Category: Fiction

Little Liar

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Albom, Mitch. Little Liar. Harper, 2023.

Reason read: I needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge in the category of a book currently on the New York Times bestseller list. Little Liar was on that list when I was looking for something to read.

Where do I begin with this little book about a liar? From start to finish it was amazing. I couldn’t read for hours at a time due to the subject matter of the Holocaust, but in small doses it was fantastic. I do not want to describe the plot at all except to say the angel of truth is the first person narrator which lends an air of fairytale, but it is far from being a magical imagining from Albom’s mind. The setting is World War II. Real people like actress Katalin Karady and real events like the rescue of families waiting to be shot by Arrow Cross are faithfully reproduced in Little Liar. The magic comes from Albom bringing all characters and events, factual and fictional, to life. The characters’ human emotions come across loud and crystal clear and yet, like glass, there is a delicacy, a subtle nuance that haunts. Take, for example, how easily the small misunderstandings during childhood can quickly blossom into full blown adulthood hate. Lifelong passionate jealousies carried behind a vengeful ice cold exterior. It reminded me of the cold and heavy chains of Jacob Marley.
As an aside, what an interesting locale for Little Liar. When people speak of World War II and the Nazi regime not many people think of how the island of Greece weathered the atrocities.

As another aside, the last person to read my copy of Little Liar must have smoked like a fiend because the book reeked of old cigarette smoke. So gross. I put it in the freezer for a little while with some lavender sprigs. That seemed to do the trick.

Line I loved the most, “By the time you share what a loved one longs to hear, they often no longer need it” (p 142). I am living that truth every single day.

Author fact: I was first introduced to Albom when he published Tuesdays with Morrie. While I haven’t read everything he has ever written, I can say I have enjoyed everything I have.

Book trivia: this should be a movie.

Playlist: Lucinda Williams

Volcano Lover

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Sontag, Susan. The Volcano Lover: A Romance. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1992.

Reason read: the Carnival of Ivrea happens in February every year. It is essentially a four-day food fight with oranges in the town of Ivrea in Northern Italy.

The Cavalier, an art dealer and British ambassador to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, is obsessed with three things: collecting beautiful and rare pieces of art, watching Vesuvius breathe and rumble, and having a relationship with his nephew’s former lover. I know, it’s an odd beginning. When the Cavalier’s nephew, Charles, grows tired of his mistress he simply sends her to live with his uncle once the Cavalier became a lonely widower. How do you learn to love a stranger? What do you do when that love matures into devotion and passion falls by the wayside? Beyond being a story about relationships and circumstances, The Volcano Lover is also the love story of art, war, and devotion to a life well lived with passion.
There is a cleverness to Sontag’s writing. Most of the story is told in the third person with touches of first person narrative sprinkled in. Is that Sontag offering personal tidbits about herself? Who is this off-camera speaker? In the very last section of Volcano Lover the Cavalier, his wife, his mother-in-law, and the Queen all offer first person perspectives on their lives with one another. Both the Cavalier and his mother-in-law are careful to never reveal the Cavalier’s wife real name (modeled after Emma Hamilton). No one mentions the hero’s name (Lord Nelson in real life), either.

As an aside: I listened to an interview with Sontag conducted by Muriel Murch. The whole time I kept thinking one of their voices sounded familiar. There is a professor (retired now) who sounds exactly like Sontag.

Lines I liked, “Sometimes it felt like exile, sometimes it felt like a home” (p 67), “Pleasure is haunted by the phantom of loss” (p 201) and “Nothing is more hateful than revenge” (p 313).

Author fact: While Sontag has written more than The Volcano Lover, it is the only book I am reading for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Cavalier is based on Sir William Hamilton.

Playlist: Farinelli (Carlo Broschi), “God Save the King” and “Rule, Britannia”, Mozart, Haydn’s “The Battle of the Nile”, Vivaldi, Handel, and Couperin.

Nancy said: Pearl calls The Volcano Lover a historical romance for intellectuals. She’s not wrong.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the very simple chapter called “Naples” (p 146).

White Teeth

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Smith, Zadie. White Teeth. Quality Paperbacks Direct, 2000.

Reason read: February is Immigration month. Whether it be Bangladesh, Britain, Jamaica, or the good old United States of America, we are all immigrants of some kind.

Hang onto your hats! White Teeth is a roller coaster ride, sure to rid you of your spare change with all of its twists and turns. Within the pages of White Teeth Zadie Smith takes you deep inside the concept of cultural identity through her characters and their dialogue. As an aside, I want to know how Smith conjured up these characters with such perfection. Where did they come from? People like Magid Mahfooz Murshed Mubtasim practically jump off the page, they are so real. I can’t give it away, but that final scene with the gun!
White Teeth is like a four-room banquet with endless amounts of food choices. At times I felt overstuffed dealing with all the characters and their various dramas, but I don’t discredit Smith’s storytelling. She was culturally spot on with little details like the tag for Levi’s jeans. What exactly does “shrink to fit” mean anyway? I could see how someone would be confused, especially if English isn’t their first language.
All in all, White Teeth was a fun ride, worthy of all the accolades.

Author fact: Smith has written a bunch of stuff since 2000. I am only reading White Teeth for the Challenge.

Book trivia: White Teeth has won numerous awards and been adapted to television and the theater.

Playlist: “As Time Goes By”, Barbra Streisand, Bay City Rollers, Beatles, Bob Dylan’s “My Back Pages”, “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, “Buffalo Soldier”, Canned Heat, Chuck D, Diana Ross, Donny Osmond, Englebert Humperdinck, Elvis, Johann Sebastian Bach, “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks, Madonna, Michael Jackson, “Purple Rain”, Ringo Starr, Roger Daltry, Scott Joplin, “Sexual Healing”, Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World”, the Small Faces, and the Who.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about White Teeth.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “First Novels” (p 88).

A Good Fall

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Jin, Ha. A Good Fall: Stories. Pantheon Books, 2009.

Reason read: Jin’s birthday is in February. Read in his honor.

Twelve stories with themes like immigrants in transition, culture clashes, vanity, identity, and family traditions. Ha Jin’s characters are so well drawn they keep speaking to me after I have closed the book. I could see A Good Fall as a movie with interconnecting stories of Chinese immigrants living in Flushing, New York. Maybe they are all living in the same apartment and pass each other on the stairs? Each suffering their secrets in silence?
I do not think it is a spoiler to say that A Good Fall surprisingly ends on a hopeful note.

  • The Bane of the Internet
  • A Composer and His Parakeet
  • The Beauty
  • Choice
  • Children as Enemies
  • In the Crossfire
  • Shame
  • An English Professor
  • A Pension Plan
  • Temporary Love
  • The House Behind a Weeping Cherry
  • A Good Fall

Lines I liked, “After Zuming came, she would have to become a faithful wife again” (p 177). That sentence is packed with so much drama. And then there is this one, “Keep in mind, yours is not the worst sorrow” (p 236).

Author fact: Ha Jin is also a poet.

Book trivia: Many people have mentioned that the short stories of Ha Jin are very repetitious. For that reason I am spreading out my reading so that it does not become tedious. I have already read Ocean of Words and The Bridegroom. I am also reading Waiting but not until September of 2042.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about A Good Fall.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “China: the Middle Kingdom” (p 61). Except…most of Jin’s stories take place in Flushing, New York. The characters are immigrants from China.

Brother of the More Famous Jack

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Trapido, Barbara. Brother of the More Famous Jack. Viking Press, 1982.

Reason read: Nothing is more annoying that not remembering why I chose a book to read within a certain month. Since I cannot remember the original reason I am just going to say I chose it for Valentine’s Day since one of the themes is finding the right relationship.

It all starts when John Millet takes Katherine to meet friends of his, the Goldman family. Only Katherine knows the mister of the family, Jake Goldman. He is her philosophy professor, but Katherine is meeting his family for the first time. If you can get over the misogynistic overtones of Brother of the More Famous Jack you will fall in love with some of Trapido’s characters. I loved Jane. Here is what I mean about the subtle disparagement of women: when Jacob complained that his wife, Jane, does not do enough around the house it set my teeth to grinding after Jane felt she needed to point out that she has brought the group tea, and has made them lunch, in addition to gardening and making music. Trapido says this of Jake, “He gains strength from the myth of his wife’s incompetence” (p 25). Katherine dates a man who didn’t like women when they turned into mothers. Mostly, I tried not to be too offended by the light banter about rape and abortion.
All in all, I wasn’t sure I liked Katherine. She is very unlucky in love and has this air of helplessness that bothered me throughout the entire book. She pines for a Goldman son even though it is apparent he never feels the same way. For six years she dates a married man who is ugly to her. This man left his previous wife because he lost respect for her when she became pregnant with his child. When Katherine finally escapes this relationship she runs straight back to the Goldman family. Why does she keep returning to these people? Because she has fallen in love with the entire family. Even after ten years away from them she finds herself ensconced in their lives.

Lines I liked, “Being in love and unable to acknowledge it, they were fond of generalizing about love” (p 92) and “…your brother dismantled my character” (p 161).

As an aside, I could relate to Katherine when she admitted she was afraid to ride a bicycle after breaking her arm riding one when she was nine years old. Sometimes, childhood trauma stays with a person for a very long time.

Author fact: Even though Trapido has written other books, Brother of the More Famous Jack is the only one I am reading.

Book trivia: In case you were wondering, William Butler Yeats is the borhter of the most famous Jack.

Playlist: Abba, George Formby, Haydn, “The Harmonious Chime”, John Dowland, Monteverdi, Mozart, “O Worship the King”, Schubert, Scarlatti, Suite Italienne, “Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son”, and “Yellow Submarine”.

Nancy said: Here is the interesting thing about what Pearl said, not specifically about Brother of the More Famous Jack, but about the chapter called “Friend Makers.” If you like any of the books in this chapter Pearl sees you as a friend.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Friend Makers” (p 95).

The Bell

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Murdoch, Iris. The Bell. Viking Press, 1958.

Reason read: January is Female Mystery Month and so I am reading The Bell in honor of Iris Murdoch and her mysterious bell.

Iris Murdoch takes you into the religious world of Imber Abbey, a cloistered community of nuns. This devout group is about to receive a long awaited bell to replace one lost to magic and mystery. The Bell‘s plot focuses on a cast of damaged people living outside Imber Abbey: Paul Greenfield, there to translate fourteenth century manuscripts; his wife Dora, there because she feels obligated to stay in a loveless marriage; Michael, the leader of the lay community; Tobey, a curious man about to attend Oxford; Catherine, a beautiful woman about to entire Imber Abbey; her twin brother, Nick, there to be close to her one last time; and the old Abbess, the wise and all-seeing head of Imber Abbey.
Lurking in the background of The Bell is the legend of the original bell named Gabriel. The story goes, as Paul relayed to Dora, a fourteenth century nun was supposedly having an illicit affair but could not and would not confess to it. Because he could not punish the singular guilty woman, the Bishop cursed the entire abbey, causing the tower bell, the aforementioned Gabriel, to catapult itself (himself?) into a nearby lake. The guilty nun was so distraught by this phenomenon she was rumored to have drowned herself in the selfsame lake. When Gabriel unexpectedly resurfaces, with the help of Dora and Tobey, each character wonders what it could mean to Imber Abbey and to themselves.
Confessional: The character of Dora confused me almost as much as she confused herself. I wasn’t even sure I liked her. Extremely immature, she would make up her mind to not do something but then go ahead and the thing anyway (not buy multicolored skirts, sandals and jazz records, not go back to Paul, the abusive husband; not give up her seat on the train. I could go on). There is a dazed and confused ignorance to her personality that I found either charming or annoying, depending on the minute. Dora is described as an “erring” wife, but how errant can she with an abusive ogre of a husband? He is condescending and cruel, telling her she is not his woman of choice.

Lines I liked, “But even if she doesn’t care about her husband’s blood pressure she ought to show some respect for the boy” (p 213).
there is one scene that has stuck with me that I must share. Dora is attending the baptism of the new bell. On one side of her is her silently seething husband, Paul, who has her gripped violently by the wrist. On the other side of Dora is her former lover, a reporter there to cover the story of the bell. During the struggle to free herself from Paul’s torment, Dora drops a letter meant for a third man. The reporter is the one to successfully retrieve the missive. It is an incredibly short scene filled with tension.

Author fact: The Guardian has a number of great blog posts about Murdoch.

Book trivia: The Bell is Murdoch’s fourth novel. I am reading a total of twenty-six for the Book Lust Challenge.

Short playlist: Bach, “The Silver Swan”, “Monk’s March”, and Mozart.

Nancy said: Pearl listed all twenty-six Murdoch novels and put an asterisks by her favorites. Was The Bell a favorite? Read Book Lust to find out.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Iris Murdoch: Too Good To Miss” (p 161).

Tula Station

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Toscana, David. Tula Station. St. Martin’s Press, 2001.

Reason read: I needed a book by an author from Mexico for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge. As for the Book Lust Reading Challenge, I have no idea why I picked it.

Tula Station opens with the tragic aftermath of a hurricane that took the lives of hundreds of people. Within the pages of Tula Station there are three narratives: First, Froylan Gomez’s biography for Juan Capistran, his alleged great-great-grandfather. Froylan is declared dead after the devastating hurricane, but his wife doesn’t believe it. After finding a journal, she thinks he has faked his demise to be with another woman. She wants Toscana to rewrite the journal, which tells of Foylan meeting Juan Capistran, as fiction to lure Froylan home. Second, a historical portrait of Tula and her station. Third, Froylan’s own obsession with the woman, Carmen, for whom Capistran supposedly gave up his life.
Toscana’s writing is sly. There are two Juans, two Carmens, two writers, and two disappearances. I found hints of impropriety riddled throughout Tula Station. An uncle glancing at his niece’s calf muscles, for example. Never enough to cause outright outrage. And speaking of outrage, reading this book was a lesson in patience. There were times when I wanted to create massive flowcharts to track everyone, but I refrained.

A quote to quote, “I am falling because I let you go” (p 250).

Author fact: Toscana, born in Monterey, Nuevo Leon in the north of Mexico, has been compared to Carlos Fuentes.

Book trivia: this book was extremely hard to get. No local library had it and an interlibrary loan would have taken months. Luckily, it was available through Internet Archive. This is the first book (and hopefully the last) that I read solely through IA.

Nancy said: Pearl was one hundred percent correct when she said Tula Station demands much of the reader.

Playlist: Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Mexican Fiction” (p 153).

Walking After Midnight

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McCoy, Maureen. Walking After Midnight. Poseidon Press, 1985.

Reason read: Elvis was born in January. Read in his honor.

Lottie Jay is supposed to be this tough, sarcastic, wannabe country songwriter. Obsessed with Elvis Presley, Time magazine, and painting her nails, Lottie leaves her husband, goes on an alcoholic bender, crashes her 57 Chevy, and survives a stint in rehab. The premise is good. Sounds exciting. I like tough as nails women as protagonists. The only problem there was nothing else to endear me to Lottie. She leaves her farmer husband after he ridicules her songwriting abilities but not before she tapes her diaphragm to the bathroom mirror as some kind of perverse voodoo warning. Weird.
the plot mostly centers on Lottie’s bad choices in men. While she is not technically divorced from her alcoholic husband, Owen won Lottie over by taking her to see an Elvis impersonator concert, but Georgie won her over by looking like Elvis. Everyone is deeply flawed so you don’t know who to root for.
I did, however, love the character of tough-as-nails wheelchair bound Matilda. “Matt” was the best character in the book. McCoy paints her as a pathetic, fat and unhealthy lesbian, but I thought she was the most believable character in the whole book.
Confessional: there were sentences that I simply did not understand. For example, “I ran out the door just as a pack of redheaded woodpeckers tumbled from the sky and spun, doing mad things all over the yard (p 85), or “They had to envy Owen and wish they would look as fun, but turning the art of Cedar Rapids into oatmeal perfume was serious business” (p 98). What? But then there the sentences that were utterly visceral that I adored, “The hyena laughing broke into sobs” (p 25), and “The train formed a big loop of experience” (p 223). I don’t know what that last line means either, but I loved it.

Author fact: Walking After Midnight was McCoy’s first novel. It is the only one I am reading for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Walking After Midnight is a super short book. It can be read in a single day if you can stand putting up with Lottie for that long. I took her in small doses.

Playlist: Marty Robbins’s “El Paso”, Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight”, Glen Campbell, Mick Jagger, Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man”, Judy Garland, Ernest Tubbs, the Rolling Stones, Loretta Lynn, Carole King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”, Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, the Osmonds, the Beatles, the Doors, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Chuck Berry, Conway Twitty, and a whole bunch of Elvis: “RockaHula”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Love Me Tender”, “Return to Sender”, “C. C. Rider”, “I Was the One Who Taught Her to Kiss”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and “Hound Dog”.

Nancy said: Pearl didn’t say anything specific about Walking After Midnight.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Elvis On My Mind” (p 79).

Krik? Krak!

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Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak! SoHo, 1995.

Reason read: Danticat was born in January. Celebrating her birth month with Krik? Krak! I also needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge of 2024 with a book about loss. This definitely fit the bill.

Right away, you know you are in the presence of a great writer when you read the very first short story of Krik? Krak! In “Children of the Sea” two teenagers who are in love keep journals when they are separated by dictatorship. Danticat keeps the two first person narratives clear by using capitalization and punctuation for one voice but not the other. The educated boy, a member of the Youth Federation, has escaped Haiti on a boat bound for Miami, Florida, while his young love (who does not use capitalization of punctuation) is left behind to endure military abuses. This was probably one of my favorites. Each subsequent story builds upon the next with the tiniest of threads. A minute detail will tie one story back to another.
“Nineteen Thirty-Seven” is a painful story about a woman visiting her mother in prison. Her mother is accused of flying. The government believes she is a witch, capable of rising like a bird on fire.
“A Wall of Fire Rising” tells the short but devastating story of a family barely making ends meet.
“Night Women” demonstrates the lengths a woman will go in order to provide for her child.
“Between the Pool and the Gardenias” is another heartbreaking story about loss.
“The Missing Peace” illuminates innocence abandoned.
“Seeing Things Simply” shares the story of an artist looking for beauty while ugliness crowds all around her.
“New York Day Women” demonstrates just how much a mother’s love can suffocate a daughter.
“Caroline’s Wedding” weaves a tale of expectation in age old customs.
“Women Like Us” is a message to daughters.
“In the Old Days” is an additional story for the twentieth anniversary edition of Krik? Krak! It tells the story of a woman asked to visit her dying father, a man she has never met.

The short stories of Krik? Krak!:

  • Children of the Sea
  • Nineteen Thirty-Seven
  • A Wall of Fire Rising
  • Night Women
  • Between the Pool and the Gardenias
  • The Missing Peace
  • Seeing Things Simply
  • New York Day Women
  • Caroline’s Wedding
  • Epilogue: Women Like Us
  • New to the 20th Anniversary Edition: In the Old Days

Quotes to quote, “At times I feel like I can just reach out and pull a star down from the sky as though it is a breadfruit or a calabash or something that could be of us to us on this journey” (“Children of the Sea” p 8), “I want him to forget that we live in a place where nothing lasts” (“Night Women” p 73), “They kept their arms close to their bodies, like angels hiding their wings” (“Nineteen Thirty-Seven” p 137).

Author fact: I am reading five books by Edwidge Danticat. Brother, I’m Dying in the last one.

Book trivia: reviewers call Krik? Krak! virtually flawless, passionate, lyrical, devastating, moving and luminous. I couldn’t agree more.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about Krik? Krak!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Contradictory Caribbean: Paradise and Pain” (p 55)

White Boots

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Streatfeild, Noel. White Boots. Illustrated by Milein Cosman. Puffin Books, 1963.

Reason read: Noel Streatfeild, if you couldn’t tell by her first name, was born on Christmas Eve. Read in her honor.

Who doesn’t love Noel Streatfeild’s “Shoes” books? Whether you read the British version (White Boots) or the American (Skating Shoes), either is just as cute. Ten year old Harriet is a frail child, recovering from a long illness that has left her legs “cotton-woolish” and weak. Her doctor prescribes exercise to rebuild her muscles. He knows just the sport, ice skating. There at the rink Harriet meets a girl her age, skating sensation Lalla. Lalla’s father was a world famous skater as well but died in an accident. His sister is tyranically determined to make her niece the next star on ice. Seeing that Harriet is a good influence on Lalla’s training, Harriet soon starts taking ice skating, dance and fencing lessons to keep Lalla engaged. I think you can see where this is going.
This is a story of opposites attract. Lalla is beautiful and wealthy. Harriet is plain and poor. Lalla’s skating prowess prompts her to be shallow and selfish. Harriet’s lack of privilege leaves her hungry for friendship. Harriet has a loud, loving, and large family while Lalla only has her nanny, her prim and proper aunt, and a home-schooling governess.
This is also a story of acceptance. Just because you have a world class athlete for a father doesn’t mean you have inherited the genes. All Lalla’s life she has been pushed into believing she had to be the skater her father was. She had been given every advantage to fulfill that expectation except she lacked one thing. Talent. Along comes a nobody of a girl. No fancy clothes. No world class father. No money to buy premier lessons. But Harriet did have one thing. Ability.
As an aside, times have changed. In today’s world it is incredibly rare for a sibling to start a paper route just to support his sister’s recovery. What kid does that? Alec is a smart brother. He knows exactly how much he will earn from delivering papers and he also knows how much the skate rental will cost. His business sense drives him to save the two extra shillings to put towards his father’s failing business. Again, what kid does that? I enjoyed the side story of the garden very much.

Confessional: when Streatfeild was setting up the family’s history of poverty, I couldn’t keep up with who lived in which house.
Father Christmas only has six tiny reindeer?

Author fact: Noel Streatfeild was born on Christmas Eve.

Book trivia: Originally published in 1951 in the United States as Skating Shoes.

Playlist: “Where the Rainbow Ends”, “The First Nowell” (Streatfeild’s spelling, not mine), “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, and “O Come All Ye Faithful”.

Nancy said: Pearl said Streatfeild is best known for her shoe books.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fantasy For Young and Old” (p 83). The “Shoe” books should not be included in this chapter because they are not fantasy. Pearl only mentions them because of The Fearless Treasure, which I have not been able to find.

Japanese By Spring

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Reed, Ishmael. Japanese By Spring. Athenaeum, 1993.

Reason read: Traditionally, December is the end of a term. Since Japanese By Spring is set in academia I thought I would read it in honor of the end of a trying term.

An ad promises Benjamin “Chappie” Puttbutt III that he will learn the language of Japanese by spring. He had started taking lessons to learn Japanese in the Air Force Academy in the mid 1960s. Only the lessons ended after he had been expelled from the Academy. In the beginning the reader has no idea why Puttbutt has been expelled, but hang on! That story is coming and it’s a doozy. In present day, Puttbutt teaches English at the Jack London College. His only ambition in life is to make tenure, but he is a miserable failure. [As an aside, I can tell you that tenure is not all that it is cracked up to be.] But anyway, Puttbutt is so desperate for this recognition that he jumps on the latest support bandwagon that will further his cause, even if it means derogatory talk about his own race and culture.
Reed’s tongue in cheek commentary on institutional endowments was pretty funny. A student can get away with murder because his father practically funds the entire college. Where have we seen that before? Be prepared for other snarky commentary on political hotbed topics like the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill scandal, LA riots and the beating of Rodney King, nationalism, racism, any ism you can think of. Speaking of racism, here is a snarky scene to ponder: a professor is exclaiming that racism has never existed on the Jack London College campus while a fraternity is having its annual “Slave Day.” I was tempted to play a drinking game with the words nationalism and Yoruba.

Fair warning: the details are a bit dated and unbelievable. Chappie is powerful enough to have a plane brought back to the gate when he misses his flight. These days, a plane can still be at the date, but if the door is closed, you will not gain access no matter who you say you are. Not for anything.
Chappie’s mother had been kidnapped three years earlier by Arabs? Supposedly, she helped plan a bombing raid on Libya. This would make sense as Chappie’s father has been tapping his phone and his grandfather, who has been in hiding, had to kidnap him.
The satire drips thick in Japanese By Spring. Chappie’s main rival is a woman by the name of April Jokujoku and all I could think was April Fools. The president of the college is President Stool. The Berserkley left, I could go on and on.

Author fact: Ishmael Reed inserts himself into Japanese By Spring with real facts, like he was born in Tennessee and

Book trivia: Satire is even hidden in the Japanese words Reed peppers throughout Japanese By Spring, like bakamono.

Lines I liked: According to the copyright of Japanese By Spring , one cannot quote any part of this book for any reason. So. No favorite lines will be mentioned. Ugh! there was a line about pacifism that is so hilarious.

Setlist: “You Will Never Walk Alone”, Little Milton, Max Roach, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, John Coltrane’s “Blue Trane”, Beatles, Michael Jackson, Prince, Hank Williams, Matata, Ice Cube, Sister Soulijah, George Clinton’s “Do Fries Go with That Shake”, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and “Onward Christian Soldiers”.

Nancy said: Pearl called Puttbutt’s story “hilariously sad” (Book Lust p 3).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Academia: the Joke” (p 3).

D.B.

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Reid, Elwood. D.B. Doubleday, 2004.

Reason: I started this in the last week of November because the book opens with the date November 24th, 1971.

Does everyone know the real story of the man who used a bomb to skyjack a plane back in the early 70s? Elwood Reid takes the real-life events of D.B. Cooper and turns them into two parallel stories. Fitch’s sounds like a bad country song. He loses his wife, his job, and his Dodge Dart all in quick succession. In truth, it reminded me of a movie called Dead Presidents where a man, down on his luck, is forced into a life of crime because he cannot catch a break the honest way. He tries and tries but finally decides he needs a one-time, single-payout super crime. Something huge that will take him away from it all for the rest of his life. As an interesting aside, Dan Cooper, aka Fitch, skyjacks a plane for $200,000. Today, that same sum would be worth $1,519,362.96 Not too shabby.
On the other side of the narrative is newly retired FBI agent Frank Marshall. Typical of most law enforcement, Marshall can’t immediately give up all he has ever known for a life of leisure. He still feels the need to protect a female witness with whom he is slowly falling in love, he continuously carries the finger bone of a murder he couldn’t solve, and occasionally thinks about a man who jumped from a Seattle-bound 727. When a fresh faced eager agent approaches Marshall about putting down the bottle to help him with the still-open D.B. Cooper case, Marshall feels the tug of solving the old mysteries. Is it possible D.B. Cooper survived the jump? Is he still out there?

Confessional: this takes place in a different time so the details are a bit dated. This happened in a time when one could call an airline for the names of passengers on a certain day’s manifest. I appreciated how Reid used the presidents in office orientate the reader to the appropriate era.

A point of irritation: Dan Cooper asked the stewardess to sit next to him. He then looked at a note he had written on his wrist. Did Susan see that note? How could she not? I know seats were a little more comfortable in the 1970s, but surely she noticed this?

Author fact: While Reid wrote a bunch of novels, I am only reading D.B. for the Challenge. As an aside, Reid publicity shot looks like a head shot and he could be a stand in for Treat Williams.

Book trivia: D.B. is based on a true story.

Playlist: John Lennon’s “Imagine”, Carole King, “American Pie”, Blood Sweat and Tears, Nancy Sinatra, “Lara’s Theme”, Wagner, 96 Tears, Frank Sinatra, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”, Bob Seger’s “Night Moves”, Willie Nelson’s “River Boy” and “Crazy”, Neil Young’s “Everyone Knows This is Nowhere”, Thelonious Monk’s “Crepuscule with Nellie”, “Over the Hills and Far Away”, Beatles, the Golden Variations, Roy Orbison, “Sister Ray”, and Velvet Underground.

Nancy said: Pearl called it a great read.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Plots for Plotzing” (p 185).

Silver Scream

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Daheim, Mary. Silver Scream: a Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery. William Morrow, 2002.

Reason read: I have no idea.

In a word, goofy. Everything about Silver Scream was goofy. The premise goes like this: the owner of a bed and breakfast needs to solve a murder on her property before the authorities blame her for the death and shut her business down. I thought that was a plausible and clever way to have a civilian try to solve a mystery. A bunch of movie are staying at Hillside Manor for a movie premier. When the producer is found dead, drowned in the kitchen sink, the race is on to solve the death. Accident? Suicide? Murder? The cleverness ends here and the story becomes just plain goofy. Judith, as the bed and breakfast owner, became completely unbelievable when she promised to have an elaborate costume for an actress repaired in one day. Then there was this goofy moment: the rookie police officer, responding to aforementioned death in Judith’s kitchen, makes bunny ears behind her superior officer’s head while investigating the scene. This is at a potential crime scene! Goofy! And another (still at the same crime scene): Judith’s husband’s ex-wife shows up. She’s not only allowed to enter the potential crime scene, but she hangs around for awhile. I could go on and on, listing all the silliness of Silver Scream. Even though I didn’t solve the mystery right away, I wasn’t sure I cared.

Here is another head-scratcher for me. In the toolshed, where mother is squirreled away like Rochester’s wife, one has to go from the bedroom and through the living room and kitchen in order to get to the bathroom (counter clockwise), when the bathroom is literally on the other side of the bedroom wall. In the main house there is a guest room but no bathroom unless the guest is allowed to go through the master bedroom in order to get to the nearest bathroom. I guess whoever designed these structures wanted the bathrooms as out of the way as possible.

As an aside, as a former housekeeper, if I found a slip of paper that appeared to be a prescription of some sort, I don’t care how illegible the handwriting was, I would never throw it in the trash. That is definitely not my call.

Quote I liked, “Who will you blame if something happens while these movie nutcases are staying at Hillside Manor?” (p 3). The word nutcase is one of my favorites.

Author fact: all of Daheim’s books have pun-typical titles.

Book trivia: It is not necessary to read the other Daheim mysteries in order to enjoy Silver Scream. Daheim will fill you in on details such as Judith worked as a librarian and bartender during the time of her first marriage and there were two other murders at Hillside Manor. Of course there were…

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living High in Cascadia” (p 154). Maybe it was just me, but I felt Silver Scream could have taken place anywhere.

Hound of the Baskervilles

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Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles. Doubleday & Company, 1930.

Reason read: Yup. I am still slogging through this. I feel a break coming on…

This is probably my favorite Sherlock Holmes mystery. I loved the way Doyle described the moor as having a grim charm. The thought of an escaped convict, someone dubbed the Nottinghill Murderer, living out on the fog-filled moor was eerie. Whole ponies have been swallowed up by this deadly bog and yet, supposedly, this murderer was out there with an evil creature, something with “diabolical agency” and supernatural powers. Something that looked like a dog, but twice its size with glowing eyes and a mouth teeth and flames. this is another tale of deception and greed, but with a welcomed unusual twist.

Line I liked, “To act the spy upon a friend was a hateful task” (p 718).

Author fact: I have lost track of what I have said about Sir Conan Arthur Doyle.

Book trivia: The Hound of the Baskervilles was made into a movie in 1959.

Nancy said: Pearl didn’t say anything specific about The Hound of the Baskervilles because she only mentions The Complete Sherlock Holmes.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” on page 117 (although not really because it is contained in The Complete Sherlock Holmes). I said that already. A few times.

Sister of My Heart

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Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Sister of My Heart. Anchor Books, 2000.

Reason read: I needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge in the category of something cozy. I chose Sister of My Heart because people chose words like beguiling, magical, moving, and emotional to describe it.

From the very beginning of Sister of My Heart, Divakaruni dangles mysteries and secrets in front of the reader. Anju and Sudha are non-blood cousins, but as close as conjoined sisters. Both girls lost their fathers when they were newborns, but how? There is mystery surrounding their simultaneous demise. Each chapter of Sister of My Heart is told from the alternating viewpoints of Anju and Sudha. Each cousin’s voice is too similar to discern but maybe, just maybe that is the point. Their love for one another, their bond makes them as close a singular entity. When one “sister” learns a deep family secret she is torn between keeping it and uncovering it. She needs to weigh the cost of each choice carefully.
This is the story of how one event can leave you scarred. Like a clogged artery, love cannot flow as easily. Secrets snag the once open heart. Is there a chance for forgiveness?

Lines I loved, “This is how love makes cowards of us” (p 166) and “Don’t regret what you can’t change” (p 230). Chitra, are you talking to me?

Author fact: Divakaruni has her own website here.

Book trivia: Even though Divakaruni wrote a few other “of” books (Mistress of…Vine of…Errors of…), Sister of My Heart is the only book I am reading for the Challenge.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about Sister of My Heart.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “India: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 125).