by Anne Rice, 2010
Book “lite” about assassin turned true believer who works for the Angels now. Is sent back to Rome in 1500’s to save a young Jewish scholar and put a ghost to rest. Not much depth to her writing; “fluff.”
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The Help
by Kathryn Stockett, 2009
Another fantastic modern novel! A real page-turner, set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s. Three heroes: 1. Miss Skeeter, the young white girl who just graduated from college and wants to be a writer. 2. Aibileen, the black maid who takes care of Mae Mobley, little 2 yr old white girl, and cooks and cleans for Miss Leefolt. 3. Minny, the black maid who has a sassy mouth and many children of her own and an alcoholic, abusive husband.
The demon in this book is Hilly Holbrook who epitomizes the evils of racism. She is the League president and one of Miss Skeeter’s best friends, along with Miss Leefolt (Elizabeth).
Skeeter misses her old maid, Constantine, terribly. She loved her like she was her mother. But she’s mysteriously gone when Skeeter returns from college and Skeeter’s mother only tells her she quit. She gets a job for the Jackson newspaper writing Miss Myrna-household hints. She knows nothing about keeping house so she uses Aibileen for her tips. She keeps asking Aibileen what happened to Constantine but Aibileen won’t tell her. Through it all, Hilly tries to get Skeeter to add a column for separate restrooms in homes to be built for the maids because everyone knows colored people carry all sorts of diseases. Skeeter refuses.
Eventually, she is prompted to write about what she really cares about by a Helen Stein-publisher for Harper and Rowe. Skeeter talks Aibileen into telling her story of what it’s like to be a black maid for white people. Aibileen then convinces Minny to tell her story. Minny works for Celia Foote, a white woman who is from the poor white country folk who meets and marries Johnny Foote – who used to date Hilly. Hilly never got over him.
Celia wants to belong to the League but they never allow her to be a member. She loves Minny and Minny gradually comes to trust her. Minny saves her life when she has a 4th miscarriage. Johnny loves Celia and loves Minny too. Celia can’t cook or clean – she can only garden. It’s a wonderful part of the book.
Eventually, 12 more maids agree to tell their stories. What spurred this was Hilly getting her maid, Yule May, locked up for 4 years in the penitentiary for stealing (a cheap ring that Hilly didn’t like – Yule had asked for a loan for $70 to pay tuition for her twin sons. Hilly refused.)
Much of the book is the suspense of meeting clandestinely with the maids getting the manuscript together and the worry of what would happen if the white people in Jackson realize the book is about them. The book does come out – and everyone in Jackson is reading it, wondering if it’s about them. And Minny’s ending – about the Terrible Awful thing which Minny decided to put in at the end, saves them from Hilly’s wrath. The Terrible Awful was a chocolate custard pie Minny baked for Hilly after Hilly spread lies all over town about Minny so no one would hire her. Minny was Hilly’s mother’s maid. When Hilly put her in a nursing home, then she had to find a new job to feed her 5 kids and drunk abusive husband. Then Hilly tried to get Minny to work for her (which would have put Minny’s friend, Yule May, out of a job) but Minny refused. Hilly had told all the white women in town that Minny was a thief and no one would hire her. That’s when Minny makes the custard pie and brings it over to Miss Walters where Hilly is waiting for the people from the home to come pick her up. Hilly eats two slices and asks Minny what she put in there that makes it so good. Minny put her own shit in the pie! That’s the Terrible Awful. And that’s the end of the book – called Help. Minny knew that when Hilly reads that part of the book, she will tell everyone in town that the book is not about Jackson.
Saves them. Not until after some tense moments before Hilly gets to the end of the book.
The book ends with Skeeter getting a job with Harper and Row – hating to leave the maids – worried sick about them. Aibileen tells her to go – so does MInny.
Aibileen is let go by Miss Leefolt at the urging of Hilly – not before Hilly accuses her of stealing – but backs down when Aibileen confronts her with all that she knows about Hilly and all the writing she could do in prison. But Aibileen gets to be the new Miss Myrna – Skeeter told her boss that Aibileen is the real Miss Myrna and he agrees to hire her. Poor Mae Mobley cries and cries. So does Aibileen.
And Minny’s husband Leroy gets fired (he works at a plant owned by Holbrook). Leroy tries to kill Minny – she escapes with the 5 kids and calls Aibileen. Aibileen calms her down – Minny will leave Leroy for good. She has a good job for life with Celia and Johnny Foote. She will finally be free from the abuse working for good people who appreciate her.
Fantastic book!
Sleeping Tiger
by Rosamunde Pilcher, 1967
Sweet little romance about 20 yr old English girl (Selina) who goes to a Spanish island in search of her father and finds her true love (George, 37 yrs old) instead. She has to dump her lawyer fiance who is only marrying her for her money and George has to dump his drunk American ex-patriot girlfriend. They end up in love and happily ever after. Lots of wonderful characters and the setting was beautiful–too short, though!
The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein, 2008
Precious book! Told by Enzo the dog. Set in Seattle. Enzo is a yellow lab mix raised from a puppy by Denny Swift, a race car driver. They are both incredible “people” – the best. Denny marries Eve and they have Zoe. Eve gets sick – brain cancer – and moves in with her parents – the Evil Twins – on Mercer Island. They also keep Zoe. Denny tries to take Zoe back after Eve dies but they sue for custody. Denny hires a lawyer. Then the Evil Twins have Denny arrested for felony rape. A 15 year-old cousin of Eve’s actually tried to seduce Denny but he refused, and is now accusing Denny of rape at the manipulation of the Evil Twins. They try to ruin Denny’s life – he can’t leave the state so his promising racing career dies, they drag things out so all his money goes to pay for the lawyer. They sue him for child support. They offer him a settlement – sign for “misdemeanor harassment and probation; no sex offense on your record.” No more child support. He gets to see Zoe more often. The Evil Twins can support her and pay for her college. He can resume his racing career. He’s getting ready to sign and his best friend, Mike, hands him a pen – it is from a zoo and there is a zebra sliding in liquid at the top of the pen. Enzo sees it – he has had run-ins with zebra-demon – Zoe’s stuffed zebra tormented him once when he was left by Eve accidentally for 3 days in the house. He hallucinates and sees the zebra doing terrible things to Zoe’s other toys. When they come home (Denny was at a race – Eve got very sick and went to her parents with Zoe – leaving Enzo alone for 3 days in the house) the zebra is in shreds on Zoe’s floor. It was her favorite. Since then, the zebra demon represents succumbing to evil to Enzo. Enzo sees the zebra in the pen and realizes that if Denny signs those papers, as Denny knows inside, it is evil. Enzo grabs the papers with his mouth and leaps through a screened window in Mike’s house and tries to bury them in Mike’s back yard and finally lifts his leg and pees all over them.
Mike, Denny’s best friend, says “Call Lawrence. He’ll print them again and you can sign them.” Denny stood. “No,” he said, “I’m with Enzo. I piss on their settlement, too. I don’t care how smart it is for me to sign it. I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m not giving up. I’m never giving up.”
So, he holds fast and they go to trial and everyone believes that he raped the 15 yr old Annika until the last day of trial. Annika ends up telling the truth. She recanted – they dropped the charges!
A few months before the trial, Denny and Enzo were walking and they see Annika (the 15-yr old) sitting at an outdoor cafe with a friend. She’s now 18. Denny walks over to her, sits down with Enzo, and tells her, “I may have given you signals. That’s totally my fault…But, you know, I wasn’t available. I was married to Eve. And you were far too young. But, Annika, while I understand how angry you must be, I wonder if you understand what’s going on, what the fallout is. They won’t let me have my daughter…Annika, when I saw Eve for the first time, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t walk…My entire world revolved around her…It never could have worked between you and me. There are a million reasons. My daughter, my age, your age, Eve. In a different time, a different place? Maybe. But not now. Not three years ago…But one day you will find someone who stops the world for you as Eve stopped the world for me…Zoe’s my daughter. I love her like your father loves you. Please, Annika, don’t take her away from me.”
“I think she heard me,” he said.
“I thought so, too, but how could I respond? I barked twice. He looked at me and laughed. “Faster?” he asked. I barked twice again. “Faster, then,” he said. “Let’s go!” and we trotted the rest of the way home.
So, Enzo keeps Denny from signing away his life. Denny holds fast in the face of insurmountable odds, wins, and goes on to be a successful test driver for Ferrari in Italy! Enzo was going to go with him and Zoe but the day Zoe was going to move back in with them, Enzo dies. He had bad hip dysplasia and was old by then. He came to the kitchen. Denny is making him pancakes for the first time in years – Enzo’s favorite food – gives a pancake to Enzo but it drops out of his mouth. Enzo collapses and Denny pets him and holds him and says it’s okay, you can go, and loves him until he dies – passing to fields of green where he can run and play in the sun.
A few years later, Denny is a champion in Italy and Zoe drives up in a golf cart with a father and son. Fans of Denny. The son’s name is “Enzo” and he wants to be a race-car driver when he grows up. Enzo the dog always said he’d be reincarnated as a man.
What a beautiful, funny, wonderful, poignant book!
Matterhorn-A Novel of the Vietnam War
by Karl Marlantes, 2009
Karl Marlantes is a graduate of Yale, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, a Marine in Vietnam, awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy commendation medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. This novel took him 30 years to write.
Second Lieutenant Waino Mellas shipped off to Vietnam to fight for his country. He leads a platoon in the jungle. His commanding officers, Lt. Col. Simpson and Major Blakely, are incompetents who by their decisions cause the deaths of many fine young men.
Matterhorn is a fictional hill in the jungles of Vietnam close to the DMZ. Mellas’ company is ordered to take position on it. They do and then they get ordered to build bunkers on it, then to abandon it. They get sent on patrols without enough water and food, and then get stranded when the choppers can’t fly in due to weather.
There are problems with immersion foot, leaches – one went up Fisher’s urethra – they couldnt’ get him out so the corpsman cut into him to get it out before it killed him (couldn’t pee). That happens in the beginning. We find out at the end, he is okay – no problems at all.
The Corpsmen (medics) are godsends and heroes helping their wounded Marines. One time when they are sent back to Matterhorn (because the North Vietnamese Army took it over when they abandoned it). They run out of water and can’t get any shipped in day after day due to fog and clouds. The Corpsman (squids) must decide which of the wounded will not make it so their IV fluid and water can go to the healthy.
They lose many of their heroes trying to re-take Matterhorn.
Mellas is certain he killed one of his own men – trying to save him but shot uphill and bullet entered his brain.
The best man of all, Hawke, the one who is the bravest, funniest, smartest, ends up in the wrong place – asleep in Cassidy’s tent – when 2 black soldiers decide to frag Cassidy – a prejudiced, mean, staff sergeant who cannot stand the black Marines, and shaved off one’s afro, busted another’s teeth out with a rifle. The blacks think he is in his tent, when it is really Hawke – a leader they love, and they frag him – throw a live grenade in the tent. It explodes and kills Hawke. That is near the end of the book.
The Marines face fear of death constantly – when they march through the jungle, they have a point man who leads the way – he has to be eyes and ears to warn his platoon – sometimes he is the first to die.
One of their men gets attacked and killed by a tiger while on watch one night.
I miss these Marines! They get under your skin. This book woke me up – I would be tired and start reading it and end up awake and reading and cannot go to sleep. It was a great book! No gratuitous sex or violence.
“Riveting” – Vince Flynn
“Unforgettable…A beautifully crafted novel…filled with jungle heroism, crackerjack inventiveness, mud, blood, brotherhood, hatred, healing, terror, bureaucracy, politics, unfathomable waste, and unfathomable love.” Christina Robb
On the title page, author writes something like: Novels need villains and heroes…I had the honor of serving under 2 very fine battalion commanders, one of whom was killed in action, and their superb S-3, a crackerjack infantry officer. This is to contrast with the 2 battalion commanders in the novel, Blakely and Simpson, and their racist S-3, Cassidy.
The Toilers of the Sea
by Victor Hugo, 1866
Dedicated to the Island of Guernsey. He lived there in exile from France for about 15 years. He wrote Les Miserables while there (1862).
Story of Gilliat, a fine, young, lonely man who saves birds and children, cures sickness and is a fantastic fisherman, gardener, and bagpipe player.
He falls in love with Deruchette, an old fisherman’s niece (Mess Lethierry). Lethierry builds a steamboat and becomes rich. His captain, Siear Clubin, who seemed so honest and good, was really evil. He murders a coast guard, gets 75,000 francs from Rantaine (who stole it from Mess Lethierry years ago) and wrecks the Durande (the steamship) on the Douvre rocks in a fog. He was going to swim to shore and escape to Costa Rica and live out his days. Instead a huge sea monster captures him (unknown to all but the reader).
The crew of the Durande report the tragedy to Mess Lethierry. He is devastated. The community is discussing the wreck. A fisherman sees it and says the engine is still intact. Mess Lethierry says whoever can bring back the engine can marry Deruchette. Deruchette echoes this. Gilliatt goes unknown and alone to the Douvre rocks and 2 1/2 months of extremely hard work and survival of wind, sea, and the sea monster, brings back the Durande’s engine and the 75,000 francs that Clubin stole. Gilliatt is looking for food in an underground cavern and is found by the sea monster – octopus – the tentacles wrap around him – he has one arm free with his knife. He kills the octopus, sees a human skeleton and around its chest cavity is a leather belt – and iron box containing Mess Lethierry’s 75,000 francs.
He brings all home to Guernsey in hopes of marrying Deruchette. That night, hiding in her garden, he hears the priest propose his love and ask her to marry him. She says yes. Then Mess Lethierry has seen his steam engine moored outside his house and rings the bell and the whole community gathers and Gilliatt is a hero. Mess Lethierry says he shall marry Deruchette the next day. She faints. The priest and Deruchette are parting the next day in sadness. Gilliatt shows up and tells them they can marry. He takes them to the Church, gives them a ring, a note to the priest, written by Mess – meant for Gilliatt- and they marry and leave for England in a boat. Gilliatt follows the boat along shore out to a rock. The tide is rising. He sits on the rock watching the boat until the tide overtakes him. The end.
Beautiful island – Guernsey – Victor Hugo loves it and he admires the old fishermen – the Toilers of the Sea. He writes some really long, hard to understand chapters about the rocks, the sea, the wind, octopus, ships…but the story itself is moving and the characters are deep and incredible, especially Gilliatt. Tragic ending.
The Faith Club
by Ranya Idliby (Muslim), Suzanne Oliver (Christian), and Priscilla Warner (Jew), 2006
Borrowed from BJ Stoner. Started out good – they face their prejudices and stereotypes. Ends up not good. The Christian woman loses her faith – becomes a “Christian Universalist” – Jesus isn’t the only way to salvation.
The Muslim woman is so amazing – gracious, elegant, smart (rich, too – St. Bart’s, Dubai, France). She finds her imam – a way to be an American Muslim. She was originally (her parents) from Palestine and her family had to leave when Israel formed.
The Jewish woman (Priscilla) basically had religion but no faith – was an anxious, neurotic, worrier, with constant panic attacks. She found God through the friendship with these women. Even thinks of Jesus as her friend.
It’s just sad what happened to the Christian.
Liked “10 things you should know before your first faith club meeting:”
- You’ve got stereotypes
- You are vulnerable
- You can be a peacemaker
- There isn’t always a “right” answer
- Your first reaction is your worst reaction
- Secrets corrupt
- Every opinion must be respected
- No one else can do your homework
- Invitations are expected
- Get help
The Innocents Abroad
by Mark Twain, 1869
Mark Twain and about 100 others set sail in a steamer from New York in early June 1867. They are bound for the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. A pleasure cruise-picnicking many days crossing the Atlantic. He writes about seasickness (everyone but him) and their routines – eating, and all their leisure pursuits: promenade the decks, look at ships at sea, whales, dolphins, sharks, play cards, dominoes, other games, sing, dance, play instruments (none of which anyone could do well) and journalling – which didn’t last too long.
1st stop – Azores – Fayal – beautiful and clean – wonderful roads – funny donkey ride.
2nd stop – Gibraltar – while still in the ocean on their ship, a beautiful sailing ship went by them and everyone looked at it and then saw the flag – the Stars and Stripes – here is what he writes: “Many a one on our decks knew then for the first time how tame a sight his country’s flag is at home compared to what it is in a foreign land. To see it is to see a vision of home itself and all its idols, and feel a thrill that would stir a very river of sluggish blood!”
3rd stop – Tangier, Morocco: “Tangier is a foreign land if ever there was one…” It’s also very ancient.
July 1867, France: 1. Marseilles – He toured the Chateau d’if where Monte Cristo was imprisoned. 2. Paris – He kept talking about Napoleon III, Louis Napoleon. 3. Versailles (a palace complex Louis XIV built – absolutely gorgeous – Garden of Eden!)
“France is a bewitching garden.” Here’s how he describes the French countryside: “We have come five hundred miles by rail through the heart of France. What a bewitching land it is! What a garden! Surely the leagues of bright green lawns are swept and brushed and watered every day and their grasses trimmed by the barber…There is no dirt, no decay, no rubbish anywhere – nothing that even hints at untidiness-nothing that ever suggests neglect. All is orderly and beautiful – everything is charming to the eye.”
“We had glimpses of the Rhone gliding along between its grassy banks; of cozy cottages buried in flowers and shrubbery…”
Here’s how he describes Versailes:
“VERSAILLES! It is wonderfully beautiful! You gaze, and stare, and try to understand that it is real, that it is on the earth, that it is not the Garden of Eden – but your brain grows giddy, stupefied by the world of beauty around you, and you half believe you are the dupe of an exquisite dream…”
Then to Italy. 1. Genoa – streets like crevices, houses that would “laugh a siege to scorn.” 2. Milan – gorgeous cathedral. 3. Lake Como – Tahoe is clearer and deeper but “mountains beyond are veiled in a dreamy purple haze…glorify it with a beauty that seems reflected out of Heaven itself. Beyond all question, this is the most voluptuous scene we have yet looked upon.” They stayed at the Bellagio. 4. Venice – gondolas.
He got very tired of the art of Old Masters, doesn’t know what people see in them. They “have seen thirteen thousand St. Jeromes, and twenty-two thousand St. Marks, and sixteen thousand St. Matthews, and sixty thousand St. Sebastians, and 4 million of assorted monks…”
5. Florence – he’s tired of traveling. “How the fatigues and annoyances of travel fill one with bitter prejudices sometimes!” First, “Magnanimous Florence! Here jewelry are filled with artists in mosaic.”
He gets lost in Florence – taken into custody and searched – they find a sliver of soap, “(We carry soap with us now), and I made them a present of it, seeing that they regarded it as a curiosity.”
6. Pisa – the leaning tower – they went up in it.
*Italy – people are poor, government is bankrupt, churches are rich! “Why don’t they rob their churches?”
“Vituperation” – verbal abuse or castigation.
“vituperate” – to find fault with; censure harshly or abusively.
He writes a whole chapter on how rich are the churches in Italy and their priests and how poor the people are and bankrupt the gov’t is. “And now–However, another beggar approaches. I will go out and destroy him, and then come back and write another chapter of vituperation.”
Rome – The Coliseum – Parody on the barbarism that went on there – a review of one of the “performances.”
Naples – Vesuvius – climbs to the top – very steep – very beautiful in the crater – all the colors under the sun.
Isle of Capri – Blue Grotto – “The waters of this placid subterranean lake are the brightest, loveliest blue that can be imagined.”
Vesuvius – “The Vesuvius of today is a very poor affair compared to the mighty volcano of Kilauea, in the Sandwich Islands, but I am glad I visited it. It was well worth it.” (Hawaii wasn’t called Hawaii yet in 1867 – the “Sandwich Islands!”)
Pompeii – describes in detail.
Athens – couldn’t go due to quarantine so he and 3 others snuck ashore at night and toured the Parthenon by moonlight!
Constantinople – lazy dogs, dirty streets full of little shops and shopkeepers.
Sebastopol, Russia – destroyed by 18 months of war, natives friendly to Americans.
Odessa – so like an American town, he cried.
Then they visit the Czar of Russia – and he treats them like friends and they are so like “mere mortals’ that Twain will never be able to watch the theatrical kings again without saying, “This does not answer – this isn’t the style of king that I am acquainted with.”
Here’s what he says about the Czar’s school-aged daughter: “Every time their eyes met, I saw more and more what a tremendous power that weak, diffident school-girl could wield if she chose to do it. Many and many a time she might rule the Autocrat of Russia, whose lightest word is law to seventy millions of human beings! She was only a girl, and she looked like a thousand others I have seen, but never a girl provoked such a novel and peculiar interest in me before. A strange, new sensation is a rare thing in this humdrum life, and I had it here.”
The Emperor and his family take them on a tour of their palace themselves! He writes: “We spent half an hour idling through the palace, admiring the cozy apartments and the rich but eminently homelike appointments of the place, and then the imperial family bade our party a kind goodbye, and proceeded to count the spoons.”
Then they proceed to the Holy Land:
Smyrna – a long explanation of Revelation-the crown of life.
Ephesus – beautiful ruins.
Syria – through the desert to Damascus. They are camping in luxury – set up and taken down by the Arabs. Then, Christians who don’t want to travel on the Sabbath force them to get to Damascus in two, 13-hour days on their old horses (day before that he tours Baalbec; beautiful temples made of huge cut stones – no one knows who built them or how they did it.) Back to the Sabbath; he writes: “We were all perfectly willing to keep the Sabbath day, but there are times when to keep the letter of a sacred law whose spirit is righteous, becomes a sin, and this was a case in point.”
All through this book, Twain talks about the “Saviour.” His Christianity is heartfelt and spot-on. I love him!
Damascus – beautiful from a distance on a hill but leave it at that, like the prophet Mohammed. The Arabs there hate Christians.
“…five thousand Christians who were massacred in Damascus in 1861 by the Turks…and in a short time twenty-five thousand more Christians were massacred and their possessions laid waste. How they hate a Christian in Damascus!–and pretty much all over Turkeydom as well. And how they will pay for it when Russia turns her guns upon them again!”
“It is soothing to the heart to abuse England and France for interposing to save the Ottoman Empire from the destruction it has so richly deserved for a thousand years….”
He is in the Holy Land, seeing all the spots mentioned in the Bible. He is at “Joseph’s Pit” and writes:
“It is hard to make a choice of the most beautiful passage in a book which is so gemmed with beautiful passages as the Bible; but it is certain that not many things within its lids may take rank above the exquisite story of Joseph.”
The Holy Land – deserts and begging Arabs, desolation. He sees all the places in the Bible. He sees Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the Jordan River, Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, on and on. His companions, the “pilgrims,” constantly chip away pieces of these places to take home. Then they go to Egypt and see the Pyramids – climb up them – and the Sphynx. He loves that! Then home from Egypt through the Mediterranean – couldn’t stop anywhere due to quarantines due to cholera.
In Spain, they (four of them) “ran the quarantine blockade and spent 7 delightful days in Seville, Cordova, Cadiz, and wandering through the pleasant rural scenery of Andalusia, the garden of Old Spain.”
They anchored “in the beautiful islands we call the Madeiras…But we could not land…” Quarantine again.
They couldn’t land again until the Bermudas. He writes: “A few days among the breezy groves, the flower gardens, the coral caves, and the lovely vistas of blue water that went curving in and out, disappearing and anon again appearing through jungle walls of brilliant foliage…”
What a fabulous book – to see the world in 1867 (the Mediterranean and the Holy Land) through Mark Twain’s eyes and words was truly a “pleasure excursion” for me! He is so funny although you have to savor his words to catch all the humor – it’s there in every page! He is also very, very brave and adventurous!
LOVED THIS BOOK!
(I told Wayne about many parts of this book and his favorite part is where they are sailing one direction and they are all praying for fair winds to help them along and Twain wonders about the 900 ships traveling the other direction and how they might be praying for the winds to be in their favor and how does that work out.)
The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
by Slavomir Rawicz, 1956 (ghostwritten by Ronald Downingin)
Dad’s book. Slavomir was a young man in Polish Army taken prisoner in 1939 by the Russians. They were convinced he was a spy. They tortured him for months, then took him – actually he had to walk with 4000 other prisoners – after a freezing cold rail journey through Siberia – then walk w/chains through Siberia to Yakutsk. He and six other prisoners escape one night and trek south through Siberian winter – meet up with a young Polish girl – Kristina – continue on their trek through Mongolia, then the Gobi Desert. Kristina dies in the Gobi Desert – her ankles and then her legs swell up and she can’t go on. They are very sad and miss her terribly. Sometimes they go 12 days w/o water in the Gobi. Food is always scarce – days and days without food – eat snakes in the Gobi. They make it to Tibet and villagers and sheepherders are so kind and hospitable to them. Then through Tibet and the Himalayas. They lose 2 more of their companions. One falls to his death in the mountains. The other just died in his sleep – too much strain. Finally they make it over the Himalayas and into India where British soldiers take them in and heal them – takes a long, long time, in hospital. Slavomir goes on to eventually live in England. He trains to be a pilot but the war ends. After Note: 1997 – He married an English lady, had 5 kids, 11 grandchildren, died in 2004. Never heard from his other 4 companions all his life.
The Pickwick Papers
by Charles Dickens, 1837
Finished on the way up to Adam and Danette’s wedding. Fell in love with Charles Dickens again! Wow! Fell in love with Mr. Pickwick – a fine old Gentleman, and Sam, his servant, who says ‘W’ as ‘V’ and ‘V’ as ‘W.” “Wictim, Wery, Vay, Vith, Vot, Vos.”
Sam’s Dad, Mr. Weller, a coachman, married to a widow – calls Sam, “Sammy,” or “Samivel.”
Sam gets Mr. Pickwick out of trouble so many times. Adventures with politics, doctors, lawyers, bad people, good people. Adventures in debtor prison – the Fleet. Adventures in hunting, and sliding (on ice?) and drinking! Experiences with the scoundrels, Jingle and Job Trotter. Experiences with the other Pickwickians – Mr. Winkle, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Tupman. Mr. Pickwick’s lawyer, Perker, a fine man – loves his snuff.
And many irritating women and a few beautiful women. Mary-housemaid – Sam’s love. Arabella Allen – marries Mr. Winkle.
Oh, how I loved this book – adventures, funny! Great stories – the goblins that kidnapped the sexton (gravedigger) – the wild ride in coaches to rescue a beautiful maiden. And his descriptions of Christmas and summer. Everything is a delight! What good men are Pickwick and his Sam. Loved it, loved it, loved it!
Here are the last few lines:
“Every year he repairs to a large family merrymaking at Mr. Wardle’s; on this, as on all other occasions, he is invariably attended by the faithful Sam, between whom and his master there exists a steady and reciprocal attachment, which nothing but death will sever.”
New Mercies
by Sandra Dallas, 2006 (Author of The Persian Pickle Club)
Pretty good book. Nora Bondurant of Denver gets called to Natchez, Mississippi, because her Aunt Amalia was murdered and she is the sole heir. Turns out the Aunt was really her grandma and she was murdered by Bayard Lott, a white man who loved her all her life, probably raped her, and saw her in bed with her “slave,” Ezra. Nora finds all this out by the end of the book. Everyone thought Bayard was the father of Nora’s dad, but no one knew for sure.
The mansion she inherits is called Avoca and it is in terrible, run-down shape. Nora never even knew she had relatives – her Dad died when he was 25. So, she gets a telegram to come to Natchez and finds all this out.
Nora was recently divorced and her ex-husband died shortly after so she has no ties to Denver except her Mom and Step-Dad, Henry, whom when loves.
We find out 3/4 way through why she divorced David – she caught him in bed with his best friend, Author, and why he died – flew airplane into Lookout Mountain.
This is all set in 1933 which was neat but also caused difficulties – don’t think she did a good job staying “old.”
Nora comes to terms with her love, guilt over David after spending time at Avoca with Aunt Polly and Ezra and also time in the South.
She eventually decides to live in the Billiard House of Avoca and let Avoca crumble.
You don’t find out about Ezra and Amalia’s love until the last pages and no time is spent throughout the book presenting it, building up to it. We find out that contrary to belief, Bayard Lott didn’t kill himself after he shot Amalia – Ezra shot him with the “Captain’s” gun and threw the gun in the river. Bayard’s gun was assumed to be the murder-suicide weapon. It was only the murder weapon.
Kristin Lavransdatter: II, The Mistress of Husaby
by Sigrid Undset, 1925
Not as good as first book – very difficult to understand – almost all of it – entangled politics, difficult to pronounce/remember characters. But – still really good! Norway 1300’s.
Kristin & Erlend are married. He takes her to his manor – Husaby. She starts to make things better there. Has 1st son, Naakkve – almost kills her. She has a ton of guilt over her and Erlend’s premarital sex. She does penance – walks 20 miles barefoot with Naakkve – spends time at a church – then returns. Many years go by (well, maybe only 10) – she has 6 more sons: Naakkve, Bjorgulf, Gaute, twins Skule and Ivar, Munan, and Lavrans. But, she bears a grudge against Erlend all the while. She cannot forgive or forget any wrong he ever did her. Almost destroys them. Finally, she realizes what he means to her after he is arrested for high treason and faces death. He is imprisoned and found guilty. While waiting in prison, Simon, the man Kristin’s father, Lavrans, wanted her to marry but she spurned for Erlend, arranges very difficult meetings that finally get the king to release Erlend. Simon is such a sweet man – he never stopped loving Kristin, yet he is not bitter. He does end up marrying her little sister when she is 15 and they have a daughter and finally a son after 6 years.
Even though so much I couldn’t understand, it’s still a great book!
Her dear father, Lavrans, and her mother, grow old and die in this book. Kristin marvels at the love Lavrans and her mother, Ragnfred, have at the end of their lives – deep, deep love She never saw it while growing up.
Erlend loves, her, adores her, puts up with her bitterness and unforgiving heart and stays true to her until he decides on a whim after many, many years to have a fling with Lady Symiva (not sure, I can’t read my writing). She’s the one who turns him in for treason after he spurns her. Turns out she read some of his letters.
Kristin’s father ends up liking Erlend and respecting him and scolds Kristin for her meanness to Erlend.
None of their 7 sons dies -all are able to make it out of infancy. They are all handsome lads.
Quiet Strength
by Tony Dungy, 2007
Insider’s look at the NFL and Coach Tony Dungy, a very Christian man. He put God first and his faith never waivered, despite getting fired by the Bucs in 2002 after he turned the team around over years starting in 1996. And his oldest son’s suicide on Dec. 22, 2005. He won the Super Bowl in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Yearling
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1939
BEAUTIFUL BOOK!! The Baxter’s, Penny (Dad), Ma, Jody-son, live in a clearing on high ground in Florida. They farm and raise or hunt all their food. Tote water from the sink hole. Nearest neighbors are the Forrester’s, typical moonshiners. They are bothered by a bear – Ol’ Slewfoot – who kills their stock in the middle of the night. Jody is lonely, adopts a fawn, it grows up, eats their crops, and must be shot. This about kills Jody, he runs away, almost starves to death, comes home a man.
Incredible descriptions of hunts (Jody and his Dad finally get Ol’ Slewfoot one Christmas day), fishing, nature (flowers, birds, streams, forests), people (his ma; his Dad, Penny; The Forrester’s, esp. Lem, Fodderwing, Buck; Doc; Grandma Huho; Oliver; etc.)
We grow up with Jody. What a beautiful, wonderful book!!!
Last few sentences:
“Flag – He did not believe he should ever again love anything, man or woman or his own child, as he had loved the yearling. He would be lonely all his life. But a man took it for his share and went on.
“In the beginning of his sleep, he cried out, “Flag!”
“It was not his own voice that called. It was a boy’s voice. Somewhere beyond the sinkhole, past the magnolias, under the live oaks, a boy and a yearling ran side by side, and were gone forever.”
Perelandra
by C.S. Lewis, 1943
(2nd in the Space Trilogy)
Ransom is taken to Perelandra (Venus). It is a land of floating islands, friendly beasts, bubble trees, and yellow gourds delicious beyond belief. The Bubble trees refresh you better than a cool shower on a hot day. The Yellow gourds, which grow on trees, taste so good–they are filled with a delicious liquid. The land is spongy and soft. The nights are dark but warm and the days are beautiful and filled with yellow light. If it rains, it is warm and you can go to a special place where the trees shelter you. It’s Paradise.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008
Recommended by Christie Leighton, finished 7-10-10 camping up at Chambers Lake, gorging myself on Gorp, pringles, cheese and crackers and wine!
By Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, Annie Barrows. Annie finished the book when Mary Ann’s health prohibited her from doing so, August 2008.
What a LOVE STORY!! Guernsey is a Channel Island occupied by the Germans in WWII. Amelia has a pig roast illegally and invites fellow islanders. They get caught on the way home. Elizabeth makes up a story that they have a literary society and asks if they’d like to join. Thus starts the amazing tale of Islanders come together during German occupation. Elizabeth befriends a German officer. They have a child, Kit. German officer, Christian Hellman, is killed over Italy, I think. Elizabeth is taken away from them while they were amidst the occupation, because she was helping a young adolescent Todt slave worker who was almost dead. The islanders didn’t know she was dead until they got a letter from Remy Giraud, who was with her until her execution in camp Ravensbruck. A guard was beating a poor menstruating girl and Eliz. grabbed the rod and started beating the guard. They took her out the next day, had her walk in a row of poplars, she knelt down and they shot her in the back of the head.
None of this you discover until Juliet Ashton, a young English writer, gets a letter from Dawsey because he got her book by Charles Lamb and wanted to know if there were any other books by Charles Lamb. It’s all a series of letters from Dawsey and other Islanders to Juliet and back and between Juliet and her publisher Sidney Stark and her best friend, his sister, Sophie. It keeps you en-rapt until the end – after Juliet moves to the island, jilts Mark Reynolds, falls in love with Dawsey, adopts Kit, and finally professes her love to Dawsey and asks him to marry her and he says yes.
What a wonderful, wonderful book!! Loved every minute of it. Every page, every letter. One of the most interesting characters is Isola Pribby, an islander who makes potions and tonics. Sidney stays with her while visiting Juliet. She is a character!! She finds out Sidney is gay. They develop quite a friendship. He sends her books – Phrenology – study of bumps on head. She reads everyone’s bumps on their heads, including Billy Ree’s, who was on the island to pick up Oscar Wilde’s eight letters written anonymously, signed with his initials only, to Isola. Grandma Pheen and her Duplicitious Bump was extremely large and they foiled her attempt to steal the letters and give them to her trash journalist lover.
Isola is a treasure! As are all the islanders! LOVED this book!!!
Here are the different books the islanders read:
Selected Essays of Elia, by Charles Lamb (Dawsey Adams)
Wuthering Heights (Isola Pribby)
The Pickwick Papers (Amelia Maugery)
Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, Shirley, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (These are books Juliet mentions to Isola because they are by the Bronte sisters.)
Selections from Shakespeare, also books by Mr. Dickens and Mr. Wordsworth (Eben Ramsey)
Poetry by a Roman named Catullus (Clovis Fossey)
Poetry by Wilfred Owen (Clovis Fossey)
Poetry of William Wordsworth (Clovis Fossey)
The Letters of Seneca (John Booker)
Past and Present by Thomas Carlyle (Will Thisbee)
The Double Comfort Safari Club
by Alexander McCall Smith, 11th #1 Ladies Detective Series, 2010
Phuti Radiphuti has his leg crushed by one of his delivery men who backed his truck into him. He has to have the lower part amputated. His Aunty won’t let Mma Makutsi visit in the hospital but Mma Ramotswe gets that changed and he heals up very fast and is released. His Aunty takes him to her house and again won’t let Grace visit. In the end, Mma Potokwane finds out and roars her way to Aunty’s home with Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe and takes Phuti to the Orphanage happily where Mma Makutsi can see him every night.
Violet Sephotho deceives a young man, Mr. Kereleng, into buying a house and putting it in her name. Then, refusing to marry him, he comes to Mma Ramotswe for help. She goes to her attorney friend who ends up being the one who did the original deed. He had never filed it and had put the wrong address on it. So Mma Ramotswe & Mma Makutsi go to her house saying a new deed will need to be signed and Violet knows Mr. Kereleng won’t sign it and goes berserk, attacking Mma Makutsi.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi go north to Maun to safari camps looking for the guide of a Mrs. Grant who left him $3,000 in her will – not knowing the name of the camp except it’s an animal or a bird. They go to Eagle Island Camp first and think they found the guide until he shows them a picture of Mrs. Grant and it’s not the same woman. Mma Ramotswe has another guide, Mighty, take her to another camp, the Lion’s Tail, and finds the real guide – who happens to be marrying the other guide’s sister, and will end up giving him most of the 3000 as a bridal prize.
Pretty good book – not quite as good as Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.
Out of the Silent Planet
by C.S. Lewis, 1938
Marvelous Book! Fantastic Story!
Ransom is kidnapped by Weston and Devine – taken in their spaceship to Malacandra where they were going to turn him over to the Sorns for a human sacrifice, they thought. Ransom escapes and meets up with the Hross – a friendly, large, fur-covered people. He lives with the Hross for awhile – learns their language and ways. Then they go on a hunt to kill a hrnakra – a shark-like creature and Ransom kills the Hrnakra but his friend, Hyoi, is murdered by Weston and Devine.
Ransom is supposed to go to Oyarsa, an eldil had spoken to Hyoi before the hunt, but Ransom insisted on the hunt so after Hyoi is killed, he starts the trek to Oyarsa. He climbs to a Sorn, Augray, who carries him the rest of the way to Meldilorn. There, Ransom speaks to Oyarsa. And then the bent ones, Weston and Devine, are brought to Oyarsa. He interviews Weston – finds out his plan – kill everyone on Malacandra so humans can take over. Banishes he and Weston. Ransom decides to go to Earth with them rather than live on Malacandra. They barely make it home – first thing he asks for when he leaves the space-ship, “A pint of bitter.”
The earth is the silent planet because it is ruled by the evil one. Malacandra has 3 peoples – hnau – the Hrossa – who fish and farm – the Sorns – who are the thinkers – and the pfifltrigs – who mine gold (sun’s blood – what Devine was after) and make beautiful objects. They all live in peace – no crime, murder, hate, envy. They have eldils among them – strong spirit beings they can see, but Ransom could only sense by changes in the light – Oyarsa was the head eldil.
Space travel – beautiful descriptions of a heavenly, healing light which Ransom drank up while on the spaceship – not cold and dark like we think of space. One side of ship was light – the other was night.
“There was an endless night on one side of the ship and an endless day on the other: each was marvellous and he moved from the one to the other at his will, delighted.”
On the light side: “…through depth after depth of tranquillity far above the reach of night, he felt his body and mind daily rubbed and scoured and filled with new vitality.”
Also, beautiful descriptions of Malacandra – bright blue waters that were warm. Purple trees, rose pink clouds that were solid actually and greenish spires/mountains of ice.
Mostly what Ransom realized was that there was nothing to fear on Malacandra. Weston and Devine never could get to that point. Their minds/hearts were darkened by our bent earth.
Fantastic Tale!
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
by Alexander McCall Smith, 2009
Great book! LOVED this one!! Mma Ramotswe solves the mystery of why the soccer team, the Kalahari Swoopers, are losing all of their games. Actually, her foster son, Puso, figured it out – it was that the owner, Mr. Molofololo, kept changing things and their shoes were uncomfortable so they couldn’t play their best football any more. Mr. Molofololo thought there was a traitor on the team but it turned out to be him and his insistence on them wearing these new shoes!
Also, Violet Sephotho goes to work for Phuti Radiphuti’s Double Comfort Furniture Shop, selling beds. Her idea is to steal him away from Grace. She sells many beds. Mma Ramotswe decides to have Charlie go buy a bed. He plays interested but then says he has to think about it and she propositions him – if you buy this bed, I’ll help you try it out. Charlie tells Phuti – not knowing it was Phuti – and he fires Violet on the sot. She is a wicked woman!
And Mma Ramotswe’s little white van dies – she is so very sad. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni buys her a beautiful blue van. She still misses her little white van and she and Fanwell drive to the junkyard to get it back but it was already sold.
One very poignant part was Mma Ramotswe’s worry and love for Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni on the day he goes to help a friend in his garage in Lobatse.
“She waved back from the window, and suddenly, inexplicably, felt an urge to rush out into the yard to speak to him before he left, to tell him something…She gave his hand a squeeze. “I wanted to thank you,” she said. He was puzzled “For what? Thank me for what?” “For everything you’ve given me, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.”
“He looked away. He was not one for displays of emotion; he never had been, but it made his heart swell to be thanked by this woman who stood for so much in his eyes; who stood for kindness and generosity and understanding; for a country of which he was so proud; who stood for Africa and all the love that Africa contained.”
BEAUTIFUL BOOK!! LOVED IT!!
Tinkers
by Paul Harding, 2009
Finished as fast as I could – like abstract art – all over the place, written like his notes of nature while on acid. It did have a main story in between the “trips.”
A man is dying of cancer – laying in his living room – memories of his father, an epilectic, who left them because his wife was going to have him committed. He was a loving, gentle, creative man who sold pans, brushes, soap, etc. on his wagon over the dirt roads of Maine. He never made much money. He thought his wife loved him but she was a cold-hearted woman – couldn’t stand him or their 5 kids. He moved one night to Philadelphia – sold his horse and wagon, started as a bag boy, met a wonderful woman who loved him, married him, and helped him in his seizures-took him to a good doctor and his seizures all but stopped. In 1953, he went to visit his grown-up son.
This son is the one who is dying of cancer – and as he dies, he remembers his father. This son, George, was a tinkerer – clock repairer, loved all his clocks. Set in 1900’s (early).