Category: Book Reviews

Better Off

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Brende, Eric. Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. New York: Harper Collins, 2004.

Reason read: February is Science month

The cover of Better Off reads, “Two People. One Year. Zero Watts.” That is the premise of the book in a nutshell. Eric Brende and his new wife, Mary, travel to an undisclosed community to try a life without technology. It ends up lasting a little over a year and it’s like a science project on a much more grandiose scale; to live in a community considered “primitive” even by Amish standards. But, as I read I found myself asking how far back does one scale back technology in order to be considered primitive? According to Brende, this Minimite community used flashlights. You forgo electricity in favor of kerosene. Yet, how is that different from using a flashlight? Electricity is electricity. Shouldn’t the limit be a candle for illumination? Nothing more, nothing less?
But in truth, I fell in love with Brende’s book right from the start, mainly because of his explanatory note, “…Readers have some options in how they choose to proceed. The story can be read the way stories usually are, that is, as entertainment (I hope riveting), or as food for thought on the broader human condition (I hope stimulating), or even in this case as a real-life model for practical action (I hope instructive).” In giving us choices he voices no expectation. This is not meant to be trivial, preachy or didactic, but rather interesting, thought-provoking and education.

Quotes that gave me pause, “Friendship was something you could only sidle up to obliquely” (p 33), “When the quantity of machines shrinks, another area of human realization expands: skill” (p 50), and “The compass of Mary’s homesickness reversed its arrow” (p 78).

Author fact: According to Brende, he and his wife honeymooned in Maine. I am dying to know where. Did they try the remote and rustic (often called ‘quaint’) island of Monhegan where one can find kerosene lamps, communal dining and not one McDonald’s in sight?

Book trivia: Better Off includes some interesting illustrations in the “A Barn Raising” chapter.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the catch-all chapter called “A Holiday Shopping List” (p 114).

Island to Oneself

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Neale, Tom. An Island to Oneself. Woodbridge, Connecticut: Ox Bow Press, 1966.

Reason read: In January I read The Book of Puka-Puka by Dan Frisbie. Pearl recommended reading Tom Neale after, so I did.

I didn’t understand what would make a person pick up and leave all aspects of civilization until I read An Island to Oneself. Even Frisbie’s account in The Book of Puka-Puka didn’t answer the question because at least Frisbie lived and married among the natives. There were people to talk to. On the atoll of Suvarov in the South Pacific Tom Neale had (on his first visit 1952 – 1954) two cats, chickens & a wild duck he tamed for companionship. The occasional freighter would deter from its shipping lane, but those visits were few and far between. And yet, Neale thrived in that environment. Survival was his challenge and he prided himself on his ingenuity, creativeness and sheer willpower to make his self imposed solitary confinement comfortable. He spent his days keeping his abode spotless, working the land for farming, and fishing (the pig slaughter was a little difficult to read). On his second journey to Suvarov (he left the first time due to illness), Neale came back a smarter man. He built a better cook stove, brought more appropriate supplies and was better prepared for the wild weather that could batter his island from time to time. This time he stayed from 1960 to 1963. It wasn’t that Neale didn’t like people. He enjoyed the “tourists” who ended up visiting him. It was just that he wanted to do his own thing. Being alone wasn’t lonely.

Best quote I liked, “Mine was a simple existence” (p 24). No kidding!

AS an aside, I just learned Neale went back a third time and this time stayed ten years. Amazing.

Author fact: Tom Neale didn’t mind being naked. An Island to Oneself has 17 pictures with an almost naked Neale.

Book trivia: As mentioned before, there are great black and white photos, mostly of Neale, included.

Nancy said: Nancy called Island to Oneself a “classic account” (p 128).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Islands, Desert and Otherwise” (p 128)

Island Voices II

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Various. Island Voices II: Poetry of Monhegan. Stone Island Press, 2014.

Reason read: a Christmas gift from my mother.

It is hard for me to read anything Monhegan related from a critical point of view. My mind instantly goes to what I know and love about the island, and if the poetry captured even a smidgen of that memory, I am instantly biased. Biased and definitely devoted. I have to wonder how someone completely ignorant of Monhegan would read these poems. Where would be his or her focus? What would stick in their minds as relevant or real?
Further complicating my review are my varying relationships with the poets themselves. True, Catherine Morocco and Marilyn Ringer are complete strangers, although I am sure I would recognize them by sight. Kate Chappell, Iris Miller, and Frances Vaughn I only know by long standing history and name. While I am more acquainted with Jan Bailey, Mary Kordak, Jan Kornbluth, & Joanne Scott, in truth K.K. Iannicelli and Judith Ponturo are island mothers. They could be my island mothers.

So. To review Island Voice II. I simply can’t. When I read about the ocean’s melodic drumming, I also hear Kathi’s wheelbarrow coming up the hard packed dirt road. When I see words about the salt, salt air I also see Judy humming in Winter Works. On the page the gulls may laugh overhear but I see Jan’s secret smile as another tourist tries on a wrestling mask. Queen Anne’s Lace blown bent backwards in Mary’s garden but all I see is her radiant smile. I admit it, I read the words but see the home.

Another Life

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Korda, Michael. Another Life: a Memoir of Other People. New York: Random House, 1999.

Reason read: January is a selfish month so I’m reading a memoir…even though this is one about other people. Supposedly.

Michael Korda, through his position at Simon and Schuster, was able to come in contact with loads of notable and eventually, famous people. The cover of Another Life boasts of those notables: Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Larry McMurtry…the list goes on and on. But, fear not. Korda does the sensible thing and starts from the beginning, explaining his own rise in the world of publishing to editor in chief. The backbone of Another Life is the publishing industry itself; delving into the strange and often fickle elements that determine a bestselling author.

As an aside, before the age of the internet and Google the private lives of writers were not as well known. Their deep dark secrets could be kept as closeted as they wanted, as long as they behaved themselves. The over-the-top personality of Jacqueline Susann was not in the forefront of my mind when her bestseller, Valley of the Dolls was all the rage. Now I want to reread Susann knowing what I know now. In fact, it would be interesting to go back and read the books of everyone Korda has dished about in Another Life.

On a personal note, Korda mentions Dark Harbor, Maine. For those of you wondering, it is actually on Islesboro and closer to West Penobscot Bay…and nowhere near Monhegan.

Quotes I liked, “He seemed to be under the mistaken impression, thanks to Morris Helprin I felt sure, that I was a person of scholarly nature, prodigious learning, and refined taste” (p 31) and”It takes a lot of time and shared experiences to make a friendship permanent, to harden it…” (p 167). Very true.

Author fact: At the time of publication, Michael Korda was still editor in chief at Simon & Schuster.

Book trivia: the only thing missing from this dishy drama are photographs of all the celebs!

Nancy said: Nancy calls Korda’s style, “wonderfully affectionate” (p 152).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the very straightforward chapter simply called “Memoirs” (p 152).

Birthday Books of February

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Happy birthday to me & moi. This month we celebrate…everything. Here are the anticipated books:

Fiction:

  • The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J Gaines ~ in honor of February being Black History Month (AB).

Nonfiction:

  • An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale ~ Nancy Pearl said to read this after Puka-Puka. So I am.
  • Travels with Tangerine by Tim Macintosh ~ in honor of Feb being exploration month
  • Song of the Dodo: Island Biography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen ~ in honor of Quammen’s birth month
  • Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende ~ in honor of February being national science month.
  • Antarctic Destinies b y Stephanie Barcweski (also in honor of exploration month…it’s a long story).

Series (continuations):

  • Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons ~ in honor of January being Sci-Fi month
  • White Nights by Ann Cleeves ~ in honor of January being the month of Up Helly Aa fest in Shetland

For fun:

  • Wonder by RJ Palacio ~ ever since Natalie explained the premise of this book as being based on her song, “Wonder” I have wanted to read it.

Early Review:

  • Supposedly, the January book is Ma Speaks Up by Marianne Leone (LT spells it ‘Leonne’). Since half a dozen ER books have gone missing or  never mailed I’ll wait until it is in my hands before I announce I’m officially reading it.

 

January’s New Reads

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A little something about the new year. I have absolutely no expectations of the year to come. No list of things I must pretend to accomplish. No run numbers, real or imagined. There has been an end to so many things. As a result I’m in day-by-day mode. Or, in the case of this entry, book-by-book. Here’s what I finished:

Fiction:

  • Captain of the Sleepers by Mayra Montero
  • Any Human Heart: a novel by William Boyd (AB + print)

Nonfiction:

  • Italy and the Grand Tour by Jeremy Black
  • Another Life by Michael Korda
  • Book of Puka-Puka by Robert Dean Frisbie. (I am now reading An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale as a continuation to Puka.)

Series:

  • Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright (finished the series)
  • Hyperion by Dan Simmons (started the series). (I’m now reading Fall of Hyperion as a continuation.)

LibraryThing:

  • Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston. NOTE: I was supposed to receive this as an Early Review in 2014. When it didn’t arrive I borrowed it from a library two years later.
  • You Carried Me by Melissa Ohden (December 2016 batch)

For Fun:

  • Island Voices II by Poets of Monhegan Island ~ a gift from my mother.

Raven Black

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Cleeves, Ann. Raven Black. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006.

Reason read: Shetland celebrates a Viking Fire fest on the last Tuesday in January called Up Helly Aa. Of course part of Raven Black takes place during Up Helly Aa.

Meet Inspector Jimmy Perez. In Ann Cleeves’s “Shetland” series, Perez is the angst-ridden, private detective charged with solving murders in the Shetland Islands. In Raven Black a teenager is brutally strangled just before the Up Helly Aa festival. Proximity and rumor make neighbor Magnus Tait the likely suspect. Magus, elderly and mentally ill has been the prime suspect in another unsolved crime from eight years ago: an eleven year old went missing and her body, never found.

Spoiler and Confessional: I had to roll my eyes just a little when I read the premise for this book: tiny community is rocked by the murder of a teenager. Everyone thinks the strange recluse with mental illness committed the crime because he probably killed the girl who went missing eight years ago, as well. After all, that man on the hill is not quite right. Cleeves takes that stereotype even further by making the mentally ill man look as guilty as possible along the way. The shocker would have been, yup, he did do it. Guilty as charged.

Author fact: at the time of publication, Ann Cleeves was the reader-in-residence for the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.

Tons of book trivia: Raven Black is the first book in the Inspector Jimmy Perez series. There are three more, all on my list. Another piece of trivia: on her website, Ann Cleeves includes a map of Jimmy Perez’s Shetland. Very helpful. Also, Raven Black was made into a television series for the BBC in 2012. Last piece of trivia (and probably the most important one), Raven Black won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award.

Nancy said: “murder most foul” (p 205). Okay, so she could have said “murder most fowl” since the title of the book includes a bird and the murder victim was ravaged by ravens…

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Sheltering in the Shetlands” (p 204).

You Carried Me

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Ohden, Melissa. You Carried Me: a Daughter’s Memoir. New York: Plough Publishing House, 2017.

Reason read: an Early Review for LibraryThing (December 2016 batch).

Ohden knew from an early age she was adopted. For anyone, that alone would conjure up questions surrounding identity. How could it not? Add “survivor of botched abortion” to the resume and a whole new set of mysteries emerge. What happened? Did the birth mother not want me? Did my birth father even know about the pregnancy? How could this happen? What started as a series of mysteries when Ohden was 14 turned into a purpose for life as an adult. You Carried Me is Ohden’s attempt to explain the process.

Ohden tells her story at breakneck speed. Eager to get to the heart of the story she glosses over most of her adolescence and is in college before page 50. It’s no secret I had a love-hate relationship with You Carried Me. Even the title caused me some consternation: I read it as “you should feel guilty for trying to abort me; you carried me.” At times I met Ohden’s words with distracted frustration. Ohden speaks in absolutes. For example, she makes assumptions about the nature of mother/newborn bonding. It’s not always an automatic relationship. It’s pretty typical of some mothers to never emotionally attach to her child; despite it being the child she carried for nine months. Strange as it may seem, there are even hospital classes to help some new mothers connect with their infants. Another example: Ohden describes an accident her father had as a teenager and she blames the altering of so many lives on that accident. How does she know? How could she know? I would have been more comfortable with the assumption that the accident could have altered so many lives. Yes, it might have.
One thing is clear. Ohden writes in an unsophisticated but determined and enthusiastic voice (lots of exclamation points!). Her absolutes and assumptions are all her own. It’s a story impossible to put down once started. At only 166 pages it’s easy to read in one sitting. I read it on a lunch break.

Editing question: is Isaac really someone named Nathan?
Copyright question: did Ohden have permission to reprint Kelly Clarkson’s lyrics to “Stronger”?

Book trivia: black and white pictures were included. What a nice surprise.

Any Human Heart

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Boyd, William. Any Human Heart. Read by Simon Vance. Blackstone Audio, 2011.

Reason read: Most people start a journal in January. this is one giant journal.

The journals of Logan Mountstuart tell of his long and colorful life as an art dealer, writer, lover, spy, prisoner, and sometimes cad. Spanning December 10th, 1923 to October 5th, 1991 we watch as the 20th century unfolds. What makes Any Human Heart so enticing is the inclusion of real events (World War II, the death of JFK,  and the first moon walk, to name a few) and real people, especially from the worlds of art and literature; people like Picasso and Hemingway.

You know the saying, you can’t judge a book by its cover? Well, let it be said, you can’t judge a book by its length either. I was convinced I would have to slog through 500 plus pages half paying attention. Wrong. This was delightful. Devious, but delightful.
There was one review that stuck with me as I was reading Any Human Heart. The New York Times said you could almost forget Logan Mountstuart is not a real person. His journal entries are convincingly honest. I couldn’t agree more.

Lines I liked, “I have no home but all the ingredients of home” (p 181), “You think it begins to diminish with time, the pain, the it comes back and hits you with a rawness and freshness you had forgotten” (p 301), and “As I write this I feel that draining, hollowing helplessness that genuine love for another person produces in you” (p 422). In the end, I loved Logan specifically for this line.

Note: because this was such a long audio book I was afraid I wouldn’t finish listening to it in time. I had to simultaneously read the print version to get through it faster.

Book trivia: this was made into a PBS television series. It aired in 2011.

Author fact: Boyd also wrote Brazzaville Beach, also on my list. Can’t wait to read it.

Nancy said: “wonderful reading” but she said that about the entire chapter and not just Any Human Heart.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Just Too Good To Miss” (p 132).

Book of Puka-Puka

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Frisbie, Robert Dean. The Book of Puka-Puka. New York: The Century Co., 1928.

Reason read: National Geographic Travel Month

Puka-Puka is a Polynesian atoll off the coast of New Zealand. Robert Dean Frisbie, originally born in Cleveland, Ohio moved to Puka-Puka for his health and to get away from civilization. He became a trader, married a native, had several children and even died in the Cook Islands. His was one of the earliest accounts of Pacific island life. It’s full of adventure, humor and culture. A great read!

Quote I liked, “He gave me a priceless  recipe for raisin wine which I will whisper to the thirsty reader in due time” (p 12).

Author fact: Frisbie died in the Cook Islands, on Avatiu.

Book trivia: The Book of Puka-Puka was illustrated by Mahlon Blaine.

Nancy said: Frisbie’s is a “classic account” of island life.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Islands, Desert and Otherwise” (p 128).

Hyperion

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Simmons, Dan. Hyperion. New York: Bantam Books, 1989.

Reason read: January is National Science Fiction Month.

A group of seven individuals are recruited to embark on a pilgrimage. Each of the seven, a priest, poet, soldier, captain, detective, consul and scholar have a story to tell. All stories relate back to their interactions, direct and indirect, with a creature called the Shrike on the planet of Hyperion. Simmons does an okay job at making each storyteller’s voice unique but I feel that was the weakest element to Hyperion. In an attempt to make each voice different some characters are exaggerated and come across as dramatic caricatures while others blend ho hum into the woodwork.
The plot itself is convincing. Each pilgrim has something to accomplish on this journey to Hyperion and this first book is the foundation for subsequent sequels. The hook is, if you want to know more, you need to keep reading.
As an aside, even sci-fi stories have to have some element of familiarity and/or reality so that it’s relate-able to readers. Simmons includes warring New Order Shi-ites and Suni shopkeepers along with some Hegemony infidels.

No quotes. But, I can say this. The story of Rachel is the most intriguing, ansd she never says a word in the present day story.

Author fact: I have six Dan Simmons books on my list. Five are in the Hyperion series.

Book trivia: Hyperion is the first book in a series.

Nancy said: not much, just the basic plot.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Space Operas” (p 211).

Italy and the Grand Tour

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Black, Jeremy. Italy and the Grand Tour. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Reason read: I think a very common New Year’s resolution for some is to travel. Read in honor of traveling to Italy.

Italy and the Grand Tour provides the reader with a historical perspective on what it meant to visit Italy throughout the eighteenth century, all the while offering little tidbits of interesting facts (Thomas Cook had a travel company and the word bearleader meant guide, for example). Black is determined to analyze the fine line between cosmopolitanism and xenophobia which he insists is cultural but also difficult to determine based on first hand travel journals and letters. He showcases his points with a considerable myriad of quotations and glorious artwork.

Divided into logical sections covering the regions of Italy, accommodations, food, transport, cost, activities, society, religion, art, politics, Italy and the Grand Tour culminates in the chapter on the impact of Italy. Throughout it all, I found it interesting that some things never change in the world of worldly travel. For example, Black pointed out actual itineraries often differed from what had been planned due to spending too long in one area and not leaving enough time for another. Or getting tired of one place and leaving it sooner than planned. Not to mention weather delays and being waylaid by new friends. As if those things would not happen nowadays!
But, the best part of Italy and the Grand Tour was reading the journals and letters of the travelers. They could be Italy’s harshest critics with one word reviews like uninteresting, unsatisfactory, unimpressed, mean, miserable, disappointed, dirty, dismal, disagreeable, beastly, and filthy. I imagined the hell they would raise with those words on modern day social media.

Quote of a quote I liked, “I still persist in thinking Italy a country worth seeing but by no leans worth living in” (p 53). As said by Frederick, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke.
Another quote, this time direct from author: “Venice was not the sole cockpit of sexual adventure” (p 122).

Author fact: Black has written many other books but they none are on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: the title comes from the term “grand tour” commonly associated with aristocratic British travelers; those who have the money, means and time to go gallivanting through the countryside.

Nancy said: Italy and the Grand Tour is a “nice historical perspective” (p 46).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Ciao, Italia” (p 46).

Spiderweb For Two

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Enright, Elizabeth. Spiderweb for Two: a Melendy Maze. New York: Listen & Live Audio, 2004.

Reason read: this is the last book in the series to celebrate Enright’s birth month (started in September). I have grown to really like this family. I will miss them.

Here were are, back with the Melendy family. Only in Spiderweb for Two they are less than half the family they are used to being. Father is still traveling the university circuit as a guest lecturer and Mark, Mona and Rush are away at various schools. Left behind are Randy and her brother, Oliver, with the help, Cuffy and Willy. The rest of the family hasn’t been gone a day before Randy is beside herself with boredom. She doesn’t want to play with Oliver. He’s always been the baby of the family and therefore not worth her time…until she discovers a mystery. It starts with a message in the mailbox that takes them on a winter adventure. Each message is a clue to finding another message until they have received fourteen messages and all and it is summer once again.
It’s a cute story. Oliver getting stuck in the chimney was one of my favorite parts.

Profound quote, “Vigorously running bath water always caused Randy, as it does nearly everyone, to wish to sing” (p 80). This quote made me think of Natalie Merchant’s song, “Verdi Cries” and the lyric, “I fill the bath and climb inside, singing.” Maybe there is some truth to Enright’s words.

Author fact: Oliver was the name of Enright’s youngest boy, as it was in the Melendy series.

Book trivia: the e-audio version spells “Cuffy” as “Kaffi”.

Nancy said: absolutely nothing; just listed the title.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Boys and Girls” (p 21).

Dirty Work

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Weston, Gabriel. Dirty Work: a Novel. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014.

Reason read: I was supposed to review this in July 2014 for the Early Review Program of LibraryThing. I never received a copy so I decided to borrow it from a local library and review it all the same.

Disclaimer: Dirty Work was first published in August 2014 so this is not exactly an “early” review.

When we first meet Nancy Mullion, she is in the middle of a botched abortion. Her patient is bleeding out and she can’t stop it. Subsequently, a four month medical tribunal ensues; an inquisition where Nancy’s actions are scrutinized to determine if she is competent to continue practicing medicine. Throughout her trial, Nancy flashes back to her childhood and the traumas she suffered as a young girl in England. The writing is fuzzy in the flashbacks. Weston purposefully keeps the abuse vague. Here’s what we know about the first incident; we know Mullion was a very small child; too small to sit properly on a bar stool or hold a rubber ball in her tiny grasp. Weston emphasizes this point further to say Mullion’s hand is so small it cannot encircle the bartender’s penis. What the what?!? All in all, I thought Dirty Work was very disjointed in plot and character development. Weston is vague beyond being clever but one thing is clear – abortion is a stronger character than Doctor Nancy Mullion.

People are calling Dirty Work “original” and “courageous”. Original? No. Courageous? Maybe, because it discusses abortions in such detail and is practically a political commentary on the subject.

Captain of the Sleepers

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Montero, Mayra. Captain of the Sleepers. Translated by Edith Grossman. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002.

Reason read: Hostos Day in Puerto Rico is on January 11th.

This is a very quick read. Once you get into it you won’t be able to put it down, and luckily because of its length you won’t have to. This is the story of Andreas Yasin who has carried a grudge against family friend J.T. Bunker for his entire adult life. Believing Bunker betrayed his family by having an affair with his mother when he was a small boy, Andreas seeks revenge against the now 83 year old man dying of cancer. But what is reality and what is just a childish memory? Set in the time of the Puerto Rican Independence movement politics permeate Andreas’s world.

Best line, “There is nothing more predictable for a mother than her own child” (p 127).

I know I’ve said this before but I am always amazed when my hometown of Monhegan is mentioned somewhere. I knew something was up when Montero gave one of her characters the home town of Port Clyde, Maine.

Author fact: Mayra Montero wrote one of my earliest Early Review books for LibraryThing, Dancing to ‘Almendra’ back in 2007.

Author trivia: I’m guessing Montero likes cats. The photograph of her on the dust jacket of Captain has a picture of her with a beautiful cat on her lap, only she looks like she is trying to strangle it!

Book trivia: I read this in one insomnia fueled night. It’s only 180 pages long.

Nancy said: Nancy has more to say about the translator than the book.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Cavorting Through the Caribbean: Puerto Rico (p 57).