's Tombolo Books for a fun and thought provoking evening. To watch Holsinger's conversation with Oprah, click here. Happy reading! 

"Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" at the Dali Museum

Portion of mural by Chad Mize

After a couple of somewhat lackluster exhibits at the Dali Museum, I was beginning to wonder if the curatorial team had run out of ideas for shows connected with Dali's art and life. It's gotta be hard to be limited in this way. But they knocked it out of the park with "Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" exhibit. It's fun! It's local! And as a bonus it encourages people to explore/revisit the permanent collection to search for the connections between the murals and Dali's paintings. All in all, it was a highly satisfying art outing. 

Chad Mize's contribution to the project -- a mural that wrapped around two walls -- was perhaps my favorite. It was fun and funny and loaded with Dali references. There's the molten watch and the ants and lobster claws. (The other portion of the mural featured the famous lobster phone.) There's a take on what might be my favorite work by Dali -- "Venus de Milo with Drawers." And Dali himself is smack dab in the middle of things, which is exactly where he liked to be. 

Mize is a St. Pete-based artist whose goal is to "inspire and lift viewers...with colors and concepts that radiate happiness." (Note to Mize: Your mural made me feel very happy.)  In addition to creating his own art, Mize curates exhibits in St. Pete and beyond and collaborates with companies like Disney and the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his artist statement, Mize noted that his references in this mural include Dali's "Apparatus and Hand" and "The Peristence of Memory" as well as Philippe Halsman's photograph "Dali Atomicus." For more on Mize, click here. 

Mural by Marina Capdevila

The Dali references weren't quite as obvious to me in Marina Capdevila's mural, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Capdevila, like Dali, is from Catalonia, and she evokes the spirit of the Catalan women in this work. For a more specific reference, she looked to the "Reimagining Nature: Dali's Floral Fantasies" series. 

In her artist statement, Capdevila says, "...Seated at a table set with traditional Spanish dishes, some drawn from Dali's own cookbook Les Diners de Gala, these women embody the joyful unapologetic spirit of aging. They are imagined as retirees from Costa Brave -- Dali's birthplace -- who now bask in the eternal sunshine of St. Petersburg, forming a vibrant bridge between two coastal worlds...It's a celebration of beauty in all stages, where reality blurs with imagination and life...is best savored slowly, in good company, surrounded by wonder." I can only wish to live with so much abandon as I (continue to) age. For more on Capdevila, click here. Her work makes me smile. 

Mural by Miss Crit (Laura Spencer) 

Miss Crit's mural is a bit darker homage to Dali and his world. Again, multiple Dali paintings are referenced in her work. I particularly liked her substitution of the "Welcome to St. Pete" tower for the middle building in Dali's "The Temptation of St. Anthony." The crutch supporting the cat's tail -- which also serves as a frame for a window from the Dali Museum -- recalls "The Weaning of Furniture Nutrition." As an aside, I just learned that the nurse in that work originally wore a swastika armband. Dali later painted over the symbol due to the uproar that ensued within the Surrealist community. The artist's embrace of fascism and his fascination with Hitler did not sit well with those progressive artists. But I digress. 

The pixelated pattern at the bottom left of the image is a reference to "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which At Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko)." What a title! To say it was a challenge for me to see Abraham Lincoln in that painting the first time I encountered it would be an understatement. Suffice it to say that it took the assistance of my friend Maggie, a security guard and a pair of sunglasses for me to suss out the image. Overcoming that challenge left me with a particular fondness for the painting. 

Miss Crit calls her style of art "a little bit spooky and a little bit psychedelic." Her art frequently includes figures with a third eye, a symbol of enlightenment in Buddhist and Hindu art. (The yogis among you have probably heard this reference. I hope you've had more success tapping into that source of energy than I have.) For more on Miss Crit -- and to see her at work on the mural -- click here.

Gracing a faux brick wall with Oscar   

I'll leave you with my small foray into the world of AI. (I am very resistant and have yet to even use Chat GPT.) At the end of the exhibit visitors have the opportunity to immortalize themselves (in the digital world at least) as the subject of a street mural. Fun! Oscar and I settled in on the seat, smiled for the camera and waited for our image to appear. Within moments, this portrait appeared on screen. I like it (but for the fact that my smile kind of reminds me of the Joker). We declined, however, to purchase a hard copy of the portrait as we exited through the gift shop. 

"Outside In: Murals Inspired by Dali" runs at the Dali Museum through October 26th, so there's plenty of time to catch the show. For more information, click here. 

Diving into Reading at Anna Maria Oyster Bar

Gabriel, my "rising" second grader

You've probably heard the expression "reading is fundamental." It's not just a clever catchphrase. Reading comprehension is crucial to being a good learner. Having strong reading skills increases your ability to communicate and to think critically. Experiencing other people's lives and feelings through reading promotes empathy. The list of benefits goes on and on. The importance of children becoming proficient readers cannot be overstated. And if reading becomes something they enjoy, it's all the better. 

Sadly, the reality is that many students fall behind in their reading skills at an early age. In Manatee County, 46% of students are not reading at grade level by the third grade. This percentage hovers just above 30% in Sarasota County. One of the issues is "summer slide," i.e., the reduction in elementary school children's reading and math skills over the summer. The question is how to combat this problem. 

Enter John and Amanda Horn, owners of the Anna Maria Oyster Bar restaurants. When the Horns learned about the issue of summer slide, they didn't just shake their heads and go back to their lives. Instead, they established the Dive into Reading program. On a June morning in 2017, 25 students students from a Title I school gathered at the Ellenton location of the Oyster Bar where they were matched with volunteer mentors. Each duo shared a hot breakfast (with mentors gently suggesting ways to improve table manners as needed) and then got to work on the student's reading and comprehension skills. The program took place weekly over the course of June. 

Dive into Reading was an instant hit with both the kids and the mentors. And so the program has expanded to three mornings a week at locations across Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto Counties. Since its inception, more than 3,000 "rising" first through third graders have participated. This summer alone, 400+ students could be found having breakfast and working on their reading skills with their mentors. Thanks to my friend Barb, I was one of this year's participants. 

I have to admit to being a bit nervous about meeting my student. Many of the mentors are teachers -- not to mention parents/grandparents -- and are used to interacting with children. Me, not so much. And while we'd had an online training session, I feared that I would falter once an actual child was sitting with me. My concerns fell away the moment our rising second graders came single file into the restaurant. They were so little and cute and well-behaved. This was going to be fun. Before I knew it, I had been matched with Gabriel, and we were on our way to a table to get to work. 

While I don't know precisely what a second grader's vocabulary and comprehension skills should be, it was immediately evident that Gabriel's skills are at a higher level than those of many of the participating kids. We started by flipping through sight words, and I had to keep increasing the level of difficulty. Sure, he found words like "definition" and "certainly" challenging to pronounce, but I suspect I would have as well at his age. Once we were past the pronunciation threshold, we did some exercises to make sure he knew what the words actually meant. We talked about opposites and homonyms and used the words in sentences. He did well.  

Gabriel was cooperative throughout, but when we came upon the word "ghost" the second week, he became downright excited. He loves the "Ghostface" movies (also known as "Scream.") What???!!! He's only seven years old, and he's seen five of the movies -- multiple times. (He has three older brothers, which explains a lot.) Okay, I thought, I can work with this. For the final week, I made up some of our own sight cards with words relating to the movie, including mask and knife and scary. I was thrilled when he asked if he could take the cards home with him. I hope the school didn't get a call when he showed his parents his mementos. At least he was engaged. 

My thank you note from Gab --
I seem to be spewing information at him! 

A crucial part of the program is giving kids books to build their home libraries. Each week the student takes home a book selected by his mentor. One week I found a hard cover book in which monsters told each other jokes, so I grabbed it for him. I realize that cute monsters aren't quite the same thing as the characters in the "Scream" movies, but it was as close as I could get. In addition to reading, we used the books to work on Gabriel's writing skills. He enjoyed the game in which he'd roll a die, count words to the relevant number and then write them on a chart. I was pleased to learn his handwriting was quite legible despite spending a good deal of his time online. 

Each session ended with the program director reading a book aloud to the students. A copy of this book was added to the pile of goodies the kids bring home, so students who make it weekly end up with eight new books. At the final session, each child also received a backpack with school supplies and a Dive into Reading t-shirt. For a full year, any child wearing this shirt gets a free meal at Anna Maria Oyster Bar. The goodies also included a $25 gift certificate for an adult to use while dining. 

I had a great time working with Gabriel during this year's Dive into Reading program and am already looking forward to participating next year. For more information, click here. Maybe you, too, will be a mentor come 2026. 

Good Reads

With the summer upon us, I have a bit more time to read those books that have piled up on my nightstand. (Yes, I still like the feel of an actual book in my hands, preferably a hard cover.) Read on for some of my recent favorites.

When a novel gets as much advance praise as "Heartwood" by Amity Gage did, I take notice. That's not to say I'd run out and get the book if it didn't sound up my alley. Nor would I buy a book without perusing the first few pages to make sure I like the writing. "Heartwood" checked both of those boxes, with the bonus that I'd previously read Gage's "Schroeder" and enjoyed it. So the novel made its way into my hands as soon as it hit the shelves. 

"Heartwood" tells the story of a woman who's hiking the Applachian Trail on her own. She's consistently met up with her husband at agreed locations to resupply, so her failure to show up within a day or two after the expected date was cause for concern. So was the fact that she hadn't been in contact via her cell phone. Sure, there are plenty of dead zones on the Trail, but this too was unusual. She had vanished. 

The story is told from multiple perspectives. Valerie, our hiker, is of course a dominant voice. But so is that of Lt. Bev, co-head of the Incident Management Team for the Warden Service. (Learning about how these searches are conducted was particularly interesting.) We also hear regularly from a former fellow hiker, Valerie's husband and a woman living in a retirement community who becomes obsessed with the search. 

I don't want to tell you more for fear of ruining the twists and turns the story takes, but I will say that I gobbled this book up. If you're interested in mysteries, books about the outdoors or novels with strong female characters, "Heartwood" is for you. (Another book with the same feel -- absent the strong females characters -- is "The River" by Peter Heller.) 

"The Names" by Florence Knapp explores the question of how a child's name can affect both his personality and the family dynamic. Knapp delves into this idea by looking at what's happened/is happening with a family in seven year intervals, beginning with the year of the child's birth. 

The alternative names are quite different. The father assumes his son's name will be Gordon. After all, naming the first born son Gordon is a family tradition that dates back generations. The young daughter's choice is Bear because it calls to mind a brother who will be soft, cuddly and kind yet strong and brave. The mother likes Julian, or "sky father" in Latin and Greek. It's a name that will honor the baby's father while giving the child more freedom to carve his own path in life than naming him after his dad would. 

How the family's future unfolds due -- at least in part -- to the choice of name is for you, the reader, to learn. I will, however, share that pere Gordon is an abusive husband who is used to getting his way. If you like a strong family drama, "The Names" should be on your "to read" list.  

"The Measure" by Nikki Erlick is a work of speculative fiction. Erlick has envisioned a near future in which everyone aged 22 and older wakes up one morning to find a closed box on his or her doorstep. Inside each box is a string, with its length representing the amount of time the recipient has left to live. Perhaps not surprisingly, the world is suddenly composed of "short stringers" and "long stringers." (Note: "Short stringers" is a broad term that encompasses people who might not die for years but who aren't going to live for decades.) 

The story follows the lives of multiple characters with strings of varying lengths while envisioning the ways in which short stringers and long stringers are treated differently. On the personal front, the obvious question is how you would live if you were a short stringer. Would you get married, have children, change jobs, retire, volunteer, travel the world? How would that decision-making change with the length of your string? It's hard to imagine this knowledge wouldn't always be in the forefront of your mind. 

What I found even more interesting was the way the existence of this data was handled as a policy matter. Take the area of health care, for instance. Would/should resources be expended -- and to what extent -- on short stringers? Hmm. And what about the implications for national defense? In the novel, all people in the U.S. military are required to disclose the length of their strings. Short stringers weren't banned from serving, but their prospects for going into combat -- even it that's what they'd trained for their entire lives -- have been significantly reduced. After all, the success rate of a mission could well depend upon the survival of the combatants. These are just two examples of the issues Ehrlick contemplates being raised by the availability of this information.  

While I've never been in a bookclub, it's hard to imagine a novel that would foster a more lively discussion. It's a thought-provoking read, and Erlick's writing is engaging. Her sophomore novel -- "The Poppy Fields" -- is now out and has been added to my "to read" list.  

If you have a moment, drop a note in the comment box to let me know a book you'd recommend. Happy summer reading!