Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Educated - Tara Westover

Quite a powerful ending to the year with this read.  A 30-something woman recounts her upbringing in a fundamentalist Mormon home where the children's births are registered and they don't go to school.  Her father and brother are abusive and her mother and obedient herbalist healer.  Tara goes on to a different mainstream life by obtaining an education, getting a PhD in intellectual history.

Initially I felt skeptical of the story because of the extreme beliefs and actions described and because it was the memories of a child being described by an adult.  Her matter of fact recounts of the injuries endured by her family members and her own perspective years later seem cold and unfeeling, making me wonder if (or when) she will be able to express her own emotions.   She is still estranged from her parents and two of her six siblings and expresses a longing for reconciliation.  This story is not over.

Quote:
p 111. "[after her brother hurts her wrist] This moment would define my memory of that night, and of the many nights like it, for a decade.  In it I saw myself as unbreakable, as tender as stone.  At first I merely believed this, until one day it became the truth...because nothing affected me.  I didn't understand how morbidly right I was.  How I had hollowed myself out.  For all my obsessing over the consequences of that night, I had misunderstood the vital truth: that its not affecting me, that was the effect."

Published: 2018  Read: December 2019  Genre: Memoir

2019 Recap - The Favorites

Well, I'm finally getting around to reviewing 2019 reads and listing the top 5.  Without further ado, those are:

5) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (2017)
4) Educated - Tara Westover (2018)
3) Ancestors - William Maxwell (1971)
2) Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner (1971)
1) The Battle for God - Karen Anderson (2000)
 That's a couple of recent one and two older ones and one in the middle, publishing range wise and two auto-biographies, two fictions and one philosophical non-fiction.  You can click on the link to each one to read my review. 

My number one pic, The Battle for God by Karen Anderson is a insightful, thoroughly researched and thought challenging read about the evolution of the three major Judaeo Christian religions and the consequences of sub-groups feeling marginalized and victimized.  Prophetic and enlightening.

Overall, I managed to hit 50 reads this year, a slow summer because I chose travel over reading for enjoyment.  The complete list of 2019 reads is here. What did you enjoy reading in 2019?

Friday, December 27, 2019

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

The clash of classes and values swirls into a crisis in this tale of upper-class America and those beneath them.  Mia and her daughter Pearl are vagabonds moving across country constantly until they land in Shaker Heights.  The original planned community, everything is prescribed and orderly for its residents except Izzy, youngest daughter of the Richardsons, who chafes against the expected norms.
When simmering family tensions and teenage relationships reach the boiling point, each character must decide how to continue with their lives.

I liked the setup of this book; a catastrophe introduces us to everyone and then the events which precipitated it are unveiled in the rest of the story.  That said, it also makes me want to skip to the end or speed read to find the link.  Not your typical misunderstanding tragedy, as the differences in the viewpoints and beliefs of the characters are subtly painted.  Yet, I was left disappointed as it seemed as if the free-spirited Mia was a bit too wise, the loyalty of her daughter, Pearl, somewhat unbelievable and the resolution of Izzy and her mother suggestive perhaps of the author's own experience.

Quotes:
p. 122 - "To a parent, your child wasn't just a person: your child was a place, a kind of Narnia, a vast eternal place where the present you were living and the past you remembered and the future you longed for all existed at once....It was a place you could take refuge, if you knew how to get in.  And each time you left it, each time your child passed out of your sight, you feared you might never be able to return to that place again."

p. 248 - "Pearl's caresses had become rare - a peck on the cheek, a one-armed, half-hearted hug - and all the more precious because of that.  It was the way of things, Mia though to herself, but how hard it was...when what you really wanted more than anything was to press them to you and hold them so tight you fused together and could never be taken apart.  It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all." 
Published:  2017   Read: December 2019  Genre: Fiction

Monday, December 23, 2019

Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiny

I enjoyed this humorous, touching and modern view on family relationships.  Graham is on his second marriage to the vibrant, talkative, hyper-social and younger Audra.  They have a son with Asperger's syndrome and his ex-wife, the cool, perfect Elspeth re-enters their life through Audra's efforts at moving forward.  Dealing with their son's challenges and their own quirks of personality makes for a light story that was fun to read.  But what's with the characters' names?

Quotes:
"Bad deeds--even anonymous bad deeds--came home to roost eventually in the form of a speeding ticket or a court summons, but anonymous good deeds generally went unacknowledged forever."
[on starting over] "It would be ...frustrating to start all over again.  It would be like finding your own footprints while lost in the jungle and realizing you had been walking in circles." 
 Published:  2017  Read: December 2019  Genre: Fiction

The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert

This was for the most part a delightful read.  Alma is the only daughter of a self-made man of the late 1700's and early1800s.  He serves on a ship to atone for a crime and travels the world, picking up skills that allows him to make his fortune and build a plantation in Pennsylvania that provides medicinal plants, among other ventures.  Alma grows up in this privileged world, exploring their estate and becomes and expert in plants and horticulture, specifically the miniature world of mosses.

Her parents take in a beautiful orphan girl and declare they treat each other as sisters, a relationship that colors the rest of both of their lives.  The family story evolves against the scientific discoveries of the period, in particular Darwin's evolution of the species.  The title of the book refers to the belief that every thing that exists bears the signature of a creator.

Alma finds love, loses it, and strikes out on her own in the world, writing a parallel theory of life to Darwin's, based on her studies of mosses and her life experiences.  The story gets off on a tangent about two thirds of the way but winds up satisfactorily reflecting on the lives of women of the period, family relationships and the natural world.

Quotes:
"Those who are ill-prepared to endure the battle for survival should perhaps never have attempted living in the first place.  The only unforgivable crime is to cut short the experiment of one's own life before its natural end.  To do so is a weakness and a pity--for the experiment of life will cut itself off soon enough, in all our cases, and one may just as well have the courage and the curiosity to stay in the battle until one's eventual and inevitable demise.  Anything less than a fight for endurance is cowardly.  Anything less than a fight for endurance is a refusal of the great covenant of life."
"[reflecting on her theory of life] "For here was the hole in Alma's theory; she could not, for the life of her, understand the evolutionary advantages of altruism and self-sacrifice.  If the natural world was indeed the sphere of amoral and constant struggle for survival that it appeared to be, and if out-competing one's rivals was the key to  dominance, adaptation, and endurance--then what was one supposed to make [of these traits]? 
[discussing her dilemma with a spiritualist] "There is no evolutionary need, you see, for us to have such acute sensitivities of intellect and emotion.  There is no practical need for the minds that we have.  We don't need a mind that can invent religions or argue over our origins.  We don't need ethics, morality, dignity, or sacrifice.  We don't need affection or love, certainly not to the degree that we feel it.  If anything, our sensibilities can be a liability, for they can cause us to suffer distress.  So I do not believe that the process of natural selection gave us these minds--even though I do believe that it did give us these bodies, and most of our abilities.  We have them because there is a supreme intelligence in the universe, which wishes for communion with us...it wants union with us, more than anything."
"I know that just because people can hear each other across the divide does not mean they can necessarily understand each other."
"..I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me." 
Published: 2014  Read: 2019   Genre: Fiction

Monday, December 16, 2019

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

My sister recommended this book and coincidentally it was chosen for one of my book clubs too.  I devoured it in one day!

Eleanor Oliphant is living a regimented life with a unique outlook shaped by her childhood.  A chance encounter with a co-worker leads to her breaking out of her past and finding friendship and healing.

My first impression of the book was that we all are living our own reality shaped by our unique experiences.  It's so easy to assume everyone else is coming from the same place.  I was drawn into the story to understand Eleanor's experiences and how they led to her behavior.  The story is told with humor that makes the reality bearable and demonstrates the strength of the human spirit.  A great read!

Quotes
p. 91 - [She observes Raymond's mother looking at her son] She looked at him with so much love that I had to turn away.  At least I know what love looks like, I told myself.  That's something.  No one had ever looked at me like that, but I'd be able to recognize it if they ever did."
p. 165 - [After Raymond touched her shoulder] A human hand was exactly the right weight, exactly the right temperature for touching another person, I realized.
p. 227 - These days, loneliness is the new cancer - a shameful, embarrassing thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don't want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them. 
p. 299 [From her counselor about her childhood experiences] ...there were terrible, terrible consequences for everyone involved. And none of that is your fault, Eleanor, absolutely none of it.  "I don't know if you need to forgive your mother, Eleanor," she said,.  "But I'm certain of one thing: you need to forgive yourself". 

Published:  2017   Read: December 2019  Genre: Fiction

Saturday, December 14, 2019

I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron

Subtitle: and other reflections

I enjoyed one of the author's other books, I Feel Bad About My Neck, and her smart, snappy writing here is as good as that in her screenplays for When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle among others.  This book is in the same spirit, though a bit more unfocused.  I laughed out loud when she explained her addiction to mobile Scrabble games.  Her life took her to all parts of the world and encounters with countless interesting people.  I enjoyed her sharing a part of it.  Sadly, she passed away shortly after the publication of this book.

Published: 2010   Read: December 2019  Genre: Memoir

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Shadow Play - Cynthia Harrod Eagles

I don't know that I've read one of CHE's mystery novels before, at least not one from the Bill Slider series, the police detective hero in this 20th book of the series.  I enjoy her writing style and know from my long experience with her Morland Dynasty series that she is thorough in her research of time and place.  That said, I'm not a fan of mysteries, so I don't think I'll be seeking the earlier ones in this series. 

This is the mystery of a body found in a junkyard and the police investigation to discover the murderers.  I realized as I read that I was getting a very English version of police work and of different groups in English law enforcement; minorities, women, working class and elites.  Those learnings made the read worthwhile. 

Published: 2018  Read: December 2019  Genre: Mystery

Black Hawk Speaks - John G Neihardt

I got this from the library after reading a reference to it in Future Home of the Living God.  It tells of the Lakota Indian traditions and culture as documented by Neihardt in interviews with Black Elk, an Ogala Lakota medicine. man.  Black Elk's son translated for Neihardt so there are layers of interpretation.  The book became a cult hit in the 70's.  I admit I couldn't finish the translated stories though I did read most of the historical evolution and looked at the pictures. 

Published:  1932 (originally) 1988 ed.   Read: December 2019  Genre: Non-fiction (Native American)

Thursday, December 5, 2019

The Lost Family - Jenna Blum

This was a quick read.  A man who loses his wife and twin daughters during the Holocaust moves to American where he becomes a chef, remarries and has another child.  Their marriage and family is overshadowed by his past.  The story didn't go anywhere yet it was pleasant reading. Okay for the beach, even if it is the middle of winter.

Published: 2018  Read: December 2019  Genre: Fiction

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Battle for God - Karen Anderson

I highly recommend this book for an understanding of how the fundamentalist branches of the major Judeo-Christian religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - evolved and the impact of their presence is having on our world today.  It gave me insight and understanding of world events in a context I was not familiar with, putting the puzzle pieces together to provide a larger view of the major conflicts between the different sides.  A thoughtful, deeply researched and well documented read.

Published:2000  Read: November 2019  Genre: Non-fiction, religion

Journey - James A Michener


Brought this book along on an airplane flight and finished over half in a couple hours.  It's a story that Michener excised from his tome Alaska but wanted to preserve as a record of the exploration of Canada during the 1887-1889 Gold Rush days.

In the story, a pompous, self-impressed English lord takes his nephew, a fellow explorer, the nephew's friend and an Irish servant from England to Canada to the gold fields of the Klondike.  Well, he attempts to anyway.  His stubborn arrogance dooms their journey.  It's a historical account that illuminates the attitudes of the aristocracy and the courage and perseverance of men seeking to achieve a formidable goal. 

It was a good read and I especially enjoyed the author's background notes on the book and the writing process.

Published: 1989 Read: November 2019  Genre: Historical fiction

Sunday, November 3, 2019

What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell

A delightful read of essays with a different take on everyday experiences.  I enjoy the author's writing and his other books (Blink, Tipping Point).  This one is easier to take in.  I had several marked pages quoted below:

p 44 There are five known fundamental tastes in the human palate:  salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami.  Umami is the proteiny, full-bodied taste of chicken soup, cured meats, aged cheese, mother's milk, soy sauce, mushrooms or seaweed.
p. 154 [a puzzle vs a mystery] If things go wrong with  puzzle, identifying the culprit is easy; its the person who withheld information.  Mysteries, though, are a lot murkier; sometimes the information we've been given is inadequate and sometimes ; mysteries don't always come to satisfying conclusions.  Puzzles are "transmitter dependent" they turn on what we are told; mysteries are "listener dependent" they turn on the skill of the listener.
Theory of risk homeostasis - Gerald Wild - Target Risk book
He also referenced the list of 11 most important poems in the American canon.  Fun to look up.

Published: 2009  Read: October 2019  Genre: Essay non-fiction

Saturday, October 19, 2019

The Story of a Marriage - Geir Gulliksen


Ugh, whiny, obsessive, weird husband loses wife to another man.  Not recommended.

Published: 2018  Read: October 2019  Genre: Fiction


Night of Miracles - Elizabeth Berg

This was a sweet story that builds upon her previous book's characters.  I don't think I read the prequel.  This is the story of an aging widow, her neighbors and adopted daughter and granddaughter.  It's about kindness and caring and the passing of one generation who hands off the future to the next.  A nice read.

Published: 2018  Read: October 2019  Genre: Fiction

Ref: Black Elk Speaks - a book about being part of nature was referred to as one of the favorites of one of the characters in the story.  I added it to my TBR.


Saturday, October 5, 2019

Future Home of the Living God - Louise Erdrich

"The first thing that happens at the end of the world is that we don't know what is happening".  This quote is the background of this depressing story.  Evolution is running backwards, birds laying eggs that hatch raptors, cats giving birth to saber tooth tigers and humans giving birth to ...we don't know what.  The story is told in first person by Cedar, an adopted Native American child raised by hippie-like liberals, who is pregnant and writing a journal to her unborn child.  She is pursued throughout the story because pregnant women are being "sequestered" to monitor the births of their children. 

I've read books by Erdrich before a long time ago and my reviews weren't great on those.  This one kept me reading and I had no inkling of where the story would lead.  In the end, its a statement about our society and the world with a ominous outlook.

Published: 2017  Read: September 2019  Genre: Fiction

Monday, September 30, 2019

Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver

This book is probably going to be in my top 5 for 2019.  I've read all of Kingsolver's books and didn't know this one had come out until I saw it at a used bookstore on our way back from Alaska.

The stories of two families are told in parallel - the hook being that one is living in their disintegrating home in the 1870s after the Civil War and the other is living in the same house in the present.  Both families are seeking safe shelter - from the elements, relationship turmoil, family changes and leaders who abuse their power.  It's cutting commentary on today's political environment which weirdly parallels the turmoil after the Civil War. 

I enjoyed the characters and their families.  The alternating stories were smoothly transitioned and the story moved to  satisfying conclusion.  Highly recommended

Published: 2018  Read: September 2019  Genre: Fiction

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Flying Carpet - Richard Halliburton


Sometime in the past I'd read about the adventure stories of Richard Halliburton and added his name to my TBR list.  In a dusty old bookstore on our way back from Alaska this summer, I finally found one of his books.

Richard Halliburton was a son of well-to-do English parents who in the 1920s explored the world on foot, by sea and land and wrote about his adventures.  He was a superstar who wrote in a romantic, exaggerated style that won the fascination of the public in his day.

The Flying Carpet was the name he gave to his bi-plane that he used to travel from California to NY and then transport by ship to England where he embarked on a world tour of exotic locations from Timbuktu to Persia and Turkey and on to the Taj Mahal and Mt Everest, eventually returning to the U.S.

I was transported to the time and places and attitudes of the 1920s and thrilled with his spirit of can do optimism and daring-do.  If I run across other of his writings, I'll read them as well.

Published: 1932 (originally) 1982 ed.  Read: 2019  Genre: Adventure

The Spirit Catches You and then You Fall Down - Amy Fadiman


I'd remembered this author's name when I saw it on the spine so thought it would be a good choice.  I picked the book up in Pismo Beach while camping there.  I found the previous book I'd read of this author's, Ex Libris, by searching on my blog.  I'd enjoyed it a lot and this one was also a great read.

This book tells the story of Lin, a Hmong child whose family had immigrated from Laos after the Vietnam war.  Lin has a severe form of epilepsy and the way she is treated by American doctors versus the beliefs of her family and culture are the focus of the story.

I didn't know who the Hmong were so the history and cultural information was fascinating.  Their immigration struggles in the late 70's and 80's brought home the extreme difficulty of starting life over some place new. 

I was enthralled by the contrast in the belief systems of the two cultures and sadden by its impact.  A wonderful, thoughtful read.

Published:  1997  Read: September 2019  Genre: Non-fiction

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Enchantress of Numbers - Jennifer Chiaverini

Sub-title: A Novel of Ada Lovelace

Picked this hardback, large print up on trip back from Alaska.  It was a good read by the author of another title I read of hers, about Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker. 

It's the story of the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, the great romantic poet of early 1800s.  The story is told in first person by Ada, sharing her life from her birth through her attendance at the Great Exposition just shortly before her death.  It's an example of one of the century's scandalous families, who were always in the press, much like current talented, yet flawed celebrities of today.

I despised Ada's mother's manipulation and poisoning of Ada's mind and manner and the sad destruction of so many lives.  A tidy bit of history worth reading.

Published: 2017  Read: September 2019  Genre: Historical fiction

Thursday, August 29, 2019

The Hostage Heart - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

I read the entire Morland series (over 35 books) several years ago that this author had written.  Those were the story of a fictional family through English history, from the War of the Roses through WWI. 

This story was written when the author was a young woman and she recently updated it and had it re-published.  She's written over 90 books at this point.  She also has a detective series I haven't read.

This story was of young love, between a young teacher looking to get away from a recent break-up and a rich, handsome heir to an estate where she goes to be a nanny to his younger half-sister.  Cheesy and predictable but still a good storyteller and I can see the seeds of the author's future style.  Fun read.

Published:  1997  Read: August 2019  Genre: Fiction

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

News of Our Loved Ones - Abigail DeWitt

A story of a French family torn apart during WWII, told from the perspective of the different family members.  It was hard to keep track of the different story lines, especially if you don't read the book all at once.  I thought it ended elegantly and enjoyed reading it.

Published:  2018  Read: 2019  Genre: Fiction

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Lilac Girls - Martha Hall Kelly

Finally, a good summer read!  This is the story of polish women taken to an all women's concentration camp during WWII by the Germans.  They were experimented upon and were receiving no reparations when a NY socialite found their story and raised money for the health needs and an extended trip to America.  Great insight on the attitudes of first world countries during WWII and a startling contrast between the upper class life of the socialite and those of the middle class Polish citizens.  Great read.

Published:  2016  Read: August 2019  Genre: Memoir

Pioneer Women - Joanna L Stratton

Letters from early 1900's tell stories of homesteading in Kansas territory.  Contains biographical names list.  I enjoyed reading this book.  The author came across letters sent to her great-grandmother who published a newspaper or magazine but had never gotten to these.  Stratton weaves them into a tale of what life was like in the settler's time. 

Published: 1981  Read: August 2019  Genre: History

Wallace Stegner : A Biography - Jackson J Benson


I admit I did not read this entire book.  I received it from a client who was looking for a possible relation to Stegner.  I'd read Stegner's works (Wolf Willow, Angle of Repose) and was intrigued to explore his life from a genealogical perspective.

The biography was written while the author was alive.  He was born February 18, 1909 near Lake Mills, IA during a visit; his parents were living in Grand Forks, ND.  He married 1 September 1934. 

Published: November 1996  Read: July 2019  Genre: Biography

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

The Bitter Season - Tami Hogg

A police partnership story with the partners being split up and working on separate cases that eventually cross paths.  A bit implausible in the ending but an okay summer read.

Published: 2016  Read: July 2019  Genre: Fiction

Association of Small Bombs - Karan Mahajan

I enjoyed the writing in this book.  It tells the aftermath of a terrorist bombing in a market in India from the viewpoint of the terrorists, the parents of children lost in the attack, a survivor and the activist involved.  It's sad and enlightening, with all of the characters fleshed out.  I would recommend it.

Published: 2016   Read: June 2019  Genre: Fiction

Taken from Home - Eric Francis

I picked up this "true crime" book from a visit to a private investigator friend.  It's the story of a woman and her daughter who disappeared from their home and her husband becomes a suspect.  He was able to evade the police for a long time before they accumulated the necessary evidence to try him for the crime.  I'd hoped for a twist in the plot at the end, but it was very predictable, reminding me why I don't like reading this genre or watching shows of the same type.  It was interesting to read the details of the police investigation and interviewing techniques.

Published: 2008  Read: August 2019   Genre: True Crime 

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Sub-title: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe

This was a good read for the perspective it provided on life in Afghanistan for women during the reign of the Taliban.  I enjoy history and getting an understanding of countries I've never been to and cultures I know little about. 

The writing was rather trite, not even good journalistic style, which is the author's background.

As the title and sub-title explain, a woman (one of the 5 sisters) supports her family as a dressmaker.  She creates an entire business, producing clothes in their home, employing other women in the community while the Taliban's rule forbade them from any freedom.  The woman, about 17 at the time, went on to become an official in Afghanistan's post-Taliban government working on business development. 

Published: 2011  Read: July 2019  Genre: Non-fiction

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

This was recommended to me as a good read.  It's the story of a 6 year old child deserted by her parents in the marshes of North Carolina bordering the Atlantic who grows up alone in a shack, shunned by the community.  She survives with the friendship of a a kind young man who teaches her to read and a kindly gas station attendant where she refuels her boat.  She begins documenting the world of birds, feathers, shells and plants that surrounds her and becomes a published naturalist.  When a local gigolo she dated is found dead, she becomes the chief suspect.

If that sounds a little far-fetched that was where I settled.  I don't usually read mysteries because as I figure out the mystery, I rip through the ending.  The writing was well done, the picture painted of the marsh and the author's knowledge of the biology evident.  In the end I was unsatisfied.

Published: August 2018  Read: July 2019  Genre: Fiction

Friday, July 19, 2019

Contents May Have Shifted - Pam Houston

Isn't that a catchy title?  That and the recommendations made me take this off the check-in shelf at a campground.  A very adventurous young woman is constantly traveling the world while trying to find and keep a meaningful relationship.  Roughly based on the author's life, it was a good read.  She used a technique called fractured narrative where she tells brief snippets of the story that your mind stitches together as your reading.  I liked learning about new places to visit and explore.


Published:  2012   Read: July 2019  Genre: Memoir

Monday, July 15, 2019

The Book of Air and Shadows - Michael Gruber

"A New York Times bestseller" the cover proclaimed so I picked this up from a used bookstore.
A young man working in a bookstore rescues a set of old books from a fire in the basement and with the store's mysterious female assistant discovers letters hidden in the covers.  The letters are from the time of Shakespeare and reveal previously unknown details of his life and a unknown new play.

The value of these items sets off a murderous pursuit for the play with double crosses and intersecting characters.  There are many literary references casually dropped throughout. 

I'm not a fan of mysteries but if you like them, it has many clever twists and turns and was an enjoyable read.


Published: 2007   Read: June 2019  Genre: Fiction

July's People - Nadine Gordimer

I'm catching up on my summer reading posts after having travelled a bit from May through July.

I picked this book up at Liard Hot Springs in Canada on our return trip from Alaska this year.
It's the story of a white family, mother, father, son and daughter, who are sheltered in the bush home of their former servant in South Africa.  It's a terrifying look at the stark differences in living and family relationships between the haves and have nots.  The central character, Maureen Smales, lived a life of middle class anywhere, with her husband a two children.  The uprisings in South Africa force them to flee to safety and they are taken in by July, their long time house servant.  Their life changes dramatically living in his village of mud huts without running water or the other accoutrements they've taken for granted.  The shift in authority between them reveals the assumptions and expectations burned into their interactions.  An interesting read.

Published: 1982   Read: July 2019  Genre: Fiction

Monday, June 10, 2019

Wolf Willow - Wallace Stegner


This was a wonderful read.  Someone I was working with had recommended the author and had been given the book by his mother.  I read it to see if there was any meaning implied in the gift.
Possibly, the message was to be as the pioneers coming to the desolate prairies of central Canada; stoic, keeping on, bouncing back from crushing hardships. 

Stegner's writing is lyrical, savored for it's imagery.  It's the story of his growing up in the small town of Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada just as the last of the frontier was conquered and the natives vanquished.  It's a lesson in Canadian history.

Surnames in "Whitemud" aka, Huffman, Sickerton, Fetter, Orullian, Stenhouse, Young, Harold Jones, William Christenson, Nels Sieby
term - metis - mulatto in U.S. someone who is half-French, half native of Canada

Grain Growers Association - people who remained after bad winter.

Published: 1955  Read: May 2019  Genre: Memoir

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Listening for the Crack of Dawn - Donald Davis

Mike found this for me last summer and I finally got to it this year.  It's a group of childhood memories written as short stories by the author.  He tells about growing up in Appalachia in a small town with all his friends.  Delightful read.


Published: 1990 Read: May 2019  Genre: Short Story

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Whisper My Secret A Memoir - JB Rowley

I am trying reading more books on my Kindle; this is my third or fourth.  While I'm liking the Kindle more, this book wasn't a great read.  Poorly written and unbalanced, it's the story of a young woman who marries because she's pregnant and has 3 children in a few years.  Her mommy's boy husband runs off with another woman with his parent's approval and her children are taken away from her.

Not worth reading and I won't be checking out the sequel.

Published:  2014   Read: May 2019  Genre: Memoir

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Tell Them of Battles, Kngs and Elephants - Mathias Enard

A translation of a well known French author's recent book about Michelangelo's work with the Sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge across the Golden Horn in 1506.   Based  on historical facts, it was a different read.  Something I picked up on the "New Books" shelf at the library.  Interesting how those in power manipulated those with talent and genius.

Published:  2010  Read: April 2019  Genre: historical fiction

It's an Old Pennsylvania Custom - Edwin Valentine Mitchell

What a delightful bunch of stories on things done in Pennsylvania!  Written in 1957, it gave me insight into living in caves, travelling in Conestoga Wagons, Shoo-fly-Pie, and being fond of music.

Some instruments played were the dulcimer, the dudelack, the geik and fiddle - I'll have to look them up!

They told the story of how on the wagons the driver mostly rode the nigh wheel horse, i.e., the one next to the wagon pole on the left hand side.  In passing traffic coming from the opposite direction the driver could manage his horses and wagon better by keeping to the right-hand side of the road, and from this practice,  the book claims, came the universal American custom of keeping to the right!

It mentioned beliefs in witchcraft and powwow and the book The Long Lost Friend.  Another good read for getting familiar with where so many of my family grew up for generations.

Published: 1957  Read: April 2019  Genre: short story, history

Sunday, April 7, 2019

The Country of Marriage - Anthony Giardina

I liked this book of short stories about marriage from a male's point of view.  The author spoke with an authentic voice discussing different experiences of men.  One man is living with a cheating wife; another is a stay at home Dad; another ponders the future after a long relationship.  An interesting read.

Published: 1997  Read: April 2019  Genre: Fiction

Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker - Jennifer Chiaverini

This story is based on the real life of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a former slave who bought her freedom and became a dressmaker in Washington DC during the Lincoln presidency.  Her diaries provided the basis for her experience as Mary Todd Lincoln's "modiste", someone who not only constructed her garments but dressed and fitted her for events.  

The well known temperamental Mary is illuminated through her interactions with Lizzie. They remain together until shortly after Lincoln's assassination.  A great history lesson and a look at the lives of women during the 1860's.

Published:  2013  Read: April 2019  Genre: Fiction

Show and Tell - Dan Roam

Sub-title: How Everybody Can Make Extraordinary Presentations

I picked this book up at OfficeMax in a clearance bin, great find!  It has a wonderful, simple approach to creating presentations and making them successful.  I got plenty of tips for constructing the presentation based on the audience, the type of message to be delivered and the arc of the story.  I'll keep this for reviewing any presentations I put together!

Published:  2014   Read: April 2019  Genre: Non-fiction, business

Saturday, March 30, 2019

Born a Crime - Trevor Noah

Subtitle: Stories from a South African Childhood

Read this on my Kindle Voyage I bought a couple of years ago and hadn't tried out.  With the upgraded software I liked the reading experience, though I need a better case.

The book was for one of my book clubs and I really enjoyed it.  It started sort of amateurish but got better a few chapters in.  I knew nothing of Trevor before reading his story and came away thoroughly impressed.  I watched his stand up comedy routine on Netflix.  Really thoughtful, intelligent and funny guy.

I bookmarked a bunch of quotes and Kindle is supposed to email them to me and I haven't figured that out so I'll add them when I do.

Published: 2018  Read: March 2019  Genre: Autobiography


Thursday, March 21, 2019

The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton - Jane Smiley

I've read other of Smiley's books with mixed enthusiasm.  This novel is a historical fiction, focusing on the experiences of a young Boston woman who marries and travels west to settle in the territory that would later become the state of Kansas.  The story presents the views of both sides of the slave issue, the abolitionist from the North and the pro-slavery supporters from the south in what become known as "Bloody Kansas".  The battles between the settlers were the beginning of what would become the Civil War divide. 

I enjoyed reading the story and being drawn into the primary character, Lidie, as she tried to make sense of the arguments and differences.  I learned a bit of history I wasn't familiar with and a lot of the struggles of settling the new nation.  Recommended.


Published:  1998  Read: March 2019   Genre: Historical fiction

Callings - Dave Isay

Sub-title: The purpose and passion of work

I picked this up in the bargain bin at Office Max.  The Story corps company, founded by the author, has established recording booths around the country for ordinary people to share stories of their lives.

This collection focuses on those stories related to work.  There are sections on Dreamers, Heroes, Philosophers and others.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning of every day jobs and the strong emotions shared by those who loved those jobs.  It was inspiring and enlightening.  From garbage truck drivers to dentists to bar owners the friendship and pride was evident.  Good little read.

Published:  2016  Read: March 2019  Genre: Business

In the Blood - Steve Robinson

This was a Christmas gift. The author writes mysteries that focus on using genealogical data to solve the case.  His protagonist, Jefferson Tayte is a modern genealogist using those skills to unravel old secrets.  It was entertaining and made accurate and clever use of genealogy sources and methods.  The writing was a little formulaic and it took sometime to capture my attention.  I would read another volume in the series while relaxing on the beach.

Published:  2011  Read: March 2019  Genre: Mystery

Friday, March 1, 2019

Becoming - Michelle Obama

This was a Christmas present that I just enjoyed immensely!  My first impression is what a dedicated Mom she is and how she makes that a priority.  I really enjoyed finding out how she progressed through school and the work world, how she juggled career and marriage and family.  A class act and well written.  The insight into the campaigning experience was so straight forward and eye-opening.  Just a good read.


Published: 2018  Read: 2019   Genre: Auto-biography

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner

I may have read this long ago and was reminded last year of it when one of my book clubs suggested it.  Every page can be savored.  Stegner's descriptions put you in the place and time, experiencing the moment along with the character.  The story of a historian named Lyman Ward, crippled, in a wheelchair, in constant pain, using the letters of his grandmother to tell the story of settlers in the American West. 

Stegner used the real letters of Mary Hallock Foote to weave Lyman's struggle to understand his shattered life with the experience of his grandparents who moved out West to pursue his grandfather's dream of civilizing it.  I loved how the arc of their relationship rose and fell with their disappointments ad struggles, adventures and achievements.  His grandmother, Susan Ward, continues to commit over and over to her marriage, partly as the convention of the times and by choice, giving up the life she knew for the life he promised but never delivered. 


Published: 1971  Read: February 2019   Genre: fiction, classic

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

I found this in my local used bookstore and recognized it as one recommended by Barack Obama.  From Wikipedia:
"its story chronicles pre-colonial life in the south-eastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world."
With that context, I read this very sad story of the loss of family and culture.  It was like reading a fairy tale, a feeling of a fable based on the memories of the distant past.  Worth the read.

Published:  1959   Read: February 2019  Genre: Historical fiction

Friday, February 15, 2019

Ancestors - William Maxwell

Sub-title: A Family History

Not really an auto-biography, more of a personal genealogy augmented with imagination and perfect prose, a great example of how to tell the story of a family.  Maxwell reminisces about how his ancestors experienced the recorded evidence of their lives and documents for posterity their stories, augmented with his embellishment of time and place.  My favorite read so far this year.

Published:  1971  Read: February 2019  Genre: auto-biography


A Truck Full of Money - Tracy Kidder

Sub-title: One man's quest to recover from great success

I think I've read all of Kidder's previous books and have another review here.
This book is a peak into the life of Paul English, the founder of Kayak.com, the travel site, that he sold for over 2 billion dollars.  English was an early innovator in computer programming, driven to take risks applying his genius skills.  He also has bipolar disease, a source of his endless energy and sobering withdrawals. 

Quotes:
"If two smart and logical people disagree, it's most likely because they are acting on different information."
"One rather curious thing I've noticed about aesthetic satisfaction is that our pleasure is significantly enhanced when we accomplish something with limited tools." 
"Anger is an incredible gift that someone is giving you.   It give you an opportunity to figure out something about yourself. ..anger also gave him a choice.  You can choose not to get angry.  Would you hit yourself with a hammer?" 
Books referenced:  Executive Leadership: A Practical Guide to Managing Complexity; SPIN (situation, problem identification,need) Selling.

A good story of how business is run by a talented, driven man.

Published: 2016  Read: January 2019  Genre: biography


The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris

Read this for my one of my book clubs.  A true story about a mild mannered Polish Jewish man who tattooed numbers onto fellow concentration camp prisoners including his future wife.  A single man's story that illuminates the horror of the camps and the shattered lives after the war ends.

Published: 2018  Read: February 2019  Genre: historical fiction