Tales of the Early Franks

 Tales of the Early Franks: Episodes from Merovingian History by Augustin Thierry, translated by MFO Jenkins, 166 pages

It is no less a commonplace of our time than of Augustin Thierry's that the so-called "Dark Ages" are a confusing, dull, and unprofitable era to study - indeed, the sometimes-equivalent term "Middle Ages" seems to imply an unedifying interlude between the more significant Classical and more important Modern periods.  If scholars and ideologues are divided on when the "darkness" fell, in what, precisely, it consisted, and when and how it lifted, it seems certain that Gaul in the late 6th century was deep beneath it.  

It should be a pleasant surprise, then, to discover Thierry's tales of love, war, religion, politics, and intrigue in the Merovingian era.  Based largely on the histories and memoirs of St Gregory of Tours, Thierry's work is divided into seven interrelated narrative episodes covering events ranging from the tragic life of Queen Galswinth to the rigged trial of Bishop Praetextatus to the happy friendship of Radegund and Venantius Fortunatus.  Thierry delightfully combines a contagious love for the period with a deep awareness of the importance of personalities and character.

Rock Paper Scissors

 Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney  Galley  292 pages  due out 9/2021

Summary from Goodreads: Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

And here's what I thought:  This was dark, delicious and had a completely twisted twist about 3/4 of the way through the story that was absolutely fantastic.

Things clearly aren't right with Mr. and Mrs. Wright. The alternating viewpoints here tell you that, but what you can't quite put your finger on is what's actually wrong, and if one of them is correct (ok, right) about what's happening or what's wrong. Going away for an anniversary weekend sounds wonderful, except it's a drive into the Scottish highlands in bad weather, to arrive at an old chapel converted into a home and find it's cold, there's no food, and there's a whole bunch of creepiness.  What's down in the cellar? Wine, yes -- but definitely something else. Which doors are locked? Was that one locked a few hours ago, because it's open now.  And is there someone really outside the window or are they imagining things?

Adding to the odd factor are a couple of extra elements here. Mr. Wright has a condition where he cannot recognize faces, not even his own.  But he knows his wife (or does he?). Mrs. Wright seems awfully determined to make this an anniversary that neither of them will forget, in a way that makes you wonder how much she really loves him.  And, throughout the whole book, are letters that Mrs. Wright has written to her husband for each anniversary (although she never gives them to him).  There's definitely a feeling of sadness and then deep resentment that starts to permeate the story, which just adds to the apprehension that you start the whole book with.

Absolutely fantastic read.

We Are the Brennans

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange   Galley - 271 pages due to be published 8/2021

Summary from Goodreads: When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it's not easy. She deserted them all—and her high school sweetheart—five years before with little explanation, and they've got questions.

Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family's pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets—secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes—and ultimately find a way forward, together

And here's what I thought: This is a smoothly paced family drama with multiple viewpoints. The characters are all realistic, so it's very easy to get drawn into this story. Sunday is the one daughter in a family of sons and she's always been the strong one, taking care of their mother and father and making sure everyone was okay. However, when we meet her, it's clear that she's not okay -- and in fact, she has left the family completely. But a bad accident brings her home to recover  . . . and pick up the pieces of the life she left behind. One of those broken pieces is her relationship with Kale, who is close friends with her brothers. At the same time Sunday is trying to make a go of things again with her family, some of her brothers are struggling with some pretty serious problems, including some very heavy debt and opening a family business. And . . . is their father hiding some dark secrets from his past in Ireland?

Overall, the theme is that the bonds of family, even including those who aren't blood relatives, can be tested, but in a family like this, are strong enough to resist the toughest situations.

This is a good book is you like family drama stories, especially about close-knit families.

 

Vintage Black Glamour

 Vintage Black Glamour by Nichelle Gainer  208 pages

Summary from Goodreads:The original, highly acclaimed, silk-covered edition of Vintage Black Glamour. Packed with rarely seen photographs of Black actors, models, writers and entertainers of the early part of the 20th century, many of whom have been sorely neglected—until now—it was judged by Oprah.com to be one of their top ten books to buy & keep.

Alongside profiles and the photographs of world-renowned Black stars such as Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge and Diana Ross are less-known but hugely important artists such as opera singer Margaret Tynes, Cotton Club star Margot Webb, pioneering model Ophelia De Vore, and many, many more.

And here's what I thought: I really liked this book and found the combination of writing and images to be interesting, and it made me want to learn more about some of these women. I had discovered this title when looking for something else in the catalog and I wasn't disappointed -- it's an interesting read. Not only it is a view into women's fashion, but into women's history. 

We Play Ourselves

 We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman 322 pages --- I got through 290.

Summary from Goodreads: Not too long ago, Cass was a promising young playwright in New York, hailed as "a fierce new voice" and "queer, feminist, and ready to spill the tea." But at the height of all this attention, Cass finds herself at the center of a searing public shaming, and flees to Los Angeles to escape--and reinvent herself. There she meets her next-door neighbor Caroline, a magnetic filmmaker on the rise, as well as the pack of teenage girls who hang around her house. They are the subjects of Caroline's next semidocumentary movie, which follows the girls' clandestine after-school activity: a Fight Club inspired by the violent classic.

As Cass is drawn into the film's orbit, she is awed by Caroline's drive and confidence. But over time, she becomes troubled by how deeply Caroline is manipulating the teens in the name of art--especially as the consequences become increasingly disturbing. With her past proving hard to shake and her future one she's no longer sure she wants, Cass is forced to reckon with her own ambitions and confront what she has come to believe about the steep price of success. 

And here's what I thought: I really didn't like this book and only made it to the point I did because I really, really wanted to know what happened to the main character that was so scandalous that she had to move to L.A.  Do you want to know? Here's the spoiler -- she gets drunk at a party, and deliberately pokes someone in the eye with her finger. Yes, absolutely incredibly scandalous.  So then, after I got to that point, I tried reading a little more --- but I am not the reader for this book, let's put it that way. I didn't like the main character and found her to be so annoying that I constantly irritated by her. The neighbor is a jerk, the girls being filmed aren't much better. I kept wondering just how Cass was continuing to make it work, sponging off her friend and not working at all (which annoys me to no end, at any rate) to contribute anything to her friend's household.  This character wrote one play, which wasn't even that big of a deal -- so how is the money thing working?  I also felt that Cass is an overwrought kind of character - the constant descriptions of what it means to be a playwright, to be seriously involved in the theatre, the mindset, the culture, the all-encompassing art of it all. It felt to me like the author is writing herself as the main character, immersing herself in this all as the most fascinating character.  Blergh.

The Chicken Sisters

 The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia  344 pages

Summary from Goodreads: In tiny Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state--and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than thirty-five-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi's before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie's. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire. . .

The last thing Brooklyn-based organizational guru Mae Moore, Amanda's sister, wants is to go home to Kansas. But when her career implodes, Food Wars becomes her chance to step back into the limelight. Mae is certain she can make the fading Mimi's look good--even if that pits her against Amanda and Frannie's. With a greedy producer stoking the flames, their friendly rivalry quickly turns into a game of chicken. Yet when family secrets become public knowledge, the sisters must choose: Will they fight with each other, or for their heritage? 

And here's what I thought: I liked this story and thought it was a lot of fun. The characters are interesting, endearing and sometimes very frustrating, and overall, pretty relatable. I liked the idea of two competing restaurants in the same town, with a huge family divide. I'm sure this is the case for some restaurants and actually, the way this is written, you can see Food Wars as something on The Food Network. This is a pretty quick read, and maybe a little predictable on the story, but a lot of fun (especially as the sisters keep upping the ante with what they do to each other in the name of competition and revenge).

You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey

 You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar   215 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey.

From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman." And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.

And here's what I thought: No, I can believe this. But I can't. Maybe I can, because I know first-hand how ignorant people can be ---- but seriously, it's hard to believe just how many people Lacey encounters who are like this. Disappointing, yes. Believable, yes. Funny, yes --- but also pretty sobering because these stories are funny because it's hard to believe people are that stupid. Definitely an eye-opening read and while this is written with a humorous tone, it's seriously not funny what some people say or do. Yikes.

The Kitchen Front

 The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan  406 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Two years into WW2, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest--and the grand prize is a job as the program's first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives.

For a young widow, it's a chance to pay off her husband's debts and keep a roof over her children's heads. For a kitchen maid, it's a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it's a chance to escape her wealthy husband's increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it's a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession.

These four women are giving the competition their all--even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart? 

And here's what I thought:  I liked this story, although some of it was pretty predictable (which was perfectly fine). Basing this on historical fiction, my curiosity was piqued at times and it was fun to look up some details so I was broadening my knowledge, along with enjoying the story. Having some recipes included added an extra interesting detail to the book --- although I will not be trying any of them soon. But, really seeing examples of wartime recipes brought to life what it was like for people to ration, or be creative with food, all in the name of being a good citizen. I did feel there was good character development in the story (even if some of it was predictable) and the pace moved the story along smoothly. I can see a re-read of this book at some point, just because I liked it enough to want to revisit it.

Bad Feminist

 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay  320 pages

Summary from Goodreads: In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better

And here's what I thought: I re-read this book for a book group discussion and like other comments I've made about collections of essays, I enjoyed some essays in this book more than others. I like Gay's writing style, both in fiction and nonfiction, and like Rebecca Solnit's collection, Men Explain Things to Me, there are some moments of wry humor in Gay's essays, even as some of her other essays are unflinching when addressing serious topics. I will admit, I absolutely love Gay's essay about playing in Scrabble tournaments -- every time I read this essay, I laugh out loud because it's not just the main essay, but also the little side notes, often snarky, that make it so funny. 

Men Explain Things to Me

 Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit   160 pages

Summary from Goodreads:  In her comic, scathing essay “Men Explain Things to Me,” Rebecca Solnit took on what often goes wrong in conversations between men and women. She wrote about men who wrongly assume they know things and wrongly assume women don’t, about why this arises, and how this aspect of the gender wars works, airing some of her own hilariously awful encounters.

She ends on a serious note— because the ultimate problem is the silencing of women who have something to say, including those saying things like, “He’s trying to kill me!”

This book features that now-classic essay with six perfect complements, including an examination of the writer Virginia Woolf ’s embrace of mystery, of not knowing, of doubt and ambiguity, a highly original inquiry into marriage equality, and a terrifying survey of the scope of contemporary violence against women.

And here's what I thought:  Interestingly, I read this right after Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, so my reactions to it may have had something to do with that. I found some of the essays here to be more interesting than others, but I appreciated some of the author's take on many issues.  Her comments about misogyny and violence towards women seem to especially resonate in light of recent news events (shooting of several Asian women at spas in Georgia, the police attack on a woman at night in Britain).For example, she writes on page 33 "Of course, women are capable of all sorts of major unpleasantness, and there are violent crimes by women, but the so-called war of the sexes is extraordinarily lopsided when it comes to actual violence . . .  No female bus riders in India have ganged up to sexually assault a man so badly he dies of his injuries, nor are marauding packs of women terrorizing men in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and there's just no maternal equivalent to the 11 percent of rapes that are by fathers and stepfathers." While there is some wry humor in some essays, I appreciate that Solnit is unflinching in others.

Count Bohemond

Count Bohemond by Alfred Duggan, 281 pages

Eldest son of the Norman adventurer who conquered Apulia, Bohemond, Count of Taranto, is the "mightiest of the mighty Hautevilles", a physical giant whose strength is matched only by his ambition.  While his father's title may have fallen to a more politic half-brother, Bohemond dreams of the riches and recognizes the vulnerability of the emperor in Constantinople.  Yet when the Pope calls the knights of Christendom to come to the aid of that emperor and to fight for the Holy Sepulchre, Bohemond eagerly joins the Crusade.  In his pursuit of victory and glory, however, his fellow Crusaders and their Greek allies soon prove nearly as great an obstacle as the Turks.

Count Bohemond is not a particularly deep book, but it is a well-written, solid entry into the genre of historical biographical novels suitable for teenage boys that is exemplified by I, Claudius.  An excellent introduction to the complexities of the First Crusade packaged within a dramatic narrative.

A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray

A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis  (Translated from the French by John Cullen) 144 pages

This novella packs a lot into it. It’s brief, moody, spare, completely French and has a other-worldly atmosphere to it.

 Two sisters, Jane and Claire Marie don’t see each other often, even though they live relatively close to each other. Jane lives in the heart of Paris, while Claire Marie lives in the suburban community of Ville-d”Avray. Jane lives with her partner and Claire Marie has a husband and a teenage daughter.

It’s early autumn, and the sisters are enjoying a few glasses of wine in the garden. After the initial and normal conversation exchanges, Claire Marie begins to talk about a man she had known fifteen years prior. It’s a whimsical, whispery, misty description of a man named Marc Hermann. I’m was never sure if the two had an actual affair or danced around one.

Claire Marie would sneak out of the house to meet him, but the meetings took place more around train stations and parks than in hotel rooms or quaint B&Bs. I got the feeling that Marc was more of a stalker, and that Claire Marie was having wispy fantasies about him. The scenes in which Claire Marie tried to see him at his place of business is disturbing, making the reader feel as if there was something else going on altogether.

The pace of the novella ebb and flowed, as a good story does. However, it didn’t reel me in completely. I found myself more mystified than satisfied at the conclusion. Therefore,  A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray received 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. I wanted to give it 2 stars, but the beautiful writing and scenery had me bump it up a star.

 

Yellow Wife

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson  288 pages

I came of age when the Old South was in its final death throes, and I was no stranger to the horror stories of slavery. This well-researched, oftentimes hard to read, story evokes those stories that I heard as a kid.

Pheby Delores Brown lives on the Bell Plantation in Virginia with her mother, Ruth.  Sired by Master Jacob, he has promised Ruth that Pheby would be educated and freed on her eighteenth birthday. Pheby believes that she will have a good life and is in love with one of the other slaves, Essex Henry. But after her mother dies and Jacob is away traveling on business, Jacob’s wife, Miss Delphina, decides that the uppity young woman must learn that she is in charge.

Delphina sells Pheby to a notorious slave trader, Rubin Lapier, who reigns over Devil’s Half Acre, an infamous jail in Richmond where slaves are taken to be sold or to have their spirits broken. The beatings and whippings, described in minute detail, some of the slaves must endure is the stuff of nightmares. After a torturous walk from the Bell Plantation in Charles City to Richmond, Pheby is chosen by Rubin to be his mistress.

Pheby is treated better than most as Rubin sets her up with sewing clothes for the incoming slaves, especially the ones who he puts to work as prostitutes. Rubin wastes no time in making Pheby is mistress. As the year go by, Pheby longs for the promises of education and freedom that were denied her and she longs for her one true love, Essex.

By the time Essex is brought to the jail, Pheby has had several children with Rubin; Children he dotes on. They are raised in his home where Pheby now lives and sleeps in a bedroom across the hall from Rubin. He even introduces her as the the Mistress of the Jail.

But Pheby cannot forget the man who has her heart, and she does whatever she can to make things better for him.

Author Johnson does not shy away from the realities of slavery, from the fears of being sold to harsher masters, from the fear of the whip and from the fear of familial separation that haunt a slave’s every waking and sleeping minute.

This is not an easy book to read. I swear as I read, I could hear the crack of the whip, the screams as flesh is torn open.

I was disappointed in the ending. It seemed like Johnson got tired of writing and just wound it up. I was planning on giving Yellow Wife 6 out of 5 stars, but the ending forced me to lower its rating to 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

The Woman With the Blue Star

The Woman With the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff  336 pages

Even before I started reading, I was intrigued by the title. I’m familiar with, and have been lucky enough to see one, the yellow stars the Nazis forced the Jewish people over mot of Europe to wear. The blue star was new to me. A Google search didn’t yield a quick explantion, but after a little digging, I found a Jewish Heritage website (Sorry, I forgot to note its name and cannot find it again) that educated me:

  "In September 1939, following the German invasion of Poland, individual German military and civilian authorities imposed the Jewish badge in certain Polish towns and villages, the first being decreed in the town of Wloclawek on October 29, 1939. In the General Government, that part of Poland directly occupied by Germany, Governor General Hans Frank ordered on November 23, 1939, that all Jews over the age of ten wear a "Jewish Star": a white armband affixed with a blue six-sided star, worn over the right upper sleeve of one's outer garments. There were heavy penalties for those caught not wearing it."

With that knowledge, I set off to read Pam Jenoff’s latest historical fiction novel.  In this tale, Sadie and her parents had been forced into Poland’s Krakow Ghetto. Eighteen-year-old Sadie ws forced to hide in the attic of their apartment building. She has snuck out and is downstairs in the kitchen when the Nazis raid the building. Unable to get back upstairs, she hides in a trunk, one of the first places her mother showed her to hide when she was much younger. 

Escaping the Nazis this time meant that they were sure to not be missed next time. One afternoon, Sadie finds her papa has removed the toilet and is trying to make the hole bigger…this was their escape plan: into the sewers. Papa’s friend, Pawel, has agreed, for a price, to help them and an Orthodox Jewish family make their way to a modicum of safety. The Germans would never think of searching such a gross and disgusting place, but they must go if they are to live. It’s harder for Mama to fit through the pipes as she is pregnant. Pawel leads them deep under Krakow and finds them an alcove where they can live about the rise and fall of the water.

Three month later, in June 1942, while shopping for cherries for her stepmother, Ella sees eyes through one of the sewer grates. At first, Ella isn’t sure of what to think, but she and the girl, who is about her own age, become friends.

Ella has her own tale of woes but nothing like what Sadie and her family and the others are enduring. She is an aristocrat and is protected from the Nazis by her stepmother who is a collaborator. Ella comes every Sunday to bring Sadie what food she can steal with her stepmother discovering that she is aiding Jews.

As time goes by and the Nazis begin to realize that they are losign the war, things get more and mor desparate, both below and above Karkow’s streets. To give anything more away would be to spoil it for others, but I’ll tell you the adventure, the terror, the romance, the secrets and the friendship that Jenoff writes about will have you staying up past your bedtime to find out what happens next. I read this fast-paced novel in three nights.

Author Jodi Picoult was lying when she said this about The Woman With the Blue Star: “…and will leave you gasping at the end.”  I sure was!

The Woman With the Blue Star receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2)

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman, 784 pages

The continuing story of Lyra, Pantalaimon, Malcolm Polstead, and many other characters from both series: The Book of Dust series and the His Dark Materials series. This book starts with Lyra at age 20. She and her daemon, Pantalaimon, have been arguing fiercely about things both big and small and because unlike most humans and daemons, they have the power to separate, Pantalaimon begins to leave Lyra alone, eventually leaving her for good. Lyra begins a journey to find him and meets many characters along the way, some new and some returning from previous books. Meanwhile, Malcolm finds himself more involved with his work with Oakley Street (a secret organization) and reluctantly travels abroad as well, when what he'd really like to do is to stay near Lyra, and not just for professional reasons.

And while all of this kept me plowing quickly through about 3/4 of this large book, either the plot got too convoluted or I got distracted and I slowed down. I also understood that this book could not tie things up neatly at all with the number of pages left and became disappointed knowing very little would be resolved by the end. I love the author and the characters and hold out every hope that by the third book, things will be resolved. This middle book was a cliffhanger but I look forward to the third book of what I believe is a trilogy when I'll get all the answers I want (and probably some I don't want, but that's okay too!). 

The Last Garden in England

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly 368 pages

Author Kelly employs one of my favorite plot devices, in this, her third novel: dueling timelines. Most writers use only tow, but Kelly has stretched her writing skills by having three timelines: present day, 1944 and 1907. She does a wonderful job in keeping the characters individualized with the descriptions, but I had a hard time with their voices---all three sounded similar. This caused an occasional problem for me as I sometimes forgot whose story was being told. However, the descriptions of the times and other characters involved held ground me.

The first plotline/character we meet is Emma. Her firm has been hired to restore the garden to Scotland’s Highbury House to its original grandeur. The garden hasn’t been maintained and is grossly overgrown.

The second character is Venetia Smith in 1907. She was hired by the original owners to design the garden in the formal English style. She lays it out in a series of “rooms,” different areas for different emotions…like the Children’s Garden, The Poet’s Corner, the Winter Garden, etc. Interesting enough, Venetia is based on a real-life designer, one that Emma holds in the highest esteem.

The third plotline is 1944. Actually there are three women in this section: Highbury House’s mistress and its cook plus a “land girl,” come to work the land since all the men were off to war.

Three generations of women plan and care for the garden, each with her own story. I found Venetia’s story the most compelling. In the early 20^th century there were not many women who owned a business. Second, I found the discovery of Venetia’s original plans in the present day the highlight of the novel. It had the most tension and the most excitement.

The Last Garden in England is touted as for fans of Kate Morton’s novel, The Lake House, but I don’t feel it even comes close. The tension was sporadic, and I still don’t understand the title. Therefore, The Last Garden in England receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Nine Songs

 The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China by Yuan Qu, translated by Arthur Waley, 61 pages

The "Nine Songs" were probably written down in the 3rd or 4th century BC, although the songs themselves are clearly older than that.  The eleven short poems are ritual hymns intended to aid a shaman in summoning a spirit or god.  Interestingly, they are love songs, with the god often described as a fickle lover and the shaman as the longing, forsaken partner.  As Waley suggests in his introduction, the closest Western equivalent is likely the Song of Songs, and similarly to that work the Nine Songs have been given a variety of allegorical interpretations down through the centuries, including many which literal-minded moderns will no doubt find impossibly tendentious.

Tracing the influence of the Nine Songs in Chinese cultural history is not Waley's aim, however.  Rather, he is interested in presenting them in something resembling their original context.  To this end, not only has he supplied an excellent introduction to the series as a whole, but each poem also gets its own brief but informative commentary.

Hour of the Witch

 Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian 416 pages

The last time author Chris Bohjalian was in St. Louis, I was lucky enough to be first in line at his book signing. St. Louis was the first stop, if I remember correctly, of his book tour for “The Flight Attendant.” I was eager to start reading after his wonderful presentation, but since I had a chance, I chatted with him for a minute before he had to get to work. I had one important, burning question: “What’s next?”

 He told me that he was researching a book about Puritans in the 17^th century and the witch trials that rocked Massachusetts. He had become fascinated with that time period when he was in college. I was disappointed when it wasn’t the next book he released (which was “The Red Lotus,” another great read!). Maybe next year, I thought.

Not long ago, I began to see blurbs and advertisements for his latest adventure, “Hour of the Witch.” Here it was! I lucky enough get my hands on an Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC). I was shocked it was even available because during the time of covid-19, as publishers cut way back on print copies. A writer of his stature doesn’t need ARCs to gain momentum. He writes and people, including me, buy his book. I don’t even have to know what it’s about. If Chris Bohjalian wrote, I’m probably gonna love it.

I am not a big fan of stories set in the 17^th century; they don’t grab me. But, boy, this one sure did. From its first sentence (“It was always possible that the Devil was present.”) to its last, I was enthralled with Mary Deerfield’s story.

The place is Boston; the year is 1662. Women have been hung after accusations they were practicing witchcraft. Young Mary Deerfield is a newlywed. Her husband, Thomas, is a powerful man, physically and politically. In public, Thomas was ever the attentive husband, but once the front door was closed, Thomas turned into her worse nightmare. He criticized her, he brutalized her in the marriage bed, and he tossed her around their cottage like she was fallen leaf. He was an expert at making up the lies he told whenever someone noticed her bruises. It was painful to read about Thomas’ cruelty and how he would laugh at Mary’s pain and fear.

Mary’s father was an importer. He recently received a shipment of three-tined forks, which were considered the Devil’s utensils. When she finds two of them planted near the cottage gate, she knows someone is trying to frame her as a witch. She is afraid it’s Thomas, or their servant firld. There isn’t much Mary can do legally to fight him.

Thomas’ drinking grows steady worse. When he stabs her in the hand, Mary knows it is time to divorce him.  Divorce is scandalous. It goes against all things God-like. It isn’t right.

The book is broken into two parts. The first is The Book of the Wife. This is where readers see their marriage and experience Mary’s fears and Thomas’s cruelties. The second is The Book of the Witch. Here is where Mary tries to gain a divorce and defend herself against the horrific accusations that are thrown at her.

I need to stop now, or I’m going to spill the beans about an ending that was as shocking as it was redeeming. And perfect. It was perfect!

I loved this story and could hardly put it down. I do have one question for Mr. Bohjalian: “As hard as it was to get used to reading the thee’s and thou’s that was the Puritans way of speaking, how hard was it to write in that style?” Maybe next time he’s in St. Louis, I’ll snag that first spot in line and have a chance to ask him.

What a great read! Hour of the Witch receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch

Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch by Erin French 304 pages

Approximately forty-two miles southwest of Bangor, Maine, is the small town of Freedom, home to one of the most desired restaurants in the world: The Lost Kitchen. Reservations at the small restaurant open every year on April 1, and within a couple of days, the entire season is booked.  You can’t call; you have to send in a postcard or a letter that is then placed in a lottery. Hopefuls from all the fifty states and twenty-two countries vie for a seat at the table.

The Lost Kitchen is the dream/restaurant of Erin French, a Mainer born and bred. She has not been to culinary school or studied under great chefs. She relies on instinct and simple foods. The menu changes daily and is based on what local foods are available that day.

Erin French didn’t start out to open a world-renown restaurant. Growing up in Freedom, she dreamed of becoming a doctor. Those plans were waylaid when at twenty-one, French found herself pregnant and alone. She left college and went back home. There she worked with her father in his diner and lived with her parents. She discovered that cooking soothed her soul, and she was good at it. Even the sixteen to eighteen hours a day, six days a week, didn’t dampen her enthusiasm.

Eventually she and her son, Jaim, moved to a cottage on her parent’s property. During the off-season (winter), the diner was closed and she found work in other restaurants. Life was hard. French turned to pills to get her up in the morning, keep her calm during the day and to help her sleep at night.

Soon French met someone and married him. But as soon as the ring went on her finger, her new husband, Tom, began to berate her, control her every move, and, on occasion, threaten her life with physical violence.

 French shares her highs and lows with her reader, without pulling any punches.  Sometime this book is hard to read as French battles for her life and sanity. From multiple tries in rehab to a custody/divorce battle, French’s story is a classic American tale of grabbing yourself by your bootstraps and picking yourself up, time and time again.

I do wish that French had given us a recipe or two. That would have pushed this book into a 6 star category. However, Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

The Lamplighters

 The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex.  I read a galley - 340 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.

What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves?

Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . .

And here's what I thought: I often felt like I couldn't quite get into this book. The pacing is a little uneven and there were so many viewpoints, often going quickly from one to another, that I felt I should have made a chart of sorts to keep track of who's who. Add to that going back in forth from the past to the present, and I just couldn't quite connect with the story.

I did enjoy the mystery elements of the story and how the story slowly reveals itself through the different characters' viewpoints and stories. Because you have this mysterious event right at the beginning, you know it's going to be a slow reveal through the story. There is a lot in this book about love, and grief, and misunderstandings. And, with the very realistic details of what it's like to work on one of these lighthouses (which, by the way, is not on a nice little slice of land, but is right out there in the water, where it's very dangerous), sometimes gave the book a claustrophobic feel which heightened the atmosphere of the story. 

However, I often couldn't keep the characters straight and as a result, didn't quite connect with any of them. I also found it difficult to find many of them to be sympathetic, so I sometimes just didn't quite care what happened to them. Interesting story and maybe I'll have a different reaction to it if I read it again.

The Library of Lost & Found

 The Library of Lost & Found by Phaedra Patrick  348 pages

Summary from Goodreads: Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people - though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she's invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend - her grandmother Zelda - who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda's past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

And here's what I thought: I liked this story, even though I could predict a few things with the plot. There are realistic characters here, some of them pretty quirky (which I like) and the setting of the library and bookstore added to the story's charm. The stories within this book are a bit sad, so it's an interesting way to tell the story overall, with these smaller stories from Zelda's book, interspersed. What's also interesting is the way that you learn things along with Martha. For example, she's not sure if Zelda is actually who she thinks she is, and then she's discovering what happened (because clearly, Zelda is very much alive).  Enjoyable weekend read.

The Downstairs Neighbor

 The Downstairs Neighbor by Helen Cooper  369 pages 

Summary from Goodreads: From her downstairs apartment in suburban London, Emma has often overheard the everyday life of the seemingly perfect family upstairs–Steph, Paul and teenage daughter Freya–but has never got to know them. Until one day, she hears something that seizes her attention: Freya has vanished and the police are questioning Steph and Paul about their life. Do either of you have any enemies? Anyone who might want to harm or threaten you?

The effects of Freya’s disappearance ripple outward, affecting not just her parents, but everyone who lives in the building, including Emma and local driving instructor Chris, who was the last person to see the teenager before she went missing. Each character’s life is thrown into sharp focus as devastating mistakes and long-held secrets are picked apart and other crimes come to light–including a child gone missing 25 years before, and a shocking murder–that make clear that the past never stays where we leave it, and that homes can be built on foundations of lies. 

And here's what I thought: This was a nice page-turner of a story and uses different perspectives, as well as one person's perspective set in the past, to move the story along. As you can see from the summary, a young girl has gone missing --- and you start to wonder if some of the neighbors are involved. After all, Chris, the guy giving Freya driving lessons, seems awfully nervous and he's clearly hiding something. Emma, who lives downstairs from Freya, has issues of her own, including a relationship with Zeb (who at first you can't tell who he is at all, and then that's revealed). On top of that, both of Freya's parents seem to have secrets of their own that they are hiding from each other. And what about the person whose perspective we keep getting from 25 years ago?  That's revealed far into the story.  Plenty of twists and turns here, so if you like suspense (especially British suspense), this might be your kind of read.

John Ruskin

 John Ruskin: The Argument of the Eye by Robert Hewison, 212 pages

Midway through his life's journey, Ruskin wrote, "Once I could write joyfully about beautiful things, thinking to be understood; - now I cannot any more; for it seems to me that no one regards them."  Ruskin was, in fact, one of the most famous public intellectuals in the Anglophone world, but it was not fame he sought but understanding, and he had failed to gain many adherents for his more radical ideas, as he complained in another place: "I can get no soul to believe that the beginning of art is in getting our country clean, and our people beautiful."  Instead, Victorian England remained the prisoner of its own "greed for money, lust for food, pride of dress, and the prurient itch of momentary curiosity for the politics last announced by the newsmonger, and the religion last rolled by the chemist..."

Robert Hewison's task, then, is to facilitate a real understanding of the totality of Ruskin's thought, not as it stood at any one time as a complete, coherent doctrine, but as it changed and developed through what Ruskin himself admitted were a series of contradictions.  In Hewison's view, such understanding begins with the recognition that Ruskin was a visual thinker whose lifelong mission was to teach others how to see what he saw.  As such, his ideas are allusive and derive their power from analogy rather than logic.

The Squire's Quest

 The Squire's Quest by Gerald Morris; 275 pages

This is Book 9 in a series that I've already read at least once, and am glad to be experiencing again, even though I know we're coming to the end of Camelot. I love these books so much: the retelling of both well-known and obscure Arthurian legends, as well as other stories of the time, are as enjoyable as the philosophical discussion the characters engage in with humor and profundity. 

In this story, Terence, squire to Gawain (Terence's character is a creation of this author) meets Mordred and immediately knows this young man is not as gallant, kind, or noble as the rest of Arthur's Round Table seems to think he is. But because he can't prove anything about Mordred, Terence can only watch him and hope to find a way to catch him in a misdeed. In the meantime, there are love affairs, jousts, fairies, and funny, engaging, and thought-provoking scenes throughout the book. 

These books are great for older middle-grade children who are getting into these types of stories. Even though at this stage of the series the main characters are no longer teens, the situations are still humorous and action-packed. I'll be sad to read the next and final book of this series but know I can always start again at the first book when I want to enjoy it all again!

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, 416 pages 

I picked this up not so much because I was interested in the subject but because I had read "The Destiny of the Republic" by this author, about James Garfield's assassination, and liked her writing style. I very much enjoyed this book as well. This tells of Roosevelt's decision, after not being re-elected as President in 1912, to go on an Amazon adventure. All his life, Roosevelt battled depression and setbacks by challenging himself mentally and physically. So to get his mind off his defeat, even at age 55, he chose to push himself and the men who joined them to the limits of their endurance.

Initially the trip was planned to be a bit more sedate, owing to the age of some of the men joining the expedition and the fact that a former President was on the trip. Upon arriving in Brazil, however, Roosevelt and his companions chose to forego the already not terribly safe trip they planned to instead embark upon The River of Doubt, which had been virtually completely uncharted and its endpoint unknown. Millard does a great job describing what a monumentally bad decision this was: they hadn't planned for or packed supplies for this type of trip, and they continued to make bad choices throughout the trip that would cost lives and impact the health of the men on the journey, including nearly killing Roosevelt himself.

I learned a lot about the many, many ways a person can die in the Amazon rain forest, as well as the tribes that lived there, the nature of the plants and animals that lived there, and how the River Basin was created millennia ago. I also enjoyed learning about the men who joined this expedition, including Roosevelt's son Kermit, and Candido Rondon, a fascinating man of his time who worked his way up from poverty to a military career installing telegraph lines, heading expeditions, and, most impressively, to championing fair treatment of the tribes that inhabited the Amazon River Basin. Millard does an excellent job describing the temperament of the men who undertook this dangerous journey and I found many of the characters as fascinating, if not more so, than Roosevelt himself. Well-written and engaging - I will read more by this great author!

A Little White Shadow

 A Little White Shadow by Mary Ruefle, 42 pages

For her book A Little White Shadow, Mary Ruefle took a nineteenth century book, A Little White Shadow by one "E.M.M.", and whited out much of the text, leaving snippets that interact with each other in new ways but remain surrounded by the obfuscated passages from which they were cut, grounding them in their now irrecoverable original context.  It is easy to dismiss the concept as a gimmick, but it is just as easy to imagine it as a commentary on creativity, originality, and influence, the text as palimpsest and so on and on.  At times the poetry descends to the former, indulging in the barbaric babbling so beloved of modern poets, challenging the reader to find profundity in nonsense.  At other times (and more and more often as the poem progresses) it transcends the latter, crafting passages of genuine beauty.

The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship

The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship by Deborah Willis 256 pages

Part of the NYU Series on Social & Cultural Analysis

This is one of those books that I knew I wanted to read just by seeing the cover. I admit that I was a little afraid at what graphic images it might contain, but I steeled myself and opened the cover.  Seeing as the subtitle I assumed it would filled with photos. There are a lot, around seventy I believe, but I somehow expected more. There are the standards that show up in any discussion of slavery, the South, the Civil War, and many other avenues (especially the one showing the crisscrossed scars on the back of “Whipped Peter”).

What I wasn’t prepared for was the large number of photographs of Black soldiers in uniform. At the time of the Civil War, “photography culture blossomed―marking the Civil War as the first conflict to be extensively documented through photographs.”  I couldn’t help but wonder how these men paid for their images to be reproduced. If it’s in this book, I missed it.

Another thing that I wasn’t prepared for was the way the book is put together. The text is mostly letters from the soldiers. Author “Willis not only dives into the lives of black Union soldiers, but also includes stories of other African Americans involved with the struggle―from left-behind family members to female spies. Willis thus compiles a captivating memoir of photographs and words and examines them together to address themes of love and longing; responsibility and fear; commitment and patriotism; and―most predominantly―African American resilience.” I did have trouble with the dialect, but that made it all the more real…it didn’t feel like a white woman was writing it.

Willis does an outstanding job in putting new faces to this age-old history. Therefore, The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Find Me in Havana

Find Me in Havana by Serena Burdick 336 pages

I have to admit that I was not familiar with the name Estelita Rodriguez, “one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses.” However when I Googled her, I did, somewhat, recognize her, mostly from the John Wayne film, “Rio Bravo.” Estelita died in 1966, but author Bursick interviewed her daughter, Nina, to help gain insight into this interesting woman.

The story is told in letters or journal entries from Estelia and Nina, but I found them awkward; I it was hard for me to know what year each entry was in.

It starts out as a mystery. Nina discusses her mother’s death. It seems that she doesn’t know if Estelita died of natural causes or was murdered. I think that is supposed to central to the novel, but I found it mostly to be an afterthought.

One of the biggest problems I had with reading this novel is that I was never sure who was really talking because the voices sounded exactly alike. Each chapter had a title and either “Mother” or “Daughter” to delineate the difference, but after I turned the page, I would forget who was talking.  

The hardships they endured, however, could never cut the ties between the two women. In fact, the mother-child relationship takes center stage and that part fascinated me. But, for me, the plot never went anywhere. There was little tension, even in the most desperate of times. And I’,m still not sure exactly how Estelita’s life ended. Therefore, Find Me in Havana receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.