Three Books--No Mysteries

    I squeaked in three books this week. Hurrah! If I was going to give a theme to my reads this week, it would be Girl Power, a phrase I dislike because it diminishes women. Shouldn't it be woman power? Perhaps a better theme would be women finding their voice and their power.

    When it comes to science fiction, Ursula K. LeGuin is legendary--not only as a woman writing sci-fi but as a great writer. However, the book Lavinia is more fantasy. She is the final wife of Theseus, as related by Virgil. As a young woman, Lavinia meets when the poet's shade when he is at the edge of death on a ship out at sea, and she is worshipping at a shrine. She asks him about her life to come. He has written her into existence, but has made her a flat, colorless character. LeGuin's book tells Lavinia's side of the story. It reminds me of C.S. Lewis's book Till We Have Faces inspired by the myth of Cupid and Psyche as told by Psyche's older sister. Occasionally, this book is my favorite, and sometimes it is Connie Willis' book To Say Nothing of the Dog. 

    Lavinia starts slowly, but builds in intensity as Lavinia becomes self-aware and active in her life. She is ruled her entire life by men and creatively makes her way into the life the poet Virgil wrote for her. It might be an extended metaphor for fate versus choice. 

    I like self-help books because I want to do life THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE. Several self-help books I've read use the motivation to try harder and do better. The Lazy Genius: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi is the kindest book of this genre I've read. She exposes the two extremes of trying harder against the opposite position of you'll never make it, give up: genius or lazy. I've been to both extremes, and it's not fun or effective. She has thirteen Lazy Genious principles (that's a lot, but they build on each other) and a Magic Question. My daughter, a Family Nurse Practioner (FNP), and the mother of a toddler and twins recommended it to me. I found its blend of philosophy and practical advice helpful and stress-reducing. 

 

    I finished Still Life by Sarah Winman thirty minutes before writing this post, and I feel that my thoughts are still in Florence, Italy. Winman evokes Florence with beautiful and tactile descriptions that it is hard not to buy a plane ticket immediately. The writing is evocative and lovely; the characters are tangible. Ulysses, a British soldier in World War II, meets Evelyn Skinner, a British art historian in her sixties, towards the end of the war in Italy. She inspires him to look at the world with new eyes.

“Beautiful art opens our eyes to the beauty of the world, Ulysses. It repositions our sight and judgment. Captures forever that which is fleeting.” 
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

    Several women are unconventional for their time--mothers who don't want to be mothers, same-sex attraction, career over family, and in various ways, they own that and its consequences. The book has a prophetic parrot, visionary elders, love, cruelty, tension, food, art, tragedy, and beauty. I think it will win awards.  

Senior Citizens and Murder

 

  I heard this book recommended on the podcast "What Should I Read Next." This is one of my favorite podcasts. Two-thirds of the books I read I hear about are from Anne Bogel or her guest.  

Side note--I spent many minutes searching the internet to correctly punctuate a podcast series title. I'm not entirely comfortable with quotation marks, I was thinking italicized like a book title, but this is what I understand the internet to say. If you have a better answer, please try and leave a comment. I'm not sure that comments are working even though I've made them available in settings. This is my life with technology: sometimes I rock, sometimes I roll.

Back to the books I read this week. Richard Osman's book The Thursday Murder Club was a five-star read for me. I usually don't give five stars, especially to murder mysteries, but this was an exceptionally good book. The premise is a group of four elderly resident's living in a senior community gather together every Thursday to discuss unsolved murders when in their midst is an actual murder. There is Joyce, the retired flirty, nurturing nurse; Elizabeth, the hardcore former MI-5 (6?) cold war operative; Ron, the tough, but kind labor organizer known as "Red Ron," and Ibrahim, the wise no longer practicing psychiatrist. This book was funny, twisty, and heartwarming without being trite. It is peopled with quirky, distinctive characters and murder. I was guessing who-done-it right up to the very end. 

   I loved the first book so much that I immediately checked out the second one, The Man Who Died Twice. It was as good as the first. There is a third book in the series that I will read once it becomes available on Libby, or I might spend a precious Audible credit to listen. It's that good. I hope it gets made into a series on a streaming service I subscribe to. Fingers crossed.

Odd Ducks

    A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an odd duck of a book. I do like odd ducks. When I looked to see how this book was classified, I found it spanned several categories: autobiography, fiction, history, feminist literature, and literary criticism. Ní Ghíofa chronicles a fraught time in her life in relation to a famous Irish poem of lament written by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill called Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. I've seen A Ghost in the Throat referred to as autofiction, a new category for me. The book is about women finding their voice: the thread of a female text runs through the book and the poem.  Ní Ghríofa is known for her poetry, which is evident in her writing. Her words, phrases, and cadence are lyrical and memorable. I listened to the audiobook and it helped me hear the correct pronunciation of the Gaelic names. In the end, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire is read in Gaelic, and then Doireann Ní Ghríofa's translation. 

I feel I'm not doing this book justice, but I recommend it. 

    I feel the need to read theology books. I want to understand and grow in my faith. However, I struggle to connect with books that others find efficacious. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together is a Christian Classic that has been quoted and recommended often. It didn't speak to me, I think because my heart bends towards legalism, not grace and kindness towards others or myself. Tell me the rules so I can keep them and create evidence of being righteous, approved, and virtuous. Bonhoeffer's book was filled with rules of being "good." I finished it and was discouraged. 

Not everyone feels as I do.

 book_review_life_together_by_dietrich_bonhoeffer

    Drawn to the Light: Poems on Rembrant's Religious Paintings by Marily Chandler McEntyre was a lovely book I received for Christmas. I would read one or two poems before bed. McEntyre's poems deepened the experience of the paintings. A poem that stood out for me was Christ on the Cross (53). She speaks as Rembrandt painting this horrific scene:

Let my hand not recoil
from the body's truth,
nor my brush stray from the story.
Let me be true to the darkness
you entered, O light of the world,
and to the awful beauty
of your agony.

🐣

Happy Easter

The Beatles and Murder

    Dear Husband and I watched Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back documentary (six-plus hours), and that slice of their lives made me want to know more. After research, I chose Bob Spitz's book The Beatles: The Biography. I listened to it through Audible and didn't find out until the end that it was abridged. ☹️ 

    I still learned a lot about John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but I'm curious about what was left out--it wasn't their drug use or availing themselves to their groupies. Spitz charted their pre-Beatles lives, influences, and struggles to make it big. As I went through the book, I would stop and listen to the album it was referencing. 🎶 Thank you, Alexa! 

    Reading the book was like watching Titanic. I was invested in their climb to fame, which made their dissolution painful. 

I had one big question: Did Yoko Ono break up the Beatles? My answer: maybe. She didn't keep them together, but it seemed John and Paul were wrestling for individuality as, to a lesser degree, were George and Ringo. They were ripe for a life beyond The Beatles.

The book reminded me of the Eagles' song Life in the Fast Lane. The Beatles: The Biography describes a band that succumbed to a Rock and Roll lifestyle and unchecked egos.

 

    After reading about the six Mitford sisters, I tried to find the novels written by Nancy Mitford. Unfortunately, they weren't available through my library, but I did find a murder mystery series written around the sisters. The Mitford Murders is the first in the series written by Jessica Fellowes. She is the niece of Jonathan Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame, and she's written several successful companion books related to Downton Abbey. 

    She is well-versed in this period of history, giving the book a realistic feel without being intrusive. The murder is the actual unsolved murder of Florence Nightingale Shore, a retired nurse clubbed to death on a railway car. Fellowes cleverly blends fact and fiction, crafting an entertaining tale. 

 I quite liked it. 

It was ripping good fun.  

😜

Same Song, Second Verse or Same Authors, Next Book

 

    This week, I continued to read the series Murderbot Diaries and Flavia Albia novels. 

    I'm almost caught up with Lindsey Davis' series about detective (called informer) Flavia Albia set in ancient Rome. A Comedy of Terrors, by Linsey Davis, takes place at Saturnalia, a Roman holiday that feels like Christmas. There are greens, presents, family get-togethers, and, of course, murder. Davis paints a full-orbed picture of Rome--a big messy city populated with diverse, comical characters that sometimes kill each other. 

    Davis has written over 30 books--about a book a year--and they do not disappoint. 

    Network Effect, by Martha Wells, is a full-length novel about Murderbot. He is a construct of biology and technology. He reminds me of a cyborg, but is likable. Previous books were novellas about 150 pages long, but Network Effect is 350 pages, but it doesn't hinder Well's brisk pacing. Reading through the series, I can see Murderbot maturing in his capacity to care for and connect (See what I did there?) with others. I hope there will be a Netflix (or similar) series. It has the right ingredients: superpowers, a desire to be autonomous, seeking a purpose in a strange world, aliens, evil corporations, and adolescent angst. All good stuff.

    I'm not sure what drew me to The Six: The Lives of The Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson. It is a biography of six British aristocratic sisters who came of age during the 1930s and World War II. Thompson educates the reader about the political extremes of the time: Fascism, Socialism, Nazism, and Communism. In the face of twenty percent unemployment, many of these ideologies were vying to be the prevailing policy in Great Britain. The times were divisive, and opinions were firmly held. One sister became a fervent Nazi and friend to Adolf Hitler, one's husband was the leader of the British Union of Facist, and another a dedicated Communist. Their lives and marriages were tumultuous and enthralling. It was an entrance to an eye-level understanding of Britain during this time and a chance to read some juicy life stories. Thompson called the sisters the Kardashians of their time. 😉

What I do for history!

Mystery, History, and Sci-Fi. Oh My!

 

    After weeks of reading weighty subject matter, I have moved on to my comfort reads of mostly mystery and sci-fi. There was a time when I read mystery books almost exclusively, but now I'm mature and try to read Things that Matter. The Grove of the Caesars (Flavia Albia #8) by Lindsey Davis is part of a series I have enjoyed for years. If you like mystery series, Lindsey is really good at what she does. She has two series taking place in Rome in the 1st century. The first is about Didius Falco--former military turned detective, and the second series features his adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. She is intelligent, sarcastic, and cynical--my kind of woman--and the mysteries are intriguing. I'm currently reading the next book in the series.

  

    My departure from the "fun" stuff is Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. This is my book club book for April. It is based on a painting by Vermeer and was also made into a movie with Scarlet Johansson. I haven't seen the movie yet. My art person, Noelle, informed me that not much is known about Vermeer. He only produced thirty-four paintings, mostly of women. The painting is compared to DaVinci's Mona Lisa. It makes sense. It is hard to tell what the woman is feeling or thinking, but she is arresting. 

    The book was more fiction than history. The tension comes from several love triangles and the oppression of women and servants.

          

    I continued the sci-fi series Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I read the first one earlier this year. search This week, I read Artificial Condition (#2), Rogue Protocol (#3), and Exit Strategy (#4). They were short, more like novellas with about 150 pages each. It is a coming-of-age story. It displays a favorite idea of mine (and others how_stories_change_brain) that story changes you. He is sarcastic, cynical, and lethal, but with a kind heart that he tries to hide and a fondness for soap operas: stories. He is an evolving protagonist and engaging. I have the next one in the series ready to read.

On a final note, Happy Birthday, Dear Beloved Husband, who is the evolving, good-hearted love interest in the book of my life.❤️🤓

    

Marriage is Hard and Robbery as a Career Path

    Are you familiar with the phenomenon of learning about someone or something and then seeing it everywhere? That is me with Heather Havrilesky. I heard about Foreverland: On the Devine Tedium of Marriage when Havrilesky was interviewed on the podcast Marriage Therapy Radio. I was intrigued and purchased the book with a precious Audible credit. I was initially disappointed because I thought it would be a Hurray-For-Marriage book; however, it is more raw and honest, showing a marriage in its complexity: in its divine tedium. It is a memoir of her fifteen-year marriage. This week I was listening to the podcast Death, Sex, and Money, and Havrilesky was on the panel  She is an advice columnist. She reminds me of Cheryl Strayed in her humorous guidance. I'm sure you will be hearing her everywhere.

    I like books with quirky plots or premises, and Something Missing is a ten on the odd scale. Martin has "clients" that he repeatedly robs from, not the usual big things, but little things like laundry detergent, toilet paper, and cereal. It is never said, but I think Martin has OCD. He is overly meticulous; his attention to detail has tipped from functional to crippling. When the book begins, Martin is emotionally isolated, but he is good-hearted and cares for the people he steals from. Unfortunately, he begins to invest in bettering their lives, and his carefully controlled life descends into chaos. Matthew Dick created an unusual character and made me care about him. I'm glad I read it.

I'm Reading Writers Who Write About Writers

The two books I read this week made me think writers can be neurotic self-absorb people--sometimes in a fun way and sometimes in a way that makes you want to stop reading mid-book to do something less depressing like read Jude the Obscure or The Road.

 

    After last week's heavy books (i-am-disturbed-war-violence-and-climate.html), I eagerly read Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano. It is the second in a series about a newly divorced, financially strapped, mother-of-two writer of romantic suspense novels. I have read a lot of mystery and suspense novels, but Cosimano kept me guessing--she does several insane plot twists--and had me laughing out loud. The book is descriptive and full of hijinks. A good combination of tension and relief that makes me like Cosimano.

    I like books that have non-standard plots. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz was recommended as that type of book. This book is also about a writer. The main character had a mildly received first book, but couldn't build on that success. When we meet him, Jacob Finch Bonner, he is bitterly teaching writing at a small-time writer's program, and he hears a fantastic plot that he's sure will be a best seller. If only he'd thought of it. The proposed book never materializes because the student dies. So Jacob writes it and becomes a best-selling author who is guilt-ridden for what he has done. Did he "steal" the plot if the original author was dead, and why is he getting threats of exposure? Korelitz writes a killer story. It reminded me of a Hitchcock movie where you are not sure things will work out for the hero. Jacob becomes frozen and depressed mid-book. It was crushing, and I considered not finishing, but I persevered and was rewarded with a stunning ending. It has a slow start, but when it catches fire, it's incredible. 

I Am Disturbed: War, Violence, and Climate Change.

    Some people have multiple books going at once, and I am one of them. The result is I finished five books this week. I didn't start them all this week. 

    At the recommendation of a fellow writer, I have read Lisa Cron's book Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere) for about six months. It was an instructive book about writing, and I think my fiction will be stronger and better for reading it. She is engaging, encouraging, and she has a master plan for writing a compelling novel. We'll see if it works.😉

 Mannequins Dressed for the Window: Haiku Secrets

by Gary Hotham

    My husband has a friend that is a published Haiku writer. Here is a link https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/gary-hotham/ about him, his books, and accomplishments. He sent DH his latest publication. While sorting the mail, I opened it intending to read one or two and, instead, read the entire book while standing in the dining room. Hotham's work is lovely. I've had the privilege of hearing him read his work, and I'm a fan. Here is my favorite from Mannequins Dressed for the Window: Haiku Secrets. (I hope it is formatted correctly.)

penetrating an old story

new book odors

    Martha Wells's book, All Systems Red, is the first in The Murder Bot Diaries. It is an entertaining quick read (144 pages or 3 hours long). This is excellent sci-fiction and also a who-done-it. There are many in the series, and I already have the second one on hold. 

    City of Thieves by David Benioff and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer are both weighty and emotional books telling compelling, disturbing stories. 

    Benioff's novel reads like a memoir. It reportedly tells of his Russian grandfather's time in the siege of Leningrad during World War II. I found an article (https://nymag.com/arts/books/features/47040/) where Benioff explains it's all fiction, even the relationship with the grandfather. He goes a long way to creating this illusion by giving the main character the same surname as his own. It effectively makes the events of the novel--cannibalism, sexual violence, animal cruelty, and war violence--have a significant impact. It landed hard for me, partly because I read it the week Russia invaded Ukraine. I read City of Thieves to evaluate it for my historical fiction book club. It's not a good fit, but it is a powerful well-written novel that is too difficult for me personally to discuss. 

    Anthony Doerr wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book All the Light We Cannot See. It is among the best books I've read, so I was excited for Cloud Cuckoo Land. Doerr is a master at weaving together the storylines. This book is about five different people in three different eras. Two are involved in the siege of Constantinople, two are present day, and one is on a spaceship in the not too distant future. They are all connected by Diogenes's ancient book called Cloud Cuckoo Land. I like novels with non-linear plots. I think it's tough to make it work and do it well, but Doerr does for me, but it can be a challenge keeping all the plots straight. I looked at some reviews on Goodreads. It mainly was given five stars or one star. It is long--over 600 pages--and painful. The depictions of violence and the effects of climate change are distressing, but in a good way.

    There are some things worth reading, even though they are disturbing. I think City of Thieves, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and last week's book The Invention of Wings are troubling books. They put me inside suffering characters and let me see and feel awful things. I hope that reading them will compel me to care about others and, from that caring, to act. Unlike the people in Ukraine, I get to take a break and read something less emotionally taxing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm in a season of reading thought-provoking books.

 The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green is a collection of essays. Green can rip his heart out of his chest and then write poignantly about how it bleeds. The topics are wide-ranging: Cholera to Icelandic sports to climate change. Each essay concludes with a star rating of the subject. Cholera gets one star. ⭐️ Depression gets one star. ⭐️ Love gets five stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open. I want to feel what there is to feel while I am here." John Green.

It was engaging and provocative.

Much like the other book I read this week, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.

 

Kidd juxtaposes the historical Sarah Grimke--daughter of a slave-owning family in Charleston--with a fictional enslaved person owned by the family named Handful/Hetty. The two lives are intertwined when Handful is given to Sarah on her 10th birthday. The writing is excellent. Each woman has a distinctive voice that tells the story of slavery and enslaver. The book brims with the burning desire to be seen, valued, and free. I stopped reading for a few days because I was worried about Handful, and I didn't see how there could be a happy ending for her. 

The invention of Wings is the March book for my book club. Great choice.  

Non-Fiction That Feels Like Fiction and Fiction That Feels Like Non-Fiction: A Jacob's Ladder

 

Earlier in my life, I was a fiction reader with occasional forays into biography. I would put the fiction to non-fiction ratio at 95%-5%. Now, the spit is closer to 60%- 40%. Perhaps, because there are really captivating non-fiction writers, or I've matured in my capacity to read non-fiction. Still, I think it's Malcolm Gladwell: I love his books and podcast. Self-help books have become necessary. I need help, please someone tell me what to do. Also, I now read some theology books because my husband convinced me and Tim Keller is a list maker. 

The book Chasing the Thrill by Daniel Barbaris is a memoir, adventure story, and biography telling a bizarre story of wealthy octogenarian Forrest Finn's hidden treasure. Finn hid the treasure; wrote a poem and a biography. If you could solve the clues in the poem, you could find approximately a million dollars or more in gold coins and other artifacts. People died searching. Finn's family was threatened by those hoping to force Finn to tell them it's hiding place. I stressed reading the book. I worried about who might die and what might be destroyed or damaged in the search. It was probably hidden in a State or Federal Park. I kept my husband updated as I read it, and we disagreed on Finn's responsibility. I thought Finn should recover the treasure to save further death and possible injury to his family, but my husband seemed more engaged by the mystery and adventure. A classic problem of opposites attract that we've wrestled with as a couple. I like security; he likes adventure. He gets me out of the house, and I make sure we have clean underwear when we go. 

There is research showing reading fiction can make you more empathetic. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-reading-fiction-increases-empathy-and-encourages-understanding

I agree that fiction can give you perspectives on life that are unimaginable. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott creates understanding about being black in America. In that sense, Hell of a Book was painful to read, but Mott pulled me through his novel with intrigue and humor. The book feels like a Jacob's ladder toy that continually unfolds, but there isn't a clear "top" or "bottom." Mott juggles story lines with dexterity landing them deftly in the ending, leaving me, as a reader, amazed. I am a sucker for award-winning books, and Hell of a Book won The National Book Award for Fiction. I think this will be one of my top books for the year.