What are you reading the week of October 19, 2019?

I finished up Song for the Unraveling of the World, a short story collection of weird fiction. It was...meh. There were a couple of good stories. None that were great. And there were a couple of read klunkers. I wouldn't recommend it, although the story "Sisters" was pretty good.

I've started an introductory textbook on Linguistics because I'm crazy.

I'm going to be out of town next weekend visiting family. Could someone start us off next Saturday?

Burglars Can’t Be Choosers – Lawrence Block
3.5***

This is the first in the series starring Bernie Rhodenbarr, a professional burglar with loads of charm. He’s successful and has an apartment in a nice building on the upper West Side, where he’s known as a good neighbor. He never burgles in his neighborhood, is methodical in his planning, quickly fences his take and lives a quiet life. He also always works alone. Until now. When he’s approached by a stranger offering a significant fee if he’ll retrieve a certain blue leather box, Bernie’s curious and agrees. Seems like a simple job. But the box isn’t where it should be, while a body is … and so are the police.

I love this series, and this is a second reading, though I didn’t remember any of the plot, so the twists were all a surprise to me. I like Bernie as a character. He’s smart and nonviolent. He has a way with the ladies, but he’s a gentleman, through and through. The plots are intricate and the supporting characters a delight. I love his cop “friend” Ray Kirschman – honest, though not above taking a little cash to look the other way. And I love the way Block writes about New York City; I really feel as if I’m walking the streets right along with Bernie.

Enjoying this OverDrive eBook ~

The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea

(well-known, and not so well-known, women making life on this planet better for all)

I finished, and am writing a review of, Flames by Tasmania's Robbie Arnott. A wonderful story.

I'm coming down the home stretch of White, Deni Ellis Bechard's novel about identity, race and white privilege in Africa. Very engaging and thought-provoking.

The Madwoman Upstairs
Catherine Lowell
3.5/5 stars
In this fictional story, Samantha Whipple is a descendant of the Bronte family on her late father’s side. After her eccentric father who was a writer passes away she decides to go to Oxford to study. She supposedly has an inheritance of Bronte memorabilia that nobody can find until it starts showing up, a piece at a time at Oxford. I enjoyed this fast, light read and it makes me want to read some bios on the Brontes.

>3 Molly3028: I just got that last week, glad to know you are enjoying it!

I read The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Purloined Letter from Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination today.

Still working on Pilgrimage 3 by Dorothy Richardson, Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher and The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan.

Still reading The Tiger's Daughter, Emma, A Little Hatred, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January/February 2019.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt
by Stephanie Marie Thornton

(1900s/the eldest child of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife)

Vinegar Girl– Anne Tyler
Digital audio performed by Kirstin Potter
3***

This re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Tyler gives us a Kate who is a modern day woman, with a job she likes (though she seems to always be in trouble with the parents of the toddlers she cares for), dedicated (though a bit resentful) to helping her widowed father run the household, uninterested in romance and intolerant of her younger sister Bunny’s obsessions with flirting and collecting young (and not-so-young) men’s hearts. Their hapless father is a university professor consumed by his research. He’s had the good fortune to find an excellent and talented graduate research assistant, but Pyotr’s visa is about to expire and he’ll be deported if he can’t find a way to stay in the US. So Dr Battista hatches a plan to have Kate marry Pyotr so he gets a green card.

I generally like Tyler’s novels that focus on relationships rather than plot. But this one felt a little stilted and “not-quite-right” to me. Perhaps it was the constraints of fitting into the Shakespeare tale’s basic premise of a harridan whose father is eager to get rid of her, and who is “tamed” (read beaten and starved into submission) by a handsome, virile man. Clearly that scenario just doesn’t work in today’s “Me-Too” culture. I think she did the best she could within the framework of Shakespeare’s tale, but it just didn’t quite work.

Still, there were some scenes where Tyler’s skill at exploring relationships shown through. And I did like the way that Pyotr was portrayed – not as the bully Petruchio, but more of a gentle, if determined, person. I also liked that Tyler turned Shakespeare’s women around; the original seems to paint younger sister Bianca as the “ideal” woman – pretty, compliant, obedient – and therefore much more desirable than Katherina. Here Bunny is more of an immature flirt, not really desirable, though she MAY grow up eventually.

Kirstin Potter does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and the characters came to life via her performance.

I finished Bad Intentions by Norwegian crime writer Karin Fossum this morning; it was excellent.

Next up is (probably) The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell

My travel list has quadrupled and I have so many sticky notes in my copy of things I want to mention in my review.

I'm about halfway through The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro. I should finish it this week. It's been a while since I've read Munro.

I finished White by Deni Ellis Béchard. In this extremely readable and thought-provoking novel, an American journalist and veteran traveler and war reporter, travels to the Congo in hopes of searching out and writing about a corrupt and ruthless European "fixer," Richmond Hew, who helps environmental agencies trying to set up preservation parkland in the African jungle. The goal seems noble but the agencies' presumptive ways and Hew's methodology are not. Plus there are well documented complaints of Hew's sexual abuse of young girls. But the main issues at hand are those of white privilege and white foreigners' paternalistic presumptions of supremacy over the Congolese in their own country, in terms of expertise and motivation and wisdom, to offer a short list. White is, for me, a novel about humanity and quicksand.

For anyone interested, my more in-depth comments are on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I'm still rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling and loving the new illustrated edition.

Funny Cide – The Funny Cide Team with Sally Jenkins
Book on CD read by Dan Cashman
3.5***

In 2003 an unlikely horse, from an unlikely stable owned by a group of high-school buddies won the Kentucky Derby and captured the hearts of America. This is his story.

I like horse racing, though I admit that I watch few races other than the Triple Crown ones. I’ve read more than a few biographies of jockeys and of famous horses. I was as caught up as anyone in Funny Cide’s Triple Crown saga, and as broken hearted when he was beat during that final leg at the Belmont.

Jenkins does a good job of weaving together the various stories behind the horse: the original breeder, the owners who carefully and gently broke him to saddle, the trainer who recognized his potential, the group of high-school friends who wanted a fun way to still be a “team” despite their varied family and work responsibilities, and the jockey who immediately felt the potential in this unlikely mount.

I particularly liked the way she wrote the build-up to the Derby and Funny Cide’s amazing win there. I felt the excitement all over again. The only thing missing was a mint julep.

Dan Cashman does a fine job narrating the audio. He sets a good pace and his narration of the race scenes was top notch.

Have you read Sea Biscuit, similar true story, excellent writing (also was a movie which was ok but the way the author weaves history and culture of the time with the tale cannot be matched on the screen) Id be interested to hear how youd compare it to the one you read.

I am currently reading Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson - part of series ...amusing. I am also readiing Outwitting Squirrels - I happen to love squirrels and this book is humorous but it is about trying to get rid of them...you can't. Bookworms is a book of essays by readers..I love books about books and reading. Sympathy for the Devil a biography about Gore Vidal about his later years...sad really. Diary of Charles Greville Book 2 ...political diary for the period of George IV to Victoria...wonderfully written but god politics...it never changes..same crap..different people. H.L. Mencken's Book of Quotes - this one is bathroom reading and 1300 pages..I will not live long enough to finish it and I am always wanting to type relevant/current bits into Facebook..like quotes about Demagogues. And finally, Nigel Rees' A Word In Your Shell-like - I also love books about how people talk and slang and pithy phrases. Talk about scatter brained...it feels like buckshot. Speaking of Sea Biscuit..I read Secretariat biography by William Nack. So many books, so little time. (this is only my second public post to LibraryThing and it is a precis of the first one :-) talk about lazy.

I’m currently reading The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. Excellent so far; she always is.

I reviewed...at long last!...Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears by Ken Wheaton. Fun read but don't start if you're not in the mood for an old-fashioned storytellin' session.

>17 cindydavid4: Loved Sea Biscuit - I would read anything by Hillenbrand!

Have just finished Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather for our local reading group. I won't actually be at the next meeting but thought I'd read the book anyway because my wife liked it so much.

And she was right. I know very little about the history and geography of the South-West of the USA but found 'Death Comes' a most engrossing read with two engaging protagonists and a real feel for the people and the terrain, and of time moving on. A rare treat.

We're also reading The Wool-Pack by Cynthia Harnett, our latest read-aloud. This is another book with a real feel for time and place (early Tudor England) with the suspense increasing slowly but surely.

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I have finished reading the novel The Help by author Kathryn Stockett

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The Flight of the Maidens – Jane Gardam
4****

From the book jacket: It is the summer of 1946. A time of clothing coupons and food rations, of postwar deprivations and social readjustment. In this precarious new era, three young women prepare themselves to head off to university and explore the world beyond Yorkshire, England.

My reactions:
I’ve read three of Gadam’s novels before this one, and I rated them all 4****. I made a note to myself immediately on finishing this one with my 4-star rating, but now, a week later, as I sit to write my review I think I may have been over-enthusiastic. I’ll leave my rating at 4 since that was my initial reaction, but perhaps it should really be 3.5***.

What I love about Gardam’s writing is the way she paints her characters and shows us who they are. Hetty (Hester or “Hes-tah”) Fallowes is somewhat bookish and saddled with an overbearing mother. She sympathizes with but doesn’t really understand her father, who suffers from the traumas he witnessed in the trenches during WWI (what we would today recognize as PTSD). Her best friend (since age five) is Una Vane. She had a somewhat privileged upbringing, until her doctor father walked out one morning, and his body was discovered days later at the base of a cliff. He, too, had suffered from his experiences in WW1. The third girl is a recent member of their tight circle of friendship.

Leiselotte Klein, is a Jewish refugee who was taken in by a Quaker family. While Hetty and Una are thin, even skinny, Leiselotte is chubby. She slouches and is always knitting. She knows nothing of what has happened to her family, and while the Quaker couple who have taken her in have provided all they can for her, they have not been warm and loving. Her “foreignness” in this small Yorkshire community sets her apart and she’s remained rather solitary. At least until the three are joined together by the news of their scholarships.

The book opens with the three girls “picnicking” and talking about their recent acceptance at university. All will be setting off for London: Hetty to London to read Literature; Una to Cambridge to study physics; and Leiselotte to Cambridge where she’ll study Modern Languages. But before they go, they’ll have the summer months to grow up a bit.

Gardam changes point of view from chapter to chapter to give each girl a chance in the spotlight. Hetty heads for the Lake District on her own, an attempt to get away from her mother and try to get a head start on the basic reading she is certain her fellow university students have already studied. Una takes a bicycle trip around the countryside in the company of a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Leiselotte’s journey is the most wide-ranging and full of surprises. I’m not sure I ever really got to know her in this novel and felt that her story was somewhat tacked onto that of the other girls.

Re-read the teen manga Emma: A Victorian Romance series by Kaoru Mori (in English translation) for the 3rd time. I borrowed the complete omnibus 5 volumes from the library.

For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World's Favourite Drink
by Sarah Rose
5/5 stars
This is the story of the lengths that England and the British East India Company went about to monopolize the tea industry and take it away from China. Robert Fortune, gardener, botanist and plant hunter was sent by England to secretly gather plants from China to send to India (where England had British Rule). Aiding him in the transplantation of the plants (besides some Chinese citizens) was the newly invented Wardian case, a predecessor of the terrarium. This was definitely a hard to put down book. So interesting!

I finished The Song of the Lark. It was primarily an exploration of the artistic drive but also a description of a time (1890 to 1920) and places (Colorado, Arizona, Chicago, and New York City)

Just finished Walking the Woods and Water by Nick Hunt. I got this a while ago but was hesitant to read it, because I had re cently read 2 books about Patrick Leigh Fermoor and was afraid another voice might ruin them for me. Not
to worry, the author's objective was to see the differences along the way that Paddy walked 70 years ago, and he stuck with that; there wasn't a lot about the author's woes or too many quotes from PLF. Very good writing takes the reader along for the ride. I was not surprised to see how much had changed with the impact of wwii,, the cold war, and communism, was interested to see how generations kept certain values, as well as prejudices along the way. I thought I knew a lot of the history of the areas, esp the Balkans, but I managed to pick up quite bit along the way.

A few dislikes : he manages to find himself in snow country often and frequesntly repeats the same things he did before about how cold he was. I did skip some of this. And he apparently wore the same clothing for 182 days,including his boots which he mentioned within the first quarter of the book. I know he had money to purchase them: is he saying that there were no shoemakers in the villages he walked through or no shoe stores in the big cities? If this was something he wanted to do in one pair,fine, then stop complaining about them

Also interesting how he used crowd sourcing to pay for the journey, and used social media to find someone to stay with. He says he didn't use a map, but no, he has internet access....

I think this book stands alone as a travel narrative, but if you have read PLF, you are in for a treat.

I finished The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan in the Turkish Airlines lounge during my long layover on the way to Georgia yesterday. I enjoyed this entry into the Wheel of Time series; it had a consistent pace and all of the major characters were included. A bit of a cliffhanger at the end, which will drive me to pick up the next book pretty quickly!

Also made good progress with Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher; one big surprise so far, and maybe more, we'll see!

>27 snash: Not a huge fan of Cather, but read that for a book group and really loved it. Her descriptions of Az and NM, and of a desert storm are spot on perfect.

I have to write my review for The Wolf and the Watchman, if only to help me sleep. This is an historical mystery the same way Ducks, Newburyport is a novel: yes it is, but sooooo muuuuuch mooooore.

Added a review copy of The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti by Meryle Secrest to my reading rotation.

The Last Days of Night – Graham Moore
Digital audio performed by Johnathan McClain
4****

Moore’s novel is historical fiction that focuses on the question of genius. In 1888, gas lamps were still the norm. But Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse both were trying to sell the public on the electric light bulb. Young attorney Paul Cravath is hired by Westinghouse to defend – and win – a lawsuit. He’s been sued by Edison over the question of patent law: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country?

I was completely captivated by the narrative. The characters fairly leapt off the pages, they were so real and alive. Moore also does a marvelous job of setting the scene; I can easily picture myself at the opera, or looking out at the soft light of gas lamps lighting the streets of New York.

As he explains in the author’s note at the end: “…this novel is intended as a dramatization of history, not a record of it. … The bulk of the events depicted in this book did happen and every major character did exist.” He further explains his sources for much of the dialogue, but states that he did re-order some events for narrative flow, as well as invented some scenarios that may have been plausible but which have not been documented. “This book is a Gordian knot of verifiable truth, educated supposition, dramatic rendering, and total guesswork.”

I was enthralled from beginning to end and may have enjoyed the author’s note even more than the novel. In short it was fascinating, engaging and illuminating. I can hardly wait for my F2F book group discussion.

Johnathan McClain does a marvelous job of narrating the audio book. He sets a good pace and his work interpreting Nikola Tesla’s convoluted speech pattern is priceless.

Fred deserves a week off...new thread is up!