A Dangerous Business

A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley 224 pages 

I'm a big fan of Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jane Smiley; I'm not sure how I missed this 2022 publication. But if perusing the perusing the reviews on Amazon is any indication, well, it was not a huge commercial success. I didn't hate this novel, but I didn't love it either. It was okay. 

Set in the 1850s in Monterrey, California, this book had a lot of layers. When readers join Eliza, she has gone to work in a brothel after her abusive husband is killed in a barroom fight. Readers are never sure if the man who shot her husband was punished or not. This is the most freedom that Eliza has ever experienced.  And thanks to the wages she earns at Mrs. Parks and the tips the men leave, she has achieved what the majority of women in this era cannot: financial security.  

Eliza becomes best friends with Jean, another prostitute whose brothel services women. This astounded me. I've never heard of brothels for women, but why not?  Smiley did not go into as much detail here, but Jean's customers mostly came in the daytime whereas most of Eliza's customers were at night.

I was also surprised that the majority of women in this novel were educated and could read and write and do math. Eliza and Jean share a love of reading Edgar Allen Poe's short stories, and when the dead bodies of young women begin to be found, the two amateur sleuths use Poe's Detective Dupin's investigative techniques to get involved with the quest to find the killer. That part of the story lacked tension.

The story is rather plodding, educating the reader on the lives of the prostitutes, the brothel and the men who frequented them, the gorgeous locale, and sometimes more graphic descriptions of the deceased women. 

A Dangerous Business receives 3 out of 5 starts in Julie's world.

 

How Hard Can Love Be?

How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne     480 pages

Amber, Evie and Lottie: three girls facing down tough issues with the combined powers of friendship, feminism and cheesy snacks. Both hilarious and heart-rending, this is Amber’s story of how painful – and exhilarating – love can be, following on from Evie’s story in Am I Normal Yet?

All Amber wants is a little bit of love. Her mum has never been the caring type, even before she moved to California, got remarried and had a personality transplant. But Amber's hoping that spending the summer with her can change all that.

And then there's prom king Kyle, the guy all the girls want. Can he really be interested in anti-cheerleader Amber? Even with best friends Evie and Lottie's advice, there's no escaping the fact: love is hard.

This was a fun, summer romance read. Though it's considered the second book in Bourne's "Spinster Club," series, each book acts as a stand-alone, with a different girl at the center of the story. While there are references to events or people from the first book, you can read this one alone and it's just as enjoyable. I thought Amber was an interesting character to read - at times, she is very difficult because she has a lot of emotional baggage (and represses a lot of it), but there are times where you see her spunky, fun side come out and you get a sense of how strong she is as an individual, despite all the things in her life that might have broken her. This is a romance story, but this is also a mother/daughter story - Amber leaves England to spend the summer with her mother (albeit helping out at a camp that her mother and her step-father run). Her mother, a recovering alcoholic, is a difficult character to like - she continually pushes Amber away or deflects Amber's attempts to remember good memories or make new bonds. She often pushes blame away from her - but one of the things that makes this book a strong book is that Bourne doesn't shy away from discussing alcoholism, and how it affects a family. Amber is hurt that her mother is not living up to how she used to be, she's frustrated that her mom has never apologized for the terrible things she did while she was an alcoholic, or that she left her in England to start a new life, with a man Amber despises, in America. While Amber's feelings are valid, Bourne doesn't place all the blame on her mom, giving space in the novel to talk about alcoholism as a disease (one that is for life and that her mother must struggle with continually). It makes the story stronger, gives it an element of realness that doesn't let the reader shy away from. The romance in the book is light and cute and just what you'd want from a summer read. Kyle, the All-American Boy is handsome, nice, but think's he's totally boring. The growth that happens as Amber helps coax him out of his shell, and how he helps her see how amazing she is as a person, is the kind of mutually-beneficial relationship I'd like to see more often in YA books. They are adorable together and their exchanges bring a lightness to the novel that balances out the darker bits. The only nit-pick I would have is that whoever Bourne's editor is didn't seem to see fit to take some of the Britishisms out of the American characters speech. Often Kyle, Russ, or some of the other American characters will say things that are completely British, such as "at the weekend," "whinge," or even the exclamation of, "oi!" It's a bit awkward, as an American who never hears such terms said, read American characters saying those things. While this is not a deal-breaker, it is jarring and takes me out of the story every time I come across it. Otherwise, a solid read and I'll definitely continue on reading the rest of the series. I would recommend to any teen or young adult looking for a cute summer romance story (and doesn't mind a bit of drama of the serious kind, aka: alcoholism and broken families).

The Lost Carousel of Provence

The Lost Carousel of Provence by Juliet Blackwell   384 pages

From the first moment I saw the title of this novel, I wanted to read it. I received an advanced reader’s copy via Netgallery.com, but since I don’t have an eReader, the folks at Berkley Publishing were kind enough to send me a print copy.

When I read the back copy, the deal was sealed. What reader could resist “An artist lost to history, a family abandoned to its secrets, and the woman who discovers it all?” I was hooked, and the story did not disappoint. This is the book I’ll be talking about probably for the rest of the year.

The story goes like this: Cady Drake is alone in the world. A victim of California’s foster care system, she has a tough time getting close to people. There are only two people whom she trusts, her benefactor, Maxine, and a friend, Olive. Cady barely scrapes by as a local photographer, shooting school pictures, weddings, etc.  She is thrust into a spiral when Maxine suddenly dies. Cady owns an antiques carousel figure, Gus the Rabbit, whom she believes is the work of 20^th century master carver Gutave Bayol. If it is, it would be worth quite a sum. But antiques dealers assure her it is not. One night Cady accidentally breaks Gus. Inside she finds a wooden box. That box changes Cady’s life forever.

Told in dueling timelines, author Blackwell weaves a tale that had me ignoring my family, sending them out for fast food, as I read. The story bounces around from Oakland, California to Paris and other areas of France. It’s a story that transports readers from present day to 1900 to the early 2000s, and other years as they fit the story. It’s a tale of crumbling chateaus, undiscovered treasures, a mysterious photograph, and a surprising twist.

“The Lost Carousel of Provence” received 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

Into the Bright Unknown

Into the Bright Unknown by Rae Carson     348 pages

The third and final installment of the Gold Seer trilogy finds Lee and her friends settling into life in Glory. When Becky hears news that her home, which was taken apart and shipped from Tennessee all the way to San Francisco, had finally arrived, she and Lee and their friends head off to San Francisco to claim it. Trouble ensues when they run across an old acquaintance and discover their deal with Hardwick for their town treaty might have fallen through. How will Lee and her friends save Glory and their claims? What ensues is a wild, high stakes heist that ends Carson's trilogy with a bang. 

This was an excellent finish to Carson's Gold Seer trilogy. I have loved each installment and I'm thrilled that the last and final book did not disappoint.

This book holds the same thrill and excitement as the previous two books. Each character that you know and love and have seen progress throughout the series continue to do so in this book. What's even more fun is that they take on new roles to pull off an amazing heist.

That brings me to my favorite thing about this series. Though it is a series, each book feels different and its own thing, while still remaining tied to the other books in the series. I love that each book takes place in a different place (the first one on a wagon train, the second in a homestead/mine, and this one in San Francisco). Each story is complete and well put together, while at the same time pulling the reader through the long arduous journey that its central characters are on. It's brilliant writing and I hold this series up to be one of my favorites that I've ever read.

I love the writing, I love how much effort Carson has put into make this story as true to history as possible - it shows! It feels like a real history being told, with, obviously, a little magic mixed it. I love that Carson has chosen to shine a light on the stories of people who history often forgets - Native Americans, our early Chinese settlers, African Americans. Keeping their stories in view, forcing the reader to acknowledge these individuals and what they contributed to America's history is rarely seen, especially in YA fiction. I'm so glad Carson put the time and effort in to sharing their stories, even if only a handful of her characters are based on real historical figures.

I'd honestly recommend this book to anyone - the story is so well done, complex and page-turning, the characters are so well developed, the history is vivid and detailed. It's great for anyone who enjoys historical fiction (especially magical-realism), or anyone looking for a high-stakes YA read. Their are strong female characters, there are diverse characters, and the story pulls you right in. Give it a read! 

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion, 238 pages

Slouching Towards Bethlehem collects a series of Joan Didion's short essays from the 1960s, covering subjects from Alcatraz to Howard Hughes to the CPUSA, but mostly herself and triple-faced California - LA, San Francisco, and Sacramento.

The title essay relates the author's experiences exploring Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, which exemplifies her overarching (but not overpowering) theme of the emptiness at the heart of '60s America, an emptiness so profound that even those who feel it - like those San Francisco hippies - lack the words to describe it or the means to escape it.  Yet the most remarkable piece may be "On Morality", in which she diagnoses American post-War social fragmentation, not as the result of a lack of morality, but the surfeit of it - innumerable competing individual moralities each demanding validation.

Like A River Glorious

Like A River Glorious By Rae Carson, 398 pages

“After her harrowing journey west to California, Lee Westfall has finally found a new home--one rich in gold, thanks to her magical power, a power that seems to be changing every day. But this home is rich in other ways, too: with friends who are searching for a place to be themselves, just as she is, and with love. Jefferson--her longtime best friend--hasn't stopped trying to win her heart. And Lee is more and more tempted to say yes. But her uncle Hiram hasn't given up his quest to get Lee and her power under his control. When she's kidnapped and taken to him, Lee sees firsthand the depths of her uncle's villainy. Yet Lee's magic is growing. Gold no longer simply sings to her, it listens. It obeys her call. Is it enough to destroy her uncle once and for all?” This trilogy is amazing.  The characters are vibrant and the story is exciting.  It’s hard to put this book down and it was just as good as the first book.  This is a must for teens who like historical adventure, as long as a little bit of fantasy or magical realism is ok also.  I absolutely can’t wait to read the third book.

Paradise Incorporated

Paradise Incorporated: Synanon: A Personal Account by David U Gerstel, 278 pages

Synanon began life as a group within Alcoholics Anonymous in Santa Monica that developed a form of group criticism they dubbed "the Game".  After breaking with AA, they began their own rehabilitation program centered on communal living and playing the Game.  As the group's successes with addicts garnered publicity, Synanon grew rapidly, and attention and power increasingly accrued to the charismatic leader, Charles Dederich.  As it grew, the group became less effective at reforming and retaining addicts, but also began to attract non-addicts experimenting with encounter groups and communal living.  This adjusted the goals of the organization, which began to aim at a general moral reform of society as a whole.   

The cult of personality surrounding "the Founder", Dederich, likewise grew, along with his ambition.  Synanon went into decline, which triggered ever-greater demands on members, which further shrank the group down to a dedicated core willing to defend their way of life by any means necessary.  Dederich became increasingly controlling, erratic, and paranoid, mandating shaved heads and vasectomies, ordering harassment, abuse, and beatings against enemies internal and external, real and imagined.

Author Gerstel was a member of Synanon for a number of key years at the peak of its success.  Although his history of the group, before, after, and during his own involvement, provides little insight into the development of such groups generally, the book shines as an unpretentious personal account of how an idealistic, intelligent, educated young man could find himself a member of such an organization, how normal the abnormal can be made to seem, and how difficult it can be to leave.

Eight Hundred Grapes

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave
272 Pages

Georgia runs away from her bridal dress fitting when she sees her fiancee with another woman and a little girl who is his daughter.  She runs home to her family's vineyard only to discover that all the bedrocks she took for granted are on the verge of changing forever.  Georgia must find out what she wants from life before she can accept what others want from her.


I found Georgia to be something of a spoiled princess whose assumption that everything will stay as she wants it unrealistic.  The novel was fairly formulaic and I wouldn't recommend it.  Eight hundred grapes is supposedly how many grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine.

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon, 369 pages

From America's greatest living novelist comes the story of Doc, a private investigator - of sorts - in the Southern California of 1969, who becomes involved in a tangled set of schemes and plots drawing together missing real estate developers, possibly undead surf musicians, frozen-banana-loving crooked cops, seductive masseuses, and mysterious ships from the Bermuda Triangle (or close enough), all adrift in an ocean of drugs the size of the Pacific.

Indeed, there are so many drugs that the excess quickly tips over into parody.  There's also quite a bit of carefree sex, and some rock and roll, if you can dig it.  If nothing else, Inherent Vice is certainly a vibrant trip through a weird, wild, colorful world, and even if it is more Vineland than Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon remains the poet laureate of the postmodern age of narcissism and paranoia.

Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem

Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem retold by  

Tom Ogden    273 pages

 I love ghost stories and Old Hollywood. Throw the two of them together, and I am so there. I could hardly contain my excitement when I discovered a copy of Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem in the Library’s catalog.

The narrative is divided into three sections, as indicated by the title. Odgen repeats stories that he’s heard/researched from the silent film stars like Mary Pickford; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; and Thelma Todd through modern day where some the studios and actors’ hangouts are reportedly haunted.

There is nothing creepy or interesting about these stories. My first clue should have been “retold by Tom Odgen.” They aren’t even well enough written to provide a narrative arc.

BUT I did learn a lot of Old Hollywood history, which is why I give it 2 out of 5 stars.