Wondrous Words Wednesday 6-29-16

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative! If you want to play along, grab the button at Kathy's blog, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!

My words today come from Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works by Jay Newton-Small. 


"There is a rubric that a woman has to be asked on average seven times to run for office before she agrees."

rubric:   noun

1. 1a :  an authoritative rule; especially :  a rule for conduct of a liturgical serviceb (1) :  name, title; specifically :  the title of a statute (2) :  something under which a thing is classed 
2.        c :  an explanatory or introductory commentary:  an editorial interpolation
3. 2:  a heading of a part of a book or manuscript done or underlined in a color (as red) different from the rest
4. 3:  an established rule, tradition, or custom
5. 4:  a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or tests

There are a lot of definitions for rubric. I think number 3 is how it is intended in this sentence. 

"At most big tech companies, 30 percent of the employees are women, but only a few of those women are coders or engineers, usually a tech company's most vaunted and influential employees."

vaunted   adjective

 : often spoken of or described as very good or great : often praised

Did you encounter any wondrous words this week?

Stay Busy ans Stay Happy

Review: Broad Influence by Jay Newton-Small

GOODREADS:

2016 will be one of the most historic years in politics: It marks the potential for the first female President of the United States, and the 100th anniversary of the first woman elected to Congress. Additionally, in 2016, single women will be one of the most pivotal voting groups heading into the general election, being courted by both Democrats and Republicans.

At the centennial of the first woman elected to Congress (which was three years before women legally earned the right to vote), their presence and influence in Washington has reached a tipping point that affects not only the inner workings of the Federal Government, but also directly influences how Americans live and work.

Never before have women been represented in such great numbers in the Supreme Court, both chambers of Congress, and in the West Wing. In Broad Influence , Jay Newton-Small, one of the nation's most deeply respected and sourced journalists takes readers through the corridors of Washington D.C., the offices and hallways of Capital Hill and everywhere else conversations and deals are happening to demonstrate how women are reaching across the aisles, coalescing, and affecting lasting change.

With deep, exclusive and behind-closed-doors reporting and interviews, including conversations with Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Mikulski, Kirsten Gillibrand, Valerie Jarrett, Sarah Palin, Kelly Ayotte, Cathy McMorris Rogers and dozens of other former and current senators, representatives, senior White House staffers, governors and cabinet members, Broad Influence is an insightful look at how women are transforming government, politics, and the workforce, and how they are using that power shift to effect change throughout America. 

MY THOUGHTS:
Jay Newton-Small's parents met in Zambia, both U.N. professionals. Her mother spoke seven languages, graduated from Cambridge, Oxford and Columbia where she earned a degree in international law. The U.N. had a rule against U.N. couples marrying, but because her mother outranked her father at the time, and they wanted to keep her on, the rule was changed. And yet, her mother endured insults, being ignored, various sexual assaults, because she loved her work. 

This book is well researched and written by an obviously bright young woman. There are statistics and quotes to support her premise, but the book reads more like a novel. I recommend this book to all women who care about our role in the future of our country and indeed the world. She informs us of the role of women in other countries, Australia, England, Brazil and India. We must have critical mass in all sectors for us to be truly equal. Ms. Newton-Small encourages us with facts and opinions of the women shaping American today. Women are better at listening and striving for compromise. Women use words and logic instead of force and bravado.  I encourage you to read this book - whichever side of the aisle you support, or even if you reside in another country.  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 27 June - Books and other stuff

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists.


I am so disappointed in my reading lately. I can't seem to stay on task and finish a book in a reasonable time. I could blame it on the fact that the TV is always on in the living room, but I could go to the family room in the basement. I blame it on too much time spent looking at other blogs, but that is fun too. I could blame it on that I have other things I  do too, like quilt and not to be forgotten, cook and clean and laundry. "Sigh"

OK, whining over!!


This week I am still working on Broad Influence.

I have been learning a lot and enjoying the read. But waiting til bedtime to read is not working.



And I have not turned a page in Ghostly Paws

I did attend a Open Sew Day on Wednesday. It is a fund raiser for our local Quilt Show Steering Committee and because we (are on call waiting on our granddaughter's baby #2, I took just hand sewing. So if she called, I would not have to pack up a machine and all the paraphernalia that goes with sewing away from home. 

This morning there is a distinct smell of smoke in the air. There are several timber fires burning within a 90 mile radius of our small city. It is so dry this year and we got very little snow last winter. I feel so bad for those directly affected and pray for cooler weather and some rain.Thankful too that we have firefighters both local and state and federally funded, that have the means and the courage to battle these infernos. 

 Close up and far away. It is terrifying!  One family has lost everything.

 The rest of us have lost our beautiful vistas in our home state. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday June 22, 2016

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative! If you want to play along, grab the button at Kathy's blog, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!

My words today come from Broad Influence: How Women Are changing the Way America Works by Jay Newton-Small.

"One of the oldest boys' clubs in the country resides in the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a bastion of male power so obdurate that is has been among the slowest to open to women."

obdurate:  adjective

    : refusing to do what other people want: not willing to change your opinion or the way you do something. 

I feel like I should have known this word. It reminds me of obstinate, which also means refusing to change your behavior or ideas. 


Speaking of the 20 women in the Senate in the 2012-13 session -

"The women were hardly monolithic. They ranged in ages between 45 - 80." 

monolithic: adjective

  : constituting a massive undifferentiated and often rigid whole
  : exhibiting or characterized by often rigidly fixed uniformity 

What wondrous words did you find this week? 


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists.


On my nightstand:

Surprisingly, I am liking this book. I am learning some things, and discovering some new words.

A favorite quote so far:  " Women aren't necessarily less partisan than men, but they are more inclined to listen and try to understand the other side." 


On my Kindle:

I am finally engaged in this one, well the first in the collection anyway. The main character, Wilhelmina Chance, is the proprietor of the bookstore in her hometown of Mystic Notch, New Hampshire.  And of course, she has discovered a body, the body of Lavinia Babbage the head librarian in her hometown.  And there is a cat, Pandora.  I'm hooked!

Not sure how my reading will go this week. Our granddaughter is in early stages of labor and Mr. Busy and I are in the wings to take care of the almost 3 year old, soon to be big brother.  Reading time could be at a premium. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - 6-14-16 Broad Influence

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this Tuesday meme. It is a place to share the first paragraph in the first chapter of a book you are reading or hope to get to soon. It is a great place to see what others are reading and add to your ever growing list of title to explore. So let's share. Write a post and then go link up at Diane's blog.

Broad Influence - How Women Are Changing the Way America Works
Jay Newton-Small
Time Books 2016


1
THE WEST WING

One of the oldest boys' clubs in the country resides in the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a bastion of male power so obdurate that it has been among the slowest to open to women. In the 216 years from the country's founding until 1992, just 14 women served in the Cabinet; in the next 23 years, there's been some acceleration, with 20 women in Cabinet positions. When President Obama took office in January 2009, his secretaries of state, labor, homeland security and health and human services and the director of the Environmental Protection Agency were all women, as was his United Nations ambassador. 



I really wanted to share the introduction to this book too, but could not decide which paragraph would be more attractive. Do you read much non-fiction?  Do you ever read non-fiction?  This book was introduced to us by one our book club members who listens to a lot of NPR. She is also a recently retired social studies teacher from one of the Junior Highs in our small conservative city.

So would you read this one?  Regardless of which side of the aisle you sit on, women are moving from critical mass to broad influence in our country.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June 13th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists.

 Still working on this collection, the first in the group is Ghostly Paws by Leighann Dobbs. 

I will like it I am sure, if I can just pick up my Kindle and get to it. 

I am enjoying this one too. Although it is the 10th in the Dixie Hemingway series, it doesn't feel as though I have missed anything. Dixie tells her back story, or least parts of it, well enough that I do not feel lost at all. I am pretty sure I will gladly pick up the first several in this series. ( This one was won in a Giveaway at Cathy's blog, Kittling: Books.Thanks again Cathy)


Next I will select either:  Broad Influence by Jay Newton-Small,  one of my book club's summer selections

2016 will be one of the most historic years in politics: It marks the potential for the first female President of the United States, and the 100th anniversary of the first woman elected to Congress. Additionally, in 2016, single women will be one of the most pivotal voting groups heading into the general election, being courted by both Democrats and Republicans.

or The Quilter's Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini, a series I started years ago and then let fall away. 

  

Hope your week is productive on the reading front and enjoyable too. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

April Month in Review

Again I am behind in my book reading goal. Goodreads says I am4 books behind. I have read a total of 16 books. Twenty would keep me on my goal of 5 books per month. Yikes. I had better kick it in gear, again!



APRIL:

13.  Bossypants by Tina Fey

     1. New to me author
     2. Libary print book
     3. Non-Fiction, Memoir
     4, What's in a Name 2016 challenge


14. The Chili Queen  by Sandra Dallas

    1. Women's Literary Fiction Challenge
    2. Libary print book
    3. What's in A Name 2016 challenge


15. Witch is When It All Began  by Adele Abbott

    1.  New to me author
    2.  E-book
    3.  Read the Books You Buy challenge
    4.  Women't Literary Fiction Challenge
    5.   Cruisin' Thru the Cozies Challenge


16.   Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

        1. New to me author
        2. Audio book
        3. Read the Books You Buy Challenge.


I am linking up with Kathryn's at Book Date for Month in Review.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy
Judy

The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Liar’s Club is an honest, gritty memoir written by Mary Karr. Parts of this book were hard to read, parts of it were funny and silly. My book club was divided. Three of them did not even finish it, 3 of us finished it, but only two of us liked it. I think it boils down to the life experiences of each of us. We did agree that the writing was superb. The subject matter is not unheard of, but when this book was first published in 1995 it was unique. Ms. Karr does not sugar coat her childhood experiences. She does not place blame or make us hate her parents. She just tells it like it was. And it was heartbreaking. How interesting that The Liar’s Club is such a rare, honest telling of her story.
Mary and her sister, Lecia ( pronounced Lisa) endured a childhood filled with emotional pain and unbridled expectation. Their mother, Charlie Marie, struggled to find her place in the world. Southeast Texas in a slumping economy was not where she thought her future lay. So she searched for the perfect place and the perfect person to share her future with. Their father, Pete, or J.P. was a hard working ordinary kind of guy, not really up to the standards of Charlie’s expected life. He was a sort of town celebrity as he wove stories of his past and the past of the area, for the enjoyment of his friends at the American Legion.
Do not read this memoir if you are expecting a rose garden. There are only thorns in this story. Well, maybe a few daisies and a bit of green grass, but mostly a tangle of briars and bushes.
I will read the other memoirs written by Mary Karr and I want to experience her poetry also. What a talented writer.




View all my reviews

Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
Hector Tobar
2014  Picador Movie Tie-In  Ebook


On August 5, 2010, 33 of the men that make up the A shift, enter the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile. One man, Mario Sepulveda is late. He is hoping that maybe he will be fired, and that will make it easier for a friend to get him a job at another mine. Most of the miners live in the Copiapo area. Mario commutes from Santiago. As he walks toward the mine, a friend gives him a life and he arrives in time to report for his shift, only the supervisor Luis Urzua notices but makes no mention. Now all 34 men are beginning their work day.

Raul Villegas, driving a dump truck of ore to the surface, passes all the other miners on his way out of the mine. He is the only one to escape as the blast and collapse happen behind him. It is 1:40 pm.
At first, the rumble and the dust catch everyone by surprise and then they realize what has happened. The next few minutes they try desperately to determine where their companions are and if they are all safe. As the dust settles and they start a head count, all are accounted for except for Raul, the driver of the dump truck. All are uninjured.

What happens in the next few hours, and the days and weeks that follow is nothing short of miraculous. As luck would have it they are trapped near the Refuge. A sort of break room, with reinforced walls and a small kitchen. They are able to move up and down several levels but their escape routes are all blocked or the chimneys have no ladders. Several vehicles are operable, have gas, batteries and there is a large tank of water used for servicing the equipment.

Hector Tobar continues to tell the story and intricately weaves the personal stories of the miners and their families, the townspeople of Copiapo and the government officials of Chili with the details of the mine and what happens when "the mine pancakes." I found the story impossible to put out of my mind and it caused me to wonder if I would have been able to deal with the hardship that occurred. I'm not sure that I would have.

I would suggest reading this book if you like non-fiction and even if you don't. I have a few friends that normally do not pick non-fictions, but because this was a book club selection, they read it and enjoyed it. It is well written with wonderful descriptions of the surrounding area and the time inside the mine. I am also anxious to see the movie   THE 33.

It's Monday! What Are Reading? Deep Down Dark

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you are and about to be reading over the week.  It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever-growing TBR pile!  This meme started with J Kaye's Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. So share what you are reading this week and link up with Book Date.

On my Kindle:

Deep Down Dark
Hector Tobar
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/ Picador

From Goodreads and edited by me:

When the San Jose mine collapsed outside of Copiapo, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. Across the globe, we sat riveted to television and computer screens as journalists flocked to the Atacama desert. While we saw what transpired above ground during the grueling and protracted rescue, the story of the miners experiences below the earth's surface and the lives that led them there hasn't been heard until now. In this masterwork of a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, Hector Tobar gains exclusive access to the miners and their stories. The result is a miraculous and emotionally textured account of the thirty-three men who came to think of the San Jose mine as a kind of coffin, as a cave inflicting constant and thundering aural torment, and as a church where they sought redemption through prayer while the world watched from above. It offers an understanding of the families and personal histories that brought los 33 to the mine, and the mystical and spiritual elements that surrounded working in such a dangerous place.


This is the current read for my Face to Face book club. I hope the book editing is better than the Goodreads synopsis.  I do not speak Spanish, but in the blurb from Goodreads, Copiapo the city in Chile was misspelled, as was Hector's name. Also several just bad typing errors. In the last sentence, the word los precedes 33 and I am not sure just what may have been intended. Maybe "these"? Anyway, I could not leave it here with all those obvious errors.

I have put Emma on hold for awhile, until I can acquire the audio version from my library.


 Print Book:

I will probably start on a new Cozy Mystery I won in December from a giveaway at Beth Fist Reads blog. I am looking forward to it.

                                                                  See   Goodreads

 

Hope everyone has a good week.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy