The Associates by Richard Rayner

Four Capitalists Who Created California

If you have ever wondered where “The Big Four”, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, got the money and fame, The Associates is a brief way to delve into it. Growing up in California, I was raised hearing about Stanford University, Huntington Museum and had a savings account at the now defunct, Crocker Bank. However, I didn’t know much about the men behind them.

For the most part, all four just found themselves at the right place, at the right time and also had the guts to try and follow through with other people’s ideas. Huntington and Stanford were basically responsible for the west coast portion of the Transcontinental Railroad; they got the government approval and financial backing while Hopkins and Crocker kept things moving in California with the actual construction and the books.

I mentioned that the book was brief and it really was at 198 pages. Therefore, it was a great way to learn a bit about four men that had a huge part in creating California without getting bored off of my rear like the usual chunksters that are out there. It was also a peek into how the railroad was built (with Irish, but mostly Chinese labor) which led ultimately the Chinese Exclusionary Act. That being said, none of the men came out smelling squeaky clean and it didn’t really leave me wanting to know more about them.

Description of Huntington

He expected to live to be a hundred, he would say. For some he was almost the devil incarnate. The railroads- the way there were run and the power they had-were by then regarded as corrupt, cruel, implacable, and fiendish, in stark contrast to the gratitude and excitement with which they’d been greeted thirty years before. Not that Huntington cared. By his own admission he didn’t much mind whether he was honest or not.”

These men weren’t angels and while they never claimed to be, one of them did spend a good bit of his golden years trying to give something back to the country that gave him so much. We wouldn’t have Stanford University if Leland Stanford hadn’t wanted to build something as a tribute to the son that he lost. Huntington’s nephew is the man we have to thank for the beautiful Museum and Hospital near Pasadena. Would California be the great state that it is today without their backhanded deals complete with bribes, the monopolies they created, and their undying thirst to line their pockets? Probably not so I guess I should thank them.

Good, quick read about some not so likeable but important men and a real eye opener regarding the politics of what many call the Gilded Age.

The Associates: Four Capitalists Who Created California by Richard Rayner

Hardcover: 224 pages

Publisher: W. W. Norton/Atlas & Company; illustrated edition edition (January 1, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0393059138

ISBN-13: 978-0393059137

It is time once again, to step out from behind the book and get to know one another better.

We all have a story and a life beyond the book and thanks to Danielle from There’s A Book, we get share. She asks the questions and we get to answer.

Who is your favorite male character, in a book or on a TV show/movie? Why?

This one had me stumped. Was I supposed to pick a male character that was my personal  superhero? One that made me weak in the knees? A male that I wish my dad had been more like? The leader of my tribe if I found myself on Survivor? What does “favorite” really mean, to me?

I decided to go with a male character that I could relate to, even though, in choosing him, I would be admitting some major character defects. He just also happens to be the main character in my favorite book.

The enigmatic, hopeless romantic, fatally optimistic, Jay Gatsby is my favorite character. While I don’t really consider my past near as shady as Gatsby’s, it was indeed colorful.

What appeals to me about Gatsby is that his goal was his love, Daisy, and no matter what was happening or what was in the way, he never lost sight of that goal. I didn’t have to fight a war, become a bootlegger or do anything illegal to get my man, but there was a lot that we had to go through that seemed insurmountable at the time. That is what I have in common with Fitzgerald’s most compelling character.

I was convinced that we were meant to be and driven, in a healthy way, to do everything that I could to remove the roadblocks that others saw as deal breakers. I continue to be the cheerleader in our relationship. Call me the Little Orphan Annie of Love; “the sun will come out tomorrow!”

Gatsby may have been very flawed and obviously didn’t realize that he was after something that didn’t really exist. I can only hope that I don’t end up learning the same thing in the end of this crazy thing we call love.

Focused. Hopeful. Romantic. Heedless. Obsessive. My fatal flaws.

It also doesn’t hurt to picture Robert Redford in the role….I know that Alan Ladd played him first, but come on, we are talking Robert Redford!

You have the floor Kevin….

My name’s Kevin and I run a company called BookTour.com. We have a tool calledPressfinder, which is a database enabling authors and media makers who care about books to find one another. If you’re a book blogger, I’m assuming “media makers” includes you.

PressFinder’s a pretty simple idea. A big pile of names, titles and email addresses of folks in the literary media, sorted and searchable by medium and location. A typical scenario where authors and their publishers use Pressfinder might be…

“My book came out earlier this summer and I’m visiting my sister in Chicago next weekend. I’d sure love to have coffee with some local book bloggers while I’m in town. Who might be interested?”

Same scenario for a bookblogger…

“I live in the Chicago area and just started publishing my blog ‘Literary Fiction and Strawberry Jam: For those who love books and breakfast, often together. I’d like to start interviewing authors when they come through town. How can I know what writers will be in Chicago when and if like to be interviewed?”

In both cases, if that blogger is listed on Pressfinder, their blog will appear in  a search on “Chicago” and “Book Bloggers” (Pressfinder has a dedicated section for them).  Within their listing, a blogger may indicate what sorts of books turn them on, how they like to be contacted, by whom, etc.?

Authors and publishers can search Pressfinder free three times. After that, it costs 5$ a month or 50$ a year. If you’re a listed media contact in Pressfinder, you may use it all you want for free.

Signing up as a blogger is easy.

1. Go to Pressfinder’s homepage. See that big orange button mid-page that says “Click to Add a Contact” Click it.

3. Fill in the blanks (the “notes” section is a good place to mention a little about your blog, the kind of books you like and the kind of author’s you’d like to interview/feature.) Then click the “Save Changes” orange button.

And you’re done! Your blog is officially listed in Pressfinder. To edit your listing, click the “edit contact” inside your listing’s box.

Pressfinder’s been around for just a few months and I’ve already been asked several times why we built it. Truth is, There are a ton of authors with books (good ones) to promote and only so many inches in the New York Times and only so many guest spots on The Colbert Report. Major media outlets–understaffed and bombarded–increasingly rely on smaller media–book bloggers, Indiebound newsletters, the literary minded on twitter–to gauge what books are gathering steam in the culture. An author’s appearance on “Fresh Air” is not their book’s birth in the marketplace  but its bar mitzvah. That book has probably already had its first “big break” by getting handsold, physically and digitally, by the readers of this blog and writers like my humble hostess. And if you’re a book blogger, someone like you.

Thanks Kevin for stopping by creating a very useful site for authors and book bloggers.

When I added Chew & Digest Books, there was not one other listing for my area and I know of at least 4. What are ya’ll waiting for?

Stacked Cabinet No.1, from Artful Home, $3,885

I love “odd” pieces of furniture and this one I LOVE, but this is a bit out of my price range.

Monticello Library Stand, from The Thomas Jefferson Monticello Collection, $333

Much more affordable and supports history.

82” Canoe Bookcase, by Millsriver Canoe Shop, $745

I have always wanted one of these, but it really doesn’t fit my decor.

Tuscan Center Bookcase, Ballard Designs, $799

This actually matches the rest of the furniture in the room, but matchy-matchy is so boring!

Still deciding,

From Goodreads:

In June 2001 Rahna Reiko Rizzuto went to Hiroshima in search of a deeper understanding of her war-torn heritage. She planned to spend six months there, interviewing the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb. A mother of two young boys, she was encouraged to go by her husband, who quickly became disenchanted by her absence.

It is her first solo life adventure, immediately exhilarating for her, but her research starts off badly. Interviews with the hibakusha* feel rehearsed, and the survivors reveal little beyond published accounts. Then the attacks on September 11 change everything. The survivors’ carefully constructed memories are shattered, causing them to relive their agonizing experiences and to open up to Rizzuto in astonishing ways.”

That was enough to make me want to read it, but there is more.

Separated from family and country while the world seems to fall apart, Rizzuto’s marriage begins to crumble as she wrestles with her ambivalence about being a wife and mother. Woven into the story of her own awakening are the stories of Hiroshima in the survivors’ own words. The parallel narratives explore the role of memory in our lives and show how memory is not history but a story we tell ourselves to explain who we are.”

My take:

Hiroshima in the Morning started out really slow for me and frankly, Reiko’s constant questioning of herself and her motives for taking trip was a tad annoying. Seriously, she is a published author and a mother of two, how could she have been so insure of herself and her identity?

Slowly, I felt a change in her thinking and that brought about a change in my opinion. While 9/11 made a big impact in how the people she was interviewing treated her, I could also see her true identity emerging. Truly, it was like watching a butterfly come out of a cocoon and I hate butterfly analogies, so I don’t use them lightly. She began to stand up for herself and what she wanted, not just go along with the flow or try to placate her husband.

The book is less about Hiroshima or 9/11 and more about a woman defining herself. Call it a self-exploration or a memoir while horrific events are being studied and still happening in the background.

I could go on and on about what stuck with me and made me think. She has an interesting way of looking at things and processing them in her own mind, as well as dealing with so much inner turmoil at a time that our country as a whole was in flux.

Hiroshima in the Morning is a book that will float around in my mind for a long time, not only for what she wrote, but because how she made me look back at my own memories, questioning how I let them define me….if I choose to let them define me at all.

From Hiroshima in the Morning….

“I spent the last seven months assembling. Making a life collage, and hoping that, if I step back far enough, if others do, an image will appear. There are a million facts, a million stories: every writer will find a different one in the same rubble. Each of us will reconceive the story. We will build an argument; we will raise a truth. It may not resemble “the truth,” if there is such a thing-we may mistake someone else’s opinion for fact; we may be lying or hoping for the best.”

Hiroshima in the Morning by Rhana Reiko Rizzuto

For info on the author, a trailer, & much more check out The Feminist Press

Just released today!

A big shoutout to Amy at Winsome Media Communications for sending me this book.

August books finished 

The Doctor and the Diva by Adrienne McDonnell 2010 432pp

The Tree by John Fowles 1979/2010 NF 112pp

Living Organized by Sandra Felton 2004 NF 224pp

Silent Scream by Karen Rose 2010 608pp

97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman 2010 NF 272pp

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott 2008 400pp

Radiance by Alyson Noel 2010 192pp

Angel of Death Row by Andrea D. Lyon 2010 NF 288pp

Free for All by Don Borchert 2007 NF 224pp

Penguin 75 (Commentary) 2010 NF 256pp

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller 2010 416pp

Blind Man’s Alley by Justin Peacock 2010 480pp

Social Media Metrics by Jim Sterne 2010 NF 272pp

Johannes Cabal The Detective by Jonathan L. Howard 2010 304pp

Mom’s Guide to Earning Money Online by Barb Webb 2006 NF 224pp

The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett 2003 352pp

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford 2010 384pp

Hiroshima in the Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto 2010 NF 336pp

The Associates by Richard Rayner 2008 NF 223pp

Paula Deen’s Savannah Style by Paula Deen & Brandon Branch 2010 NF 224pp

Think of a Number by John Verdon 2010 418pp

21 books and 6,337 pages of mostly delicious reading. (Art just pointed out to me that War and Peace is only 1296 pages long)

Some favorites-

*If you like a bit of cooking in your history, make sure you check out my Cross-Bloggination post at The Lost Entiwife or the review of 97 Orchard.

*New to YA? You must read The Eternal Ones.

*My review isn’t up yet, but I LAUGHED AND LAUGHED at Johannes Cabal The Detective. Seriously, the sarcasm was so funny that I was grateful that I wasn’t reading in public. Agatha Christie, eat your heart out.

All of that reading left us just enough time to take Murphy Grace, AKA the Beast, on his first trip to the beach. He did well, didn’t pee in the water, and is ready to go again.

From Goodreads:

The Organizer Lady™ makes it easy for readers to develop strategies for mess-free living. Author of the best-selling Messies Manual, Sandra Felton shares her insight on the best ways to bring out the hidden beauty in messy houses. Included in this comprehensive guide to “cleaner living” are 100 little-known housekeeping tips, inspiring testimonies from recovering Messies, strategies for living with a disorganized people, and action plans to help win the clutter war. With enthusiasm and humor, Felton makes housekeeping easier and less overwhelming for the organizationally challenged.

Felton believes that there are two kinds of people, Cleanies and Messies. Right off the bat, that term, Messies, offended me. It is negative even though she tried to define them as busy people that have been overwhelmed or perfectionists that just give up with the size of the task.

Still, even after being constantly offended by the terminology, I carried on. Part 5, Interior Design for the Messie, had some of the best tips I have ever read on figuring out your style and decorating. If you have ever been stumped on just how to start with décor, this was great! The idea of starting from scratch is intimidating for people and it can be hard to trust your instincts. The book suggests collecting the things, colors, and fabrics that really speak to you, finding the things that they have in common, then running with that. Living Organized also reminds you to keep reality in mind when decorating. A white silk couch isn’t a good idea when you have three toddlers and a black dog, for example.

I was all ready to forgive being called a Messie and make some changes until I read the chapter titled, Dear Husband, A Letter to the Husband of the Messie. If I hadn’t been reading this on my iPod, it would have been thrown across the room and most likely burned in effigy. I have never had such a visceral reaction to ANY book before.

Let me just give you a taste.

“You resent the condition of the house in which you are forced to live and imagine that the homes of other men returning home from work are havens of rest and order. “

“You felt that surely her pride as a wife and mother- as a woman- would help her overcome this chronic state……Surely if she cared more about you and the children or understood how important it was to you, she would try harder.”

My long hidden feminist hackles came out with a vengeance with this chapter. I don’t know about you, but I see a marriage as a team and the freaking messes don’t create themselves. While I work from home and accept that it means that I am the chief cook and bottle washer, that doesn’t mean that I am the maid. This may have been acceptable in the 1950’s, but it isn’t going to happen in my house today.

I got this for free on the Kindle and it was worth what I paid for it. There, I am off my soap box.

Living Organized by Sandra Felton

It is time once again, to step out from behind the book and get to know one another better. 

We all have a story and a life beyond the book and thanks to Danielle from There’s A Book, we get share. She asks the questions and we get to answer.

Who is your favorite female character, in a book or on a TV show/movie? Why?

My favorite female character would have to be Sydney Bristow from Alias. Played by Jennifer Garner, she proved that women are just as accomplished as men and can look hot while doing it!

I mean, she had a cool wardrobe, got to go to all sorts of neat places and no one got the best of her. (sure, there were often people shooting at her, but hey, danger can be exciting. Right?) That is something that I really admire in a person, even if she happens to be fictional.

Sydney could do it all and manage to look stunning at the same time. Now any woman that can do that and save the country while dealing with the fact that her mother is a Russian Spy. When my mom defected to another political party I was a mess for days. (I am still not over it that, traitor)

Sydney doesn’t take $%$ and isn’t afraid to dole it out and I wish that I was that strong.

One other character that I really can identify with is Dana Sculley from The X Files. She rocked it too, but didn’t have the wardrobe that I could drool over.

Thank you so much to Gwen for hosting me this month! I’m really excited about sharing my pick for this month’s Cross-Bloggination! In looking back over the month I thought about all the great books I’ve had the opportunity to read, but one in particular stood out above the rest. Not only because I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but also because of the guest post by the author that accompanied my review. So, without further hesitation, my choice…

The Death and Further Adventure’s of Silas Winterbottom by Stephen Giles

This is the story of three very different, very unique children and their devious Uncle’s attempts to manipulate them to his dying day. And it’s brilliant! Adele, Milo and Isabella are three cousins from completely different walks of life, though each of their families struggle to make ends meet and live as luxuriously as they wished they could. That is until they each receive a mysterious letter with $10,000 in it and an opportunity to inherit a fortune from their recluse Uncle, Silas Winterbottom. In a strange and surprising turn of events suddenly it’s the children who are fighting for their lives and not their dying Uncle.

Not only were the characters and the story brilliant, but the author is just as amazing. In his guest post Stephen Giles discussed a bit about the book that got him “hooked” on reading as a child. For Stephen it happened to be The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis. Not only is this an all time favorite book of my own, but the way you could see it reflected in Giles’ own story was perfect. In no way were the stories similar, truly. It was more in the that way Giles developed his characters into rich and meaningful parts of a bigger picture. You could see how his passion for reading truly impacted his love of storytelling. Not only that, but his description of Turkish Delight is one not to miss!

Stephen M Giles

It was honestly my favorite author visits and I’m eager to read more by Giles. The Death and Further Adventure’s of Silas Winterbottom is out now and I’d highly recommend the story to children and adults alike. Though it’s especially great for middle grade readers and those that may be a little reluctant to pick up a book. I’m also holding a giveaway for one copy of the book, so make sure you enter before the 3rd of September for your chance to win a copy of The Death and Further Adventure’s of Silas Winterbottom.

Thank you so much Gwen for having me on today! I loved having the opportunity to chat a little more about this fantastic book and author.

It was a pleasure to have you here Danielle & I am going to have to snap this one up for the grandkids.

Moving on, the journal was a big hit last week, so let’s go with that. Do you journal or keep track of your books on paper?

Devilish Leather Journal, by Kreativlinks, $47

12th Night Journal, by Immortal Longings, $35

Vintage Envelope Journal, by Monorail, $20

Hand Sewn Notebook, by Wee Bindery, $29

I do keep a little book with a list of books that I have read, just title, author, and year published. I don’t know about you, but I have had too many computers crash to trust such an important things not to have an old school list. I also journal off and on.