Update: I learned of this book via this post by Linda at Linda’s Book Obsession. Won’t you click and go read her review as well? Leave her a nice comment. Bloggers live on comments. Continue reading “Review: The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah UPDATED”
I wanted a Thanksgiving book to listen to this week. I Googled and found this one–by Janet Evanovich, pre-Stephanie Plum. Color me shocked–I had NO IDEA this woman had written 70+ books? End of my excuses for not getting my TWO professionally proofread and submitted!! Add to this the fact that the audio version is preformed by C.J. Critt, the original voice of Stephanie Plum (and the only one to me) and I had to listen. It’s 256 pages or 5 hours if you listen, just over the suggested limit, but what the heck! It’s short and moves VERY fast. I’m calling it a novella.
Thanks to the Novellas in November is hosts, Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck.
If you are Reading Across the USA(click to learn more), then this book is set in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Meghan Murphy is new to Williamsburg, Virginia and lives in the Colonial area. (It’s an amazing place to visit, by the way). Patrick Hunter has just begun his career as a pediatrician in the same part of town. When a desperate mother leaves her baby, Timmy, with them things go a bit hay-wire (hyphen because later in the story…..) In the run up to Thanksgiving and just after they “couple” (who were not a couple until Timmy’s arrival) navigate faux-parenthood and the perils of instant attraction. Continue reading “Novellas in November Review: Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich”
Public library websites are a great source of reading recommendations. I found this one here on the Los Angeles Public Library website. It sounded good.
Continue reading “Review: Picture Bride by Lee Geum-yi, translated by An Seonjae”
Bob came to reading in his youth. It was the old story of the isolated child finding solace in the school library….books led Bob to libraries, to librarians, which led to his becoming one.
I admit to having what I think of as a healthy skepticism of books about librarians. I am a librarian, but I’ve worked fewer than 90 days in a public library. I’ve worked in special libraries, law libraries, and an off campus university library. Librarians (as should be obvious to readers here) are often quirky and tend to be introverts or even loners. Many embrace causes they support very strongly. So, all that said, I took a deep breath and pushed “play” on the audio book. Continue reading “Review: The Librarianist: A Novel by Patrick de Witt”
Once again I needed an audio book and went searching my library’s e-audio collection. Before I moved to Ohio (gasp) 15 years ago come Labor Day weekend, I read mostly nonfiction. For 13+ years I had an hour and 10-20 minute commute each way to my job as a college librarian. Of necessity I got more into fiction to feed my need for audio books. They made the drive far less stressful and much more interesting than the radio.
At a much earlier stage in my life, I day dreamed about moving to Alaska (oh, I knew I’d never really do it! Too much work!) I vacationed a few years with my great-uncle the artist in Northern Idaho before Ruby Ridge, before everything boomed with development. I loved the freedom and the quiet. But, I had to earn a living!
Map of the USA highlighting Colorado
Journalist Ted Conover, whose work somehow is new to me, grew up in Colorado and became fascinated Continue reading “Review: Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge by Ted Conover”
Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In my twenties I often wondered if I could handle Alaska. In my late 20s I went out to Northern Idaho, where my artist great-uncle and great-aunt lived until some lamentable far-far-far right wing groups invade and before the area was “developed” to cater to tourists and Hollywood. It gave me thoughts of a life lived in peaceful solitude, and the beauty of nature. You are laughing, of course. Never did I consider the WORK involved! LOL So, anyway, Alaska has long been on my radar. About 10 years ago a young friend moved there just for an experience. Even with an excellent health profession, it was so expensive we all mailed her food!
Not too long before Alaska achieved statehood [January 1959], a young woman from Texas journeys to Anchorage to stay with her sister and brother-in-law. Not wanting to go back, she looks around and finds herself a suitable guy. Marie and Lawrence marry and take out a homestead. This is back in the days of American Colonialism, when there were “no” settlers in Alaska because there were only the indigenous people whose land it was.
Lawrence has what we call PTSD today from his stint in the Army during the Korean “Conflict”–it was never declare as a “war.” He deals with it as best he can through hard work or even exercise. Meanwhile, he and Marie set up house in an an old bus modified to have a wood stove, while they clear the land and build a cabin. In town they see “natives” treated badly, but being people of their time and not woke individuals of today, they don’t like it, but they feel they must mind their own business. Lawrence is a little obsessed with “proving” his claim–[maybe a minor spoiler] it ties in a bit with his PTSD. Marie wants to share in the “proving up” of the claim. She though is by now pregnant. Her sister, back in Anchorage, has not been able to have a child. This is predictably a cause of tension between them.
The hard work of the homestead is obvious. Lawrence’s father arrives to help build the cabin and Marie is grateful. Her sister is her sole “support” in terms of a “support network,” as we’d call it today, but Lawrence’s father is soon added to that.
Late in the story, they take a risk and ask to be introduced to a father and son–Native Alaskans. They learn a bit about how they see things. The story does not catapult them (thankfully) into modern views, but they do learn and grown from it.
The parallels are between Lawrence and Marie growing in their marriage and Alaska going through the growing pains from Colonial “Territory” to full statehood–even though many would prefer they be independent (just like Puerto Rico).
In Peace Corps I learned a lot of the idiocy of the “Great White Savior” mentality like bringing in Monsanto for fertilizer so that without it crops failed. Or showing people who had been successfully growing their own food for centuries a “better” way to do it based on what worked in North Dakota. At the time I read this I saw the “other” side of Mt. Rushmore–a mountain that to certain Native Americans symbolized their history. I can honestly say I knew nothing of that. And, while I would still like to see Mt Rushmore, I will view it differently. All of these things, as the woke would say, provide the “lens” though which I viewed the story–or “informed” how I took in the story.
No matter, it is a very compelling story told mostly with the manners and mores of the time–something I value in historical fiction. Not everyone was as clairvoyant as many authors want their historical characters to be. That Lawrence and Marie even agreed to meet Alaskans was a huge deal and made an impression on them.
That said, I did not really “get” the symbolism (if there was any) of Lawrence’s big “thing” [no spoilers]. Was it a modern-day attack on men? Was it something to do with his PTSD? Hmmmmmmm. Otherwise, I thought the book was very “real.” The actions of the characters were believeable. The author planted me firmly in that homestead. I felt the angst of Anchorage residents at statehood as they waited to see if their lives would improve with the Capital being moved there (hint: Capital is still Juneau). This part of the story caught my attention as I was in Peace Corps with one of the Anchorage City Planners from just after that era. Fond memory.
No matter, I enjoyed this book tremendously. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Homestead: A Novel by Melinda Moustakis will be published on February 28, but is available for pre-order in all formats.
For once I failed to note where I found this. So, if it was your blog, please let me know, ok? I love to give credit where it is due.
The book captured my attention for a couple of reasons: Hawaii is a state I know really only for Pearl Harbor and Magnum PI (the REAL one with Tom Selleck). And, Korea–I only know my neighbor and our late friend at church were both in the war (“police action”) that spanwed the t.v. show, M*A*S*H). Plus, it was a family story with a family business–that all sounded good.
The restaurant was louder than Grace could accommodate and process, and working the register was no worse than the sound she detested the most: the scooping of mac salad, squishing, her skull being emptied of a brain, eaten away by the thought of working another hour.
Grace’s parents moved to Hawaii and opened what became a small 3 location chain of “Korean plate lunch” restaurants. A family business. In Hawaii, the US military, Hawaiians, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese and mainlanders are all thrown together. Grace though embraces a different culture–she’s a stoner and wanna-be graduate student. Meanwhile, as graduate schools process her application, she is still manning the cash register in one of the family’s restaurants.
Grace’s brother, Jacob, has taken a job teaching English in one of the many after school “schools” (tutoring centers) that Koreans so often make their kids attend. While there he is taken over by the ghost of his grandfather who deserted the family. The family fled from the North to the South during the war. Jacob wrestles with the spirit in much the same way a believer might who feels taken over by Satan could wrestle–like what is plotted in the Screwtape Letters. On a visit to the DMZ Jacob seems to try to go into North Korea. Back home, a little later, a mistake leaves the world thinking North Korea is sending missles to hit Hawaii.
“,,,this is how I walk the Earth without you….”
Parts of this book were very good. Other parts were very tedious. For example, what was the point of reading long lists of names? Very dull. I recall where ever it was I first read about this book saying they’d have liked the book to be more conventional. I agree a good bit with that. Surprisingly, I was not put off by the ghost part. Usually I’d roll my eyes and pass on a book with that! It was ok. The spirit life line got a bit long though. I’d have liked more of the “normal life” side of the story.
I like Grace more than I Jacob. I thought she was the “smart one” brought back to life [see the spirit part of the book]. One review mention a gender aspect, but I must be too dense or too old or whatever to catch that part. I did wonder why the spanking thing was necessary–was I wrong to take that as _ e-x–l?
I found the attitude toward the Christianity many Koreans embrace to be respectful, A little tongue-in-cheek here or there, but not rude or derogatory. That was a nice surprise. And, for a book written a few years ago and published finally in 2022 there were not hit-you-over-the-head messages about how awful a certain President was. Sick of that, even if I didn’t vote for him.
I look forward to reading more from this author even if I didn’t find this book as “creative” and all the other gushing words the big reviewers used. He tells a good story and should get even better at it with time. The unusual elements in this book did add to the telling of the story, but a little pruning of them would have helped.
Now I’m desperate for SPAM and kimchi though!
And, isn’t that cover gorgeous!! I love it.
The Gilded Age is a favorite of mine and the Cottages of New Port are on my Bucket List. I really enjoyed Lauren Willig’s Band of Sisters (click for my review) last year. (I’ve read one book by Karen White but have no memory of it–it’s just in my Goodreads “Read” list. I haven’t read any by Beatriz Wiliams though I started one and ran out of library time). Plus, I was intrigued by the idea of a committee of three writing a novel (apparently it is their second novel written as a trio).
The book cycles through alternating chapters telling the story of three members of the Sprague family (or their staff) in their Newport “Cottage” (i.e. mansion). Ellen, in 1899 (the Gilded Age) is music teacher to Maybelle Sprague whose brother wants her married off to an Italian Prince (this is the era of the Dollar Princesses–aka, Cora Crawley of Downton Abbey or Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome and his cousin’s wife, Newport’s own Consuelo Vanderbilt). In 1957 we have Maybelle’s great-granddaughter the oh-so-helpfully nicknamed “Lucky,” the 50’s upper-class party-hosting wife (JFK and Jackie are guests) of hard-drinking, Mad Men-ish skirt-chasing Stuyvesant Sprague, and daughter-in-law of secret-holding Dudley Sprague. In the present day (2019) we have TV host Andie who interacts with Lucky’s grandchildren while filming a reality show around the rules of “Don’t go near the boathouse” [cue the warning music] and “Don’t try to talk to Lucky” [more warning music]. Secrets, of course, abound!
This is THE historical fiction beach/pool book of the year! Exactly what I needed for my commute, too. Never mind that enough clues are dropped that even I guessed one of the big secrets! Or that there are eye-rolling things happening everywhere. This was a darned good read from start-to-finish. Improbable? Sure, but why let that spoil any of the fun? It’s a beach or pool book — just roll with it (like the waves of the sea).
A few annoying things:
But why, oh why, do people try to voice children with crap like “I founded a worm?” or have them stuff crap up their noses when they are school aged?? Ugh!! And can’t anyone do anything to show affection to a little boy but tousling the kid’s hair? (It’s as annoying and ubiquitous as the guy always “tenderly” tucking a lock of hair behind the woman’s ear). The kid things were made worse by the reader doing super annoying speech impediment of w for r for the kid! (Hopefully he’s getting help for this at that school he’s always puking to get out of attending). More reader problems included pronouncing the Latin “Pater” as “Patter” and can’t decide if Joanie says “Ma-Ma” or “M’ma” (ala Prince Charles)–I didn’t think even the Preppy-ist of 50s era Preps said “M’ma” but who knows, right?
Lost Summers of Newport: A Novel by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve read a couple of other books by Sandra Dallas (see the bottom of this post) and I keep hoping there will be one of her books that I really love. I’ve be “fine” with them, there were “fine,” I just want to be wowed by this author. This story seemed to have that potential. It’s a timely story beings set in the Spanish Flu epidemic that began in the last year of World War I, 1918 and lasted until 1920. It also features two independent ladies–sisters, who move to a new place all on their own. And, for once, that place wasn’t New York, but Denver, Colorado.
Sisters Lutie, an illustrator, and Helen, a nurse, move to Denver and find work. Lutie illustrates ads for a department store and Helen works at a hospital. They rent the basement of their house out for extra income. A family moves in with an unstable husband, a long-suffering wife, and a little daughter who needs protecting.
Meanwhile, both of the sisters find prospective husbands–Helen, naturally finds a young doctor, and Lutie, unexpectedly lands the son of a local judge–a powerful and wealthy man. The sisters watch as America enters the war–Lutie’s finance ships out with the other Doughboys. Meanwhile, in the basement, all is not good. The husband takes his frustrations out on his little family. When the wife dies, the daughter is left too vulnerable. Meanwhile, the flu strikes.
My first thought is, why hasn’t Oprah promoted this book? Then I remembered it isn’t out until April 26th. It packs about as much depressing stuff into a story as possible. All of the normal Oprah book type stuff. Rape, murder, trafficking, incest, rats, blackmail, false accusations, disease, a hooker with a heart of gold–you name it, its in there, albeit in small doses and thankfully not graphically depicted. This has Oprah’s Book Club written all over it.
Then there were things like this: “The Rocky Mountain News said we wouldn’t need to be afraid of the influenza if we voted Republican.” Make it stop already! Trump is gone. Quit with this stuff. Stay in the time of the story, please. Wilson was President then and he was a Democrat. And then prescient statements like this: “You know…they’re saying the [flu] could kill as many people as the war…..” And then this gem” “I’d like to be a fine artist painting pictures to make people see the injustice in the world, that cause them to protest discrimination….” Right…exactly. That was happening all over the place in 1917, right? In the U.S. it was all but illegal to gather during World War I. President Wilson re-segregated the Civil Service and cracked down on anything that could stir dissent against the war or for the Germans.
I was interested enough in the sisters’ story to finish the book, but oh boy what a finish! Will the woke never end in contemporary fiction? The heart-strings were tugged as well as the corset strings. I cared about Lutie and Helen and Dorothy and admired their spirit and independence. I was impressed with the way they helped and protected Dorothy. But the author had them swear like modern day women. If Helen had been overheard swearing she’d have been fired. Probably Lutie would have, too. And women did NOT smoke in public then. None. Maybe in a Paris nightclub, but not in Conservative Denver, Colorado ice cream shop. Do not “modernize” things to appeal to today’s readers. It doesn’t work.
This story just had too many bad things going on. It was depressing more than serious. I didn’t expect all unicorns and rainbows, but I didn’t expect a Penny Dreadful either. The soliloquy by the judge’s wife made me giggle, roll my eyes AND yell “Oh, please” and it was supposed to be serious. I also thought the Epilogue was silly and shouldn’t have been there. It seemed like a sop to book clubs (or a ruse by the editor to keep the author from writing a sequel?)
Little Souls by Sandra Dallas
My Reviews of Other Books by this author:
I also read this book for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
Like many people I’d read Water For Elephants and, back in the day, I’d read a circus book called The Circus at the Edge of the Earth for a lawyer who was involved in a case with an elephant in the book! I read the book and wrote him a precis. I loved The Greatest Showman movie–more circus. I preferred If I Ran the Circus to If I Ran the Zoo as a child. And I’ve even watched the John Wayne epic Circus World.
Then, too, the author was or is a professor at Ball State University (and is or was part of the fabulous Midwest Writer’s Workshop) where nearly all of high school my friends went to college since we lived in the same town (ok, outside the town, but barely). I haunted the library there waiting for Mom to finish work in the library or for my math tutor. It’s where I discovered the Illustrated London News and looked at every single issue of Life magazine and started my royal reading. Finally, I’m pretty sure this was an Amazon First Reads book. Whew! Lots of interest!
A look from a elephant. A bunch of horses needing shoes. A sick child. A business deal. That’s how it began. This is a collection of stories about the Great Porter Circus whose winter quarters were in Lima, Indiana. We learn how the Circus came to bear the Porter name and the sad story of the owner’s tragic wife. We are told of how many of the performers came to join the circus. The stories detail the horrible racism that landed some of the “performers” in their roles–roles much like people brought to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair “Anthropology Days’ (Yes, that Fair–the one Judy Garland sang about in Meet Me In St Louis). Except these were “Negros” (as was then the term) born in the United States, but paid to pretend to be “savages.” Paid way better than for emptying buckets of “waste matter” on river boats. We learn of the “sideshow freaks”–the lady with 15 fingers and all the rest of that cast of characters.
But wait. This is FICTION. It reads exactly like a nonfiction “biography” of the circus as both a performing troop and as a business. These were real people–right. Nope!
The premise here was very good–tell about the circus as it was in “real life” and not in the show ring. Let us meet and get to know the people who bring the magic. Except it fell flat for me. It’s hard to put my finger on just why, but I think it had to do with it being fiction. That was a let down.
While the stories were vivid, many were hard to like. The people they described were hard-done-by to be sure. They deserved better lives than they got and that may be why it being fiction fell flat for me. A sort of invented appropriation of misery. Then there were the animals–the elephants and horses and all that had to work and perform. I don’t have a problem with circuses using animals if they are treated humanely. That’s part of the magic of the show. But back in the day of these stories, just like the performers, they were usually pretty miserable. That made for a bleak reading experience.
“Enjoy” would not be the right word for “liking” this book. Saying it was “well done” for the subject matter or a similar phrase would be the thing. It is not “badly done.” It was just flat. I was not surprised that some reviews said “DNF.” It was tempting. But, it was the circus. I had to see the whole show. And, though it fell flat to my ears, she can tell a story. Maybe not in a key that made this story resonate with me. I’d definitely try more of her work.
Hopewell's Public Library of Life 