July with a Bang

gr4c5Leave a comment

The one good thing about July is that I am starting to train for a half mara in October. I am praying this gets me out of my funk…

Here are the books:

Fiction:

  • The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins ~ in honor of Higgins’s birth month
  • Anna and Her Daughters by DE Stevenson ~ in honor of July being Ice Cream Month (this is further explained in the book review).

Nonfiction:

  • Hawthorne: a Life by Brenda Wineapple ~ in honor of Hawthorne’s birth month
  • Pacific Lady by Sharon Adams ~ in honor of July being Ocean Month

Series Continuations:

  • Henry James: the Middle Years by Leon Edel (didn’t finish in June) ~ to continue the series started in April in honor of James’s birth month.
  • A Moment of War by Laurie Lee ~ to continue the series started in honor of April’s Madrid festival.

Early Review for LibraryThing:

  • The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, and the Year That Change Literature by Bill Goldstein

Key to Rebecca

gr4c5Leave a comment

Follett, Ken. The Key To Rebecca. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc. 1980.

Reason read: Follett was born in June.

To set the scene: it’s 1942 in North Africa and the Germans are winning the Second Great War.
Alexander Wolff is a clever yet psychotic man with a deep seeded grudge against the British. Born to look like and pass as an Englishman but with a German past, he has an affinity for helping Hitler win the war. His good looks, deadly skills and unflinching temperament make him the perfect proficient spy, especially when he is able to seduce any woman he wants into aiding and abetting his every crime.
Major William Vandam is a hard drinking yet dedicated military man with a growing obsession with catching Wolff. A lonely widower with a ten year old son, he struggles to balance a home life while always frustratingly one step behind Wolff. When he meets and enlists the help of lovely Elena the burning question is will she help Vandam or be drawn into Wolff’s charming ways? As Natalie Merchant warns, “you’ll fall under an evil spell just looking at his beautiful face” (“Build a Levee”).
At the center of this cat and mouse chase is Daphne du Maurier’s  famous novel, Rebecca. Buried deep within its pages is code designed to alert the Germans to the British military plans.
This is a fast paced adventure across the arid Sahara and down the darkened streets of Cairo. The characters as well as the action keep you riveted. I read it in four days time.

Author fact: Follett also wrote Eye of the Needle and Jackdaws; the latter being on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: Key to Rebecca is based on true events.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Lines that Linger; Sentencing that Stick” (p 143).

Upstream

gr4c5Leave a comment

Cook, Langdon. Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, From River to Table. New York: Ballantine Books, 2017.

Reason read: an Early Review for LibraryThing.

Simply put, Upstream is everything you would want to know about salmon and thensome. Understatement of the year. Like the dress on the internet that no one could decide its color, the salmon is arguably the most controversial fish. Historically speaking, salmon sustained native tribes long before cooking became a rock star occupation. Politically speaking, conservation efforts clash with modern day industry. On a human level, salmon represent sport, tradition, and the environment. Salmon represent where we have been just as much as where we are going.

As an aside, as a food source, as more and more consumers start to care about the who, what, where, when and why of nutrition and foods they put on their tables, the more books like Upstream matter.

June Jumping

gr4c5Leave a comment

I see June as jumping over spring. We went from low 50 degree temps to mid 90s overnight. Not sure what to make of this abbreviated spring. I’m not sure what to make of myself either. I all but stopped running (eleven miles for the entire month). Even when I was home on Monhegan I didn’t lace up. My only saving grace is I’m to start training for a half in July. Sigh…

Here are the books:

Fiction –

  • American Pastoral by Philip Roth ~ in honor of Father’s Day (AB)
  • Under the Gypsy Moon ~ by Lawrence Thornton
  • The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett

Nonfiction –

  • Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders by John Gierach
  • Provence by Ford Madox Ford (DNF)

Series Continuations –

  • Cider with Rosie (illustrated) by Laurie Lee
  • Henry James: the Middle Year by Leon Edel (not finished yet)

For the Early Review program for LibraryThing:

  • Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, From River to Table by Langdon Cook
  • The World Broke in Two by Brian Goldstein (not finished yet)

Here are the short stories –

  • “Artie Glick in a Family Way” by Joseph Epstein
  • “Executor” by Joseph Epstein
  • “Mendocino” by Ann Packer
  • “Babies” by Ann Packer
  • “General Markman’s Last Stand” by Tom Paine
  • “The Spoon Children” by Tom Paine
  • “Someone to Watch Over Me” by Richard Bausch
  • “Aren’t You Happy for Me?” by Richard Bausch

“Spoon Children”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Paine, Tom. “The Spoon Children.” Scar Vegas and Other Stories.New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2000.

Reason read: June is Short Story Month

Tom Paine has this ability to climb inside a character and absorb its persona so well you could swear he’s writing based on an intimate memory of his own. The people you meet in “The Spoon Children” are so believable and memorable you want to know what happens to them long after the story ends. You also have to wonder if the story isn’t a little autobiographical in the process. No wonder critics call him a ventriloquist.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

Provence

gr4c5Leave a comment

Ford, Madox Ford. Provence: From Minstrels to the Machine. New York: Ecco Press, 1979.

Reason read: Ford died in the month of June in 1939.

Provence should be considered a travel book which follows the Great Trade Route “from China…to the Scilly Isles.” Aside from that, Provence is Ford’s love letter to the region. He and his travel companion will introduce you to the way to find good food in the south of France…even a good haircut.
In truth, I found Provence a bit on the didactic side. Short of being downright boring I thought it was a slow read. In the end, I ended up not finishing it.

Line that got to me the most, “But when the period of depression has been long and anxieties seem to be becoming too much for me, I make a bolt for Provence” (p 40). I get that. I’m like that about Monhegan.

Author fact: Ford had an interesting point of view concerning repeating material in different books. He felt you should have all new content in each book. So, the story he told in a previous book should not be repeated in consideration of “commercial morality” (p 14). A more trivial author fact is that Ford changed his name. That was a disappointment to learn. I liked the symmetry of Ford Madox Ford.

Book trivia: According to Ecco Press Provence in one of the neglected books of the 20th century. Another piece of trivia: illustrations in Provence were credited to someone named “Biala.” “Biala” is Mrs. Janice “Biala” Brustlein who, according to Nancy Pearl, was Ford’s lover…as they were both married to other people.

Nancy said: Nancy called Provence a “lovingly written account” (p 186).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Provence and the South of France” (p 186).

“Someone to Watch Over Me”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Bausch, Richard. “Someone to Watch Over Me.” The Stories of Richard Bausch. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Reason read: June is short story month

“Someone to Watch Over Me” is like a slow moving train wreck. From the moment the story begins one can tell it is not going to end well…for anyone. Ted and Marlee are celebrating their one year anniversary at a restaurant Ted’s ex-wife recommended. Ted’s mistake number one is telling Marlee it was Tilly’s choice in the first place. Mistake number two was waiting until they were in the parking lot of said recommendation before sharing that tidbit. Mistake number three, the killing blow, was Ted actually taking Marlee there at all. Both spouses have a skewed idea of what it means to take care of the other.

Author fact: Richard Bausch is the twin brother of author Robert Bausch.

Book trivia: There are 42 stories in The Stories of Richard Bausch.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders

gr4c5Leave a comment

Gierach, John. Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders: a John Gierach Fly-fishing Treasury. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Reason read: June is Fishing Month or something like that.

You all have heard the fishing story about the one that got away. Well, Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders could be about the one that got away but is actually moreso about the one that got caught. And the other one that got caught. And the other one. Again and again. Leaky Waders is a ‘Best Of’ compilation from several different books already published. As a side note, I found the details about the types of flies and the technique to tying them to be a bit tedious. To an avid angler this definitely wouldn’t be the case, but I was far more interested in Gierach’s fabulous friendships (especially the one with his friend A.K.) and the adventures they found themselves taking across the country in search of the perfect fishing spot. The story about sitting through a tornado was funny.

Quotes to quote, “A trip is an adventure, and on an adventure things should be allowed to happen as they will” (p 77), “Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip” (p 85), and my favorite, “Fishing and running – solitary exercises that are usually practiced in groups” (p 156). So true.

As an aside, I had to smile when Gierach described going through his mantra before a trip, “rodreelvestwaderscamera” so as not to forget anything. I smiled because it is very similar to my husband’s mantra of “phonewalletkeysreadingglassessunglasses” before he leaves for work.

As another aside, I have to disagree with Gierach. Dr. Juice looks nothing like Allen Ginsberg except to say they both have beards and glasses.

Author fact: Gierach wrote a whole bunch of other books about fishing. I have a couple more on my Challenge list. From what I understand there is a bunch of overlap with Death Taxes and Leaky Waders so the others (Sex, Death & Fly-Fishing and Another Lousy Day in Paradise) be quick reads.

Book trivia: Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders was illustrated by Glenn Wolff.

Nancy said: Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders is the best Gierach book to start with.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Gone Fishin'” (p 100). Simple enough.

“Aren’t You Happy For Me?”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Bausch, Richard. “Aren’t You Happy for Me?” The Stories of Richard Bausch. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Reason read: June is (still) short story month.

Richard Bausch has this amazing ability to make you feel as if you have been plopped down smack in the middle of the drama belonging to someone else. In “Someone to Watch Over Me” the reader could have been another restaurant patron at a nearby table, overhearing Ted and Marlee’s marital spat. In “Aren’t You Happy For Me?” the reader is witness to a different kind of marital breakdown. This time two parents at the end of their marriage react differently to their daughter’s dual announcement of pregnancy and engagement to a man forty plus years her senior. Ballinger is hung up on the fact the man is nearly twenty years older than himself while Ballinger’s wife can only hope her daughter finds happiness for some period of time.

Author fact: I am reading four other titles by Richard Bausch.

BookLust Twist” from More Book Lust in the obvious chapter “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

“Babies”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Packer, Ann. “Babies.” Mendocino and Other Stories. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2003.

Reason read: June is short story month.

“Babies” in the epitome of pregnant woman syndrome. Women who worry they might be pregnant as well as women who yearn to become a mother see pregnant women everywhere. It becomes a taunt; a nagging. This is what happens to the lead character in “Babies.” Everywhere she looks, women are getting pregnant and she can’t even get a date. Try as she likes, she can’t share in their joy event when three women she works with are with child all at the same time.

Telling quote, “I want to have a baby, but I can’t think of having a husband” (p 54). In this day and age this thinking is becoming (or already is?) the norm.

Author fact: Packer is a past recipient of a James Michener award.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

American Pastoral

gr4c5Leave a comment

Roth, Philip. American Pastoral. Read by Ron Silver. Beverly Hills, CA: Phoenix Audio, 2005.

Reason read: Father’s day is in June.

Where does one begin when trying to describe American Pastoral? The jumping off point might be to say this: in the beginning of AP reoccurring character Nathan Zuckerman is attending his 45th high school reunion where he runs into the brother of Seymour “Swede” Levov. The Swede was a high school athletic god with the seemingly perfect life. Through this meeting the reader hears the details of how Seymour’s life ended up. But, that’s oversimplifying the story in a huge way. Zuckerman’s narrative dies off and American Pastoral becomes more of a commentary on a variety of subjects. At the center is Swede Levov and the continuation of his perfect high school life (now in the 1960s in the suburbs of New Jersey; successful upper class businessman, married to former Miss New Jersey). Everything is perfect. Enter the Vietnam War and a willful, protesting daughter. All hell breaks loose when Merry commits an act of terror, bombing a post office and killing a man. American Pastoral takes a look at what it means to be a family facing falling apart and scandal, what it means to have faith, what it means to lose faith, what it means to be an American, what it means to be un-American and everything in between.

Quote I liked, “The candor stopped just where it should have begun” (p 798).

Author fact: Roth won a Pulitzer for fiction after writing American Pastoral.

Narrator fact: Ron Silver is also an actor, appearing on Chicago Hope – a show I have never seen.

Book trivia: American Pastoral was made into a movie starring Ewan McGregor in 2016.

Nancy said: “Popular fiction of late has as its text of subtext a family in trouble” (p 82), naming American Pastoral as an example.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust twice. First, in the chapter called “Families in Trouble” (p 82) and again a couple of pages later in the chapter called “Fathers and Daughters” (p 84).

Cider with Rosie

gr4c5Leave a comment

Lee, Laurie. Cider with Rosie. New York: Crown Publishers, 1984.

Reason read: to “continue” the series started in May in honor of Spain’s Madrid Festival (although Cider should have been read before As I Walked Out).

Cider with Rosie begins when Lee is just three years old. He belongs to a family of eight. Lee’s father had eight children with his first wife (who died in childbirth) and four more with his housekeeper who became his second wife. Of the twelve children total, only eight survived. Lee’s father may have left the family when Laurie was only three but his memories of childhood are simply magical regardless. I think he was raised with the expectation that his father would be back. Here is one memory about sleeping with his mother as a toddler: “They were deep and jealous, those wordless nights, as we curled and muttered together, like a secret I held through the waking day which set me above all others” (p 22).
Cider with Rosie is a study in innocence. Lee sees the world as a place of discovery. Even when he was thought to be on death’s door he analyzed all that was around him. I won’t spoil what the title means except to say it’s the end of innocence.

Quote which confounded me: About bread – “We tore them to pieces with their crusts still warm, and their monotony was brightened by the objects we found in them – string, nails, paper, and once a mouse; for those were days of happy-go-lucky baking” (p 14). What?

Book trivia: My edition of Cider with Rosie was wonderfully illustrated. I would advise anyone wanting to read Cider to find it. 35 different artists had a hand in beautifying its pages. While most artists contributed only one or two illustrations,  C.F. Tunnicliffe is credited with thirteen. In total there were over 200 illustrations of various sizes, over 50 of them being full page and 45 photographs (some from Lee’s private collection). Mu favorite illustration was the dragonfly on page 34.

Nancy said: Nancy called Cider an “affectionate memoir” (p 164).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Me, Me, Me: Autobiographies and Memoirs” (p 162). As an aside, Pearl makes no mention of the other books in the series.

“General Markman’s Last Stand”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Paine, Tom. “General Markman’s Last Stand.” Scar Vegas and Other Stories.New York: Hartcourt, Inc., 2000.

Reason read: June is Short Story Month

Right off the bat I have to tell you “General Markman’s Last Stand” is a devastating story, devastating but (and this is a big but), not without hope. General Markman is about to retire from his Marine Corps command only on his final day he makes a career-ending move. As a man haunted by debilitating Vietnam War flashbacks he has to chose between his secrets and his future.

The first powerful sentence says it all but reveals nothing, “The general’s panties were too tight” (p 18).

Author fact: According to the dust jacket for Scar Vegas Tom Paine is a Princeton graduate. So is my grandfather.

Book trivia: Scar Vegas is comprised of ten stories. I am also reading “The Spoon Children.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

“Mendocino”

gr4c5Leave a comment

Packer, Ann. “Mendocino.” Mendocino and Other Stories. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2003.

Reason read: June is short story month

In the title story Bliss is visiting her brother on the ten year anniversary of their father’s suicide. Instead of finding an ally to her grief, Bliss is shocked to learn Gerald found happiness in an unlikely place: the cozy life he has built with his girlfriend, Marisa. Everything about Gerald’s new perspective rubs Bliss the wrong way until she realizes it’s not about her father anymore.

Author fact: Ann Packer also wrote A Dive From Clausen’s Pier which I’ve already read.

Book trivia: Mendocino is comprised of ten stories.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Good Things Come in Small Packages” (p 102).

Under the Gypsy Moon

gr4c5Leave a comment

Thornton, Lawrence. Under the Gypsy Moon. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Reason read: Federico Garcia Lorca was born in June (1898).

Despite being a little over 210 pages long, Under the Gypsy Moon packs a powerful punch. Magical realism flows in and out of historical events creating a spellbinding and dramatic love story. Joaquin Wolf becomes a politically motivated writer after the Spanish Civil War. He meets and begins a relationship with narrator, Ursula Krieger, who carries her own demons of war. Together they struggle against fascism using Federico Garcia Lorca as a their guide. His poetry is the symbol of courage they embrace, allowing them to rise above the despair.

Line I liked, “Poverty gnaws at the body before it feasts on the mind” (p 54).

Author fact: Thornton also wrote Imagining Argentina, also on my list.

Book trivia: Under the Gypsy Moon is short, barely over 200 pages. I read it in a weekend.

Nancy said: Under the Gypsy Moon is one of two fictions in which Guernica plays a part.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Guernica” (p 89).