Everything is F*cked:

Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson    Audio Book: 7 hrs., 2 mins       Paperback Book 416 pages            

It was the worst of times and then it was the worse still of times.    Mark Manson preaches a gloom and doom perspective on life as we know it today saying first of all that everything - life as we know it today is better than it has ever been but turn that thought over and artificial intelligence while rushing toward A.I. being able to out think itself while making our lives better and easier may at some future point decide that humans are expendable - Will Smith tried to tell us.   As technology races toward ever better means of communication and learning it is also insulating us from our fellow man and breeding a planet of introvert.    Global warming may take us out before technology does, he says but there is always the hope that man will find a way to survive.   He really doesn't hold out much hope for society.   While we are better off healthwise, wealthwise and with all things over the internet making the world ever more accesable for us.it

 is also a fact that while we can now do in two minutes what once took over a month to complete- we are on a global level feeling unhappier than at any time in history.   Feelings of worthlessness, unrealized entitlement and that basically everything is f*cked and again globally humankind is taking more drugs to fight anxiety, depression and a maliaise of other woes and complaints.   We strve harder to find what makes us happy, how to achieve ultimate happiness yet, relationships, money, entertaining our constant need to combat our stress overload syndrome with what ever we feel will calm our constant running in place when we are trying to satisfy an unquenchable desire to live a simple life and be happy.  The Go-Go-Go of our never sit still never get quiet lifestyles don't offer the solace we hope for.  Manson says every thing is f*cked and so are we,   He offers only the briefest hope that the maladies in our lives are 'fixed" by future generations.   Not an up nor positive book at all though sometimes his constant use of profanity and absurb generalizations will make you laugh out loud because they catch you off guard.   Nothing is sacred as he picks apart religion, as he counters with quotes from Nietzsche, Socrates, and fake quotes from Einstein - read the book it will all make sense.    Would I recommend this book - it is well written and informative, but it is a real downer with only the tiniest likening to something approaching hope, so,  I don't think I can recommend it to anyone.   Readers will not come away from this book with a glass half full mentality.   If things were racing toward chaos before - read this and you will become aware of just how f*cked we are.

 - Shirley J

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard         Audio Book:  7 hours, 49 mins   Hardback Book:  589 pages                     

Really good telling of the events surrounding the two weeks before Lincoln's death with blow by blow correspondent coverage as though you are there and a news reporter is telling you all about what is transpiring, day by day as it relates to the countdown to his death.   Lots of good intel about the participants in this sad part of our American political saga.   O'Reilly even walks the reader through his last minutes alive so thoroughly that the reader empathizes with Mary Todd Lincoln and you feel for Mr. Lincoln, still alive and suffering the pain of that bullet lodged behind his eye and when Mary kisses him and touches his cheek, his eyes and faced now bruised from the trauma and she says, 'Speak to me, Love," and he makes the most awful sound as though bubbling up from the inner depths of his soul.   Chilling.   So much so that Mary fainted.  Haunting, too.   You can't forget that scene so aptly described.  Wow!   So many years later and still I cry for this poor couple.   So unfair, just when things seemed to be getting better - BAM!  One shot changes everything.    I highly recommend this book.   I think adults will appreciate it most, but, I also think Highschoolers and Middle Schoolers would also benefit from all the intense 'you are there for this time in history' drama.   Excellently told story.   Particularly enlightening are all the subltle details included that may have eluded readers in earlier tellings.  Well done!   

 - Shirley J.

Waiting for the Past

Waiting for the Past: Poems by Les Murray, 78 pages

In this short collection, Les Murray celebrates the poetry of the everyday.

     embracing your knees in opposition

     you show inner thigh, and lift

     toe-horn turrets which will grit

     the flooring with grey beetle bix.

And explores the temporal rhymes of present and past.

     A youth, rusty haired

     as I was in my time,

     rocked atop a high stool

     as he read a book from

     the stock he was to sell.

Murray's poems tend to be short and enigmatic, often surprising with sudden turns of phrase and rewarding rereading.

     Leaves absorbing light

     steep it in syrups down

     into the buried world.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe

 Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber   336 pages

Anna Kate has come home to Wicklow, Alabama. Not really home for her, but it is where her Granny Zee lived all her life and where she owned and operated The Blackbird Café. Now that Granny Zee has died, it’s up to Anna Kate to run the café for three months before she can sell it, close it, or do what she wants with it.  Luckily, it’s summertime, and Anna Kate doesn’t have to head back to Boston where she will enter medical school.

The townspeople are very interested in Anna Kate. Seems like the majority of those who frequent the café never even knew Zee had a granddaughter until Anna Kate showed up. Anna Kate’s mother left town shortly after a car accident that killed her boyfriend, son of a prominent family, and never looked back.

The café is one of the center pieces…a place to grab a bite, as well as the magic that can be found in the blackbird pies. Anna Kate jumps right in and learns the restaurant business and takes over the pie-baking. There’s a secret to the blackbird pies.

If a person eats a piece of the café’s blackbird pie, she/he will receive a message from a departed loved one.  It work. Many of the local townspeople are there when the café opens for breakfast to make sure the pies don’t sell out before they can get a piece.

The a flock of birders start showing up to see and hear the blackbirds that live in the mulberry tree behind the café. They only come out at midnight, singing their haunting melody and bridging the gap between this world and the next.  As rumors of the rare blackbird sightings spread among bird lovers acros the world, Wicklow becomes more and more of a tourist destination.

The Anna Kate has to come face-to-face with one of the town’s most prominent families, the Lindens. Seems she looks exactly like their late son, AJ, who was killed in the aforementioned accident. Having moved around most of her life, seldom staying in one place more than two years, Anna Kate can’t decide if she wants a relationship with her new-found family or not.

Anna Kate has a lot of decisions to make in the next three months.  Readers of this sweet little  stor will love to follow along as Anna Kate charts new territories in almost every aspect of her life.  I was never sure how Anna Kate knew so much about Wicklow since she had never visited the tiny town. That’s why “Midnight at the Blackbird Café” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Book Charmer

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins   368 pages

The small town of Dove Pond, North Carolina, is slowly dying. Most of the shops and businesses have all moved away. But the people who live ther love it; generations of their families have called it home.

Sarah Dove is one such person. A descendant of the town’s founders and the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Sarah has a special gift. Most people in the town know that she has a unique ability to find the right book for the right person at the moment they need it. But what most people don’t know is that the books talk to her. Sarah and the books don’t have conversations, but Sarah understands the noises they make. It’s really kinda cute. No wonder she became the town librarian.

Recently a new family has moved in down the street: Grace Wheeler, her foster mother Mama G, and her neice, Daisy. Sarah feels, and the books confirm, that Grace is the one who can save Dove Pond.

Grace has other plans. She left a high paying, successful job in finance to care for Mama G, the woman who took in Grace and her sister, Hannah, when no one else wanted them. It wasn’t easy trying to raise two very angry little girls. Now that Mama G has been diagnosed with dementia, Grace is taking her to her hometown of Dove Pond.

Grace has vowed she will only stay a year. She vows not to get involved in making friends and especially not to get involved witht the motorcycle-riding bad boy who lives next door and sends shock waves pulsing through her body when their eyes meet.

I found Grace’s vow alittle strange in that who knows how long Mama G might live. And then there is Daisy. An angry little girl whose mother died and left her. Since there wasn’t a father in the picture, it’s up to Grace to raise Daisy. She doesn’t seem to have any ideas what to do with her, much less if she takes yer back to Raleigh and her eighty-hour-a-work-week lifestyle.

But I need not to have worried too much. Grace, reluctantly, becomes the head committee chairperson of a local festival. The festival is important to the town, it’s tradition to host it every year. The townspeople won’t let it die, no matter what.

All these struggles make “The Book Charmer” a sweet read. I feel that the title  of the novel is a bit misleading because Sarah, the book charmer, is a secondary protagonist.  I expected more of Sarah. I wasn’t overly happy with the ending, But it does set the characters and the town up for a sequel.  Therefore, receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Judgment in Moscow

Judgment in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity by Vladimir Bukovsky. translated by Alyona Kojevnikov, 626 pages

Usually, when a criminal regime is removed from power, there is a reckoning, whether in the form of war crimes trials or truth and reconciliation commissions.  When the USSR collapsed, however, there was no judgment passed upon the men and women who had brutally tyrannized millions for generations.  In the opinion of dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, there could be only one reason for this lapse - the criminals had not really been defeated.  To the contrary, they remained at the levers of power, fully prepared to reassert themselves in time.  And so it happened.

Judgment in Moscow was originally published, in Russian, in 1996.  It was soon translated into a number of languages, but English was not one of them - until now.  In Bukovsky's account, this was due to the unwillingness of his publishers at Random House to market a book documenting  how Western elites fundamentally misunderstood the Soviet nightmare, deliberately or accidentally supported its continuation, and finally helped its engineers escape justice.  This unwillingness was itself a demonstration of the urgent need for an honest accounting for the history of Soviet tyranny and the struggle against it, a need which has tragically continued to be unmet.  The long-delayed publication of Bukovsky's book is at least a small step in that direction.

The Whisper Man

The Whisper Man by Alex North   369 pages  I read a galley

Dark and atmospheric, this thriller weaves together a multi-generational story of a father and son, along with a town's dark past and lingering fears about a serial killer. If you like high tension with your suspense, mixed with some menace, this is the book for you.

Tom Kennedy thinks a new start, in a new town, is just what he and his son need after the sudden death of his wife. However, the town they move to has a dark past and their own house seems to have some sinister secrets all its own. It doesn't help that right when they're settling in, a young boy vanishes on his way home. To add to the tension, it seems that this disappearance bears a strong resemblance to the terrible crimes committed by "The Whisper Man" years before.  But "The Whisper Man" is in prison, isn't he?  And just who is Tom's son hearing at the window?

This is a nailbiter of a book. The characters are realistic, so even when you start wondering if there might be some bit of a supernatural element to the story, you tell yourself you must be wrong. But there's seriously something going on --- who is the little girl that only Tom's son can see?  If you think you know what's going to happen next in the story, prepare yourself for some twists.

Dominicana

Dominicana by Angie Cruz    336 pages  I read a galley 

This is a thoughtful, heartfelt portrait of immigration, family, and self-resilience. It's also a glimpse into the social upheaval of the 1960s in America, through the eyes of an immigrant and new resident of New York City.  Great for readers who enjoy historical fiction, as well as stories of immigration told from a first-person point of view.
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Ana Cancion is 15 and has never dreamed of moving away from the Dominican countryside. When Juan Ruiz proposes, promising to take her to New York City and set her up in a new life, she is reluctant. After all, Juan is twice her age and she doesn't even like him very much. However, under pressure from her family, she accepts. So, Ana leaves everything she knows behind and becomes Ana Ruiz, moving to New York City in 1965, in the midst of social and political upheaval in both the United States and the Dominican Republic. Trapped in her cold apartment, Ana recklessly plans to escape. However, Juan's brother Cesar convinces her to stay, pointing out that when Juan returns to the Dominican Republic for a business trip, Ana can finally leave the apartment on her own and even take some lessons to learn English. Soon, Ana is imagining a different kind of life in America, where she can be free to make her own money, and do as she pleases.  However, when Juan returns, Ana is forced to choose between her dreams and her duty to her family.

This book is a bit of a slow start and at first, I wasn't sure if I liked it enough to continue. However, I was curious about Ana and what was going to happen. And, as I kept reading, I started to enjoy her first-person account of what was happening, and what her life in New York City was like. Before I knew it, I was wrapped up in this story. There are parts of this story that are heartbreaking, but other parts that are uplifting, where I found I truly had hope that Ana would have a better life. It's hard to imagine leaving everything and everyone you know behind to move to a new country, with a man you don't like very much, and where you don't know the language. Ana's perseverance was inspiring, and I found the story very compelling.

Gone by Midnight

Gone by Midnight (Crimson Lake #3) by Candice Fox   400 pages  I read a galley 

Taut and suspenseful, with a touch of wry humor, Candice Fox brings back ex-cop Ted Conkaffey and his partner, Amanda Pharrell, in this story of a race against time to find a missing boy. Perfect for fans of books by Dennis Lehane or Sophie Hannah.
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Ex-copy Ted Conkaffey is trying to rebuild his life and connect with his young daughter when he gets called to help the police with a case. An eight-year old boy has gone missing and the boy's mother insists that Conkaffey be brought in to help. Which, of course, means that Conkaffey will bring his partner, Amanda Pharrell, in to help. As a convicted killer, Amanda has never had the best relationship with the police. However, her clockwork brain and sharp instincts will be essential to finding the missing boy. Filled with twists and turns, and bits of dark and wry humor, this book has a pace that slowly builds until you realize you're turning page after page, letting your dinner grow cold or staying up past your bedtime, just to find out what happens.

This is the third book in the Crimson Lake series, and partway into the first few chapters, I realized I had read the previous book and not realized it was a series. So, I was very happy to be rejoined with these two characters.

Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt

Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt by Emily Teeter, 200 pages

For three thousand years, Egyptian civilization thrived along the banks of the Nile, producing monumental temples that continue to stir the imagination.  But what really happened in those temples, and how did the Egyptians themselves relate to their gods?  These are the questions Dr Teeter attempts to answer, as she strives to translate the religious practices of the ancient Egyptians into terms that are easily comprehensible - and even sympathetic - to a modern reader.  

Unfortunately, this aim is complicated by the introductory nature of the book, leading her to sometimes make sweeping claims on seemingly little or even contradictory evidence.  For example, she stresses the ubiquity of the gods in ancient Egypt at the start of a chapter in which the evidence repeatedly demonstrates the extreme importance the Egyptians placed upon their temples as sites of divine presence, and goes on to contrast this with "societies in which communion with the deity was restricted to temples or churches," without stating which societies she has in mind.  This calls into doubt other conclusions, as when she implausibly suggests that the Egyptian afterlife was egalitarian, or when she elides the role of the pharoah outside of the Amarna period.  The drive to simplify and generalize results in a book that seems to tell us more about Teeter's attitude towards religion than the ancient Egyptians.

Real Wifeys Hustle Hard

Real Wifeys Hustle Hard: an Urban Tale by Meesha Mink      Audio Book:9hrs, 15 mins,    Paperback Book:  320 pages             

Book Three in an explosive series by Meesha Mink, this book is so hot it smolders!  For sure and ADULT title with lots of adult activiities happening through out.     Sophie "Suga" Alvarez is madly in love Dane who happens to be a loanshark - but - a devoted boyfriend and friend.  Sophie's father is a known drunk but there is a heap of stuff that is not known about him - whoa!   Lots of great characters, multi-diverse in character ethnicity and persuasions.   You won't be able to put this one down till you finish it because you will want to know what everyone is up to that much.   If you love the t.v. show, "Power," you will love this book.  A little gansta, a little hustle, money, diamonds, and a few folks getting their freak on in both good and bad ways.    Just when you think someone is safe THEY ARE NOT!  Killing, revenge, betrayal, Meesha Mink covers it all in this book.   And reader, keep a fan nearby - this book is HOT.    Anyone who enjoys urban novels gritty,. get down and say it like it is and call it what it is style will love this one.   Sophie brings GIRL POWER to a new level.    So much goes on so many lives are touched in so many ways just like life on pushed up a notch for most.   Good story.   Not for the prudish, lots of sex, lots of violence and some extreme descriptions of the underbelly of society.    Like coming off of a roller coaster times 10.   This one might make your heart palputate and your breath quicken.  Whew!  I do recommend this book to lovers of urban fiction.

 - Shirley J

Cinder

Cinder by Merissa Meyer           Audio Book: 10 hours    Paperback Book: 448 pages     

This book is the first one in the Lunar Chronicles Series.   Again, I had thought this was a stand alone book until I got to the very end which certainly leaves no doubt this is likely the first book but that it is indeed part of a series.    I wish reading material would come marked this book is part of a series and what number in the series the book is.   Sometimes you just don't want to commit to an entire series, but then to find out where your characters are headed you are kind of stuck especially with a big cliffhanger ending.   This book was a sci-fi take on the Cinderella story except in this version - Cinderella "Cinder" is a cyborg and was "adopted" by a man who she comes to know as her father but who you come to find out may have led a double life.   While you suspect he is dead there is so much high tech chaos occurring that who knows what will come of him?  Cinder's father marries and has two daughters with a wicked woman who treats Cinder as substandard and when either the legitimate death of or clandestine subterfuge happens Cinder;s "stepmother" really gets insulting and lets Cinder know in no uncertain terms ie. she tells her she hates her and doesn't want her in her house and more making Cinder feel terrible.   It is a very unfortunate, very uncomfortable living arrangement.    Of Cinder's two step-sisters, Peonne and CInder get along and do care about one another, however her oldest step-sister could be a clone of the step-mother and treats Cinder so callously and cruelly that Cinder is a far better person than I am because once you have been pushed to that last nerve then pushed some more and in such a disrespectful way - I was expecting Cinder to snatch her up by the neck and have a one on one consultation but her strength lies in her patience.  The story of course has a prince, too and a ball and it all takes place in Beijing, China.   It is certainly well thought out, however, by the end of the book, I had pretty much lost interest.    I won't continue in the series because it drags out too much.   It was an interesting premise but not enough of a pull to keep me coming back for more.   I'm done with this series.   Would I recommend it?  Yes, just to check it out for Middle School through High School and for adults who are gung-ho for sci-fi but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone opposed to sci-fi because I think they would find it tedious. 

 - Shirley J

If You Leave Me: A Novel

If You Leave Me: A Novel  by Crystal Hana Kim            Audio Book:  12 hours, 4 minutes       Paperback Book:   448 pages   
               

Very well told story.   This is the second book about the hardships in Korea during WWII and after that I have read recently and I have enjoyed both very much.   A case of doing the wrong thing for the right reason.   Sometimes these selfless acts can be tolerable and turn out well, sometimes they leave one wishing they had made other choices but one can never know ahead of time which way things will turn out.   Weighing the good that comes of our decisions can keep one positive, but, if ever once we look back and see what we gave up and dream of what could have been if not careful life becomes resentful and ugly when we feel weighed down by a burden when in our illusions we see across the miles and starry skies dreams of an unattainable happiness we think we might want.      Be careful what you wish for sometimes the answer comes in unusual ways and sometimes in our musings, we only consider our own wants and not how they will affect others that we love.    A beautiful bittersweet story of longing.  Haunting.   I would recommend this book to highschoolers on up.   Some horrific tragedies but a story you won't soon forget.

 - Shirley J

Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book

Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book by Bobby bones      Audio book: 6 hours, 24 minutes   Hardback Book:  224 pages              

A fun very down-to-earth biographical telling of the life and times of Bobby Estell a.k.a. Radio Personality, Bobby Bones.   From his rough beginnings being born to a Mom that was a just turned sixteen year old drug addict and their life in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, population 750.  Thank God for his grandmother who taught him right from wrong as his mother wasn't a present enough only part time mother when she wasn't nodding on some chemical induced high.   His Dad left them when Bobby was 5 years old and though Bobby knew he was "around" the area, he never made an effort to come by and see his kids nor provide for them in any way.   Bobby's Mom's welfare and his Grandmother's social security along with his Mom's on again off again part-time jobs got them through along with a few five finger discounts here and there.   Bobby has a sense of comedy about what he went through, not that it didn't piss him off or cause him anxiety but he learned how to be the funny guy at school so he wouldn't get beat up since he was also a little guy and he learned to see the humor in most things in life.   He brings that easy country charm and humor to his radio show that is broadcast in many markets nationwide and it has made him one of the most popular radio talk shows on the air.   After several starts and stops he finally found his niche and the owners of the broadcast moved the show to Nashville where he has interviewed and become good friends with many country music greats, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift etc. who live in the Nashville area and hangout together as time allows.   In his self-deprecating manner the reader feels ultimately sorry for the guy, glad for the guy, glad that he can find the funny in the most embarrassing and/or harsh circumstances  and glad for him that he has turned life's lemons into an amazing lemonade.  He talks about wanting a family, wife, kids the whole nine-yards, but, he has trust issues and cannot commit to a long term realitionship.    He says though there have been a couple of especially great ladies in his life that he should not have let get away, seems like the closer a female gets to him the less likely he will ever tell her that he loves her and will go so far as to pick fights and sabotage his relationships once they get to the commitment category.  He just can't do it, and, yet, he thinks he wants to.   Maybe in his next book he will find a lady that is as gun-shy about commitment as he is and who will never ask any more of him than he is able to commit to and they can both be o.k. with that.   Good luck, Bobby Bones.  I would recommend this book to anyone from Middle School on up - his early years could be beneficial to middle schoolers going through the same things as an example and even if the reader hasn't heard of him, I hadn't, it is an enjoyable tale with lots of tattling on his own screw-ups and what he learned from the experiences.   Well told, Bobby Bones.

 - Shirley J

White Chrysanthemum

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht          Audio Book:  10 hrs,, 39 mins    Hardback Book   320 pages                   

Excellent Book set during WWII and the Japanese invasion and capture of Korean women held as prisoners and forced into prostitution even as children.   The author  researched  the topic thoroughly and created a magnificent story of fortitude, courage and strength under extreme duress of Korean women, young girls and children captured and brutalized by Japanese soldiers.during WWII.   It starts off innocent and lovely as a mother and her two daughters who were or became in the youngest sister's case, haenyeo - female divers of the sea who could hold their breath for long periods of time in order to make deep dives in order to collect fish, octupus, crabs, clams, oysters, conch shells and whatever looked appealing that they found on the sea floor to sell to provide food for their families.    The mother always told the older daughter to protect her younger sister and when the older girl saw Japanese soldiers coming down the beach she told her sister to stay quiet and hide all the time praying her mother would continue diving and not come out of the water.   She went to meet the soldiers to avoid their seeing her sister or mother and when forced to go with them, she did so knowing she was saving her family from such a fate.   The story is a sad and brutal one as the poor girl, Hana, is raped and forced into prostitiution though she was a young teenager.   Known as "comfort women,"  the Japanese soldiers used the women to satisfy themselves not caring the pain, shame and cruelty they committed.   Some of the children were raped to death.   It is a gripping, haunting novel that the reader will carry images away from that can't be unseen even if they are the creation of the writer's words.   These atrocities did happen and these women are vindicated today as the story later tells of Hana' s younger sister going to protests against the Japanese and asking for apologies, and charges to be brought against the Japanese regime in honor of these women who suffered unmercifully at the hands of Japanese soldiers who treated them less than human as things to be used then discarded or dealt sharply with to appease their own stress, anxiety and hatred of peoples other than themselves.    An excellent story, I highly recommend it.

Shirley J

A Strangeness in My Mind

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk
599 pages

Long time since I've read a novel this good! Love the connections between marriage and vocation, religion and family, the struggle to make ends meet and happiness, city and village. These themes are wonderfully connected in the life and loves of a boza seller who moved to Istanbul at age 10 and came to a keen awareness of the meaning of love in his mid 50s. Marvelous!

Dying for Ideas

Dying for Ideas: The Dangerous Lives of the Philosophers by Costica Bradatan, 238 pages


Summary from Goodreads: What do Socrates, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, and Jan Patocka have in common? First, they were all faced one day with the most difficult of choices: stay faithful to your ideas and die or renounce them and stay alive. Second, they all chose to die. Their spectacular deaths have become not only an integral part of their biographies, but are also inseparable from their work. A "death for ideas" is a piece of philosophical work in its own right; Socrates may have never written a line, but his death is one of the greatest philosophical best-sellers of all time.

Dying for Ideas explores the limit-situation in which philosophers find themselves when the only means of persuasion they can use is their own dying bodies and the public spectacle of their death. The book tells the story of the philosopher's encounter with death as seen from several angles: the tradition of philosophy as an art of living; the body as the site of self-transcending; death as a classical philosophical topic; taming death and self-fashioning; finally, the philosophers' scapegoating and their live performance of a martyr's death, followed by apotheosis and disappearance into myth.

While rooted in the history of philosophy, Dying for Ideas is an exercise in breaking disciplinary boundaries. This is a book about Socrates and Heidegger, but also about Gandhi's "fasting unto death" and self-immolation; about Girard and Passolini, and self-fashioning and the art of the essay.

Bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. I learned some things I didn't know before but the book falls short for what it is supposed to be. It seems as if Bradatan is trying to provide an argument about philosophers who end up dying for ideas. It is more of a chronicle of instances where they have. While Bradatan does use sources from other disciplines I am not sure how much he is breaking boundaries.

Simone Weil

Simone Weil: Attention to the Real by Robert Chenavier, translated by Bernard E Doering, 81 pages

For Chenavier, Weil's whole approach can be summarized as an "attention to the real."  This provided the motivation for her lifelong search for a "spirituality of work" that would celebrate the interaction between the freedom of the spirit and material necessity.  Likewise, it drove her quest for a transcendent Truth which reoriented her life around the love of the Good.  This abandonment of self itself presents a higher form of the collision between freedom and necessity.  The higher values do not, however, replace the lower, to the contrary, they illumine and fulfill them.

In her thought as in her life, Weil was a consummate outsider, yet she was also very much a typical twentieth century figure in that her biography and her philosophy are each unintelligible without the other.  In only a few pages, Chenavier demonstrates the significance and coherence of the whole, for her time and for all time.

The Community Land Trust Reader

The Community Land Trust Reader
by John Emmeus Davis
600 pages

This reader is an excellent introduction to Community Land Trusts (CLTs), with history, case studies, technical references and anticipated hybrids. CLTs are shown to be the best way to preserve affordable housing over time and across generations, and to mitigate urban gentrification. The sweep of thought, geography and history shows the broad application of the model: from Henry George's thoughts on taxation, India's Gramadan movement, Koinonia Farms in Georgia, Dudley Neighbors in Boston, and the Woodland CLT in Appalachia, readers see the broad principles and common benefits of viewing land primarily as a trust rather than primarily viewing it as a means of speculation and profiteering.

Work Optional

Work Optional Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way

by Tanja Hester

288 pages

This book is the best of a few that I've read about retirement and finances because its start, center and focus is not on earning enough to retire but on defining what kind of a life you want before and after retirement. Finances are clearly a part of any retirement (or work-change plan) but money should be in the service of life goals not the other way around. The book was practical and focused with enough detail to offer guidance in defining goals, outlining a process to work with life partner these, making a financial plan to accomplish those goals, reviewing the plan and putting the plan into practice through retirement, semi-retirement or a gap year -- through savings, lowering expenses, increasing income for a time, or finding new streams of income. In prioritizing life-goals the book does not assume keeping present house, location, cars, expenses, health insurance, meals out, lifestyle, etc. but identifies financial options in these areas to review so that bigger goals can be accomplished.

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way   by Richard Twiss
272 pages.

Richard Twiss reviews the grim story of Christian missions among Native Americans in United States missions as an attempt at cultural annihilation which was accompanied by national genocide, segregated resettlement and apartheid. The story includes the author's own stories along with his desire to claim his Native cultural and ritual roots but also to synchronize First Nation ways with a Jesus who honors rather than destroys his people's life-giving traditions.

The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ
by Fleming Rutledge
669 pages.

A significant theological help & a step toward Black Lives Matter: 

This is a powerful and thorough book. Not having grown up with animal sacrifice as the first (Jewish) Christians, I often have difficulty understanding the language and meaning of sacrifice as an explanation of Jesus' crucifixion. This book helps. It also makes a good effort to connect Christ with historic suffering of oppressed people in the world and United States. The books cover is photo of a stain-glass window in Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The window was given by people of Wales to commemorate the bombing of the church where four girls were murdered and fourteen others injured. In the photo one hand of Jesus is stretched out to put off Satan's oppressive powers, the other is open to embrace the victims of oppression. This is one of the stretched which killed Jesus and the book marvelously explores this tension and other significant biblical and historic discussions of the crucifixion of Jesus. With the late James Cone's book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, this books makes progress to understand and connect the meaning of the crucifixion with the history of black people in the United States. More work is needed to connect crucifixion with the death of Michael Brown and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Art or Anarchy?

Art or Anarchy?  How the Extremists and Exploiters Have Reduced the Fine Arts to Chaos and Commercialism by Huntington Hartford, 196 pages

This 1964 book by the playboy founder of New York's Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art presents a bleak view of an art world that has slid deep into solipsism and meaninglessness, a collapse Hartford attributes primarily to the abandonment of the subject.  As he saw it, this was enabled and exacerbated by the increasing commercialization of fine art in the first half of the twentieth century.  Although the result may be an art reflective of its time, it signally fails to transcend its time.

Hartford's book is a free-ranging polemic which includes extensive discussions of the peccadilloes of great artists and the subversive influence of the KGB in the Western art scene.  This has its advantages - Hartford is unafraid of making enemies - but these are far outweighed by the lack of focus and gossipy malodor.

An Unorthodox Match

An Unorthodx Match by Naomi Ragen   336 pages

 I admit that I’m not well educated in the different sects of Judaism. I depend on great authors like Naomi Ragen to help me understand that extremely complex world. Usually, she does a great job.

Lola is looking for a sense of purpose and roots. She has known the world and all it’s twenty-first century trappings and tragedies. Yet she longs for a simpler life. That is why she has decided to join a Jewish Orthodox community in Brooklyn, New York. She has even changed her name to Leah.

Yaakov has recently lost his wife. He is struggling to raise his five children and continue his studies of the Torah. He has gotten a lot of support from family and friensds, but he know she needs more; he needs a wife.

As Leah and Yaakov navigate the idea of an arranged marriage, the attraction the feel for each other creates problem after problem.

 I had an extremelu difficult time with this book. At times, as in the first 40 pages, there was too much information on the various forms of Judiasm, which I had to read at least three times. I was never clear if some of the words were Yiddish or Hebrew. And if it was explained, I missed it.  I’m sure that this is why I didn’t care about the characters for the rest of the story.

The story seems well-written, the plot seems strong. But this just wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s the reader, not the writer in this instance. I feel bad about my ranking, but it’s an honest opinion.  “An Unorthodx Match” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Now What? A Math Tale

Now What? A Math Tale by Robie H. Harris, Illustrations by Chris Chatterton   32 pages

Puppy want to take a nap. Unfortuantely, he doesn’t have a bed. All he has is a bag of blocks.  As he looks at their different shapes, he begins to understand their names: rectangle, square, etc. He decides that he can build a bed, but soon realizes that there aren’t enough of each shape to make a bed for napping. As he begins to maneuver the blocks, he soon deduces that he can make a bed using the shapes he has. 

Althouth he has Bear by his side, Bear isn’t very helpful and there is no real need for him in the story.

A gentle way to introduce early math concepts to little ones.  “Now What? A Math Tale” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Winemaker's Wife

 

The Winemaker’s Wife  by Kristen Harmel   400 pages

Part of this story takes place in the Champagne Region of France. It’s set in 1940 and begins just before the Nazis invade France. Then the timeline and the location shifts to 2019 and New York. Dualing timelimes…one of my favorite plot structures!

In the 1940s sections, the Maison Chauveau is one of, if not the, best Champagne houses in all of France. The house is owned and operated by Michel Chauveau and his new wife, Ines. Also heavily featured in these sections are the chef de cave, Theo, and his wife, Celine. No matter the danger they are in from the aiding enemy army, there is a bigger threat to the house’s stability. Celine is half-Jewish. Word of the real purposes of the “work camps” is just beginning to be discussed. Michel puts them all in danger, but especially Celine, when he begins running munitions for the French Resistance. Michel is so worried, and so preoccupied,  that he begins to ignore Ines, hoping her ignorance of his activities will keep her safe. Then there is the attraction Michel feels for Celine that puts a monkey wrench in the whole situation.

In New York, Liv has lost everything. Right before she and her husband, Eric, had started their third round of in vitro fertilization, he convinced Liv to quit her job, to stay home and focus on getting pregnant. Little did Liz know that it got her out of the way while he had an affair. Now divorced, Liv is depressed. There’s a knock at her door

Her 99-year-old grandmother has arrived from France to get her. Liv isn’t interested in returning to Paris. But Grandma Edith is a tough cookie, still, and won’t take no for an answer. Plus she has an agenda that will shock Liv, and give her the purpose she needs to move on with her life.

I enjoyed “The Winemaker’s Wife.” Author Kristen Harmel does an excellent job in keeping the characters’s secrets until the end. There was one question that I had that wasn’t answered and that is, “Did the Nazis find the hidden room in the underground cave system where Michel and Theo his their best champagnes?” Otherwise, the story is a fascinating look at the cave system where Maison Chauveau hid their products, the small things that were done as part of the Resistance, and family secrets. 

The Author’s Notes provided insight into the book’s creation, which was also fascinating.  “The Winemaker’s Wife ” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Unpublished Memoirs of the Revolution

Unpublished Memoirs of the Internuncio at Paris During the Revolution 1790-1801 by Louis-Siffren-Joseph de Salamon, 291 pages

In 1790 the revolutionary government of France enacted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, requiring all priests to swear an oath attributing to the State supreme authority in all religious matters.  In response, Pius VI recalled his nuncio in Paris, appointing Louis-Siffren-Joseph de Salamon, a former member of both the Roman Rota and the Parliament of Paris, as internuncio until such time as friendly relations were restored.  That would take over a decade, during which time the Pope's representative in France would be hunted, imprisoned repeatedly, and tried, narrowly escaping with his life during the September Massacres.

Some sixty years after his death, the personal memoirs of de Salamon were discovered in Rome.  Written as a gift for an aristocratic benefactress, if they are not entirely candid, they are highly personable.  Msgr de Salamon nearly became a martyr, but he was far from being a saint, and he agreeably portrays himself as a typically worldly prelate of the ancien regime, more concerned with courtesy than piety.  He is well aware, with the power of hindsight, that the former did not serve him as well as the latter might have.

Tradition and Sanity

Tradition and Sanity: Conversations and Dialogues of a Postconciliar Exile by Peter A Kwasniewski, 211 pages

CS Lewis famously remarked that the value of studying history lies not in the delusion that previous eras had all the answers, but in the realization that their mistakes were different from ours.  Similarly, for Dr Kwasniewski the fact that the traditional liturgy was not specially made for our time enables it to offer the modern world precisely what the modern world desperately needs but is incapable of producing, a form of worship which is oriented to the transcendent and therefore not dependent on, or manipulable by, us.  In Tradition and Sanity this theme runs through the collected conversations, some real interviews, some invented dialogues.

Of course, invented dialogues often become polemics, but those collected here are characterized by their gentleness.  The author defies the stereotype of the narrow-minded traditionalist by refusing to play the angry activist and writing instead as a thoughtful contemplative.  Whether discussing the role of sacred music or the shortcomings of the current pontificate, he speaks not as an outraged partisan but as a joyful discoverer eager to share the treasures he has found.

The Women

The Women by T. C. Boyle, 451 pages

The narrator to this book is a fictional Japanese man who is written as one of Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentices. I think Boyle chose him as a narrator because he could provide an 'inside' perspective but also provide some objectivity. The book is about three of Wright's mistresses. Two of them later became wives. Some of the what Wright did would still be considered scandalous today but to truly understand you have to consider the mores of the time.

It starts with the story of Frank and the last woman and goes backwards. Once I came to the end I saw why Boyle started with the last woman and went backwards. The events at the end are mentioned earlier but it doesn't prevent them from being a fitting climax to the novel.

Before reading this I was only aware of Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect. I didn't know about the mistresses, some significant events in his life or him as a person. It seems that he wasn't good about paying his bills on time. Overall, I would rate this book somewhere between good and very good.

July monthly stats

This month was a little quieter for the SLPL team:

5 people

read 32 books

for a total of 8806 pages

Shirley J. blew past everyone, logging audiobooks and books for a whopping total of 5360 pages!  The push is now on for our last month of logging in August!!

The Spies of Shilling Lane

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan   368 pages

When I sat down to start this novel, I expected a fast-paced ride with menancing undertones. What I got instread was a rather comical cozy-mystery vibe. Not that that’s bad, it was out of left field for me.

Mrs. Braithwaite is having a rough year. Her husband has divorced her, creating quite the scandal. Couple that with her demotion as head of the local Women’s Volunteer Service in Ashcombe Village, England, well, she’s feeling kinda low and sorry for herself.

She doesn’t have a close relationship with her daughter, Betty, who left for London as soon as WWII broke out.  Although she has sent five letters, Mrs. B. has not received a single reply. So Mrs. B. decides to go visit.  During the Blitz.

When she finally arrives, Betty isn’t home and Mr. Norris, who owns the home where Betty rents a room, hasn’t seen her in quite a while. He has no idea when she could be coming back or even if she has survived the nightly Nazi air raids. Author Ryan does a great job in taking readers to the tunnels during the air raids and how Londoners coped. When Mrs. B. and Mr. N. spend one night in a church’s catacombs, it’s quite creepy

Eventually, Mrs. B., accompanied by Mr. Norris, locates Betty, tied to a chair in the basement of a garage. Then it becomes good-guys versus bad-guys. The story that follows is rather humorous, but stereotypical.  Like sluggin the bad-guys with her purse, taking turns with Betty getting captured by the bad-guys, and ultimately saving the day.

 “The Spies of Shilling Lane” was okay, and that is why it receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.