Attack on Titan Volumes 11-17

Attack on Titan volumes 11-17, by Hajime Isayama, 1344 pages (7 books)

So a quick review for those readers who do not remember my blog post covering the first ten volumes in this series two years (!?) ago. Basically humanity was prospering until these giant humanoid beings called titans started appearing and destroying everything. To protect the remaining population the government build a giant wall named Maria around the last population, and then another wall Rose and in the center of that, another giant walled city. Like a giant bullseye. For years this keeps the population safe, until the outer wall, Maria, is breached by the titans. This forced a large portion of the remaining population into the safety of the Rose wall. The sudden influx of people has pushed civilization towards rebellion and once again the survey corps is right in the middle of it.

I did not care for the second “half” of this series as much. Where the first was all about the action and battles with the titans, these had more scheming, politicking, and a ton of flashbacks. While most of it was necessary to keep the plot moving, it really slowed down the pace of what was a fast moving manga. I think, and more importantly hope, that these volumes got the majority of the flashbacks out of the way, so the rest of the series can be the action packed books they need to be.

This is still not the end of the series, but it is once again all the books the library has so far. Maybe in another two years I will be able to post the exciting conclusion.

Dante Valentine the Complete Series

Dante Valentine the Complete Series by Lilith Saintcrow, 1280 pages

Having never been disappointed with my choices in urban fantasy fiction, I decided to give the Dante Valentine series a try. In a somewhat dystopian future, where the gods not only exist but also communicate with their followers, a Necromancer named Dante gets a knock on her door. What follows is five books worth on magic, demons, violence and action.

So as I mentioned, the Dante Valentine series is in that same urban fantasy genre with greats like the Dresden files, Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels. All of which I have enjoyed reading, and have blogged about. The key difference though is even with magic being real in all of these books, along with vampires, weres, etc. this book also has the addition of gods. I think in worlds where magic and monsters are common place, adding that third level really expands the fantasy world. It also adds a lot of questions about which faiths might survive and which would not, if all of the gods were proven to exist. That by itself would be an interesting book.

In terms of reading advice, if you liked the Mercy Thompson series I am pretty sure you will enjoy this as well. If you are more of a Dresden files person, you might want to give this a pass.

Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, 254 pages

The story is familiar.  As the result of a rash prayer, a young dandy is cursed - physically he will never change, but his portrait will.  Seduced willingly into a life of debauchery, outwardly he remains the beautiful young man, but his portrait becomes increasingly hideous, reflecting the degeneration of his soul.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is, at its heart, a fairy tale, a fable exploring the connection between goodness and beauty which Wilde, along with the rest of Victorian England, learned from Ruskin.  The novel is far from perfect.  The early romance between Gray and an actress never rises above melodramatic cliche.  The cascade of witticisms that emerges from the mouths of Gray and Lord Henry now suffers from a combination of antiquity and familiarity.  Yet although the central message - that all sin is a form of self-mutilation, however the sinner may have been self-anaesthetized - is at least as old as Plato, Wilde's dramatization is memorable enough to make the old truth young again.

Father Vincent McNabb

Father Vincent McNabb, OP: The Portrait of a Great Dominican by Ferdinand Valentine, OP, 414 pages

Father Valentine's book was never intended as a comprehensive biography of his former teacher and fellow Dominican, but rather as an outline of his life and a collection of primary sources, particularly those gathered from Fr McNabb's own family.  Nearly half of the 414 pages are devoted to a collection of letters from McNabb, primarily to family members, disclosing much of the author's personality but rarely touching upon his public views.  As such, those looking for a detailed record of McNabb's work as a Catholic apologist or social reformer will be disappointed.  At the same time, as a brother in religion of his subject, Valentine brings to his study a special understanding, and this is further supplemented by the personal material.  The result is an intimate though uneven portrait of the man behind the work, the conflicts that drove him, and the loves that sustained him.

Assassination Classroom Volumes 1-10

Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui Volumes 1-10, 1928 pages (10 books)

Koro-sensei is not your average teacher. In fact he is a quite literally monster. Having recently eaten half of the moon, he threatens to destroy Earth unless his pupils can assassinate him before the end of the school year. What at first seemed like a difficult task is made near impossible as his abilities come to light, such as moving at speeds near Mach 20 and being impervious to nearly all weapons. But the fate of the world is resting on class 3-E, or as they are known at their school, the rejects.

So far I have enjoyed this series more than I thought I would. When I first read the plot and even the first part of the book, I thought it was a little corny. My first though was this series would eventually rely on a loophole or weird twist to save the Earth. But as the series has progressed, Matsui has done a great job of convincing me that it might just be possible for this ragtag group of students to actually accomplish their goal. I got a real kick out of the way the monster helps his students both in their classwork, but also in their planning to kill him.

But since the series is not over yet, I am reserving my judgement till the end. I am predicting that he falls in love with the students and cannot bring himself to destroy the world. It would be cheesy, but at least it would not be a loophole.

Saffron and Brimstone

Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand.  Read 158 of 238 pages.

The first three stories in this collection are my favorites: Cleopatra Brimstone, Pavane for a Dead Prince, and The Least Trumps. All three are beautifully written, and the stories are unusual.

In the first story, an unusual young woman seems to have a strange and fantastic connection to the moths she has studied for years. The story builds in pacing and anticipation, with a tension that starts to run through it about half-way, and there's a nice twist at the end.

The second story focuses on a woman who is friends with two people, one of whom is dying. Hand's descriptive writing brings these people to life in absolute clarity, which I like.

The third story has the most magical realism to it, if you can call it that.  A woman who lives on an island discovers a stack of what appear to be blank tarot cards. However, when she finds that two of them actually have images on them, it's clear to her that the two cards are the "least trumps" mentioned in a story to which she has a deep connection.  As a tattoo artist, she inks herself with one of the images, only to find later that the card is now blank.  When a person from her past comes knocking at her door, it becomes apparent that this last card is acutely important, and what she decides to do next will have a an immense impact on her life.

I have read the entire book more than once, but these are the stories I return to again and again, because I enjoy them so much.

Eggshells

Eggshells by Caitriona Lally.  256 pages.  due to be published in February, 2017.  I read an e-galley of this book.

Vivian doesn't feel like she fits in - and never has.  Apparently, she was odd enough as a child that her parents told her she was "left by fairies," and now, living alone in Dublin, people tend to treat her like she's crazy. Friendless, she puts up an ad for a friend, specifically a friend named Penelope.  In the meantime, Vivian wanders the city, mapping out a new area or neighborhood every day, seeking an escape to a better world, where there are fairies and where she will fit in.  When a woman named Penelope answers her ad, Vivian's life starts to change.

"Debut author Caitriona Lally offers readers an exhilaratingly fresh take on the Irish love for lyricism, humor, and inventive wordplay in a book that is, in itself, deeply charming, and deeply moving." This bit is from Goodreads.

This is the strangest book I have ever read.  Considering how many books I have read, that's saying something.  It's not that I didn't like the book; in fact, I found myself laughing out a loud a few times. However, there are parts of this story that are a little disturbing.  That bit about how Vivian's parents told her she was left by fairies?  That means they thought she was a changeling, and if you know anything about changelings, you know that humans think they are dangerous.  Vivian reveals something late in the story that ties directly into this.  However, there is a hint early on:  "I unfold the map. spread it on a patch of carpet and write in my notebook the names of places that contain fairytales and magic and portals to another world, a world my parents believed I came from and tried to send me back to, a world they never found but I will."  (p 6)

Reading this book is like reading a book written by Delirium, the Dream King's sister.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, try this:  you know how, when you were a child, you'd spin around and around, making yourself dizzy, and then stop suddenly and feel that the world was tilting and spinning around you?  That's what this book is like.

The narrative of this book wanders from one thing to the next, all with bits of connectivity to Vivian's desire to find herself entry into another world. She is constantly on the lookout for doors to another place, or evidence of fairies. Things make total sense to her, although to the people around her, she's a bit odd.  Actually, I revise that; she is odd and disturbing.  When Vivian speaks to other people, she has a tendency to ask questions that other people find strange, and as a result, people keep her at arms-length.  However, at the same time, I found her character to be kind of charming. I like how she makes lists of things she likes, or words she likes.  She has an unusual way of using language, and sometimes makes up words to suit her, or the situation.

Here's an example:

"I continue with my list: 'Donkey's Tufty Heads, Marshmallowed Silences, Butter Lumps, Elephants, Sooz in Winter, Pencils that Write Sootily, The NAme ALoysius, Anything Egg-Shaped, Mothes that Think They Are Butterflies....' " (p 20)

"I don't mind mice walking around my house - or maybe they think it's their house but I don't want to catch potential bubonic plague and have my own private Black Death."  (p 78)

I was frustrated by the ending of this book because I felt like I had been on a long, dizzying ride, and then finished, looked around me, and realized I hadn't gone anywhere at all.  However, I can't get this story out of my head, so perhaps it's the journey that's important, and not where you end up.

Dead Letters

Dead Letters: A Novel   by Caite Dolan-Leach.  352 pages.  Will be forthcoming in March, 2017; I read an e-galley of this book.

Ava Antipova returns home to the family vineyard in upstate New York after receiving news that her twin sister has died in a fire.  After leaving home two years ago, and not speaking to her sister Zelda for that entire time, Ava's return is a bitter homecoming.  Even in a family of alcoholics and eccentrics, Zelda was the wild one, notorious for her wild behavior and mind games. Knowing her sister, Ava finds the explanation of Zelda's death to be a little too neat.  Her instincts become sharply obvious when Ava receives a cryptic note from Zelda and as Ava has suspected, Zelda isn't finished playing games.  Working her way from A to Z, following Zelda's clues, Ava finds herself uncovering Zelda's secrets, becoming immersed in a life she ran away from two years ago. The question is, just where is Zelda, and why is she playing this game with Ava?  Is it a twisted strategy of revenge or something deeper?

Filled with outrageous, frustrating (and yet fascinating and compelling) characters, this story has twists and turns that continue right to the very end.  The reader discovers and uncovers secrets along with Ava, putting story in the hands of the main narrator.  In the beauty of wine country, it is clear that dark things can lurk underneath the seemingly pretty surface of family and relationships.  Zelda's tendrils of influence go further than Ava ever thought, and as she goes from clue to clue, it's unclear if Ava is getting closer to Zelda, or actually closer to facing her real self. This is a mesmerizing suspense story, threaded with the deep connection of two sisters whose lives are inextricably intertwined, for better and for worse.  The author's vivid writing style, combined with her attention to lush detail, bring this story to life.  Combined with the twists that keep you guessing, this story will linger in your mind after the final page.

Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism

The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell, 282 pages

According to author Bell, capitalism and liberal democracy incorporate many contradictions, as does any political, social, and economic system devised by human beings.  The central contradiction lies in the promotion of radical individualism and the simultaneous development of large-scale systems of organization and control.  For centuries this tension between bourgeois and citizen was balanced by a traditional morality enforced through social shaming.  This shaky equilibrium was shattered in the 1960s with the embrace of nihilistic hedonism and consumerism.  The underlying dysfunction was mirrored in the reign of Modernism in the arts, and the rupture in the emergence of post-modernism.

Bell believed that to resolve, or at least ameliorate, the contradictions of capitalism, a new understanding of justice would have to evolve to reinvigorate the concept of the common good.  He rejects conservative attempts to empower intermediate institutions as only feeding the centripetal forces of identity politics.  Likewise, any consensus built on exclusive truth claims must inevitably be illiberal and repressive.  The best hope that Bell can offer is the development of Rawlsian ethics, although he makes clear the difficulties of that approach as well.

Orphans of the Carnival

Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch.  352 pages.

This historical fiction is based on the life of Julia Pastrana, a woman whose physical appearance was seen by many to be monstrous, but whose singing and dancing were beautiful.  Heralded on tours across nineteenth century Europe, she was a curiosity who fascinated many people.  However, at the same time people were fascinated by her, many were simultaneously repulsed, and many felt she was an unnatural beast, someone to be hidden from children, pregnant women, and society at large. And what did Julia think of all of this?  Carol Birch takes an opportunity to paint the story of Julia's life, in her own words, as well as through the eyes of the man who later became her husband.

Running through this story is the story of Rose, a collector of lost treasures who lives in modern-day London.  It's unclear until the very end of the story what connection Rose has to Julia's story (and no, I won't give any spoilers here).

As someone who has read about the real Julia Pastrana, I found this book to be a good example of how historical fiction can bring a real person to life, and give insight into their life.  While it's unclear just how much liberty the author took with history, it's clear that Birch did her research, which I appreciated.  Many people may not be familiar with Julia Pastrana, and this book does a nice job of vividly bringing her to life, and giving her attention not as a human curiosity, but as a woman. Like many people exhibited as human curiosities, Julia was very intelligent (which was something many people would not have believed, because of her appearance and how society viewed such people at that time).  Utilizing what she was born with, and understanding the limitations she faced in society, Julia seemed to make the best of what she could offer.  Birch does a good job of painting a portrait of an extraordinary women, whose legacy continued years after her death.

If you would like to read more about Julia Pastrana, I'm including this link about her recent burial, as well as this article about her.

Photo of Julia Pastrana

Late Medieval Mysticism

Late Medieval Mysticism, edited by Ray C Petry, 413 pages

This collection brings together texts from St Bernard of Clairvaux, St Francis of Assisi, St Bonaventure, Bl Ramon Lull, Meister Eckhart, Richard Rolle, Henry Suso, St Catherine of Siena, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Nicholas of Cusa, and St Catherine of Genoa, among others, spanning 400 years from the twelfth century to the sixteenth.  Each author receives a brief introduction, including a short biography and bibliography.  Inevitably, the selections are themselves also rather limited, providing no more than a taste of the sources.  As a sampler, this is acceptable, but readers looking for a real understanding of the authors should go directly to the full works.

"Mysticism" is a word with many meanings, but in the Catholic tradition it is nothing more nor less than the science of the love of God.  How to attain to a fuller communion with the Divine is the subject of all the works excerpted here. As is to be expected with so many authors spread across Europe from Italy to England and over four centuries, there is considerable variety in their approaches - especially in the development of a strict apophatic approach in the Rhineland mystics.  As Petry's commentary makes clear, however, the continuity is deeper than the differences - especially the insistence on balance between the active and contemplative life that can be traced back at least as far as St Gregory the Great and St Benedict.

The Radium Girls

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore.  480 pages.  Will be on sale in May, 2017 - I read an e-galley (courtesy of Edelweiss).

Imagine the nastiest, scariest monster that Stephen King can conjure up.  Then triple that, and you've got the horror of radium. At the time of World War I, hundreds of young women worked in factories, using radium-based paint to brush glowing numbers onto watch faces.  At the time, radium was touted as a miracle substance . . . but some people knew better.  Unfortunately, no one told these girls, who were assured they were safe, and even encouraged to spend time covered in the beautiful, glowing radium dust.  And glow they did, even as they started to fall mysteriously ill, and start to suffer horribly.  The dazzling dust and shining paint took hold of their bones, poisoning them at their very cores.

This rich narrative is written in a way that pulls you into these women's lives, and their individual stories. Fully exploring the background of what these girls faced, not only in the factories, but what awaited them when some were brave enough to challenge their employers, the book brings to life the brave women whose harrowing experiences paved the way for worker's rights.  You may have heard of the Radium Girls, but probably never understood just who they were, as individuals, and what some of them endured.

I found this book difficult to read, because, frankly, the effects of radium are nightmarish. However, what happened to these women is important to learn about, and I felt obligated to read the book.  And, admittedly, the book was fascinating to read. The author has a vivid writing style which brings these women to life, and makes what happen to them very real --- you cannot read this book and not feel affected.  While I knew a bit of the history behind this story, I was unaware of much of the history, including the fact that there was a radium-dial factory in Ottawa, Illinois. Being from Illinois, I was surprised I didn't know about this, and also didn't know that the court case brought by some of these women was a major case for the Illinois Industrial Commission (now known as the Worker's Compensation Commission), a court I am personally very familiar with. I finished this book with a lump in my throat and a much better understanding of what happened to these women.

By the way, lest you think that something like this could only happen back in the 1920s . . . there was a company using these same kind of unsafe practices, with radium, into the 1970s. 


This book has already been published in the UK, and will be published here in May, 2017.

Divorce of Henry VIII

The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican by Catherine Fletcher, 214 pages

Although he is mentioned in neither the title nor the subtitle, Catherine Fletcher's inside story on the most momentous divorce in history is really the story of Gregorio Casali.  As "our man in Rome" for the English monarch, Casali spearheaded efforts to secure a favorable judgement from Pope Clement VII.  Simultaneously, Gregorio worked to advance the far-flung interests of his family, and used his family to advance the interests of his client.  The manner in which these interests interacted, combined and conflicted, forms much of the drama of the story.

Fletcher writes well, smoothly guiding the reader through the intricacies of Renaissance diplomacy, although the book might have benefited from a collective introduction of all the members of the Casali family rather than a piecemeal approach.  The Divorce of Henry VIII is an intriguing, informative tale of Renaissance diplomacy, even if it sheds little light on the "great matter" at its heart.

Newton and Polly

Newton and Polly by Jody Hedlund    400 pages

I have never given the author of one of the world’s most well-known hymns, Amazing Grace, much thought. I guess I assumed it was a priest or a reverend, perhaps even a nun. I was surprised when I saw on the cover of this fictional biography a beautiful young woman and a sailing vessel from the 1700s. One of the things I love about historical fiction is that I learn about things I may have never known.

Newton and Polly is the story of John Newton and Mary “Polly” Catlett. They met when he was seventeen and she was fifteen. Their chemistry was as explosive as a nuclear bomb.

John was a rapscallion as a young man. He liked to drink and carouse, until one cold December night in 1742 when he heard the voice of an angel. The sweet sound came from a young woman, Polly, out wassailing (or caroling as we know it) with some Quaker friends. John was instantly smitten. Thankfully, he followed them as they headed toward home. Seems Polly’s aunt had orchestrated the wassailing as a cover for the release of several slaves. As they were about to be apprehended, John came to their rescue and escorted them to Polly’s parent’s home.

From the moment he laid eyes on her, John was in love, passionately and deeply. Polly returned the feelings. And so began the story of a devoted love that everyone seemed to want to come between.

John misses the ship that he was supposed to take for a job in Jamaica that his father had arranged. And he misses a second ship and another job his father arranges. His lack of ambition worries Polly’s father, who refuses to give Polly’s hand in marriage and bans John from seeing.

One night, John is pressed into service in England’s Royal Navy. He is forced to fight in the war against France. Feeling he’s lost Polly forever, his life descends further and further into sin. Year later, when the ship is nearly destroyed in a storm (more likely a hurricane), John realizes his mistakes. When he is spared, he vows to turn his life over to God. He returns to England and becomes a preacher.

John and Polly’s story is well-written, but moves a bit slow. There isn’t much going on for most of the book except for the two pining over each other. The storm that almost killed John and his shipmates was tense and kept me on the edge of my seat. However, I thought that John’s conversion came a little too quickly. One minute, during the storm, John hates God with all his might; the next he is a devoted follower. It was a little annoying that during he was referred to as John half the time and Newton the other. I did like the story and am giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

I received Newton and Polly from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

Intellectual History of Liberalism

An Intellectual History of Liberalism by Pierre Manent, translated by Rebecca Balinski, 117 pages

In An Intellectual History of Liberalism, Manent traces the key lines of thought leading up to, through, and beyond the crucible of the French Revolution, as developed by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Constant, Guizot, and Tocqueville.  In Manent's account, the liberal tradition begins with the attempt to exclude the Church from civic life by eliminating transcendent elements from politics - a development that marks a rupture with the classical as well as medieval traditions.  With Hobbes this was accomplished through a wholly negative anthropology which posited men as individuals locked in a perpetual struggle with one another, with the State as the necessary moderator.  Although Manent's focus is on the resulting steadily growing division between society and the State, his analysis is profound enough to pull in other themes as well, notably the replacement of an argument for liberty grounded in nature with one founded in the idea of progress.

The Dark Room

The Dark Room by Jonathan Moore.  140 pages finished of 283 pages.Book comes out in January, 2017 - I read an e-galley

  A homicide inspector in the middle of an exhumation is called away to another case;  San Francisco's mayor is being blackmailed and has ordered the inspector, Gavin Cain, back to the city.  At City Hall, the mayor shows Cain four photos that he's received, all showing the same woman, and each progressively more explicit, with the last showing the woman naked, unconscious, and shackled.  The blackmail letter states more photos are coming unless the mayor kills himself.  Cain is tasked with finding the blackmailer, and uncovering what happened to the woman in the photos.

I usually enjoy suspenseful books like this, but I just found this story to be uninspiring.  Cain is interesting, but I just couldn't get into the book.  There were a lot of details, and I found it difficult to keep them straight, and after a while, I just wasn't interested.  This may be a book that I could read at some other point and enjoy, but I just wasn't feeling it this time.

Evangeline

Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 81 pages

     Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient,

     Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of women's devotion,

     List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest;

     List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy.

In the middle of the 18th century, the vast majority of the 14000 French inhabitants of Acadia were forcibly deported by the British government, scattered across North America and Europe.  Visitors to present day Nova Scotia, the Acadia that was, will find a statue of Evangeline, a person who never existed outside of poetry.  Statues of the same fictional character can be found in Louisiana, where many of the exiles settled and formed new communities as "Acadian" gradually developed into "Cajun".  In both cases, Evangeline, separated from her lover as well as her home, stands as a representative of all that the Acadians loved and lost.

Of course, Longfellow was a poet, not a historian, and his genius makes universals out of particulars.  This is embodied within the poem by a Shawnee widow whose own tragic tale mirrors Evangeline's, and who shares with the heroine legends in which similar stories are told and retold, as hers has continued to be since 1847.

Endless Love

Endless Love by Scott Spencer, 418 pages

At the age of seventeen, David burned down his girlfriend's house.  It was no accident, but deliberate arson - a cry for attention born out of desperate need.  He hoped the fire would end his month-long exile from her family and her bed, but instead it resulted in a two year stay in a mental institution and a court order barring him from contacting any member of the Butterfield family.  But the power of David's passion is such that nothing will keep him from Jade - not his psychiatrist, not his parole officer, and definitely not her father.

It is a cliche that love - or, at least, erotic love - is a form of madness, and Spencer mercilessly exposes the truth behind the cliche.  The mad love of David and Jade is truly "endless" - it smashes through all boundaries and consumes everything that is not itself, ultimately destroying two families.  Spencer somehow manages to capture the qualities that make such endless love simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.

People Who Knew Me

People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper.  304 pages.

Married to a man she fell in love with at first sight, Emily Morris seemed to be building the life she always wanted.  However, stress starts to build in her marriage and she falls in love with someone else . . . and then gets pregnant.  Resolving to tell her husband about the affair and leave, Emily's plans fall apart when the Twin Towers are hit on 9/11. Leaving New York to start a new life, Emily changes her name and starts over.  However, now that she is faced with a life-threatening diagnosis, she needs to face up to her past in order to take care of her thirteen year-old daughter.

I found this to be a pretty quick read, and found the story interesting.  The main character is pretty realistic, so at times she's a sympathetic character and at other points, it's difficult to accept her choices.  The story smoothly unfolds, and while there is some back-and-forth in the timeline, I never felt there were jarring changes.  The author takes time to explore some of the issues in the story, such as being forced into a caregiver position, or having to figure out how to balance a personal life with family life.

A Wounded Thing Must Hide; In Search of Libbie Custer

A Wounded Thing Must Hide: In Search of Libbie Custer by Jeremy Poolman   320 pages

I’m not sure where I learned of this book, but I was so excited to get my hands on it. I’m not at all familiar with General George Armstrong Custer’s wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

The prologue, titled “Ghosts in the Park,” was wonderful. It begins with Libbie’s death in 1933, four days short of her 91^st birthday. It was in the parlor of Libbie’s New York home that the author learned fist learned about the woman, standing in the spot where she stood, watching the sun slip between the buildings and sipping tea from her Dresden china.  Beautiful writing. A little unclear about somethings, but I figured they’d be explained in coming chapters.

Alas, that was not to be. I’m not sure exactly what Poolman was writing about, but it wasn’t Libbie Custer. I “think” it was his search for her; going place where she went, making up conversations she probably had. Poolman has recently lost his wife, Karen, to cancer, and became obsessed with Mrs. Custer.

I couldn’t make heads or tails of what Poolman was writing about. There was a scene in the beginning about the Mayflower and the moving of Plymouth Rock that I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with Libbie Custer. That was the way the rest of the book read.

I give this biography/memoir 0 out of 5 stars.

The Lake House

The Lake House by Kate Morton    512 pages

Better clear your calendar before you start bestselling author Kate Morton’s fifth, and latest, novel; yes it’s that good.

The prologue is one of the best that I have ever read. A heavy rain is falling over Cornwall, England in August 1933. A woman is burying something…or someone. It doesn’t give away the ending as most prologues do, and it set the reader up to keep guessing what…or who…is being buried until almost the end…exactly where Morton wants the reader to figure it out.

Alice Edevane is sixteen when the events above occur. She lives there with her parents, an oder and younger sister, and a baby brother.  Previously on that day, the lakeside estate is bustling with servants and hired help in preparation of the annual Midsummer’s Eve party. It’s to be another grand affair. The next morning, eleven-month-old Theo has vanished without a trace.

Fast forward seventy years. Detective Constable Sadie Sparrow is on a forced leave of absence. She is visiting her grandfather who has recently moved to the area. While out jogging, Sadie stumbles across a decaying mansion. Peeking in the windows, the house is fully furnished. It seems that whoever lived there also vanished.

Sadie’s grandfather knows about the property and the supposed kidnapping of Theo. The lake house was once part of a much grander estate. The house is called Loeanneth, which in Gaelic means the lake house.

Sadie becomes obsessed with the cold case. Much to her surprise, Alice is still living in London. She is the famous mystery writer, A. C. Edevane.

The story weaves between past and present. I felt as if I’d known the Edevane’s all my life by the end of the novel. Be prepared to be drawn into their happiness and sorrow with many twists and surprise that will keep you guessing until the end.

In Julie’s world, The Lake House, gets 6 out of 5 stars.

The Edge of Lost

The Edge of Lost by Kristine McMorris  352 pages

I picked up this book based on the cover. In the background is Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the island prison in San Francisco Bay. I had just returned from the Bay area and was eager to hold onto its sights and sounds as long as I could.

The story opens on Alcatraz in 1937. Inmate 257 tends his greenhouse at the warden’s home.  He strains to hear the sounds of a search for a prison guard’s missing ten-year-old daughter. Alcatraz inmates were only known by their number. On the outside, Inmate 257 was known as Tommy Capello. However, that was not his real name.

The story shifts to Dublin in 1919. Shanley Keagan (Shan) is a twelve-year-old orphan living with an abusive uncle. Shan can sing, do impressions, and tell jokes. He becomes a regular in his uncle’s pub and other pubs around the city. When he discovers a letter from his departed mother, he realizes that his father is not dead. He is an American; Shan is elated. He’s also eager to find him and a make a new home. With his uncle forced out of business and failing health, the two decide to go to America.

The ship-ride over is harrowing. When the boat finally docks in New York, Shan is alone. He meets an Italian-American family returning from a protracted visit to Italy. The family adopts you Shan and he grows up as any young Italian-American boy would. The story follows Shan-now-Tommy over the next twenty years. Tommy and his new family become close. In an effort to help his brother Nick , when they are both adults, Tommy ends up convicted of murder and is transferred to Alcatraz.

I was disappointed that two-thirds of the story took place in New York. I was really looking forward to reading about Alcatraz during its heyday and feeling the cold Bay breeze gently brush against my cheeks as I immersed myself in the tale.

I enjoyed the story a lot; it was a quick and easy read, not one that I found easy to put down once I started.  But my disappointment in the story’s locale forces me to give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Illustrissimi

Illustrissimi: Letters from Pope John Paul I by Albino Luciani, translated by William Weaver, 258 pages

In his years as Patriarch of Venice, before ascending to the Throne of Peter as Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani wrote a series of letters to famous individuals, all of them either dead or fictional, for publication in the Italian edition of the monthly magazine St Anthony's Messenger.  Illustrissimi ("To the Illustrious Ones") collects these letters to figures ranging from Charles Dickens to Empress Maria Theresa to Pinocchio.

Luciani writes with an unaffected charm that shifts between folksy wisdom and educated Italian humanism, the two modes united by the author's unvarying good humor.  Each letter is only a few pages long, a limitation no doubt dictated by the magazine format, but the result is that the pieces never become labored or strained.  The conceit of writing to figures of other eras and cultures provides Luciani with the perfect contrast with which to explore the strengths and weaknesses - and poke fun at the idiosyncracies - of his own without seeming crotchety.  The result is a remarkable book filled equally with charm and wisdom.

The Guineveres

The Guineveres by Sarah Domet.  352 pages,

Four girls, each named Guinevere, all left by their parents at a convent, to be raised by the nuns. Brought together by their shared name, the girls bond together and over the course of a year, become inseparable, and then are broken apart.  Learning about the saints, whose stories are threaded through their own lives, the girls plan for their future, when they can leave the convent (and perhaps find their families again).  When four comatose soldiers, casualties of the War, arrive at the convent, all four girls will find their friendship will be tested in ways they couldn't have imagined.

I enjoyed this story, although I had a hard time placing exactly when it was supposed to be taking place (maybe World War II?).
The story is told mainly from the first-person view of one of the girls, although you get the other girls' stories throughout the book. The pace is somewhat slow, and there are periodic reflections from the main character, so it makes you wonder what happened to each of the girls.  By the time I reached the ending, I couldn't have predicted the way the story would wind up, and I had a mixed reaction.  It's a somewhat tragic ending, although I don't know if it really is for the main character.  That might not make sense unless you read the book.  I found it to be an interesting story, especially since each girl comes to the convent for different reasons.  The author does a good job of making the place and characters feel very real.  I found myself thinking about the movie The Magdalene Laundries (although this story is nowhere near how awful that story is), because of the way the convent is described, and because the way some of the girls see themselves, and their families.

An interesting first novel from this author.

Nor Shall My Sword

Nor Shall My Sword: Discourses on Pluralism, Compassion, and Social Hope by FR Leavis, 228 pages

In 1959, CP Snow delivered his famous and tremendously influential lecture The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, in which he excoriated the standard bearers of the "traditional culture" for their ignorance of science.  This was coupled, he claimed, to an ingrained hostility to science on the part of writers and artists dating back to the Romantic movement at least.  By the mid-twentieth century, however, the supreme benefits of science and technology should be apparent to all, and the arts ought to be the handmaiden of science rather than its enemy. 

FR Leavis explicitly renounces any reactionary or Luddite agenda.  He is not urging a return to some bucolic pre-industrial past.  At the same time, he is insistent that, while technology certainly has made great strides towards satisfying man's material needs, the greatest needs of human beings are not material.  In Snow's claims for the priority of science he senses a "spiritual Philistinism" leading to "cultural disinheritance".  Only through a creative engagement with the humanist tradition can genuinely humane solutions be found to human problems.  This, however, requires a sense of continuity between past and present, a sense which ought to be inculcated by the universities, whose function is precisely to serve as creative centers.  To do otherwise is to reduce the university to a technical school and to expose society to the hubris of the enlightened ignoramus, leading to a future in which humanity is imperiled by mechanism, and personality extinguished by technocracy.

Nor Shall My Sword is a collection of lectures and essays on these themes.  Unfortunately, at times Leavis becomes rhetorically overheated, lowering himself to personal criticism of his opponents - his own repeated insistence that this is fully justified only highlights the problem.  Oddly, the introduction, where the author places this book in the context of his overall body of work, is the most difficult part - after that, Leavis is writing in a persuasive mode, because Nor Shall My Sword is not an academic treatise, but a battle cry.  This is both its strength and its weakness.

The Bitch in the House

The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage edited by Cathi Hanuer.  292 pages.

I read this years ago, but saw that there is a new collection of essays coming out soon, so I picked this up for a re-read.

This book is a collection of essays by women of all ages talking about marriage, motherhood, and modern life.  There are a wide range of stories, and I found I was nodding my head at some of them (although I couldn't relate to every single story).   The writers share their stories and thoughts on the pressures they sometimes feel, including the pressure to show they can have it all, and handle everything smoothly all the time.

One of the drawbacks to this collection is that most of the essays are from women who are writers by profession, which means that you aren't reading perspectives from women in a lot of different careers, workplaces, etc.  However, I still found the book to be interesting, and if nothing else, made me think.

The new collection, The Bitch is Back, is on order for the library.

Septembers Numbers

Hello everyone

I know you all have been eagerly awaiting the monthly totals, so without further ado:



Congrats to Jen O for her total points win!

Also you might have noticed that the label list on the side has been reduced. All of your labels are still there but they will only appear in the cloud when they have been used 10 times. This was done for aesthetics and to improve loading speeds.

The Ornatrix: A Novel

The Ornatrix: A Novel by Kate Howard.  304 pages Due out in November, 2016 and on order for the library; I read an e-galley from Edelweiss

The price of beauty can be cruel . . . and deadly.

Flavia, a cloth-dyer's daughter, is born with a birthmark covering her face, which is in the shape of a bird in flight.  Her mother, ashamed of this mark, makes Flavia cover her face in public.  However, on the night of her younger sister's wedding, Flavia dares to do something drastic... which gets her sent away to the convent of Santa Guiliana, just outside the city of Perugia.

In the convent, Flavia encounters Ghostanza, a woman whose beauty is matched only by her cruelty, and whose white-painted face demands constant attention. Flavia becomes her ornatrix, attending to Ghostanza's constant needs for maintaining her appearance.  This becomes more and more difficult, as Ghostanza's supplies of Venetian cerussa runs low, and Flavia must search for a way to make more. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that this cerussa is more than just a makeup, and that Ghostanza's quest for beauty may become the downfall of both herself and Flavia.

Howard brings her characters and settings to life with vivid, evocative language and a pace that increases steadily, along with a sense of increasing dread that permeates the story.  The fact that the precious cerussa is a white lead paint used on the face lends an element of horror, as well.  As Flavia learns, once a woman has been using cerussa as a face paint for a long time, she cannot stop, since her face beneath the makeup grows increasingly awful.  The poisonous nature of these cosmetics is clearly conveyed, so to a modern reader, we can understand just how horrifying the consequences of using this makeup are, and can only continue to read, knowing that dreadful things are in store for the characters.

Yet, Howard's writing is so lush that you get a complete sense of this world, and can imagine these people in 16th century Italy, quite clearly.  It's not all awful; there are flashes of humor in the story, as Flavia has a wry view on much of her world.  However, the dark ribbon of the nasty undertones to Ghostanza underscore that there is, indeed, a high price to be paid for beauty.

Sacred and the Profane

The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade, translated by Willard R Trask, 232 pages

In The Sacred and the Profane, Eliade attempts an analysis of the religious worldview as it is expressed through ritual and symbolism across cultures.  In Eliade's analysis, the religious instinct is the product of man's thirst to know and experience the really real.  This results in attempts to connect with primal reality through rituals that recapitulate creation myths, as well as attempts to situate the individual in the cosmos by the construction of symbolic microcosms in the forms of cities, temples, homes, and bodies.  For religious believers, then, the world is itself invested with innate meaning and significance.  Even for secularized moderns who consciously reject any form of supernaturalism, intimations of transcendence are often felt through the meaning of rituals, especially those of initiation, and the mystery of place, especially as experienced in the beauty of nature.

ISIS

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, 361 pages

Within the last decade and a half, the Islamic State, known variously as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Daesh, has evolved from the start-up terrorist organization Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (JTJ) into the subordinate group Al-Qaeda in Iraq and finally into a quasi-state controlling an area the size of West Virginia and somewhere between 3 and 8 million people with an army possessing highly advanced military equipment.  More notably for those outside ISIS' zone of control, the group has proclaimed itself the restoration of the global caliphate, has received pledges of fealty from other radical groups in Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, and the Caucasus, and has shocked the world with slickly produced propaganda videos featuring mass beheadings of non-Muslims and people being burned alive in cages, the execution of homosexuals by throwing them off rooftops and the demolition of cultural antiquities thousands of years old as idolatrous ties to the pagan past.  In the process, despite being denounced by Muslim authorities including even their former sponsors in Al-Qaeda, ISIS has emerged as both a major source of assistance and the premier source of inspiration to Islamic terrorists around the world.

The subtitle of this study of ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror, seems a bit exaggerated - most of the book is a view from outside.  The authors do give a solid history of the development of ISIS, explaining how a Jordanian thug became the seed from which ISIS grew, helpfully irrigated by Al-Qaeda, Iran, and Syria, sprouting in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, fed by defecting Baathist officials and thriving on (wholly justified) Sunni fears of Iran-backed Shiite pogroms in Iraq and Alawite oppression in Syria.  The authors are clear about the barbarism on all sides of the civil wars in the region, of which ISIS' atrocities are the epitome rather than the exception.

There are a few minor problems.  The authors occasionally contradict themselves - discussing the ISIS presence in Libya, they cite the transfer of fighters from the elite Al-Battar battalion as an indicator of the country's importance to ISIS, but later they reveal that the breakup of Al-Battar was due to concerns about the battalion's loyalty.  More disappointingly, they never deal with specifics of ISIS' religious ideology.  Their explanation of the opportunistic reasons for much of ISIS' local support is interesting, especially given what it reveals about the successes and failures of anti-ISIS strategies and the hidden fragility of the caliphate's position.  Yet it is not political opportunism that has drawn tens of thousands of eager recruits from around the world to the Syrian desert, and it is not mere opportunism that has convinced established terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and Abu Sayyaf to pledge their loyalty to these upstarts.  Weiss and Hassan spend time explaining how the ISIS ideology developed, how it is spread, and why it is deceptive, but the book would have benefited greatly from a detailed account of what it is - without it the book falls prey into the postmodern journalistic myopia which reduces everything to power politics.

Twisted

Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles by Bert Ashe.  250 pages.

This nonfiction book by Bert Ashe isn't just a recounting of his decision to change his hair, but explores the cultural identity associated with dreadlocks.  His book-length essay addresses not only his own thoughts on dreadlocks, but also how people who have dreadlocks tend to have assumptions leveled at them.

For many Americans, if you ask them about dreadlocks, they refer to Bob Marley, and if you ask them about people who wear dreadlocks, a range of assumptions can follow: the person smokes ganja, they're counter-cultural, they're Jamaican.  As Bert Ashe writes,"Few styles in America have more symbolism and generate more conflicting views than dreadlocks."  

I found this book to be an interesting read, because Ashe writes in a way that intertwines his own experience with some sociological examination, a discussion of race and hair, and racial attitudes towards hair.  Ashe has an engaging writing style, and I found the book was interesting and informative.   

 

Massacre of the Innocents

The Massacre of the Innocents by Giambattista Marino, translated by Erik Butler, 111 pages

Generally regarded as the greatest Italian Baroque poet, Giambattista Marino's reputation has waxed and waned along with that of the Baroque more generally.  Celebrated in his own time by figures as varied as Monteverdi and Milton, he was vilified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before being rehabilitated in the twentieth by admirers including Benedetto Croce and Jorge Luis Borges.  

The Massacre of the Innocents was not published during Marino's lifetime.  It is an epic retelling of the slaughter of the infants on the orders of Herod the Great after the birth of Christ, as told in the Gospel according to St Matthew.  The story is, of course, heavily embellished - Marino has Herod construct a special pavilion for the massacre and also inserts a subplot which introduces an element of poetic justice.  This gives the poet freedom to craft elaborate scenes of horror and bloodshed, which he does with skill and energy.  Unfortunately, the excessive brutality does not effectively connect with his broader theme of the triumph of innocence.  Ultimately, despite certain superficial touches, Marino's poem resembles Virgil more than Dante, focused on "arms and the man" rather than the cosmic significance of events.

Under the Sun of Satan

Under the Sun of Satan by Georges Bernanos, translated by Harry Lorin Binsse, 253 pages

"O you who know nothing of the world except colors and sounds without substance, soft hearts, lyric mouths in which harsh truths would melt away like a sugar candy - small hearts, small mouths - this is not for you."

Written nine years before his masterpiece, The Diary of a Country Priest, Under the Sun of Satan (originally translated into English as The Star of Satan) shares many similarities with the later work.  Both concern a saintly priest single-mindedly pursuing holiness, unmistakably modeled on St Jean Vianney.  In both novels, the priest is mentored by an older, worldly priest and conquers temptation through a rigorous course of asceticism which endangers his health.  In both novels, the saint is entirely misunderstood by the bourgeois world that surrounds him.  Most obviously, in both novels the protagonist wins his greatest triumph - the salvation of a single soul - but the victory is not only unknown to the world but becomes a source of scandal when the convert dies soon thereafter, with the priest's actions being singled out for censure.

There are considerable differences as well.  While the protagonist of the later novel dies young, Fr Donissan lives to old age.  Mouchette, the young woman Fr Donissan counsels, hates herself for her sins, where the Countess' sin was her anger at God for the death of her son.  Most importantly, the earlier novel uses a third person perspective, and therefore does not enter as fully into the mind of the protagonist.  While this allows for more definite, clearly drawn distinction between the saintly priest and the world, it lacks the delirious quality of the later novel.  To read Under the Sun of Satan is to wade in the waters, to read The Diary of a Country Priest is to be immersed, and risk drowning.