Category: Lust To Go

Homicide

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Simon, David. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.

Reason read: There is a book festival held in Baltimore every September.

Question: What happens when a reporter, already on the Baltimore police beat, is allowed to have unlimited access to the city’s homicide unit for a full year? Answer: Homicide: a Year on the Killing Streets, a 600 page play by play of what it is like to work a murder from start to finish. From the first report of a cold body to (sometimes) solving the case, Simon was there to witness and document every little moment. He followed various detectives as they got the call, examined the victim for cause of death, poured over the crime scene for clues, canvassed the neighborhoods for reluctant witnesses, stood over autopsies waiting for more evidence, paced the halls in hospital emergency rooms impatient for first-hand accounts from survivors, went on death notifications, stared at their murder boards trying to put the pieces together…These police officers portray the grim reality of crime but they also share moments of humor, sarcasm and a genuine love of the job. I found myself liking Detective McLarney and thinking it would be cool to have a beer with him.

Probably the hardest cases to read about were young Latonya Wallace and police officer Gene Cassidy.

Line I liked, “A heavily armed nation prone to violence finds it only reasonable to give law officers weapons and the authority to use them” (p 108).

Book trivia: This is an informal reporting on crime in Baltimore. No index, photographs or footnoted references.

Author fact: At the time of publication David Simon was a reporter with the Baltimore Sun. He took a leave of absence to write this book. In the time he took him to write Homicide 567 additional murders occurred.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called, you guessed it, “Baltimore” (p 34).

Castles in the Air

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Corbett, Judy. Castles in the Air: the Restoration Adventures of Two Young Optimists and a Crumbling Old Mansion. London: Ebury Press, 2004.

Reason read: So. I was a little too ambitious with the June book list; as some of you might remember my reading appetite was bigger than what I could digest. Originally, Castles in the Air was on my June list in honor of the month my Knight in Shining Armor and I got engaged. We were in Loveland, Colorado and stayed at this fantastic B&B called Castle Marne. Get it? Castles in the Air & Castle Marne? Well, since I didn’t get around to reading Corbett’s book I was almost forced to move it to June 2016’s list…until I remembered I had another month I could celebrate castles in. September. The month Kisa and I got married. It’s a stretch and clearly not as straightforward as June, but it works.

Castles in the Air may not have the most original book title (think Don McLean) but it is a delightful read. Judy and her then boyfriend, Peter bought the Gwydir Castle in Wales and what follows is their adventure to restore it to its former glory. At first the going is a bit rough (“chainsaw gardening” says it all) but with the help of a band of misfit artisans the couple is able to piece together some semblance of Gwydir’s old glory…hauntings and peacocks included.

As an aside, I loved the language. Torch, jumper, chilblains & jackdaws all brought back memories of my adventures with an Irishman.

I didn’t find a plethora of lines to like, but there was this one: “Not a drop passed his lips the whole evening, but plenty passed our lips, and Michael’s tongue got looser and looser as if he was taking it out for a walk on a long piece of string” (pgs 198 – 199).

Author fact: Gwydir Castle has its own website (of course it does) and according to the site Judy and Peter still own it and run it as a B&B. More castle information: it’s open the the public April – October from 10am – 4pm, Saturdays and Mondays excluded.

Book trivia: Pictures are included (in color!) but they are only on the inside covers. Peter has a few illustrations as well.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “So We/I Bough/Built a House In…” (p 92).

In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan

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DeFrances, John. In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.

Reason read: DeFrancis was born in the month of August – read in his honor.

When I first cracked open In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan I thought DeFrancis was thumbing his nose at his readers. The first chapter of In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan is called “You can’t Do That Anymore” Here, DeFrances spends time listing all of the routes he was able to travel back in 1935 that are now closed to present-day (in 1993) travelers. But, that’s not bragging – it’s the simple truth. As it was, retracing the steps of Genghis Khan was not a simple affair, even back then. Just getting camels at that time of year (May) proved to be difficult because in the summer months the camels were traditionally “retired” and put to pasture to fatten up. When the travelers were presented with only female camels their journey was further slowed as females need to rest more often, get later starts in the day and their loads had to be much lighter than males. Typical women!

This was a fun read. Besides the fragility of female camels I also learned that lamas teach and can marry while monks don’t teach and shouldn’t marry (most do). There is very little about Genghis Khan, per se, until they reach Etsina.

As an aside: I am also reading a book about things in society “speeding up” for the sake of wanting everything faster. In In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan I learned that lamas of Tibet and Mongolia devised a way of speeding up their orisons by using prayer wheels of varying sizes. They could spin them in order to have the text read faster.

One last comment – I was shaken to read about the “voluntary” human trafficking that went on. Families would sell their children (by the pound) for labor and even prostitution in order to survive.

The best lines, “…ignorance of the past also impedes understanding of the human landscape” (p 7), “I had to admit it was a matter of historical record that Genghis Khan had conquered China without the benefit of Band-Aids” (p 96), “Rhubarb, however served, even in pies that others found delicious, always seemed to me not fit for consumption by humans and, I would now add, by animals as well” (p 185), and one more, “In recalling my early travels it is fascinating to see how often a minor jigsaw piece of the past acquires greater significance when fitted into a new mosaic of the present” (p 228).

Book trivia: In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan is filled with wonderful illustrations by Myra Taketa who is,  as DeFrances describes, a “multitalented secretary.”

Author fact: at the time of publication DeFrances was working on a “ground-breaking alphabetically based computerized Chinese-English dictionary” (p 285). He had since passed away. I don’t know if the dictionary was ever completed. I’ll have to look that up.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “In the Footsteps Of…” (p 102).

Snow Angels

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Thompson, James. Snow Angels. Read by T. Ryder Smith. New York: Recorded Books, 2009.

Reason read: There is a folk festival that takes place in Finland every July.

Meet Kari Vaara. He is the inspector for a small town outside of Finland’s capital of Helsinki. Just before Christmas, during the darkest time of the year in Lapland, he is confronted with the brutal (and I do mean brutal) murder of a semi-famous immigrant Somali actress. She has been viciously sexually assaulted and a racial slur has been carved into her stomach. Sex crime? Hate crime? Both? As lead investigator Vaara must sort through the clues; clues that dredge up his own haunted past. My only complaint was as lead detective Vaara should never have been allowed to stay on the case once it looked like his ex-wife’s boyfriend was good for the crime. In my culture Vaara would have recused himself and left the investigation, especially since his ex-wife left him devastated. His fingering the boyfriend for the murder could be a revenge accusation. SPOILER ALERT: if not after the first murder, but certainly when his ex-wife is also murdered he should have handed over every part of the investigation and stepped as far back as possible. Just my two…
Okay, and I have another complaint albeit a small one. This is definitely an adult book. The themes, the language, the sex and violence…well, the violence was especially over the top and so many deaths (six in all) seemed unnecessary.

As an aside, I just watched a documentary about living in Antarctica and can’t imagine living in a region where, for a quarter of a year, there is semi-darkness 24/7. I can’t imagine being without the sun for that length of time. The nights must seem endless and I think I would experience seasonal insanity.

Quote I loved. So, here’s an odd situation. There was this laugh-out-loud moment I want to relate only since I listened to it on audio I can’t quote it. I can paraphrase – Kari is speaking to someone unpleasant and he say “he didn’t say thank you, goodbye or even fuck you.” Those weren’t the exact words, but they made me giggle.
EDITED TO UPDATE: I borrowed a copy of the print just so I could quote my favorite line, “He gives me the time and place and hangs up without saying thank you, fuck you or good-bye” (p 221). It’s still funny.

Author fact: Snow Angels is Thompson’s first novel.

Book trivia: Snow Angels starts the series starring Inspector Kari Vaara.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Frolicking in Finland” (p 86).

Berlin Stories

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Isherwood, Christopher. The Berlin Stories. New York: New Directions, 2008.

If we want to be technical about it, The Berlin Stories is actually two novels in one. The first, Mr. Norris Changes Trains (American title: The Last of Mr. Norris) is just under 200 pages while Goodbye to Berlin is just over (207). The Last of Mr. Norris contains the famous line, “I am a Camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking” (p 1). Even though both stories are connected, I will review each story on its own.

The Last of Mr. Norris – Mr. Norris is a mysterious man. Wealthy one minute, impoverished the next. A sexual deviant with prim and proper manners. Shady friends. He is the focal point and the most developed character of The Last of Mr. Norris. Indeed, Isherwood wanted his readers to focus solely on the character of Mr. Norris throughout the entire novel. The subtleties of this complex character needed to be teased out somehow. Isherwood found that vehicle through the first person narrative of Norris’s English friend, William Bradshaw. From Bradshaw you learn there is something sinister and cunning yet beguiling about Norris. The only other “character” is Berlin in the 1930s. Hitler is beginning to gain power. Communism. Spies. Alliances. Blackmail. How Norris moves through this world is what makes the story interesting.

Goodbye to Berlin – Isherwood explained that in order to have the reader truly focus on Norris every other character needed to be culled from The Last of Mr. Norris. In Goodbye to Berlin those orphaned characters have found a home. Characters like Sally Bowels, Frl. Schoeder, Otto Nowak, and Peter —-. As an aside, the composition of Goodbye to Berlin is a little different from The Last of Mr. Norris. This time the chapters are titled: A Berlin Diary (1930), Sally Bowles, On Ruegen Island (Summer 1931), The Nowaks, The Landauers, and A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932 -3). Favorite lins, “With a mere gesture of wealth he could alter the whole course of our lives” (p 48) and “The political moral is certainly depressing: these people could be made to believe in anybody or anything” (p 90).

Author fact: Isherwood confessed The Berlin Stories was based heavily on the diary he kept during his four years in Berlin.

Book trivia: Armistead Maupin wrote the introduction to Berlin Stories.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1940s” (p 177). Also from Book Lust to Go in the chapter called simply, “Berlin” (p 36). I should note that I feel slightly tricked. Pearl mentioned The Berlin Stories was comprised of The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin but I thought she meant they were short stories. Oops! The good news is a result of this error I was actually able to cross three titles off my list because they were all listed in the index.

Drown

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Diaz, Junot. Drown. Read by Jonathan Davis. Westminster, MD: Books on Tape, 2007.

Here’s the thing. Anything you read by Diaz is going to feel like heavy drinking in a rough-around-the-edges bar; the kind of place where it’s too dark to see; where the soles of your shoes are sticky-stuck to the floor and there is the obsessively constant need to wipe your hands and mouth. Diaz has that conversational, lean in and listen way of talking that sounds slightly conspiratorial but always brutally honest. While the stories change direction and voice, the messages of culture, society, family, tradition and passion do not. Powerful characters are matched only by their fierce loves and tragic losses. Their triumphs and travesties are spilled across the page with a “so what?” wild abandon. It’s as if you are elbow to elbow with Diaz as he whispers to you lush stories from his childhood, his coming of age, his entire history. Every story is intensely personal. But, But! But, all the while you are aware that this bar, these stories – this is his turf and you are not safe without him there. You need him to keep talking.

Reason read: supposed to be read in honor of the Merengue Festival that takes place sometime in late July/early August but as a series of short stories, read in honor of June’s national short story status.

Book trivia: Here’s what kept me up at night – the story of the kid whose face was half chewed off by a pig. You meet his tormentors, children who don’t understand the need for him to wear a mask. But then later, you meet the poor child and it rattles you to the core.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Cavorting Through the Caribbean: Dominican Republic” (p 54).

Petra

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Auge, Christian and Jean-Marie Dentzer. Petra: Lost City of the Ancient World. New York: Discoveries: Henry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 2000.

Reason read: Speaking of lost cities, the first Indiana Jones movie was released in May.

When you think of the word ‘extinct’ most likely you think of dinosaurs, the woolly mammoth, maybe even the dodo bird. Cities don’t readily come to mind. Petra is one such extinct city hidden deep in the landscape of Jordan. What is so unique about Petra is that all of its structures were carved out of the towering rocks around it, creating a unique fortress. For centuries a civilization lived and breathed within Petra until the Crusaders bullied it into ruin and ultimate desolation. Petra was abandoned and forgotten until 1812 when explorer Johann Burckhardt stumbled across it’s shadowy beauty. Auge and Dentzer bring Petra’s art and architecture into the light in a mere 125+ pages. Before you even delve into the text of Petra you are treated to seven pages of glossy gorgeous photos, giving you a sense of why, since 1985, the city has been on the UNESCO list of world-heritage sites.
The only drawback to the tiny book is that text and absolutely stunning photographs are crammed together on the page. Every photograph has a lengthy description definitely worth reading. Because of the cramped space the flow of reading was at time, choppy. I decided it was better to read the text and then go back to study the photographs and read the descriptions.

Author(s) fact: Auge is a specialist in ancient coins and Dentzer is a professor.

Book trivia: this is my first experience with the Discoveries series and I’d like to think all of their books are like this, but Petra has gorgeous illustrations.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Jordan” (p 120).

Cutting for Stone

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Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for Stone. Read by Sunil Malhotra. New York: Random House Audio, 2009.

Reason read: May 28th is National Derg Downfall Day in Ethiopia.

On LibraryThing alone there are nearly 400 reviews for this book (and that’s not counting the people who insisted on publishing the same review five times in a row for whatever reason). It’s almost as if there is nothing more insightful to be said about Cutting for Stone. What new spin can I put on an already fabulous and amazing book? Everything everyone else said is absolutely true. It’s lyrical in its language. It’s descriptively alluring. Vivid landscapes. Intriguing characters. The mix of true historical events (like the attempted coup on Emperor Selassie) is seamless and works well within the fiction.

What I missed (and wished there was more of) was Marion interacting with his brother. There is barely any dialogue between the two brothers while they are growing up. Shiva is always on the periphery of Marion’s telling. By the time of the betrayal I didn’t get the full scope of how devastating it was to Marion because the closeness of the twins was not fully emphasized throughout the story.

Edited to add my favorite line, “No blade can puncture the human heart like the well-chosen words of a spiteful son” (p 821).

Author fact: Verghese is also a physician which is why his medical terminology in Cutting for Stone is more technical and exacting. When I checked out his website (here) I found his views on the patient-physician relationship compelling.

Book trivia: Cutting for Stone is Verghese’s first novel. He’s a doctor AND a best selling author!

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Ethiopia, Or As We Used To Say, Abyssinia!” (p 80). As an aside, Pearl wanted to travel to Addis Ababa after reading Cutting for Stone – Verghese “brought the city alive” (p 80). Someone else said Verghese made her homesick for Addis Ababa and they’ve never been there. Huge compliments.

Castle in the Backyard

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Draine, Betsy, and Michael Hinden. Castle in the Backyard: the Dream of a House in France. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) Web 7-30 April 2015.

Before my husband and I bought our house in 2009 we spent a lot of time watching first-time home-buying shows on HGTV and the DYI network. True, we were fascinated with the process but truthfully, we were more than a little scared we would look like idiots when it came our turn to make an offer someone couldn’t refuse. Realtor aside, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We had every reason to be afraid. Buying your first home is not a simple process by any stretch of the imagination even with the careful guidance of books and an expert real estate agent by your side. So, having said all that, I can only imagine what Draine and Hinden were feeling when they decided to buy a summer home in rural southern France. As a couple who got married later in life they didn’t have the opportunity to do a lot of those typical “first-time” things together, like buying a home (she moved into his). Castle in the Backyard is the romantic story of how one vacation turned into an adventure in buying French real estate. Draine and Hinden took almost a year and looked at 40 different properties before stumbling on the perfect “birdcage” of a home in Sarlat in the shadow of a castle, of course. Their retelling of the process is nothing less than perfect; dare I say cute? Even the sex (yes, there is sex) between them is sweetly implied. I loved the layers of humor (the Pepto Bismol was one of my favorites) and the seamless way Draine and Hinden took turns telling the tale.

As an aside, closing a house for the winter in Sarlat sounds not unlike closing a house on Monhegan. Lots of steps!
Biggest trivial take-aways: there is a “giant” Ikea near the Bordeaux airport, Sarlat was the foie-gras capital of France in 1995 and Draine and Hinden lived in “walnut country”.

Reason(s) read: First, there is the fact that April is a great time to visit France. Second, one of my favorite songs is “April in Paris” and my favorite version was sung by Billie Holiday (who was born on April 7th).

Author(s) fact: Draine and Hinden lived in the shadow of the castle for nearly 20 years. That must have been a beautiful time.

Book trivia: I read this an an e-book. I hope I didn’t miss out on much by not having the print and paper book in hand.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the oddly named chapter “So We/I Bought (or Built) a House In…” (p 211).

Walden

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Thoreau, Henry David. Walden or, Life in the Woods. New York: Signet Classic, 1980.

There are several words that come to mind when I think of Thoreau and his work, Walden. Right up front I have to say Walden is important, even necessary. Every student needs to read it at least once in his or her academic career, whether it be high school, college or as a postgraduate. As I said it’s important. But, there are other words that bubble to the surface as I read: didactic, preachy, bloviate. If Thoreau had kept his commentary restricted to his personal efforts to live a simple life and not generalized all of mankind it would have been a less frustrating read. At least for me. Case in point, Walden borrows an axe from a neighbor to build his house. He feels the need to point out “The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it” (p 32). His implication is, despite what the man said Thoreau cared for the instrument better than the owner. Couldn’t he just been grateful for borrowing the damned axe? As a former islander who lived on very little I know the importance of living simply. I just wish the reminder didn’t come as such a lecture.

As an aside, when Mailer read Walden he wasn’t impressed.

Reason read: Massachusetts became a state in February.

Author fact: Thoreau is probably better known for his work, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Book trivia: My copy of Walden included an afterword by Perry Miller and a revised and updated bibliography.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Walk Right In” (p 250).

Dud Avocado

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Dundy, Elaine. The Dud Avocado. New York: New York Review Books, 2007.

I think I would have liked to have known Elaine Dundy. Loosely based on her own life, Dud Avocado is a delicious romp through Paris, France in the 1950s. Dundy or rather Sally Jay Gorce, storms her way through the night clubs and Parisian society. Here’s the skinny on the plot: when Sally Jay Gorce was thirteen years old her uncle made her a deal: stop running away (now) and graduate from college (eventually). If she did all that he would pay for her to go anywhere for two years. No strings attached. He wouldn’t even try to contact her. After two years she could come home and tell him all about it…When we first meet Sally she is in Paris, France and it has been eight years since she made that deal. At the moment she is trying to win the favors of actor Larry Keevil, a fellow American with shiny auburn hair and gray-green eyes. She is in love. The only problem is this: Sally is currently involved with a “three-timing” man who already has a wife (1), mistress (2) and Sally (3). Sally gets mixed up in a bunch of relationships but she always keeps coming back to Larry. Only, he’s not the man she thinks he is. And she isn’t the girl she thought she was. Turns out she really did want to be a librarian.

The line that says it all for me: “We had lived there all alone for two whole months without it burning down” (p 203).

Confessional: I have to admit to an earlier confusion. Because both The Old Man and Me and The Dud Avocado were loosely based on Elaine Dundy’s personal life I thought the two books were connected. In Dundy’s early 20s she was in Paris and later she went to London. I thought the heroines of Old Man and Dud would be one and the same therefore their stories should be read in order. Nope. Two different characters based on the same author. Go figure.

Reason read: I heard this was supposed to be read before The Old Man and Me, or rather, the same leading character was in each story. Nevertheless, I have read them backwards.

Author fact: The Dud Avocado was Dundy’s first novel and was a hit, much to the jealousy of her husband (also a writer as a film critic). Much has been made about Groucho Marx’s praise of Dud.

Book trivia: According to Terry Teachout’s introduction The Dud Avocado has never been out of print in England. Pretty cool for a first novel.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “American Girls” (p 18).

Finnegans Wake

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Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake. New York: Viking, 1939.

Confessional: I was doomed right from the start. I have been calling this book Finnegan’s Wake. That should tell you something…when I can’t even get the title right. I have read a lot of reviews of Finnegans Wake. Lots of advice on how to even read the thing. When you have more reviews suggesting how to read a book rather than what the book was actually about, that should tell you something. In all honesty, I have no clue what it was about. But, I’m not alone. Tons of other people have been scratching their heads, too. But, but, but that’s not to say they aren’t without advice: I tried reading it aloud, as many suggested. I tried not taking it too seriously, as others promised would help. I tried drinking with each chapter and even that didn’t make the going any easier. Drinking just made me laugh when something wasn’t funny. It’s much like the lyrics to Phish. I don’t understand a jiboo so I don’t “get” the song. End of story.

Reason read: James Joyce was born in February – just like me, myself and moi.

Author fact: Joyce took 17 years to write Finnegans Wake and it shows. I think he randomly forgot where he was in the story and picked up any old place, even in the middle of sentences.

Book trivia: Finnegans Wake was Joyce’s last book. He died two years after its publication. I can see that.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called simply “Irish Fiction” (p 175) but more importantly, from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Ireland: Beyond Joyce, Behan, Beckett, and Synge” (p 110). Technically, I never should have picked Joyce up. As the chapter suggests, I should be reading anything but Joyce, Behan, Beckett or Synge.

In Xanadu

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Dalrymple, William. In Xanadu: a Quest.Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications, 2000.

Right off the bat I have to say I love an author who uses the word “churlish.” I could tell In Xanadu was going to be a crazy ride when he apologizes in his dedication (who does that?). William Dalrymple takes us on a journey from Lebanon to Inner Mongolia, following the historic path of Marco Polo (Travels). Dalrymple’s ultimate goal is to reach the famed palace of Xanadu, of Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” fame. For the first half of his expedition he is accompanied by savvy traveler, Laura. The extraordinary thing is he met her at a dinner party just a few weeks before his departure. She just invited herself along because that’s the type of person she is. From the way Dalrymple describes her, he sounds a little afraid of her. The second half of his journey is with newly ex-girlfriend, Laura. While not as fierce as Laura, Louisa has endearing qualities all her own. I don’t think I will spoil it for anyone when I say they do make it to Xanadu, despite many mishaps along the way.

Quote that made me laugh out loud: “Had it not been for the machine guns they both were holding it might have been a homely scene” (p 23).

Reason read: William Dalrymple followed Marco Polo’s steps in In Xanadu. Marco Polo died in January.

Author fact: Dalrymple wrote In Xanadu when he was just 22 years old. It was his first book.

Book trivia: unfortunately, there are no photographs in In Xanadu except for an author photo in the front. Bummer.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “In the Footsteps Of…” (p 100).

Old Man & Me

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Dundy, Elaine. The Old Man and Me. New York: New York Review Books, 2005.

Introductions to books often bore me, I’ll admit it. I’m the one who will skip them nine times out of ten. For some reason I didn’t skip Dundy’s introduction to The Old Man and Me and I’m very glad I didn’t. I appreciated her explanation of who Honey Flood is, why Honey is the way she is (think Jessica Rabbit, “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way”), and why she wanted Honey that way. Dundy wants her reader to know the purpose of Honey in Old Man is as a response to the male anti-heroes of the era. By creating the female counterpart, Honey Flood is the Angry Young Woman who hates everything English. Additionally, Miss Flood is opinionated, hot-tempered, easy annoyed, more often than not, sarcastically irritated and a liar to boot. As Dundy explains, “But what I hope I had going for me is that Bad Girls are more interesting that Good ones” (p ix). Amen to that. So, about Honey…she’s out to seduce an older man. She’ll go to great lengths to land an interview with him, including befriending people she can’t stand. Why? He married her stepmother after her father’s death and by default (stepmum later committed suicide), has all Honey’s inheritance. In short, Honey wants her money back. True to Dundy’s intro, Honey is nothing short of nasty. There were surprises within Old Man and Me that popped up unexpectedly.

Lines which sparked the imagination, “Bollie was a sort of chain-talker, lighting one end of a conversation to another without letting the first go out” (p 8) and “She had lost her husband only two days ago and already she was a lost soul” (p 29).

Confessional: I didn’t catch that The Old Man and Me was a continuation of sorts of The Dud Avocado so I read Old Man before Avocado. My mistake. Bummer.

Reason read: January is the time people make resolutions. It’s also the most popular time to put affairs in order, like creating or revising a will.

Author fact: Elaine died in 2008. At 82 years of age she wrote the introduction I mentioned earlier. She lived to be 87 years old.

Book trivia: The Old Man and Me is a sequel of sorts to The Dud Avocado. The main character is in Dud and although she is older, she appears again in Old Man.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “American Girls” (p 18).

Greater Nowheres

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Finkelstein, Dave and Jack London. Greater Nowheres: a Journey Through the Australian Bush.New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988.

The premise of Greater Nowheres is simple. Dave Finkelstein and Jack London are on the hunt for a mythical yet terrifying and elusive crocodile in the Australian bush. Despite their lackadaisical searching Finkelstein and London never really meet up with the famed creature (sorry to disappoint – Jack sees it but Dave doesn’t). Instead, Greater Nowheres becomes an eye opening account of a region in Western and Northern Australia few have traveled just for the fun of it. Finkelstein and London take turns writing chapters about their adventures and it is interesting to see their differing styles on the page (London is much more descriptive, in case you were wondering). One thing they both comment on is the inhospitable climate of the Australian Bush, a place where temperatures can soar and stay elevated (above 100 degrees) even at 10 o’clock at night. There are two seasons – the Wet and the Dry and both wreak havoc on travelers and residents alike. After awhile you sense a pattern, every place Jack and Dave visit is desolate but fiercely loved by the people who call it home.

As an aside, before I started reading Greater Nowheres I wondered if London’s drinking would play a part in the story. Neither Finkelstein or London shy away from mentioning London’s love of drink, even while in the arid deserts of the outback. Jack makes reference to his hangovers and the local pub being the only place he did his best verbal sparring.

Quotes that stuck with me, “Once again small athletes had come up short, but such narrow mindedness may soon be a prejudice of the past, at least in Australia, where the rapidly proliferating sport of dwarf-throwing is winning fans and enthusiastic devotees” (p 143), “To refer to Wyndham as a dead end is to make it sound a more appealing place than it actually is” (p 172), “We passed through a town called Kumarina without even realizing it” (p 192),

Reason read: Jack London’s birth month is in January.

Author facts: Finkelstein once was a Chinese interpreter and London once was an English professor.

Book trivia: there are no photographs to speak of in Greater Nowheres. Just illustrated maps.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Australia, the Land of Oz” (p 28).