What are you reading the week of May 4, 2019?

May the fourth be with you!

Once again, Lynne Olson does a great job. I'm reading Madame Fourcade's Secret War about the life of the woman who ran Alliance, one of the largest and best espionage networks in France, during the Second World War. Olson really knows how to recognize and tell a great story about the people who formed the heart of resistance to Nazi Germany.

Enjoying this OverDrive audiobook ~

The Cornwalls Are Gone (Amy Cornwall) by James Patterson

(new JP series/the husband and daughter of Army Intelligence Officer Captain Amy Cornwall have been kidnapped/cruel plan/betrayal and secrets)

This week I've read two Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency books - The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine and Precious and Grace. I stayed up late last night to finish Force of Nature by Jane Harper; it was very good.

I'm sort of muddled about what to read next; nothing seems interesting. Possibly My Sister the Serial Killer, which I have on loan from the library?

Finished The Mueller Report. Just started The Source by James A Michener, recommended by NY Times last week. Over 1.00 pages of Biblical and Middle East historical portrayal.

I"m reading Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate for my book club. It was a pretty slow start but I'm starting to get into it.

Mango Elephants In the Sun – Susana Herrera
3.5***

Subtitle: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin

Reeling from the breakup of her marriage, Herrera decided to sign up for the Peace Corps and an assignment teaching English in a remote village in Cameroon. This is a memoir of the time she spent in that African village.

I was interested and engaged in the experiences Herrera related, but somewhat appalled by how she lacked even basic understanding of the differences in culture before she arrived at her assignment. She seems to have no clue that she’d have to kill her own chicken if she wanted to cook one, or little idea of how to protect her meager furnishings from the ravages of hungry termites. Some scenes were touching or humorous. Many hit me upside the head with the change in perspective.

For example, Herrera relates how the women decide to teach her to prepare lunch. They must start at 7:00a.m. to prepare the noon meal, because first they have to catch the chicken. They they must go to the fields and dig up the peanuts, go into the forest to cut wood for the fire, and meticulously clean the rice of sticks and stones. When she comments that she doesn’t know how to do these things because “our rice comes already clean in a bag from the store,” the women respond: “Your country is rich if you can pay for someone to clean your rice for you.”

Later she is trying to explain that not all Americans are rich, and tells the women about the homeless in America. Her audience is taken aback. “I think your country shouldn’t kill chickens for people until the homeless have a home.”

She learns that teaching a young woman to ride a bicycle has resulted in censure by her family, and Herrera apologizes for the trouble this has caused. “Miss,” Lydie interrupts, “the price is nothing. Do you think he can take away what you have put inside me?”

There is some poetry that Herrera has written included in the text. These poems are in the voice of a lizard that frequents her home and serve as a sort of internal dialogue as she comes to grip with the trauma she is running from back home and begins to realize her calling as a teacher.

I really liked The Source although I understand that some people find Michener boring!

I'm continuing with Stamped from the Beginning, Girl, Stop Apologizing and just started a book called Charged about ending mass incarceration. I've been in this group awhile but don't post much and figured I ought to look and see what others are reading. It's a great place for recommendations!

Still reading Shogun, The Naked God, and The Death of the Necromancer.

Started on, and good so far..Two For The Road by Amanda Hampson.

Finished listening to the satisfying The American Agent. Next up for listening is The Unremembered Girl by Eliza Maxwell.

<3 hi ahef - my sister the serial killer is fantastic!!

The Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss
Digital audiobook read by Frederick Davidson.
3***

Originally published in 1812, this is a classic adventure tale of a mother, father and four sons who are shipwrecked on an unnamed (and apparently uncharted) tropical island in the South Seas.

I had never read the book, though I had seen the Disney movie back in the ‘60s. My adult self recognizes the glaringly implausible (and, frankly, impossible) scenarios – penguins AND bears AND ostriches! – but the adventure still captures the imagination. I also got a bit tired of the Father’s propensity to lecture; my stars, but the man is a walking encyclopedia and he feels compelled to impart his knowledge constantly. Since he is also the narrator, his superior attitude has plenty of opportunity to “shine.” Still, there is much practical information as well as natural history explained, and there are some very exciting scenes to capture the imagination of a young would-be explorer.

There are multiple editions of this classic and some have modernized the language to make it “more accessible to today’s students.” One edition I looked at had the narrator always referring to “the Mother,” never naming this strong woman but relegating her to only that role in life. The edition I wound up reading at least had the narrator referring to her as “my wife.” Again, no name but at least showing a personal relationship.

Davidson does an acceptable job of narrating the audiobook. His diction is clear, and he sets a decent pace, but his tone of voice makes the father/narrator sound even more superior than Wyss has written him (if that’s even possible). Also, this edition is one that has the narrator referring to the only woman in the party as “the Mother” without any name or even a hint at a personal connection, which just irritated me no end.

Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made
Josh Frank
3.5/5 stars
This is the interesting and absurdly true story about the famous painter Salavdor Dali who had written a screenplay and wanted the Marx Brothers to be in it. Josh Frank had been researching unmade film scripts when he found mention of Dali’s script originally titled The Surrealist Woman and from there he had his subject for this book. Through painstaking research he pieced together the story of Giraffes on Horseback Salad screenplay. Illustrated by Manuela Perte and adapted with Tim Heidecker, this book contains the graphic novel based on the screenplay and the written story of the strangest movie never made. One of my favorite trivia bits from the book was how did Harpo and Dali (who became friends) communicate. Neither spoke each other’s language but both wives spoke German so they could translate for their husbands.

I’m reading Old Baggage by Lissa Evans. It’s an ER book that I will always remember as the book that came with the shortened title included as part of my address on the shipping label. So above my name was printed “Old Bag”. Lol

Enjoying this MP3 disc ~

The General's Women by Susan Wittig Albert

(historical fiction/WWII/fascinating tale featuring Kay S., Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower)

The Dog Who Saved Me – Susan Wilson
3***

Cooper Harrison was a member of Boston’s elite K-9 unit, until his canine partner, Argos, was killed in a bomb blast. Now Coop has returned to his small home town of Harmony Farms as the animal control officer (i.e. dog catcher). He suffers from PTSD and mostly keeps to himself. When he spots an obviously wounded and emaciated yellow dog, he decides to try to capture it. He gets help and advice from Max, the local veterinarian, as well as from Natalie, the owner of a horse rescue farm.

Though I am not really an animal lover or a “dog person,” I have read a few of Wilson’s books and found them interesting and engaging. This is somewhat formulaic, but the lead characters are likeable and their back stories interesting enough to hold my attention. Coop’s situation is complicated by a troubled family background; his father is an alcoholic and his older brother a recently released ex-con drug dealer. Wilson uses flashback technique to give the reader insight into Coop’s childhood and the events that led to his Argo’s death. It’s a fast, quick read, that satisfied several challenges.

>12 cdyankeefan:

I have it on reserve at my local library.

<7 brianna: He is not my favorite author but the idea that this book is about the history of the Middle East caught my fancy!

<18 hi ahef- hope you like it!!

I've been away for a long weekend in Miami with some old pals. Just before I left, I finished A Soldier's Wife, a first novel by Irish writer Marion Reynolds. Reynolds based her book on her grandmother's diaries. The story follows the life, trials and joys of Ellen, one of four sisters in a rural family in County Mayo, from the earliest years of the 20th century through the Irish Civil War of the early 1920s. While the prose style is far from sophisticated, it is clean. The characterizations could certainly be deeper, but all in all (especially in the book's second half) an interesting view of the times, given a ring of authenticity by the reader's knowledge of the material's source.

You can my more in-depth comments on the book's work page or on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I'll be reading through a stack of my "between books," and then it will be on to Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice by David Feige.

Wade in the Water: Poems
Tracy K. Smith
3.5/5 stars
The poems from this book are from the Poet Laureate of the United States. I especially enjoyed the section of poems I Will Tell You the Truth about This, I Will Tell You All About It which were taken/based from letters written by African Americans civil war soldiers and their family members.

The Alice Network– Kate Quinn
Book on CD narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
3.5***

Charlie St Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and heading to Europe with her mother to take care of “the little problem.” It’s 1947 and Charlie is reeling from the death of her brother and worried about her beloved cousin, Rose, who has not been heard from in a couple of years. She decides to find Eve Gardiner, the one name and only clue she has to Rose’s whereabouts. But Eve is an alcoholic recluse with her own demons. During WWI she had been recruited as a spy working with the French Resistance. Along with other women they formed The Alice Network.

Based on the real stories of women who served as spies during World War I, Quinn has crafted an interesting, engaging story of wartime heroines and the price they paid for their service. She uses a dual timeline, moving back and forth between Charlie’s search for Rose, and Eve’s remembered experiences thirty years earlier.

I found Charlie irritating. She was in turns stubborn, hysteric, weepy, lost and determined. I though she was mostly immature, and she got on my nerves almost as much as she got on Eve’s.

I was much more interested in Eve’s story. She’s a broken woman when we meet her, racked with survivor’s guilt and trying to numb her pain with alcohol. But as I learn more about her back story, how she came to be recruited for the spy network, her courage and bravery in the face of very real danger, I grew to admire her. Her story is was compelled me to keep reading / listening.

I found the ending rather rushed and implausible. I am referring mostly to the final confrontation between Eve, Charlie and Rene, but also to the Epilogue set in 1949. Lost half a star there.

The author’s note at the end expounds on the real people and events that inspired the novel. Additional historical information (letters and trial records) is also included.

Saskia Maarleveld did a marvelous job performing the audiobook. She sets a good pace and has the skill needed to differentiate a large cast of characters from a number of countries (Scotland, USA, France, England, and Germany). My only complaint about the audio is that is does NOT include the author notes and historical documents that the text.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One
Amanda Lovelace
3.5/5 star
Lovelace writes from the feminine prospective on love, loss and growing up/being female through short concise poetry. This is the first of 3 books in the series. You will either love it or hate it. I loved it.

An Appetite for Murder – Lucy Burdette
2**

Number one in a new series starring Hayley Snow, food critic wannabe in Key West, Florida. She’s moved there to be with her new love, only to find him in bed with another woman. When the position of food critic for a new magazine, Key Zest, opens up she applies. Then Hayley discovers that her potential new boss is Kristin Faulkner, the woman who stole her boyfriend. Bad luck turns to worse when Kristin dies under suspicious circumstances, and the police turn to Hayley as their prime suspect.

Sounds promising for a new cozy mystery. It certainly seems to have all the elements for success: an amateur sleuth, foodie culture, a friend who lets her bunk on her houseboat, another gay best friend, a charming elderly neighbor, a victim with plenty of enemies, a slug of an ex-boyfriend, and a potential new love interest. Not to mention the tropical paradise setting and a loveable cat.

But Hayley is irritatingly immature and just plain too stupid to live. She’s prone to histrionics and doesn’t have the sense to come in out of the rain. Oh well … It was a fairly quick read, and Burdette definitely knows something about food as the descriptions make for some delicious reading. I also enjoyed the food-related quotes that started each chapter, and the recipes included at the end.

Despite the below average rating, I won’t dismiss the series just yet. Cozy mysteries, especially food-related ones, are my reading comfort food. Pass the key lime pie ….

Finished listening to the good story, The Unremembered Girl. Next up for listening is American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson.

Finished The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton. Enjoyed it and the trilogy as a whole.

Next up is Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

I worked my way through another round of "between books." This time I read . . .

* “Three Newspaper Accounts of ‘A Day Which Will Live in Infamy’” from A Treasury of Great Reporting: "Literature Under Pressure" from the Sixteenth Century to Our Own Time edited by Louis L. Snyder

* “Scrap Iron” by Charles E. Van Loan from New Stories for Men edited by Charles Grayson

* “America is Incapable of Moral Improvement” from Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country by Steve Almond (Finished! See below)

* “Life as Imagination and Illusion” from Theodore Dreiser Presents the Living Thoughts of Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau

* “Yak, Yak, Yak” from Joe Falls: 50 Years of Sports Writing (And I Still Can't Tell the Difference Between a Slider and a Curve) by Joe Falls

* "Peter in Rome" - Part Three, Chapter 5, from the novel The Apostle by Sholem Asch

* “Brave New World Revisited” by Aldous Huxley from Esquire Magazine - 40th Anniversary Celebration edited by Don Erickson

As noted above, I finished Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country by Steve Almond. In this series of clear and insightful essays, journalist/novelist Steve Almond investigates the faulty myths and societal delusions that led to the disaster that was the 2016 American presidential election and the resulting chaos. Essay titles such as "Economic Anguish Fueled Trumpism," "Nobody Would Vote for a Guy Like That," "American Women Will Never Empower a Sexual Predator" and "Our Court Jesters Will Rescue the Kingdom" give an idea of the "bad stories" Almond investigates. The essay that hit closest to home for me was "Our Grievances Matter More Than Our Vulnerabilities."

One more . . . having been away on a long weekend vacation, I got behind in my reporting here, and I have already completed my next full-length reading adventure, which was Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice by David Feige. David Feige spent fifteen years as a public defender in the hellish court system of the South Bronx. He subsequently became a writer and a frequent guest on Court TV, whatever that it. At any rate, Indefensible is Feige's very well-written and often harrowing memoir/expose of his years as a severely over-worked advocate for those who had either fallen or jumped into the frequently entirely cold-hearted legal system. My slightly more in-depth review can be read either on the book's work page or on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I've already read a good bit of the way through my next "between books" round, after which it will be back to fiction for the classic 19th century Italian novel, The Child of Pleasure by Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Now reading a woman is no man by Etaf Rum, a novel about a Palestinian family living in New York City. Really good!

Coyote Cowboy Poetry – Baxter Black
1*

This is a compilation of previously published works by Black, who is a trained veterinarian and a syndicated humorist / columnist.

I grew up in Texas, and my father was raised on a ranch/farm and worked as a butcher with his older brothers. I loved going to the rodeo and had no illusions about where my food came from. I also knew a rancher named Don who had about 10,000 acres up in the panhandle of Texas, on which he raised beef cattle. He used to write the occasional essay in his letters to me, waxing poetic about nature and the hard work of a rancher. When I saw this title, I immediately thought of Don, and I was expecting something like Don’s letters.

Instead I got mediocre to bad poetry that I’m sure some people find humorous but that did nothing for me. I did appreciate one or two of the sentiments (though the poetry was still bad). But I’m sure my reaction is affected by my reading this as a collection. There’s a big difference between reading the occasional “poem” and having an entire book of them. By about the tenth poem I was tired of them and reading the rest was more torture than enjoyment.

The new thread is up over here.

<hi ahef- definitely my sister the serial killer- absolutely loved it!!