Miss Aldridge Regrets

 

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare 368 pages

Lena Aldridge isn’t happy with her life. She thought she would be a big star by now. Instead, she’s singing in a dump in London’s Soho. Her father, Alfie, just died, and her married lover has left her. She’s lucky to have the gig she has, mostly thanks to her best friend, Maggie, whose husband, Tommy Scarsdale, owns the joint.

But tonight isn’t Tommy’s night. He dies right in front of the stage, right in the middle of Lena’s set. This isn’t the first murder that has happened, which make Lena skittish.

A stranger appears, saying that his boss owes Alfie a favor. He offers Lena a chance to star on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary. Lena weighs her options, and figuring she has nothing to lose, she jumps at the opportunity.

Author Hare does a fabulous job in creating the period details and the luxuries Lena enjoyed on the ship. Luxuries she has never known in her twenty-six years. Heck, she even had to borrow clothes from Maggie just to fit in.

On Lena’s first night, she learns that her tablemates are the Abernathy’s. Each member of the family is stereotypical of their role. It got old quick! It’s more important than ever the Lena keeps her mixed-race identity a secret.

Wandering around the ship in search of what Lena isn’t quite sure. She meets one of the bandleaders, Will. There is mutual attraction, but Lena must be very, very careful. Will is African American, and mixed couples in 1936 are exactly welcome in either race. Lena believes that the Abernathy’s would rather have her thrown overboard as shark food rather than sit at the same table with her.

When the Abernathy patriarch dies, murdered it seems, Lena is more frightened than ever.

“Miss Aldridge Regrets” is hailed as being an Agatha-Christie like murder mystery. I don’t see t. To me the pace was slow, tension was low, and the characters were so stereotypical, Christie would be embarrassed. I did love the period details and that pushes “Miss Aldridge Regrets” to 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Why Sinatra Matters

Why Sinatra Matters by Pete Hamill   208 pages

I was sad to hear that, on August 5, 2020, American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor Pete Hamill passed away at the age of 85.  To be honest, I thought he had already left Earth years ago.  Pete captured the heartbeat of New York City like no other writer.  He was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture the particular flavors of New York City's politics and sports and the particular pathos of its crime.

I always liked Pete’s writing style. Therefore, in honor of his memory, I decide to peruse the list of his fiction and nonfiction books.  I was happy to find one I hadn’t read…this little gem about Ol’ Blue Eyes. This book delves into Sinatra’s essence; it looks at why he was the “troubadour of urban loneliness.”

Sinatra was the son of Italian immigrants and grew up on Hoboken, New Jersey.  As an only child, he was extremely lonely, especially in a time and place of large families.  That loneliness seemed to be at his core, as it was something he could never shake.  In my opinion, that loneliness is the main reason he came out of retirement way back when---he needed the crowds’ adulation. That loneliness echoed the feelings of millions of immigrants who came to this country without a penny to their name, no family, and unable to speak the language.

Frank wasn’t a great student, dropping out of high school. He had earned a few bucks singing along with the player piano in his parents’ bar.  He had a good voice, and eventually headed across the river to Manhattan. Interesting fact, Sinatra could not read a note of music; he memorized the words and the music.  I’m not sure he tried.

 Hamill also looks at the way the Depression influenced the man and well as World War II.  Frank was 4F due to a punctured eardrum. What I found fascinating what how he learned to his signature phrasing and breath control.

A short book, it centers on how Sinatra got where he was, but doesn’t dwell on his shortcomings or his generosity. It looks at those four great influencers---the immigration experience, his innate loneliness, the Great Depression and World War II.

Hamill does go into how Frank was a scraper, clawing his way to the top, then the Great Fall (when he lost his voice), and his remarkable Comeback. Sprinkled with anecdotes (Like when Harry James wanted him to change his name to Frankie Satin---can you imagine?), this is  a fascinating look at the Man who is considered the greatest entertainer of the 20^th century.  “Why Sinatra Matters receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 Rest in peace, Pete.

 

Just Dance

Just Dance by Patricia MacLachlan, 116 pages

“On a farm in the middle of the prairie, ten-year-old Sylvie struggles to understand why her mother gave up singing on stage while she sets off on an adventure of her own as the town reporter.”  This is a sweet story for early readers.  There’s not much action, but younger readers that are okay with a quiet story will enjoy this.

Lady Blue Eyes; My Life With Frank

Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank by Barbara Sinatra  400 pages

Frank Sinatra. I don’t have to type anything else. I came of age when hard rock was blasting from every kids radio, but I have always preferred songs that told a story, crooners, and of course, a great saloon song. When someone asks me about the music of the last 50 years, I always say, “I quit listening when Sinatra quit recording.” What a voice for a man whose ear drum was perforated at birth!

I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. S. two of the times he performed in St. Louis…once in the 1980s and the other in the mid-1990s. By the latter, his voice wasn’t as strong as it used to be and he would forget some of the lyrics. But his charisma exuded from the moment he walked on stage was overwhelming. It’s was worth every penny I paid for those tickets.

When I stumbled upon his widow’s memoir of her life with the legendary singer, I couldn’t pass up a chance to read about his life. The all-nighters, the parties, the loyalty, the charm, the compassion, the women, the generosity, are tales fit for the tabloids. I learned he liked to paint in his later years, loved to read (I knew we had something in common), and do crossword puzzles (and he did them in ink).

Barbara Ann Blakely, from Bosworth, Missouri, first heard Sinatra at a drive-in when she was fifteen years old. She had no way of knowing that she would someday become the love of her life. At least that’s her story. But I have to wonder.

True, she was his longest-lasting marriage, 22 years. In Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank, Barbara comes off as a gold digger. As much as I enjoyed reading about their personal lives, there was always that feeling I had that she didn’t love him as much as she loved his money and his fame; not near as much he seemed, in this telling, to love her.

I liked the conversational, breezy style Barbara uses (with the help of co-author Wendy Holden). The stories were intriguing but never went into gory detail, except perhaps in the details of Mr. S’s good friend Jilly Rizzo’s death. That gave me nightmares. At the very heart of Barbara’s remembering, in my eyes, is Mr. S’s loneliness. An only child, he seemed to have felt that his entire life. He felt as deeply as his songs made others feel. That’s the best way to describe it.

His descent into old age was glossed over. There were two mentions of him sitting in wheelchairs and mentions of his health issues. They were disconcerting, and I wanted to know more about how old age was wearing him down.

The most touching scene in the book is Mr. S’s death at age 82. As Barbara begs him to fight him to fight, he whispers, “I can’t.”  Probably the only time in his life that he said that.

I wondered how other readers felt Barbara came off, so I perused that reviews on Amazon. There I noticed many attacks on Barbara. While she didn’t come off so well, I don’t feel a need to hate her. It’s okay to hate characters, but the ones I read were really tough on her. I tried to judge the book by its ability to hold my attention, to keep turning the page, and to allow me to take a small peek at one of the entertainers I most admire. And Lady Blue Eyes does just that, which is why I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

You Don’t Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story

You Don’t Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story by Lilly Isaacs   199 pages

I had never heard of this book or the singing group The Isaacs when I stumbled upon a friend reading this. Since I’m always looking for a great read, my friend let me borrow it.

The story begins with Lily as an adult, having to make difficult decisions about her aging parents. During the course of the story, readers learn about life as the child of Holocaust survivors; as a child with scoliosis; as a wife and mother; as a cancer survivor; as the matriarch of a beloved, multi-award winning music group; and a covert from Judaism to Christianity.

Any one of these stories would have made a great book.  But in this small story, we get Lily’s matter-of-fact retelling of her life’s adventures.

 

The writing is simple, clean, and honest.  It’s like she’s sitting on my sofa telling me her life story.

 Be sure to put this on your list of books to read; I give it five out of five stars.