Kitty's Updates en-US Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:33:22 -0700 60 Kitty's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7454245542 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:33:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'Blues in Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes']]> /review/show/7454245542 Blues in Stereo by Langston Hughes Kitty gave 4 stars to Blues in Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes (Hardcover) by Langston Hughes
The fact that this is a small book containing early works of Langston Hughes CURATED by Danez Smith indeed, makes for a duet of voices that spans the 20th century. Thoughtfully assembled by Danez Smith who adds commentary on the poems. As Clint Smith reviews, "Langston Hughes transformed the way America understood Black literature and Black life. The suffering. The joy. The violence. The resilience. His poetry revels in the music of our language. His love for his people leaps from the page."
Hughes is known for the question "what happens to a dream deferred?" As a young black poet, Danez Smith and his friends learned that a dream could dry, fester, run, stink, crust and sugar over and even explode. They stretched their minds to meet Hughe's imagination. It is hard not to be moved by Hughes, age 18, writing a poem where his "I" is big enough to hold all of us, and "the Negro" is both individual and all Black folks.
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" became his first published poem in June 1921, in "The Crisis", the NAACP's monthly magazine edited at the time by W.E.B. DuBois. Danez Smith claims this poem changed the canon of poetry, the history and sound of American poetics. ]]> Review7453433391 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:13:46 -0700 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom']]> /review/show/7453433391 Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo Kitty gave 3 stars to Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom (Hardcover) by Ilyon Woo
Carefully researched and laden with the complex history of slavery in the US, the civil war, the underground railroad. Wonderful audacity of Ellen and William Craft. The thread of the story follows the harrowing escape of this couple, but 12 chapters, organized by title from Overture to Coda, and 10 locations fill out an extensive history of the 19th century in the US.
Chapters: Macon, Georgia, Savannah, Charleston, Overland, Pennsylvania, New England, The US, Canada, Overseas. From a small town in the south, to the overall state of Georgia, and its larger capital, another city in N. Carolina, the scope of locale keeps growing.

The cover and reviews call it a love story, but I felt the historical rigor was the predominant force, not the drama or suspense of facing the dangers this couple did. It provides an impartial examination of morals and thorough information about the laws, figures involved in antebellum America. ]]> Review7425008128 Sat, 22 Mar 2025 09:42:45 -0700 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'James']]> /review/show/7425008128 James by Percival Everett Kitty gave 5 stars to James (Hardcover) by Percival Everett
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
]]> Review7410833366 Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:40:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder']]> /review/show/7410833366 The Wager by David Grann Kitty gave 3 stars to The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Hardcover) by David Grann

One reviewer called it, " ressembling Conrad trapped in novel by Garcia Marquez". Hyperconnected, exhaustingly charted story that takes place over 2 years involving shipwreck, battles with pride, struggles for survival. As the author notes, "we have not lived what these men lived" and asks us to respect that this is a work based on washed out log books, moldering correspondence, half-truthful journals with conflicting accounts. Let History be the judge.
Well... I LOVE the opening sentence. "The only impartial witness was the sun."
He quotes Mary McCarthy, "We are the hero of our own story" and William Golding (Lord of the Flies), "Maybe there is a beast. Maybe it is us."

I really struggled with reading it, it was horrifying to me and depressing. I might not have stuck with it, but wanted to finish it for discussion of my book club. A perfectly dreadful (but well told) story of deceit, murder, mutiny in the days of the British Empire, sending out its "wooden cities" i.e. 250 men in Sailing Vessels to navigate the high seas, acquire more land, plunder Spanish Galleons filled with silver, etc. It does not endear me to this species called "human beings". I learned a lot about what it must have been like to live the marine life in 1740-- whether as gunner, captain, or seaman.. David Grann provides a vivid description of what these "Man o' War" ships were like, and gripping descriptions of battles, whether braving the horrors of Cape Horn or firing cannons at close range. ]]> ReadStatus9127592121 Fri, 28 Feb 2025 04:01:30 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty wants to read 'The Complete Richard Hannay: The Thirty-Nine Steps / Greenmantle / Mr Standfast']]> /review/show/7362072426 The Complete Richard Hannay by John Buchan Kitty wants to read The Complete Richard Hannay: The Thirty-Nine Steps / Greenmantle / Mr Standfast by John Buchan
]]> ReadStatus9089425513 Wed, 19 Feb 2025 02:46:57 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty is currently reading 'A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East']]> /review/show/7335364642 A Fortune-Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani Kitty is currently reading A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani
]]> Review7295549685 Thu, 06 Feb 2025 03:18:37 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'Remarkably Bright Creatures']]> /review/show/7295549685 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt Kitty gave 1 star to Remarkably Bright Creatures (Hardcover) by Shelby Van Pelt
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
]]> Review7258191256 Sun, 26 Jan 2025 05:26:20 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'The Personal Librarian']]> /review/show/7258191256 The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict Kitty gave 4 stars to The Personal Librarian (Hardcover) by Marie Benedict
I love historical fiction, and this book is a prime example to explain why. It is not just details of the Gilded Age, nor the biography of an extraordinary woman, or an introduction to the giant power of JP Morgan and the establishment of his library as one of the most important museums in the world of precious manuscripts and art, nor even the main thread of the story which is that tenuous line we have invented between races and class where black is relegated behind the scenes, never to enjoy the privileges this country pretends are "for all", and white declares the rules for the rich to be successful.

It is carefully researched, and aside from a luxuriant overdose of name droppings involved in the art world, the upper crust society of New York, the personal story of Belle and slow reveal about her father, the reasons for her mother's insistence of an alleged Portuguese heritage, the story of race and the pressure of playing high stakes is gripping. It is important to note the dual authorship of the book and the excellent touch of Victoria Christopher Murray to add the layer of post-civil war history of racism and how the war did not end it. I fell in love with Belle, became her second Mama, worrying about her as she played her amazing cards in a game she had to teach herself. The love story unfolding in the second part of the book is indeed heart-breaking and adds yet another dimension to this extraordinary woman.

There is a mirror effect of the book to examine yourself, perhaps as well the "luxury of making mistakes" and what they might they be, or the fun of flirtation vs. real emotion . The bottom line of being human is our struggle to know who we really are, and how that matches what we seem to be.
Shakespeare appears towards the end with the well-known lines: "a fool thinks himself to be wise and a wise man knows himself to be a fool." Indeed. ]]> Review7254912694 Sat, 25 Jan 2025 07:14:42 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty added 'Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle']]> /review/show/7254912694 Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy Kitty gave 3 stars to Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle (Paperback) by Dervla Murphy
I was swamped with other books to read, so did not read each page. However, I highly recommend the beginnings chapters filled with delightful prose! Reminds me a bit of AA Milne with mention of
"Received Good Advice from Responsible Persons" (p. 42), both the noun of that received and the noun of the collective givers of it deserve the capitalization, which underlies a wry sense of humor that pervades her style. To think of traveling solo, as a woman, IN JANUARY of all seasons, in 1963 all that distance takes enormous gusto and determination. "I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move, to feel the hitches of our life more nearly� to come down off the feather-bed civilization and find the globe, granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints." --
In her kit, beside the spare pair of scratchy woolen ankle-length underpants, a viyella shirt and a few other things, a copy of William Blake poems. List of expenditures from 14 Jan. to 8 July 1963: 64 pounds 7 pence. The description of travel from Dunkirk to Zagreb took only a few pages, but does include mention of 6 foot icicles crashing down, and status change from "traveler" to demoralized fugitive from the weather. In Afghanistan, she waxes lyrical, with mention of "numble sparkling fountains, with richly scented shrubs about her, the mountains jagged against the royal blue sky, and the air like silk as a little breeze moves among the birch trees. The description of camels and traffic is comical. Insights on the giving of alms; deception by police and sordid attempts of rape are also included in the beginning as well as the passing comment that "gunshots in wee hours are not regarded as signs of emergency". An eye opening book. Grateful to know about it! ]]> ReadStatus8906419340 Sun, 12 Jan 2025 02:32:09 -0800 <![CDATA[Kitty wants to read 'The Mighty Red']]> /review/show/7205385141 The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich Kitty wants to read The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
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