Oregonreader 2012

I'm ready to take the challenge for the third time. I have two ERCs to read and some new books I got for Christmas so my first few books are ready to go. I'm starting with an ERC from a small publisher, South Dakota State Historical Society Press, entitled Dancing with Colonels: A Young Woman's Adventures in Wartime Turkey by Marjorie Havreberg.

Welcome back!

Glad to see you back with us again, Jan!

Happy New Year from me too, Jan! Glad to see you! Which war in Turkey? That sounds quite interesting.

Thank you all for the welcome. Happy New Year to you as well! I'm actually glad to get back to having some reading time. I'm retiring in June (they don't know it yet) and I think I have short-timer's disease coupled with a great increase in my workload. I'm glad I hit my last 75 book goal early or I wouldn't have made it.
Peggy, the book is set during WWII. Turkey was neutral during the war but I think a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, spying, and skullduggery went on there. So I have high hopes for the book.

Happy retirement, Jan!

Thanks, Stasia.

My first book of the year is an ERC. Dancing with Colonels: A Young Woman’s Adventures in Wartime by Marjorie Havreberg is a collection of letters written during her years working as a stenographer in Washington DC in 1936 and later in Ankara, Turkey from 1944 – 1946.

She had left the small town in South Dakota where she grew up to work for Senator Peter Norbeck in his Washington office. After his death, she began looking at opportunities abroad and chose Turkey, which was neutral during most of the war.

The letters are typical of a young woman in her 20’s, full of social activities, descriptions of friends, and a small town girl’s reaction to the big city. She describes in great detail the wartime partying of ambassadors, governments in exile, and Turkish politicians.

But an interesting aspect of her letters is how they reflect the change in woman’s opportunities brought on by the war. The new government agencies in Washington were crying for staff and paying very good wages. A young girl like Havreberg, who had attended a stenographer’s school and was expected to find work in a local office, now had a much broader horizon. Opportunities for travel and the benefits of the big city, attending concerts and lectures, visiting museums, were available to middle class girls as they had not been before. Havreberg was surprisingly open to new experiences and took advantage of all of these.

That does sound fascinating, Jan. Thanks for the review.
And good luck hanging on until the retirement day. I promise that you're going to love it!

The Brothers K by David James Duncan. This was a Christmas present from my son. He told me I was always recommending books to him and he wanted to recommend a book he loves to me. A very sweet idea! This book is set in the Pacific NW, the story of a family of three brothers and two sisters. The father is a minor league baseball pitcher and coach. From the title, the author intends some kind of parallel to the Brothers Karamazov and certainly the themes of religion and family are there. But in an interesting twist, Duncan uses baseball as a metaphor for just about everything. He looks at all the big issues, religion, love, family, purpose, war, politics with this theme. It's a fascinating book with some very clever ideas. My only criticism is that there is a lot of wandering off on side stories/issues that don't really advance anything. But he has drawn very interesting characters and I definitely enjoyed it.

Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier (Virago) I'm always interested in memoirs of writers. This was a little disappointing. She spends a lot of time discussing her mental and emotional state during her very early childhood, something for which I don't have a lot of patience. I think these musings are like dreams, more interesting to the teller than the listener even if that teller is a very good writer. The book covers her birth through her marriage and she did have an interesting life. My recommendation would be to skip over her first twelve years and go from there.

The Best Women's Travel Writing 2011 edited by Lavinia Spalding. This was a discovery and a real treat. A collection of writings by American women, it covers adventures, relationships, cultural awareness, all in very short stories of travel.One of my favorites was "Misssing Paris" by Nancy Kline. A woman lets memories of past visits prevent her from enjoying the present.

Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige. I picked this up on impulse when I was looking for a little escape. It's the first book in a long series of Victorian mysteries and I did enjoy it A pluckly, young American girl goes to England to meet distant relatives and murder ensues! I will look for some more in the series.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P D James James obviously loves Austen and does an amazingly good job of suggesting Austen's language and writing style. Many of my favorite characters from Pride and Prejudice appear and Lydia and Wickham come back like bad pennies. The first part of the book sets up the crime, someone is quickly arrested, and a major part is courtroom drama. I think James must have had a lot of fun writing this.

Death at Gallows Green by Robin Paige

Nuns and Soldiers by Iris Murdoch More philosophy than plot but very interesting, complex characters.

I've been struggling to find time to read, there's so much going on in my life. Getting my house ready to sell, taking care of all the paperwork connected with retirement, and who knew Medicare could be so complicated! So I turned to my old reliable, Georgette Heyer. I reread Cotillion and felt better immediately!

Underground Time by Delphine de Vigan. This was an ERC, read in translation from French. Shameful admission, I don't know how to create links, so here is my review:I think I have rarely read a book that was so depressing and unsatisfying. Mathilde is a battered woman, although the abuse is in the workplace instead of at home. Her boss and mentor turns on her with incredible vengeance. Her initial reaction," this must be a misunderstanding, I'll try to talk to him", was understandable. But after he figuratively smashes her in the mouth each day for months, that gets a little hard to believe. Her behavior is really inexplicable. There is nothing in her background to indicate an insecure woman, an easy target of abuse. On the contrary, she was a very confident, competent career woman. Her story is paralleled with that of Thibault, a doctor who has just ended an unhealthy love affair and is suffering regret and loneliness. The reader expects their paths to cross with some kind of significant result. In fact, their paths cross so slightly that one wonders why the author even bothered with the second plot line. I gave this one star.

Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal. This was an ERC. The blurb compares this to Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series but there really is no comparison in terms of readability. The characters in the book are not well developed and the plot improbable.

I've just started Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and really enjoying it.

#14 I've been re-reading Georgette Heyer lately and enjoying them very much. I'm currently reading an audiobook The Foundling as my bedtime book.

Glad to see that you are loving the Robin Paige mysteries..I loved that series as well...Happy reading

Sorry that your latest ARC was disappointing. I think I've gotten more indifferent ones than great ones. BUT! Wading through the bog for a wonderful one is still worthwhile to me.

#17 Hello to a fellow Heyer-lover. I have just recently moved The Foundling off my shelf and on to my TBR table. It's a favorite of mine. I love Heyer's "anti-heroes" like Gilly and Freddie in Cotillion.

#18 Thanks for stopping by. I like to read series books because you get to know the main characters so well. Paige was a happy discovery at a used book store.

#19 Peggy, I've been unusually lucky in the past, getting ERCs that I really liked so I can't complain about two disappointments. I do love the anticipation of a new find.

You have an interesting list so far! I read The Brothers K a while ago and really liked it.

Thanks for stopping by, carlym. I wonder if you are a baseball fan too or is it necessary to enjoy the book?

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Touchstone doesn't seem to work on this one. This is a biography of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner, bombadier during WWII, and POW in Japan for most of the war. Much of the book is about his war time experiences and my history was rusty on how brutally American troops were treated as prisoners there. The author describes his treatment in great detail and also attempts to explain the cultural reasons for the Japanese brutality. I was left with a great amazement at the human capacity for suffering and survival. Very well written.

Death and the Chaste Apprentice by Robert Barnard I've just discovered this author and found his writing delightful.

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell What an amazing family! I can't imagine another family being torn apart by single-minded devotion to fascism and communism. It gives an interesting look at the upper class in pre-WWII England, sympathetic to Hitler because of the fear of communism. I had to keep reminding myself early on that they didn't know of the crimes of the Nazis but later, it doesn't seem to have made a difference in their thinking. I'm looking forward to reading Love in a Cold Climate and Pursuit of Love.

What good reading you've been doing, Jan! My mother is currently reading Unbroken - the Touchstone is now working. My father piloted a B-24 in the Pacific, and she has eaten up the first part of the book and been extremely grateful that she didn't know its reputation as a flying coffin during the war.
I was on a Mitford kick last year, but my other biography came before The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family, so I haven't read it yet. I hope to though!
And I haven't read a Robert Barnard in years although I still have a few in my collection unread. He is delightful!

Peggy, Unbroken is really well written and it is amazing what the American POWs in Japan lived through. I'm surprised your father or anyone survived the B-24. There seemed to be an attitude of just throwing bodies out there and hoping enough made it through. I supposed they thought there wasn't time to perfect the equipment. It was interesting to compare the Japanese military culture that led up to the war with the Nazis. If you read the book, I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Well, tough times call for light reading! I've been picking up mysteries for some mental escape.
The Da Vinci Cook by Joanne Pence I picked this up in a used bookstore. A formula mystery with poorly thought out plotting.
Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer Her mysteries don't have the wit that her Regencies do but a good read all the same.

Bossypants by Tina Fey I'm a fan of Tina Fey although I probably wouldn't have read this except a copy came my way. Parts of it were very funny, other parts seemed like filler. At one point, she gives a list of how to succeed at improv and I thought it would be good advice for life in general.

The Christie Caper by Carolyn G Hart One of the Death on Demand series. A fun diversion.

I should call this Mystery March, judging by the books I've been reading.
Set Sail for Murder by Carolyn Hart Good characters, good plot
The Killings on Jubilee Terrace by Robert Bernard His are always so enjoyable.
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer Not one of her best.

I just received my ERC for February, Paris in Love and it looks like it's going to be fun.

Paris In Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James This was an ERC and an unexpected treat. James writes Regency romances and is also a Shakespeare scholar (real name Mary Bly) She writes of a year in Paris with her family, recovering from treatment from breast cancer. She writes with great humor and insight and a real eye for detail. I'm tempted to read some of her other books.

Jan, my father went from worst to worse. He was about to graduate from the glider program when they finally ended it because almost nobody was coming back from being dropped in Axis-held Europe. He did survive the war, and I was blessed to have him until 1980.
Aww...I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy Footsteps in the Dark. I believe that it was the first Heyer mystery that I read, and I loved it. I like R. Bernard too and haven't read one in some time!

Peggy, your father was a lucky man. I am awed by the bravery that your father and soldiers like him demonstrated. They must have had such a strong sense of purpose. Did your father talk much about his experiences? Did you watch any of the Tom Brokaw series, I can't remember the name right now, where he interviewed WWII soldiers?
I think I had reservations about Footsteps because I'm not really fond of "ghostly" mysteries, even when it is pretty clear from the start that there is a human hand at work. But I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Heyer fan anyway. (I'm going to have to look up where that phrase came from).

My Father's Tears by John Updike I hadn't read any Updike in years and I'd forgotten what a gifted storyteller he is. I really enjoyed this one.

I didn't watch any of the Brokaw series, Jan.... Could it have been The Greatest Generation?
I haven't read Updike in years either, and you're right about his gifts.

The last of my mystery escapes for awhile:

Resort to Murder by Carolyn Hart
Murder Walks the Plank by Carolyn Hart
Both of these are Henrie O mysteries. She tells a good story but I usually guess the murderer.

I'm just starting The Secret River by Kate Grenville and enjoying it.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville. This book was a 2008 Booker finalist and it is clear why. Grenville has taken a story that has been told many times, the settling of Australia by British convicts and wrapped the broader history of the area in the stories of a few characters. It is heartbreaking in it's inevitability. I'm going to be reading more of her books.

The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott I bought this at a remainder sale because of it's historical setting, 1815 Paris, when Napoleon is on his way to St. Helena. The city is filled with political tension but also an exciting sense of academic discovery in the natural sciences. The main character is Daniel Connor, a young Scotsman who has come to study with Cuvier at the Jardin des Plantes. He is bringing valuable coral specimens and a manuscript from his tutor for Cuvier. Along the way he meets a mysterious older woman who steals his bag. From this, Connor is caught up in a world of philosophers and thieves. A lot of the philosophical discussions are between students of Cuvier's catastrophism and LaMarcke's evolutionary theories. Interspersed with this plot are short chapters on Napoleon's voyage to St. Helena. It was unclear to me why these were included as the author made no attempt to really tie these together. This is an interesting novel of ideas but for me it moved slowly, probably because I could not identify with the character of Daniel. He was naive but also a bit of an idiot.

Somebody Else's Music by Jaae Haddam Part of the Gregor Demarkian series. I couldn't put this down.

No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer

*waving* at Jan

I'm silly when I see a fellow fan of Jane Haddam and Gregor Demarkian. I haven't read one for years, but I really enjoyed them!

Hi Stasia, so nice to hear from you. I hope all is well in your part of the world.

Peggy, I'll bet you would really like this one. It's about school bullying and the long range effects on the people on both sides. I think it's one of Haddam's best.

I have been so stressed with all the details of retiring and moving that I've had trouble concentrating on anything more challenging than a good mystery. But my house is in top shape and on the market and I'm starting to house hunt in Portland. Once I get Medicare applications behind me, I should be in good shape. I think I'm going to have a tough time hitting 75 books this year.

I don't know, Jan. When all the retirement stuff is taken care of, you'll feel liberated!!! (I know all about mysteries as stress relievers!) Good luck on both ends of the real estate deals. We'll be eager to hear how it's going and hope it's gone soon!!!
And MEDICARE is wonderful, amazing, and miraculous!

Thanks, Peggy. I actually sold my house in four days with three competing offers! I am in a state of shock. Now I have to find a house in Portland.
Watching Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris made me want to reread Hemingway's A Moveable Feast again. I had read it about 30 years ago and remembered it as being interesting. I found a revised edition with notes from his grandson on omitted passages and rewrites. It was as interesting as I remembered. I had reviewed The Paris Wife last year, about his marriage to his first wife, Hadley. He had treated her very badly and I though less of him as a man. He talks about their final days together and divorce with great remorse and sensitivity. I was impressed.

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley Another Flavia De Luce mystery. She has won my heart.

Working my way through Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens. A wonderful read but I can only manage a few pages at a time.

Fine Just the Way It Is by Annie Proulx I'm reading this for my local book group and I'm glad I did. I've never been a big fan of short stories, I think I like getting involved in a longer ones, but her writing is so wonderful. One of my favorites is "I've Always Loved This Place" which follows a tour the Devil makes through Hell, looking at it from the point of view of an interior designer and working on improvements. Very clever.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce This was an ERC and such an unexpected pleasure. I have posted a review but would just like to say here that it was one of the better written books I have read this year. A wonderful story of faith and courage.

Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. I ran across this in a used book store and remembered reading it about 40 years ago and really enjoying it. I still found it a very entertaining and funny book but my perspective has changed with the years. He describes a character that is basically dying of civilization, unable to find any purpose or meaningful relationships in his life, so he heads to Africa and uncharted territory to find reality. I'm sure there are many people who are similar to Henderson but I think in the last decades people have come to a better understanding of the pressures of striving and living for material goods. Bellow still remains one of my all time favorite authors.

Bless the Bride by Rhys Bowen. Another in the Molly Murphy series. I've enjoyed these books but this wasn't one of the best.

Bellow - golly, I haven't read him in 30 years! There's just not enough time and I don't have enough will power!

Peggy, I know what you mean. The existential hero is a little dated but Bellow can really write. I won't be reading any more of him soon though.
I probably mentioned here earlier that I had sold my home. On Saturday, I bought a house in a little town called Tigard, really a suburb of SW Portland. It is basically a cottage, small but inviting. I had to laugh at how the stars aligned for this. I had planned to do some vegetable garden and raise a few chickens for eggs. Well, this house comes with raised bed gardens with a drip system already installed, and three chickens in a chicken coop that looks like a little children's playhouse. The seller sent me home with a dozen eggs and I was sold! Only 25 days until retirement!

Jan, that's at least serendipity - more like the hand of God! Courage for your last 25 days, and JOY for your new house. I promise that retirement itself is grand, great, glorious, and good too!

Skios by Michael Frayn. This was an ERC. Frayn is a playwright, the author of "Noises Off" and can create a very funny situation. But this kind of humor works better visually than on the written page. Light, enjoyable, but a little thin.

The Toll Gate by Georgette Heyer I hadn't reread this in awhile so I thought it was time. Always a good respite from a hectic life.

I'm between houses at the moment. Out of the house I sold and not yet in to the house I bought. A chaotic but exciting time. Not much reading going on. I did read Poetic Justice and The Players Come Again by Amanda Cross. These are both literary mysteries and a lot of fun. The Players is about a fictitious Modernist novelist whose secrets are uncovered when Kate Fansler writes a biography of his wife. A lot of fun.

Good luck with the moving - the cottage sounds idyllic!

Does that mean you are retired now? Or was your 25 days, 25 work days? Either way, it sounds like it need a celebration!

Hope your temporary digs are comfortable.

Thank you both for stopping by. At the moment, I am sleeping on my daughter's couch. I've been retired 2 weeks now and I've never been so busy. My first post-retirement event was escorting my 4 year old grandson and his pre-school class to the zoo. I'm having the inside of the house painted before I move in and picking all the colors has been a challenge. I am leaving for a week in Hawaii on Saturday and have uploaded Wolf Hall to wile away the hours there. I feel so fortunate to be able to do all this. But my daughter keeps reminding me of how hard I worked over the years!

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post. I am installed in my new home and hopefully some semblance of normality will follow. I have had the pleasure of exploring the library in Tigard. It is small but inviting. Here's what I've been reading.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Life Sentences by Laura Lippman
Peril in Paperback by Kate Carlisle
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbagh. An ERC and reviewed
Festival of Deaths by Jane Haddam
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen
Maine by J. Courney Sullivan
Hens and Chickens by Jennifer Wixson
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
False Colours by Georgette Heyer

Trying not to get too far behind on my postings.

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippmann I've been a big fan of her Tess Monaghan series but hadn't read many of her other books. I now see what I've been missing. Lippmann has a gift for writing interesting characters in complex moral situations. I plan to read more.
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman I first read this many years ago and reread it in a fit of nostalgia. But sadly, written during the cold war when the world of espionage was very different, it didn't really hold up.
Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
The Bartenders Tale by Ivan Doig This was an ERC which I've reviewed. This is set in his beloved Montana and again he displays an amazing sense of place in his novel and characters I fall in love with. I wish I could read it again for the first time!

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. I've never been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction but a friend talked me into reading this. I had to struggle through a lot of talk about time travel and how and why it worked, but the humor saved it for me. Willis incorporates a good sense of the ridiculous and I loved that.
I've just plunged into The Path to Power by Robert Caro. It is exciting to find a good historian who can really write. I'm enjoying this.

I read a mention of Ann Granger on another thread, can't remember where, but was intrigued. My little public library only had one book, That Way Murder Lies so I started with this. A very well-written mystery. I'll read more
The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. Doig is increasingly one of my favorite authors. This novel is set during WWII. When it is discovered that the entire championship winning football team from a Montana college is now in the military, one of them is assigned to follow the others and write news accounts of them as part of a military positive propaganda effort. The unfolding of these events uncovers complex relationships and reveals to the young man how many of his memories of the team were false and the surprising actual purpose of his assignment.
A Certain Justice by P. D. James I had always thought James' novels were too gory for me but at my daughter's urging, I read this one. While it definitely pushes the limit for me, the book is so well written that it was worth it.

I'm still on a P.D. James binge as my daughter passes them on to me. I've been thinking about why her books are so good. I think the difference between her books and other mysteries is that she writes novels in which a murder takes place. Each character's story and history is thoroughly developed and the novel could stand without the crime. Her descriptive powers in writing of the settings in England are wonderful.

Death in Holy Orders by P. D. James

Original Sin by P.D. James

In between, I'm still reading Caro's first volume on LBJ. Readable as it is, I need to break it up with escapes.

Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death by Jo Dereske I read about this series on a mystery thread with several good reviews. I liked it because the author focuses on the characters and not the complications of the actual crime. I will be reading others in this series.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett This is the story of Patchett's friendship with poet Lucy Grealy. Grealy developed cancer of the jaw as a child and spent her life in continual surgery and pain to restore her disfigured face. Patchett describes a woman of great spirit and artistic gifts who is tormented by insecurity caused by her physical appearance. A well-written, interesting story but a sad one.

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

1st To Die by James Patterson I'd seen his many books on the shelves but this was my first read. A good mystery but stereotyped characters, moderately entertaining.

Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson Other novels I've read feature many plot lines that wind around each other and then come together at the end. This one winds strains of time and place, jumping forward and back, offering different versions of events in a fascinating unfolding. I would definitely recommend this one.

I've read two books by Margaret Maron in her Deborah Knott series. Winter's Child and Rituals of the Season.

I've also just finished The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path To Power. I am just blown away by this. I've never read a biography that went into such detail of the subject's actions, motivations, and relationships. I have asked for the remaining volumes for Christmas so maybe I'll get lucky and have some great reading in January.

Stan Without Ollie: The Stan Laurel Solo Films, 1917-1927 by Ted Okuda and James L Neibaur. This was an early reviewer book. I think Laurel and Hardy are the greatest comedy team ever so I really enjoyed this book. It's a reference book which gives details on all the films Laurel was involved in before teaming with Hardy.
As I continue mystery novel binge, the latest are Three Day Town and Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron.
I've listed a lot of books on my Christmas list and that should get me reading other genres!

My mystery marathon continues:

Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron

Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

Good books by two of my favorites.