A Life of Reading Words
DATE: 1/6/26
Challenge Titles Finished (Totals To Date):
Titles Finished: Totals for 2025:
All titles left to go for Challenge: 3,540
Next count: 1/1/27
Farmer, David R. Jack Rittenhouse: a Western Literary Life. University of New Mexico Press, 2026.
Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often get to read interesting books. This is one of those books.
I must preface this review by saying this was one of the best biographies I have read in a long time. I felt like I knew Jack Rittenhouse intimately by the time I was finished. An excellent if dense (said under breath), read!
Jack Rittenhouse’s childhood molded his fascination with books at an early age. He worked in a library as a teenager and helped print materials for the Boy Scouts. He wrote poems, plays, and essays in his spare time. As an adult he became a bookseller, started a private press and owned over 9,000 books. He seemed destined to always be surrounded by the written word. When he started to write his own books he concentrated on writing books on topics that fascinated him on a personal level. His first foray into authorship was a guidebook for the old Route 66. As a devotee to the desert, he romanticized the original 5,000 mile journey from Chicago to Los Angeles. His second was a niche subject about American horse-drawn vehicles. Always exemplary with his work ethic, Rittenhouse went on to display indefatigable ambition and a passion for researching a variety of topics. I found his commitment to attending meetings of the Western Historical Association impressive. For twenty-eight years he didn’t miss a one. There is so much more to Mr. Rittenhouse that you will just have to read for yourself.
As an aside, what happened to New York City’s book row? I have never heard of it.
Author fact: Farmer was once the library director for Southern Methodist University.
Book trivia: Jack Rittenhouse is the first ever biography of Rittenhouse.
Saly, M.D. How To Master the Power of Silence. 2026.
Reason read: I received this book by mistake. As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often request ten to twelve books at a time. I cannot always remember which books I requested so when How to Master the Power of Silence showed up I assumed I had requested it. Nope. I didn’t realize my mistake until the real MD Saly book showed up.
Confessional: because this book was received in error I stopped reading it. In truth, I was relieved to not have to finish it. There was a great deal of redundancy in such a short book. In fifty pages, this is what I learned about silence.
Here are the things silence can do: give you perspective, give you room to think, encourages others to reflect, teaches you, makes you notice noise, gives you space, changes the way you communicate, protects emotional energy, acts like a filter, gives you more authority, creates space, starts reshaping who you are, creates respect, strengthens emotional relationships, improves self awareness, opens the door for you to understand yourself, helps you chose words, reshapes the room, serves as a tool to detect dishonesty, freeze chaos, make you smarter, make you calm, make you disciplined, gives your mind space, slows the moment, regulate behavior, prevent emotions form taking over, create space, refine perception, train you to observe, build confidence, brings a sense of self control, prevents misunderstanding, keeps situations from escalating, train your inner compass, interrupt the cycle, transform dynamics, and reshapes the room without aggression.
Here are the things silence is: a subtle authority, an advantage of emotional control, self control, stabilizing, an anchor, a physiological reset, a protective barrier, a filter, a doorway to clarity, space, about endurance, productive, fertile ground, strategic in social settings, a secret weapon, a tool (mentioned twice), a powerful tool, power (mentioned twice), powerful, active, hilarious, effective.
Here are the things silence is not: boring (mentioned twice), passive (mentioned three times), emptiness (mentioned twice), coldness, a sign of confusion, weakness, detachment.
Here are the things silence does not do: announce itself, argue, make you distant.
Everything in this book seemed to be common sense.
Krug, J.A. and D.S. Myer. WRA: a Story of Human Conservation. United States Department of the Interior.
Reason read: April 15th is universally known as tax day.
J.A. Krug, Secretary of the War Relocation Authority put together a comprehensive report of the WRA program.
What was old is new again. During World War II “enemy aliens” were to be removed from high threat areas of the Pacific Coast region (California, Oregon, and Washington). These “enemy aliens” were determined by Japanese lineage: Issei – immigrant Japanese born in Japan, Nisei – American born, American educated children of the Issei, and Kibei – born in America, but educated in Japan. The burning question was how “American” were the Nisei?
Otherwise known as Order #9066 the War Relocation Authority mandate removed a large contingent, over 110,000 Japanese and Japanese-American men, women, and children from their homes. In total the program lasted four years and two days but left lifetimes of trauma. It was a convoluted plan and the government was in a difficult situation. The bombing of Pearl Harbor accelerated a paranoia over national safety, but they also had to handle evacuees with fairness and human decency. Using a 1798 Congressional authority giving the President broad power to deal with a national alien enemy in wartime, the WRA came into existence. Ten relocation centers were established to “evacuate” the Japanese-American population from the west coast.
Many times throughout the reading of WRA I wanted to play devil’s advocate and ask things like what did Senator Chandler mean when he wanted to separate the “disloyal” evacuees from other residents at the various WRA centers? Was the fact that Japanese evacuees were only allowed employment if they never resided or studied in Japan and passed a background check all that fair? It is no wonder that the President of the United States had to apologize to the Japanese-American community. First, they were removed from their homes with the excuse that their nationality was a perceived threat to national security. At the same time they were told they were being relocated for their own safety. Oh and by the way, the government wants them to sign up to help with the war effort. Obviously not trusted in their homes but trusted to serve in the U.S military. But first they need to renounced their native country and pledge allegiance to the country which does not trust them in their own homes. If they were not enlisting, they were assisting with the agricultural needs of the nation.
Despite their best efforts to create a sense of community and safety, the relocation ended up being the creation of detention centers under military control. Rumors ran rampant about the care and attention the internees were receiving while the rest of the war-time Americans had food insecurities. Many believed the food in the relocation centers was better and more available than what was on the shelves at their local market.
I was relieved to see a chapter on the property of the evacuees because that was one of my burning questions. What did they do with their possessions? Storage? If so, where? Evacuees were encouraged to make their own arrangements for personal property.
Book trivia: One of nine reports, the WRA provides a chronology of the evacuation and the WRA program from January 29, 1942.
BookLust Trivia: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Your Tax Dollars at Work” (p 239).
Fussell, Paul. Great War and Modern Memory. Oxford University Press, 1975.
Reason read: even though I am reading about the Spanish Civil War and you would think one war would be enough, I am also reading Great War and Modern Memory in honor of April 6th 1917 as the day the United States entered World War I. I should also add that I am reading WRA: a story of human conservation about the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II and Birds Without Wings which also has scenes of war. Even Power Without Glory has an element of war. It seems I am thoroughly saturated with war stories this month. The lice in pant seams has come up more than a few times.
It is amazing how hand in hand war and literature has always been. If veterans were not writing about the experiences of war, soldiers at the front didn’t want to die until they learned what happened next in chapter of their favorite novels. It is as if literary and historical documents bravely hold hands against the barrage of bullets in the midst of chaos and carnage. Life imitated art and art mirrored life in the literature.
One of the most interesting facts of Great War and Modern Memory is the inclusion of the soldier’s Field Service Post Card, a form of communication which dehumanized and automated communication with a code of what could and could not be said to loved ones back home. I appreciated the small facts that otherwise seemed out of place.
Author fact: Fussell was a professor of English Literature at Rutgers University.
Book trivia: Great War and Modern Memory was dedicated to an infantry sergeant who was killed next to Fussell in France in 1945. Some events stay with you for the rest of your life.
Music: “Sprinkle Me with Kisses if You Want My Love to Grow,” “Tipperary,” “Colonel Bogey March,” “When It’s Apple Blossom Time in Normandy,” and “I Want to Go Home.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the obvious chapter called “World War I Nonfiction” (p 251).
Stansky, Peter and William Abrahams. Journey to the Frontier: Two Roads to the Spanish Civil War. Little, Brown and Company, 1966.
Reason read: the Spanish Civil War ended in April.
Julian Bell (1908 – 1937) and John Cornford (1915 – 1936): Both were poets, intellectuals, English, and part of the aristocracy. Both had famous relatives (Bell was the nephew of Virginia Woolf and Cornford was the great-grandson of Charles Darwin). How did they both end up fighting for the Republic and ultimately dying in the Spanish Civil War?
Julian started at Cambridge as a soldier for peace in 1929. At twenty-six he was unsure of his future and the critical dilemma of his day was how to oppose the war and Hitler at the same time. His life was very full before heading to Spain: poetry, academia, literature, philosophy, politics, and even romance all vied for Julian’s attention. He lived all of it to the fullest, including an entanglement with a jealous and clingy yet decidedly married woman in China. What Julian said of the woman was quite amusing, “She’s such a devil when she cares to be, and yet completely charming” (p 292). That’s love for you.
One of the most poignant comments Julian Bell made, “It’s the most dramatic step I’ve taken, I think, after being born” (p 250).
Rupert John Cornford seemed destined for war, named after a poet who was eager to go on a military expedition. Like Julian Bell, Cornford was absorbed in literature. At fourteen he was critiquing his mother’s poetry (and was quite harsh, I might add). He once said of her, “I don’t believe chaos begins till things get lost” (p 197) in response to her lack of tidiness. The Young Communist League in London was the center of his life.
John Cornford was only supposed to be in Spain for a few days. He wanted to see the fighting and then get back before anyone missed him. Cornford’s companion in Spain, Franz Borkenau, supplements Cornford’s movements, filling in details and confirming events.
Confessional: I read about John’s end around the time of the ten year anniversary of Prince’s passing so when John, despite a nasty head injury left the hospital out of boredom I couldn’t help but think of Prince. Even though John’s body hadn’t healed properly he checked himself out for fear of missing out on the action.
Julian Bell set out to be an ambulance driver in the Spanish Civil War. What is interesting is that he didn’t know how to drive a lorry; he didn’t know how to speak Spanish; he didn’t know how to administer first aid; he didn’t know how to tell if someone was deceased. Nevertheless, he wanted to gain a first-hand military experience. Like John Cornford, Julian Bell had a companion, Richard Rees, to bolster his narrative.
Journey to the Frontier dips into the life of Lynton Strachey and examines E.M. Forster’s Howards End in the time of the Edwardian-era heyday.
Author facts: Stansky is a graduate of Yale and Abrahams is a graduate of Harvard.
Book trivia: It has been said that the title Journey to the Frontier is the fusion of two different works: On the Frontier, a play by Auden and Isherwood and Journey to the Border, a novel by Upward.
Music: Beethoven, Sibelius, “Pie in the Sky,” “Solidarity Forever,” “Bandiera Rossa,” “La Cucaracha,” “The Old Grey Mare,” and “She Was Poor but She Was Honest.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Spain” (p 218).
De Bernieres, Louis. Birds Without Wings. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Reason read: In Turkey there is a day in April called Children’s Day.
De Bernieres introduces a mystery within the very first few pages of Birds Without Wings. You do not know what Ibrahim did to the beautiful Philothei. You do not know what the narrator did to his son Karatavuk except to say he/she lives in shame. Throughout Birds Without Wings the reader is introduced to a myriad of characters. The Dog – a mysterious stranger whose smile gives nightmares to children and adults alike. Mustafa Kernal – the teenager in Military Training School. Karatavuk, Mehmetak, Polyxeni, Ayse, Stamos, Snowbringer, Leech Gatherer, Tamara, Broken-Nosed, Rustern Bey, Charitos, Yusufthe Tall, among others. At the center is Philothei, betrothed since childhood to Ibrahim. Ever since childhood she has been beautiful beyond measure.
This is a story of human nature in the midst of prejudice and hate, war and relationships. Told from the perspective of a myriad of characters, Birds Without Wings is tragic and heartbreaking and beautiful all at once.
De Bernieres knows human relationships, especially marriage. I had to laugh at this situation: when a wife is unhappy with her husband he might get a little too much pepper in his food. After doing a bad thing the husband thinks I am going to get too much pepper in my food again tonight. But a husband a;ways has more power. He can put aside his wife and get a new one if he thinks she has been adulterous.
As an aside, I wish I had paid attention to all the bird references from the beginning of Birds Without Wings. There were so many! Sparrows, seagulls, ducks, doves, goldfinches, pigeons, partridges, nightingales, robins, owls, blackbirds, songbirds – they all soar (or cannot) and sing and escape cages. Of course, the ultimate little bird is the lovely Philothei who states plainly, “I have found that perfection is not enough” (p 463).
Author fact: Louis De Bernieres also wrote Corelli’s Mandolin but I am not reading it for the Challenge. Birds Without Wings is my only De Bernieres book.
Quotes to quote, “There comes a point in life where each of us who survives to feel like a ghost that has forgotten to die at the right time…” (p 3). What about this quote, “Nowadays no one would say, “I think we’ll remove all these people from their homes and send them to another country” (p 487)?!
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79) and again in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Turkish Delights” (p 238) which always makes me think of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Oxford University Press, 1900.
Reason read: Trollope’s birth month. Read in his honor.
Can You Forgive Her? is the first instalment in the Palliser or Parliamentary series and follows three parallel stories about dating and marriage. All the single women in Can You Forgive Her? are in relationships with men of varying repute. This was an era when virtual strangers could tell a person who to marry or how to live one’s life. Antiquated norms made for a humorous read.
And speaking of humor, I was surprised to find there was a little humor sprinkled throughout Can You Forgive Her? Take, for example, the description of the green room being an abomination and ugly with deformed furniture. I could picture the space and found it worth a chuckle. Or, how about this insult? “…false tongued little parasite that she was” (p 413). Beyond humor, even more surprising was the element of violence and danger when George Vavasor is caught in a robbery.
All in all, I found Alice Vavasor to be an annoying character. She was torn between marrying two different fellows and her reasoning for how she treated each of them was irksome. I don’t think I would have made it through all three volumes of Can You Forgive Her? without the occasional narration of Sage Tyrtle from Quirky Nomad. The expressive way she reads is very funny. Too bad she doesn’t read the whole thing!
As an aside, I found the fox hunt scene particularly disturbing.
Natalie connection: when Lady Glencora (?) has the conversation about age and growing old I immediately thought of Natalie. According to Lady G twenty-five years of age seems ancient. On her album, Leave Your Sleep, Natalie revised a poem by Laurence Almatedema which has the line, “When I am getting old at nearly twenty-eight or nine, I’ll buy myself a little orphan girl and bring her up as mine.”
Quotes to quote, “Alice sat silent, not knowing what to say in answer to this charge brought against her, – thinking perhaps, that the questioner would allow his question to pass without an answer” (p 218). Like Alice, I have been in that situation many a time. Here’s two more quotes that I liked, “there can be no guilt in her remembrance” (p 295) and “All is right as a trivet” (p 421). Can someone please explain what that means?
Author fact: Anthony Trollope was born on April 24th, 1815.
Book trivia: Can You Forgive Her? is in the public domain so I listened to a great deal of it on LibVox. It was narrated by a variety of readers. My favorite was the woman who would sigh loudly after each chapter she finished.
For the print trivia – I was amused by the advertisements on the inside cover: Beetham’s Glycerine and Cucumber, Cadbury Cocoa, and Ward Lock and Co.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 15).
Wiley-Smith, Christopher. In His Absence: A Brother, A Life, and What Endures. 2026.
Reason read: As a member of LibraryThing since 2006 I occasionally get to review amazing books for their Early Review Program. This is definitely one such book.
Christopher starts In His Absence by explaining the why of his story. Not only as a way to express grief, but a way to keep his brother Alex, alive in his memories. By sharing Alex’s biography Christopher’s brother is still with him and by default, all of us…even as strangers.
From an early age, Alex had a deep sense of mistrust. Maybe it started with the neighbor who passed away when the brothers were really young. Or maybe it was the father with anger issues which could flare up at any time and often without warning. It seems probable that their parents contentious and sometimes violent divorce had a hand in Alex’s troubled childhood; the dissolvement of the relationship was threatening enough to involve a restraining order. Maybe the drama was one of the reasons Alex resorted to physical violence that went beyond the typical dust-up between brothers; smashing rotary phones into his brother’s face or spraying him with mace. No matter the origin of Alex’s troubles, they only increased as he got older.
Even as Alex moved into adulthood and was making a name for himself in the tech industry his demons relentlessly stalked him. It just goes to show you how someone could have an outward appearance of success but actually be failing on the inside. Thoughts of suicide whispered until they became a scream of reality. This is a well-written but heartbreaking story.
As an aside, Wiley-Smith tells the story of a neighbor who passed away. Later in the story Wiley-Smith’s mother takes in another elderly neighbor who ends up dying in their home. Are these one and the same women? Another headscratcher was the trial about this selfsame neighbor. Wiley-Smith testified to the woman’s last will and testament but I missed the outcome somehow.
Book trivia: I was pleasantly surprised by the plethora of photographs barely ten pages into In His Absence. An added bonus is that a great deal of the photos are in color. I am not sure why, but I took the number of photographs as a sign that Wiley-Smith had nothing to hide.
There is a little repetition with a paragraph on page 144. The same paragraph is printed twice. Same for pages 220 and 242.
Music: “Happy Birthday,” MC Hammer, “Be Careful Little Eyes,” Paula Abdul, “Jesus Loves Me,” “This Little Light Of Mine,” “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Motley Crue’s “Doctor Feelgood,” Lady Gaga, Usher, Tupac Shakur, Cold, Korn,
Confessional: Wiley-Smith remembers the sting of losing an X-Wing fighter to another kid. When I was of a similar age I picked the wrong hand holding a rope bracelet. To this day, not winning the bracelet stings.
Deeper confessional: I think I could talk grief with Wiley-Smith. I share the same philosophy that remembrance is an act of devotion. I adore someone two years departed. I never do this. they say there is a first time for everything. This is my remembrance of Nash:
This is How I Remember
If I order your favorite food it is because I want to have another meal with you.
I will always remember how you take your coffee.
If I wear your cast-off clothes it is because I want another hug.
I will always remember being in the warmth of your rib-cracking arms.
If I want to spend time with your family it is because I want to see the resemblance.
Will I catch a glimpse of you?
I will always remember your smile.
If I listened to your music it is because I might hear you sing.
I will always remember the laughter in the lyrics.
If I talk about you it is my ways of keeping your memory alive.
If I talk about you I hope the listener will let me go on and on and on.
This is how I remember you.
And remember you, I will. Always.
Gappah, Petina. Elegy for Easterly: Stories. Faber and Faber, 2009.
Reason read: Zimbabwe gained its independence in April.
The short stories:
Quotes I loved, “I thought I loved him; but that was in another country” (p 8), “And we had no jam for our bread, no milk for our tea while Peter drank away our father’s inheritance in London” (p 75), “Fame is an elastic concept especially in a place like this, where we all know the smells of one another’s armpits” (p 91).
Music: Oliver Mtukudzi, Michael Jackson, Bhundu Boys, Alick Macheso, Andy Brown and the Storm, System Tazvida and the Chazezesa Challengers, Cephas Mashakada and Muddy Face, Boyz II Men, Hosiah Chipanga and the Broadway Sounds, Mai Charamba and the Fishers of Men, Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu and Orchestra Dendera Kings, Tongai “Dehwa” Moyo and Utakataka Express, Bob Marley, Chamunorwa Nebeta and the Glare Express, Lumumbashi Stars, “Bhutsu Mutandarikwa,” and the Eagles’s “Hotel California.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Zipping Through Zimbabwe/Roaming Rhodesia” (p 268).
Saly, M.D. Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly and Finish What Matters. 2026.
Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing here is the correct book I was supposed to receive from M.D. Saly.
Cal Newport, Adam Grant, J.K. Rowling, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, reporters, engineers… They all devised ways to stay focused in times of heavy or concentrated work. Cal Newport is quoted the most as he wrote an entire book on the subject. Saly’s version, Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly and Finish What Matters is much shorter with common sense tips for success. I found the suggestions about noise-canceling headphones and smart phone settings to be the most helpful (until I missed an important call from a not-so important number). A question though – if you are supposed to break up with your device, why encourage more apps to download? For the truly addicted this seems like a trap.
My favorite part of Deep Work for Distracted People was the information at the end of every chapter. Saly supplied a summary, the lesson learned, and specific takeaways relating to the chapter. It was a great way to sum up the extensive information covered in the previous chapter.
As an aside, I was inadvertently sent a different early review from Saly and I found Deep Work for Distracted People to be far more informative and less repetitive with subject matter. In fact, I enjoyed Saly’s writing in Depp Work for Distracted People. I was reminded of a runner I follow on Instagram who talks the same way Saly writes. I didn’t mind the analogies because I think in analogy all the time. I especially liked the comment about turning a noisy street into a quiet library.
Salak, Kira. The Cruelest Journey: 600 Miles to Timbuktu. National Geographic, 2005.
Reason read: Timbuktu gained its independence from Mali in April.
Why do we as humans do hard things? Why do we run one hundred miles in a desert? Why does Kira Salak want to travel the length of the Niger River from Old Segou to Timbuktu? Six hundred miles of enlightenment? Courage? Money? Recognition? Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer from the 1770s is an obvious inspiration for Salak. She draws upon the experiences gleaned from Park’s letters about his journey down the Niger River in 1795 Not only does Salak provide readers with a mini biography of the man, she also includes a great deal of historical context when thinking (obsessing?) about Mungo Park.
What sets The Cruelest Journey apart from other travel memoirs is that Salak lets the reader into her private thoughts and fears in a transparent manner. In addition to worrying about her safety and getting to Timbuktu in one piece, she is equally concerned about her future. Will she get married and settled down? She goes to great lengths to get answers.
I have to admit the buying of the slave girls was an odd twist at the end of the journey. Even though freeing a couple of Mali slave girls was an objective Salak claimed to have had from the very beginning, she did not mention it throughout her journey until the end. Wouldn’t this be on her mind as she travels the six hundred miles? It’s not like looking out for hippos or dealing with dysentery. Buying people just isn’t common practice for a young white girl.
As an aside, I was reminded of the nature photographers when out photographing wildlife. They cannot interfere with the circle of life no matter how distressing the situation. When Salak reaches Timbuktu she is suffering from exhaustion, dysentery, starvation, and heat stroke. Remi and his partner, Heather, act like Salak is a wild animal they are not allow to interfere with. Salak does not mention them giving her aid or anything to ease her discomfort and illness other than to offer her a bottle of water, but she repeatedly describes Remi’s personal chef and other luxuries on the boat.
Line I liked, “I’ve never been good at small talk, particularly not with people I’ve just purchased” (p 223). I was going to say this is also something we have in common, besides being left-handed and afraid of hippos, up until the part about purchasing people. My favorite line, however, is the very last sentence in the book, “…the journey will always tell you when it’s over” (p 229).
Author fact: Salak was the subject of a CBS segment in 2008.
Book trivia: even though a National Geographic photographer followed Salak down the Niger River there are no photographs in The Cruelest Journey. I was a little more than disappointed.
Confessional: Salak wrote, “As a matter of fact, I had a strange, irrational fear of hippos that was so strong it might have come out of a past life” (p 31). I, too, have that same strange fear. I do not live anywhere near the animal, but I cannot ever bear to look at them in captivity or on a television screen.
Like Salak, I too, am a southpaw.
Music: Salif Keita
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Timbuktu and Beyond” (p 229).
Smith, Roger. Wake Up Dead. Henry Holt and Company, 2010.
Reason read: Jan van Riebeck founded Cape Town on April 6th, 1652.
The bad guys abound in Wake Up Dead. Even people you do not expect are violent, savage people who aren’t above torture, sodomy, and other nefarious activities. But that is life in South Africa’s Cape Town. Gun runners, drug fiends, gangsters, petty thieves, prostitutes, doctors who keep amputated body parts in the freezer, and just plain greedy individuals all prowl the pages of Wake Up Dead. Disco, Afrika, Piper, the cannibal, Maggot…they all have a score to settle with someone. At the center of the story is Roxanne Palmer, a beautiful American ex-model now married to a criminal. Everyone needs something from Roxy. Money her gun-running dead husband owes Billy Afrika. Piper needs Roxy to lead him to Afrika to finish a botched murder attempted when they were children. Disco thinks Roxy will lead him to a boatload of cash so he can steal to support his out of control drug habit. Throw in a serial killer lobbing off blonde heads and you have yourself a thriller. There is so much violence in Wake Up Dead I lost track of the dead, but I enjoyed Roxy’s strength. I cheered for her redemption.
As an aside, it is interesting to read about the practice of witchcraft in three books at the same time. The Cruelest Journey and Birds Without Wings have a witch presence as well.
Line I liked the best, “Nothing like hating someone to give you a reason to go on living” (p 279).
Author fact: Roger Smith had no way of knowing MySpace was not timeless.
Book trivia: This could be a movie with all of its violence, sex, drugs, and even a little romance.
Music: Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love” and “Because You Loved Me”, Barry White, Nirvana, J Lo, Britney, Three Tenors, Ludacris, Chet Baker’s “Old Devil Moon,” “Abide with Me,” Bob Dylan’s “Death is Not the End,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Courtney Love, and “Happy Birthday.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “South Africa” (p 215). Interestingly enough, Pearl said somewhere that she didn’t like violence (maybe it was in the Lee Child chapter?), but anyway, holy cow there is a LOT of violence in Wake Up Dead. Even the everyday descriptions of things are crude and rude.
Stout, Rex. Curtains for Three. Bantam books, 1994.
Reason read: I continue to slog through the Nero Wolfe mysteries. No. Slog is not the right word. I am enjoying the series tremendously.
Curtains for Three contains three novellas first published together in 1950:
Author fact: to be honest, I have lost track of all the Stout facts so I am skipping this one.
Book trivia: This copy of Curtains for Three included the original cover for Gun with Wings, originally published in Decemeber 1949’s issue of The American Magazine.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 226)
Mowat, Farley. The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be. Little, Brown and Company, 1957.
Reason read: April Fool’s Day and April is Dog Month.
How much of Farley Mowat’s The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is imaginative exaggeration? It is hard to say, but nevertheless it is a delightful read for all ages. Mowat looks back at his childhood in Saskatoon with his faithful dog, Mutt, at his side. The addition of “four cent” Mutt, a goofy, intelligent pup full of personality, lends humor into an otherwise typical 1930s household. Mutt has a personality all his own and often gets his loyal and loving family in trouble, especially while duck hunting, tangling with skunks and anything having to do with boats. Every member of the Mowat family bonds with Mutt in special ways but my favorite stories centered around a pair of mischievous owls, Wols and Weeps, who the Mowat family somehow adopts.
Disclaimer: The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is a bit dated. Hunting practices have changed and leash laws abound these days. The carefree attitudes of the 1930s are a thing of the past.
Confessional: I unexpectedly shed a few tears at the end of The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be. Like all young children with pets, they grow up and leave their animal behind. Humans outlast most furry friends, after all. I knew Mutt was getting old so I was expecting that kind of coming of age, circle of life ending. Not even close. No spoiler alert needed. Just read the book.
Author fact: Mowat also wrote Bay of Spirits which I am slated to read for the Challenge in July of 2031.
Book trivia: The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be was illustrated by Paul Galdone and first published in 1957.
Line I liked, “I did not speak, for I had a certain intuition that silence would be safer” (p 63), “…and in twenty nine years a man can remember a good many things that ought to have happened” (p 177).
Music: “The Bonnets of Bonny Dundee.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two chapters, “Canadian Fiction (p 50) and again in “Humor” (p 116). Also in Book Lust To Go in the simple chapter called “Newfoundland” (p 154).
Roberts, Kenneth. Arundel. Doubleday and Company, 1933.
Reason read: Maine became a state in the month of March.
Steven Nason, a boy from Arundel, Maine, opens his story with the announcement that he wants to set the record straight. He looks back his childhood in 1759 when Steven is only twelve years old. His childhood sweetheart, Mary Mallison, has just been kidnapped and her father murdered. Steven’s father suspects it is the work of Henri Guerlac de Sabrevois, a Frenchman hiding out in Quebec. Calling upon the Abenaki nation for help, Steven and his father set out to rescue the fair maiden Mary. The mission takes years and Steven’s life takes many twists and turns as he and his companions get caught up in the American Revolution. As a historical fiction writer, Kenneth Roberts weaves in events so real they seem to jump off the page. I particularly enjoyed Steven’s loyalty to his friends and the fact that he had a pet seal named Eunice.
Maine towns: Arundel, Brunswick, Falmouth, Kittery, Portland, Wells, and York. I was wondering if Monhegan would make a mention and it does on page 68.
Line I liked, “I growled a little, as Maine folk do when not wishful of answering…” (p 378).
Author fact: Roberts also wrote Northwest Passage which is on my Challenge list.
Book trivia: Arundel is book one of a four-part series. I am not reading any of the other books. Incidentally, my copy of Arundel boasts an extensive list of printings starting with the first publication on November 18th, 1929 all the way through September of 1956.
Music: While I didn’t expect any music in Arundel I was pleasantly proven wrong. “Viva la Canadienne,” “”Lillibullero,” “Benny Wentworth,” “Hot Stuff,” “Yankee Doodle,”
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79). Arundel is also listed in the index of Book Lust To Go int he chapter called “The Maine Chance” (p 135).
~*LunaSea*~ 