Category: NonFiction

Roughing It

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Twain, Mark. Roughing It: a personal narrative. Harper and Row, 1913.

Reason read: to celebrate Twain’s birth month.

Originally published in 1872, Roughing It is most commonly presented as a two-volume travel adventure. Twain, ever the storyteller of exaggerated fact and humorous fiction, takes us on a epic journey across the country; an exercise that he called “variegated vagabondizing.” This would seem to be a nonfiction, but you really cannot trust Twain with his stories of Slade, the Rocky Mountain desperado and the outrageous shootouts Twain supposedly witnessed. My personal eye roll story was when Twain and a companion rowed 12-15 miles to an island…in the middle of a storm. I am from an island ten miles out to sea and I can tell you it takes 70-75 minutes to go that far with an engine-powered boat in flat calm weather. My favorite moment was a Winnie-the-Pooh situation when Twain and his companions were thinking they are being stalked by a growing group of men when really it was their own footprints multiplying as they wandered around in circles. Did Milne get the idea from Twain?
But. I digress. Back to Twain’s western adventure. Beyond California, Twain journeyed to Utah, Nevada and Hawaii. [As an aside, when Twain described the scorpions and the centipedes (with forty-two legs on each side), I found myself lifting my feet high off the floor.]

Quotes to quote, “Three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would restore an Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor, and give him an appetite like an alligator” (p 158). Does the tourism board of Lake Tahoe know that Twain said this? What a great endorsement! Here is another line that made me laugh. This one on the subject of polygamy: “Take my word for it, ten or eleven wives is all you need – never go over it” (p 109).

Author fact: We know Twain was born Samuel Clemens and that he worked as a steamboat captain. he also married Olivia Langdon and became filthy rich.

Book trivia: Twain spends an entire chapter discussing the Mormon bible.

Playlist: “Shining Shire”, “Coronation”, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings”,

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Western Memoirs” (p 241).

Diane: True Survivor

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Lassoe, Ward V.B. Diane: True Survivor. Koehlerbooks, 2024.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I see out interesting books to review. This definitely caught my eye.

Diane might seem like every other uneducated, down-on-her-luck woman who used sex in her early years to get ahead. True, she continuously lashes out, made poor choices in men, and had several abortions as a teenager, but instead of her misguided beginnings, we should see Diane as a determined, courageous, and spiritual woman who tried to do the right thing as she got older. Despite suffering sexual and physical abuse, abandonment, and financial hardships, she is like all of us. All she ever wanted was to be loved and respected. It took her some time to realize that self-worth comes from self-love. Respect will come from within when you truly love yourself. Her strength and capacity for sincere forgiveness was amazing.
It is important to remember that Diane: True Survivor started as an interview with a classmate and friend. Lassoe’s style of writing is not a style at all, but rather the words of Diane echoing back through Lassoe’s writing. Lassoe accomplishes the allusion of a conversation between Diane and the reader because Diane is the one doing all the remembering and Lassoe has kept the narrative honest. Diane’s pain is apparent in every sentence she utters, starting with her early years in foster care and ending with the death of her mother.

Author fact: Lassoe started as a classmate of Diane but in the end could call himself a friend.

Book trivia: Diane: True Survivor includes photographs.

Music: Cliff Richards’ “Congratulations”, “God Save the Queen”, “My Country Tis of Thee”, Isaac Hayes’ “Chocolate Chip”, “Ave Maria” and Tom Jones.

Fortunate Life

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Facey, A.B. A Fortunate Life. Viking, 1981.

Reason read: we celebrate Veteran’s Day on November 11th. I wanted to celebrate Bert Facey as a veteran of World War I by reading his autobiography.

Facey’s autobiography is broken out into six different parts starting in 1884 and ending in 1976. His life started in tragedy when his father died when he was two years old. He and his siblings were sent to live with their grandparents but their grandfather passed just two years later. Facey’s grandmother tried to keep the family together, but by the time Facey was nine, he was farmed out to another family where he was told lies and horrible abused to the point of near death. By the time he was thirteen, Facey had lived with three different families, each just as terrible as the one before. A year later, he started to learn how to read while helping a cattle rancher move his livestock to a different region of Western Australia. Every time, Facey proved to be a hard worker who could learn new skills quickly. Early in his teenaged years, Facey learned these traits were keen survival skills. Knowing how to judge a character was also important to him and saved his life several times over, including when dealing with his money-hungry and manipulative mother or the time he had to fistfight a man three times his size.
True to the memories of the elderly, Facey could recall his childhood clearly and focused more detail on these formative years. His time spent as a boxer, soldier, and employee of a tram company are not as detailed or drawn out. Even his days as a union man and political leader are not given the same attention. His marriage and subsequent fatherhood of eight children are not given a great deal of narrative, either. However, it is interesting to note his remarkable relationship with his wife, Evelyn. As a complete stranger, she sent him socks during his military deployment in Gallipoli. When they met years later, they court, marry, and go on to have several children. Evelyn was his first and only love and they were married for nearly sixty years. Facey ends his autobiography after the event of her death.

Quotes of character, “…I never asked him anything of his business because if he wished to tell me, he would” (p 190) and “A sort of love and trust in one another developed in the trenches” (p 281).

Author fact: Facey lived for nine months after publication of A Fortunate Life. I hope that he was proud of his achievements.

Book trivia: the majority of illustrations in A Fortunate Life are advertisements for products like velvet soap, Oh Boy Brand flour, Mills and Ware biscuits, Amgoorie tea, Hugh Nichols’ suits, Trewhella’s Monkey Grubber (whatever that is), A.W. Barlow Shoe Company, and Colemane & Sons eucalyptus oil. I could go on and on.
A Fortunate Life was made into a television miniseries and there is a short YouTube video about A.B. Facey’s life, as well.

Music: “Son of the Sea”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Australia: the Land of Oz (nonfiction)” (p 26).

Facing the Congo

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Tayler, Jeffrey. Facing the Congo: a Modern Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness. Ruminator Books, 2000.

Reason read: read in honor of Mobutu’s birthday in October. He was Zaire’s first and only president.

What began as a discovery of V.S. Naipaul’s novel, A Bend in the River became an adventure of a lifetime. Jeffrey Tayler takes a hand-carved pirogue down the Congo River, much in the style of Henry Morton Stanley’s journey one hundred and twenty years before. The 1990s were different times, and for his safety, Tayler must bring a guide who turned out to be an essential addition to Tayler’s expedition. Desi was a strong pilot and could handle the pirogue better than Tayler. He added to their comfort aboard the pirogue by making proper tea and building sturdy shelves for their belongings. Desi cooked the meals and set up shelter when they camped. Tayler needed Desi for protection as Tayler’s white skin was a sign of the devil and the natives didn’t trust him. Sometimes Desi could speak the language of the natives they encountered. Other times he had to communicate by holding a gun high. While Facing the Congo makes for a thrilling adventure story, I could not help but think Tayler was naïve about his abilities, in denial about his safety, and completely selfish when it came to needing the people around him. No matter how many times he was warned about the various dangers, he ignored them all.

Author fact: despite being born in the United Stated, Tayler makes his home in Moscow, Russia.

Book trivia: Facing the Congo has a smattering of black and white photographs. As being the one with the camera, Tayler is not in many of them.

Playlist: Bob Marley and “Amazing Grace”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Congo: From Colonialism to Catastrophe” (p 69). Also in More Book Lust in the chapter called “True Adventures” (p 223). As an aside, Tayler is spelled wrong in the index. Pearl has it right in the body of the text.

Denver

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Santa Fe

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

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

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

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

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

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

Auntie D’s Recipes

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Ackley-McPhail, Danielle. Auntie D’s Recipes. Paper Phoenix, 2024.

Reason read: an Early Review pick from LibraryThing.

First the facts: Auntie D’s Recipes contains 87 recipes in a 128 page book. There are photographs for nearly every recipe, taken by Danielle herself. The categories of recipes are organized into breakfasts, breads, dips, crockpot specific, side dishes, main dishes, appetizers, sauces, desserts, soups, cookies, and drinks. There are even a few “Uncle Mike” recipes. Unlike typical cookbooks with indices, you won’t be able to search by ingredients, which could be a little inconvenient. There was some attempt to organize the categories, though.
This is not meant to be your Joy of Cooking bible. The recipes are simplistic in terms of ingredients and could even be memorized once you got used to the unconventional measurements and vague instructions. I appreciated the extra information about materials needed but wished there was an explanation for some things like the use of an electric frying pan. Wouldn’t a stove-top frying pan with a tight lid work as well? If Ackley-McPhail really wanted to get fancy, she could have given directions for equipment like air fryers and rice cookers in addition to crockpots and electric frying pans.

Author fact: Ackley-McPhail and her husband, Mike, are science fiction buffs and are cat people.

Side note that I loved: Everyone needs a good cheerleader in their life and Ackley-McPhail found hers in a women named Ruth Freedman. Thank you, Danielle, for naming your hero. Not many people give credit to the people who are the inspiration behind the creation.
Another side note: the very first recipe is for blueberry lemon pancakes yet the blueberries and lemon zest are optional ingredients. Why not have a recipe for plain fluffy pancakes and include optional add-ins like blueberry and lemon or raspberry and almond or bacon and chocolate chip (my personal favorite combination)?

Summit Visions

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Fraser, Graeme. Summit Visions. Self published, 2024.

Reason read: every now and then, I receive a book to read for the Early Review Program from LibraryThing. I never know what I’m going to get…

If you were to think of Summit Visions as a journey, the number of pages would equal the number of miles to travel on said journey. Imagine setting out on this trek of more than five hundred miles and every two miles there is a diversion, a speed bump of superfluous information or comments about something you will read more about later. I wish Fraser kept his examples grounded in the Nashua Millennium Big 5 Challenge instead of delving into diamond mining ventures or the the struggles of being a corporate lawyer. I know I would have enjoyed Summit Visions more if it did not morph into a preachy self-help book. Fraser toggled between his personal career goals as an entrepreneur and lawyer and the athletic goals of an elite athlete. The narrative became unfocused with side stories about the eating habits of the Arsenal team, yacht racing, climbing Thaba Ntlenyana, tax lawyer quotations, information surveillance, what climate change means for the Maldives Islands, a mini memoir about Fraser’s experiences crossing the finish line at every event, lots of disparaging comments about his physique, a plug for reading the Bible, and a myriad of analogies. I lost track of the number of parenthetical statements (there were a lot!). All of the stories are inspiring but a bit longwinded. So much so that I had to chuckle when Fraser cautioned against information overload. His humor was and fascinating stories when on-topic were not enough to keep me engaged. I gave up after 300 pages.

Ordinary Chaos of Being Human

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Richards, Marguerite. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: True Stories. Soul-baring Moments. No Apologies. Leave It Better Books, 2024.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review program for LibraryThing, I sometimes get to review interesting and thought-provoking books. This is one such book.

Right off the bat, I have to draw attention to something both Bina Shah and Marguerite Richards wrestled in the beginning of Ordinary Chaos: the conundrum of whether or not to draw attention to the Muslim voice. Between the foreword and introduction the word “Muslim” is written almost forty times and yet Shah toyed with removing it. The concept of being Muslim matters but Shah and Richards were conflicted about its place and purpose within Ordinary Chaos. It is the point of the book despite the contrary challenge put forth to the reader: do not see these authors as one religion or another; see them as human without any other label. I would argue that in order to do that one must tell the story without the identifiers, only reveal them at the end; only then ask if the detail really mattered to the tenor and tone of the message. Otherwise, the connection to a religious or cultural belief does matter to the success of the story. For example, stories such as “Those Eyes of Hers” could be told by anyone. The concept of letting go of a drug that had been a security blanket or a crutch for an ailment that didn’t exist. The human connection is there regardless of religion, gender or sexual orientation, or economic status. When we are taken out of our comfort zones we truly learn about ourselves and that is called growth.
Some of the stories will fill you with nostalgia for an irreplaceable time. Some will leave you inexplicably sad. I could not read Ordinary Chaos for very long. I still have a third of the book to read.

As an aside, do not be overwhelmed by the number of pages of Ordinary Chaos. In the electronic version there was at least a blank page or two between each story. Every story is incredibly short.

Book trivia: before each story Richards provides a short biography. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human was first published in 2019 by Penguin Random House.

Playlist: Metallica, Michael Jackson, Googoosh, Sin Dios, “Elephant Love Medley”, “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn & John,

Salvation on Sand Mountain

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Covington, Dennis. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. Da Capo Press, 1995.

Reason read: October is National Reptile Month and in honor of snakes, I am reading Salvation on Sand Mountain. I also needed a book set in the mountains for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge of 2024.

It all started with a trial. A man in southern Appalachia Alabama was accused of trying to kill his wife with a snake. It’s an interesting way to attempt murder. Glenn Summerford put a gun to his wife’s head and forced her to reach into a box containing a bunch of venomous snakes. She was bitten four times and survived to testify against her husband. After Dennis Covington covered the trial, published his piece, and tried to put the story out of his mind, a book editor came knocking. It didn’t take much for him to convince Covington “this needs to be a full-length book” and Salvation on Sand Mountain was born. Covington immerses himself (and at times, his family) in the mysterious world of praying with dangerous snakes. What makes this journalism different is that Covington has ancestral history with preaching with snakes. As time with the congregation goes on and the more he observes their method of practicing their faith, Covington comes to care for the individual people, even Glenn Summerford. [Confessional: I sense Covington developing a crush on a member of the congregation as well.] Salvation on Sand Mountain culminates with Covington immersing himself completely by taking up a snake and preaching to the congregation he initially only wanted to write about. To think that it all began with a trial and a conviction.

Author fact: Covington has written quite a few books. Salvation on Sand Mountain is the only book I am reading for the challenge.

Book trivia: Salvation on Sand Mountain includes a small series of black and white photographs. Some contain the infamous snakes. All include the people who worship them. Salvation on Sand Mountain was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Playlist: Alabama, “In My Robe of White, I Shall Fly Away”, Liberace, Loretta Lynn, “I Saw the Light”, “How Great Thou Art”, “Only One Rose Will Do”, “I’m Getting Ready to Leave This World”, “Wading Through Deep Water”, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, “Prayer Bells From Heaven”, and “Jesus on My Mind”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Approaching Appalachia” (p 22). Pearl liked Salvation on Sand Mountain so much that she also included it in More Book Lust in the flattering chapter called “Just Too Good To Miss” (p 132).

About Looking

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Berger, John. About Looking. Pantheon Books, 1980.

Reason read: October is Art Appreciation month.

Right away About Looking opens up with a dismal commentary of the relatively modern practice of keeping pets for the sake of companionship. Berger points out that humans sterilize their companions while not allowing them to roam free, socialize with other animals, or eat the foods natural to their diets. I will never look at animals at the zoo in the same way. From the very first essay Berger has found a way to illustrate the title of his book. Berger then moves on to describe the artwork of painters and photographers and the idea of looking at art from the perspective of time and of aging. Similar to reading the same book every ten years, how does the art change with aging? Bergen ends the book with an essay on nature. More specifically, he describes an open field of which your perspective changes depending on who or what is in it. The overarching message is how altered reality can reflect your own life.

As an aside, thank you, John Berger, for introducing me to the art of J.J. Grandville. He, Grandville, is the epitome of the phrase wondrous strange. I also want to thank Berger for introducing me to places I have never heard before, like the Valley of the Loue, to the west of the Jura Mountains.

Lines I liked, “hope is a marvelous focusing lens” (p 128),Author fact: John Bergen also wrote film scripts.

Book trivia: About Looking includes twenty-three black and white photographs. Some of them are explained while others are not.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Art Appreciation” (p 25).

Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin

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Meade, Marion. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties. Nan A. Talese, 2004.

Reason read: who the hell knows.

The 1920s scene was an era filled with extravagance and excess. Everybody floated through life, seemingly without a care in the world. Jazz music and flapper dresses. Gin and lazy days on the beach. Wild behavior was almost the norm. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin brings to life the women writers of the decade and the men who loved and loathed them. I would call this a tale of trying. Dorothy Parker’s bitchy attitude and botched suicide attempts. Zelda Fitzgerald’s insane attempts to be a professional ballerina. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s scandalous sexual trysts attempting to find true love. Edna Ferber’s tendency to always be alone, attempting to find happiness in solitude. The hysterical behavior of everyone: women liked to toss their expensive jewelry out of windows and off trains as a sign of their theatrical disgust, for example. The decade of the 1920s was an era when pregnancies were an inconvenience to be shrugged off either by handing the offensive newborn babes to nannies or distant relatives, or having illegal abortions to avoid the mess of childbirth and child rearing altogether. Excessive drinking only meant one could dry out from time to time at an exclusive resort. Mental breakdowns and overdoses were treated as cases of hysteria. It was also an era of triumph. Pulitzers were won. Women made names for themselves and carved out writing careers for future generations.
As an aside, it was difficult to read of the tragic endings for some of the greatest writers. No one seems to die of old age in that era. Vincent died of a broken neck after an apparent fall down a staircase. Ferber died of cancer. Zelda burned to death. Hale supposedly starved herself to death. Benchley died of cirrhosis of the liver. F. Scott died of a heart attack. Hemingway shot himself. Other deaths include tuberculosis, spinal meningitis, and cerebral hemorrhage.

As another aside, I was familiar with many of the different regions mentioned in Bobbed Hair: Maine (almost everywhere, but especially Camden and Rockland), upstate New York (particularly Duchess County), the beautiful Berkshires, and New Jersey (Red Bank and Princeton).

Author fact: Meade wrote a bunch of biographies that look really interesting, but I am only reading Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin for the Challenge.

Book trivia: to read Meade’s afterword is to confront epic sadness. Words like pain, addiction, decline, loner, cancer, destitution, depression, poisonous, and reclusive
Audio trivia: listen to the audio read by Lorna Raver. She is wonderful.

Music: Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, “Cuddle Up a Little Closer”, “March of the Toy Soldiers”, “Old Man River”, “Make Believe”, “Life Upon the Wicked Stage”, “The Treasurer’s Report”, Al Jolson, “The Calendar”, “The International” Paul Robeson, Jerry Kern, and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Group Portraits” (p 108).

London: the Biography

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Ackroyd, Peter. London: the Biography. Anchor, 2003.

Reason read: So when I think of London, I think of Lady Diana. Her funeral was in the month of September. Read in her memory.

The word thorough does not do London: the Biography justice. Think of it as a chronology of London’s biggest events from 54 BC to 2000 AD. It is an explanation and examination of culture, architecture, religion, invention, society, education, slang, literature, food, immigration, sanitation, crime, entertainment, commerce, economics, weather… I could go on. There are a lot of opinions about this book floating around. Someone said it took them six months to read it. Someone else said you have to read it before visiting London, while someone else suggested using London: the Biography as a walking guide. Good luck carrying the thing around. It’s heavy!
London is the book to read if you want to know what Charles Dickens thought about London cats or the pervasive fog; what Daniel Defoe thought about the poor, the prison system, or London’s suburbs; or Samuel Johnson’s thoughts on public intoxication or witnessing a well-attended execution in a courtyard. Ackroyd’s meticulous research has uncovered those opinions and more. You will learn about the Great Fire of 1666 and how no one knew how it started; yet it burned for five days straight. You will hear stories about the infamous London fog and how a man could get lost in the ominous mist. Speaking of ominous, penal and criminal behaviors are discussed at great length. I particularly liked the man who couldn’t stay imprisoned. Time and time again he found ways to escape.

Quote to quote, “The beard was long but the rebellion was short” (p 54).

Natalie connection: Ackroyd quotes the same poem Natalie Merchant used to name her album for and about children, Leave Your Sleep.

Author fact: I have already read two Ackroyd books. Next up are stories about the Thames River, Albion, and Troy.

Book trivia: I liked the map of London from 1800 compared to the map of London from “modern times.”

Playlist: “My Shadow is My Only Friend”, “I Wonder What it Fells Like to be Poor”, Handel’s water music, Beethoven, and Chopin.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Entering England” (p 73).

Africa House

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Lamb, Christina: The Africa House: the True Story of an English Gentleman and His African Dream. Harper Collins. 1994.

Reason read: Zambia’s third president Levy Mwanawasa’s birthday was celebrated in September. Gore-Browne was credited with enabling Zambia to seek independence.

Africa House encompasses an African story that unfolds over multiple decades, pulling back the curtain on the complex life of Stewart Gore-Browne. From 1914 to 1927, Gore-Browne embarked on the ambitious endeavor of constructing his fantasy estate, driven by his aspiration to assume the role of a country squire that had captivated his imagination since his teenage years. Despite his noble ambitions, his infatuation with his married aunt added a layer of peculiarity to his character, which, coupled with his British “stiff upper lip” and rigid personality, created an unconventional and enigmatic personality. While he manages to find a wife outside the family, even that coupling was shrouded in controversy. Lorna, a woman from Gore-Browne’s youth, was truly the one who got away. When he meets Lorna’s daughter, also named Lorna, Gore-Browne seizes the chance to have his “original” Lorna back. The two marry, despite differences in ages and life ambitions. Servants call Gore-Browne’s wife “Lorna the Second” behind her back.
When Gore-Browne finally builds his dream estate, the naming of his residence as Shiwa House, in honor of a nearby lake, served as a testament to his deep connection with the Zambian land and its surroundings. Delving into the societal norms of the early 1900s, the prevalent culture among South Africa’s white population involved the employment of servants for various tasks, from carrying luggage to providing physical comfort. This reliance on servants was further highlighted when Gore-Browne took them to London with the purpose of instructing them in the etiquette of setting a formal table, enunciating clearly the stark contrast between the African and European lifestyles. This was uncomfortable to read. The evident racial divide, serving as the basis for the subsequent political turmoil in Gore-Browne’s later years, underscores the societal complexities and disparities that colored his otherwise solitary existence.

Author fact: Christina Lamb also wrote The Sewing Circles of Herat which is also on my Challenge list. These are the only two Lamb books I am reading. As an aside, I would love to know more about why Lamb chose the subject of Gore-Browne.

Book trivia: Lamb used a wide array of sources to write The Africa House. She interviewed family members (mostly grandchildren) and former servants, had access to letters, journals and photographs, and scoured the literature for facts.

Setlist: “Rule Britannia”, Mozart’s Horn Concerto, Wagner, La Boehme, Chopin, “Sonata Pathetique”, “Nkosi Sikelel Iafrika”, Purcell’s “Trumpet Tune and Air”, Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue”, “God Bless Africa”, “Wedding March”, “The Lord is My Shepherd”, Verdi’s Requiem, Jose Iturbi’s “Poloniase in A Flat”, “Ave Maria”, “Sheep May Safely Graze”, and “Once in Royal David’s City”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Zambia” (p 266).

Soul of an Octopus

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Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Atria, 2015.

Reason read: leisure. A coworker gave this to me and how could I resist?

I have mixed feelings about The Soul of an Octopus. If it had been titled The Soul of an Octopus: a Memoir about Bonding with This Mysterious Creature, I would understand the narrative much better. The subtitle made me think I would be getting something a bit more didactic and less charming and scientific-adjacent. Montgomery commuted from her home in New Hampshire to the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts, once a week to interact with various octopuses. [As an aside, if you have never been there – GO.] Montgomery developed relationships with NEA staff, trainers, and fellow volunteers while growing attached to the animals, specifically the octopuses. If you didn’t pick up Soul of an Octopus because the subtitle was a little off-putting, rest assured that the writing is not bogged down with technical jargon. It is an easy read. You will learn conversation-starting facts you can use at your next party; like, did you know an octopus lays eggs like a chicken, fertilized or not. You know an octopus has eight arms, but did you know an octopus has three hearts and will taste you with hundreds of suckers on each of those eight arms? If you have seen “My Octopus Teacher” you already know they are smart, clever, and seemingly emotional creatures.

Confessional: there was something to Montgomery’s writing that made me think she wanted her readers to be jealous of her. I have no idea why I feel that way. Maybe it is because she was continuously putting herself in a special relationship with various octopuses that may or may not have existed outside of her mind.

As an aside, a restaurant that Montgomery mentions, Jose McIntyre’s, is permanently closed. Since it was on Milk Street, I have to wonder if I have ever eaten there. It’s on the way to the aquarium.

Book trivia: The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award Finalist.

Music: John Denver, Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”, Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”, and Roberta Flack’s “Baby, I Love You”.