The Miser of Mayfair

The Miser of Mayfair by M.C. Beaton Audiobook 5 hours Book 167 pages

Hooray another series by my favorite British author! This go around we find ourselves at the address 67 Clarges Street, which rumored to be unlucky, due to the many tragedies that seem to happen to its inhabitants. This home is a home for the London season where young ladies are presented to find husbands.The rent is quite reasonable and appeals to those who are cheap but do not want to appear so. Be that as it may, the servants of this home are hoping and praying (literally) for someone generous to be the tenant that will treat them well as they are tired of the tyrannous ways of the manager, Mr. Palmer. Roderick Sinclair's brother has died and instead of leaving him his fortune he left him his ward, a beautiful girl named Fiona. The book is a tale of the exploits of this pair as they try to get Fiona married to a rich member of the gentry, with the help of the servants of 67 Clarges Street.

Back to Society

Back to Society by M.C. Beaton Audiobook 4 hours Book 152 pages

"Life is finally looking up for the poor relations. The Prince of Wales's coat of arms gleams over the hotel entrance. All but one of the rooms are filled by the open-handed Prince Hugo and his entourage. The owners have taken on a new partner, Mr. Jason Davy, a popular actor. Even curmudgeonly Sir Philip hasn't uttered anything loathsome for days. They have finally reached a position comfortable enough to allow them to consider offers to buy the hotel. The poor relations' hard-earned success, however, is in stark contrast to the plight of their latest guest, Lady Jane Fremney. The slight, beautiful woman is the youngest daughter of the Earl of Durby and has been cast out of her family for refusing to marry the man her father has chosen. Lonely and bankrupt, Lady Jane has decided to commit suicide. But when Miss Tonks uncovers her plans, the poor relations go into action again to try and rescue Lady Jane from suicide, her father, and her intended husband." - Hoopla

I enjoyed this last book of the Poor Relation series as I did all the others. I recommend it and any other writings by M.C. Beaton. Her books are definitely some of the most devourable (is that a word?) that I have ever listened to or read.

Sweet Revenge

Sweet Revenge by Fern Michaels Book 188 pages

Sweet Revenge is the fifth book in the Sisterhood series. It is Isabelle's turn to get her revenge and right the wrongs done to her by her former employee, Rosemary. The sisters plan and plot a devious plan to vindicate Isabelle, all the while having to dodge two inexhaustible reporters.

I enjoyed this book as I do all the books in the series. As said in previous reviews the dialog is not the greatest, but the story is such that I can't put the book down. I enjoy how bold Michaels is with her writing, if there's something she wants in the story, it goes in. I feel like no punches were pulled. Perhaps it is her bold writing, with which I'm not 100% familiar, that makes me say what I say about the dialog. Be that as it may, there is still something quite amateurish about the writing style. As if the writer has promise when it comes to plot, but needs to find a voice that allows said plot to flow more easily. However, no matter the writing, this book was good and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Pilgrim of the Absolute

Pilgrim of the Absolute by Leon Bloy, edited by Raissa Maritain, translated by John Coleman and Harry Lorin Binsse, 351 pages

This is a selection from the writings, letters, and diaries of Leon Bloy, best known as the author of The Woman Who Was Poor, but self-described, at various times in his life, as the Thankless Beggar, the Hurler of Curses, and the Pilgrim of the Absolute.  As assembled by Raissa Maritain, these fragments combine to form an intoxicating "flower from the abyss".  Bloy lived a life without compromises, and he and his family suffered for it - his daughters complaining of hunger is a recurring theme - but they accepted it as the price of worshiping a Poor Man.  "God wants everything, he requires everything, and one cannot escape Him.  'We are sold to God,' my wife said to me, 'we are caught in His net, and we know this net cannot be broken.'"

Bloy sought the Absolute as the enemy of the Relative - the "springboard with which to escape" the empty despair of materialism.  His pilgrimage to the Absolute makes demands that are equally absolute, for it is "an ascension ever more lively, more impetuous, more thunderous, not toward God, but in God, in the very Essence of the Unbounded."  There is no group that he attacks with more fervor than those bourgeois Catholics who manage to get more than thirty pieces of silver for their Lord, unless it is their priests who preach sentimentality rather than sacrifice.  For Bloy, they are nothing but a rotting, gangrenous limb on the Body of Christ, and if they are not to be cured they must be cut off, either here or in the world to come.  Again and again, Bloy announces the universal call to sanctity - not respectability, not niceness, but holiness - "There is no man who is not potentially a saint."  Charity is not something one gives but something one begs for, the very Name of the Third Divine Person, and He is a Fire that burns away all that is not needful.

Alone Again

Alone Again by Jonathan Miller 156 pages

This is Miller’s second collection of short stories. There are 14 stories. The all have great titles, which promise great reads. Like “The Father, the Son and the Cincinnati Red,”  “The Writer and The Writer’s Wife” and my favorite title, “A Girdle, Two Tampons and a Deadline.” Don’t those just make you want to read them right away…which I did. That’s one of the beauties of the a short story collection, a reader doesn’t have to read in sequence.

The stories were okay. One of the things that make a great read great is the tension. Unfortunately, all of these stories lacked that crucial element. Alone Again receives 3 stars out of 5 in Julie’s world. 

A Piece of the World

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline 320 pages

This is the second book I have read by Christina Baker Kline; the first was Orphan Train, which I absolutely loved. After that runaway bestseller, Baker Kline was in search of her next project. According to the author, “As with Orphan Train, I liked the idea of taking a real historical moment of some significance and, blending fiction and nonfiction, filling in the details, illuminating a story that has been unnoticed or obscured…a writer friend that she’d seen the painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and thought of me. I instantly knew I’d found my subject.”

The painting the author refers to is Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, and Baker Kline chose the woman in the picture, Christina Olson, as her subject. She spent two year researching Christina, Wyeth, and life in rural Maine in the late 1930s to late 1940s. There is a comprehensive summary of what she learned about the Olson family in the Author’s Notes that is fascinating reading.

The subject of this book is Christina Olson. A woman with a disability who could barely get around. And on top of that, there was no running water or electricity in their rural Maine home. My heart broke for Christina, her life was so hard, yet her resilience is amazing.

The Andrew Wyeth showed up on her doorstep and wanted to paint the surrounding countryside. I can’t say that the two drew close, I never got that impression, but Wyeth accepted her for her. Eventually he paints a picture of the house, the barn, and the waving grasslands, adds Christina in the foreground and calls it Christina’s World.

One of the things that the author does that confuses me is the jumping around. The novel opens in 1939, then it jumps to the late 1800s into 1900, then 1940, then 1911-12 so on. I’m not sure that the story couldn’t have been told chronologically, but it is what it is. I had hoped to give it 6 stars like Orphan Train, but the jumping around forces me to give A Piece of the World 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

A Woman’s Guide To The Language Of Success

A Woman’s Guide To The Language Of Success by Phyllis Mindell, 227 pages

This is not a new book and there a few references in here that are dated but overall this had a lot of great information.  There were definitely parts, especially about writing, that I will be able to use and I have seen and heard other women who are guilty of doing some of things while speaking that she says are definite don’ts.  I’m glad that someone recommended that I read this.  Unfortunately, the Library doesn’t own a copy.

Con Academy

Con Academy by Joe Schreiber, 236 pages

Will Shea has conned his way into the exclusive Connaughton Academy to find that a con artist is already in residence, Andrea Defresne.  Will likes Andrea’s moxie but he likes being at the comfortable school more. This school is clearly not big enough for the two of them so they set up a contest.  Whoever pulls off the con first gets to stay.  This story had a lot more going on underneath the surface than I anticipated so I was surprised by the ending.  This was a really well crafted story that I enjoyed a lot.  I would give this to teens who like realistic stories that still require you to suspend some disbelief.  Mystery lovers may also like it.

The Emperor Of Any Place

The Emperor Of AnyPlace by Tim Wynne-Jones, 324 pages

Evan’s father died and Evan’s only living relative, his estranged grandfather, Griff, comes to help him with logistics.  Evan found a book on his father’s desk, a book that his father had just read, a book that a stranger has been calling Evan about.  This stranger, Leo, wanted something from Evan’s father in relation to Griff, but he won’t explain to Evan exactly what he wanted.  Evan reads the book and finds a fantastic tale about World War II that involves ghosts, monsters, and stranded soldiers, both Japanese and American, on an island in the Pacific.  This was an intriguing story that can’t be pinned to just one genre.  Part historical, part fantasy, part realistic, I thought it was fascinating.  I would recommend this to teens who like eclectic types of books.

Nine, Ten

Nine,Ten: A September 11 Story by Nora Raleigh Baskin, 197 pages

"Relates how the lives of four children living in different parts of the country intersect and are affected by the events of September 11, 2001."  I was affected by this book more than I expected to be.  I didn't lose anyone personally but, like the rest of the country, I was stunned and horrified by the terrorist actions that day.  Kids who like realistic fiction will like this story.  This isn't really for kids who like disaster stories as it focuses more on the lives of the kids and less on the actual tragedy.  Kids who are the right age for this book would not have been alive yet when it happened which will probably make the impact less than it was on me.

Martians

Martians by Blythe Woolston, 216 pages

Zoe is graduating early, unexpectedly, with the rest of her class.  Fortunately, unlike many of her class she is being recommended for employment at both AllMART and Q-MART.  On the same day, her mother announces that she is moving so she is glad that Zoe will be able to take care of herself.  Zoe ends up employed at AllMART and living with a small group of young adults in an abandoned strip mall.  Zoe isn’t sure what she wants exactly, but she knows she wants more than this.  This is a really bizarre dystopian future story but I liked it.  Teen fans of dystopia should read this.

The Sound And The Fury

TheSound And The Fury by William Faulkner, 326 pages

"The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character's voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century."  They can call this a masterpiece all they want but I didn't enjoy it at all.  The first part, told from Benjy's perspective, is nearly incomprehensible and the rest of the book doesn't clear that section up very much.  The last part at least makes sense but I pretty much dislike all of the characters and reading about other people suffering with no end in sight is awful.  If people want to read the classics they can sure try it but I would never recommend it to anyone.

Secrets of Southern Girls

Secrets of Southern Girls by Haley Harrigan 400 pages

 Julie Portland killed her best friend, Reba, in 1998. In the ten years since, Julie has left their small hometown of Lawrence Mill, Mississippi, for New York. She attended NYU, studied acting, married a classmate who becomes a Broadway star, has a baby, divorces said classmate, and is now trying to make ends meet. Her daughter, Beck, is the light of her life. Julie has lived a full life, but every day that goes by, she remembers that girl from Mississippi---the one she killed.

In a crowded, Manhattan restaurant, Julie sees a man from her past: the man who came between Reba and herself. She tries to escape, but the man, August, manages to track her down to her apartment.

August hasn’t come there to cast blame or seek revenge; he’s come to New York to persuade Julie to return to Mississippi and free Reba’s memories. What follows is a page-turning story where author Harrigan feeds readers information slowly, like a stray breeze on a hot and humid Mississippi afternoon. Sometimes the tension is almost unbearable, and there are several twists in the story that I didn’t see coming.

August is sure there Reba left behind a journal that could unlock the mystery of her death. Julie may feel that is responsible for her friend’s death, but August isn’t convinced she is. He knows that the journal holds the answers to all his questions.

Dueling timelines between 1997 and 2008 make for fascinating reading. Especially when Toby, Julie’s cousin, enters the picture. I wanted to give this debut 6 stars, but it dragged a bit about two-thirds through, but picked back up near the end. Therefore, Secrets of Southern Girls receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t)

If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) by Betty White      260 pages                        

I love Betty White.   I don’t actually know Betty White, but, I love who I know her to be.   Her character portrayals are always so fun, bright, light and with a totally unexpected dark side that will jump out like the Boogie Man every once in a while when you are least expecting it.    Her comic timing is impeccable.    She may not do stand-up per se but she could if she wanted to.    When she gets going it is a stand-up routine whether it is officially meant to be or not.   She embraces everything she does with an admirable gusto and to be as busy a person as she is every day – man!   I wish I had her energy.    This book is a kind of love letter to her fans.    All it is missing is a cup of tea and a plate of cookies and it would be two dear friends chatting the day away and enjoying a wonderful visit.   I admire the person she is and the commitment she makes to her craft (acting) and her causes (animal welfare).   In this book she shares glimpses of her life, her foibles, she dishes up funny stories about herself and is so endearingly human and down to earth she is like a neighbor next door.   She respects her fame but she doesn’t take it too seriously.   As she writes,  she knows who the person in the mirror is so she doesn’t believe all the press about herself.     She feels very lucky to be doing what she loves and getting paid for it.    She doesn’t lose sight of just how blessed her life has been.     Like all of us she has loved and lost and continued on.    She has had to take stands at times and turn down opportunities sometimes due to her schedule and sometimes due to her integrity.   The gal has grit.   She is now and will ever be one of my sheroes.    Lovely book, if you love Betty, you will also love reading this book and won’t be able to put it down until you are finished.   A lovely lady who shares honestly that she may not see quite as well, nor hear quite as well, nor remember faces quite as well, and, who does have the off day now and then but she shares such a joie de vivre you will smile and laugh out loud now and then the whole way through this love letter to her fans.   Excellent read.   

The Financial Peace Planner

The Financial Peace Planner by Dave Ramsey      276 pages              

This is the second book I have read by author Dave Ramsey.    By far it is my favorite of the two.    The first book was a good introduction to who Dave Ramsey is and why and how he helps people to get their finances together.      This book breaks down his lesson plan so to speak on how virtually anyone can get their finances in order and get out of debt.    This book being a planner as per the title I think must likely accompany the course he teaches because it really is a workbook showing you how to break down your whole financial story from your Equity Sheet to Your Income Sources to Your Monthly Cash-Flow Plan.    Dave sites different folks’ stories in what they were going through and how they dug out from under their mountains of debt some even sounding insurmountable but with Dave Ramsey’s simple yet genius instructions he makes it all seem so doable.   It’s like that smack in the head when folks in the commercials realize they could have had a V-8 if they didn’t want to actually eat vegetables and they would get the same effect nutrition-wise.   Dave Ramsey gives you all the information, a personal banker, an accountant, a financial planner and a math wiz could give you but he presents it in such a way it isn’t like trying to decipher Latin or Calculus, he breaks it down into understandable terms and understandable steps so anyone can basically follow his principles and achieve the joy of being debt free.   Now just like dieting and exercising to lose weight, there is no gain here either without a little pain, again Dave stresses that if you are in debt the only way to tunnel out is to a.) stop spending!   Wants are not needs – learn the difference – ouch!   That is that can’t have your cake and lose weight idea.    Can’t spend all your cash on toys and have money left to pay the utilities.   Simple.   Direct and real.   Now, if you are going to get those bills paid off and you are using every cent you currently have to do so while still trying to have food, clothes, the occasional evening out, then therein lies the exercise part.   You are going to have to either sell something (do you really need that second car?  Or the piano no one plays? Etc.)  or you are going to have to get a second, maybe even third job to bring in more money to keep groceries coming in and keep the lights on at home while also paying down all the charge cards you’ve been living off of for the last year and keeping gas in the automobile.    No gain without some pain.    If a person has gotten themselves buried up to their neck in debt, then it is going to take a monumental bulldozer action to dig out and that effort may mean working a second job for 2 -3 years to accomplish paying off all the extra bills so you can live debt free at last.    Eyes on the prize.   Remember how it felt to be debt free before the creditors started calling?   Yeah, that feeling is worth all you have to do to make it become a reality again.    Dave offers simple solutions to all the financial problems anyone could have (and he often sites examples of how folks have practically done themselves in with debt) but, his suggestions are so spot on, it is so obvious how to achieve them if folks are willing to put in the work.   Hey, if you want a hard body, you have got to work out.   If you want a hard bank account you have got to work out at as many jobs as it takes to get you there.    I like Dave Ramsey’s reasoning so much, I think I will read every book I can by him.   Excellent book of very helpful and inspiring advice.   Go, Dave Ramsey!  

The Wages of Sin

The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh         400 pages

In 1892, Sarah Gilchrist joins the University of Edinburgh's medical school.  One of only a few women, she is determined to become a doctor, despite the misgivings of her family and society. There are plenty of barriers at school: professors who refuse to teach women, male students determined to force the women out, and even her female peers.  Desperate for some additional education, Sarah volunteers at a charitable hospital for women. However, when one of the women she tends to there turns up as a battered corpse on the dissecting table, Sarah is determined to find out why.  However, as she searches for the truth, she puts herself in great danger.

I found this to be an interesting book for a few reasons. Sarah is a well-written character and over the course of the story, she reveals more and more about herself.  Hinting at something awful in her past, and the perception by some of her fellow female students as a fallen women, Sarah's struggles aren't just with her studies.  I did sometimes wonder why she was so determined to investigate why this one young woman ended up on the dissection table, especially since so many women were treated at the clinic at which she volunteered.  This was a good story and gave some insight into how difficult it was for women who wanted to study medicine (and the types of challenges they needed to overcome).

Vampyre Magick

Vampyre Magick by Father Sebastiaan                  Paperback:  183 pages              

I read about this book in the writings of Zak Bagaans of Ghost Adventures fame.    He met and actually joined Father Sebastiaan’s Sabre Tooth Vampire clan.    I was intrigued so naturally I had to follow that up by tracking down one of Father Sebastiaan’s books.    There is a sector of society who are present day vampires.   I had been made aware of this some years ago by a friend who was familiar with the local vampires and their clubs here in St. Louis.   Yeah, there really is a sector of society who do partake of that lifestyle, a little more out in the open during the Goth awakening but more subtle and subdued these days.   Vampires tend to travel in their own circles of like minded folk and avoid the mainstream.   However, there are moments when the layman is allowed a brief glimpse into their lifestyle and this book gives an inkling of that.    Father Sebastiaan discusses the history of the vampire or Strigo Vii in the Romanian or “Roma” tongue of the Gypsies who live in the area of the Carpathian Mountains.  Strigo Vii, he says is what most of the vampire folk in Europe prefer to be known as.  It translates to vampire spirit in a gentle sense not the dastardly demonic one depicted in Bram Stoker’s story, he says.   He discusses the paradigm of Vampirism today, whereas vampires are by nature chaos magicians, he says, not so into faith or belief as intent and results.   He talks of the healing powers they manifest,  and the book is in ways a grimoire or book of vampire magic written down to share with anyone searching to know the ways of the ancient paths.   While vampires today do practice rituals and do participate in rites and festivals, Father Sebastiian talks of the practice of vampirism being more solitary rather than group oriented, more personal, sometimes depending on the intent they can be quite sensual for both the vampire and the donor or lover.   It is an interesting look into a subculture group that has been an underground group for centuries and is found in pretty much all parts of the world.   The book is very in-depth so the reader must definetly want to research the subject from Astral projection to manifesting, to the blood and roses of vampiric wedding rites.    There is a chapter on creating servitors which are similar to the wiccans’ familiars or created spirits who aid their benefactors in life (think of Igor).   An interesting look into an alternate lifestyle.   No dipping a toe in to test the water here, this is a full on plunge.     The reader will learn much and more on the subject and come away with a new perspective.    This book handles its topics very respectfully but then would you anticipate anything else from someone known as Father Sebastiaan?       A good tome for the serious minded, it is not a light hearted fairy story.

Revolt of the Elites

The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy by Christopher Lasch, 246 pages

In his seminal work The Revolt of the Masses, Jose Ortega y Gasset identified the development of a deracinated, rootless mass society as the root of the disorders of the early twentieth century.  In contrast to Ortega y Gasset, for whom the collapse of culture primarily affected the lower classes, leaving them lost and prey to the totalitarian ideologies of demagogues, Christopher Lasch, at the end of the century, sees the ascendant ruling class as the most thoroughly deculturated segment of modern society.  In Lasch's view, the new meritocratic elite demonstrates all of the vices of the old aristocracy without any of the virtues.  Technologically unmoored from space, insulated by wealth from the difficulties of everyday life, educated to believe in the primacy of innovation and "progress" and therefore bereft of any kind of historical consciousness, the members of this global class possess a boundless faith in technocratic methods and a smug contempt for those who have not acquired their advantages.  According to Lasch, the old democratic ideal of the worker with a dignity and voice equal to that of the rich man has been replaced by social stratification into working and serving classes and a managerial class responsible for organizing political and economic life.

In Lasch's analysis, the provincialism of the elites is itself part of the larger self-segregation which characterizes post-modern society.  The growth of self-contained social bubbles is enabled by a dominant worldview which sees human fulfillment as nothing more than the acquisition of wealth and power, self-assertion and self-gratification.  True democracy, Lasch concludes, must be founded on something deeper than legal mechanisms.

Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena

The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of Siena, Dictated by Her, while in a State of Ecstasy, to Her Secretaries and Completed in the Year of Our Lord 1370, Together with an Account of Her Death by an Eyewitness by St Catherine of Siena and others, 344 pages

The full title of the Dialogue is most of the context provided in this edition - the brief introduction is primarily concerned with the spiritual state of Italy, Christendom, and the saint rather than a true biography of the author or commentary on the text.  That text is a transcription of conversations St Catherine had while in an ecstatic state with the first two Persons of the Trinity.  None of the voices - those of God or that of the saint - ever descends into the kind of babbling emotionalism popularly associated with ecstasy - they speak clearly, rationally, and, on the part of God, with a commanding authority.  There is not even a trace of self-aggrandizement - St Catherine is not interested in her status as the mouthpiece of the Almighty, but with how she - and we - can draw closer to Him.  The result is an eminently practical guide to the spiritual life, showing "clearly in each state the means of cutting away imperfection and reaching perfection, and how the soul may know by which road she is walking and of the hidden delusions of the devil and of spiritual self-love."

Double Bind: Women on Ambition

Double Bind: Women on Ambition by Robin Romm  320 pages

"...the word "ambition," for many, remains loaded with ambivalence. Women who are naturally driven and goal-oriented shy away from it. They’re loath to see themselves—or be seen by others—as aggressive or, worst of all, as a bitch."    This book of essays explores the concept of female ambition from many angles and is written by a diverse group of women.

This title caught my eye as a new book, and I picked it up because I was curious.  I did find some of the essays more interesting than others, and some definitely easier to relate to than others. I agree with the point that there are words used to define women (especially in the workplace) that are negative when applied to women, but which have a positive connotation when applied to men. The word "ambitious," is one of those words and something that definitely be perceived differently both by men and women, and when applied to the behavior of a man or a woman. While I don't feel that my own opinions about the word "ambition" are changed by this book, it made for some thought-provoking reading.

Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor    533 pages

"The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever. What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?"

Well, one answer lies in the fact that there are five people (are they really people) living in the Citadel in Weep, including Sarai, whose power lies in her ability to influence people's dreams.

I really enjoyed Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, so I was excited to pick up this new book. The writing is just as beautiful as I expected, and I enjoyed how she crafts the characters and the story, bringing the characters and the storylines together slowly so you can appreciate how they are connected. While I skimmed through some of the more romantic spots (I am not a teenager and these parts fail to make me swoon.  I am jaded enough that my eyes roll a bit . . . but that's just me, not really a criticism of the book.)

The one flaw in the story was . . . it's part of a trilogy.  I hadn't paid attention when I picked up the book, and when I was about 3/4 of the way through it, I was thinking that there was way too much story to wrap up by the end (even though it's 533 pages) --- and I got about 50 pages to the end and then looked at the last page and figured out that of course, Taylor is going to leave me hanging.   *sigh*

Here's an example of her writing, a bit that I thought really said something about not just the characters, but something that generally is thought-provoking and maybe even something some readers could relate to: "So they layered cynicism atop their longing, and it was something like laying laughter over the darkness -- self preservation of an uglier stripe. And thus did they harden themselves, by choosing to meet hate with hate."   p 147

From the Ruins of Empire

From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia by Pankaj Mishra, 310 pages

In From the Ruins of Empire Pankaj Mishra examines the careers of three prominent Asian intellectuals from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, all of whom struggled with the cultural, economic, and military dominance of the West - not only as such power was deliberately, oftentimes violently, exercised, but also as the uncritical embrace of the mechanistic, utilitarian Western worldview by modernizing elites in their homelands.  Each of the three represents a third of non-Russian Asia - itinerant journalist Jamal al-Din al-Afghani for the Islamosphere, scholar and activist Liang Qichao for the Sinosphere, and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore for the Subcontinent.  Each sought freedom for his people, but also a form of modernity that preserved the values of his own culture.

It is possible to go on at great length about the problems of perspective in this book, problems that are only somewhat excused on the grounds that the perspective is that of the subjects.  Understandably, in writing about anti-colonialists Mishra concentrates on the negative impact of colonialism on Asian nations and cultures, but at times he oversimplifies to the point that he falsifies - even a casual reading of Finkel's Osman's Dream (which Mishra cites in his bibliography) demonstrates that the problems of the Ottoman Empire were not only - or even primarily - the result of Western imperialism.  That the reality was somewhat more complicated than Mishra's default narrative of Asians fighting for liberty from Western injustice is implied in the fact that both al-Afghani and Liang were persecuted by their native governments, and both took refuge in the oppressive, racist West - the only one of the three who was consistently safe in his homeland was Tagore, who lived under British rule (and was celebrated in the West, lecturing to packed halls and winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913).

It is possible, again, to go on at great length about the problems of perspective in From the Ruins of Empire, but to do so would obscure the very real value of the book.  Beginning in the eighteenth century, the great civilizations of Asia were confronted with the reality that they were not, after all, the center of the world or of history.  How they adapted not only helps explain the world of today, it also has lessons to teach the West as it begins to discover the same truth.

Trigger Warning

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman                             Audio Book: 11 hours, 1 min      Hardback Book:368 pages          

These stories are meant to be triggers to the reader, tales that offer disturbing subjects meant to trip the readers’ fear reaction.   The author points out one of his friends told him her trigger was anything with tentacles she is terrified of such so yes, there is a story here with tentacles for days.   Stories found here include an imaginary lover named Cassandra, who comes to life,  a story that reminded me of Tyrion Lanister (Game of Thrones) which is interesting as the author gave these stories to George R. R. Martin to read them before he submitted them to his publisher, there is a story about a landlady of a bed and breakfast who seduces her male tenants then they disappear,  and a story of a young man who’s mother knows a lot about a lot of things as mothers do, though, her info deals with ancient alien relics and time continuum refractions with visits from Aztecs etc.     These tales are so good and told in such a smooth way even when they are describing talking skeletons, ghosts interacting with humans, devils, demons spectres, shadows and many things above, upon and below the earth that tend to make the reader cringe just a bit now and then.    Really good read.

After Dead

After Dead by Charlaine Harris                     Audio Book: .75 hour   PaperBack Book:  208 pages          

This was like a letter from home.   The Bon Temps version of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon.    I have missed Sookie, Eric, Bill, Tara, Lafayette and all the wonderful characters that the imagination of Charlaine Harris dreamed up.   Characters so rich in detail they took on a life of their own to those of us who are devoted fans.    The reader can become attached to such vivid sensory imprinting and like baby ducks we want to follow all our favorite residents of Bon Temps, Louisiana.    Heck, we feel like we are now residents of Bon Temps we know everybody there so well and when Ms. Harris gave the death knell to the Sookie series it was as though a family member had died.   Our hearts were literally shaken.   We were ran out of town on a rail and even that dear Sheriff Andy Belflour couldn’t help us.   So, in many ways this book is a cool drink of water to a thirsty soul.   Some closure.   We aren’t just out there dangling in our shocked state any longer.     A few crumbs tossed and gobbled up hungrily.   I am happy that Ms. Harris wrote this.   It was a joy to get some news from home.   I would be greedy and wish Ms. Harris would miss Sookie, too, and want to bring her back, but, that is not likely.    I think by virtue of Sookie’s followers becoming over zealous that freaked the author/creator out.    Then, I think fans inundating her with requests or complaints or folk disputing something in the Stackhouse genealogy or the story timeline, maybe a new wrinkle in vampire lore really ticked Charlaine Harris off.   Having attended one of her lecture, I noticed two things: 1.) Fans writing stories using her characters and sending them to her in homage desperately meaning to please her and gain favor for their writing skills most certainly did not please her.   It peeved her off immensely.    There were HER characters afterall not theirs and she could do what she wanted to with them.   THEY ARE HER CHARACTERS.    She was not flattered by the fanfiction at all.   I bet she ripped them to shreds or burned them judging by her deep set reaction.   2.)  Charlaine Harris was totally pissed off that fans predominantly wanted to see Sookie end up with ERIC not BILL and BILL was who loved Sookie unconditionally and Bill Is who Ms. Harris had seen Sookie being with always to the end.  I could tell that Ms. Harris herself was in love with the Bill character and didn’t care much for Eric’s arrogance, always writing him as a disturbing, nasty, vile, out for himself above all others.   But, Eric was hot.   Eric didn’t need anybody, but, he loved Sookie and would do anything for her.   He mellowed so much after their tender moments together when she took care of him when the witch coven caused him to completely forget who he was.  My favorite book in the series I might add.   Besides, the bad boy is always the nonconformist that embodies that free spirit even the most inhibited of us wish they could let out to howl once in a while.   We may not like him, but we respect his toughness therein lies the attraction.   We want that wildness.    Bill is a highly loveable guy.   Old South, southern gentleman with impeccable manners, talk dark and handsome, also hot just in a more subtle subdued way.    Bill would be a wonderful protector and provider he would always see to his lover’s needs, always be there just a breath away.   Eric would keep his lover wondering all the time but it would be so worth it when he was in the moment.   But I honestly believe it angered Charlaine because Bill was her choice for Sookie (her stand-in) and the idea that fans preferred who she felt was the bad guy that infuriated her and she was Not going to let fans tell her how she was supposed to seal the deal.   So, I do feel that to let fans know they were not going to push her around, she quit writing Sookie stories.   Oh what a blow that was!  I just think in Charlaine’s mind that would put it all to rest and get the fans off her back and drop all the stress of keeping a team around her to keep her facts on point against the barrage of fan mail, tweets, email etc.   Like some rock stars who simply want to play their music, Charlaine simply wanted to write and to write her stories her way fans be damned it all got way too overwhelming so she stopped it so she no longer had to deal with it which left her able to persue new characters in new book series she was fond of and wanted to see develop more.  I admit I am crushed by the door slamming on Sookie’s house and story, but again, this tidbit of info on the citizenry of Bontemps, Hotshot,  Nial and the fairy folk, cousins from Shreveport and other points, Kings and Queens of states mentioned and characters big and small brought in to mention, if briefly, how the later years of their lives transpired.    Many endings are funny, or bittersweet or downright unfortunate, maybe a little catty in a retaliatory way.   It’s like when Queen Elizabeth did that quick dip/nod as Diana’s hearse passed, Charlaine did a quick dip/nod to the Sookie Stackhouse series fans and threw us a bone.   Thank you, Charlaine, I accept this bone gratefully.    Thanks for the news from home.   I am content if not satiated.

Before We Were Yours

Before We Were Yours  by Lisa Wingate 352 pages

Warning: Don’t start this novel unless you have plenty of time to read because you won’t be able to stop reading.

Wingate has taken a footnote from history and turned into a page-turner. The reality of the story is Georgia Tann and her Tennessee Children’s Home Society. On the outside, the home appears to be just like any of the other orphanages that are common in 1930s America. But Tann had a  dirty secret. She stole children from rural, poverty-stricken areas, then sold them to wealthy clients, charging absorbent fees and treating the children as if they were a piece of garbage.

Based on this solid fact and careful research, Wingate creates a Mississippi River family whose home is a shantyboat named the Arcadia in 1936. The Great Depression is raging across America, so life on the river isn’t so bad…at least they always have something to eat.

The five children and their parents, Briny and Queenie, lead a wanderer’s existence, traveling up and down the river. The kids get schooling here and there, but they seem to always be on the move to where the fishing is better and the weather is warmer. When Queenie goes into labor and a river midwife can’t help her deliver, Briny is forced to leave the boat and take his wife to a Memphis hospital. Twelve-year-old Rill is left to care for the boat and her four siblings.

The parents have been gone a couple of days when strangers passing as the law come to collect the children, telling them they only be staying at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society until their parents can come and collect them. The abuse they endure at the hands of Tann and her minions are criminal.

Then flash forward to contemporary time. Avery Stafford and her father, Senator Stafford, have returned to South Carolina for the Senator’s health issues.  Avery is being groomed to take his place in the Senate, following in her father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. But it’s a chance meeting with an elderly woman during a nursing home photo opp, that changes her life forever.

The encounter compels Avery to dig through her family’s history to try to determine what the elderly woman and her dementia-addled grandmother have in common.

Waving between past and present, this is the story of how one family’s past has shaped its present. A highly compulsive read, the characters are complex and well-drawn. Before We Were Yours receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

The Barrowfields

  

The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis 368 pages

I was attracted to Lewis’ debut novel for two reasons. First, I read that someone thought this is the kind of novel “you’d get if you crossed Shirley Jackson and Pat Conroy; a southern Gothic haunted house tale with a coming of age story.” Jackson, Conroy, Southern, Gothic, haunted house. I admit it, there wasn’t much that could stop me from reading this one.

I had, wrongly, assumed, that Barrowfields was either a) the family name, b) the name of the house, or c) the name of a town. Actually, Barrowfields is a barren wasteland in North Carolina. I “think” it’s near the coast, but I can’t remember right now.

The story centers around the Aster family. They are typical Appalachian folk: poor, hard-working, honest. Helton and Madeline do their best. Their “children were well cared for even if food and clothes were hard to come by.”

The couple has one son, Henry. He is different than other kids; he loves to read (another reason I was drawn to this story). He leaves the mountains, desperate to make it as writer, but gets a law degree, for college, but ultimately returns with a pregnant wife in tow. They settle down to make a life, purchasing a gothic house high on the hill.  

They have a son, Henry, Jr., who narrates the novel. They settle into life. And that’s the problem with this novel. While the writing is beautiful, the plot just moseys along, It’s like reading about a bunch of people sitting around thinking. I think it’s the long sentences and the slow pace that made this such a chore. I wasn’t pulled into the story; I couldn’t find an arc that really enticed me to read. 

Little to no plot in a beautifully written novel are the reasons that  The Barrowfields receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

An Unlikely Cat Lady

An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle by Nina Malkin       Paperback Book:  182 pages                            Genre: Adult Non-Fiction/Feral Cats/Urban Animals

Oh how I love this book!   I so relate to Nina Malkin’s experiences becoming friendly with all the ferals that wonder through my backyard, at least the ones I see.    I’m sure there are loads more that only show up during those dark hours before dawn while I’m sleeping but I have met many a feral friend over the years.    Nina and her husband Jason name the ferals they meet and look after (feed, get neutered/spayed, provide shelter for) Axl Rose because of the female’s side to side swagger when she walked and her kittens who would come running out at them hissing and spitting, claws out: Ray Snarls, Sid and Nancy Vicious, Paul Wolke, and the sorry looking male cat that hung around when the females went into heat -Yeff Smeef (they loved the way a Korean friend’s mother used to shout when it was time for her favorite cooking show to come on t.v. – chef, Jeff Smith) and a Nancy Vicious look-alike that happens to be male, they name Nigel Tufnel (see “This Is Spinal Tap” the film).     The stories she tells are hilarious and all she and Jason go through to TNR (trap-neuter-release)  their crew of feral friends is material for a sit-com.    They grow to love them all dearly and mourn when one of them passes.   Families come in all kinds, and animal lovers know we love our furry family members just as much as our human ones.    This is a love story worthy of a “West Side Story,” score.    And hilarious.    This dear lady who had never thought much about outside critters until she just happened to look out her back window one day to see a tiny mama cat and 4 teeny fur balls out in her and her neighbors’ backyards foraging for food in the winter in Brooklyn.   Her heart melted and she was out on her hands and knees with bits of food getting scratched for her troubles by the cutest little roughians she had ever seen.   She was hooked.   After that, she made it her mission to be Professor Henry Higgins to these little Eliza Doolittles to try to get them adopted.   I laughed out loud reading about how she took photos of them curling up in her hands, snuggling against her neck so that she could post the photos to Craigslist and other pet friendly sites offering free adorable friendly kittens for adoption.    Her intentions were good, she wanted the poor things to have a forever home so they wouldn’t have to live the stray life during the brutally cold snowy New York winters.   She neglected to disclose at the time that the kittens were actually attached with their claws to her body parts and not the sweet darlings reposed in precious loving positions around her.    She would have to run in the house and try not to drip blood everywhere because the little rascals were like Tazmanian devils tearing at her flesh faster than she could see it coming.   I laughed so hard reading this book.    It is a delight.   It is so funny and so real and so genuinely true and sincere.   One lady’s quest to save the cat world one kitten at a time.   God bless you, Nina Malkin.    You deserve a Purple Heart and a Medal of Honor.   Cats and Cat Lovers applaud you, thank you for all you have done and continue to do in helping to care for the feral cats in your area and beyond.    You have more kindred spirits than you will ever know.

Geek Girl Model Misfit

Geek Girl Model Misfit by Holly Smale      Audio Book:  8 hours     Hardback Book:  416 pages    Genre: Young Adult/Fiction  Social Themes/Friendship

Harriet Manners is a teen who is not only academically brilliant but is also a fashion model.    Her mother passed away when she was little and now she lives with her father and his second wife, both of whom she adores until her step-mother becomes pregnant.    All of a sudden she has a full-on  attitude change toward her parents and becomes argumentative about everything.    Seems she is jealous of the baby to be and feels she is being squeezed out by the thought of this new thing growing in her step mom’s belly.    Then while she is processing this new state of being her bff is shipped off to Austrailia to some previously unknown relatives for the Summer.    The only person each of them can reach out to during their times of stress and now they will be thousands of miles from one another.   Cell phones shorten the distance some, but, not enough.   Add to all this stress that her boyfriend’s family has decided to move to Canada.   Harriet’s life is in shambles then her agent calls to tell her that a Japanese fashion designer wants Harriet to be the new face of her clothing line and wants Harriet to come to Japan for a photoshoot to kick off the new line.   Harriet has always dreamed of going to Japan one day so here is the answer she has been hoping for except her parents can’t chaperone her with the new baby coming, her step-mom can’t travel and she wants her Dad to be with her for the delivery.    Harriet throws a fit and goes into anger mode shouting and calling the baby “That thing” and going all evil on how her parents are selfish and don’t care about her ad infinitum.   Feeling like her world is completely dark, her boyfriend gone, her best friend gone, and now the opportunity to see the one place she has always dreamed about going to is dashed, she is beside herself with anguish.  But, sometimes at our lowest answers come from mysterious places and change our lives for the better, enter step-mom’s hippie dippie mother.    Not the most reliable of chaperones but a chaperone.   The parents are o.k. with it thinking a little space apart for all of them and less stress in the house might be a really good thing for all of them, plus it is a really great career opportunity for Harriet to have an in with a top fashion designer.   Its all good till Grandma goes off on her own path leaving Harriet in the hands of the designer and her other models.   Language barrier aside, being a brilliant student, Harriet researches the Japanese language and has a handle of enough words to have some conversation and the other models speak broken English and all except one become fast friends.   That one just happens to be the NEW girlfriend of Harriet’s boyfriend, who was also contacted for this photo shoot.   Harriet’s happy place didn’t last long and her bff, Natalie is too far away to cry on her shoulder.   However, Natalie rallies and gives Harriet a buck up and act as though she could care less and is even happy for the new couple.   It isn’t easy but Harriet does follow her friend’s advice and proves herself Oscar worthy as she is dying inside the whole time.   Her now ex-boyfriend is thrown by her nonchalance and yep, he comes running back.   Many mishaps occur during the time in Japan and Harriet’s troubles are far from over.   I won’t spoil the ending, I will just say this was a very pleasing story in the vein of a Sophie Kinsella novel.     I didn’t realize this book was part of a series, but, I think I will read the other titles as well as this was a very well written story and I especially like the attention to detail.   Good read.

Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue

Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue by M.C. Beaton Audio book 4 hours Book 152 pages

The poor relations are back in this fifth addition to the series. It is typical among the gentry to stay in a hotel and to leave without paying. Colonel Sandhurst has volunteered to retrieve the amount owed to the hotel from the latest cheapskates. While attempting to do so, he encounters, Frederica, the lovely daughter of the family (who did not stay in the hotel) and he comes up with an idea. Frederica wants to run away from home because her father is going to make her marry a beast of a man. So the Colonel figures she can take shelter at the hotel and he can get money out of her father in order to secure her safe return to him. Once again the poor relations find themselves in a difficult situation. Can they help themselves and Frederica or will her wants and desires play second fiddle to their financial troubles? Read it, listen to it, either way you won't regret it.

The Rules

The Rules by Stacey Kade, 410 pages

Ariane isn’t who she seems to be.  When she was six, she escaped from a genetic lab with the help of her adoptive father, who had recently lost his own daughter.  Ariane has his daughter’s name and life and since the girl had lived with her mother, no one in town knew anything was wrong.  Except that Ariane had some trouble fitting in, partly because of her early upbringing but also because she wasn’t completely human.  Still, Ariane’s life has been okay, as long as she follows all of her father’s rules, designed to keep her safe.  Ten years later, Ariane is finally letting her emotions get the better of her and has decided to break the rules, which could have devastating consequences.  This was a good story with a definite science fiction bent.  This isn’t very hard science.  It reads a little more like a typical high school reality romance with a science fiction twist.  It is a good story that will probably have more girl appeal.