Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

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Richler, Mordecai. The Apprenticeship of Mordecai Richler. New York: Washington Square Press, 1959.

Duddy Kravitz is a third generation Jewish immigrant who reminds me of Kevin Spacey’s character in House of Cards. Although Duddy is only a teenager growing up in 1950s Montreal, he is amoral, scheming, conniving, sly, and even amusing. He goes after what he wants with a corrupt, combative, yet subtle bully air just like a well trained politician. He knows how to hustle for jobs while hustling people at the same time. No one is immune to his charms or betrayals. At the heart of the story Duddy has plans to own land because, in his mind, that is the only way he can be sure he will be Somebody in the end. He’ll steamroll over anybody and everybody to get what he wants. His pride won’t let him be human. In the end, Duddy ultimately becomes Richler’s mouthpiece for topics such as greed, politics, religion and family and you can’t help but admire Duddy’s tenacity no matter how much you hate his moral character. Just like Frank Underwood, he is a begrudgingly likeable villain.

Best lines, “He had a smile that melted the rubber bands in the girls’ panties left, right and center (p 150) and “The higher you climbed up splendid tree-lined streets the thicker the ivy, the more massive the mansions, and the more important the man inside (p 196).

Reason read: Canada Day is celebrated in July.

Author fact: Richler is known for his satire.

Book trivia: Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz was made into a movie in 1974 and starred Richard Dreyfuss. Yup. I could see that.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter “Canadian Fiction” (p 50).

In the Graveyard of Empires

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Jones, Seth G. In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan. Read by William Hughes. New York: Blackstone Audio, 2010

Jones starts In the Graveyard of Empires going back to Alexander the Great’s march into Afghanistan. This is to put Afghanistan’s tumultuous history into perspective. Readers shouldn’t be worried a historical quagmire because Jones moves through the early bloodshed pretty quickly. Around the time of the Soviet invasion he slows the tempo down and goes into more detail. One of the things I appreciated about Jones’s writing is that he manages to stay pretty objective, hardly inserting himself into the analysis, despite his personal ties to the region. He stays true to the subtitle, “America’s War in Afghanistan” of which he had no military part. He served as advisor to the commanding general of the U.S. Special Ops Forces. His work is heavily supplemented by countless interviews and extensive research. You can read more of his profile on the RAND corporation website.
For me, the hardest section to read was not about the attacks on September 11th, 2001, but rather when international aide workers came under attack in 2003 and 2004. Five Medecins Sans Frontieres workers were kidnapped and executed. These are a group of people who dare to deliver aid where few others are willing to go.

Reason read: travel sites list July as the best time to go to Afghanistan. No offense, but is there really a good time to go to Afghanistan in this day and age?

Author fact: As mentioned earlier, Jones has a profile on the RAND site and is listed as the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center.

Book Audio trivia: this is the first audio book I have listened to where the narrator doesn’t have some kind of accent.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires (nonfiction)” (p 5). Sound familiar?

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).

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

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West, Rebecca. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a Journey Through Yugoslavia. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

I have to say it otherwise it’s the elephant in the room. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a huge book. Over 1,100 pages long. Actually, it’s 1,181 if you include the index and bibliography. Craziness. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way… Despite the length Black Lamb and Grey Falcon was, for the most part, a pleasure to read. I have to admit I didn’t finish it. I ran out of steam halfway through. However, West has a great conversational tone to her writing which levels out the dryness of the subject. Anyone who can insert the phrase “political cantankerousness” when discussing the battle of the Mohacs in 1526 is okay in my book.

Quote I liked, “He is perpetually drunk on what comes out of his mouth, not what goes into it” (p 41).

Reason read: If you are in the mood to visit the Balkans, July is supposedly the best time to go.

Author fact: Rebecca West was born Cicily Isabel Fairfield which I think is a beautiful name. According to the author bio in Black Lamb she was in a romantic relationship with H.G. Wells for ten years. Interesting.

Book trivia: Even though this is considered a travel book there are no maps, illustrations or photographs. Nothing of the sort.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in “Balkan Specters” (p 34) and again in “Lady Travelers” (p 143).

Charlotte Gray

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Faulks, Sebastian. Charlotte Gray. New York: Vintage International, 1998.

Charlotte Gray is a independent Scottish woman determined to make a difference in the effort to liberate France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Starting out as a receptionist for a doctor in London, she quickly realizes she is meant for bigger and better things after she meets RAF pilot Peter Gregory. Falling hopelessly in love with him after a short yet passionate affair, she is determined to find him after his plane goes down behind enemy lines. Dyeing her hair and assuming a new identity is only the beginning for Charlotte, especially after she assumes the role of live-in housemaid to an ailing and eccentric Jewish artist. Throughout Charlotte’s search for Peter she is faced with many harsh realities about war and her own past. The big mystery is whether or not she will find peace or Peter or both.

Quotes I liked, “It’s the normalcy of everything that seems so treacherous” (p 161) and “Memory is the only thing that binds you to earlier selves; for the rest you become an entirely different being every decade or so, sloughing off the old persona, renewing and moving on” (p 379).

Reason read: to continue Faulks’s story (started with Birdsong in June).

Author fact: at the time of Charlotte Gray’s publishing, Faulks lived in London, England.

Book trivia: Even though Charlotte Gray ends the trilogy, it could be read independent of The Girl at Lion d’Or and Birdsong. Even though minor characters are the same, the story lines are different enough. However, the mention of Stephen Wraysford was like meeting an old friend in a foreign city.

Another book trivia: Charlotte Gray won the “Bad Sex” award but I happen to think the sex in Birdsong was more titillating.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Sex and the Single Reader” (p 219). Charlotte Gray was lumped into the final paragraph because it was nominated for Britain’s annual Literary Review Best Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Faulks won in 1998.

Neighborhood Heroes

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Rielly, Morgan. Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons From Maine’s Greatest Generation. Camden: Down East Books, 2014.

Reason read: As part of the Early Review program for LibraryThing I occasionally review books for them. This was the May selection I won.

As someone who grew up on an island off the coast of Maine and still has a strong connection to the entire state, I really enjoyed Rielly’s book. I could identify with most of the places he mentions. But, location isn’t what I enjoyed the most. In my day kids were taught to respect their elders and you can tell Rielly really respected the 26 men and women he interviewed for his book, Neighborhood Heroes. His attention to detail is exemplary and his choice of words conveys the significance of not only the military work these veterans conducted, but the strength of their personal lives as well. It wasn’t enough to transcribe their professional lives; the training tales and battle stories (no matter their branch in the military); Rielly also was thoughtful enough to convey their personal dedication to marriage, family, education and meaningful employment after serving their country in the war. Sadly, a few of Rielly’s interviewees have since passed away. It is a shame they won’t be able to see the published book. I only hope they understood what a great tribute Neighborhood Heroes is to their generation.

As an aside, the cover of the book (by Scott Mansfield) is stunning once I really saw it. The photograph is a little dark.

Here’s the only part of Neighborhood Heroes I will quote. From the front matter, “A portion of the author’s royalties is donated to the Travis Mills Project and the National Veterans Family Center…” Curious about this I Googled Travis Mills and discovered he is a retired United States Staff Sergeant who survived an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2012. He is one of only five quadruple amputees to survive such massive injuries.

Confessional: I started reading this shortly after June 6th while CNN and other “reality” channels were constantly showing World War II documentaries. The timing of Rielly’s Neighborhood Heroes was a blessing and a curse. While I was caught up in the pomp and circumstance of remembrance it was also redundant – overkill, if you will. I was a little “war weary” by the end of it all. But, that’s my doing entirely.

“Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus”

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Harun, Adrienne. “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus.” The King of Limbo. New York: Overlook Press, 2001.

This is such an interesting story! Frank Cocokowski is a reclusive and strange man. Alone with his thoughts in a big house he barely leaves, Frank begins a slow descent into madness. His only link to the outside world is by reading his estranged son’s small town newspaper. An article in the Salish Bay newspaper prompts Frank to write a letter of outrage to the editor. Only Frank knows nothing of Salish Bay or its problems. He poses as Andrew Glenn, a one-time resident of Salish Bay opposing the construction of a new development. His letter is so well articulated he soon gains a following and stops the construction. He then receives a weekly column in the paper. Needless to say, things become more complicated for Frank.

Best line, “Frank’s heart beat as mercilessly as if he had just entered the town naked on a horse” (p 71).

Reason read: June is short story month and this is the very last shorty I will be reading!

Story trivia: The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus won the Nelson Algren Award.

Author fact: Everyone describes Harun’s writing as elegant and beautiful. I would say haunting because they creep up on you, silent as a ghost, and leave you with a shiver.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 103).

Bang of July List

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July is vacation month for me. Well, just to clarify, I go on vacation starting tomorrow (hence the late list post). Not that I go on vacation for the whole month! Don’t I wish! But, with a week off I should be able to get through a good chunk of reading. Sadly, the only books I am really looking forward to reading are Faulks and Rielly. Sigh. Here’s the list:

  1. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  2. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West. This is well over 1,000 pages long!
  3. ADDED: Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks (continues the series)
  4. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes. This was on the list for last year but I decided it wasn’t “fun.” Remember? I still don’t think it will be fun.
  5. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam*
  6. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  7. ADDED: Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons from the Greatest Generation by Morgan Rielly (LibraryThing Early Review)

*Audio book

Here is how the rest of year eight should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  4. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  5. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  6. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  7. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  8. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  9. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  10. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  11. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  12. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  13. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  14. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  15. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  16. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  17. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  18. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  19. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  20. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  21. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  22. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  4. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  5. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  6. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  7. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  8. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  9. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  10. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  11. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  12. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  13. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  14. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  15. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  16. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  17. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  18. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  19. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  20. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  21. First Man by Albert Camus
  22. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  23. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  24. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  25. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  26. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  27. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  28. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  29. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  30. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  31. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  32. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  33. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  34. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  35. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  36. ADDED: Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  37. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  38. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  39. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  40. Oedipus by Sophocles
  41. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  42. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  43. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  44. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  45. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  46. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  47. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  48. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  49. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  50. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  51. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  52. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  53. ADDED: Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook. A gift from a fellow Just ‘Cause walker 🙂
  54. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  55. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson (not really a short story, but I treated it as such)
  • “Down There” by David Goodis (again really, not a short story)
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee. It’s the fifth and final chapter in Annals of the Former World but since it’s less than 50 pages long, I’m treating it as a short story.
  • Lukudi by Adrianne Harun
  • The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus also by Adrianne Harun

For another year (because I screwed up):

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Killer Inside Me

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Thompson, Jim. The Killer Inside Me.

Lou Ford is a young deputy sheriff with a big secret. He has what he calls a “sickness.” In truth, he is a sexual sadist and a homicidal sociopath. After having rough sex with a prostitute he finds all of his urges have come back. Years earlier he attacked a child. When his foster brother took the blame for the crime, Lou thought his secret was safe, especially when his brother died in a construction “accident.” He got away with it until he decided to blackmail the men who supposedly murdered his brother. Things get complicated and the bodies start piling up. Ford is a strange man (never mind the fact he’s a killer). He speaks in cliches all the time and he has an ego the size of Alaska. He thinks that he has covered up each and every crime and hasn’t left a shred of evidence that could implicate him in any way. It’s strange to read this in the 21st century. So many different forensic techniques we take for granted today (DNA, for one) were not available back in the 1950s. Even methods like the polygraph and fingerprinting have been greatly improved since their invention.

Best lines, “Out here, if you catch a man with his pants down, you apologize…even if you have to arrest him afterwards” (p 6).

Reason read: June is National Short Story month.

Author fact: Thompson also wrote The Grifters which is on my list.

Book trivia: The Killer Inside Me was made into a movie with a pretty cool website here.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crimes Noir” (p 67). Interestingly enough, this is one of the stories in Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s which is also on my list.

Rose of Martinique

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Stuart, Andrea. The Rose of Martinique: a Life of Napoleon’s Josephine. New York: Grove Press, 2003.

Mrs. Bonaparte was born Marie-Josephe-Rose de Tascher de La Paerie on June 23, 1763 on the Caribbean island of Martinique (hence, the title of the book). Andrea Stuart feels a connection to Mrs. Bonaparte because of “personal identification” (p xi). Having grown up on the island of Martinique, Stuart is able to set the stage for us with wonderfully lush descriptions. She is able to tap into the beauty of the landscape because she experienced for herself. This commonality allows the reader an accurate portrait of Rose’s childhood home. That personal connection slips away when Rose is 15 and marries for the first time. She is sent to Paris where cultures and feminine expectations are completely different. Rose’s new husband sets up to educate Rose in the art of sophistication, a la Pygmalion style. But, when Rose does not rise to the challenge and cannot meet her husband’s unreasonable expectations, she is banished to a convent. Subsequently, Rose, mother of two, is separated by the age of 21 and the marriage has all but ended. Of course, Rose finds marriage again (notice I didn’t say love). Almost like the wolves of Washington, marriage is a partnership of business, while love is reserved for lovers. From here on out, Rose is Josephine.
I could go on and on about Stuart’s attention to detail. It’s obvious the woman did her homework. She refers to other biographies written about Mrs. Bonaparte and seems particularly interested in correcting the misconceptions about Josephine’s sexuality and relationships with other women. All in all, I found the writing fascinating.

Quote that stuck with me, “Brutality was an intrinsic part of plantation life and no child, however privileged or protected, could escape it ugliness or its savagery” (p 13).

Reason read: Mrs. Bonaparte was born in June.

Author fact: Stuart’s first book was Showgirls. Not what you think.

Book trivia: The Rose of Martinique includes beautiful illustrations.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Complex Napoleon” (p 55).

Wildwater Walking Club

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Cook, Claire. The Wildwater Walking Club. New York: Voice, 2009.

This book was not on my list. Not indexed in Book Lust, More Book Lust or Book Lust To Go. It wasn’t on an Early Review list for LibraryThing. I didn’t request it from anyone, either. So. Here’s how I came to read this book. It just showed up on my doorstep. Just like that. Here’s the back story as far as I understand it: I have mentioned Just ‘Cause more than once in this blog (and even more in the other one) so, if you have been paying attention you know that Just ‘Cause is near and dear to my heart. It is a nonprofit organization that supports two different charities, the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden and the Massachusetts General Hospital Oncology Center. More organically, we are a group of women who walk 60 miles every year to raise money. Like I said, it’s very near and dear to my heart and soul. Along the 60 miles (over the course of three days) we women make amazing memories and cultivate fabulous friendships.

One such amazing friend calls herself “the other Heidi S” because there are two in the group. One Heidi is bad enough, but to have two, both with the same last initial….well, it’s an endless joke. This Heidi S and I *must* have spent some time talking books. There are so many different conversations that happen on the walk I can’t really be sure. But, this Heidi S sends Miss Stella Grace this book, The Wildwater Walking Club with no explanation. Completely out of the blue. I haven’t a clue. I really don’t remember having even the smallest of conversations about this book. We could have. I’m sure we did. Really, so much stuff is shared I can’t keep it all straight. (The one thing I do remember finding out is we both went to Pies on Parade for the first time last year…but that’s a story for another time.)

Anyway, in the mail arrives this cute package, tied up in brown string. It’s Claire Cook’s Wildwater Walking Club and I read it in three days. Bing Bang Boom Done. It’s cute. The plot is super simple. Noreen is a woman who just lost her job and her boyfriend all at once. Realizing she is a corporate has-been with no personal life and a little extra weight she decides to take up walking. Along the way she recruits two other women from her neighborhood. Before long they have formed a club, are planning trips and vandalizing the neighborhood together. Of course, it’s chick lit so you have to have a little man trouble called dating, a little mother grief and a lot of laughs. It’s a cute book from the woman who brought you Must Love Dogs (Okay everyone! Time for a collective “OH!).

I could relate to Noreen on a few levels. Her relationship with her mother is strained. She thinks mom is constantly comparing her marriage-less, childless life to her siblings (all married with children, all leading very full lives). Her job was all that she knew and until she was laid off she didn’t realize how much it was affecting her personal life. And the one thing I’ve always known, walking makes everything better on so many different levels.

“Lukudi”

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Harun, Adrienne. “Lukudi.” The King of Limbo and Other Stories. New York: Overlook Press, 2001.

Natife is from Nigeria and knows the ways of lukudi, otherwise known as “wealthmagic” or black magic. Ever since Natife cured Carena’s skin ailment she knew he would be the perfect peer counselor for suicidal Ally Reisch. The key to getting close to Ally is to befriend her favorite horse, Denali and to protect her from the abusive Ciggy. Interestingly enough, Natife acquires a magical lighter from a man trying to get his brother to quit smoking. The lighter proves to be important in the relationship between Ally and Ciggy. Harun’s storytelling is magical.

Favorite line, “Some people have memory in their bones and will not die for many lives” (p 24).

Reason read: June is short story month.

Author fact: Harun has her own website here.

Book trivia: The King of Limbo and Other Stories is Harun’s first compilation of short stories.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 103).

 

 

 

Down There

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Goodis, David. Down There. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. New York: Library of America, 1999.

David Goodis is a great storyteller. The story opens with a man, bloodied and dazed, running from two unknown men. Throughout most of the plot you don’t know who is who. Is the running man a good guy or is he bad? Why do the men chasing him want him so badly? They are relentless in their pursuit. You don’t know who to root for. But, the story isn’t really about the man being pursued. When he escapes into a seedy bar where his brother is playing piano, the attention shifts to the piano player. Now, caught in the middle of the pursuit is younger brother, Eddie. Growing up, Eddie had very little to do with his rough and violent brothers. While they followed a life of crime, Eddie became a Carnegie Hall pianist. For the past three years he has been just a simple piano player in a bar called Harriet’s Hut. Out of family loyalty, Eddie helps his brother escape and plunges headlong into the trouble is he has been trying to avoid for years. There is a reason he no longer plays Carnegie and that ugly truth comes back to haunt him. Throughout the story there isn’t enough character development to care about Eddie or his family. You don’t know if they are the good guys or not. Enough bad things have happened to Eddie to make the reader sympathetic to his plight, but not enough to sit on the edge of a seat, hoping and praying for his survival. I rooted for the plucky waitress, Lena, who attaches herself to Eddie and refuses to take no for an answer. She was gutsy and valiant and never wavered from her character.

Reason read: June is National Short Story month and even though this isn’t exactly a short story, it’s brief enough to throw on the list.

Author fact: One of the most fascinating things about Goodis (according to Wikipedia (yes, I’m quoting Wikipedia), is that most people didn’t know Goodis had been married for a brief time. It wasn’t until a divorce document was found that people really believed it.

Book trivia: Down There is also known as Shoot the Piano Player which was made into a movie.

BookLust Twist: from Crime Novels: American Noir listed in Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crime Noir” (p 65).

Birdsong

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Faulks, Sebastian. Birdsong. Read by Peter Firth. New Hampshire: Chivers North America Audio Books, 2000.

Birdsong is broken into seven different sections covering three different periods of main character Stephen Wraysford’s life, 1910, 1916 – 1918, and 1978 – 1979 (the last being through the eyes of his granddaughter, Elizabeth). When we first meet Stephen in 1910 he is a young Englishman sent to France to observe operations at a textile mill in Amiens. It is there that he meets the beautiful and lonely Mrs. Isabelle Azaire. From the moment they meet, their attraction to one another is instantaneous and unavoidable. Even an innocent activity like pruning in the garden speaks volumes of what is to come. It isn’t long before the two give in to their carnal desires and commit adultery. If you are shy about sex scenes, there are a few you may want to skip. The second encounter in the library is pretty racy! The attraction between the lovers is so strong that Isabelle runs away with Stephen, only to be wracked by guilt causing her to leave him a short time later. We don’t know what happens to this couple after Isabelle’s leaving. This is a mystery that hangs over the next section of Stephen’s life.
When we meet up again with Stephen it is six years later and he is a soldier, sent to work in the tunnels below enemy lines. This section of the book, covering World War I, is incredibly graphic and haunting. Faulk’s portrayals of battle are as realistic as they are heartbreaking, especially in the claustrophobic tunnels. Interspersed between Stephen’s World War I experiences is the life of his granddaughter, Elizabeth. When she becomes curious about his life she sets out to learn all that she can. She ends up learning more about herself in the process. History repeats itself and comes full circle for Wraysford’s legacy.

PS ~ I like the way Peter Firth reads. His voice is really pleasant. But, unlike Kirsten Potter, who read The Locust Eaters, Firth doesn’t even attempt a French accent! He does an Australian one pretty well, though.

Reason read: Austria started World War I on June 28, 1914.

Author fact: Faulks is also a journalist.

Book trivia: Birdsong is actually the second book in a trilogy. I didn’t find that out until I entered it into LibraryThing. Bad news and good news. The bad news is that the first book is not on my list. However, the good news is that the third book, Charlotte Gray, is…so I’ll read two-thirds of the trilogy. Pearl makes no mention of these two books being connected.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “World War I (fiction)” (p 250).

As an aside, I always think of the Grateful Dead when I hear the word “birdsong” and I am filled with nostalgia. When my husband and I were first dating I took him home to Monhegan. He brought along a video camera and made a music video of the island with Birdsong playing in the background. The video starts with me sitting on the floor in the old apartment trying to pack. So long ago!

“Birdland”

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Knight, Michael. “Birdland.” Goodnight, Nobody. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.

Raymond, the protagonist of “Birdland,” knows how to capitalize on the African parrots that migrant every fall to his tiny town of Elbow, Alabama. The parrots have brought Ludmilla Haggarsdottir (aka The Blond), an ornithologist from New Hampshire. Having nowhere to stay, The Blond rents a room with Raymond and becomes his girlfriend. His second source of income is wood carvings of the parrots for all the tourists who “flock” to Elbow (pun totally intended). Elbow in and of itself is an interesting little community of less than 12 souls, all fixated on the game of college football. I fell in love with Raymond and his band of misfit neighbors. They live the simple life without telephones or tvs. The Blond is the most colorful thing he’s seen since the arrival of the parrots.

Quotes I loved, “The African parrot can live up to eighty years…and often mates for life, though our local birds have apparently adopted a more swinging sexual culture due to an instinctive understanding of the rigors of perpetuation in a non-indigenous environment” (p 5) and “I want to tell her that the past is not only for forgetting” (p 14).

Reason read: June is national short story month. Are you tired of me saying that?

Author fact: In 2003 Knight taught at the University of Tennessee. The sad thing is, when you do a Google search for “Michael Knight” the first thing that pops up is the television show “Knight Rider.”

Book trivia: I’m going to sound like a broken record saying this but most of Knight’s short stories appeared in magazines (like Playboy) before they were published as a collection.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the very simple chapter called “Parrots” (p 104).