Sex Life of My Aunt

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Cheek, Mavis. The Sex Life of My Aunt. St, Martin’s Press, 2002.

Reason read: Aunt Day is on the 26th of July.

A chance encounter with a sexy stranger with beautiful blue eyes sets off a ravenous desire in Dilys like never before. Even her husband has never ignited such a flame. And so begins a complicated life for middle aged Dilys. Juggling a jealous lover and an overly trusting husband does not prove to be easy. Confessional: I did not really care for Dilys. Her sister hated her for having the perfect life: married to a successful (rich) lawyer who gave her everything she wanted, two grown kids, adorable grandkids, and a sexy young lover. She seemed to have it all. Her biggest dilemma appeared to be how she was going to keep her lover from pressuring her to leave her husband. Never mind that she had a sister who despised her and an aunt with a boatload of secrets of her own.

Lines I liked, “Shame made her wary of people” (p 20), “Is there any surer way of the hook of attraction than looking up the object of the attraction in a telephone directory?” (p 33), and “If there is one thing passion does to you, it is to reduce your brain to childlike proportions” (p 92).

Author fact: while Mavis Cheek wrote a bunch of books I am only reading The Sex Life of My Aunt for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Sex Life of My Aunt has a little story-within-a-story element to it when the aunt tells her story.

Music: “She Loves You,” Puccini, Mozart, Bryan Ferry’s “Let’s Stick Together,” Charlie Parker, and the Eagles’ “Desperado.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Wayward Wives” (p 231).

Can You Forgive Her? Vol. 3

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Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Volume Three. BiblioLife, 2008.

Reason read: to continue the series started in April in honor of Anthony Trollope’s birthday.

Mercifully, Trollope brings the relationships of Alice Vavasor, Lady Glencora Palliser, and Arabella Greenow to somewhat satisfying conclusions. To be sure, Alice waffled through the entire third volume until the very end. No surprise there. Lady Glencora’s husband, Plantagenet Palliser, showed remarkable grace concerning his wife’s indecisions. He knew she was stuck in the marriage for parliamentary duty yet made the best of it. Arabella Greenow was my favorite character throughout Can You Forgive Her? Greenow just didn’t give a damn and continued having relationships with two men. She just couldn’t chose between the two of them. Trollope used these women to poke fun at Victorian society and it worked.

Author fact: Trollope was also a civil servant.

Book trivia: Volume three of Can You Forgive Her? is the final installment.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 15).

Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road

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Asanuma, Ichiro. Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road: a Pilgrim’s Path: Adventures and Transformations (Volume 1: Departures). 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I requested a copy of Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road.

Asanuma began his journey in 2006 after surviving a life-changing traffic accident. Walking was prescribed as part of his physical therapy. To feel truly healed he resolved to stand on the Sanjo-Ohashi in Kyoto. Walking along the ancient Tokaido Road became a sixteen year long adventure. Using money from an insurance claim he was able to afford the trip, but he admits that he didn’t really pay much attention to the landscape he traveled through.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road (volume one) documents the beginning of Asanuma’s journey across Japan’s historical and cultural landscape. Told in three sections, Asanuma begins with “Departure (2006: from Tokyo to Shizuoka).” Part Two is “Insight and Memory (2009) from Shizuoka to Nagoya.” After the first trip, Asanuma started to pay more attention to the people around him. Part Three is called “New Beginnings (2022: from Kuwana to Kyoto).” This section is the final leg of the journey that was previously unfulfilled.
Like many other reviewers I could not identify a genre for this book. It could be seen as a personal memoir. Asanuma shared intimate details about his life such as the fact that he lacked the personality and social skills to mingle with strangers. Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road is confessional in that he shares deep feelings.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road could also be called a photo-journal. Asanuma included and explained in more detail the many different photographs he took; more so than he did of the actual journey. The gorgeous photography sets this book apart. The images are candid, raw and sometimes, moving.
Walking Along the Ancient Tokaido Road could be seen as an historical essay. For example, Asanuma describes the Edo period and the significance of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido.
I enjoyed the color illustrations as well as the photographs. As an aside, the map of the hedgehogs is cute.

Everyone Kept Quiet So I Did Too

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Djukicin, Aleksandar. Illustrated by Dorde Balmazovic. Everyone Kept Quiet So I Did Too: Tales of a Reluctant Soldier: a Graphic Novel. do-dju, 2025.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read interesting books. I think this is my first graphic novel in nonfiction.

Three friends, three very different paths. Each sharing their experiences in the Balkans War between Serbia and Croatia in 1990. It was interesting how each side spun the same events to fit their personal narrative: the main theme being coward versus hero. In reality there are more than two sides of the coin to being a coward. You can be afraid of facing prison for not accepting the draft or you can be afraid to face the war for fear of death. Fear of inflicting violence on another human without understanding why. Such is the senselessness of war. As a graphic novel, it goes without saying that the visual images need to match the intensity of the words. The storyline was made more powerful by the illustrations of Dorde Balmazovic. Most striking was the line of soldiers waiting to go home fading to black.

As an aside, the illustration of the soldiers urinating after liberation made me chuckle.

Music: Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” and Toma Zdravkovic.

Because I Deserve It

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Dominguez, Kenitra W. Because I Deserve It: What Chronic Illness Taught Me About Finding My Voice in the Healthcare System. Avocet Books, 2026.

Reason read: at first glance this might seem like an odd choice for me to request from LibraryThing. I am not Black nor do I suffer from a chronic illness. The only thing I have in common with Kenitra is that I am a woman. I requested Because I Deserve It from LibraryThing because of the subtitle “…Finding My Voice in the Healthcare System.” I am not confident when it comes to speaking up and being my own healthcare advocate. I chose this book because I wanted Kenitra to teach me how to stand up for myself when it comes to my own wellbeing. I knew there would be so much to learn. For example, why is it that women become apologetic or mute when dealing with a medical professional?
The best part of Because I Deserve It is the clear recommendations at the end of each chapter. I appreciated the section about navigating the myriad of questions a patient should ask and when. I also loved the idea of an audio journal to document how you are feeling every single day, whether you have an appointment with a provider or not. Finally, the advice to research your medications! Just because a white-coated professional prescribed a medication does not mean it is the right one for you. You are not Alice! You don’t not have to swallow what they put in front of you.
Kenitra also advocates for self-described introverts. She was spot on when describing an introvert’s characteristics which gave credence to her information.
The only criticism I found with Because I Deserve It was the repetition in some areas. Saying the same thing too many times gives the impression the author has run out of worthwhile things to say. Stressing a point is one thing, but echoing information over and over is quite another.
All in all I am glad I requested Because I Deserve It because I learned a great deal.

As an aside, as a librarian I practically applauded Kenitra when she said do not accept Google’s top results. I do not know how many times I have said that to students.

Confessional: I had never heard of idiopathic intracranial hypertension. It sounds like a nightmare.

Stars That Fell

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Short, Gary. Star That Fell: Poems. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I am starting to read more poetry.

Childhood memories and adult laments weave vivid snapshots in time. The poems of Stars That Fell are autobiographical and fragile in nature. Honest emotion is slowly revealed through sparse words and economical phrases. The pain of losing a mother to cancer. The pain of an abusive father. The pain caused by the death of a brother. Different pains caused by different family members, yet all deep rooted grief all the same. I hope there is catharsis in the telling. I practically wept for the sheer beauty and innocence of the narrator’s voice. There is a raw honesty to Short’s writing so much so that I will be seeking out his previous works.

The a mention of some of the poems:

  • Little Makeweights of Guilt – the destruction of a hive
  • I Lay My Brother Down – a memory of a brother
  • Flying Over Sonny Liston – the great boxing legend’s life in a poem
  • Herida de Amor – Mexico
  • Driving Down Highway 93: Nevada – an inadvertent drive in the desert
  • Brothers Playing Catch on Christmas Day – a family memory
  • Psalm – did he save the goose or not?
  • Gathering – childhood crushes last a lifetime
  • The Stars That Fell – a loss of innocence when confronted with death
  • The Collector – secrets, capturing insects, learning of a mother’s love before dad
  • American Light – test bombs and an innocent hope.
  • What I Believed – coming of age
  • Dust – who knew dust could be so beautiful?
  • Teaching Poetry to Third Graders – the things that matter to children
  • Imperfect History – what do you remember from childhood?
  • George Pascho Miller – the death of a friend
  • White – cancer
  • Sway – a vulnerable moment finding his father in the barn
  • Gentle Blue Sway – a remembering of a fight of his parents.
  • France Blue – abuse and a troubled relationship

Line I loved the most (please keep it in the final publication), “never mind these footprints in front of me…”

Music: “Night Train,” “Herida De Amor,” and Willie Nelson.

Author fact: Gary Short has written other poetry books.

Clearwater Summer

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Keegan, John E. Clearwater Summer. Backinprint, 2000.

Reason read: June 21 marks the first day of summer.

We begin Clearwater Summer with college-aged Will Bradford needing proof of an accident; did a train really hit a car stalled on the tracks? Did someone really die in that wreckage? Was it an accident? The reader is left in suspense asking what happened next as Keegan catapults us several years into the past.
Using Will Keegan’s fourteen year old voice, Keegan unravels a beautiful coming of age story about Will and his two closest friends, Taylor and Wellesley. This is a Washington summer of first crushes, first dates, first heartbreak, first funerals. It is a summer of getting into trouble, saving the day, and learning life’s hard lessons. Like a cold river undercurrent, Keegan’s Clearwater Summer also unveils dark prejudices between the haves and the have nots, pride and shame that keep victims too silent, and the dangers of a community staying too complacent under the guise of “I see it, but it’s none of my business.” With all of it’s drama, sex, violence, and romance, Clearwater Summer could have been a movie.

Author fact: I have to wonder how many times John Keegan had to say he wasn’t the same author who wrote military nonfiction. This John Keegan wrote four books, but I am only reading Clearwater Summer.

Book trivia: Clearwater Summer was really difficult to find. My local consortium didn’t have it in print. The state-wide consortium didn’t have it available for lending. I contemplated interlibrary loan from across the country, but the wait time was too long. I ended up using Internet Archive. Phew!

Setlist: Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender,” Long Tall Sally,” “Poison Ivy,” Beethoven, Buddy Holly, “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Red Sails in the Sunset,” and Sal Mineo.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Teenage Times” (p 217).

Family Linen

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Smith, Lee. Family Linen. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1983.

Reason read: Family Linen takes place in Virginia. Virginia became a state in the month of June.

Lee Smith introduces you to a typical dysfunctional family in America. They all have their quirks, but when the matriarch of the family dies, true colors reveal themselves as a jumble of full personalities with dark secrets. Family Linen has been called a murder mystery. Nettie, seeking help for constant headaches, visits a therapist. Under hypnosis, Nettie remembers an axe murder and her mother was directly involved. Did she wield the axe? Nettie, despite her mother’s passing is determined to solve the crime. Family Linen has also been called a psychological commentary on family dynamics. Throughout the story Smith uses various characters to voice past regrets and future forgiveness. Every character has their own tangled troubles.
As an aside, Nettie left her husband Marvin and later started seeing Millard, a flower shop owner. Nettie said Marvin could make beautiful arrangements. Was that her faux pas about her ex-husband or Smith’s?

Line I liked, “Sybill wishes she had never let Bob step one foot down in her subconscious” (p 43).

Author fact: Lee has her own website here: https://leesmith.com/

Book trivia: Family Linen’s story begins on June 1st, 1983. I started reading Family Linen on June 1st.

Music: “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Beatles, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille,” “You’re Ruining My Bad Reputation,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “What a feeling,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Mule Skinner Blues,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Careless Love,” Boy George, “Mr. Sandman,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” Willie Nelson, Elvis, “Mr. Blue,” Synchronicity, Thriller, Kenny Rogers’ “Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Nat King Cole’s version of “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Orange Blossom Special,” “The Twelfth of Never,” “Sea Cruise,” Rickie Scaggs, “Shout,” and “Wayward Wind.”

As an aside, I had to laugh when Lee Smith called Willie Nelson “old” in 1985…

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust twice. First in the chapter called “Lines That Linger; Sentences That Stick” (p 140) and again in the chapter “Southern Fried Fiction” (p 205).

Godforsaken Sea

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Lundy, Derek. Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World’s Most Dangerous Waters. Algonquin Books, 2000.

Reason read: June is the perfect month for an ocean voyage.

I would call the Vendee Globe sailing’s answer to the Barkley Marathons. The rules of the 27,000 mile race make the endeavor one of the most challenging competitions in the world. Sailors must sail solo without a crew. Once underway sailors cannot receive help from anyone on shore, either. They can moor their boat for a stop to make repairs, but they themselves cannot step foot beyond the high tide mark. At the time of publication the minimum funding needed to enter and prepare for the Vendee Globe was four million pounds. Only the truly dedicated (or insane) attempt the Vendee Globe.
Lundy, an avid sailor himself, chronicles the trials and tribulations of the sixteen sailors attempting the 1996-1997 Vendee Globe. He focuses most of the adventure on the extreme weather conditions around the most difficult leg of the race, the Southern Ocean. Only six of the sixteen vessels to enter the race will finish. As a result of the outcome of the 1996-1997 Vendee Globe race officials created new rules, making boats safer for future competitions.
I appreciated the anatomy of a ocean vessel I have never been aboard. Even more than that, I thrilled to learn the Beauford Wind Scale: the assigned number to the force of the wind and corresponding wind speed in knots, miles per hour, meters per second and kilometers per hour; the World Meteorological Organization categories (calm to hurricane); and what the water looks like from the land (mirror to air filled with foam and the sea completely white with driving spray. You know that the weather is terrible when you cannot tell the sea from the sky from the clouds.
Confessional: I have always been a dreamer about the idea of reincarnation. To think that a fellow sailor came back as an albatross to keep Chaband company was pure magic.

In the very beginning of Godforsaken Sea Lundy describes the capsizing of the boats of Dinelli, Bullimore, and Dubois. Cruelly, he leaves you hanging as to their fates.

Quote to quote, “It is interesting to contemplate what combination of compulsion and desires drives these sailors to the Southern Ocean” (p 177).

Confessional: I have a friend who is not necessarily all that good with boats. He definitely will not be reading Godforsaken Sea anytime soon. Most definitely not.

Other harrowing stories about trying to sail around Cape Horn:

  • The Bounty Mutiny (Bligh)
  • Two Years Before the Mast (Dana)
  • My Old Man and the Sea (Hays)

Author fact: Lundy was trained to be a lawyer but decided to do something different.

Book trivia: there are no photographs in Godforsaken Sea.

I didn’t think it would be possible for Godforsaken Sea to mention music, but I was wrong: the Who and the Platters.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Adventure By the Book: Nonfiction” (p 9).

Ordinary Wolves

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Kantner, Seth. Ordinary Wolves. Milkweeds, 2004.

Reason read: Colorado’s Wolf Preserve opened in the month of June and while Ordinary Wolves isn’t exactly about wolves, I chose this book to honor the place.

Life can be brutally harsh, especially in the far reaches of the Alaskan tundra. Seth Kantner does not sugarcoat the Alaskan way of life. Violence is a simple reality whether it be hunting animals to stay alive or getting into fights with bullies for being too different or “too white” in Inupiaq country. The violent subject matter often throws cold water on the warmth of Kantner’s writing; for Ordinary Wolves despite the pain is also beautiful and lyrical. Emotions are physical entities: distrust squirted, embarrassment marched and memory pretended. Kantner writes in the language of keen observation and passion. I was seduced by the aromas of the land: coffee and campfire, the forest and snow.
Told in three parts, Ordinary Wolves takes readers from the wilderness landscape of Alaska to the city of Anchorage and back home again from the point of view of Cutuk. Despite being born and raised in Alaska, even at five years of age Cutuk has been aware of his differences: his yellow hair and pointed nose. Abe, his father from “away,” has embarrassed him all of his life. Throughout Cutuk’s childhood he feared his father was not manly enough. Despite living on the barren tundra Abe does not like to hunt; he is not rugged nor outwardly strong. Abe survives as an artist who builds furniture for extra income. Then there are the hints that Abe is not an observant father: the unfulfilled promise of a sleeping bag so that Cutuk doesn’t have to sleep so close to his coming-of-age sister; or realizing his daughter needs glasses. As Cutuk grows older his sense of self expands to a new understanding about the world around him.
Ordinary Wolves is a coming of age story that explores themes of identity, heritage, and belonging.

Favorite line, “I wiped my greasy hands on my pants and climbed up into his words as if they were a long team to pull me away to the land of strength and adultness” (p 11).

Author fact: Kantner was born and raised in Alaska. Ordinary Wolves has the potential to be autobiographical.

Book trivia: One of my all-time favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, write a review for Ordinary Wolves. It makes perfect sense that someone who can paint portraits of the landscape as well as Kingsolver would write Kantner a beautiful review.

Music: Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” Stevie Nicks, “Country Roads,” and Lucinda Williams (one of my favorites).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Maiden Voyages” (p 158).

Italian Neighbors

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Parks, Tim. Italian Neighbors: or, A Lapsed Anglo-Saxon in Verona. Grove Weidenfeld, 1992.

Reason read: the Arena di Verona festival is held every June. Here is something cool: while I was in Verona we walked by the amphitheater while they were busy setting up.

Tim Parks takes you on an Italian journey where every mundane experience comes alive in vivid detail. From the moment he and his wife move into the apartment inhabited by the belongings of ghosts thirty years passed to learning that all beverages have their time slots (order your cappuccino before 10:30am), Parks will have you giggling with delight on the outskirts of Verona. At the same time as delivering humor, Parks also brings the beauty of the region with cherry blossoms in spring and the sharp white peaks of the Alps piercing the bright blue sky. Doesn’t it all sounds so magical?
Parks takes you by the hand and leads you through various instances of Italian customs and cultures. Taxes. Death. And speaking of death, take cemeteries for example. Sometimes loved ones are moved from their final resting place. As Parks says, “They come to find their loved ones and discover the grave is gone” (p 144). I would not have believed him until I experienced this for myself. I went with friends to a cemetery in Udine. We were looking for a long-deceased uncle. Row after row of photographs of loved ones smiling out at me from the grave, but we could not find Giuseppe. The family shrugged and nonchalantly declared he must have been moved or removed. They then wandered away from the place he should have been, discussing what to have for lunch.
Another example: driving in Italy. Parks paints an action movie picture of racing through winding and narrow lanes with walls on either side; just room enough to barely clear the sideview mirrors. All the while another motorist is following you too closely to avoid an accident should you stop short. As so often with all of Italy, the picturesque is juxtaposed with the sharp edge of danger. This much is clear.
Italian Neighbors was such a delight to read that I cannot wait for the sequel, An Italian Education.

Confessional: I now want to stay in Montecchio. According to Tim Parks, June is the month to go because of all the poppies in bloom. Sounds wonderful.

Line I liked (and there were a bunch), “A test of the extent of your Italianization is whether you still grind your teeth when you hear that something has closed” (p 262). I picked this sentence as my favorite because after driving nearly two hours when we arrived in Florence we discovered the park closed at two. We arrived at 2:02pm.

Author fact: Parks returns to the subject of Verona in A Season With Verona which is on my Challenge list, along with An Italian Education and Juggling the Stars.

Book trivia: I really wished there had been photographs in Italian Neighbors.

Music (I think): “On the Bridge at Bassano We Hold Hands” and Ave Maria.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the simple chapter called “Verona” (p 243).

Question of When

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Fosco, Cory. The Question of When: a Practical Guide to Knowing When It’s Time for Assisted Living, Memory Care or Skilled Nursing. Campion Hall Press, 2026

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I often chose books that seem interesting to me. Very rarely do I chose a book because it pertains to my personal situation. This is one such book.

Confessional: it took me a very long time to read Question of When. Not because it is poorly written (it isn’t). Not because I did not believe Fosco’s words (I did). But because the subject matter hit home in ways I did not expect.
Nearly everyone has to go through the painful process of watching a parent age. It is either from a remote distance across the country or painfully up close and personal in the same house. Neither scenario is all that comfortable, but Fosco does an excellent job of clearing away some of the confusion surrounding the hard (and harder) decisions to come. Even if you think you have all the answers, Question of When makes you think again. Second guessing your knowledge and preparedness is a good thing. You are forced to ask the painful questions like, “are we merely adjusting to mom’s decline and losing perspective? Are we making excuses for the forgetfulness and erratic behaviors?” The difficult answer could be yes.
Fosco delivers a primer on territory; knowing the difference between the various facilities available to the aging loved one. Long term care versus assisted living or memory care. Each chapter ends with a takeaway piece of advice and a single action step to take. Small bites for a daunting and often overwhelming process.
Almost immediately I started to think about my own situation with my aging mother. If something were to happen unexpectedly, would I know what to do? Do I really know what mom wants for her final years, but more importantly, do I have the financial capacity to fulfill those wishes? There are financial implications with every situation, planned or unplanned. This is a book I will buy for my sister and not before it is too late.

Author fact: Fosco has thirty-four years of experience.

Dames, Dishes and Degrees

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Mittelman, Amy. Dames, Dishes and Degrees: Faculty Wives in America. Cynren Press, 2026

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I sometimes win interesting books. This is one such book.

Dames, Dishes and Degrees thoroughly researches a woman’s place in academia and beyond. No one has tackled the historical perspective of faculty wives quite like Amy Mittelman. The aspect of Dames, Dishes and Degrees I appreciated the most was getting to know some of the women who were considered trail blazers in equality for women. For example, Julia Bogholt made a name for herself in politics, thanks to her inability to get a PhD in science. She sought to change the employment laws after that. [As an aside, she reminded me of my niece and her quest to become a research scientist.] Alison Lurie is another influential woman. As a faculty wife at Amherst College she wrote about her experiences and shed light on the prejudices. Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley was an early member of the Howard University Faculty Wives group. She was the Head Librarian at Moorland-Springam Research Center for 45 years and the first African American woman to earn a masters of library science degree at Columbia! I could go on and on.
It is interesting to note that statistically speaking, a daughter of an academic father typically went on to be a faculty wife. Amy Mittelman studied the effects the Great Depression and World War II had on working women in addition to researching the wives of college professors. [As an aside, I thought of the short-lived television show Homefront when reading about women trying to maintain employment after their husbands came home from World War II.]
Did women know they were getting around the rules about nepotism was by having a lesbian relationship? You could have a career alongside a colleague and even live with that same colleague if you were not married to them. To have a career like a man meant no husband and no children; there was a choice and sacrifice to be made.
One aspect of Dames, Dishes and Degrees that was completely unexpected was the histories of colleges such as Mount Holyoke (their search for a president after Woodley), Smith, University of Chicago, and North Carolina.

As an aside, I wonder what Mittelman thinks of Hampshire College closing. It is one of the colleges she talks about in Dames, Dishes and Degrees.

Music: “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Pack up Your Troubles,” “My Dear Old Southern Home,” and Lohengrin’s “Wedding March.”

Magician’s Wife

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Moore, Brian. The Magician’s Wife. Penguin, 1998.

Reason read: Algeria celebrations its Revolution Day in June.

We begin Magician’s Wife in 1856 France. Emmaline Lambert stands in the shadow of her famous magician husband, Henri Lambert. Her personality dims next to the brilliance of her husband’s growing notoriety as an illusionist and inventor. The crowds are agog over his inexplicable trickery. Emmaline almost becomes a cliche being described as uneasy, nervous, foolish, and unsure; acting with trepidation and panic. But in reality, she is just a lonely woman without intimacy in her marriage. It is all about the choices you make in life. Emmeline admits she married a man she did not love. Upon being summoned to the opulent estate of Napoleon III the Lamberts meet dashing Colonel Charles Deniau. Like tendrils of relentlessly advancing vines of kudzu, the Colonel ensnares Emmeline Lambert’s confidences little by little. France has a mission for Henri: in an effort to increase France’s empire and conquer Algeria, astound the Bedouins of North Africa. Frighten them into submission. Is Emmaline falling in love with Deniau? Will she convince her husband to perform the ultimate illusion for the sake of domination?

Author fact: Moore also wrote The Doctor’s Wife which I am reading for the Challenge. I am sensing a pattern here.

Book trivia: The Magician’s Wife was inspired by true events.

Music: “Marseillaise.”

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

Accidental

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Smith, Ali. The Accidental. Pantheon books, 2005.

Reason read: I have no freaking clue when I am reading this book. I already one book from the Scotland chapter.

Is this a cautionary tale about the dangers of miscommunication, assumption, or dysfunctional family silence? The Smith family, on holiday in Norfolk, England, find a beautiful woman on their doorstep announcing her car has broken down. She soon stays for dinner then stays the night. She learns their names: Eve, a writer on the brink of literary success; Michael, a philandering professor; Magnus, a teenager wrack with guilt over a school prank gone horribly wrong; Astrid, a typical twelve year old girl bored with life; everything is substandard in her eyes. The family learns her name, Amber. No one recognizes her from anywhere. Either the Smith family cannot or will not ask each other what they know about the mysterious stranger. Based on their preconceived opinions about each, other each family member makes a blind assumption. Amber is a friend of Eve’s. Amber is Michael’s next “bit ‘o fluff on the side,” maybe one of his latest students he to shag? Amber is a teacher from Magnus or Astrid’s school. Each family member sees a situation from a completely different point of view and that’s when the lies start. Without confirming anything about Amber, the Smith family starts to let the woman integrate herself into their daily lives until it is too late to extract her.

Author fact: Smith is a Scottish writer. I am also reading Hotel World for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Accidental” could be a movie. It has a little of everything.

Favorite part of the book: when Smith explains the entire Ah-Ha video for “Take On Me.” She captured every minute of my sister’s favorite song.

Music: Elton John, Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now,” “smooth Operator, Beatles, Barbara Streisand, Chris Montez’s “The More I See You,” Elvis Costello’s “Oliver’s Army,” Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet,” Four Seasons’ “December 1963 (Oh what a Night),” Ray Stevens’ “Misty,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Marianne Faithfull, Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen,” and Mick Jagger.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter “Scotland: More Than Haggis, Kilts, and Ian Rankin” (p 200).