Category: audio book

Johnny Got His Gun

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Trumbo, Dalton. Johnny Got His Gun. Narrated by William Dufris. Tantor Media, 2008.
Trumbo, Dalton. Johnny Got His Gun. Bantam Books, 1970.

Reason read: Armistice Day is celebrated on November 11th. Read in honor of that day.

I hope you read the copy of Johnny Got His Gun with the foreword by a mother, Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son to war. Her anger is palpable in every sentence she wrote. Her foreword throbs with an abundance of seething words. She ends with the largest question in the human lexicon – why?
Joe. What a brilliant name for a character. Just your average Joe. Joe is every man. Joe is the average man. Joe is your son. Your brother. Your father or uncle. Your husband or boyfriend. Joe could be your world. Told in flashbacks of better days, Joe was your typical teenager before World War I; he grew up with a good friend, he liked to go fishing, he had good parents, he had a best girl. Then everything changed when adulthood set in. Joe lost his best girl to his best friend. Later he left behind a perfect girl when he shipped off to fight the good fight in World War I. Did want to fight? Maybe. Did he want to become a “piece of meat” with no arms, legs, eyes, ears, or tongue? Unable to move anything but his head, unable to see, hear, or speak? Most definitely not. Joe’s incremental realization of the loss of his limbs, sight, hearing, sense of smell was terrible. Even when he wants someone to end his life he cannot get relief. As an audio book it was even more devastatingly painful to hear. I do not think I would have been able to finish it if I had to read it only in print.

Confessional: I was upset when critics would call Joe “a hunk of meat” until I learned that’s what he thought about himself. He said it first.

Author fact: While not officially banned many schools found it too disturbing to have on their shelves. Trumbo did not mind the threat of banning Johnny Got His Gun. He and his publishers decided to delay a reprinting during World War II.

Book trivia: Johnny Got His Gun won a National Book Award. Metallica used clips from the movie based on the book in one of their songs.

Audio trivia: Read by William Dufris, the narration was amazing.

Music: “After the Ball is Over.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213). At first I thought Johnny Got His Gun would be in the fiction section of the World War I chapter, but horror is the perfect place for this book.

Ender’s Game

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Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Read by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison. Macmillan Audio, 2004.

Reason read: October is Science Fiction Month.

Planet Earth is prepping for a galaxy war against the Buggers. The last skirmish was eighty years ago and Earth barely survived. Recruiting this time around has to be aggressive and highly tactical. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, born in a society of limiting offspring: only two children per family, is known as an extra or Third. As a Third Ender must leave planet Earth at six years old for a boarding school where he trains to be a soldier. He leads an army of other children and it is here that he proves to be a natural-born leader and a prodigy at winning battles. So the saga begins.
Back home, the proverbial power struggle between good and evil begins. While Ender grows into a tactical fighter, his brother Peter demonstrates increasing violent tendencies every day. Their sister, ironically named Valentine (the symbol of love) as the token female, stands in the middle of the two brothers.
One of the most fascinating elements of Ender’s Game is that Card challenges the assumption about reality and what is “normal.”

Author fact: the idea for Ender came when Card was sixteen years old. He was fascinated by the idea of a Battle Room.

Book Audio trivia: listening to the audio was a treat because Orson Scott Card explained his process for writing Ender’s Game. I had no idea the book was meant to be read aloud. Also, when Card first presented Ender’s Game he was told it was fantasy. He needed to change some details, bring in aliens to make it science fiction.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213).

Piano Tuner

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Mason Daniel. The Piano Tuner. Vintage Books, 2002.

Reason read: In November Aung San Suu Kyi was released from a Burmese prison.

Edgar Drake, a reserved piano tuner from London, has been given a curious assignment by the British government. He has been hand picked to repair an ancient grand piano belonging to Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll. Carroll, stationed in the jungles of Burma, refuses to work without the ancient piano in working order. As Edgar journeys to the Surgeon-Major he learns the man is polarizing. In some circles Carroll is a legend and is toasted as a hero; almost a god. While in other places Edgar Drake has been warned not to talk about the Surgeon-Major at all. Not one word. Everywhere Drake goes everyone knows Anthony Carroll for better or worse. [As an aside, there is a such a build-up in The Piano Tuner to meeting the man himself; it is 165 pages before Drake even arrives in Carroll’s Mae Lwin village.]
The jungles of Burma are a far cry from the damp and stodgy London Drake is used to. Before he arrives in Mae Lwin to meet Carrol, he is taken on a tiger hunt. He sees the cruelty of the culture first hand. It was interesting to witness the personal transformation of this quiet Londoner. By the time he reaches Mae Lwin he has fallen in love. His quest doesn’t seem to be about a piano anymore.
[As another aside, I loved the character of Khin Myo, especially when she said “One learns a lot if others assume you are deaf to their tongue” (p 123).]

Author fact: while Mason has written other books The Piano Tuner is the only book I am reading for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Piano Tuner is Daniel Mason’s first novel and was adapted for an opera in 2004. The audio version is read by Richard Matthews.

Music: Vivaldi, “God Save the Queen,” “God Bless the Queen,” “The Woodcutter’s Daughter,” Liszt, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Sharp, and Chopin.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Burmese Days” (p 45).

Raised by a Narcissist

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Bennett, Serena. Raised By a Narcissist: That Woman, AKA My Mother. Read by Jasmine Morentin.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I am privileged to read (or listen to) interesting books. This is one such story.

In March 2024 Serena Bennett decided she needed to tell her story in order to take her healing from childhood trauma to the next level. In addition to therapy, by writing a book, Bennett was able to confront truths that had been long-hidden. Her story could be considered tragic and yet there is an element of self-discovery and triumph; a phoenix rising from the ashes. She grew up with a mother who belittled, criticized, and failed to display any kind of physical affection. Her mother did not know how to nurture a child at her most formative stages. Bennett grew up with verbal and physical abuse from a woman who cared more about being right and being in control at all times.
There is so much more potential to Raised By a Narcissist. I was struck by how short and not sweet this book turned out. It dropped bombshells (“I was raped”) and moved on without fanfare. The book ended much sooner than I expected. The premise is brilliant: each chapter begins with an intelligent quote and ends with the lesson learned. Each chapter has the potential to show the reader more personal growth and healing. I use the word potential because Bennett’s stories about her mother are disjointed and confusing at times. For example, she tells the story of going to a church party and getting drunk but does not share what happened next. Because it was an audio book, I rewound the section a couple of times to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
I would have liked to learn more about Bennett as a person. I was hoping for a deeper connection with her as a survivor of trauma. While I shared similar battles with my mother, her story would have carried even more weight had I been able to get to know her better.
Confessional: there is a workbook that came with the audio. I have yet to crack it open.

Phoenix and the Carpet

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Nesbit, E. The Phoenix and the Carpet. Read by Anna Bentinick. Naxos Audio Books, 2005.

Reason read: May is Nesbit’s birth month. Read in her honor.

The Phoenix and the Carpet is the second book in the Psammead Trilogy. (Five Children and It and Story of the Amulet round out the series). The same five children as in the first book are back: Cyril (Squirrel), Anthea (Panther), Robert (Bobs), Jane (Pussy), and Lamb (Hilary). This time they discover an egg hidden in a carpet. It holds a beautiful talking phoenix. Like a genie from a bottle, once the phoenix is freed from the egg it explains that the carpet can grant three wishes a day. So the children’s adventures begin. The phoenix needs to often consult the Psammead to get the children out of various predicaments, but unlike Five Children and It, this time the Psammead is not the central character of the story.

Author fact: Edith Nesbit was a political activist in addition to being an author.

Book trivia: The Phoenix and the Carpet was first published in 1904. It became a British miniseries in 1997.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fantasy for Young and Old” (p 83).

Denver

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Cordova, Kimberly Burk. Denver Dossier: Themed Adventures for Every Traveler.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review program for LibraryThing I review books from time to time. This is my second time receiving an audio book.

Cordova calls this a comprehensive guide to Denver. I cannot completely agree. While each chapter holds a beautifully descriptive (wordy!) essay about each landmark, the audio version is not a useful guide. There is nothing visual to serve as reference, like a map. I would have to write down specific landmarks if I wanted to remember them for my next trip to Denver. Luckily, I have friends and family who live near the mile-high city and my partner travels there for work 4-5 times a year, so I know where the public bathrooms are located. I know how to navigate public transportation. I know the different seasons and how to dress for an altitude city.
Repetition. There is a great deal of repetition in Denver Dossier. Cordova may use different words and phrases but really she is saying the same thing eight different ways. She uses words like diversity, heritage, and culture over and over again. Maybe it’s an AI thing or maybe it’s a quirk of the author…but here are the phrases I noticed that were used over and over and over and over again: “Fill-in-the-blank is a testament to fill-in-this-other blank.” The testament statement was used over thirty times. Even more repetitive than testament was “fill-in-the-blank is not just a fill-in-this-other blank,” or “blank is more than just a blank…” That similar phrasing was used over one hundred and ten times. The more repetitive the words or phrases, the more I became aware of them.

Aside from the verbosity of the narrative, Cordova lists an impressive number of sights to see. She does not provide hard facts like admission fees, location addresses, or contact information for museums or parks. In the restaurant section she does mention very specific dishes that may or may not be still on the menu when you visit; and she gets little fanciful when she suggests you engage with a mural. There is nothing about banking, bathrooms, hospitals, or cheap places to stay.
Here are a bunch of places mentioned in Denver:

  • Colorado State Capital
  • Molly Brown House
  • Five Points
  • Capital Hill
  • Larimer Square
  • Union Station (several times in different chapters)
  • Red Rocks (several times in different chapters)
  • Confluence Park
  • Hiking Trails
  • Bicycle rental stores and locations
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Denver Zoo
  • Children’s Museum
  • Elitch Park
  • Denver Aquarium
  • Dinosaur Ridge
  • Denver Nature and Science Museum
  • Denver Art Museum (a few times)
  • Butterfly Pavillion
  • Denver Public Library
  • Denver Escape Room
  • History of Colorado Museum
  • Cherry Creek
  • An impressive list of breweries and distilleries
  • Music venues, both popular and obscure
  • Sports arenas and stadiums
  • Specific foods local to Denver/Colorado

As an aside, I am also reviewing Cordova’s book about Santa Fe. The two travel books cannot be any different.

Playlist: Billy Holliday, Duke Ellington, John Denver, U2, Church Fire, Beethoven, and Belvederes.

Santa Fe

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Cordova, Kimberly Burk. Santa Fe: Read by Hannah Stone. Kimberly Burk Cordova, 2024.

Reason read: As part of the Early Review program for LibraryThing, I specifically requested Santa Fe because I love the Southwest.

Santa Fe is full of practical information, explained almost as if to a foreigner to the United States. Time zone, how to get to New Mexico by airplane, train, or bus, local customs, cultural etiquette, dining etiquette (eat slowly!), emergency contacts, tipping, public transportation, what to pack for each season (comfortable walking shoes), even how to drive (right side of the road, wear a seatbelt, do not use your phone unless you are hand-free, and so on) and how to take photographs. Most of this information is readily available on Google so I found myself speeding up the narrative to get to the stuff I didn’t know…like the margarita trail, the top ten tourist traps, and the popularity of blue doors!
As with other travel guides written by Cordova, there was a plethora of information that was often repeated. Certain excursions for toddlers, teenagers, and young adults were mentioned more than a few times (the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and the Botanical Garden, to name two). The sample itineraries seems to be filler. The plans for if you have three, five and seven days in Santa Fe were the most basic and, while the fourteen day seems to include everything from the other days, it had more detail, like specific restaurant names.
Having an audio travel guide is not practical. At least for me, it is definitely not. Case in point, the restaurant list. Cordova gives the mailing address (complete with zip code) for every single place on her list. While some of the places sound fantastic, I would never remember them without writing them down somewhere. Plus, I need maps.

As an aside, after trying to navigate the Roman public bathrooms for my friend with digestive issues, I now would like every travel guide to talk about public toilets. Banks and hotels wouldn’t hurt, either. Especially when Cordova suggests an overnight in Taos if you have fourteen days to spend in New Mexico.

Author fact: Cordova shares a couple of intimate details of her own life, like where she exchange wedding vows in Santa Fe and her favorite restaurants.

Book trivia: Santa Fe is not limited to Santa Fe. Cordova includes Taos and Albuquerque.

Yiddish Policemen’s Union

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Chabon, Michael. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Narrated by Peter Riegert. Audible Productions, 2016.

Reason read: November is Imagination month. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union takes us to an alternate history which is quite imaginative.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union takes place in an alternate history when the Germans do not surrender the Second Great War for another four years past reality and President Kennedy is not assassinated from the grassy knoll. In this alternate history Kennedy ends up marrying Marilyn Monroe (of course he does). Sitka, Alaska is the site of a federally mandated safe refugee location for European Jews. The area was created at the height of World War II and sixty years later, the safe haven still exists. Only, now Alaska wants their territory back. The plot is great, but the characters of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union are what makes the novel hum. Chabon’s characters exude personality. To name a few: Meyer Landsman, the main protagonist, was a character I loved. This flawed policeman whose life is a mess cannot let go of one particular cold case, the murder of a drug addled chess prodigy and supposed messiah. Landsman is supervised by his ex-wife, Bina and she has ordered the force to abandon all cold cases now that the safe haven for refugees is being dismantled. Berko Shemets, his partner is half Jewish, half Tlingit and all intimidation.

As an aside, listen to the audio version narrated by Peter Riegert. Additionally, there is an interview with Michael Chabon that is not to be missed.

Author fact: Michael Chabon is also a screenwriter.

Book trivia: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union won a Hugo Award in 2008 and a Locus Award that same year.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Travel to Imaginary Places” (p 236).

Hearts in Atlantis

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King, Stephen. Hearts in Atlantis. Scribner, 1999.

Reason read: Stephen King’s face should be in the dictionary next to the word ‘scary.’ Read in honor of Halloween.

Critics have cited King’s first novel, Carrie, when reviewing Hearts in Atlantis. Like Carrie, Hearts in Atlantis carries a running theme of the Vietnam War and psychological breakdowns. Like a television on in the background where no one is watching, the conflict begins as a faint constant presence, a hum, until it becomes a deafening roar by the end of the book. Despite having five separate narratives Hearts in Atlantis reads like a fragmented novel. The character narratives are sequential in nature, allowing the reading to stay connected to particular characters from beginning to end, even though the locations and stories change.
In the 254 page short novella that kicks off Hearts in Atlantis, “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” eleven year old Bobby Garfield just wants to buy a bicycle. It is his birthday and all his mother can afford is an adult library card. This is when Bobby is introduced to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and the weird upstairs neighbor, Ted. Suddenly, adults are no longer the protectors he has always trusted. Predators lurk behind faces he has known all his life. Bobby was a good kid who slowly soured on doing the right thing. He sank lower into a life of crime – breaking windows, drinking, theft.
In the next short story, “Hearts in Atlantis,” we leave Bobby and follow Pete who ends up dating Bobby’s childhood girlfriend, Carol. Carol is now college-aged and she is the one who ties “Low Men in Yellow Coats” and “Hearts in Atlantis” together. In fact, she, together with the Vietnam war, are the linchpins that hold all of the stories together.

Lines I loved, “Put a glass of water next to Nate Hoppenstand and it was the water that looked vivacious” (p 262) and “In Orono, Maine, buying a Rolling Stones record passes for a revolutionary act” (p 395). Truth.

Author fact: Stephen King is known for taking ordinary situations and making them scary as hell. In Hearts there are no monsters. Only what war can do to a person; how human nature can turn ugly and sinister.

Book trivia: I loved how the genesis of the peace symbol is explained in “Hearts in Atlantis.” I never knew it was the British Navy’s semaphore letters for nuclear disarmament.

Setlist: Andy Williams Singers, Animals, “Angel of the Morning”, Al Jolson’s “Mammy”, Allman Brothers, Beatles, Benny Goodman Orchestra, Bob Dylan, “Boom Boom”, “Bad Moon Rising”, Bobby Darin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Good”, Carpenters, Dave Clark Five, the Doors’ “Break On Through”, Dean Martin, Diane Renay’s “Navy Blue”, “Do You Know What I know?”, “Don’t You Just Know It” by Hury “Piano” Smith and the Clowns”, Danny and the Juniors, Donovan Leitch’s “Atlantis”, Dovells, “Dance to the Music”, Doors, Donna Summer’s “Bad Girl”, Elvis Presley, Four Seasons, Frank Sinatra, Freddie “Boom Boom” Cannon, “Gimme Some Lovin'”, Gerry Miller, “Goin’ Up the Country”, “Hang on Sloopy”, Hare Krishna Chorale, Herman and the Hermits, “Insta Karma”, Jack Scott, Jo Stafford, Jimmy Gilmer’s “Sugar Shack”, “Let’s Work Together”, Little Richard, “Light My Fire”, Liz Phair, “Love is Strange”, “Louie, Louie”, Miracles, Mitch Miller, “Mack the Knife”, Mysterians’ “96 Tears”, “My Girl”, Neil Diamond, “Night and Day”, “Oh! Carol” by Neil Sedaka, Offspring, “The Old Rugged Cross”, “One O’Clock Jump”, “One Tin Soldier”, Paul Anka, Petula Clark, Peter Frampton, Platters, Phil Och’s “I Aint Marching Anymore”, “Queen of the Hop”, “The Rainbows”, Rare Earth, “Red River Valley” Rolling Stones, Royal Teen’s “Short Shorts”, “Silent Night”, Sly and the Family Stone, Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Strawberry Alarm Clock’s “Incense and Peppermints”, “Tequila” by the Champs, Tro Shondell’s “This Time”, William Ackerman, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, “Where the Boys Are”, and the Youngbloods.

Confessional: whenever I think of “Mack the Knife, “I think of a time when I was in my early twenties. The guy I was dating called a radio station to request a song. No one had a person phone back then. My true love had to run out to a payphone up a hill and around a building. I thought for sure he was going to request something romantic; something just for me. Nope. He requested “Mack the Knife.” When I asked him why Mack he said he just liked the song.
More connections to my life: I went to UMaine and dated a guy named Soucie. His twin was named AnneMarie. I also worked in the Bear’s Den.

BookLust Twist: Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213).

Comanche Moon

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McMurtry, Larry. Comanche Moon. Simon and Schuster Audio, 1997.

Reason read: to continue the saga of Gus and Call. confessional: the book was written after Lonesome Dove but I wanted to read the series in chronological order so that there would be no surprises (people dying, relationships initiated, that sort of thing). For example, in Dead Man’s Walk Gus was smitten with Clara, but in Comanche Moon she marries someone else.

When we join the Texas Rangers in Austin, this time they do not have a particular mission. Their main objective appears to be keeping the Comanche tribe from interrupting the travel of whites headed west across their land. They spend more time burying the dead than they do protecting them when alive. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call are growing up and developing deeper relationships with women. Like Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon is full of torture and death, but it is the characters that make it the epic tale that it is.
This might be a spoiler alert, but I found myself liking McMurtry for not having the happy endings we all think we need. Maggie and Clara find different men to love. Blue Duck exacts his revenge on his father. Good men die. Despicable men somehow thrive.

As an aside, I think I would have liked to be friends with Clara. She is outspoken, straightforward and intimidating. Cool.
According to various places on the web, a Comanche moon in Texas history is a full moon in autumn. Okay.

Interesting fact: if you want to catch a horse or kill a man, wait until they are relieving themselves. Neither horse nor man can react quickly when they are taking a piss.

Book Audio trivia: Frank Muller was the narrator.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Western Fiction” (p 240).

K2

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Viesturs, Ed and David Roberts. K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain. Read by Fred Sanders. Random House Audio, 2010.
Viesturs, Ed and David Roberts. K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain. Broadway Books, 2009.

Reason read: in honor of National Writing Month I chose a nonfiction.

It needs to be said that K2 may be the second highest mountain in the world, but it is arguably the most dangerous mountain to summit. Beyond unpredictable weather and inhospitable traverses, language barriers, varying climbing skills (and, let’s be honest, knowledge), and clashing egos of the climbers make the mountain even more treacherous. Viesturs and Roberts cover six different campaigns to climb K2. At times these campaigns are confusing to read about because they include details from other mountain climbs (like Everest) and the timelines jump around.
The most enjoyable passages were when Viesturs and Roberts outlined the changed in technology and climbing gear. It makes earlier successes of summitting K2 even more impressive. More on that later.

Confessional: this may be just me, but I got the feeling Viesturs was jealous of more successful climbers. The written attempts at modesty ring a little insincere especially when he is constantly inserting his own experiences into the narrative of successful summits that were achieved before he was even born. For example: noting his personal record of traversing 150 miles on cross-country skis when describing the 360 miles the 1938 team had to cover just to get the expedition to climb K2 started. So what? I honestly thought he could not help but insert himself in every campaign, no matter how long ago. The humble brag made me think of Greg Mortenson and his expeditions. I guess the moral of the story is you have to have some kind of ego to survive climbing 8,000 feet into the clouds. But more than the ego was Viesturs apparent disdain for people who want to be first at whatever (first man to climb without oxygen, first woman to climb without a Sherpa…first whatever). Viesturs says a first whatever is not a good enough reason to climb a mountain, but yet he calls the first to get to KS in winter a “triumph.” Seems contradictory to me.
Even worse than the humble bragging and contradictory beliefs, this is the sentence that shocked me the most, “For me, it would be a sad turn of events if helicopters could pluck stranded climbers off the highest summits (p 319). Why? Don’t you mean it would be sad turn of events if inexperienced people climbed only because they banked on a helicopter rescue? To me, it would be a sad turn of events if helicopters could drop people off at the summit. Viesturs honestly seems disappointed that “outsiders” could come to your rescue. Isn’t a helicopter just another advancement in safety like the technological advances of climbing gear, tents, clothing, willow wands, and oxygen supply?

Author fact: in 1992 Ed Viesturs climbed K2 and kept a diary of that expedition. Viesturs also wrote No Shortcuts to the Top. For the Book Lust Challenge I am not reading anything else by Viesturs or Roberts.

Book trivia: K2 has two sections of photography: one in black and one and a latter one in full color.

Playlist: “Wreck of the Old 97” and Ezio Pinza.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about K2 except to describe the premise.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” (p 64).

Gathering

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Enright, Elizabeth. The Gathering. Read by Fiona Shaw. Black Cat Publishing, 2007.

Reason read: there is a jazz festival in Cork that happens every year. The Gathering has nothing to do with music, but it takes place in Ireland. Good enough.

Gathering. It is what friends and family and colleagues and sometimes even strangers do when someone dies. As an aside, I just attended my very first virtual funeral (a Doom Zoom, we are calling it).
In Elizabeth Enright’s Gathering, what is left of a very large family gather to say goodbye to Liam: a son, a brother, an uncle, a beloved who has committed suicide by drowning off the coast of England. Separated in age by a little over a year, sister Veronica Hegerty is Liam’s nearest and dearest sibling and more his twin in every sense. It is her responsibility to collect the body and hold the gathering. She tells Liam’s story through a series of childhood flashbacks and present-day adult manic musings. Growing up with Liam was a mixture of deep seated secrets and innocence lost. Veronica spends her time trying to puzzle the clues and remembering the memories. Here’s what we all do when someone close to us commits suicide: we sift through the ashes of a life burnt out, searching for clues to why they left us; trying to answer the questions of Is it our fault? Did we set the fire? What could we have done differently to save them? (To quote Natalie Merchant, “It was such a nightmare raving how can we save him from himself?” Are you surprised I went there? How could I not?) As for her adult issues, thirty-nine year old Veronica wrestles with problems with her marriage, confused by subliminal hang-ups about sex. She has inner demons that have haunted her since childhood. I honestly can’t say how well I enjoyed The Gathering. It did leave me thinking of the characters for a long time afterwards, so there’s that.

As an aside, no one can decide just how many siblings are in the Hegerty family. In some reviews I read nine, ten, or even twelve. Not counting the seven miscarriages.

Quotes to quote, “His compassion is a muscle” (p 70), and “What use is the truth to us now?” (256).

Author fact: Enright has written a bunch of stuff but I am only reading The Gathering for the Book Lust Challenge.

Book trivia: The Gathering won the 2007 Booker Prize.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about The Gathering.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Ireland: Beyond Joyce, Behan, Beckett, and Synge” (p 111).

Lessons in Chemistry

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Garmus, Bonnie. Lessons in Chemistry. Read by Amanda Raison. AudioBook, 2022.

Reason read: while on a boat ride a friend suggested this book.

Preface: I honestly feel Lessons in Chemistry would be more relatable if everyone read a little Betty Friedan or Marilyn French beforehand. Friedan was a feminist who published The Feminine Mystique in the early 1960s and French came later with The Women’s Room. Both books articulate the feminist movement around the same time as Lessons in Chemistry. Elizabeth Zott is an uncompromising, quirky, brilliant chemist. Because this is the late 1950s, she can’t taken seriously as a scientist. She is a woman after all, and all women belong in the kitchen. Which, ironically, is where Zott ends up making her initial mark on society. This is a story about how your past can shape your future. Elizabeth is born to religious charlatan parents. Fraudulent scam artists. From this embarrassing upbringing Elizabeth promises to always be truthful to her illegitimate child. And speaking of Mad, I loved Zott’s precocious child who was named after the cookies from Proust’s Remembrance of Thing Past. My favorite character, and probably the best character is 6:30, the remarkable dog who understands nearly 1,000 words in the English language. Lessons in Chemistry is fun. Don’t overanalyze it. Have a good time with it. And if you listen to the audio version, try to ignore Raison’s weird accent for one of the characters.

As an aside, I just finished reading Proust’s romans-flueve and had to laugh when Mad wondered about Krakatoa and if it would erupt again anytime soon. I, too, am reading about Krakatoa.

Author fact: Garmus took all her chemistry knowledge from a 1950s textbook in order to have complete accuracy for the time period.

Book trivia: I just learned Lessons in Chemistry will be a television series this fall. Interesting. Will I watch? Of course I will.

Playlist: Frank Sinatra and “Keep On the Sunny Side of Life”.

Unless

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Shields, Carol. Unless. Read by Joan Allen. Harper Collins, 2002.

Reason read: Shields celebrates a birthday in June. Read in her honor.

How do you carry on with your life when one of your children is mentally ill and choosing to live on the streets for no apparent reason? I read a review where someone called Unless whiney and self-indulgent. I’m sorry but if I had a loved one “lost” like that, I too would be fixated on their wellbeing. Are they getting enough food to eat? Where are they going to go when the temperatures are minus ten degrees (not including wind chill factor) or one hundred and two (in the shade)? Reta Winters is trying to be a mother to her two other teenage daughters while thinking these things about a third, her eldest. She is a wife going through the motions with her trilobite-obsessed husband. She is a translator while trying to write her own second novel. She is an aging woman, trying to stay relevant in the youth-obsessed world around her.
There is a little trickery going on with Unless. Like mirrors angled so images are reflected to infinity, Unless is a story about a woman writing about a woman writer who is writing about a woman writer. The nesting dolls of feminism. Then there is the carefully disguised biography of her mentor, Danielle. Danielle is at once a strong holocaust survivor and a fragile French woman who relies on Reta for writing support. Finally, there is the mystery of why eldest daughter, Nora, insists on sitting out on a street corner with a sign that simply reads “Goodness.”

Author fact: Shields died when she was only 68 years old, shortly after Unless was published. My audio had an interview with Ms. Shields and I was struck by how oddly she spoke. I have to wonder if she was ill at the time of the interview.

Book trivia: Chapters are titled with adverbs and conjunctions. If I read more carefully I probably would have seen how each word tied back into the storyline.
Audio trivia: at the end of the reading of Unless Carol Shields answers some questions. I have to admit I was distracted by her strange manner of halting speech.

Playlist: Mozart, Sinatra, Beethoven, and Bach.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about Unless.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Carol Shields: Too Good To Miss” (p 197).

I Capture the Castle

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Smith, Dodie. I Capture the Castle. St Martin’s Griffin, 1948.
Smith, Dodie. I Capture the Castle. Read by Toby Jones and Holliday Grainger. BBC4 Radio, 2016.

Reason read: A long time ago we stayed in a castle. It was June and very romantic.

Teenage Cassandra writes in her diary like a typical girl. She makes observations about not-so typical situations, like the fact her family lives in poverty in a rundown English castle. Her dream is to become a famous author so to practice she recounts the lives of her family with sharp and witty commentary. As she says, “contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing” (p 25). At the onset, the name of the game seems to be to marry off sister Rose to the highest bidder; and that man seems to be American Simon Cotton. Poor Rose cannot even find a suitable dress for dinner let alone charm her future husband over a decent meal. I Capture the Castle is more than a dating game, it is the story of society’s opinion of a woman’s place. It says something about the attitudes about feminine decorum.
One of my favorite moments was when Simon and his brother Neil spotted Rose and Cassandra in ratty fur coats. To avoid anyone seeing them in such shambles Neil pretends they are a bear and “kills” it before mother can see. How perfectly ridiculous yet, there is an air of social grace in the midst of destitution.

As a personal aside, I could relate when Cassandra was seduced with the help of music. I have been there myself, both as seducer and seduced. Music can say a lot without saying anything at all…if you know what I mean.

Author fact: Dodie is Dorothy Gladys Smith, born in 1896. I Capture the Castle is her first novel, but she is also responsible for the Disney story of the One Hundred and One Dalmatians, inspired by Pongo, Smith’s own Dalmatian.

Book trivia: I Capture the Castle was made into a movie “most romantic” but before that, it was a play in 1954. Confessional: I have been saying I captureD (past tense) the castle for days now.

Audio trivia: the BBC4 Radio version is a big production with a full cast complete with music.

Playlist: “Green Sleeves”, “The Isle of Capri”, “Blow the Man Down”, “God Save the King”, Handel’s “Air from the Water Music”, Debussy’s “Water Music” and “Clair de Lune”, La Cathedrale Engloutie”, “La Terrasse Des Audiences au Clair de Lune”, Bach’s “Lover” and “Sheep May Safely Graze”.

Nancy said: Pearl admitted it was hard not to smile when reading the first line of I Capture the Castle. What was that first line? Read the book to find out.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “First Lines to Remember” (p 86).