Category: Lust To Go

Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius

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Borges, Jorge Luis. “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius.” Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Translated. New York: New Directions, 1964.

With Uqbar being this elusive place I came to think of it as a Brigadoon of sorts. Borges opens the short story with this line, “I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopaedia” (p3). But, the 11th volume of the encyclopaedia is quite the mystery. Tlon is a nonexistent country and Orbis Tertius is a planet with an unknown history. Does it really exist? The first person narrative struggles to learn more about this unusual place and has come to the conclusion it is a psychologically governed land that consists of a secret society comprised of arts and intellectuals.

Reason read: Borges was born in the month of August. Read in his honor.

Book trivia…I mean short story trivia: This is only 16 pages long. a very quick read (although I read it several times as there is a lot going on).

Author fact: Borges’s full name was Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges. Awesome name.

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

Rowed Trip

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Angus, Colin and Julie Angus. Rowed Trip: a Journey by Oar from Scotland to Syria. Birmingham: Menasha Ridge Press, 2009.

There are several different subject categories in which I could put Rowed Trip: adventure, boating, bicycling, travel, culture, or even marriage to name a few, because all of these subjects are covered in Colin and Julie’s account of their journey from Scotland to Syria. Everything about their trip is either informative or funny but always entertaining. To start from the beginning, Colin’s ancestors are from Scotland while Julie’s are from Syria. While studying a map (I forgot why) they realized there are various waterways the entire distance between their homeland countries. As seasoned adventure travelers they asked themselves wouldn’t it be fun to travel the entire distance by boat? Both Colin and Julie have considerable experience in this area and have written books about it. As newlyweds, married less than a year, what better way to break in a marriage?
To be fair, in actuality Rowed Trip is a misnomer. The entire trip wasn’t by oar as the subtitle suggests. There were miles traveled by ingenious bicycles and trailers as well. Due to complicated lock systems most of France was traversed by bike, to name one instance. Because Colin and Julie each take turns writing the chapters their individually personalities reveal themselves. Colin’s style of writing is more descriptive of the surroundings while Julie has more introspective emotion. Both narratives are didactic at times. It was interesting to read how they handled navigating the locks in each country (which seems to be one of their biggest challenges besides getting their trailer stolen and blown bike tires).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Rowed Trip and breaking with the Lust rules, I probably will research Colin and Julie’s other books not on my list.

Favorite quote: I didn’t really have a favorite quote or at least no passages jumped out at me. However, I did enjoy the couple’s efforts to navigate in countries where neither spoke the language. They lived by one of my favorite philosophies, “it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission>”

Reason read: July is ocean month. Maybe not nationally recognized as such, but it’s one of my favorite times to be on the water.

Author(s) fact: Colin and Julie are married and each have written other books about their adventures as I have mentioned before.

Book trivia: Rowed Trip includes a smattering of photos. I think there could have been more. Or, at least, I would have liked to seen more.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (p 191).

First Man

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Camus, Albert. The First Man. Translated by David Hapgood. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1995.

First Man opens with Henri Cormery, the new manager of the Saint-Apotre property seeking help for his wife, in labor with their second child. But, the meat of the transcript is  the son, Jacques Cormery, looking to understand he father he never met. With a deaf-mute mother and a contradictory tyrannical grandmother, Jacques’s quest for knowledge is slow-going. Henri Cormery died in combat when Jacques was just an infant and the women in his family are reluctant to remember anything. Most of the story centers on Jacques in the formative years, his education, his religion, his poverty and of course, his mother and grandmother. While most of the story centers on the bleakness of poverty and the restrictions placed upon Jacques because of that poverty, I liked the sly sense of humor Camus inserted throughout the story. Take this dialogue, for example: “How is it going?” “I don’t know, I especially don’t go in where the women are.” “Good rule…Particularly when when are crying…” (p 15). It just goes to show you that emotional women still drive men nuts. What I didn’t appreciate in First Man was how confusing an unfinished transcript could be. On page 8 Jacques’s mother’s name is Lucie, but by page 90 she is Catherine. Then there were the hundreds and hundreds of reference notes. It made reading slow and plodding at times.

As an aside, I have to laugh. Because I have been thinking of this as Camus’s last book I have been calling it The Last Man. Go figure!

Quotes I like, “She said yes, maybe it was no; she had to reach back in time through a clouded memory, nothing was certain” (p 80).

Reason read: June 19th is the anniversary of Revolution Day in Algeria.

Author fact: Camus’s daughter is instrumental in getting this work published. Even his wife wouldn’t release it to the public.

Book trivia: This is Camus’s last work. The handwritten manuscript was found with him after his fatal car accident in 1960. I think it is fitting that First Man is the last book written by Camus that I will read for the Challenge.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “North African Notes: Algeria” (p 159).

Zero Days

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Egbert, Barbara. Zero Days: the Real-Life Adventure of Captain Bligh, Nelly Bly and 10-Year-Old Scrambler on the Pacific Crest Trail. Berkley, CA: Wilderness Press, 2008.

Lots of people like to hike. Some people like to take it to an extreme, like Barbara Egbert and her family. She, with her husband, Gary, and their ten year old daughter, Mary, spent six months hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. All 2,650 miles of it. Well, Barbara had to come off the trail at the end to become a trail angel so technically she didn’t hike the entire thing but Mary became the youngest person to do so. Zero Days is a memoir of sorts about that adventure. I expected the story to be in chronological order, starting with Day one in April at the Mexico border and ending six months later at the Canadian border. Instead I found to be quasi-chronological with random sidetrackings, even referring to previous hikes before Mary was born. Here are some examples, chapter three is all about the other hikers they met along the way. Chapter eight is all about the different towns they stopped in. Day 11 of the hike can be nestled with day 108 on the same page. Names aren’t consistent either. Mary could be called Scrambler (her trail name) in the same sentence. Same with Captain Bligh (husband, Gary). Egbert sometimes refers to herself as Nellie Bly. Aside from the meandering, I thoroughly enjoyed Egbert’s tales from the trails. I learned a great deal about what it takes to hike the great trails of the United States. Like, for example, you can take detours miles and miles off the PCT and you have still hiked the PCT. You can leave the hike for weeks at a time and still be called a thru-hiker. Hell, you can even hitchhike through some of it and still be called a hiker!

My one complaint – I was distracted by how many times Barbara would exclude herself (or her family) from the norm. Maybe it was just me, but Egbert seemed to put herself in a different category than the rest of the hikers; than rest of society even. I can’t really explain it except to say I began to notice of pattern. Here are some examples of what I mean, “…many thru-hikers count on doing a lot of hitchhiking. We had decided ahead of time to hitchhike as seldom as possible” (p 136), “We had a good experience at White’s, but during a later year, some thru-hikers reported a much less pleasant time” (p 137), and “After five months of the Pacific Crest Trail, the dental procedure that summons up fear in the hardiest souls had struck me as nothing more than a minor annoyance” (p 159).

I like the way libraries work. My copy of  Zero Days traveled from Sierra Vista, Arizona. 🙂

Reason: June is National Take a Hike month. This would be some hike!

Author fact: Barbara Egbert’s family is reported to have their own website. However, when I went to check it out I was told it was “temporarily unavailable.” I guess after ten years the 15 minutes of fame ran its course. Either that or someone forgot to pay the site bill.

Book trivia: Zero Days includes “the Blighs’ PCT Album.” I especially liked the picture of Crater Lake.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Hiking the (Fill In The Blank) Trail” (p 95).

Art Student’s War

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Leithauser, Brad. The Art Student’s War. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2009.

Right off the bat I have to mention the author’s note. If you are someone who normally skims or even completely skips this part, in a word: Don’t. It’s touching. For starters, I don’t know many men who have a decent relationship with their mothers-in-law much less those who find inspiration in them, but Leithauser has done those guys one better. He goes on to say that The Art Student’s War “must serve as a tribute…” to his mother-in-law. Classy. Seriously.

I didn’t think I would like The Art Student’s War because I’m not a big fan of the overly dramatic. Within the first fifty pages Bianca Paradiso’s family is rocked by scandal: her aunt accidentally reveals a breast when her bathing suit slips. The dynamics between the two families is never the same after that. Yes, I know the times are different now and you can almost expect to see a bare breast on a beach these days, but the amount of anguish the entire family suffers at the hands of this one mistake seems a little exaggerated…until I read on. First of all, mental illness plays a part here. And. And! And, I should have known better. Bianca’s character has been melodramatic from the start. Once, she was moved to anxious tears because she regretted not talking to a soldier on a bus. She lamented he didn’t hear her say thank you.
As the story deepens, and you get to know the characters better, Bianca rounds out to be a steadfast good girl with all the dreams and aspirations of becoming a worthy artist. Those dreams are first realized when she is asked to help with the war effort: to use her talents to draw portraits of wounded soldiers in the local hospital, the very hospital where she was born. It is here that she meets Henry. The relationship that blooms is complex and sets Bianca’s Coming of age in motion.
Halfway through the book there is a weird break that is told from the perspective of Bea’s uncle. It’s a glimpse into the future and doesn’t quite fit with the flow of the story. If you are paying attention, it gives away the plot and reveals more than it should. When we come back to Bea, she is a married woman with twin six year old sons. She has remained close to a few childhood friends, but is not the artist she used to be. Life goes on. Detroit is like another character in the book, growing along with Bea.

An added benefit of the Art Student’s War is the art history lesson you get along the way.

Reason read: Coleman Young, Detroit’s first black mayor, was born in the month of May.

Author fact: Leithauser is a Detroit native who studied at Harvard. That should tell you something – street smarts and book smarts!

Book trivia: scattered throughout The Art Student’s War are illustrations. These are the illustrations his mother-in-law drew that inspired the book. Leithauser also includes a photograph of Lormina Paradise. Very nice.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Definitely Detroit” (p 74). As an aside, Pearl calls Leithauser’s writing “magical” and I couldn’t agree more.

Lotus Eaters

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Soli, Tatjana. The Lotus Eaters. Read by Kirsten Potter. Blackstone Audio, 2010.

In the year of 1975 North Vietnam is still pushing towards Saigon. It’s the end of the Vietnam war (or American war, depending on who you ask). The Lotus Eaters opens with the city’s demise being eminent and the panic to escape, mounting. Caught in this frenzy is Helen Adams, a seasoned American photojournalist, and her Vietnamese lover, Lihn. Stepping back in time, we learn that Helen is following in the footsteps of her soldier brother, killed in action earlier in the war. She has come to Vietnam to research his death and ultimately falls in love with the war.  As we follow Helen from her first arriving in Saigon, we witness her naivete and her desperate need to belong. Quickly, she attaches herself to Sam Darrow, a fellow photojournalist who has been around the block a few times. He is supposed to be a hard-nosed, loner of a photographer, but he and Helen soon develop a romantic relationship that defies logic and marriage vows. Sam’s assistant, Lihn complicates things when he too falls in love with Helen. In the midst of well-worn war, emerges a not-so obvious love triangle.
In other reviews I have read the complaint is Soli takes the story too far, drags it out too long. I disagree. Each phase of Helen’s time in Vietnam, as well as her time away, builds a layer of her personality and adds to the complexity of her emotions. I am of two minds about the beginning, though. Soli reveals upfront that Lihn is Helen’s lover and they are desperate to get out of Saigon. That information nagged at me throughout the rest of the telling because I knew it was coming. For example, I expected something to happen to Darrow because the shift in Helen’s relationship with Lihn. It was a matter of when this something would happen that kept me guessing.

Reason read: Saigon fell in the month of April. Confessional: this was a little longer than I anticipated so I listened to it a few days into May.

Author fact: The Lotus Eaters is Tatjana Soli’s first book.

Reader fact: Kirsten Potter graduated from Boston University.

Book trivia: The Lotus Eaters won the James Tait Black Prize in 2010.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter simply called “Vietnam” (p 248). Duh.

the dancer and the thief

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Skarmeta, Antonio. the dancer and the thief. Translated by Katherine Silver. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.

Due to overcrowding in a Chilean prison a select group of nonviolent prisoners have been granted amnesty by the President and released. From this prison come Angel Santiago and Nicholas Verga Gray. On the inside they were just criminals with numbers. On the outside they are vastly different from one another, yet nevertheless their lives are destined to intersect. Again. Twenty year old Santiago is anxious to avenge the horrible abuses he suffered in prison at the hands of other inmates as well as the warden. Sixty year old Gray wants nothing more than to put his life as a master thief behind him and reconnect with his estranged wife and son. Zealous protege meets reluctant master. Meanwhile, the prison warden, knowing that his life is in danger now that Angel Santiago has been freed, allows a violent inmate to go free for one month. While the rest of the world thinks this prisoner is in solitary confinement he is on the hunt for Angel Santiago. The mission is to kill him before he can kill the warden. If this wasn’t enough of a plot, add a teenage girl who has lofty dreams of becoming a dancer. Broke and broken Victoria meets broke and broken Angel. Now Angel needs money more than ever. Who better to get it from than a master thief? And, thanks to a dwarf, he has a plan.

Reason read: Chile gained her independence in April.

Author fact: Skarmeta is known for The Postman which I am reading…eventually.

Book trivia: The Dancer and the Thief was made into a movie in 2009 starring Ricardo Darin and Abel Ayala.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “It’s Chile Today” (p 115). Here’s the head scratcher about this chapter. The subject of Chile is not under ‘C’ for Chile but rather ‘I’ for It’s. So, let’s say someone asked me what Pearl would recommend for books that have a connection to Chile. I wouldn’t find Chile in the table of contents unless I knew to skip C and go right to I. Odd. To be fair, there are a lot of chapters like this but this is the first time I noticed it.

“Kubla Khan”

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Coleridge, Samuel. “Kubla Khan.” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems by Samuel T. Coleridge. The Peter Pauper Press, 1950.

I remember ripping this apart line by line in a high school English class and then again in a college poetry course. We studied this so much I developed a crush on young Coleridge’s face (but, not so much after he got a little jowly). Probably my favorite detail about Kubla Khan is that it was supposedly conceived after one of Coleridge’s drug induced dreams.
I don’t feel the need to get into the meaning behind the poem or to get didactic about the symbolism. Suffice it to say, Kubla Khan is the ruler of Xanadu and the land is described like a paradise of the imagination. Each element, the river, garden, ocean, forest, and cavern are symbols for man’s existence. Tyranny and war represent a reality in direct contrast to Xanadu. If you want anything more than that (about the maiden, etc), read the poem!

My favorite line, “And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething…” (p 54).

Reason read: April is National Poetry Month. But…I’m not sure I needed to read this (see twist below).

Author fact: Samuel Taylor Coleridge is thought to have been mentally ill with a drug problem.

Poetry fact: “Kubla Khan” is not as well known as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Where in the World Do These Books Belong?” (p 259). Pearl mentions “Kubla Khan” when talking about Caroline Alexander’s book, The Way to Xanadu because it’s about the places that influenced Coleridge’s poem. Coleridge himself is not indexed in Book Lust To Go but “Kubla Khan” is. Here was my dilemma: I am not ready to read The Way to Xanadu so I’m not sure “Kubla Khan” is included…but since the poem is in the index of Book Lust To Go I have to read it. Does that make sense?

Leopard Hunts in Darkness

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Smith, Wilbur. The Leopard Hunts in Darkness. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1984.

This is the penultimate book in the Ballantyne series. The book opens, as all the others do, with a snapshot of the landscape. This time we follow a bull elephant and his desperate escape from hunters. It’s a savage start to Leopard, but very typical of Smith and very telling of the rest of the story, for it’s all about poachers. The story then follows Craig Mellow out of Africa and into the urban jungle of New York City. At the end of Angels Weep Mellow has just found out his book, Flight of the Falcon has been accepted for publication. Unlike other Ballantyne books in the series, Leopard does not start with a date. The reader is not grounded in the era until later. Of course, in order to make the story go back to Africa, Mellow returns to his homeland to revitalize his country and start a nature preserve with photographer, Sally-Anne. Typical of all Smith/Ballantyne books there is savage violence, passionate love scenes and gorgeous landscapes to draw every kind of reader in.

Just a funny side note: the cover of The Leopard Hunts in Darkness depicts a man holding out a gun at arm’s length, a woman holding a Nikon up to her eye, and a man who looks suspiciously like Elvis reflected in the lens of the camera. The gun-toting gentleman looks a little like Treat Williams!

Reason read: This finishes the series I started in January in honor of Rhodesia’s Shangani Day. In a way I am a little disappointed to be leaving Wilbur Smith’s world.

Author fact: Smith looks a little like the guy on the cover of The Leopard Hunts in Darkness which is to say Wilbur Smith looks a little like Treat Williams!

Book trivia: The Leopard Hunts in Darkness is Smith’s 17th book. Interesting to note, this isn’t the last book in the series. It ends with The Triumph of the Sun, which I am not reading.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Zipping Through Zimbabwe/Roaming Rhodesia” (p 268).

“Romance”

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Turner, W.J. “Romance.” Modern British Poetry. ed. Louis Untermeyer. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. pp 305. Print.

The first thing you need to understand about “Romance” is that the three interesting names in the poem, Chimborozo, Cotopaxi, and Popocatapetl, are all names of volcanoes south of the United States. Chimborazo and Cotopaxi are in the Andes of Ecuador and Popocatapetl is in Mexico, not far from Mexico City. Once you realize what Turner is talking about, the word romance takes on a completely different meaning. This is not about a relationship between a couple; this a boy, escaping the drudgery of school by fantasizing about the volcanoes of a far off land (Turner was from Australia).

Reason read: April is National Poetry month.

Author fact: I am only reading two poems this month and it turns out Turner and Sassoon were friends. Very cool.

Poem trivia: I found a YouTube video of the poem. I have to admit it’s disturbing to watch and hearing Turner’s own voice is downright haunting.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Travelers’ Tale in Verse” (p 237).

Rose Cafe

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Mitchell, John Hanson. The Rose Cafe: Love and War in Corsica. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007.

As a young adult, John Hanson Mitchell found himself on the island of Corsica with absolutely no agenda other than to work in a cafe in order to watch and listen to the people around him. As a dishwasher in the Rose Cafe he had the opportunity to mingle with the guests and learn their life stories. Forty years later he writes about his experiences, describing Corsica as otherworldly and mysterious; hinting at zombies and shadowy characters. While there isn’t a standard plot to Rose Cafe, Mitchell does an amazing job not only describing the people he met, but bringing the island’s history to life. Because he was on the island in the early 60s, World War II was still fresh in a lot of people’s minds. Mitchell himself was “in hiding” to avoid the draft.

Lines I liked, “In the end, I fell into a strange, perhaps unhealthy, lethargy at the Rose Cafe” (p 5). That pretty much sums up how Mitchell ended up working (illegally) at the Rose Cafe as a pot washer/fish cleaner.
Another line I could relate to on several levels, “The wind undid people, it was said” (p 21). Amen to that.

Reason read: April is National Food Month. I thought reading about a cafe on the island of Corsica would involve some food. Not really. Mitchell was a fish cleaner, but that’s about it.

Author fact: John has his own website here. I don’t know what I was expecting when I found it (because I just knew he would have a site) but that wasn’t it. It hasn’t been updated in a few years.

Book trivia: Rose Cafe doesn’t contain any pictures. Mitchell describes the landscape beautifully but I would have loved seeing his views, especially his view from the cottage he stayed in.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Corsica” (p 72). Yup. Simple as that.

Angels Weep

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Smith, Wilbur. The Angels Weep. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1982.

We begin The Angels Weep in the year 1895. Right away we join Zouga Ballantyne and his son, Ralph as they search for treasure (what else is new?). The other same old-same old themes are sex, violence and prejudice all leading to another war. The characters are older (Ralph now has a son, Jonathan or Jon-Jon), but their ambitions and attitudes are the same. Even Robyn Ballantyne is the same. She is so desperate to understand malaria that she stops taking quinine pills and infects herself with the virus in order to further her research. As with Falcon Flies and Men of Men, whites are still mistreating blacks and the power struggles continue. It is on this struggle that Smith centers his conflict. He masterfully shows both sides and when one side betrays the other you find yourself asking, “how could they?!” while your rational side is asking, “how could they NOT?!” Friend betrays friend. Years of companionship are wiped away in a single gunshot. Part II of the book takes us 80 years into the future when we meet Ralph’s great grandson and other heirs. Craig Mellow becomes a prominent figure in the end. There is a nice little twist that made me think the series should have ended here. It brings everything full circle.

Line I liked, “There could never be love where there had been blood” (p 98).

Reason read: This is the penultimate book in the Ballantyne series I started in January in honor of Rhodesia’s Shangani Day.

Book trivia: It isn’t necessary to read the other Ballantyne books (Falcon Flies and Men of Men) in order to pick up The Angels Weep, but it helps. Smith does a great job filling in from book to book, but to get the big picture you need to read the series in order.

Author fact: According to the back flap of The Angels Weep Smith took a sabbatical year with his wife and traveled all over the place.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called, “Zipping Through Zimbabwe/Roaming Rhodesia” (p 269).

Day the Falls Stood Still

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Buchanan, Cathy Marie. The Day the Falls Stood Still. Read by Karen White. Ontario: Tantor, 2009

Bess Heath is a seventeen year old junior at her private boarding school when her father is laid off from the Niagara Electric Company. After returning home for the summer she realizes nothing remains the same. Now that her father is unemployed, her mother must take on seamstress work to make ends meet and Bess and her sister, Isabel learn to chip in. Bess becomes an accomplished seamstress and slowly builds up her own list of customers. Once Bess meets Tom Cole her life takes another drastic turn. The rest of the story is a love story on multiple levels that spans Bess’s formative years. She falls in love, learns about death and the value of family. She also discovers what it means to be torn between two loyalties. Tom, because of his relationship with nature, is in direct conflict with the Niagara Hydra-electric. Bess has a long standing history with the power company and has a love-hate relationship with the whirlpool at the base of the falls. Both have a deep personal history with the temperamental river. Together, theirs is a story of triumph over tragedy.

Even though this was an audio book I could barely “put it down.” I loved Buchanan’s writing style. You can’t help but fall in love with Bess.

Reason read: March 29, 1848: it was cold enough to make Niagara Falls freeze, hence the day the falls stood still.

Author fact: Buchanan has her own website here.

Book trivia: The Day the Falls Stood Still is Cathy Marie Buchanan’s first novel.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Niagara Falls” (p 156). Can’t get any easier than that.

Illumination Night

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Hoffman, Alice. Illumination Night. New York: Berkley Books, 1987.

“Simon can hear the sound of pine cones hitting the ground, or bones breaking” (p 4). You know you are in for a wild ride when you read that early-in-the-book sentence because, at that moment you haven’t learned that Simon, at age four, has just heard the result of woman trying to fly. There are so many things you don’t know…yet. I should also add that Illumination Night is a really fast read. I read the first 80 pages before coming up for air. My entire lunch break flew by without my eyes lifting from the page once. Alice Hoffman is one of those authors that can suck you into a story within the first few sentences. Once you are hooked you can’t escape the story or the characters. This is a story of relationships. A grandmother, trying to understand her 16 year old granddaughter. They live next door to a married couple trying to live with their insecurities and unmet desires. All of the characters become entangled with one another when the teenager sets her sights on seducing the husband. And then, this part sounds like the punchline to a joke, a giant walks into the picture…Seriously, this is a simply beautiful story about relationships, the ones with healing and faith in them.

Reason read: Hoffman’s birthday is in March. I tried to read this two years ago. Actually, to be more precise I tried to listen to it on cd two years ago. Every disc was so scratched; damaged beyond repair that it was impossible for me to continue. I sent the whole thing back to the owning library and took it off my list for what was supposed to be one year. One thing led to another and I’m only now getting back to it…in print.

Author fact: Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors.

Book trivia: Alice Hoffman signed this copy of Illumination Night. Very cool.

BookLust Twist: from all three Lust Books! In Book Lust in the chapter called simply “A…My Name is Alice” (p1); in More Book Lust in the chapter called “Marriage Blues” (p 162); in Book Lust to Go in the chapter simply called “Martha’s Vineyard” (p 142).

Georges’ Wife

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Jolly, Elizabeth. The Vera Wright Trilogy: the Georges’ Wife. New York: Persea Books, 2010.

This is the last book in the Vera Wright trilogy. Vera has had a second daughter, Rachel, and this time the father is Mr. George, a professor. Once again, Vera has to keep the identity of the baby’s father a secret because their relationship is clandestine. Although, it is not with a married man this time. Vera has gotten herself romantically entangled with someone she is keeping house for. His spinster sister would not approve of their relationship (although there are times when Vera is convinced the sister already knows). As with the other Vera Wright books, Miss Wright is lonely and alone. Sad line: “To be his and not just on the edge of him and not just now and then” (p 418) suggests that she would like to have an open and honest relationship with Rachel’s father. She goes on to say, “I am accustomed to the idea of being alone, but her words cause an extra emptiness, that of being removed from belonging to a family” (p 426). How sad is that? As with the other Wright books in the series, The Georges’ Wife jumps around. In one chapter Vera’s children are small enough to show off to Miss Georges’s guests and the next they have grown up to both become surgeons. Spoiler alert: all Vera’ life she has been an outsider and incredibly lonely. Even at the very end of the trilogy she has not found true companionship. Mr. George, suffering from Alzheimer’s, doesn’t recognize the word ‘couple’ to describe his relationship with Vera.

Reason read: This is the last book in the Vera Wright Trilogy that I started in honor of Jolley.

Author fact: Jolley died in 2007. The Vera Wright Trilogy is considered autobiographical in nature.

Book trivia: Georges’ Wife is the last book of the Vera Wright trilogy. I said that already. The other piece of trivia is that The Georges’ Wife was only published in Australia. I was able to find it in a three-in-one volume.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Australia, Land of Oz: fiction” (p 30). Again, the only reason for Jolley to be included in this chapter is her notoriety as an author after moving to Australia. There is nothing about Australia in the first two books of the trilogy. At the very end of Thew Georges’ Wife Vera and Mr. George move to Australia.