A real historical figure, a real crime (actually, less gruesome than in real life), lightly edited diary entries from the original source, and a compeA real historical figure, a real crime (actually, less gruesome than in real life), lightly edited diary entries from the original source, and a compelling voice and story.
Thursday, October 1鈥擟lear except some showers. We had company this afternoon. Mr. Savage here, informs us that Mrs. Foster has sworn a rape on a number of men, among whom is Joseph North. Shocking indeed! I have been at home. (p. 41).
I almost didn't pick up The Frozen River, as its cover, lovely as it is, seemed to say that this was a lightweight, a thriller that didn't play fair. I was wrong. This was an interesting story, a fascinating window into a time different than my own. (And, seeing some of her other covers, I'm not sure I want to read her earlier works.)
There were points in the plot where I thought that Ariel Lawhon did not play fair, where there was massive wish fulfillment 鈥� she admits to this in her Author's Note for at least one instance 鈥� and that was okay with me, even though I don't like it when authors play with weighted dice.
The Frozen River was an absorbing story of justice: "Those four [judges] will determine whether justice is available to all, or only a select few" (p. 313).
Once and Future Witches is a very apropos book for this time in the US that feels increasingly friendly to the patriarchy and powerful, and unfriendlyOnce and Future Witches is a very apropos book for this time in the US that feels increasingly friendly to the patriarchy and powerful, and unfriendly to women and oppressed.
In a parallel universe, the Eastwick sisters were physically and emotionally abused by their father and turned against each other. They ran away to New Salem, where they came back together, reclaimed their power, and were accused of being witches(view spoiler)[(all women and, perhaps, all men can perform witchcraft) (hide spoiler)].
Once and Future Witches is smart, witchy, and thought-provoking. Each chapter starts with a spell, that had been hidden in an alternate version of a nursery rhyme or, in this case, song, followed by the spell's use, much as in the ways that Blacks, during slavery, hid messages in quilts and songs.
There is a house down in Orleans they call the Rising Sun. It鈥檚 been the ruin of many a woman, By God I won鈥檛 be one.
A spell against conception, requiring a red dawn & a drawn star. (p. 505)
Four African women, bound by kinship and friendship, each struggling to find their place in a world that is not quite large enough 鈥� or wise enough 鈥� Four African women, bound by kinship and friendship, each struggling to find their place in a world that is not quite large enough 鈥� or wise enough 鈥� for them. They refuse to settle, despite their mothers' pushes to live more orthodox lives. But they "dreamed not of marriage but of how we might become truly intertwined鈥ore than marriage, I was looking for what I then did not know as the resplendence of being truly known."
I like books that are alinear (not just nonlinear), that defy me when I succumb to a search for a story line. If you like linear plots, Dream Count is not for you; it is more a series of intertwining novellas told, by stages, in Chiamaka's, Zikora's, Omegolor's, and Kadiatou's voices. It is about searching for love, self, and meaning; refusing to settle; surviving COVID, misogyny, and sexual attacks; and being privileged and experiencing someone else's narcissistic privilege.
But Dream Count is about all these things in the ways that my life 鈥� all lives 鈥� are both privileged and boundaried; optimistic and grieving; interconnected and fundamentally alone. Dream Count is not a journey through a neatly tended garden but a wild, untamed, and glorious forest.
And, I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's voice. I think she could write copy for cereal boxes and I would devour it....more
I had thought that I'd read Outliers. Haven't I read all of Malcolm Gladwell's books? (Many, but no, not even now.)
I picked Outliers up when my motheI had thought that I'd read Outliers. Haven't I read all of Malcolm Gladwell's books? (Many, but no, not even now.)
I picked Outliers up when my mother's book club started reading it. My mother and I are both enthusiastic Gladwell fans; her book club not so much. The book club reads challenging books but did not like this one. They generally read fiction rather than nonfiction. Perhaps that's why. Or, maybe it's that in Outliers, Gladwell slaughters a favorite sacred cow 鈥� that we succeed due to our talent, rather than our birthdate or year, our community, or gifts that land unearned in our laps. In talking about himself,
鈥� if the resources of that grocer, the fruits of those riots, the possibilities of that culture, and the privileges of that skin tone had been extended to others, how many more would now live a life of fulfillment, in a beautiful house high on a hill? (p. 285)
This is a book that should be read by those who love this particular sacred cow, although it will probably be best appreciated by those of us who recognize that it takes a village....more
Shrike lived in a dying world where few babies were born and survived, food and clean water were insufficient, most people died young, and the world wShrike lived in a dying world where few babies were born and survived, food and clean water were insufficient, most people died young, and the world was plagued by demons. In 44 pages, Alix Harrow created a very different, yet convincing world; gave us a window into true love; and shattered our expectations about change. "Everyone thinks you get sick because you begin to change, but it鈥檚 the opposite: you change because you get sick. Because you have to鈥� (p. 21).
Harrow's world is complicated enough that I cannot easily summarize The Knight and the Butcherbird, except to say that her two primary characters make rich and compelling decisions 鈥� and spend the story attempting to convince the other of the rightness of their own decisions. Whose narrative wins out?
An outlander doesn鈥檛 prove her love by dying young, but by living as long as she can. She eats berries grown in bad earth and licks the poison from her lips; she makes her wedding bed from barbed wire and cinder blocks; she falls in love at the end of the world. And when death comes for her鈥攖oo soon, too fucking soon鈥攕he becomes something else. Something that survives. (p. 38)
It sounds like I've shared all sorts of spoilers, but really, I have not....more
Our narrator, a woman in her 50s or 60s, left her husband and previous life, to join a small religious community. She did this despite being an agnostOur narrator, a woman in her 50s or 60s, left her husband and previous life, to join a small religious community. She did this despite being an agnostic and frequently rolling her eyes at the other members of the community, at least initially. Yes, it didn't make sense to her either.
Community life was slow, small 鈥� short religious services throughout the day, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the animals 鈥� until it was not. A plague of mice, a nun murdered 20 years earlier, and another nun who her classmates had bullied earlier.
And, yet, Stone Yard Devotional never felt slow. She reflected on her life, her decisions, her mistakes. She asked, should she, like her ex-husband, engage with the world and attempt to make it better? Should she, like her mother, described by another character as a great humanitarian, make small and consistent choices to nurture the earth and her community?
In most books, when characters struggle with existential anxiety about the state of our world, they "engage." This unnamed narrator, instead, in a compelling and immediate voice, withdrew to review her life and decisions.
And, although that may not be enough for many readers and may feel like a cop out, it was plenty for me. Stone Yard Devotional was beautiful....more
White Trash was a Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography in 2016. I like history, but I was only able to make it 25% through the book. I waWhite Trash was a Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography in 2016. I like history, but I was only able to make it 25% through the book. I was listening to the book on two friends' recommendation 鈥� recommending both the book and to listen to it 鈥� and the author's voice irritated me enough that I chose to listen to the news instead. (I suppose that was a good thing.)
Still, when I read the GR blurb, I decided that I need to return to this book, but that I will read the print version. GR wrote:
"鈥淲hen you turn an election into a three-ring circus, there鈥檚 always a chance that the dancing bear will win,鈥� says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg."
This is exactly why I read this and other books, trying to understand my world and the people around me. Unfortunately, I didn't get far enough to see the connection between then and now....more
In An Earthquake is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth, our unnamed narrator, a former actor, struggles with maintaining her sense of balance both In An Earthquake is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth, our unnamed narrator, a former actor, struggles with maintaining her sense of balance both physically and, more importantly, emotionally. Set in a near future in a post-apocalyptic world, our narrator experiences nearly constant earthquakes, an external manifestation of her mind's inner workings and deepest desires?
An Earthquake is disorienting and, as fitting for a novel written by a poet, raises a series of questions unique to each reader. I wondered what it means to be stable, to accept yourself, to be well-adjusted. When one experiences trauma, the world is in constant flux. Is this flux real, imagined, or only experienced within?
These questions worked (for me) in this short novel, but would have been impossible if longer 鈥� which may have been Moschovakis' point: trauma disorients, a disorientation that continues for long periods but that is tolerable only for short ones. ...more
Those of living in the northern parts of the US often hold the conceit, despite evidence to the contrary, that racism is a southern thing. Fever in thThose of living in the northern parts of the US often hold the conceit, despite evidence to the contrary, that racism is a southern thing. Fever in the Heartland clearly reminds us that prejudice 鈥� against Blacks, Jews, and Catholics 鈥� had deep and broad roots in Indiana and much of the US.
D. C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan (he preferred to be called the Old Man), preached temperance, morality, and hard work 鈥� and abandoned and abused wives and his daughter, sexually assaulted women, committed bigamy, and drank well past excess. And, politicians, judges, police, and everyday citizens stood with him and gave him considerable power. (This story sounds familiar, right?)
Stephenson kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and bit Madge Oberholtzer over much of her body. She attempted suicide when she was unable to escape. Her wounds became infected, and she died 鈥� either of infection or the poison 鈥� about five weeks later. Before she died, though, she detailed her attack and had it notarized.
Fever in the Heartland described Oberholtzer's unexpected takedown of Stephenson 鈥� with the help of attorneys, editors, and more. I love a story of the underdog. And, I appreciate being reminded that we have had bad times before, terrible times 鈥� and survived. We will survive this, too....more
In 2019, Geraldine Brooks' husband, Tony Horwitz, unexpectedly dropped dead while on tour with his latest book. She struggled to make sense of his deaIn 2019, Geraldine Brooks' husband, Tony Horwitz, unexpectedly dropped dead while on tour with his latest book. She struggled to make sense of his death: "Not Tony. Not him鈥� The sixty-year-old who still wears clothes the same size as the day I met him in his twenties. My husband, younger than I am.鈥� Brooks simultaneously wanted to howl with grief and believed she needed to soldier on, unable to stop doing the things she was supposed to be doing.
Memorial Days alternates between her life in the US during the weeks and months immediately following Horwitz's death and her life grieving on Flinders Island (between Australia and Tasmania) three years later. She described the full range of her experience: denial, anger, guilt, grief, and bargaining.
Brooks also described the ways that "the system" actively hurts surviving spouses. She lost her health insurance (briefly); had her son given a guardian ad litem, with the assumption that she would be unable to protect her son's interests; and had to make financial decisions she felt unprepared to make. How does someone with fewer financial, intellectual, and emotional resources survive this period?
There are many different ways to grieve. Brooks' experiences were often very different than mine have been, but there are also ways that hers mirror my own. Her memoir is likely to become one of the grief memoirs that people recommend and compulsively read following the loss of a loved one....more
What Does It Feel Like? is not the book I thought I was going to read, nor is it one from a genre that I typically like. It's a tearjerker, hanky wrinWhat Does It Feel Like? is not the book I thought I was going to read, nor is it one from a genre that I typically like. It's a tearjerker, hanky wringer, racing through a year and a half of the narrator's life with glial blastoma, where 14 months is the average life expectancy post-diagnosis.
What Does It Feel Like? is based on Sophie Kinsella's own life experience with a brain tumor. Both the author and her fictional character, Eve, are authors, have five children, and have glial blastoma. In a series of vignettes, Eve/Kinsella provides a mosaic of her life with cancer from pre-diagnosis to apparent remission. I suspect What Does It Feel Like? would be useful to many people living with cancer, as well as their families.
Kinsella explained in her Afterward why she wrote fiction rather than a memoir(view spoiler)[ 鈥� it was easier to be honest in this way, and she continues to struggle with memory (hide spoiler)]. This was moving....more
Seven enchanting stories generally about interpersonal conflicts, especially between men and women, considering sexual abuse, neglect, misogyny, homopSeven enchanting stories generally about interpersonal conflicts, especially between men and women, considering sexual abuse, neglect, misogyny, homophobia, lost possibilities, finding oneself, and more. Two feature priests who have broken their vows with women and regretted it, one story from his point of view, another from hers. Most are set in rural Ireland with modern technology only barely in the background.
A taste of Claire Keegan's writing, both quotes from Night of the Quicken Trees:
Dunagore was a strange place without so much as a tree, nor a withered leaf to be seen in autumn, just the shivering bogland and all the gulls wheeling around, screeching under restless clouds. The landscape looked metal, all sturdy and everlasting to Margaret, coming from a place of oak and ash, it was without substance.
She tried not to dwell on anything. Putting the past into words seemed idle when the past had already happened. The past was treacherous, moving slowly along. It would catch up in its own time. And in any case, what could be done? Remorse altered nothing and grief just brought it back.
I especially liked those stories with female narrators 鈥� The Parting Gift, The Long and Painful Death, The Forrester's Daughter, Night of the Quicken Trees 鈥� although whether this was because of the story itself or Aoife McMahon who read them, I don't know, although probably both.
The Irish Tourism Center should feature her stories, as I dreamt of traveling to Ireland the whole time I listened to Walk the Blue Fields....more
Slips down your throat like a warm, fruity liqueur: plain, smart heroine; thrills and chills on a rollercoaster of a story, alliances and betrayals atSlips down your throat like a warm, fruity liqueur: plain, smart heroine; thrills and chills on a rollercoaster of a story, alliances and betrayals at every turn.
But... The tropes and easy story lines (in a complex plot), made me queasy. Plain heroine blossoms and recognizes and believes in who she can be. Not one but two supremely attractive and smart boys fall for her (and vice versa). Adults are either evil or distracted and incompetent.
In other words, Darkly goes down easily but leaves an aftertaste when you reflect on it....more
This is not the kind of book that I typically read and enjoy (thus the stars), but it was the choice of my mom's book club. It's painted in black and This is not the kind of book that I typically read and enjoy (thus the stars), but it was the choice of my mom's book club. It's painted in black and white, although aims for nuances. In short, it's a case of love at first sight, sabotaged by the people around them. Both parties believe the worst and get stuck in that for 43 years. No one expects to get past earlier pain, but will love overcome all? (view spoiler)[I'm not going to tell you, but this is romance in the guise of historical fiction. You figure it out. (hide spoiler)]...more
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is N. K. Jemisin's first novel, part of The Inheritance trilogy. To my ear, it is a more accessible book than those in hThe Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is N. K. Jemisin's first novel, part of The Inheritance trilogy. To my ear, it is a more accessible book than those in her Broken Earth trilogy, perhaps because there are more similarities between it and our world 鈥� despite this Earth being radically different than our own. (Her ability to build worlds is impressive.)
Jemisin's characters here are either human or gods in human form (althouh not our more limited abilities). Here humans have the upper hand, enslaving relatives, other humans, and most significantly, their gods: "Consider: An immensely powerful being is yours to command. He must obey your every whim. Wouldn鈥檛 the temptation to diminish him, to humble him and make yourself feel powerful by doing so, be almost irresistible? I think it would be. Yes, it definitely would be" (p. 78). This allows Jemisin to explore slavery, class, and the divine insightfully and with unusual perspectives 鈥� although she pulls out typical YA tropes about love, sex, and relationships that occasionally made me throw up a little.
Jemisin's characters 鈥� human and god 鈥� feel like the gods in Roger Zelensky's Chronicles of Amber series 鈥� larger than life, generally self-centered, and capricious. Jemisin's narrator, however, gives The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms heart with her wisdom, moral decision-making, and thinking about this new world she's entered and its people. Let's see how Jemisin continues these narrative lines in the next in the series....more
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend is a memoir of a nice Haitian-Canadian, a self-identified "Oreo," who is gradually radicalized by daily microaggressioSure, I'll Be Your Black Friend is a memoir of a nice Haitian-Canadian, a self-identified "Oreo," who is gradually radicalized by daily microaggressions, microinsults, and the more overt anger directed at Blacks. Ben Phillipe is a writer of YA books and a screenwriter, so his tone often feels more like self-deprecating stand-up comedy than memoir, which was somewhat off-putting to me, but I appreciated his willingness to share ambivalent and mixed feelings. "For the first few days [after George Floyd's murder], I retweet the rioters while keeping safe from danger. I pretend it鈥檚 because I am at a higher risk of retribution by angry policemen, but really, I鈥檓 a coward who prioritizes his safety over civil righteousness or morality" (p. 247).
His world is morally ambiguous, no matter how well-meaning whites attempt to flatten it into easy decisions.
"鈥淚t鈥檚 okay to be angry, Ben.鈥�
"No, it鈥檚 not. God bless your heart, Francesca, really, but the absolute well-meaning caucasity of thinking that letting myself get angry about the treatment of Black lives in this country simply ends at a march and a cardboard sign . . . Of thinking that you鈥檇 all be safe if we, even the good ones, allowed ourselves to express the anger that this world deserves.
"So, no: I cannot let myself get that angry. I can express measured frustration. I can march and protest. Be snarky on Twitter or try to pen an essay for The Atlantic. I can make white friends, pick my battles, and slowly change their minds about a few specific things, hoping it spreads . . . I can compartmentalize and smile through it. I can flirt with the anger, allow myself a stray comment here and there, making a dinner party awkward, but I cannot let it take the reins.
"Angry with a capital A? Nah, that鈥檚 not allowed. Robert鈥檚 son is smarter than to gamble it all away quite yet. That anger extinguishes the goodwill I鈥檝e lived my life accumulating, and like I said: I like my life. I want to see it through to a satisfyingly boring conclusion." (pp. 259-260)
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend is an honest and readable description of race in the US and Canada (mostly the US). That he shares his mixed feelings clearly makes his book accessible, understandable, and difficult to dismiss....more
*** Some spoilers, but you don't read I Who Have Never Known Men primarily for the plot. ***
I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting and bleak book, i*** Some spoilers, but you don't read I Who Have Never Known Men primarily for the plot. ***
I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting and bleak book, initially seeming to be a feminist novel echoing The Handmaid's Tale, but often alternating between existentialist and theatre of the absurd in tone. (In fact, Jacqueline Harpman uses the word "absurd" 11 times in this very short book.)
And, theirs is an absurd world. These women were kidnapped, drugged and taken to another world, caged, and then abandoned, all for unknown reasons. Why were they taken? Why were they left? And, somehow these women, especially our narrator, needed to find a sense of meaning in a world where their basic needs were met, but their metaneeds were not(view spoiler)[ 鈥� when caged, they were not even allowed to touch each other (hide spoiler)]. How does one become human in such a world? How does one maintain a sense of meaning and purpose?
Harpman was a Jew, born in Belgium in 1929 and escaping to Casablanca during WWII. It's hard not to see similarities between her life and this book of speculative fiction. How does one remain human in a world that attempts to strip you of your humanity?...more
It is 1947, when a package arrived for Lesley: W. Somerset Maugham's, 鈥淭he Casuarina Tree," a book that Maugham wrote after staying with Lesley and heIt is 1947, when a package arrived for Lesley: W. Somerset Maugham's, 鈥淭he Casuarina Tree," a book that Maugham wrote after staying with Lesley and her husband for two weeks in 1921 and that included many events in this story, as Maugham (hereafter "Willie," as he is called in The House of Doors) admitted doing in his own writing.
Tan Twan Eng's book alternates between viewpoints (Lesley's and "Willie's"), across three time periods (1910, 1921, and 1947), and two parts of the world (Malaya and South Africa). It weaves together several stories 鈥� Willie's affair with his secretary, Gerald; Ethel Proudlock's murder trial; Lesley's discovery of her husband's affair; and Lesley's assumed affair with the Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat Sen. Each of these sexual events 鈥� rape, affairs, and homosexual liaisons (brief and long-term) 鈥� was scandalous at the time and would have been devastating for Willie and the women in the other relationships.
Some of The House of Doors takes place in a house hung with many antique, valuable doors that were in danger of being lost to posterity as buildings were torn down. The house was important primarily, though, as it and the other affairs created unforeseen changes, opening "doors" to new lives or ways of living, which the book's characters may or may not walk through.
I attempted reading Maugham in high school and haven't since; Lesley's chapters were more compelling than Willie's, which does not get me wanting to read more Maugham. I enjoyed The House of Doors, partly because it was peopled with real historical figures, which satisfied my voyeuristic urges, but I remember especially enjoying his two previous books (The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists). That is an unfair comparison, though, especially as I read them both in 2013 and my memory may not be/probably isn't accurate. ...more
Beth Nguyen's memoir, Owner of a Lonely Heart,, is an unusual refugee story. Perhaps because she was a baby when she came to the states and settled inBeth Nguyen's memoir, Owner of a Lonely Heart,, is an unusual refugee story. Perhaps because she was a baby when she came to the states and settled into a primarily white town, Nguyen identified as an outsider, but not as a refugee. It's also an unusual estranged daughter memoir. She has had fewer than 24 hours with her mother over the course of her life (Nguyen is about 50 now). Nguyen immigrated earlier than her mother and lived half-way across the country from her. She only learned that her "mother" was in fact a stepmother when Nguyen was 10. "We were selves who didn鈥檛 mesh and didn鈥檛 match. We didn鈥檛 know each other at all. Our histories had separated long ago and had never truly met again" (p. 34).
While discussing her relationship with her first mother, she also talked about her relationships with her stepmother, paternal grandmother, first boyfriend's mother, and father, then her own children, with the former relationships echoing in strange ways with the latter.
Sometimes I feel like I鈥檓 just shoring up these moments of being a mother. Like it鈥檚 insurance, because to be a mother is to be in a vague, permanent state of fear of loss. So, just in case, I want them to know I was there. Here. I wanted to be. I never wanted to leave. (p. 41).
As a child and teen, Nguyen focused on assimilating and belonging, cringing at any hint of her outsider status, eventually dropping her Vietnamese first name B铆ch for the more invisible Beth 鈥� visibility being something to be avoided.
This is a somewhat dour book, although that may make sense as Nguyen was writing about real loss (first country and mother) and imagined loss (her sons). Still, it might be better described as thoughtful and somewhat anxious. It was not something I wanted to set aside, although it was equally not something that I rushed to pick up....more
One of my friends said she reads A Sand County Almanac regularly, maybe yearly. I said that I hadn't read it 鈥� untrue, as I read a collection of all oOne of my friends said she reads A Sand County Almanac regularly, maybe yearly. I said that I hadn't read it 鈥� untrue, as I read a collection of all of Aldo Leopold's writings not that long ago, but I'd thought it was true.
I might not have reread A Sand County Almanac if I'd remembered correctly, but that would have been sad. Leopold's almanac, with essays for each month of the year, is a book that should be read and reread, probably serving as an antidepressant to those of us with seasonal affective disorder, especially for those of us who are treehuggers, as I am.
I particularly enjoyed his essays on cutting down an oak, ring by ring; the life of chickadee #65290; and choosing between planting a birch and a pine, considering each on multiple dimensions (he's pro-pine). He sees each species he observes clearly, lovingly, and respectfully. He can be both pro-conservation and hunt grouse, and I enjoy this apparent contradiction.
Leopold was pessimistic about the environment when he wrote in 1949. I don't know if it cheers or depresses me to read this 75 years later, probably both....more
![[A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)] [By: Leopold, Aldo] [December, 1986]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1699052842l/133066130._SY75_.jpg)
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