You Don't Look Your Age...and Other Fairy Tales

You Don't Look Your Age...and Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins    283 pages

Sheila Nevins may be the President of HBO Documentary Films for over 30 years, but, this gal can write like you wouldn't believe.    Such great glimpses she gives into a life well lived. and many lessons learned first hand or observed or through osmosis.   She talks about dealing with the ageists in society, still dealing with the glass ceiling, younger lovers who flirt and flatter telling her she doesn't look her age (yeah, right! She is thinking to herself, but, Bleep it - tell me more!).   She talks about the joys of separate bedrooms after a certain age when the wife is menopausal and thermal nuclear while her husband is dealing with prostrate issues and always cold, she talks about the disease Tourette's Syndrome, the lack of desire for designer labels over cheaper and reasonable, vengeance on one's husband's secret stash of viagra who hasn't touched her in years, the dying of her dog who when she was young she referred to as her girl though he was clearly a male and who was the greatest comfort to her throughout times of extreme sorrow when there were no words to describe the horrific pain she felt but no words were needed because he was there to lend support and unconditional love always.   She talks about the snotty witch mother of her son's latest flame, how she hated her son's hamster, Teddy, but honestly didn't mean to pull the poor thing's tail off!   How she wrote a love letter to her long dead great-aunt who died in a historical fire at the age of 17 after only being in America from Russia a couple of years and how much she wished she knew about her and how she loved this dear person she did not know personally.   She walks you through the process of getting a face lift and how it affects one's psyche and once done can become addicting.  The perils of being a working mother and buying cookies for her son's school bakesale only to be belittled by his teacher for shunning the spirit of homemade.  She tells of her belief in Santa Claus.    A lovely read by a gifted writer.    She should do a documentary of herself and the stories she tells here.   I highly recommend this book to all ladies of a certain age who can commisserate with many of the tales she tells but honestly for everyone male, female, young or old as this book will give everyone much insight into the person next to you.   Great book.

Disorganize Me

 

Disorganize Me by Sandra Hutchison  366 pages

 

I always look forward to a new Sandra Hutchison novel, and they are always worth the wait.  I have read Hutchison’s three previous novels.  I count her as one of my favorite novelists; she never disappoints. Her characters are well developed and human.  When I read a Hutchison novel, I always feel I could meet these people in real-life if I traveled to the town/city where they life.

 

I love the play on words created in the title. Protagonist Kathy White’s world is anything but organized. Things may be in there place, but the emotional aspect of her life is so cluttered that even her beloved Aunt Lucy wouldn’t have been able to straighten it. When she inherits a professional organizer’s business from Aunt Lucy, her life is completely turned upside down.

 

Along with the business, Kathy also inherits one of two of the novel’s antagonists: Diego, a day laborer who often helped Aunt Lucy when she needed extra muscle. She hires Diego to help her at the second antagonist’s, John’s, house. A hoarder, almost every inch of his home and garage are full. When Diego breaks his ankle at the job site, Kathy must deal with a whole different set of problems.

 

Since Diego cannot return to his third-floor apartment (reachable only by stairs), Kathy feels she must offer him her couch. She couldn’t bear the thought of him trying to live in his truck. The situation is uncomfortable for the pair, and gets more and more uncomfortable as they negotiate such simple things as going to the bathroom, eating and sleeping.  The situations are so human that they were often hysterically funny.

 

And then there is John, a grouchy old man who knows he needs her help, but refuses to acknowledge it. Before readers know it, John has taken up residence in Kathy’s tiny house with her and Diego.

 

At the core of this warmly comfortable novel, is the issue of immigration and roots. Diego is proud of his Puerto Rican heritage but finds his looks deter him from getting ahead…along with a felony conviction.  Kathy also discovers a secret her family has been harboring her entire life  that only adds to the complexity of the story.  I loved this novel and “Disorganize Me” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Girl in the White Gloves

The Girl in the White Gloves by Kerri Maher  384 pages

 

Most of us know Hollywood icon and Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, from her movies. However, she was also known for Broadway roles and early, live  television roles. I’m not sure how I thought Grace landed the coveted roles in “Rear Window,”  “Dial M for Murder,” “To Catch a Thief “ and “High Society,” but she always had the allure of never having to struggle.

 

This novel, author Kerri Maher’s second, takes Kelly’s on-screen persona and smashes it to pieces. Maher takes readers on Grace’s a journey from an ordinary young woman trying to find her way in the world into what it must have been like to become one of the most admired, and sought after, women in the world. This is a human story; a real-life story.

 

The plot is non-linear; the story jumping around in time. If readers pay close attention, they can spot the patterns the time-frame creates. The transitions from year to year happen seamlessly; a feat for any writer. Personally, I felt that the time shifts gave readers a break from the normalcy and the exotic. Readers get to know plain Grace Kelly and her rather humble beginnings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to her move to New York, to her adventures in Hollywood, and to abandoning stardom for a real-life role as Princess .

 

I was heartbroken to read of her unhappiness with her Prince and how she felt that she had abandoned herself to serve the citizens of Monaco. The fairy tale courtship doesn’t seem that magical now.

 

I was surprised to learn that Grace’s life has been well-documented; I always saw her cool, calm and collected. That is one of the reasons I found her sexual encounters uncomfortable. I didn’t see her as a human being—and all that goes with it---before. Therefore, “The Girl in the White Gloves” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Best At It

The Best At It by Maulik Pancholy   336 pages

Rahul (pronounced Ra-hool) Kapoor is a young man of East Indian descent living in Indiana in the U.S.   His parents are both doctors and he has many Aunties and Uncles both family and honorary in his life.   Rahul is going into the seventh grade and it is a very anxious time for him.   More peer pressure, more expectations he is putting on himself to fit in as there is only one other student at his school who is from India and that student still has an accent and is the butt of ethnic stereotypes at school.   Rahul has no accent, his family has been in the United States since before he was born and he is Indian-American but basically he considers himself to be just another American.   That is until the school bully, Brent Miller starts picking on him with racist slurs and rude actions maligning the Indian people, Bollywood, etc.   Rahul would do just about anything to fit in and while he is a thin not too athletically built boy, he would do just about anything to fit in so people wouldn't make him feel so different.   So much so that he is talked into trying out for the football team which fortunately for him was a wash out.   When the opportunity comes to audition for a local bank's t.v. commercial he gets so nervous he sweats through his clothes beforehand and his best friend, Chelsea tries to put some make-up on his face to make it look less shiny and soak up some of the sweat.   Unfortunately the makeup is too light for his fleshtone and while he thinks that is a good thing it will make him fit in more with lighter skin it actaully worked against him by caking up and flaking off and just looking weird - then too when he got to the audition he took his bestie in with him instead of his mother (mistake) who got the already somewhat hostile banker leading the audition to completely ignore him and tell him he wasn't what they were looking for.   He accepted their decision but his bestie got all bent out of shape and told his mother what they said.  Rahul just wanted to go home and get out of his sweaty outfit and wash the caked make up off but his mother incensed by the bankers' prejudice told them a thing or two and later his parents moved their bank accounts from that bank to another.   Rajul's grandfather advised him find something you are good at then practice until you become the best at it.   That will make people respect him his grandfather said and help him to feel more comfortable.  Rajul couldn't seem to find his niche and developed anxiety attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder tendencies from his stress levels.   Chelsea advised him that he was good at math why not join the Math Team competing against other schools for State and hopefully National Championship?   He fought against it for a long time thinking it would just make him look that much more nerdy and Brent would really give him a hard time then.  Finally he caves in and joins.    Much more happens with happy and bittersweet moments all while staring at Justin Emery who he can't decide if he wants to be him (Justin) or if maybe, he likes him.   Life is so hard for Rajul but help is all around him and he has more friends than enemies if he will just let them in.   Very good story, deeper and with more plot twists than I first realized.   I would recommend this book to anyone probably 3rd grade to adult.   There are many fun conversations and a lot of information on the Indian culture to be learned here.   Good book.

Dork Diaries 14: Tales From a Not-So-Best Friend Forever

Dork Diaries 14 Tales From a Not-So-Best Friend Forever by Rachel Renee Russell    320 pages

Cute story,  I didn't realize it was an ongoing series.    Even though I came in to this series on the 14th book, it was still easy to keep up with the characters and what their current issues are.   Nikki's band has been hired as the opening act for hugely famous boy band Bad Boyz!   The girls are so stoked to do the tour and meet the guys, however, there is a glitch in their joy.  Nikki's nemesis and on good days frenemy,  MacKenzie Hollister's wealthy father has gotten her an in and turns out she will be tagging along with them acting as tour coordinator of venues and pretty much all else related to securing hotels, travel and taking care of details for both bands.   MacKenzie thought it would be an easy gig with little to no work involved and basically a free ride/vacation  what a rude awakening for her when she realized they actually expected her to work and the Bad Boyz are assuming she has the tour all planned out and everything taken care of.   What?????????   A funny fun ride with romance, lots of tween quizzes to see which Bad Boy would be the one for you in all manner of scenarios, cute book definetly geared for the tween set but fun none the less for an easy read on a day with time on your hands.   I would recommend this one to anyone looking to get an idea of current tween life in the age of cellphones and excellerated technology.   It is a new world to those of us from the previous century and a lol romp for 21st centurions (insert smiley face emoji).

Happy Gut

Happy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain by  Vincent Pedre, M.D.   432 pages

Are you foggy minded at times?   Feel bloated and out of sorts?    Are you constantly tired and just can't seem to catch up on sleep and when sleep does come it isn't restful and you don't sleep through the night?    Ever been diagnosed with chronic pain and you have given up and accepted you will always have pain to endure in your life?  Then this book is for you.    Very readable and down to earth.  Dr. Pedre spells things out in simple language and tells you how to feel better - all medical maladies start in your gut and once you watch what you are putting in to your gut - you are going to feel better.   Corn and wheat are two of the biggest culprits terrorizing the American diet and making so many Americans fat and sluggish because one or both of these ingredients are hid in so many of the processed foods we eat you can be ingesting them without a clue they are there unless you know their many a.k.a. names.   Dr. Pedre makes so much sense in his discussions on the benefits of giving your body a break and releasing it from these toxic two followed by their sidekick dairy.   After reading this book you will never look at what you are putting into your body the same way, again.  Excellent book.   As soon as kids can read they should start learning what he has to say about cleansing their bodies so they serve them well throughout their lives and it is good all the way to octogenarians and beyond because it is never too late to heal yourself.   Great book.   I'm taking his grocery shopping list with me to the store on my next trip to pick up the good for you foods and to be mindful of what to avoid.   Well done, Dr. Pedre!   Keep up the good work teaching us.

Caught Up

Caught Up by Shannon Holmes    200 pages

Sometimes life delivers you your dreams that is what happened to Dixyn Greene - o.k. her man is a hustler but he provides a fabulous lifestyle - beautiful house, designer clothes, nice car, money and the celebrity lifestyle it is all good till it isn't.   Then, Dixyn is faced with a life of lemons when her man is taken away to prison and she and her daughter are left to fend for themselves.   Not privy to all his business she soon finds bills arriving and having to hide from the repo man.   Life gets pretty rough till she figures out it is time to come out and start turning those lemons into some fine lemonade.   Her man's hustle had nothing on hers and she proves herself a savvy business woman in her own right.   Lots of action, lots of betrayal - hey, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to survive streetlife and it is all about who has the biggest cojones to do what must be done to keep the troops in line and keep the money flowing.  This lady has got it goin' on.    For lovers of urban fiction - this is another excellent story I recommend it to all mature young adults and all adults who like tasty fiction with a lot going on.

This Is Not a Love Scene: A Novel

This Is Not A Love Scene: A Novel by S. C. Megale   320 pages

The lead character is in a wheelchair which lends an interesting point of view to the entire story.   Very realistic and very real explanations of muscular dystrophy and how a person learns to cope and make the best of life while experiencing it.    Very well told with a great attitude on the part of the narrator - the person with m.d.    She is a strong presence and an aspiring film maker who responds like a young adult woman would when crushing on her leading man and sharing all her hopes, fears and fantasies with her best friend.  Not waiting for the future to define her she jumps for what she wants and if it can't be love who says it has to be?   Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes...well....that is o.k., too.    A coming of age and out into the real world though her parents would love to smother her with over protection.   Good story.   I would recommend this story to folks dealing with afflictions because it inspires and to those who feel less than because it uplifts and blows away all those dark clouds trying to crowd out your sun.   Some of the adult content might be a stretch for the younger set but mature young adults could handle it and it is a good story in and of itself so adults will get a kick out of it, too.

Let it Snow

Let It Snow by Nancy Thayer     272 pages

A good story of shopkeepers who stay year round in Nantucket and their interplay and roots with townspeople and tourists.   The story takes place around Christmas and of course wouldn't you know there is a scrooge involved wanting to buy up the town!  Secret love affairs aplenty.    Crabby snitches turn kittenish and mild-mannered shy folks step forward, step up and get things done.   Who says a gal can't find lasting love with a rich man?    Cute, sweet story very Debbie Macomber style writing.    A very charming love story amid a town on the sea at Christmas.

Make It Scream, Make It Burn: Essays by Leslie Jamison

Make It Scream, Make It Burn:  Essays by Leslie Jamison      272 pages

I loved the stories told her served up as essays.    The reader will be captivated by the telling as well as the actual topics like 52 Blue, the whale who's songs carry through the ocean waters of his travels at such loud decibels, the other whales avoid him so the author portrays him as being the loneliest whale in the world and elicits sympathy for this dear creature who tries so hard to find a friend or mate but whom other like creatures find so off-putting they do not venture to know him.    Leslie Jamison takes the reader along with her so seamlessly that you go from topic to topic to topic like caramel topping on an ice cream sunday, so smooth and good and you love the taste and feel of her words in your mind.   They search out something within the reader, a deep emotional center an empathy that is so strong it is tangible,  whether eloping in Las Vegas, describing the past lives of children alive today who cry real tears as they relay memories and names of friends killed during WWII, etc.    She reminds me a little of Joan Didion, someone who can start off in one place and end up miles away in story genre and you aren't tired from the trip but enjoyed the ride.   That is this book.   Try it, you will enjoy the ride.    I recommend this book of lovely stories to anyone old enough to read and old enough to want to experience serenity.                   

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben    416 pages

The memory of the murder of his brother and his brother's girlfriend back in their highschool days still haunts Detective Napoleon Dumas.    The murders were never solved though there were several suspects and several conspiracy theories.   And why did the love of Napoleon's life just disappear that night?   Did she have something to do with it?   Could she, too, be a victim of some deranged murderer?   How could things be so right then go so wrong all in one night?   Is is a simple twist of fate or did some cold hearted killer be to blame?   Fifteen years later, Napoleon is still asking questions, still searching for the answer to a mystery that only leads to more questions.   Good story.   You won't see the twist(s) coming.    I would especially recommend this book to fans of the book/film "Gone Girl" and anyone who loves a little suspense with their murders.   Good story.

The Lightning Queen

The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau       336 pages

This story says it is for Juveniles however, I found the story to be meaty enough to be an Adult Fiction story, too.    Gypsies bring their caravan through a rural village in Mexico.    They speak different languages but learn to communicate with one another.    The Gypsies trade fortune telling and the showing of films (movies) for food and it is a win-win for both sides.   Teo's family is getting over the drowning death of his younger sister and the distraction of the Gypsies coming in seems a Godsend.    Teo's grandfather is the village healer and he is teaching Teo his trade.   Teo has a special gift of his own he is able to find common ground with animals and has the ability to understand and be understood by all animals, his closest being those with some deformity or maladie.   The story is an accumulation of many true stories gathered by the author from rural Mexico.    The Tarot reader in the tribe, the Mistress of Destiny foretells that Teo and his new Gypsy friend, Esma will be friends for life and this is the tale of where and how their lives intertwine throughout the years.    A lovely story.  I would recommend this book to young children and adults it is that good.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The Marco Effect: A Department Q Novel

The Marco Effect:   A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen   512 pages

Marco is a good boy.   An avid reader, though in secret because his Gypsy family doesn't see the need to go to school and doesn't trust anyone outside their own "family."   Uncle Zola rules the family with an iron hand and isn't above any treachery when it comes to stealing, conning and making money, even murder is not off limits to this violent man.      Many underhanded and clandestine events occur and when the family turns against 15 year old Marco and Marco becomes privy to where a body is buried things heat up throughout the rest of the story to its final climactic twist.  No one is safe not even in their own homes and in a John Wick 3 thriller ordeal surprises and twists abound.     A good book that will hold your interest throughout.   I would recommend this book highly to mystery lovers, especially murder mystery lovers, and all who find interpol police work fascinating.    There is a hodge podge of nations and killers brought in to find Marco.   Jussi Adler-Olsen tells a great story.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein     352 pages

If you like the books in the Dog's Purpose Series, you will like this one, too.   Told from the point of view of Enzo, the dog owned by a married couple and their daughter.   His master is a race car driver and his mistress undergoes so many changes throughout that later affect the child in the story.   Every one is striving to do what makes sense to them but everyone interprets everybody else's actions differently according to their own scale of right and wrong except Enzo who gets it and sees everyones motivations, frustrations and the good and bad in people.    Such a moving story you will laugh and cry over this one.   A charming story that you will be glad you experienced.   I highly recommend this one.   A good intuit on human behavior.   Excellent book.

Handsome Johnny: The LIfe and Death of Johnny Rosselli: Gentleman Gangster, Hollywood Producer, CIA Assassin

Handsome Johnny:The Life and Death of Johnny Rosselli: Gentleman Gangster,  Hollywood Producer, CIA Assassin by Lee Server      544 pages

If you are a fan of gangster biographies, you will not be disappointed.  This true story of the life of Handsome Johnny Rosselli tells the stories, names names - JFK, Sinatra, Joe Kennedy, Sr., mobsters all across the United States and goings on behind the scenes in other countries as well.   The author reveals how Rosselli was recruited by the CIA to assassinate Castro.    So many things come out and no one is shielded behind a veil, Lee Server puts it all out for everybody to see and read.   This book is historical, and action packed as well as biographical.    I enjoyed it from beginning to end.   It is like watching Good Fellas, Casino, the Godfather, every epic gangster/mob film you have ever experienced only with words painting the images in your mind.   Great book.    Fascinating Sopranos like view into the inner dealings behind what life as a made man is like.   I highly recommend this book to anyone with interest into the workings of the likes of John Gotti types.    Fascinating stuff here.  And many reveals!   

Beowulf

Beowulf by Santiago Garcia and David Rubin, 189 pages

This graphic adaptation of the epic poem generally avoids the banal postmodern revisionism of other adaptations, reducing the story down to the essential confrontations between four monsters - Grendel, his mother, a dragon, and the great Geat himself.  The art is stylized, the colors muddy, the overall effect undeniably ugly - which, however, both suits the brutal directness of the narrative and emphasizes the fleshy substance of the monsters, which are here portrayed not as elusive magic fairies but as viscerally real beasts, perhaps more real than some men.

Rossetti

Rossetti: His Life and Works by Evelyn Waugh, 227 pages

In this biographical study Evelyn Waugh seeks to understand both Dante Gabriel Rossetti's success and his failure.  The former, he concludes, demands a spiritual aesthetics that transcends formal analysis, while the latter is best explained by the artist's personal tragedies and character flaws.  Rossetti spent his career pursuing an ideal of the feminine, but was sabotaged by his own indiscipline and irresponsibility.

Rossetti was Waugh's first full-length book, but if his development is certainly not complete the voice is already unmistakable his.  Especially delightful are his account of Rossetti and Whistler's shared mania for blue china and the ethics of reviewing the books of one's friends, although equally characteristic is his vivid description of his subject's isolation, paranoia, and despair.

A Hustler's Queen by Saundra

A Hustler's Queen by Saundra    304 pages

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.    Every time Precious Cummings thinks things are one way and life is good she gets beat down and has to fight her way back up to the top.    She is nobody's fool and certainly no one to play with.    That sweet innocent thing she has going on is only part of her personality.   Cross her and see a side you aren't expecting.   So many twists and who to trust?   Seems like everybody has their own game going on and the man she truly loves runs the biggest hustle of all and the streets are greedy and anxious to take his place.   Great book.   So much goes on you will not be able to put this book down until the end and even then you won't want the story to stop.   Again adult situations so this one is for the mature young adult through every age.   Such a good story.   Well done Saundra.

Baby Mama by Nichelle Genovese

Baby Mama by Nichelle Genovese  Book 1 in the Baby Mama series    304 pages

Michelle came up as a beautiful young black woman and found out her looks could help her get the men and the material things, money, beautiful expensive jewelry, clothes and furs and rides that made other people's eyes pop out and mouths drop open in shock and awe.  Unfortunately, some of the men from her past don't want to stay there and now that her life has settled down, she has found love and her child is the light of her life vindictive people are out to snatch her happiness from her.   Beware the toes you step on today!   Excellent book.   POWERFUL.    Adult situations so let's keep this one for the mature high schoolers on up.   Good series.   I recommend it for lovers of urban stories.

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz     448 pages

I thoroughly enjoy this series.   Lisbeth Salander is an amazing character and I love the fact that she is this dark avenging angel for the mistreated.  Even angels need friends and Mikael Blomkvist is the best bff a person could want.    I recommend this series to anyone wanting to get involved with a good storyline and well thought out characters and situations.   Always full of plot twists and surprises, a good book to curl up with a cup of hot tea and a blanket on a cold day.   The overcast weather outside will add to the sensation of cold and ice you pick up from the stories, set in Sweden and other locations generally in icy locales.   I recommend this series but begin at the beginning or you might find yourself lost when tying facts to the background of the characters.  Bravo David Lagercrantz.    Another best seller under your belt.

A Hand To Guide Me: Legends and Leaders Celebrate the People Who Shaped Their Lives by Denzel Washington

A Hand To Guide Me:  Legends and Leaders Celebrate the People Who Shaped Their Lives by Denzel Washington   272pgs

Excellent book.  Celebrities, Political Figures, Sports Champions, CEOs, etc. come together in this book to sing the praises of mentors in their lives who's help was beyond measure in aiding them to find the right path, to  overcome whatever struggles they were going through and to find their way by perservering.   Many of the people in the book thank their local Boys and Girls Clubs for sharing their time and concern during deeply troubling times in their lives and helping them to find the right path, giving them a needed hand up and proving no one has to go it alone. So many inspiring stories showing help comes from many different places and often from unexpected ones.   Family, friends, teachers, coaches, co-workers, bosses, even strangers can share that bon mot that can change a life,  get through to a mind that seemingly couldn't be changed and that can sink into a heart hardened by circumstances then melted by example.    Definetly worth the read.   I highly recommend it to young readers on up through the aged.   Inspiration is ageless.   

The Worst Gig: From Psycho Fans to Stage Riots, Famous Musicians Tell All by Jon Niccum

Th











The Worst Gig: From Psycho Fans to Stage Riots, Famous Musicians Tell All by Jon Niccum
 240 pages

 Excellent Book mostly about Alternative Rock stars, some Punk a few of the more well known musicians but all the stories are worthwhile and interesting.    While we have an idea of what groups go through getting to gigs, going on stage, getting through their sets, etc. trust me you will learn a lot more about what life on the road is like and the struggles, obstacles, and obsessive fans that are out there laying in wait both the good and the bad.    Gives you a real feel for the true musicians life and oh yeah there are a few lyao moments thrown in for good measure.    I would recommend this book to anyone interested rock music and what it takes to walk that walk.

Shining Path

The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes by Orin Starn and Miguel La Serna, 355 pages

On Christmas Eve, 1980, a group of rebels invaded the home of a well-off sugar farmer in a remote canyon in the Peruvian Andes.  The guerrillas dragged the landowner to a nearby chapel where they tortured him to death, leaving "Long Live the People's War" spray-painted on a farmhouse wall.  He was the first to die in that war, launched a few months earlier by a sect of Maoist revolutionaries calling themselves the Peruvian Communist Party but invariably referred to in the foreign press by the more romantic name Shining Path.  Their barbaric struggle would drag on for over a decade and leave over 70000 dead, roughly half killed by the Shining Path themselves, the other half split between the regular army and village militias.  

It is difficult to write a history of a guerrilla insurgency, which by its very nature is fluid and avoids decisive battles.  It is even more difficult without reliable sources from within the movement.  Starn and La Serna attempt to overcome these difficulties, and paint a broader picture of Peru in the last decades of the twentieth century, by concentrating on the personal stories of those touched by the conflict, from slum activist Maria Elena Moyano to novelist and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa to policeman Marco Miyashiro to peasant militiaman Narciso Sulca.  As a result, those who expect either a thorough history or an exploration of the inner workings of the insurrection are likely to be disappointed.  They are unlikely to be bored, or to soon forget some of the unexpected people and places introduced.

Paris Never Leaves You

 

Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman  368 pages

Ages ago, I read author Ellen Feldman’s “Lucy,” and it was a wonderful read.  I’m sorry to say tht I haven’t read any of her five books since then, but I plan to rectify that soon. In this, her sixth, novel, Feldman deals with a form of PTSD as invoked by the title.  Charlotte can never forget what happened in Paris during the Nazi Occupation. Her daughter, Vivi, was barely a toddler, but the events of those extraordinary times also seem to prey on her.

The novel opens in Paris, in 1944. Charlotte and other Jews are ripping the stars from their clothing.  Paris had been liberated and with it the camps. But the opening scene turns frightful when an angry mob attacks a woman known as a collaborator.

The scene then shifts to New York, 1954 (I love dueling timeline!). Charlotte is a book editor at the prestigious  publishing house of Gibbon & Field. The “Field” is none other than Horace Field, one of Charlotte and Vivi’s sponsors, which allowed them to come to America.

A letter, not the first, has arrived at Charlotte’s desk. She’s on her way to a meeting and slips it into the trash. Readers don’t know who it is from and Charlotte’s apprehension regarding opening it foreshadows the fear she feels that her past is about to come for its revenge.

One of the things that I admired most about this novel was the seemless transition between Charlotte’s life as a bookseller in Occupied Paris to her contemporary circumstances without using chapter breaks.

In Paris, Charlotte is managing a bookstore with ther friend and the store owner, Simeone. Many think they are sisters, but they are not. One afternoon a Nazi officer comes into the bookstore, just browsing. Fear races through Charlotte’s veins, but she manages to stay calm.  That officer’s arrival will have implications in her life forever.

I don’t want to give too much away, and I was surpised that there was no synopsis on the book’s cover. But as Feldman weaves her story, she drops little bombshells ar just the right time to make this reader sit up straighter and stay up way past her bedtime. Even when I thought the book was going to plateau, another little bomb oes off, and I’m up even later. Therefore, “Paris Never Leaves You” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Saving Washington

Saving Washington: The Forgotten Story of the Maryland 400 and The Battle of Brooklyn  by Chris Formant  320 pages

I was attracted to this fragment of forgotten history because of the first line on the dust jacket: “Somewhere deep beneath the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York, lie the remains of perhaps the most important citizen soldiers in American history; the heroic men from Baltimore, Maryland, who held back superior British forces long enough to preserve the Continental Army and save the life of General George Washington.” After reading it, I expected a story about finding the graves, how they were exhumed and relocated to a place of honor. This is not that story.

The time is 1776. Baltimore teenager Joshua Bolton and his BFF, Ben Wright, watch as the British Army does its best to make the American Colonists’ lives so hard that they would give up that idiotic notion of independence and return to a civilized way of life. As the boys watched the tyranny, they knew that they had to do something. When the call went out for new recruits for the 1^st Maryland Regiment, they boys enlisted.

I know this is historical/biographical fiction, but I was surprised that a black man, even a freed man, was allowed to join the fight.  I need to brush up on this aspect of American history, obviously.

The story illustrates the hardships of the citizen-soldiers, and what they were up against. At first I was surprised that Josh and Ben were teenagers, but then again, I’m not sure we really know how many young adults fought alongside their adult counterparts. A lot I imagine.

The language of the book makes it obvious early on that it is written for young adults. On the downside, I didn’t feel the tension of the situations that the boys got themselves into until the Battle of Brooklyn was underway. I never felt that they were in any real danger.  But that’s the point of view of a middle-age female.

I think young adult readers will enjoy this book. I like that it tells a tale of forgotten heroes, that we all need to know more about.

“Saving Washington: The Forgotten Story of the Maryland 400 and The Battle of Brooklyn” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.