War Within and Without

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Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. War Within and Without: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh 1939-1944. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980.

This is the last book in Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s series of diaries and letters. War Within and Without covers 1939 – 1944. In the beginning, the Lindberghs have just left France for America. The emphasis of War Within is World War II, of course, and the not so obvious private war the Lindberghs waged with public opinion concerning Charles’s views of Germany and the U.S involvement in the war. After spending nearly three years in Europe (England and France, mostly) the family returns to America where controversy over the political views of her husband continue to be criticized. All of this worries Anne very much as her husband is very vocal on these subjects. In view of the war, she has described this last book as coming full circle. World War I was raging when she was just seven years old. Underlying Anne’s very public life is the home life she struggled to keep private. Charles is “away” a great deal and Anne must entertain guests such as Antoine de Saint-Exupery on her own. She alludes to questioning what makes a good marriage. It leads one to believe there are hints of trouble with Charles. Anne does her best to convince the reader (herself, since it was her diary?) everything is fine. All the while she is crumbling under the pressure of being a good mother, writer, housekeeper, member of society, and of course, wife.

Telling quotes: “Both wars cracked open the worlds from which they erupted” (p xiii), “It is the striving after perfection that makes one an artist” (p 29), “Must get back to life after these days living in a world of the mind alone” (p 36), and “Then Monday he went off again and I have had a long week, tired from it, angry at myself, realizing I am doing too much and none of it well” (p 391).

Reason read: This is the last book I will read in honor of January being Journal Month. Finally!

Author fact: Lindbergh received six different honorary degrees from various institutions.

Book trivia: There is one grainy photo of Anne where credit is given to Charles. It makes me wonder who took the others. They seem “professional” compared to the intimacy of the one taken by Charles.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Journals and Letters: We Are All Voyeurs at Heart” (p 131).

Alice I Have Been

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Benjamin, Melanie. Alice I Have Been. Read by Samantha Eggar. New York: Random House Audio, —-.

I fell in love with Alice I Have Been straight away. Alice Liddell is the famed little girl who took a tumble down the rabbit hole. Benjamin has taken her life story and presented it in a fictional yet spellbinding way. Starting with Alice as a precocious seven year old who befriends a subtly sinister gentleman by the name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Everyone turns their heads to ignore the slightly inappropriate relationship Alice has with stuttering Mr. Dodgson. I found myself asking what was Benjamin’s motive for so much alluding to impropriety? There is a lot of trembling that goes on…It whispers of pedophilia and the strange this is, Alice, even at seven, is perceptive to know something is amiss. However by age ten, almost eleven she is the instigator, asking Mr. Dodgson to “wait” for her, a statement that is accompanied by the proverbial wink and nod. Years later, Alice is rumored to be involved with Prince Leopold and her childhood relationship with Mr. Dodgson is all but a faded memory…until the Prince needs to ask his mum for her approval to marry Alice. It is then all of the allusions to impropriety make sense. Everything begins to make sense.
I have only one complaint and it’s an odd one. I didn’t like Alice as child or an adult. I found her to be rude, snobbish and spoiled throughout her entire life. But. But! But, I loved Benjamin’s writing. Know how I can tell? I borrowed the audio AND print versions of the book because listening to and from work just wasn’t enough.

I don’t know what it is with audio books but lately every one that I listen to has been read by someone with an accent…usually British.

Author fact: Melanie used a pseudonym to write Alice I Have Been. She recently published a book about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. What a coincidence since I have been reading Lindbergh’s books since January.

Book trivia:Alice I Have Been is Benjamin’s first historical fiction.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Oxford: literary fiction” (p 171).

Leopard Hunts in Darkness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

House of Morgan

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Chernow, Ron. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990.

You can tell straight away that Chernow is going to tell you a great story, especially when he uses words like “brouhaha” to describe an economic catastrophe. There is a sly humor about his writing. How can you not smirk just a little when he writes, “Gooch was being groomed for a career of permanent subordination and forelock tugging” (p 8)? Or says things like “incorrigible Wall Street rascals” (p30)? Yet, his story is vastly inclusive and extremely informative. He takes you back before a time when each state has its own banking system and debts could be settled any which way. We watch the growth of international finance and step into a “wealth” of biographical portraits, if you excuse the pun (since we are talking about banking). I loved the little details; for example, the Morgans were the first private residential household to have electrical lighting in New York and a woman named Belle Greene was Pierpont’s “saucy librarian.” My one complaint – the book is massive. That’s because the tale is massive. Chernow needs every page to tell the story.

As an aside: I love it when my reading converges. In House of Morgan Chernow mentions Dwight Morrow’s daughter, Elizabeth; how she couldn’t resist a comment about Pierpont Morgan’s legendary nose. Because I have been reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s diaries I know that Dwight is her brother and he named his daughter after a sister who passed away after a bout with pneumonia. If I hadn’t been reading Lindbergh the names Dwight and Elizabeth Morrow would have meant nothing to me.

Reason read: April is National Banking Month. And speaking of money, it’s also tax month…

Author fact: Chernow holds degrees from Yale and Cambridge.

Book trivia: Chernow won the National Book Award in 1990 for House of Morgan, his first book!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Founding Fathers” (p 92). Yeah, yeah. I know. House of Morgan is not about a founding father, per se. Pearl mentions House of Morgan as a suggestion if you liked Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton.

“Romance”

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

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

Reason read: April is National Poetry month.

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

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

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

Rose Cafe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Aftermath”

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Sassoon, Sigfried. “Aftermath.” Modern British “Poetry. Ed. Louis Untermeyer. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. pp 220. Print.

This is a heartbreaking poem and the message is super clear. This is a plaintive cry to Sassoon’s fellow veterans, Do not get caught up in the glories of war! Do not let anyone tell you war is an excusable act just because time has softened your memory. I think there is a country song out there with the same message, but I think it was directed towards people not forgetting about September 11, 2001. The message is the same: don’t become complacent and forgiving when you have suffered so much. Sassoon clearly did.

Author fact: There are only two poems I am reading this month. Turner and Sassoon were friends.

Poem trivia: PBS has a great site dedicated to the Great War. Supposedly, you can listen to an audio recording of “Aftermath” but I couldn’t get it to play (which is why I didn’t include the link here). Google it for yourself if you are curious.

BookLust Twist: More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living Through War” (p 237).

April Foolish Games

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March was all about running. I seemed to be obsessed with a certain 10k and added four extra books about running to the list. Now, April is almost here and I have turned my attention to a certain 60 mile walk I have at the end of next month (my 6th year participating in Just ‘Cause!!). The only difference is, this time I won’t be adding any books about walking or breast cancer to my list. After five years of doing this 60 mile walk I think I have it down. Reading is a different story all together (pun totally intended).
Here are the many, many books that are on the list for this April:

  1. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  2. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink…yes, I’m STILL reading this!
  3. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow -This, you might remember, was planned for April 2013 and I selfishly decided to put it off a year. Such a coincidence since I read another Chernow last February.
  4. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith ~ the last Ballantyne book of the series
  5. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  6. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~ this finishes my reading of Lindbergh’s diaries.
  7. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley (maybe. This book is not in ly library system so I had to place an interlibrary loan)
  8. “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  9. “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner

Here is the rest of year eight:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler (July)
  4. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser (May)
  5. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  6. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  7. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  8. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks* (June)
  9. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (July)
  10. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  11. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (May)
  12. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  13. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  14. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  15. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  16. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall (June)
  17. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (July)
  18. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler (June)
  19. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  20. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam* (July)
  21. First Man by Albert Camus (June)
  22. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  23. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  24. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  25. Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (July)
  26. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  27. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  28. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski (June)
  29. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating (May)
  30. Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott* (May)
  31. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  32. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  33. Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan (May)
  34. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  35. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  36. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart (June)
  37. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  38. 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. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  4. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  5. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  6. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  7. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  8. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  9. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  10. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  11. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  12. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  13. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  14. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley – This finishes the Vera Wright Trilogy
  15. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  16. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman – This is something I tried to listen to as an audio two years ago. The cds were so scratched I gave up.
  17. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  18. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  19. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  20. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  21. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  22. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  23. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  24. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  25. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  26. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  27. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  28. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

I found my second “impossible to find” book. Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy. Several libraries across the country own it but are unwilling to share it. It was wildly popular in Australia in the 1950s, but not so anymore…to the point that no one will lend it without changing a fee. Bummer.

Angels Weep

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Graduates in Wonderland

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Pan, Jessica and Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Graduates in Wonderland: the International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults. New York: Gotham Books, 2014.

Reason read: Chosen as an Early Review Book for LibraryThing.

Jessica and Rachel are two graduates of Brown, out on their own, learning to become “adults.” Jessica has moved to China to study Mandarin and get back to her roots. Rachel starts out in New York City’s art scene but then decides to move to Paris, France. Their story is told through a series of no-holds-barred emails back and forth over the course of three years. They discuss everything from career paths and education to fashion and faux pas but most of all they talk about men, relationships and sex.

My only “complaint” is it was difficult to read Graduates for extended periods of time. Their writing styles are similar enough that their voices started to blend and I would lose track of who was where. It got to a point when I completely ran out of steam and put the book down for three weeks.

Book trivia: It would have been cool to have pictures of the different places the girls have been, especially Jessica’s time in China.

Day the Falls Stood Still

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

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

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

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

Author fact: Buchanan has her own website here.

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

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

Flower and the Nettle

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Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. The Flower and the Nettle: Diaries and Letters 1936 – 1939. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.

The Flower and the Nettle is Anne’s return to the living. It covers 1936 to 1939. After the death of her first born son she and Charles take their second son, Jon, to England for an “indefinite” stay. They are literally driven out of their own country by the media’s insatiable need to photograph and question the family. First, it was Charles Lindbergh’s fame, then it was the kidnapping and murder of their first child. It is at a rambling rented cottage in England called Long Barn that Anne and Charles can finally relax and be themselves again. Jon is allowed to play freely on the lawn without massive hyper-vigilant supervision. Anne is able to concentrate on her writing. It is here that humor returns to her diaries and letters. She says things like, “It is so delicious” (p 30), and “living passionately in the present” (p 31). Later, after her third son Land is born, Anne and her family move to Illiec off the coast of France. This is the “flower” part of her life. The “nettle” is the approach of World War II and the ensnaring politics. Following Charles to Russia for business Anne vocalizes her discontent with the country. She uses words like dirty, hideous, mediocrity, drab, shoddy, third-rate and glum to describe such things as the poor middle class. She is quick to comment negatively on their fashions and complexions. This took me by surprise. What I needed to keep in mind is the intense scrutiny Anne and her family felt. The longer they stay away from America, the more “pro-Nazi” they are “villainized” as being.

One drawback of skipping a book in a series is the potential to not understand references made to that book in the next one. Because I didn’t read Locked Doors I didn’t grasp Lindbergh’s reference to a previous trip to Russia in 1933.

Favorite lines, “One gets so cramped in ordinary living” (p 76). A good excuse to get out there and do something extraordinary!

As an aside, looking at pictures of Long Barn I can’t help but think what a wonderful place! Don’t tell my husband, but it looks like my dream home! It would have been nice if Lindbergh had included maps of not only her travel destinations, but of the places she and her family lived in Europe.

Reason read: to continue the series started in January, in honor of Journal Month.

Book trivia: Maybe because The Flower and the Nettle is a longer book, there are more photographs. For the first time, Anne includes detailed pictures of the interiors of their residence. Long Barn looks like a place where I would like to live!

Author fact: At this point in Lindbergh’s life she considers herself a serious writer despite already publishing earlier.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Journals and Letters: We Are All Voyeurs at Heart” (p 131).

Illumination Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

Georges’ Wife

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

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

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

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

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

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

Run or Die

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Jornet, Kilian. Run or Die. Translated by Peter Bush. Boulder, Colorado: Velo, 2013

There is no denying Kilian Jornet is tough…and maybe just a little crazy. At 18, as a burgeoning athlete, he had an injury so severe he had to have a metal plate surgically implanted around his kneecap, and still he was determined to train. In the third chapter he describes running the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail. In the very next chapter…well, I’ll let him tell you”…It was the idea I could run across the Pyrenees in seven days” (p 75). See? Told you. Nuts. Just so you know, he ran just under 87 miles that first day. But, what is really cool of Jornet’s character (besides the crazy ambition) is his appreciation for the world around him as he runs. He is constantly taking note of the snow-capped mountains, the way sunlight dances on water. He really drinks it in as he runs.

Quotes to inspire, “A day comes in life when you have to decide which train to take, and once you are aboard, there is no point in thinking what might have happened if you had caught a different one” (p 14). Amen to that! Here’s another, “A race is a life that is born when you get up in the morning and dies when you cross the finish line” (p 30). I like the finality of that. You do it. You finish it. You’re done. Last one, “Everyone can be king of his own castle, but outside he is vulnerable and can lose his way” (p 124). Too true.

Reason read: training to run. Yes, I went off the plan…just a little.

Book trivia: I am super excited Kilian included a photograph of his 165-mile run along the Tahoe Rim Trail. I needed to see just one of the spectacular views he described.

Author fact: In addition to being an ultrarunner, Kilian is a ski mountaineer.  In other words, he hurls himself down mountains on skis.