12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup     259 pages

This is the true story of Solomon Northrup, born a free man like his father before him in New York state.   He was living the life most people wish for, a loving family, wife, two children, a beautiful house, respect from his family, neighbors and peers and a good livelihood to make it all work.   Solomon enjoyed playing the fiddle and was so good at it, he got lots of bookings one such booking led him into the notice of two scoundrels who coerced him to join them to play violin at their "circus."   They wooed him with the promise of such a fortune in money he could not refuse and gladly went with his new 'friends."    Alas they were deceivers and drugged him and bound him, stole all of his papers and sold him downstream to slavers who put him on the block and sold him.   The poor man had no way to prove his status as a Freeman and ended up being forced into manual labor and continued beatings from many of the slave owners he was farmed out to.  Many were bullies, cruel, heartless souls who took out their moods on him with lashes from the whip, their fists, their dogs or their cat o' nine tails.    Though everyone he came in contact with knew he was different they assumed him to be a slave from Georgia as was forged on his bill of sale and put him to manual labor from dawn to dusk at whatever hard tasks they came up with.    How this poor man endured and he also describes the terrible situations the other slaves on the plantations and farms he worked on went through.   The tearing apart of families and the shameless treatment dealt by man and woman alike are enough to bring tears to the readers eyes.  Thank God for the abolitionist who helped him out of his trouble and back home with a measure of justice dealt to those who treated him so badly.    Excellent book.  I recommend it to all ages.   It harsh but truth is that way sometimes and cannot be ignored if we are to learn from the past.   

 Posted by Shirley J.

Three Faces of Fascism

Three Faces of Fascism: Action Francaise, Italian Fascism, National Socialism by Ernst Nolte, translated by Leila Vennewitz, 462 pages

Almost as soon as Mussolini coined the term in 1919, "fascism" began to be used as a slur, and the widely divergent views of those who have claimed the label have generated almost as much confusion as those who have stuck the label on others.  This has led some to question whether a coherent ideology that can be called "fascism" exists beyond whatever happens to be necessary to justify the leader's will to power, a view grounded in Mussolini's famous exaltation of action over thought and bolstered by the tendency since 1945 of considering fascism primarily as a subset of totalitarianism.  Nonetheless, as Ernst Nolte carefully explicates in this seminal study, twentieth century fascism has unique characteristics which definitively separate it from both more traditional forms of reaction and Marxism.

As Nolte understands it, fascism is identifiable by its denial of the possibility of a future world free from sin and injustice, a denial he alternately describes as "resistance to transcendence" and "hostility to history".  This not only places fascism in direct opposition both to traditional religion and various forms of socialism, it contributes to a worldview which imagines history as a ceaseless struggle without end or ultimate meaning.  Yet the salvific promises of fascism become progressively evident throughout his study - embryonically in Maurras' secularized Catholicism, haltingly in Mussolini's braggadaccio, fully in Hitler's megalomania.  His argument is further undercut by a certain amount of special pleading, as when he dismisses the lack of terror in fascist Italy with the claim that the black shirt terrorism accompanying Mussolini's rise sufficed for the duration of his reign.  If these flaws diminish the value of Nolte's conclusions, however, they do not affect the depth and thoroughness of his examination of the intellectual roots and branches of fascist politics.

The Jane Austen Society

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner 320 pages

I’m not sure there has ever been a time since Jane Austen published her novels that she didn’t have rabid fans.  Most teenage girls read them.  I did. I liked them. But they aren’t something that I would re-read again and again.

When this novel opens in 1932 in the village Jane last lived, Chawton, a visitor arrives looking to pay her respects to the places Jane called home and visited. Unfortunately, there isn’t much left and the visitor, Mary Anne, like so many others is disappointed. 

The novel fast forwards to 1943. Chawton is still a small village. Visitors, although not many with WWII raging, still come.  Many of the villagers as well as the visitors can quote Austen. I felt left out, not being able to quote her works, but author Jenner did a great job in letting the rest of us know which book was being quoted.

There are rumors that what is left of Jane’s past will be sold to developers. Some in the village are eager for the sale, others are dismayed at the very thought of it. At first, three villagers come together to figure out what they can do to save the area. Then the group grows to five, then eight. I was confused, at first, because there are only five people on the cover, especially since I had an Advanced Reader’s Copy (Thank you St. Martin’s Press.).

For the rest of the novel, readers learn about the about lives of Evie, Dr. Gray, Adam, Mimi, Yardley, Frances, and Andrew. I like that each of these characters came from differing socio/economic backgrounds. To me, that illustrated how Austen touched all members of society. I also like the not-so-predicable ending. 

Readers beware: There is a graphic rape scene that to me did not fit with the style of the book.

“The Jane Austen Society” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Dead Beat

Dead Beat (Book #7 in the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher   528 pages

When Mavra lays the task on Dresden to find the Book of Kemmler in 3 Days and give it to her - Harry doesn't really know what he is in for.   Necromancers and lots of them.   He is fighting 3 factions here all vying to be the first with the the WORD of Kemmler which along with the correct spell will turn them into a lesser god.   Harry outdoes himself in this one which was so fun to visualize.   I keep hearing that, "Alley Oop" song in my heard, and the reader is also introduced to evil Bob in this one.   Good book you bet I recommend this one.  TO one and all fans of sci-fi, paranormal and of course, Harry Dresden.

Proven Guilty

Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files Series) by Jim Butcher   576 pages

I had to go back and re-read this one after having read it out of order some time ago.    It helps to follow the ongoing story in order or you miss a lot of references to the book prior.   Michael, the Arch Angel's daughter is grown up and attending Splatter-Con  a horror convention in CHicago and when the movie monsters start showing up for real, Harry has his hands full.   Much happens here, Not as great as Harry riding a dinosaur but pretty interesting and entertaining Dresden fan stuff.    Mollyis at the mercy of the Wizard's  Council and Harry finds what few friends he really has there.    Good book, good story.   I would and do recoommend this series but warning - read them in order and they will mean more. 

Summer Knight (Book 9 in the Dresden File Series)

Summer Knight (Book 9 in the Dresden File Series) by Jim Butcher    528 pages

Harry's adventure in this book deals with a group of more than wiccan but slightly less than wizards who meet in small groups all across the country.   Several of the members are turning suicidal or so it seems and Harry wants to find out why.    Worse yet, he finds his brother Thomas somehow mixed up in what is going on.   As an aside Kincaid has given Murphy her own small machine gun with a gold plate on it reading, "We'll always have Hawaii."    That succubus living inside Harry is starting to sound real good, too.    What is a wizard to do?   Good book, yes, keep the Dresden fires burning and read this one and all the books in the series in order.   It will help you keep your sanity when references (and there are several) are made to things that happened in earlier books.   Excellent series.   Love the humor and the good guy paranormals.   

Posted by Shirley J. 

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories

The Opposite of Loneliness:  Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan    256 pages

Bittersweet and lyrical in its delivery, every story and essay like a truth serum to the soul.   So much more meaningful when you realize the talent and ease this author paints word pictures with, so much so that you want to read more, get more glimpses into her psyche because she offers it up so completely and so clearly.   No pretense just pure honesty.  The lack of inhibitions, the reveal of who she is naked to the world like a minute old newborn.   Life had taken her places of sorrow and grief but things were on a trajectory though the roof with her new job at the New Yorker, her graduation 5 days earlier Magna Cum Laude from Yale University, "Independents,"  one of her musical plays about to be performed at the Fringe  Festival!  Life was amazing and everything happening so fast and all at once until it wasn't.  5 days after graduation, Marina Keegan was killed in an auto accident.  The circumstances are tragic but the words are those of a gifted writer.   Treat yourself to this read you will be glad you did.   Meet the essence that is/was Marina.   I recommend it to Middler Schoolers on up.   A delightful experience.  Like Schrodinger's cat she is both living and dead all at the same time straddling two worlds her spirit in each.        

 posted by Shirley J.

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy   963 pages 

The last time I read a Russian novel, it was required reading in high school, so…a long time ago. Have I avoided Russian works because I was traumatized or simply bored to death? I don’t remember, but after reading Anna Karenina, probably the latter. This book took me a while to finish. For one, the tome could be used as a wheel chock, and secondly, the plot is like a Russian nesting doll but in reverse, every layer of the novel reveals an increasingly bigger tale. 

Anna Karenina is a rich cultural forum, a series of linked meditations on farming and politics and religion and family and relationships and war and the meaning of life, not just about sex and romance. There is a lot to absorb and consider in this book of faith, of family, of affirmation, of belief in the land, nature, goodness, and simple human joys over pretentious society life. Yes, affirmation, in spite of Anna’s demise. The book consists of two separate yet interconnected plots. Anna’s story, with its complex emotions, social conventions coupled with women's position legally and socially, provides for the excitement and life of the entire work. Levin’s story, more or less modeled on Tolstoy's life, provides for the political, philosophical, social and religious views of the author as well as an insight to the author's life struggles.

It’s important to note that Anna Karenina is not a straightforward morality tale. Perhaps Tolstoy had intended Anna to be an ugly, vulgar old adulteress who represented Evil Womankind, and Karenin to be a model of sainted Christianity. But as the story progressed, the black-and-white moral rigidity acquired shades of grey. Anna became beautiful, then sympathetic until the bitter end. Karenin became clueless, hypocritical, desperate, and even unmanly. Vronsky no longer twisted his mustache, but became a man with a code who wanted very much to be allowed to keep that code and live a life. Morals become increasingly tangled, and we intuitively understand what makes a tragedy a tragedy. Tolstoy does not force us to make judgement. There’s a wonderful quality of generosity and empathy that runs through the whole novel: Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Posted by: Regina C.   

A Feast for Crows + A Dance With Dragons

A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin    1061 pages
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin    1016 pages

So, when I wasn't spending time working from home, I was devouring books # 4 and 5 in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Full well knowing I was going to be irritated when I got to the end ... because it's been years since Martin announced the title of Book #6 (The Winds of Winter). And Book #5 was published in 2005.

I continued to be surprised by how much I enjoyed these stories, but I was eagerly turning the pages. I especially liked that some of of my favorite characters got a bit more attention. And, I liked that I was able to enjoy the HBO series and still be able to enjoy these books and the fact that the storylines differed didn't mean enjoying either of them less. Is Martin's writing stellar all the time? No, but I still feel he tells a good story --- and I appreciated throughout the entire series that Martin kept things realistic in terms of how there was death, sickness, etc.  You may meet a character and two chapters later, they are dead. But that's reality. I can believe in the dragons, I can believe in Wights. What I can't believe is characters who fight battles and bounce back the next day, and never seem to get sick, or even any kind of malady.  There's no shortage of sickness and death in The Song of Ice and Fire stories.

I usually include some kind of summary, but with these books, it's impossible. Here's the Wikipedia article.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City by Geremie R Barme, 191 pages

"The Forbidden City."  The very name is surrounded with an aura of power and mystery.  It summons up shadowy thoughts of secret splendors and hidden harems, as well as more concrete ideas about faceless tyranny and an exotic East.  As Geremie Barme explains in his historical guide, the Forbidden City has borne all these meanings, and a great many others besides.  Built in the 15th century by the native Ming dynasty but almost entirely rebuilt piecemeal, like Jason's ship, by the Qing conquerors, the Forbidden City was intended as a microcosm of both the Middle Kingdom and the universe as a whole, designed both to reflect and reinforce the cosmic harmonies among men and within nature, on earth and in the heavens.  Indeed, the history of the Forbidden City is the history of modern China writ small.

Part of Harvard's "Wonders of the World" series, The Forbidden City is both entertaining and enlightening.  Barme is particularly skillful at orienting his readers both spatially and temporally.

They Say Sarah

They Say Sarah by Pauline Delabroy-Allard (Translated from the French by Adriana Hunter) 176 pages 

The unnamed narrator of this novella is a single mother living in Paris. Although she has a boyfriend, the narrator feels something is missing.

On New Year’s Eve of an undisclosed year, the narrator attends a party. She isn’t having a very good time until the loud, obnoxious Sarah makes an appearance. The narrator is fascinated with this woman who is the total opposite of herself.

Although they start out as friends, it isn’t long before they wind up in bed, something they narrator says has never happened before---for either of them.

I saw this story as one about love, not about being gay. But as with many relationships, one of the parties becomes obsessed with the other.

I have to say that I did not like this book.  I was annoyed with the author; why the narrator couldn’t named---unless of course, the reader was supposed to insert herself into that role. That’s asking a lot from the reader. There was too much angst, mostly on Sarah’s part, for me. The plot is almost non-existent: two women obsessed with each other

“They Say Sarah” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

East Coast Girls

 East Coast Girls by Kerry Kletter  368 pages

 There is nothing new in the plot of “East Coast Girls”: Four best friends are traumatized from an event that happened when they graduated from high school, twelve years ago. HOWEVER, what makes this one different is the lyrical, literary writing and the event that happened was shocking, totally catching me off guard.

Best friends Hannah, Blue, Renee and Maya spent their summers at Montauk, Long Island, at Blue’s nana’s cabin. Since their last summer there, twelve years ago, they have barely spoken or seen each other. That night destroyed the family bond that they had created and left each of them adrift, all their dreams

Hannah has no life other than sitting at the bedside of her high school boyfriend, Henry, hoping and praying that his brain will begin to work again. She is a neurotic mess, barely able to function without Xanax and is a total germaphobe.

Maya drifts from job to job, never keeping one for very long and watches her bills pile up. If she doesn’t get it together soon, she will become homeless.

Blue lives in Manhattan and is the most successful of the four. But she, too has paid a price. She’s a workaholic, but I was never really sure exactly what she did—real estate? Wall Street?  Whatever it was, she is a wealthy woman. Lonely as hell, but wealthy. She does stay touch with Maya, but only because Maya needs money---all the time.

Renee, well, only Maya seems to know about her. She and Blue had a huge falling out, but no knows what it concerned.

Now, as the girls are celebrating their thirtieth birthday’s, Maya is getting the gang back together at Nana’s cabin in Montauk.  Will they ever be able to re-capture their dependence on each other?  Can they ever let the past go?

I LOVED this book. I was hooked from Page One until the very end. I really like that author Kletter didn’t give away the shocking event until almost the end. That way I had had time to conjure up images of what I believe happened, but nothing prepared me for the shock.  “East Coast Girls” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Introduction to Christianity

Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger, translated by JR Foster, 359 pages

Introduction to Christianity is an adaptation of a series of lectures given by Joseph Ratzinger in 1967 and first published in written form in the momentous year of 1968.  Although he would go on to become bishop of Munich, then a cardinal and the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally ascend the throne of St Peter as Benedict XVI, at the time this book was written he was still the dashing young peritus of the Second Vatican Council, and the book itself is very much a response to the theological winds that had begun to blow through the windows the Council opened.  Indeed, in Introduction to Christianity Ratzinger outlines the theological project that would fill his remaining life.

This begins with the recognition that Christianity is unavoidably a historical religion, founded in a real past and not a mythic long ago, unfolding in the lives of the prophets and the saints with the Incarnation at the center.  One consequence of this is that the progressive attempt to inaugurate a revolutionary new Christianity freed from its actual historical development is inevitably futile.  Ratzinger argues instead for the providential role of Hellenistic philosophy in early Christianity, just as he argues that modern Christianity can be enriched rather than impoverished by the real contributions of modern scholarship.  His ultimate aim is to demonstrate the unity of the living "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" with the "God of the philosophers and scholars", the God of faith with the God of reason, and how the work of reason is vitally - indispensably - involved in establishing a personal relationship with this transcendent God.

The Way We Die Now

The Way We Die Now by Dr.Seamus O'Mahony   292 pages

Dr. O'Mahony is the Consultant Gastroenterologist at Cork University Hospital and Associate Editor for Medical Hmanities of the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

His premise in this book is people have gotten so caught up in trying to live forever that they have forgotten how to die well.    He points out how between science trying to arrive at the genetic answer to stop aging, the cosmetic industry's trying to keep people looking young, medical practitioners trying to through every possible medical procedure at the aged and dying to keep them alive "for a little while longer - regardless of their quality of life," that humans need to take a lesson from animals who sensing their death has come simply turn toward the wall accept it and die with dignity.  He cites many well-known people throughout history and the ways in which they met their deaths either going out in denial, desperately clinging for more time, destructively agreeing to any and every procedure suggested by medical teams or deliberately denying treatment and meeting death head on and if not heroically, certainly on their own terms.    It is a good book after starting off a little slow.   The summation is few doctors opt for more treatments when they realise they have come to the end of their time here on earth.   More treatments at the end of life just add more cost and usually detract from what strength the person has and often ends in death anyway.   One doctor he knows has NO CPR tattooed on his chest in case he is unable to convey his wishes.   Thoughtfully written with spiritual leanings toward the end.  I would recommend it to adults, I think it a little deep for the young.  He brings up some really great points from an insider's perspective.  Good book.

 - Shirley J.

Blood Rites

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (Book 6 in the Dresden File Series)  416 pages

Holy Moly!  A vampire Harry knows asks him to take on a case for a famous Porno Film Director who seems to be under some kind of spell.   People near him on his latest project are coming up severely hurt or dead.   This story has Harry pretending to be a production assistant to wheedle the information he needs out of those close to the director.   In the director's defense he only does porno films where there is a good story line with genuine love between the main characters, hey, that is what it says which is why the director gets interviewed by the best talk show hosts.   The story has lots popping and revelations about Harry's family tree come to light not to mention a new Foo Dog in the menagerie, not menage.   One of my favorite of the books so far.  I highly recommend this book and the series for lovers of paranormal, sci-fi and detective stories.   Well done, Jim Butcher.

 - Shirley J

Cathedrals of France

Cathedrals of France by Auguste Rodin, translated by Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler, 275 pages

The only book by the famed sculptor Auguste Rodin is this celebration of the great Gothic and Romanesque cathedrals of his native land.  This last is not incidental - Rodin continually emphasizes the connection between the Gothic and France, viewing Gothic architecture as the natural outgrowth of the French landscape.  As this should make clear, the book is neither a travel guide nor a history, but a work of aesthetic and spiritual contemplation, for "Art and religion give humanity all the certainties it needs to live by and which are unknown to epochs dimmed by indifference."

Rodin is not, however, a mere antiquarian.  To the contrary, he asserts strongly the continuity between medieval and Renaissance art, and rejects entirely the slavish imitation he detects in the neo-Gothic.  His goal is instead to encourage - indeed, evangelize for - the ever deeper study of nature and the great art of the past to inspire and direct the art of the present.  "To bind the present with the past is the necessary action.  In so doing one will restore wisdom and happiness to the living.  Those who possess happiness because they have bowed down to truth do not wish to reserve that treasure for themselves alone."

In Our Time

In Our Time by Tom Wolfe, 119 pages

In Our Time collects a number of sketches written or drawn by Tom Wolfe in the years leading up to 1980, with most of the drawings having appeared in the "In Our Time" feature in Harper's magazine.  Together, they present a portrait of America, and especially New York, that is as amusing as it is incisive.

For Wolfe, the hidden significance of the '70s was that it was the decade when the counterculture of the '60s became the culture.  If the '60s witnessed the rise of the young barbarians, the '70s saw their triumph.  Just as importantly, it was when they began, despite their own best efforts, to grow old.

Red Sky Over Hawaii

Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman  352 pages

I have read a great many of the plethora of World War II novels that have been the centerpiece of historical fiction in the last few years. However, this is the first one that I have encountered that took place in Hawaii.

Lana Hitchcock has recently separated from her husband. She feel adrift that everything feel apart so quickly. She has a feeling that something bad was going to happen that’s even worse. A phone call from her estranged father, Jack, asking her to come to the Big Island to see him. She has had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. However, she doesn’t arrive in time, and she must figure out what he wanted.

After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Lana is stuck in Hilo, the town where Jack resided. She befriends the German family next door.  The parents, Ingrid and Fred Wagner, are arrested and taken away. Hawaii is still in total chaos after the bombing, and no one seems to know what will the Wagners, or when. Germans aren’t the only ones being rounded up; Japanese are also high on the list, which causes Lana concern about her father’s best friend, Moshi.

The Wagners have two adopted daughters, Marie and Coco, who are left behind. The man Fred  put in charge of the girls seems shady to Lana, and she feels they are in danger if left with him.  Lana takes charge of the girls and their pets: two geese, that once belonged to Jack, and a dog.

Desperate to leave Hilo in the uncertainty if a Japanese invasion is imminent, Lana pays a visit to the father’s close friend, Moshi. She is making plans to go to Jack’s cabin, hidden in the national park, near the Volcano.

Along with Lana are all the characters mentioned above plus  Moshi’s foster son, Benji. When they arrive at the cabin, Lana is distraught that it is only partially completed---in fact, one whole wall is missing. They do their best to make it a home, as they have no idea how long they will be there.

The book’s theme is making a family with the people you are with. It’s a story of survival.

While I wish author Ackerman had supplied a glossary of the flora that she describes, I still felt that I could see the island’s beauty.  The ending was blah, but I still enjoyed reading about this time in Hawaii’s history.  “Red Sky Over Hawaii”  receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Rooster Bar

The Rooster Bar  by John Grisham   352 pages

John Grisham is another guilty pleasure, my go-to source for all things legal Seriously, I’m sure those with legitimate legal experience might roll their eyes, but in addition to being fast-paced, entertaining and easy to understand, Grisham’s books have given me a rudimentary understanding of: basic concepts of law and legal procedure, relationships between law and politics, the various disciplines of law, key social and political issues confronting individuals and corporations, and behind-the-scene corruption, favoritism, dogmatism and power games of America’s politicians, lawmakers, judges, and lawyers (although I guess I could just read the news.) All that having been said, The Rooster Bar is probably my least favorite of Grisham's efforts. 

Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there's a way out. Maybe there's a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no . . .

I appreciate the timely topic that tackles the trap of high-end college degrees, where students incur gigantic student loan debt at sub-par schools only to find their chances of  landing a decent paying gig are very long odds. Some people might struggle with the questionable ethics of the struggling soon-to-be-graduates, but I found their desperation and initiative to be more honest, and consider the ending to be a cop-out. If you’ve never read John Grisham, do not start with this book.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Baby Teeth

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage   304 pages

Literature has a dark sorority of bad, creepy, and cruel girls, which now includes seven-year-old Hanna Hansen. Hanna is mute, and there is not a test known to modern medicine that can discern why. In the eyes of her father, she is a silent and sweet little angel. When he is not around, Hanna consciously makes her mother Suzette's life a living hell. They engage in a battle of wits that rivals Rosemary's Baby.

Evil child tropes make me uncomfortable, hopefully because I find the premise far fetched. I was not scared, while I was reading, but Hanna's POV gave me the intended creepy vibe. When she stood in front of her mother with a hammer and her mother just freaks out, any normal person was thinking 'OK Suzette, you are more insane than your daughter. Just call the police.' Hence the implausible plot, or the unrealistic behavior and reactions of the parents, which ultimately made this an irritating exercise in believability. Also, the pacing contributed to the annoyance factor. The story could have been told in a fraction of the pages. And not to discount a serious health issue, but Crohn’s disease so was omnipresent that it was a plot device...rhetorical why? Basically, I wish the story lived up to the book jacket, but it doesn't.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher   326 pages

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words each day, but now women have only one hundred to make themselves heard.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

Vox is very much in line with the resurgence of feminist dystopia novels that have scary elements of truth to our realities. To coin a term from 1984, we live in a NewSpeakian world, where the power of language, or words and how they are used and controlled, offers considerable insight into the non-science fiction reality we currently inhabit. Vox is not at all different from our societal  norm, that those in power want to silence those who object, whatever their gender. 

The story moves along at a good clip, making this a pretty fast read. It is engaging and anxiety-inducing, in a good way. But I found the resolution even more unlikely than the underlying notion. If tight plotting  is important to you, then you will probably be disappointed. But then this is not intended to be an action-adventure story; it is a warning about the cost of silence, and how not speaking up now can shut you up later, to the detriment, not only of yourself, but of generations to come.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Waiting for Eden

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman   173 pages

This haunting novella is a story of a gravely wounded Iraq veteran, partially blind, brain damaged and near comatose. He lives on for three years by the miracle of modern medicine and his wife’s refusal to pull the plug.

The narrator is this soldier’s unnamed Marine Corps buddy who was killed in the same IED explosion that injured Eden. He tells the story from beyond the grave of a complicated relationship between the three of them prior to deployment.

It’s such an intimate portrayal of grief that begins even before death…hence the title. Mary never leaves his side and struggles with her decision of whether or not to take her husband off life support even as she wishes him to die. 

Although framed by consequences of war, this is not a war novel.  Instead,iIt details what happened to Eden because of the war. It was powerful, evocative and full of symbolism revealing the human cost of America’s endless wars. Thank goodness the story is brief, because there’s only so much heartbreak a reader can take.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

The Wicked Girls

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood   378 pages

One fateful summer morning in 1986, two 11-year-old girls meet for the first time and by the end of the day, they are charged with murder.

Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of attacks on young female tourists in a seaside town when her investigation leads her to interview funfair cleaner Amber Gordon. For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day when they were just children. But with new lives - and families - to protect, will they really be able to keep their secret hidden?

The Wicked Girls has a twisting plot and a range of secondary characters, each bringing up other issues that add to the depth of the story, from Amber's emotionally manipulative boyfriend to Kirsty's struggles to support their family with her husband "excessed" out of a job in his mid-40s, from the minimum wage workers at the amusement park to the media, which just like twenty-five years ago, seizes on lurid details and interviews with unreliable people to construct a narrative that will sell papers and generate moral outrage, whether or not it actually bears any resemblance to the truth.

Watching two women whose lives were destroyed as children try to reconstruct an existence under the constant fear of discovery, even by their own families, and then see it all come unraveled once again, makes this book both a suspenseful psychological thriller and a tragedy even before the climax. This book is for people drawn to crime thrillers - real and fiction, but also for students of human psychology because the content should make you question preconceived notions of guilt and innocence, of rehabilitation and retribution.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

Lab Girl

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren   289 pages

A rare and emotionally engaging close-up look at the development and practice of science, its empowerment and challenges, and the ability of Hope Jahren to transform influences from her father and her questing personality into a successful career in paleoecology. From her time helping her father manage the physics lab, she came to appreciate the outlook of scientific inquiry, feel empowered in a laboratory full of equipment she could master, and get rewarded from problem solving. I actually wanted more about the science and her contributions, but that would impede the more substantial success this memoir has as a portrait of a partnership with Bill, a graduate student who became a lab manager, technician, and essential collaborator in all her research.

I so loved the snap of the quirky dialog she reconstructed from their day to day lives in the lab or on the road at exotic study sites. The humor is fresh, often slapstick, sarcastic or ironic, but it makes an effective channel for them both that combines unconditional support and brutal honesty. The scenarios with Bill that she spins out like acts on a stage careen from low points of self-deprecation and absurdist dissipation of their failures to driven efforts to reach a goal with many all-night stints in the lab or busting ass and threatening their health in the field. And sometimes they get epiphanies over results and rewarding dreams of glory over their discoveries and, more practically, some payback in near-term job security. I also loved the adventures she and Bill have in building labs at different academic postings she climbs and in their entertaining trips to scavenge equipment and in student instruction through field trips. The latter trips with students in soil science involve almost unbelievable tales of camping, excavations, and sampling work, disasters with vehicles, and R&R trips to odd tourist spots like Reptile World.

Interspersed with the narrative history, Jahren inserts lyrical reveries and essays on how the lives and wonders of plants inform her understanding of herself and the planet. Many of these mental excursions make for metaphors of lessons for her own life. It is a tribute to her writing or teaching style that these stealth botany lessons are so entertaining that we are educated unawares.

My only concern about the book is that Jahren details all the negative aspects of her personal and professional journeys. Although she deserves kudos for baring all, it is only in reading the book jacket that we learn that she is a celebrated and highly awarded scientist. None of these accolades are alluded to in her narrative, which  I think does a disservice to her mentorship of future (especially female) scientists. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Spiritual Life

The Spiritual Life and How To Be Attuned To It by St Theophan the Recluse, translated by Alexandra Dockham, 320 pages

In the middle of the nineteenth century, a young Russian woman in the grips of a profound spiritual crisis approached a holy monk for advice.  The resulting correspondence was preserved and collected in this book, which quickly became a Russian Orthodox classic.  St Theophan's balance of holy zeal and humane sympathy fully justifies this judgement of posterity.

For Latins, the obvious comparison is with St Francis de Sales, and indeed The Spiritual Life closely resembles the Introduction to the Devout Life in its attempt to chart a path to God for those living in the secular world.  If the Frenchman's work is more developed, the Russian's is more accessible, at least partially due to having been written two centuries closer to our own time.