Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields

 Shirley J.                         Adult Non-Fiction                      Nazi Wives/Lovers, Nurses, Prison Guards

Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower    288 pages

Wow!  What a depressing book!   The atrocities described here by eye witnesses, victims, co-workers and the women themselves will haunt the reader afterward.    It is unfortunate that the courts and tribunals that brought the women up on charges were so lenient, often releasing the women to go free claiming insufficient evidence even when the women owned up to what they had done!  Defenses such as they were young and didn't know better.   They believed the propaganda.   Their husbands were doing it so it didn't seem unnatural.   Well they weren't really people as the Germans were.   Their bosses/commanders told them to so as good workers they administered the death shots, or helped carry out the beyond brutal experiments or became so adjusted to brutalizing Jews it wasn't a big deal to shoot them for sport,  One woman  enjoyed killing Jewish children in increasingly grotesque ways, yet, she was the mother of two children herself.   Women who faithfully followed their Fuhrer's path for praise and glory enjoying the sadistic adrenaline  rush they received from their violent acts.   This book is not for the gentle of spirit the cruelty ad barbarism described here will not be soon forgotten.  I would recommend this book for history buffs, WWII enthusiasts, and any one seeking to know all sides of the impact of the Third Reich,   Not a book for the young nor for the impressionable.   

Word and Image

Word and Image: An Introduction to Early Medieval Art by William J Diebold, 148 pages

In Word and Image, William Diebold describes the development of early medieval art in the context of the interplay of the appeal of the visual arts and the Christian fear that such appeal might lead to idolatry.  Beginning with St Gregory the Great's famous defense of images as "the book of the illiterate", Diebold demonstrates how the language of images essentially differs from that of words, and how the Christian West made peace with those differences.

Diebold's argument is interesting and his writing clear.  The book is full of excellent (though inevitably mostly monochrome) illustrations.  Unfortunately, the text seems to present medieval Christianity as primarily a matter of certain intellectual propositions only incidentally reflected in practices, and likewise to consider writing as primarily a vehicle for rational argument rather than affective narrative.  Perhaps these deficiencies could have been eliminated had the book been a bit longer and deeper.

Burial Rites

Burial Rites 

Burial Rites by Hannah Dent 322 pp.

Burial Rites is the story of Agnes Magnusson who was found guilty of murdering her employer in Iceland in the 1800s.  Because prison does not exist as a building in Iceland during this time period, she is sent to live with a family and has a spiritual advisor who is to come to visit her until the date of her execution.  Agnes is not interested in praying with the "minister in training" she has chosen, but when he offers to let her tell about herself and her crime, she takes him up on the offer.  When the minister become ill and cannot visit toward the end, she unburdens herself to the wife of the household she is staying in.  At first the family is cold toward her, but eventually everyone treats her as though she belongs.  I will not spoil the ending of this beautifully written and sad story.

This is a fictionalized version of a real event in Iceland.

Turbo Twenty-Three

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                           Lady Bounty Hunter/Naked Reality Shows /Ice Cream   

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich    352 pages

Gramma Mazur has a new honey with a bike.   After a dead body falls out of an ice cream truck and the guy is covered in chocolate and nuts, Ranger has Stephanie go under cover for the client he is working for to find out who killed the head of H.R. for the Bogart Ice Cream Company?   There is that little family rivalry thing when the ice cream business was split equally at the death of the benefactor, and oh yeah, there are so many disgruntled employees that the suspect pool is about to go double digits.  In the meantime, little person, Randy Briggs has talked Lula into making a demo tape with him for a new reality show called, "Naked and Afraid."  Stark naked on the far end of Stark Street where no cops ever go down by the occasional factory and open field with lots of trash around - the demo begins.   Long story short, Gramma Mazur held the flashlight, Stephanie held the clacker and someone threw a white cat at Lula!  The bodies continue to pile up at the ice cream factory - what is up?    Good story.   With the "Naked and Afraid" theme guess I had better recommend this one for adults of all ages.   Oh yeah, and then there is the naked bungee jumping.   Hilarious!

Tricky Twenty-Two

 

Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                      Lady Bounty Hunters/ Catfishing/Snakes                           

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich    352 pages

When the head exalted leader, "Gobbles" of the Zeta frat house is arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kittmann College, no body knows his whereabouts when he misses his  court date  and Stephanie Plum, lady bounty hunter and Lula, her best friend, co-worker and former lady of the evening come to call to pick him up.  That is just one F.T.A. (failed to appear in court)  her other super high profile and big ticket F.T.A. is a serial rapist who kills his victims, cuts them up and feeds them to feral cats.   As if that isn't enough the perp doesn't keep guard dogs at his crib, turns out most of the baddies and meth cookers in Trenton have started keeping snakes in the grass around their hidey holes - cheaper than guard dogs and more effective they have found.   Now while all this is going on, Gramma Mazur has decided she wants to be a cougar and goes catfishing with Stephanie's photo online.  Zeta house in the meantime is blowing up fireworks, collecting aquariums in the cellar of the house, Morelli breaks up with Stephanie and why is Lula wearing a flea collar?   You will be bedazzled after this one!   Gotta love these folks, you never know what, where, how or who is coming next.   Love it!  I recommend this one to mature teens on up.    

Bridge to Haven

 Shirley J.                     Adult Fiction                     Abandoned children,  1950s movie stars

Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers      480 pages    

When Pastor Ezekiel Freeman finds an abandoned baby under a bridge outside of the town of Haven little does he know his wife will want to adopt her.     Life in the Freeman family is full of love, support and security for the little girl now 6, but when the only mother she has ever known gets sick and dies, then the only father she has ever known takes her from her home and GIVES her to another family in town to raise, she, Abra, is damaged mentally for life.   She misses her brother, Joshua and can't understand why her Daddy abandoned her.   Every day she wished for him to come back and take her home but he never did.   Her new home had 2 adults who professed to care for her and her new "sister" had been her best friend who had said I wish we were sisters many times, but, once Abra actually did live in her home, the girl turned surly and hateful and jealous.  Life just kept getting worse.  The adults in the home kept wanting her to call them Mom and Dad, but, she just couldn't.  She had parents and they no longer wanted her she would never trust completely again.  Love didn't last.  Her "sister" brought a rich bad boy home when Abra was 17 and the playboy made a pass at Abra. and she ends up running away from home with him only to find out jumping out of the frying pan just got her into the fire.  The boy eventually takes her to his mother's home and they both use her for information (the mother - a Hedda Hopper type) and the boy abused her mentally and sexually.   She next moves on to a life with an older man who imprisons her in his home only letting her out to act in film under his strict watch.   Her film career soars ala Marilyn Monroe style and the folks back home recognize her from photos in magazines and newspapers though her is now Lena Scott.   Where does her story go from here?   Excellent story    I highly recommend this one to teens on up.                  

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Result

 

Shirley J.                  Adult Non-Fiction                  Achieving Rapid Results on What Matters in Life    

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan        240 pages

Excellent book and it really is that simple, whether you are dealing with work, home, friends, whatever, focus on the one thing that matters most and do that first.   Put all your attention and focus into it.   Do not let less important tasks or nearly as consequential things grab your attention - stay with the one most important thing to do - get it done- and everything else will fall into place.   Put the thought and time required in deciding out of all of the things on your to do list which is the one necessary thing to do to make it happen for your career, weight loss, getting your body fit, getting your marriage back on track, creating the space you need to achieve what you need to do for enriching your family life or your work life.   Multitasking doesn't cut it.  To accomplish more work solidly on the one most important thing then move to the second but only after you have completed the one thing first.  The authors outline how your productivity will improve when you don't allow the daily distractions (email, etc.) to pull you away from the one thing that really needs your attention.   You will cut down on stress, be more effective and get more done by doing les - don't try to do 6 different things, do 1 really well then do another really well but not all at once.   You will stop being overwhelmed and revive your energy by staying on track with the one thing that matters most.   I recommend this book to teens on up.   Learn to do that one thing and the rest is easy, 

Tender Is the Night

 

Shirley J.                Adult Fiction                                                  Film Stars of the 1920a

  Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald       332 pages  

A good story with many a surprising twist and turn.  At one point it broaches the subject of pedophilia which surprised me in a novel from that time frame.   An interesting look into the lives of several people living/vacationing in the South of France, all coming together and getting to know one another in their wealthy click.   A child star of American films becomes an unknowing Lolita when she and one of the married men in the group become obsessed with one another.   Friendship, innocence, betrayal all come tog4ther in this lifestyles of the rich and famous set in the Jazz age.   The writing is impeccable, the characters well fleshed out and so real you get a good visual in your mind as you read the words on the page.  Everything happens for a reason and even the most disparate comes together in the end.  Jolly laughs and melancholy meet here.   I recommend this one to adults as I think teens might find it a little less moving,.

        

French Exit

 

Shirley J.                    Adult Fiction                 Dark comedy about jaded people meeting up in France    

French Exit: A Novel by Patrick DeWitt     256 pages

Such an enjoyable read.   The characters are so dead pan and jaded they are comical.  And of course Small Frank the cat is possibly the most sane one, but, then he is possessed by the spirit o Big Frank then, isn't he?    Egad!  Scandal!  Bankruptcy!    A wealthy widow and her man-child son leave the shame forced upon them in New York and when a family friend offers the enticement of her home in France as a refuge from their storms they jump at it like drowning folks to a life preserver.   Hence French Exit.   Of course, they cannot leave Small Frank behind so he is smuggled across the ocean and into France where they all alight in Paris.  Once they move into their friend's abode in Paris it seems they are beacons for an odd array of folks who just seem to drift in and stay (a shy detective, a psychic they met while on the ship they came over on, who holds a seance for them to contact Big Frank, a doctor and his wine merchant,  Malcolm's (the son's) former girlfriend and her new fiancee' and another clingy American wealthy widow who is desperate for friends and latches on to the widow and her son).   When the friend who owns the apartment in France comes over to visit she is astounded by all the people in the apartment and asks how many people are living here now?   A dark balance of levity and tragedy but an enjoyable story nonetheless.   I recommend it to highschoolers on up.  Also, I just found out it was made into a movie and I am looking forward to seeing Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead role.

The Moon Changes Shape (Tell Me Why Library)

 

Shirley J                        Juvenile Non-Fiction                     The Moon is all its phases

The Moon Changes Shape (Tell Me Why Library) by Kathryn Beaton    24 pages

A really good book that explains the phases of the moon and why it seems to change shape explaining the rotation of the moon and how it is all still really there it is just the rotation that causes shadows to cover parts at certain times.   Good photos and clear explanation.   It also offers other sources and further study information.   Good book for parents, teachers and kids to discuss.

Funny Girl

 

Shirley J.                           Adult Fiction                                     Small town girl to t.v. star!

Funny Girl: A Novel by Nick Hornby    480 pages

This story takes you through the life of Sophie who starts out in a small village/town where everyone literally knows everyone else, most can claim family kinship however distant and how she went from being different and knowing she was destined  for more to getting her dreams realized by moving to London and through miracle of miracles landing a role on a t,v. series.   It starts out funny but develops into a whole other show by addressing serious and controversial aspects of love, marriage and all the situations that can come.   The writers end up putting their own lives and trials into the shows they are writing and the characters begin to develop into in the end far from the people they started out being.   Sophie is a natural at comedy and her dream was to be Lucille Ball and for a time it looked like she was realizing that goal, but, as the writers' lives morph into new places the fun and laughter fades as topics of abortion and divorce enter the show's venue.   The stars reap wide acclaim though when Sophie gets the chance to meet her idol Lucille ball in person one day, while kind and full of praise, it is certain to Sophie that their show hasn't quite reached every where across the pond, yet.   Good story.   Sophie's development is encouraging.   I would recommend this story to teens on up.  It gives a good study on how to make it and what to expect in the television industry even if it is set in the 60s.    

 

Full House

 

Shirley J.                Adult Fiction                      Divorced Mother Seeking New Hobbies

Full House by Janet Evanovich   352 pages

I really like Janet Evanovich's writing and her characters, however, I have to say that even though she has different series going simultaneously, all of her female characters are Stephanie Plum just with different names.  Now, this may be because she bases Stephanie on herself thereby putting herself in all of her stories, but, I am finding a continual pattern here in the three different series of hers I have read now, everyone is basically Stephanie and all of their love interests are the same guys Morelli and Ranger though, also with different names and in this particular story, her Ranger character is her gardner and Morelli is a polo player and instructor but so similar as to be clones.   Once you get past that, the stories are good and well worth the read.  In this series, Billie Pearce is a divorced mother of two who shares custody of her kids with her ex who has them for the summer.    She is thinking of exploring new hobbies while the kids are away and decides to learn to play polo.   Through much plotline she ends up allowing the polo instructor/love interest, Nicholas Kaharchek's weird spoiled relative DeeDee to move in.   This brings a whole bag of good and bad and some really funny dialogue and situations - DeeDee is dating a professional wrestler and fixes Billie up with one of his friends.   Later in the story the kids come home to find that Mom has now "taken up' with the polo player and who is that strange woman living in there house?   The house gets fuller as the story goes there is a double wedding, a mass bomber and loads more just like in a Stephanie Plum story, but, keep an eye on everyone even the bugs in this story!   Yes, I recommend it to teens on up.

Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, Men and Hope

Shirley J.                 Adult Non-Fiction                        Biography of May Yohe

Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, men and Hope  by Richard Kurin   288 pages

What an interesting lady!  Rumored to have had 13 husbands during her lifetime, May was a world famous actress, singer, stage and vaudeville performer.   One of her husbands was a British Duke who for a time owned the Hope Diamond and when May became a Duchess she was said to wear it out on special occasions.   Later in life when inheiritances were in the balance a couple of people came forward and said they were her children in order to get a share of the wealth but May was adamant about not having given birth to any children.   The cases though long fought were never proven though some witnesses were called, their testimony was labeled here say.   May was born in 1866 and died in 1938 - she experienced the repercushions of the Civil War through the Great Depression and beyond.   She was a world traveller and good friend to kings, presidents, and celebrities and had many tokens of esteem from each.   She experienced extreme highs in life and incredible lows when she went to work as a scrub woman on a dock and took care of her invalid husband whom she had shot at one point.  Such an exciting life she led   I highly recommend this story of quite the historical character that no one ever heard of.   Go, May!

Disney Pixar Storybook Collection

Shirley J.                  Juvenile Fiction                 New Stories starring favorite Pixar characters

Disney Pixar Storybook Collection by Disney Book Group       320 pages

I am such a huge Pixar fan.   I love the films and the stories of Nemo and Dorie,  Woody and all his toybox friends, Mater and all the other Cars,  Mike, Sully and the Monsters, Inc. gang - if its Pixar characters the story is an excellent one.   This book does not disappoint.  It is a fun visit with many of the characters we have come to love and these are additional stories to the ones we already know.   Like getting to visit a little more of their lives and adventures.   Thoroughly enjoyable book for young and old.  I highly recommend it.  

Broken (in the Best Possible Way)

 Shirley J.                     Adult Non-Fiction                   Mental Illness,   Comedic Takes on Life

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson   304 pages

Jenny Lawson is very open about dealing with her issues with mental illness,  her marriage, her  husband and daughter,  their pets and life in general with all its trials, tribulations and hilarity.   I laughed so much  while reading this book.   She is so delightful in her descriptions of how things happen and how she interprets those happenings.   Her voice is that of a millenial, but, her references are those of a much older soul.  I get her so much it is a joy to read her work.   I can't wait to find more literature by this author.   She is clever, witty, outrageously funny and will have you shaking your head at all the inventive ideas she has.   She can be candid and poignant one minute then say something so off the wall the next.   I love this person!   I highly recommend this book but if you are offended with curse words please be advised.  In her defense she uses said words in such perfection she has brought them to a new level.   Like a perfect note in a Mozart melody, her m.f. bombs are dropped into her conversation so judiciously and with such aplomb I am applauding her precision of language,  Oh my gosh, she is great!   I recommend this book for adults only because of the R rating due to language but her insights are amazing and should be shared by all.  Most excellent book and a favorite.  

Unbroken Thread

The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by Sohrab Ahmari, 265 pages

In The Unbroken Thread, Sohrab Ahmari attempts to draw his readers' minds to a series of twelve questions, including "How Do You Justify Your Life?" and "What Do You Owe Your Body?"  He asks us to meditate on these questions in the light of the ideas and experiences of thinkers ranging from Confucius to Andrea Dworkin.  These are hard questions that defy simple answers, essential questions, yet questions that few seriously consider beyond the superficial responses that our superficial society provides.  In inviting us to consider such fundamental matters, Ahmari threatens to radically transform how we think about ourselves and the world.

The Unbroken Thread is not a self-help book.  It is not a quick survey of great books offering cheap self-satisfaction or conversation starters.  It isn't a diatribe against the ills of the modern world.  It isn't an especially challenging book, intellectually.  It is remarkably personal, seemingly for the author and certainly for those readers willing to engage with it.

Tintoretto

Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice, edited by Robert Echols and Fredrick Ilchman, 222 pages

Tintoretto seems to be one of those artists who needs to be rediscovered in every generation.  John Ruskin saw in him the perfect artist, Henry James claimed that he had reached the "uttermost limit of painting", yet he remains overshadowed by Titian, Veronese, and the Florentines.  The five hundredth anniversary of the artist's birth in 1518/9 gave a new generation their own opportunity to be surprised by Tintoretto's genius, with a joint exhibition in his native Venice and Washington, DC. 

For those of us unable to see the exhibition in person, there is the catalog, which is thoroughly excellent, with essays touching on every aspect of Tintoretto's life and art, demonstrating the remarkable degree to which he succeeded in his life's work of combining "the draftsmanship of Michelangelo and the coloring of Titian."

Meeting in Positano

Meeting in Positano (translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore) by Goliarda Sapienza 256 pages

What attracted me to this novel was that it was set in Positano, a town south of Naples on the Amalfi coast. I love Italian settings. Picking up the book paid off because Positano is more than a setting; it’s a character in the book.  Author Sapienza does a wonderful job describing its beauty.

Sapienza worked as an actress from the late 1940s to the early ‘50s.  She made six films and after worked dried up, she worked in other areas of the movie industry. However, after her death in 1996, her husband found several novels that she had written and began publishing them.

In this novel, she is scouting locations and meets Erica Beneventano, a lovely widow. The two women become very intimate friends, not lovers but almost. This story is a bit confusing. First, I was never completely sure who the narrator was. It’s supposed to Goliarda, but at times I felt as if the words were coming from Erica. And at other times, the plot seemed more like a memoir than a fictional piece, especially since author Goliarda uses her own name as her character’s name (that was really off-putting).

Basically this is Erica’s life story. The book could also be labeled as “based on a true story,” with Erica taking the lead as most of the story was hers. As Goliarda goes about her movie business, the two women become very close, not lover-close, by closer than sisters.

Life was not easy for Erica. She was a middle sister, forced to go to work at an early age, married to one of her father’s ex-business associates and forced to have an abortion that results in her inability to conceive more children Sometimes I couldn’t follow the plot, which I found quite frustrating. But the beauty of the writing and the descriptions kept me reading. 

I was dismayed at the end when I found an Afterword by Goliarda’s husband, Angelo Pellegrino. The back of the book also contained a timeline of Goliarda’s life and pictures of Positano. I wish I had read them first. I believe if I had, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time following the book’s action.  Therefore, “Meeting in Positano” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu  266 pages 

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu explores racism against Asian American people in script form.  Willis Wu talks about the different levels he expects to attain in life (as a tv script) based on Asian characters he sees in television and movies.  You start as Asian Guy and move up to Kung Fu guy, but are never a leading man in the script of your life or at work as an actor.  This book explores Wu's life and that of his family through the tropes that people expect when they enter an Asian community (in many cases, Chinatown).  It also discusses the history of Chinese people in the United States and laws that were written against them.  I didn't realize that Chinese Americans were not allowed to own property and no immigrants from Asian countries could be accepted until Lyndon B. Johnson changed the immigration laws for the US in the 1960s.

This book is for our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Book Club at St. Louis Public Library and should provide an interesting discussion.  It was the book discussed on PBS News Hour in February 2021.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, 188 pages

The time is the late '70s.  Joe Leland is a retired New York City detective and World War II vet visiting his big-shot corporate daughter in LA.  The Christmas party at his daughter's office, high in the skyscraper headquarters of the Klaxon corporation, is even more festive this year, thanks to a massive deal with the Chilean dictatorship that has just been finalized.  Leland isn't terribly impressed by the deal, but he is impressed by the murderous German terrorists, led by the psychopathic Anton Gruber, who expertly seize control of the building and take the partygoers, including Leland's daughter and grandchildren, hostage.  Slipping away in the confusion, he wages a one man war against the terrorists, using elevator shafts and air conditioning ducts to stay one step ahead of his enemies, his only uncertain allies the police outside.  The same police now laying plans for a frontal assault on the terrorists, plans that put Leland and his loved ones in the middle of the crossfire.

Nothing Lasts Forever is, of course, the novel that became Die Hard.  Obviously, many things changed in the adaptation - most obviously some of the names, the age of the protagonist, turning the terrorists into thieves, and switching an estranged daughter for an estranged wife.  Much is the same - the friendly police sergeant (although here a much younger man), the prickish police captain, a terrorist enraged when his brother is the first to die, extended conversations between hero and villain over the radio.  One of the greatest differences, however, is that the novel is entirely focused on Leland.  Scenes in the film featuring secondary characters greatly aided their development, but in the novel that is all missing.  This is most obvious in the case of Anton, who despite being a smart and canny adversary lacks the dangerous charm of Hans, even setting aside that he doesn't have the advantage of being portrayed by Alan Rickman.  This also adds to the second great difference, the '70s grimness of the novel, which becomes more a test of Leland's endurance than of his inventiveness.  Nor is all his suffering physical, for not only do the novel's more progressive terrorists include a number of women, but events will prove that everyone, including Leland himself, is deeply morally compromised.

On its own, Roderick Thorp's novel is a fine diversion with vague aspirations to be something more.  The connection to Die Hard adds an entire other level of interest, providing material for hours of reflections on storytelling choices, the differences between novels and film, shifting social mores, the excellence of Alan Rickman, and the patience of long-suffering wives.

Ruby Falls

Ruby Falls by Deborah Goodrich Royce 272 pages 

Author Deborah Goodrich Royce employs one of my favorite plot devices, dueling timelines, to create a gothic, atmospheric, creepy and unsatisfying tale.

Ruby Eleanor Russell is six years old when she and her father take a trip to Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. At one point in the guided tour, the guides have the lights go out, so the tourists can hear the waters of Ruby Falls. It is there, while standing within a crowd of people, that Ruby’s father releases her hand and disappears. He is never seen or heard from again. That event, as one can imagine, affects the rest of Ruby’s life with deep-seated abandonment issues.

Flash forward to 1987. Ruby now goes by Eleanor. She is a famous soap opera actress who was recently fired from her job after, I think, suffering from a nervous breakdown. Eleanor’s character was quite popular, and I really didn’t understand why they let her go.

Needing to get away, and I’m not sure why, Eleanor flies to Zurich, where she is sent by a letter her father left behind. I didn’t get it, but I was intrigued. There she meets a British aristocrat, Orlando Montague. For someone supposedly so wealthy, Orlando depends on her money for everything they need or want. After a whirlwind romance, they return to Los Angeles as a married couple.

There they buy a rose-covered cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Eleanor lands the lead in the movie remake of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca.” It’s not just a remake---it’s a gothic remake. That aspect of the novel, the remake of one of my favorite films, led me to want to read this novel. Life is good.

As Eleanor immerses herself in the role, her private life becomes more and more weird. She fears she is suffering a relapse of the condition that forced the television executives to fire her, but she cannot be sure. She adopts a cat and meets the woman across the street, whom I swear is a ghost. 

Behind their home is a small building that they use for an office. Orlando runs his high-end antique business from there as he looks for office space. Then he begins to change. He becomes evasive and abusive, making secret phone calls and taking secret trips.

The last third of the book didn’t make any sense to me. I wasn’t sure if Eleanor was having a breakdown and/or if Orlando was a criminal, plotting his next move. Maybe both. The ending confused me, and left me wondering “huh?” 

Part of me wants to give this book two stars. However. I could not put it down. I was desperately trying to figure it out and was unsatisfied---okay outraged---when I turned the last page. But never once did I even consider not finishing it. Therefore, “Ruby Falls” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Liberalism

Liberalism: A Critique of Its Basic Principles and Various Forms by Louis Cardinal Billot, SJ, translated by Msgr George Barry O'Toole and Thomas Storck, 67 pages

Written in the last years before the First World War, Liberalism is a masterful critique of the political ideology of the so-called Enlightenment.  Cutting right to the heart of the matter, Cardinal Billot exposes the core dogma of liberalism as the enthronement of liberty as the supreme good, and demonstrates how this is corrosive of every human institution and relationship.  Prophetically, he foresees the paradoxical condition of the thoroughly dehumanized mass man who will tolerate no power above or beside him save that of the omnipotent state.  In closing, he distinguishes three types of liberals - the consistent, revolutionary, luciferian liberal, the supposedly moderate liberal who imagines that he can command the revolutionary forces of destruction to only go so far and no further, and the Catholic liberal who, in attempting to separate his politics from his faith, inevitably betrays both.

As incisive as they are short, Cardinal Billot's essays are, if anything, more powerful today than they were when they were written, since history has only added to the evidence for his claims.

Moon Water

Moon Water by Pam Webber 280 pages

I didn’t know this novel was a follow-up to author Webber’s “The Wiregrass,” until I looked up the page count. Doesn’t matter, while it may be a follow-up novel, this is a true stand-alone.

It’s the summer of ’69 in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Lots of changes are happening in the country, but they don’t seem to touch these small mountain towns. Sixteen-year-old best friends Nettie and Win have a “project” to complete. Win’s grandmother, Nibi, is a Monacan Indian medicine woman. She knows “the darkness” is coming, hard times, but she cannot put her finger on what will happen. In order to prepare the girls for the event, she teaches them how to build a dreamcatcher. Nibi warns them that it won’t be easy—it will be journey that will shape the girls’ lives.

It wasn’t easy mining for the amethyst for the middle of the dreamcatcher, killing a dear in order to get the sinew, searching for golden eagle and white owl feathers and digging for arrowheads. These scenes bring in the setting as a character, which becomes important in the last third of the novel.

Other than the dreamcatcher, Nettie’s summer plans include trying to figure out her relationship with her longtime boyfriend Andy, even though they have broken up. Andy seems to be dating by her arch-nemesis, Anne.  And more than anything, Nettie wants to get baptized in the local Baptist church, but her doubts, and the fact that she voices them, stops the local preacher from baptizing her. The preacher has turned Nettie’s doubts over to the assistant preacher, which creates a “darkness” of its own.

Then the darkness arrives, seemingly out of the blue. The only ones prepared are Nibi and, somewhat, the girls, and Again, setting place an important part of the story in the tragedy that unfolds. I would love to say more, but I don’t want to give it away.

I really enjoyed learning about Nibi’s life as a medicine woman and life in the mountains. “Moon Water ” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Never Saw Me Coming

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian 400 pages

The new school year is just beginning for incoming freshman Chloe Sevre. She has more on her mind than frat parties and studying at Washington D. C.’s John Adams University. An honor student, Chloe has also been selected to participate in an exclusive study led by a prestigious psychologist. Only six other students are in the program. You see, Chloe Sevre is a psychopath, as is the other six, and she has plans to kill Will Bachman. She won’t rest until he’s dead.

As the novel opens, Will Bachman has 60 days to live.

On the outside Chloe is an ordinary college student. As she interacts with those around her, readers get to see exactly how she thinks and feels---or rather doesn’t feel. As Will’s days dwindle down, other murders begin to occur on campus. The murders aren’t random, however.

Beneath the surface of what is happening on campus, there is high tension in DC. Marches and protests seem to occurred daily, but the city is preparing for its biggest rally since MLK’s March on Washington.

I wanted to love this book so much, but I just didn't care. I didn’t care how it ended or what happened to Chole and her friends. It was hard sometimes to just turn the page, but I did and every time, my high hopes kept getting dashed. I think this book is more aimed at young adults as opposed to middle-aged women. Strange feelings for a book about psychopaths? I hate it when I read and read and read, only to be disappointed at the end.

“Never Saw Me Coming ” received 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

SLPL June totals

 This month, we welcomed a new blogger to our team!  Jennifer HS is not only joining the team, but will be our new Admin --- welcome, Jennifer!!

This month:

6 people

read 43 books

for a total of 13,184 pages --- 4 of them with bonuses (either a City in the Title or a Title that ends in Y)

Shirley, as usual, was this month's Super Reader, logging a whopping 25 books.  Go Shirley!!

Only Plane in the Sky

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M Graff, 425 pages

Even now, twenty years later, when the subject of 9/11 comes up, the conversation almost invariably turns into an exchange of personal experiences:  "This is what I was doing when..."  Virtually every person in the United States, and large numbers outside the US, were affected, emotionally if in no other way, by the events of that day.  The Only Plane in the Sky collects the "Where were you?" stories of hundreds of people, most of them uncomfortably close to the horror as it unfolded.

There are some notable lacunae - for example, the stories of the passengers and crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 and Korean Air Flight 85, both erroneously believed to have been hijacked, are completely absent -  but those are filled elsewhere in the considerable amount of literature produced on the attacks.  This same literature poses other challenges - those seeking a comprehensive account of what happened inside the WTC are far better served by the excellent 102 Minutes, and detailed accounts of what happened in the White House and onboard Air Force One are not hard to come by, while the ATC and military response was recreated in a manner more truthful than most documentaries in United 93.  Where The Only Plane in the Sky shines is its relatability.  The current of testimonies of ordinary people suffering through what seemed unimaginable draws the reader on and on.  The result is a compelling portrait of a moment in time.