Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By

Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By by Lesley M.M. Blume  256 pages

"The Huffington Post's "Let's Bring Back..." columnist, Lesley M. M. Blume, invites you to consider whatever happened to cuckoo clocks? Or bed curtains? Why do we have so many "friends" but have done away with the much more useful word "acquaintance"? All of these things, plus hot toddies, riddles, proverbs, corsets, calling cards, and many more, are due for a revival. Throughout this whimsical, beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of nostalgia, Blume breathes new life into the elegant, mysterious, and delightful trappings of bygone eras, honoring the timeless tradition of artful living along the way. Inspired by her much loved column of the same name and featuring entries from famous icons of style and culture, Let's Bring Back leads readers to rediscover the things that entertained, awed, beautified, satiated, and fascinated in eras past."  (summary courtesy of Goodreads)

Ok, I admit it: I wouldn't mind bringing some of these things back. Bedroom fireplaces. Croquet. Yes, definitely - but especially if the grass has some hidden pockets and bumps to make it more of a challenge.

Some things I have already brought back . . . like butter. And bread. And fountain pens.  I make no apology. I enjoy good bread and good butter.  I mean, I use the whole butter/olive oil spread stuff in the little tub, but I definitely enjoy good quality butter from time to time.

Some things I could do without, including elbow-length gloves.  However, I really liked going though this book and remembering some things I had completely forgotten about, learning about things that were new to me, and also nostalgically reflecting on things I miss (or don't miss at all).

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land    270 pages

This book begins, "My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter."   From there, Land explains how she has gotten to the point where she is living in a shelter, trying to make a life for herself and her daughter, and takes the reader through what it took for her to work her way out of poverty as a single parent.  Spoiler: it took a lot of very hard work, scrubbing on her hands and knees.  Working multiple jobs. Navigating the labyrinth of government aid that was available, and then desperately working to follow the sometimes maddeningly confusing rules of said aid.  

I enjoyed this story and was impressed by Land's honest, heartfelt writing. She doesn't try to paint a pretty picture. Instead, this is a brutally honest story about what it takes to survive and thrive in today's society, where the odds are stacked against those with less means, education and support.  Land makes it clear that it's very, very difficult for people, especially single parents, to rise out of situations that keep them underemployed and underpaid, even as they work themselves to the bone. It was especially heartbreaking when she would explain just how hard she was working, only to find herself up against circumstances she had no control of (like a place she was living in that had mold).  Definitely a very interesting memoir that gives a picture of not only one person's life, but insight into how many people in her situation live.

An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago

An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz   304 pages 

Kotlowitz, the author of There Are No Children Here, revisits Chicago over a summer to write about the individuals affected by violence. Told through intimate profiles of people, Kotlowitz talks to and writes about people who have committed acts of violence, social workers, teachers, and many more.

I had read There Are No Children Here pretty recently and had been eagerly anticipating this new book from the author.  He cites that over the past 20 years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire.  What he does in this book is look beyond those statistics and examine what this kind of violence does to the spirit of individuals and their community. Kotlowitz has a great way of helping tell people's stories without making it seem like they should be pitied; instead, what he shows is how many people have commonalities and how violence can have a devastating impact that creates a ripple effect through communities.  I found this book to be interesting and thought-provoking.  Coming from the Chicago area and living in different neighborhoods in Chicago, I feel ties to Chicago; however, I am not proud of all of Chicago's history, nor its current state.  What I appreciated was that Kotlowitz brings a completely human aspect into all of these news stories and statistics.  It's a sobering read.

I Owe You One

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella            AudioBook:12 hours, 22 mins      Hardback Book:  448 pages            Genre:   Adult Fiction   Romance                    Family Business,  Sibling Rivalry

Fixie Farr is the family fixer, hence where she got her nickname, “Fixie.”    Her fixing skills run from handyperson  type skills to soothing ruffled feathers of family and friends when conflicts come up.    She is kind beyond reason and does triple back flips for everyone except herself it seems.   She is a total pushover for her old boyfriend who treats her like a dog, is arrogant and demanding and goes out with anyone he feels like while stringing her along.    Her family owns a dry goods store that has been around long enough that every clerk knows every customer by name and the customers know the merchandise so well they let the staff know when stock is getting low.    It is a dependable shop with a steady clientele who come there for the down to earth goods that one uses in normal daily life.  When the family goes into shock mode after the death of Fixie’s father, Fixie’s Mom steps up and includes the Kids, Fixie and her sister and brother in carrying on the family tradition though Fixie’s brother has loftier goals and is always schmoozing with the muckity-mucks of society trying to worm his way in amongst them and her sister is caught up in her model friends,the New Age Movement, Reiki, Yoga and seems to live in a fog most of the time.    She always wheedles her way out of chores and anything she doesn’t want to do which is everything except her New Age pursuits.   With only Fixie being much help their mother quickly burns herself out trying to keep everything going as it all did when her husband was alive finally Mum literally keels over, her sister rushes in to sweep her away on a much needed rest then European holiday.  Mother leaves her adult adolescents to take charge of the store.   With the above mentioned personalities you can imagine the chaos to come.   Add a seldom seen Uncle who is put in charge to assist who is full of himself and full of **it.     Going for a wee respite from her problems, Fixie stops in her favorite coffee shop.   A handsome guy at another table is furiously working on his laptop when he gets a call on his cell.   He looks at the number and glancing around sees Fixie.   He says to her that he really needs to take the call would she mind keeping an eye on his laptop?  He’ll only be a few minutes.  Sure she will.   While the guy is outside the shop on his cell, a leak in the ceiling causes plaster to start falling, quick thinking, Fixie grabs the laptop in the nick of time and rescues it.   The guy is so happy she saved his derrier he grabs a coffee cup band, writes his name and number on it, includes his business card and hands it to Fixie.   The note reads, “I Owe You, One!”   He tries to buy her a meal but she bows out saying he didn’t owe her anything but he knows the value of the information on his laptop that would have been lost had she not saved it for him and assures her he owes her big time and will honor the I.O.U. for anything she would like.   The plot thickens.    A really good story with lots of fun characters.    I would definetly recommend this book to anyone who likes to laugh at great dialogue and story situations, who understands the siblings you love can sometimes get really close to that love/hate line, and how when you try to be too nice and make things easy for others they tend to forget you exist and the taking advantage of your good nature begins.    Well done, once again, Sophie Kinsella.   You hit it out of the park with this one, too.  You are a STAR!  J  I highly recommend all of Sophie Kinsella’s book, she is an easy author to become addicted to.

- Shirley J. 

Bloody Habit

A Bloody Habit by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, 435 pages

It is the dawn of the twentieth century, and it sometimes seems that not only does the sun never set on the British Empire, but that the Empire is itself a kind of terrestrial sun, enlightening the whole globe, banishing the shadows of injustice and war, ignorance and superstition that still haunt the backwards corners of the world.  Yet the queen who symbolizes this golden age of progress is ailing, and the reading public thrills to Bram Stoker's suggestion that some of those old superstitions might turn out to be terrifyingly real.  John Kemp, a young barrister with a growing practice, certainly finds the novel Dracula unsettling, but far less unsettling than finding himself face to face with an actual vampire, or discovering a genuine van Helsing in the unexpected form of a Papist friar.

It would be easy to mistake A Bloody Habit unread as either a belated attempt to cash in on the waning vampire fad or an attempt to cash in on the continuing fashion for reworking popular stories to fit modern sensibilities.  It is neither.  Nicholson's charming and horrifying novel is certainly inspired by (and often refers to) Stoker's classic, but it is also very original - just as importantly, the characters resemble actual Victorians and show no resentment of their era.  Nicholson's vampires are malevolent monsters, and that malevolence is horrifying, as is appropriate for a tale in which an ordinary London lawyer suddenly finds that his life, like every life, is on the front lines of the struggle between good and evil.

City of Flickering Light

 

 

 

City of Flickering Light by Juliette Fay    336 pages

 

Absolutely. Loved. This. Book!

 

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for novels about Old Hollywood. Just love ‘em. And Juliette Fay’s new historical gem, “City of Flickering Light” is no exception. I don’t believe it’s too early to prognosticate that this will be the beach read of the 2019 season.

 

Irene, Millie and Henry all work for the same burlesque troupe.  They are not-quite-friends but more than acquaintances. Irene is the seasoned veteran, having once been part of a sister-act with her twin, Ivy. Millie is the innocent ingénue, someone who needs looking after, and Irene takes on that burden. Henry is the new guy, the bad comedian all burlesque troupes seem to have.

 

One day in July 1921, Irene decides that she had had enough. She’s quitting the business and heading for Hollywood. Flickers, or silent movies, are the rage. She hatches a plan where she and Millie jump off a moving train, just like theater-goers saw in those early films. She didn’t count on Henry following them, and she didn’t count on the boss sending his muscle to find them.

 

After a harrowing escape, the trio makes their way to the land of eternal sunshine and set about becoming a star. It’s not as easy as it looks. Author Fay takes readers on a journey of bad, but cheap, boarding houses; lining up outside the studio, hoping and praying, they’ll catch the eye of an assistant director; traipsing around after dark, trying to make that all important connection in whatever speakeasy they can find. Their adventures kept me up way past my bedtime for three nights.

 

One of the things that I really like about the novel was that Fay didn’t shy away from the sordid side of the casting couch and other indelicate secrets that only appeared when one looked beneath the surface of the glamour and fame….if you made it.

 

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending. It just kinda stopped. I had really gotten to know these characters, had developed a bond with them and wanted to know how it all turns out.  Fingers crossed that there will be a sequel. If not, I’ll pretend I’m a movie star and make my own happy ending.

 

“City of Flickering Light” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Tubman Command

The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs    336 pages

 

I had been seeing/hearing a lot of buzz about this book, and I was excited to read it. I learned about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in grade school, but can’t say that I knew all that much about the woman. I’ve visited historic homes who had tunnels that claimed to be points on that infamous line and have stood in the darkened tunnel, aghast at the fear those poor people must have felt.  But fear is what kept them pressing on.

 

This story takes place in South Carolina, in May 1863. The tide had not yet turned for the Union Army, and many feared that the United States would split into two countries. From the book jacket:

 

“’The Tubman Command’ tells the story of Tubman at the height of her powers, when she devises the largest plantation raid of the Civil War. General David Hunter places her in charge of a team of black scouts even though skeptical of what one woman can accomplish. For her gamble to succeed, “Moses” must outwit alligators, overseers, slave catchers, sharpshooters, and even hostile Union soldiers to lead gunships up the Combahee River. Men stand in her way at every turn--though one reminds her that love shouldn’t have to be the price of freedom.”

 

I had high hopes for this novel. However, the use of dialect made it difficult, for me to read. I was often bored and kept getting thrown out of the story by the dialect. Therefore, “The Tubman Command” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Far Side of the Sea

Far Side of the Sea by Kate Breslin    384 pages

 

I always look forward to a new Kate Breslin novel. I can always depend on lots of intrigue with some romance and a dash of faith.  Her latest novel, “Far Side of the Sea,” doesn’t disappoint in those areas.

 

We last saw Lieutenant Colin Mabry at the end of her previous novel, “Not by Sight,” returning from WWI, injured physically and mentally. Suffering from what was then termed shell-shock (now it’s PTSD), Colin is haunted by the memories of being trapped underground after a tunnel collapse in which he loses a hand. He is the lone survivor.

 

Now he’s decoding messages for M18 in a small outpost outside London. The job is routine, but it’s what Colin needs right now. Then he decodes a message that leaves him breathless. A message from the woman he left behind, the woman he believed was dead, the woman whom he never told how he felt.

 

He travels to Paris to meet Jewel Reyer. But it’s not Jewel, but her half-sister, Johanna. Johanna is in search of Jewel and believes that she can lead her to their father, a man she has only met once. As Colin and Johanna work to find Jewel, sparks start to fly. Colin believes he loves Jewel, but as tensions rise, he must admit that he is not sure of how he really feels.

 

Everything that makes a great read is there, yet I found I was disappointed in the tale. While there is high adventure, I didn’t feel that there weren’t any unforeseen twists that took my breath away. And throughout the whole book, I felt like I was missing something. Maybe is that I really didn’t remember Colin from “Not by Sight.”  Therefore, “Far Side of the Sea” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

First Society

The First Society: The Sacrament of Marriage and the Restoration of the Social Order by Scott Hahn, 182 pages

The First Society is many things, all of them excellent.  It is an exploration of Catholic teaching on marriage, society, grace, and the sacraments.  It is also an examination of contemporary society and the much-heralded "death of liberalism".  Most of all, it is an exhortation to the Catholic faithful to live the truth faithfully and proclaim it boldly.  As Hahn explains, the family is the original and fundamental community and thus the basis for every other kind of community.  While philosophy tells us that we are social creatures, the Church deepens this by revealing that we are made for communion, because we are made in the image and likeness of a God who is Himself a communion of Persons.  The desacralization of marriage, then, sabotages the very basis of civil society even as it alienates the individual from the only possible sources of true happiness.  If, as Hahn asserts, the secular world has spent the last several centuries desperately trying - and failing - to find a replacement for the Catholic Church, it follows that it is the social as well as the evangelical duty of Catholics to offer precisely that which makes their faith distinctive.

As always, Hahn somehow manages to combine a popular approach with theological depth, producing a book which is accessible enough for neophytes without boring the more learned.  Most remarkable, in this case, is the integrity of the book, not only its evident sincerity but its convincing demonstration of the coherence of the Church's teaching.

The Dinner List

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle    276 pages 

"At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen?"  And what does it mean when Audrey Hepburn, your best friend and one of your professors shows up at dinner?  That's just one of the questions that the author explores here when Sabrina arrives at her 30th birthday dinner.  As the story progresses, it becomes clear that there is a reason why these six people have been gathered together.

However, it seemed to me to take a long time to figure this out. I liked the concept of the five people at a dinner, but I felt like it took me a while to connect to Sabrina. I liked how there were chapters set in the past and in the present (at the dinner), but I found the chapters set in the past to be more interesting and compelling.  I found Sabrina's best friend, Jessica, to be not that good of a friend at all.  The theme of how a decision in our lives can create a ripple effect that lasts years isn't lost on me ---- but several times while reading the book, I lost some interest. I found the relationship between Sabrina and Tobias (who is her main love interest) to be complicated in a way that sometimes irritated me.  Mostly, I wanted to like the book more than I did.  

Biloxi: A novel

Biloxi: A Novel by Mary Miller   254 pages  I read a galley - book is due out May of 2019

Louis McDonald, Jr. is 63 years old. His wife of 37 years has left him, he's not close to his daughter, and his father has just passed, possibly leaving Louis a large inheritance. In anticipation of this inheritance, Louis has retired from his job, staying at home watching reality TV, avoiding his ex-wife and daughter, and drinking beer.  One day, he impulsively stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets mixed-breed Layla.  Unexpectedly, he takes her, even though he doesn't know anything about dogs. Soon, it's all dog parks, bologna and extra hamburgers as Louis navigates his life with Layla by his side.

I'm just going to say it: I am not the reader for this book. I'm sure other people will love this book, finding it droll or amusing, but I just didn't get it. I felt like it was a lot of stream-of-consciousness from a character that I neither liked nor found particularly interesting.  I kept reading because I kept expecting something to happen. However, what happened was less than I had hoped and by the time I reached the end, I felt completely secure in my feeling that this book just isn't something that resonated with me. 

I will say that the author creates characters you can easily envision, and the narrative rolls along (to me, much like a 1982 Buick Regal with no air conditioning and cloth seats that smell like old fast food. It's not overly pleasant, but at least you make some progress going down the road). 

Wild Country

Wild Country (The World of the Others #2) by Anne Bishop    480 pages

"There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the Blackstone Clan, outlaws and gamblers all, will uncover secrets…or bury them"   (summary courtesy of Goodreads)

I used the Goodreads summary because I couldn't figure out a good way to talk about the plot without somehow including a lot of information from the series, in general.  I think this is definitely a book where you need to have read the previous book in this series, as well as least one of the books in The Others series --- because otherwise, a lot of things might not make as much sense.  Or, you'll spend a lot of time trying to figure something out that was covered in a previous story.  

I enjoyed this book as much as the other previous books, although I found parts of it to be a little predictable (although not entirely, which was good).  I like the world that Bishop has created, and that she has taken a series and done a bit of a spin-off, which allows her to keep using that world but concentrate on different characters (who may or may not connect to each other).

Around the Way Girl: A Memoir

Around the Way Girl: A Memoir by Taraji P. Henson    AudioBook  7 hours, 27 minutes     Hardback Book: 256 pages            

Excellent  book.    Heart-warming when she talks about her son, heart breaking when she talks about losing the love of her life and father of her son.     Taraji is a terrific actress and she tells the reader exactly how she made it in Hollywood.    She talks about the ups and downs in her life, her career and is brutally honest about her love-life.   She discusses the right things she has done in life and mistakes she has made along the way.    She gives the reader an insider’s view into her relationship with her father.   Her Dad loved her so much he kidnapped her when her mother wouldn’t let him see her during his addiction times, (his friend convinced him to take her back to her mother before he got in bad trouble) and when he was down on his luck in life through to his second marriage to cleaning himself up and to when he found God and became an ordained minister.  Her Dad was always there for her and helped her out of her relationship with her son’s father after he put his hands on her.   Her Dad walked in and was going to do damage until he saw his grandson watching all that was going on.    He couldn’t hurt the father of his grandson in front of the toddler, so, he took him out and had a deep discussion with him instead and from then on until death did them part, her father tried to teach and guide the younger man to do better and be better.    Taraji tells a good story here and does not make herself out to be anything but her own authentic self.      Excellent Book.    I would definetly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys biographies, who is a fan of her work or anyone who likes to read the true life struggles people go through to follow their destiny.   Well done, Taraji, you tell Boo Boo Kitty, Cookie!

 - Shirley J.

The Name of God is Mercy

The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis           Audio Book:  3 hours     Paperback  Book:  256 pages               Genre: Religious Study on the Nature of God       Biblical passages on the subject of Mercy

Excellent book and a great discussion on God’s nature and his boundless mercy for his creations.    Also excellent study on the parables in the Bible that demonstrate compassion and mercy and the similarities and differences between the two concepts.    Great teachings on and breakdowns of the sermon on the mount, the prodigal son, reserections of the dead, Paul’s ministry, etc..    Just all around excellent book.   I thoroughly enjoyed it.     A great teaching tool, a great addition for a theology student’s collection as well as any lay person wanting to gain a deeper understanding of who God is and why He is who He is.      A reminder of what we give away we receive in abundance in return.   It is geared to all believers in Christ with discussions on Muslim and Judeo beliefs on many similar points.  The study of this book with emphasis on the definition of mercy would be a worthy endeavor for any study group exploring the inner workings of humanity.  I would recommend it to anyone, Pope Francis brings up so many interesting points, his ideas are endless and the concepts he peels back the layers on to expose them for the simple and completely understandable notions they are allow the reader a greater understanding of what could be lofty topics  but are brought down to earth and presented so effectively it is like being spoon fed sweet tasty morsels.    The more you learn here the more you want to learn.   Well done.   While Catholic in orientation anyone from any religion or non-religion can find interesting learning and discussion material here. 

 - Shirley J.

Never Tell

Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10) by Lisa Gardner 416 pages

"A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun."

As you can see from the title information, this is the tenth book with homicide detective D.D. Warren --- so if you have read other books in this series, you know to expect Flora Dane, as well.  If you've never read a book in this series, you can still pick this up and enjoy it --- there's just some backstory that makes it easier to understand some of the details and plot

When D.D. arrives on the scene, she recognizes the wife as Evie Carter, a woman involved in a case from many years back when Evie's father was killed in an accidental shooting.  Now that Evie appears to have shot a computer and maybe her husband, was that incident from years ago truly an accident?  And what is Evie's husband's connection to Flora Dane?

It definitely makes it easier to explain if you have read the other books in the series, mostly because you have an understanding of D.D.'s background, Flora Dane's background, and how they are connected to each other.  This is a great story where the details are uncovered in layers, one at a time, so it's not easy to make any predictions on how to solve the mystery of the murder.  Like her other books, I feel Gardner excels at building a story quickly and combining it with interesting characters and a quick pace, so you can find yourself engrossed in the book . . . and maybe not realizing you've been sitting and reading as long as you have.

Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #1)

Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny  293 pages

"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montréal and yet a world away. Jane Neal, a long-time resident of Three Pines, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more but Gamache smells something foul this holiday season…and is soon certain that Jane died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter."  (per Goodreads)

After years of doing Reader's Advisory and talking to people about what they're reading, it's taken me a really long time to get around to Louise Penny.  And I can't believe it took me this long!!

I don't tend to read a lot of mysteries, although I have certain mystery authors that I read every one of their books.  I really enjoyed this book and plan to work my way through the series. I appreciated that there was a sense of humor to parts of the book, and Penny has created a great character in Gamache (as well as some wonderful supporting characters in this story).  I liked that I wasn't sure about who had killed Jane Neal, or why, and this book's steady pace made for a really good read.

Lee Miller in Fashion

Lee Miller in Fashion by Becky E. Conekin  224 pages

This is another one of the books in our Fine Arts collection which I picked up after reading The Age of Light.  It's a wonderful example of how Lee Miller defied categorization, moving from model to muse to photographer and war correspondent. She was a celebrated Surrealist who fought for recognition of her own work when Man Ray took some of the credit, and her fashion photographs are some of the best known from the late 1920s to the early 1950s.  While she was recognized as an important photographer in her lifetime, many of her images had remained unpublished. This book shows how the world of fashion shows as the framework for Miller's creative development, but also how to see how her work showed the effect of war on the lives of women in the 1940s and 1950s.  This book combines text with archival fashion photographs, contact sheets, her published illustrations and her memos, so it's more than just a book of photographs -- it's a great reference tool for understanding Miller and her work.

Lee Miller: A Woman's War

Lee Miller: A Woman's War by Hilary Roberts   224 pages

So, after reading the novel based on the life of Lee Miller, I went into our Fine Arts collection and found some books on Miller and her work.  This book was published to coincide with an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and shows that Miller's work as a war photographer showed that she was one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century. The book has an introduction by Miller's son, Antony Penrose, and is divided into chronological chapters, so you get an understanding of her work along with the photographs. The extended captions that accompany photos, some of them previously unpublished, really make this book an excellent way to understand Miller's work and also her work in the context of the role of women in World War II.  As a journalist, Miller documented the social consequences of the war, particularly the impact of the war on women across Europe.  Definitely a great way to learn more about her and her work if you read The Age of Light.

The Age of Light

The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer    384 pages

This novel is based on the life of Lee Miller, a Vogue model turned renowned photographer and her quest to forge a new identity as an artist. Filled with accurate details about Miller's life, the author begins in the more present day and then takes the reader back to when Miller made the decision to go to Paris in 1925.  Miller made a connected with the famous Surrealist artist Man Ray, who at first just wants to take her photos. However, she is determined that he teach her about photography and eventually he does. As they work together in the darkroom, their professional and personal lives become intertwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever.

The author takes us past Miller's relationship with Man Ray into her work in the battlefields of World War II Europe, and also delves into how Miller discovered new photography techniques and also how she documented the liberation of concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Scharer doesn't shy away from gritty or unpleasant details, and I felt I really got a great feel for how Miller's life must have been.  She's not always an easy person to understand or like, but the way she is depicted in this novel, she seems completely real.  I had been familiar with Miller's work and some of her life story, so it was really interesting to read this novel.  I felt the author did a great job of bringing this amazing woman's life into the spotlight (even if it wasn't always a beautiful or charmed life).

Left Neglected

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova   324 pages

I read this book because Shirley's review made it sound like a really good read (so I won't summarize here --- you can find Shirley's review which was posted this month).  I had enjoyed Still Alice by this author, but I had never looked for more of her books --- and once I read this, I couldn't believe I hadn't.

I appreciate that the author is a neuroscientist because while I enjoyed the characters and the storyline, I also felt like I was learning something new.  I had never heard of this kind of traumatic brain injury and I appreciated that the author included a lot of details about, but never made it seem like it was a dire sentence for the main character.  In fact, there was a fair amount of humor here, which I really liked.  For example, when Sarah realizes her brain isn't acknowledging anything on her left, she doesn't think it's that serious ---- until she realizes that her brain is not acknowledging that she has a left leg.  Or a left arm.  Or a left hand.  How the heck is she supposed to walk?  Or go to the bathroom?  Yes, all these things we take for granted.

Definitely an interesting book, but also a story I enjoyed.  Thanks, Shirley!!

No Hard Feelings; The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work

No Hard Feelings; The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work by Liz Fosslien  304 pages

This book takes a visual approach to explaining how you can embrace emotion at work and become a happier, more fulfilled person at work (and outside of work, too).  The authors take a deeply researched look at how emotions affect our professional lives and how we can navigate our emotions at work.  For example, "Real, valuable feedback is not going to feel like a gift. Realize that negative feedback often means the criticizer cares about helping you improve and is willing to bear the awkwardness of a difficult conversation."

I started reading this book and quickly realized this is something where I want to buy a copy for myself and then stick a bunch of post-its and notes in it so I can keep it on my desk and refer to it.  I found it incredibly helpful and interesting, and I think a lot of people would benefit from reading it.  I feel a lot of us at work find it's hard to have a good balance of emotion at work; you might work somewhere where it's buttoned-up and people never express emotion at all, or you might be somewhere where people share everything they're feeling in the moment.  Finding a balance can be tough, especially if you come from a work culture where you've felt that it can show weakness to express many types of emotions.

Really valuable book!

The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides    323 pages 

Alicia Berenson seems to lead a charmed life as a famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer.  So why then, when her husband returns home late one evening, does Alicia shoot him five times in the face?  No one knows, since she then never speaks another word. 

Her refusal to speak complicates this domestic tragedy, turning it into a mystery that captures the public's imagination. While the price of her art skyrockets, she is sent to The Grove, a secure psychiatric forensic unit in North London.  Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, is determined that he can get Alicia to speak again and finally explain what happened with her husband.  But when he gets too close to the truth, it seems like both he and Alicia are in danger.

This is a great example of a suspense book with a good twist in it --- that you shouldn't see coming. I had my suspicions, but even though I read a fair amount of psychological suspense books, I didn't anticipate exactly what would be revealed.  I enjoyed that, even though I found other parts of the book to be slightly less than satisfying. I liked the setup of having a character who would not speak and a second character who was determined to make her speak. With Theo's character, you get insight into Alicia through him, but you also get insight into who he is --- and frankly, I found him to be a little creepy.  This is a pageturner with an interesting premise, though.

Scruples

Scruples by Judith Krantz  478 pages

"Scruples is the novel that created publishing history, the first-and widely acknowledged to be the very best-novel ever written about the staggeringly luxurious life of a Beverly Hills boutique and the people who work in it. Scruples was translated into twenty languages and made Rodeo Drive famous around the world. The New York Post said that "Scruples was born to be a smash bestseller. . . It has more inside information about the worlds of high fashion and  Hollywood than you'd find in a dozen manuals." With Scruples, Judith Krantz earned her reputation as a blazingly talented and original storyteller. She takes her readers behind the scenes of wealthy and fame to show them the real people and the real emotions that exist at the core of even the most high-powered lives. Scruples is the leader of her #1 best-selling novels."   (per Goodreads)

I picked this book out from the Stacks because I was down there looking for something else and walked past Krantz' books . . . and then remembered reading this book a long time ago (felt like a lifetime ago, actually).  While I had remembered parts of the story and some of the characters, I found myself thinking more about the writing and some of the details in a more critical way.  I admit it: I read this book when I was too young to be reading it.  It was published in 1978 and I remember reading it in the early 1980s  --- and it's got some pretty steamy parts to it.  I was really surprised to read the Goodreads summary which says this is "the very best-novel ever written about the staggeringly luxurious life . . . "   Um . . . well, maybe that held up in 1978, but in 2019, I found a lot of the book to be kind of lacking. The one thing that kept striking me was the descriptions of details of Rodeo Drive felt a lot more like the 1980s than the 1970s --- and the descriptions of the main character's style didn't feel like 1960s to me at all.  Admittedly, I wound up skimming parts of the book, especially toward the end because I felt like the story dragged on way too long.  This was an interesting experiment in nostalgia, but I don't think I'll revisit her books again.

The Farm

The Farm by Tom Rob Smith              Audio Book: 9hrs. 24 mins          Paperback Book: 400 pages        

Good story, it keeps the reader off kilter all the way through to the end.   It is like you are watching something and you don’t know whether it is real or a dream.     A son is caught up in his secret gay relationship he cannot bring himself to admit to his parents who he believes to be living a good quiet life in the country only to be brought into a festering tug-of-war as to which parent he believes in an emotional conspiratorial fight to find a murderer and prove the sanity of one over the other of his parents.   It has a Hitchcock feel to it, think, “Rear Window,” or “The Rope.”   Set among the fyords in Sweden and the center of London, a sense of dread and you don’t know who to believe because  both have plausible views.   It is one of those books where the reader will be trying to work out the clues who is right?  Who is wrong?  Could things  be as either says?  Each makes an excellent case.   Good book.   I would recommend it to mystery lovers especially.       

 - Shirley J.

Mencius

Mencius: The Man and His Ideas by Albert Felix Verwilghen, 94 pages

Meng Ke, traditionally known as Mengzi (Master Meng) and Yasheng (the Second Sage) in China and Mencius in the West, has been revered for millennia as the definitive interpreter of Confucius.  It was Mencius, more than anyone, who turned Confucius' varied writings into a coherent system.  Unsurprisingly, his writings have fallen out of favor in a cynical era which tends to view every act of exegesis as somehow inherently fraudulent.  As a result, a central aim of Verwilghen's introduction to Mencius and his thought is to defend him against the charges of insincerity and opportunism.  In this account Mencius, far from being either a reactionary or a sophist, is understood as a truly integrated personality who made the pursuit of virtue within the context of the natural law the center of both his philosophy and his efforts at social and political regeneration.

Armenia

Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages, edited by Helen C Evans, 302 pages

For millennia, Armenia sat astride the major trade routes connecting the Mediterranean world with Persia and East Asia.  Although often under foreign political domination, a distinctive Armenian faith and culture flourished which preserved the unique identity of the people even as they incorporated influences from both East and West.  This catalogue of an exhibition staged by the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the art of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora from the 5th century to the 17th.  Particularly striking are the examples of illuminated books and intricately decorated memorial stones called khachkars, although the highlight is a spectacular carved monastery door.

Dark Night in Aurora

A Dark Night in Aurora: Inside James Holmes and the Colorado Mass Shootings by William H Reid, 269 pages

On July 19th, 2012, James Holmes wrote "Embraced the hatred, a dark k/night rises" in the notebook he had been keeping for the past few months.  By this time Holmes' apartment was cluttered with weapons, bombs, and booby-traps, some genuinely dangerous and others merely meant to look dangerous, and similarly his notebook contained a combination of threat and pretense.  When, several hours later, Holmes surrendered to police after opening fire on the audience of a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 and injuring dozens more, it became the labor of experts to separate the two - explosives specialists to disarm the trapped apartment, psychological experts to untangle his true thoughts and motivations.  One of these latter was forensic psychologist William Reid, and this book presents his process and conclusions.

More often than not, mass murderers do not survive their rampages - indeed, self-destruction is often their end goal.  Yet Holmes' survival is, from the standpoint of understanding, a mixed blessing, since human beings generally, and criminals especially, tend to be dishonest when accounting for their own past actions.  Thankfully, as might be expected given his professional background, Reid is well aware of this.  Unfortunately, his profession does not include some of the skills of novelists and journalists, so that his account, while clear, is not particularly compelling.  Nor does he have much in the way of answers - in his view, Holmes' actions were influenced but not determined by his very real mental health issues.  He does, however, provide an interesting inside look at how the legal system adjudicates oftentimes competing claims of culpability and mental illness.

Aquinas and the Market

Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy by Mary L Hirschfeld, 217 pages

In this intriguing book, Mary Hirschfeld argues that economics and Thomist theology share considerable common ground, beginning with their understanding of man as fundamentally motivated by his quest for happiness.  Unfortunately, she claims, a barrier has been constructed to insulate supposedly value-neutral scientific economics from the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of human existence, but the resulting "rational" approach is itself both the product and the perpetuator of hidden (and erroneous) anthropological assumptions made all the more pernicious as the result of their invisibility.  At the same time, drawing upon her experience as a trained economist, she demonstrates that mainstream economics is not as narrow as theologians are apt to believe, and has much to teach about prudential planning and living under the limitations of finite human understanding.

The Bruce

The Bruce by John Barbour, translated by Archibald AH Douglas, 476 pages

John Barbour is the Homer of Scottish poetry, and his masterpiece is this epic retelling of the adventures of Robert the Bruce during his fight for Scottish independence and succeeding reign as King.  Unlike Homer, Barbour was only a generation removed from the events he chronicled, and his work is apparently considered a valuable historical resource.  It is as poetry, however, that it stands or falls, and its excellence makes its relative obscurity difficult to understand.  In his introduction, translator Douglas suggests that the lack of a verse translation into modern English is largely to blame, and if this is the case hopefully another half century will see its rediscovery.

Left Neglected

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova              PlayAway:  9 hours, 12 minutes          Paperback Book:  352 pages                  

This was a very good book about a woman with a husband, 3 kids and a high pressure V.P. position.    She worked 12 hour – 16 hour days then put in time working at home on work projects to keep up with the demanding pace of her job.   She never put in less than 80 hour weeks then when she got home, there was dinner to be made, dishes to be wished, bathing and reading stories to the kids and running all over town getting her son to his sports events, her daughter to her ballet classes and recitals, etc.    Her husband didn’t pitch in a lot with the kids and even if she had important international meetings on her schedule for first thing when she arrived at work, her husband would not volunteer to drive the kids to daycare and school.   The best he would do is rock, paper, scissors with the loser having to take the kids to school/daycare and she usually tended to lose and had to do it.   In that, I think he was a jerk.   He could have been more helpful, he could have been willing to take the kids half the time at least instead of being a turd about it, but, no.    Rushing the kids to daycare and school ran her behind (again) and of course their son who has attention deficit disorder decided to bolt and climb the jungle gym on the playground, her daughter has a melt-down over something, it is cold and icy and she is trying to rush across the playground in 4 inch heels to get her son and talk him down.    In so doing she left the baby who was asleep in the car while trying to corral the older kids and get them inside the building.    By the time she accomplishes all that, speaks briefly with another parent while on the fly, she realizes the baby is alone in the running car.   Yes, you are thinking what I did.   OMgosh she is going to get back out there and someone will have highjacked her car and took the baby in the process!  That didn’t happen thankfully, but, something equally bad does.    Don’t want to completely spoil the story for you, because it is a good one but author Lisa Genova takes the reader on such a realistic ride from start to finish that you will find yourself getting the visual and commiserating with the main character all the way to the end of the book.    Very realistic situations, very realistic dialogue, an astounding amount of research presented in many medical situations that opened my eyes to a whole new genre of medicine I had never considered before.    This book is by the author who wrote the story, “Just Alice,” about a college professor who succumbs to Alzheimers, which was also a very realistic, very well researched book on a medical life changing condition.    Excellent book.   I highly recommend it to anyone probably 5^th or 6^th grade on up through adult infinity.

 - Shirley J.

EntreLeadership:20 years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches

EntreLeadership:20 years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey            AudioBook:  11hrs., 30 mins     Hardback Book:  320 pages           

Dave Ramsey is literally teaching a business course here whether he tells you that or not.    In this Business 101 course – you learn it all.     Dave gives you his and his family’s backgrounds from beginning to end when he first started on a card table in his house to the multi-million dollar business he has created today.   Between running his business, dealing with his employees or giving the reader practical advice and the benefit of his experience good and bad times in his own life and how he dealt with both this is a true gem of a book.    If you are an employee, a supervisor or an uber boss you will come away with some great tips for doing things better here.    In such understandable terms, Dave walks you through from starting a business and builds on that from the ground up to becoming a rockstar in your field of expertise.    He is a firm believer in setting goals and achieving them by setting achievement deadlines.     He tells the reader how to motivate your employees, how to deal with ethical issues and gossip in your employees.    He talks about breached trust issues and how best to deal with them.   He tells how take your workers to being a cohesive team.    He talks about paying off debt and working from cash as quickly as possible, both in your business life and in your personal life.   There is so much positive and helpful information here that can be applied to both business and personal sides of your life.    He cites examples of his own screw ups and his major achievements.    He tells the reader how to nip disastrous employee behavior in the bud before it destroys the company’s culture.   He teaches how to delegate.   He covers every aspect of business in this book, he speaks honestly and he doesn’t suffer foolishness or allowing an employees incorrect  behavior regardless of their output to spoil the morale of the other employees.   He talks about his faith, how to work well with a spouse when it is a family business,  he talks about giving back to his employees and thereby the community.   I can’t think of anything he missed.   He is so spot on with his advice and laser like eye on behavior in the officeplace.     EXCELLENT BOOK.    I would recommend this book to anyone young or old – there is so much to learn here you might want to read this book more than once because you will want to retain it all.   Another book that should be on everyone’ shelf.   Bravo, Dave Ramsey!

 - Shirley J.

Transylvania

Transylvania by Ethan Weingarten         Hardback Book: 24 pages          

The book starts off talking about the scary apects associated with Transylvania,  bats, castles and vampires.   It discusses some of the stories that have come out of Romania and how they were inspired and how the vampire stories gave weight to the stories of Chupacabras in other parts of the world.   It shows a map of Romania with the Transylvania region highlighted.   Romania itself is an Eastern European country and Transylvanian region within the country is centrally located with the Carpathian Mountains to the north and east and the Transylvanian Alps (which is new to me – never heard of the Transylvanian Alps before this) to the south.    The Bihor Mountains are to the west of Transylvania.   The borders tend to be a little soft with parts of Transylvania being absorbed by Hungary over and over during the centuries.   When the Draculs ruled it was most definetly a part of Romania and remained sofor more than 100 years during their reign.  The Dracula character in the Bram Stoker novel is a compilation of various stories/legends but not truly based on the historical Dracul family, though loosely told legends do find their way in.   Vlad Dracula son of Vlad Dracul ruled over the regions of Transylvania and also Walachia.  Dracul means Dragon in the Romanian language and Dracula actually translates to son of the Dragon.  (That would make a cool way to profess frustration, I think.   A mild oath of :”Dracula!” or, “Son of a Dragon!”)   Vlad Dracul sent his young son to live with the emperor of the Ottomon Empire as a show of good faith that Dracul would not rise against the Ottomons in war however, the Ottomons welcomed Vlad Dracula but killed his father and older brother.   When young Vlad was released 6 years later, he returned home to learn of the tragedies.   His hatred fired such a loathing for the Ottoman empire that young Vlad faught with a vicious intensity for 8 years to keep them from ruling Walachia.   To strike fear in the Ottoman hearts Vlad impaled his enemies when his army overpowered them.    It is said he killed or had killed thousands of those who opposed his authority by impaling them.   There is even a wood cutting from that time period showing Vlad sitting at a table eating a meal as he watched his enemies die as the weight of their bodies caused them to slide down the long poles bringing them excruciating deaths.   Vlad Dracula kept his rule over Walachia from 1456 to 1462 continued to do battle several years, regaining power again in 1476 but was killed in battle.   The castle that Bram Stoker describes as Dracula’s Caste in his book is Bran Castle.   While Vlad Dracula was imprisoned in Bran Castle by the Hungarian King for 2 months in 1462,  that is as close as Vlad came to actually what could be called, living there.   Bran castle was built in 1377 and remarkably is still standing to this day though not as pristine as was in its heyday, it is still there and the tourist spot most often visited in homage to the Dracula story.   Hunyadi Castle is another tourist spot, though this location has endured many fires over the years and it has been rebuilt a number of times so it has come a long way from its 1400s original.   Hunyadi Castle is rumored to be haunted by spirits of the past.    Vlad’s actual castle fortress and where he lived is Poenari Castle which due to earthquakes is left mostly in ruins now.    Vlad had this castle built into a cliff for protection and his attackers would have certainly had to be in good  physical condition to broach him here.   There are 1,480 steps to go up to reach it and he would have been able to see anyone approaching for a long way.   It is said that Vlad Dracula forced the townspeople to work on his fortress until they dropped dead from exhaustion but that may be hearsay.   Tales grow over time into legends and he already had one going with the impaling thing.    And about that, while o.k. his thing was impaling his enemies, but, hey, if a group cruelly murdered your Dad and brother whether you acted on it or not, the thought might cross your mind, howeverf, Vlad himself was not known to drink any one’s blood.  That blood sucking thing did come from some villages in Transylvania where vampires are called strigoi who were said to be spirits returned from the dead who first were like poltergeist but once they became stronger were able to materialize and suck the blood from people’s hearts.   If someone in town got the idea that a dead person was a strigoi they dug that sucker (literally) up and stuck a spike through him or burned the body.   The Romanian people obviously don’t play with enemies threatening them neither living nor dead. 

Transylvanians also believe there are 2 days a year that Vampires/Strigoi hang out at crossroads April 23 and November 29.     Vampires are pretty well known all over the world.   While the Romanian word for vampire is: strigoi, the Greek word for vampire is vrykolakas, in Finland its vampyyri, in Germany-vampir,  Sweden-vampyr, Croatia-pijavica, Vietnam – ma ca rong, Russia-upyr must be all that flying they do to get around the world.  Interesting though, that so many cultures and varied cultures not just those countries surrounding Romania, know about vampires.   Hmmmmm.    Makes one ponder.    I would definetly recommend this book for kids old enough to be o.k. with the whole vampire idea through adults who don’t mind reading juvenile books.    I found it to be a learning experience and a worthy read.   I came away having learned a lot.   Good book.

 - Shirley J.