Tag: april

1805

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Woodman, Richard. 1805. Sphere Books Limited. 1985.

Reason read: to finish the series started in February in honor of history month. 1805 is the last book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series that I am reading for the Challenge. There are many, many more books and I regret I will not be reading them. I have grown to like Nathaniel Drinkwater a great deal.

The Nathaniel Drinkwater series continues! Historically, in 1804, we are now on the verge of war. Napoleon Bonaparte is gearing up to invade England. His armies are growing bigger and stronger by the day. When we catch up to Nathaniel Drinkwater in Woodman’s 1805, he is now the captain of the HMH Antigone. His chief duty this time around is to protect the ports of the Channel coastline with the British navy.
Woodman does not waste any time bringing the excitement. 1805 opens with a dramatic scene of a fierce storm at sea. Nathaniel Drinkwater, as captain of the HMS Antigone must save the vessel while dealing with the wretched nuisance of most of his men being seasick. No wonder Drinkwater has started to talk to himself! During this time Drinkwater is charged with brining Captain Philip D’Auvergne back to his post at St. Helier as a small favor to the Channel Fleet. Meanwhile, archrival Santhonax is the in the employ of Bonaparte which makes him a stronger enemy.
As the series progresses we learn more about Nathaniel Drinkwater. This time it is revealed that Drinkwater has a brother who committed murder. Nathaniel is in debt to Lord Dungarth for hiding his brother in Russia. Readers also learn how Nathaniel deals with adversity when he is taken prisoner by the French.
Fans of the Drinkwater series will cheer to read that the character of Quilhampton, along with a few others including Roger, is back. As always, this installment of the Drinkwater series does not disappoint.

Author fact: if you ever Google Richard Woodman’s picture, he is the epitome of a seafaring captain.

Book trivia: 1805 is book number six in the Drinkwater saga. Another piece of trivia – I couldn’t find a copy of 1805 is any local library or in the ComCat system. I didn’t want to place an ILL for such a short book so I decided to read it on Internet Archive. By not reading The Corvette I missed out on Waller’s escape from hanging, thanks to Drinkwater’s clemency.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Sea Stories” (p 217).

Beyond Belief

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Naipaul, N. S. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples. Random House, 1999.

Reason read: Beyond Belief is the sequel to Among the Believers. Read to finish the series.

In Beyond Belief Naipaul picks up the story of faith nineteen years after Among the Believers. He follows his own footsteps and traces over the memories with new and different observations. His connections to people are less interviews and more conversations, however just as probing. Naipaul meets with poets, publishers, lecturers, researchers, criminals, religious and political leaders, laborers, and Muslim intellectuals. The most common theme was in times of various regimes you had two choices – be revolutionary or reactionary. Naipaul met them both. My favorite part was when he addresses the sacredness of place; how the idea of what constitutes “sacred” can be different for each of us, depending on the connection we have to that place. Or think we have. I think of Monhegan and realize that there are only certain sections of the island I consider sacred even though I speak of the entire island in generalized terms. Those sacred spots are ones that I hardly visit, never talk about, and secretly dream about the most.
Afterthought: It must be difficult to appease something as intangible as a guardian spirit.

As an aside, I enjoyed meeting Imaduddin. Lecturer, electrical engineer, Islamic teacher, Indonesian, political prisoner (for fourteen months), once wealthy and famous. What a fascinating man.

Book trivia: there are no photographs at all in Beyond Belief. I would have liked to see the Indonesian landscapes, even if it was just pictures of the rice fields or Javanese puppetry.

Music: Beethoven

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Indicative of Indonesia” (p 103).

Gone with the Wind

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Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. Pocket, 1966.

Reason read: the Civil War started in April. The war is probably the best character in the book.

Who does not know the story of Scarlett O’Hara and her life at Tara plantation? Every person over the age of forty-five must have seen the movie at some point. My husband says it was a favorite of his grandmother’s. Mine preferred the Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music.

Gone with the Wind stands as one of the greatest American Civil War sagas from the point of view of the Confederates. Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara is the protagonist readers just love to hate (or at least be annoyed by). We first meet Scarlett as a scrappy sixteen year old teenager, manipulative and naïve. She enjoys causing other people pain and thrives on their jealousies. Even at this tender age, she is beyond selfish and spoiled. Scarlett is not beneath marrying the first boy she could, just to make the true love of her young life jealous. Of course it backfires when her beloved Ashley marries Melanie Hamilton instead.
Even after losing her teenage husband to illness during the American Civil War, Scarlett continues to live a lie. At seventeen and a new mother, she is not in mourning for poor lost Charles. He did not even die a heroic death that she could brag about! Scarlett does not swell with patriotic pride for the Confederate cause, nor is she grateful for Melanie and her family’s generosity and friendship. Instead, she hold a steadfast and unrequited love for Ashley. Enter Rhett Butler, the dashing and controversial blockade runner. Scarlett’s life gets a whole lot more complicated and emotionally confusing when he shows up. They are bound together in unconventional ways. He knows her secret. Together, they share the same sarcastic opinion of the war; one they cannot voice. They both use people (even family) for the betterment of themselves. They both do not give a damn what others say.
While I (obviously) did not care for Scarlett, Mitchell’s writing is spectacular. She was the master of stylized descriptions. Take Melanie’s brown eyes, for a simple example. Mitchell describes them as “a forest pool of water in winter when brown leaves shine up through quiet water” (p 102). A word of warning. While Mitchell has a way with words, she is also an author true to the times. Some language may not be suitable for the easily offended.

Confessional: I have never been to the deep south. I’m talking about the real south. Not Baltimore touristy Harbor or a music festival in the middle of Atlanta, Georgia. I’m talking about Spanish moss dangling from every tree, accents so thick you need subtitles, and bowls of steaming greens, ham hocks, and grits. Are the manners still so painstakingly polite and proper? Does a woman still mourn in black with a veil down to her knees?

As an aside, we were watching a show about abandoned places and Butler Island in Georgia was featured. Rhett Island is just next door. Was it any wonder that Margaret Mitchell visited the area and wrote Gone with the Wind there?

Is it any wonder Gone with the Wind has been banned or challenged a couple of times? Derogatory language, incest, downplaying the atrocities of slavery, romanticizing deep southern culture.

Playlist: “Go Down, Moses”, “Peg in a Low-backed Car”, “The Wearin’ of the Green”, “If You Want a Good Time, Jine the Calvary”, “Jacket of Gray”, “Bonny Blue Flag”, “Lorena”, “My Old Kentucky Home”, “Dixie”, “When This Cruel War is Over”, “Lament for Robert Emmet”, “When the Dew is On the Blossom”,

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Civil War Fiction” (p 57).

Right Stuff

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Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. Picador Press, 1979.

Reason read: April is supposed to be National Astronomy month. Right Stuff is about that journey to the stars and beyond.

Having the Right Stuff was a matter to pride to military pilots in the early to mid 1950s. Having the Right Stuff implied a massive manly skillset, superhuman nerves of steel, sharp mental confidence, and never-ending physical stamina. In other words, the perfect male specimen. It helps to have a twinkle in the eye, an awe-shucks attitude, and a winning smile of pearly whites. Did the writers for the Top Gun screenplay use Wolfe’s description of a pilot’s overly cocky daredevil demeanor? I couldn’t get Tom Cruise out of my head.
The recruiters knew just what to say to recruit the perfect seven would-be space travelers. The first rocket mission was to be voluntary, but the elevator speech was that it definitely would be very dangerous. Most definitely anything dangerous appealed to the seven pilots because they were appalled to learn they wouldn’t actually be flying the rocket. The other carrot dangled before them was the opportunity to be the first seven American men in space. No red-blooded macho man wanted to miss out on being the first at anything, even if that meant being the first to urinate in a space suit once strapped into the Mercury capsule five hours before liftoff.
As each mission became more dangerous, Wolfe’s narrative became more exciting. Whether up in the capsule with John Glenn, or down on the ground with their wives Wolfe puts you in the center of the action.

Author fact: I have a total of three Wolfe books on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: I wanted photographs of the astronauts or at least the Mercury rocket. Alas, there were none to speak of.

Quote that filled me with fear, “…technological illiterates with influence” (p 54). Sound familiar? I’m not naming names, but we have a few influential people who have no idea how to harness their technology.

As an aside, Pete Conrad sounds like someone with whom I could share a beer. His sense of humor had me laughing out loud. Case in point: the blank white paper test. He was asked what do you see on this paper? It is a plain white piece of paper without a single mark. He stares at it for a minute and deadpans, “But it’s upside down.” If the psychologists were looking to brain squeegee Pete Conrad they had another thing coming.

Tomorrow some celebrity types are going up in space. They have the money and the influence and the inclination to hurtle through the stars. My mother is all agog about this and went on for nearly twenty minutes about the celebrities in the rocket.

Music: Cole Porter, “Horst Wessel Song”, “Sugar Blues”, “Moonlight in Vermont”, and “Drifting and Dreaming”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “The Moon’s My Destination” (p 157).

Big Babies

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Kiraly, Sherwood. Big Babies: a Novel. Berkley Books, 1996.

Reason read: April is Brothers month.

Quirky is the only word I can use to describe Big Babies. The first person narrative is actually in the form of a letter. A.J. Fleger has discovered the identity of his birth mother and he wants to connect. Like any adopted child, he wants to know his roots and in the process of appealing to his birth mother, he shares his story. Except, as an encyclopedia salesman with lukewarm results with the ladies, it is more the story of his brother, Sterling Fleger. Unrelated to one another, A.J. and Sterling were adopted by the same couple. Even as a child, Sterling had the more interesting story. He was always pushing the envelope; trying to be the center of attention. For Sterling, acting became the only viable profession until a profound line flub in front of a live audience derailed and scarred him for life.
Head scratching moment: early on we are told Sterling “went flying over the Las Vegas Strip on New Year’s Eve in the Little Spudge-Face Baby Safety Suit”. What in the world is that? Keep reading to find out!

As an aside, there is a scene in Big Babies that described my family Christmases from years ago: as the ninth circle of hell.
As another aside, I am also reading Glittering Images by Susan Howatch and The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. The connection? Kiraly, Howatch, and McCullough all poke at the theme of children born out of wedlock. Children who are raised by someone other than their birth parents. A.J. knows he was adopted and seeks his birth mother. Charles from Glittering Images figures out he is not his father’s son and Dane, from The Thorn Birds is not Luke’s son.

Author fact: Kiraly has written at least four books, but I am only reading Big Babies for the Challenge. California Rush was Kiraly’s first novel. As an aside, there is no praise for Big Babies on the cover of the book. Apparently, California Rush was the hit story.

Book trivia: I have this pet peeve when the praise on the back cover is for a different one than the one I am currently reading. It always makes me feel like I am reading the wrong book. The praise on the back of Big Babies is for Diminished Capacity, which is not on my list.

Music: Beatles’ “Birthday”, “Blah, Blah, Blah”, the Monkees, Dinah Shore’s “Now I Know”, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by George and Ira Gershwin, Bette Midler, “American in Paris”, “Rhapsody in Blue”, Mick Jagger, and “Goodnight, Irene”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Oh, Brother!” (p 180).

Glittering Images

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Howatch, Susan. Glittering Images. Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

Reason read: I am not religious, but Easter is in the month of April and this book is about that world. Read to recognize it.

Vicar Charles Ashworth agrees to become an archiepiscopal spy. What could be juicier? He has been tasked by the Archbishop of Canterbury with reading Bishop Jardine’s private journal and search for illicit love letters to make sure nothing untoward is happening in the household. Rumors abound. Ashworth’s cover story is that he is going to Starbridge Cathedral because he wants his students to learn more about Saint Anselm and Starbridge just happens to hold the only early manuscripts. As if orchestrated in advance, a dinner party discusses the subject of divorce as it relates to the Marriage Bill and the Bible. This is perfect cover for Charles’ investigation, but it reveals deep, dark, and dirty secrets of his own. True to his past and unable to help himself, Charles falls in love with a member of the bishop’s household; the very person causing the Archbishop’s concern. From there, everything unravels at a rapid pace. Glittering Images becomes laden with psychobabble theology and therapy doubletalk. When Charles suffers from an emotional angst far heavier than he can handle, he seeks the counsel of Jon Darrow, a monk from the Fordite monastery. Thanks to Darrow’s investigative interviews, sound consultation, and the subsequent wailing torment of Charles, the two discover Charles is of two distinct personalities. One maintains the glittering image of perfection while the other is a whiskey gulping, fornicating fool wracked with guilt. Is the man he has called ‘father’ to blame or is it the man who actually sired him? Uncovering layers of insecurity and irrational jealousy leads to a self-fulfilling prophesy. The more insecure Charles behaves, the less inclined people are to convince him of his worth. The fear of abandonment is not exclusive to Charles. Many other characters suffer the same terror of inadequacy.

I love books that stretch my vocabulary just a little more. Words like senectitude, monotheism, prelactical, and perorations do not easily roll off the tongue.
Confessional: I am currently reading The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough and Beyond Belief by V.S. Naipaul alongside Glittering Images. It is a bit much to be reading three very religious books at the same time. While theology is a strong theme for both, they are all completely different. To be honest, I do not know how I am going to get through the other Stargate books. I feel like I have overdosed on religion.

Quotes to quote, “The chief disadvantage of Carrie’s insomnia is that she is always overcome with the urge to share it with me” (p 43). Been there and done that. When my mind snaps on at three in the morning I have the overwhelming urge to share my alertness with my partner.
Here’s another, “I also drank two glasses of water in pursuit of sobriety” (p 175). I love the image of chasing something that you cannot catch.
One more, “I wondered dimply how anyone survived their parents” (p 322).

Confessional: there were parts of Glittering Images that were hard to read. Ashworth Sr. reminded me of my mother. She can be critical and condescending. Her displays of affection are restrained and limited to outward negativity. She means well, but she is heavy on the tough and sparing on the love.

Author fact: Howatch has a law degree.

Book Twist: Glittering Images is the first book in the Stargate series. I will be reading Glamorous Powers next. As an aside, the word Stargate makes me think of science fiction.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: the Family of the Clergy” (p 86), and again in Book Lust To Go in the simple chapter called “Entering England” (p 76).

Thorn Birds

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McCullough, Colleen. The Thorn Birds. Harper and Row, 1977.

Reason read: There is a festival in China called the Ching Ming festival that takes place every April. Read in honor of China. Except. There is nothing about China in this book.

Confessional: I have wanted to read this book for years. My grandmother gave it to my mother and father when it was first published and it has been on their bookshelf forever and ever (since 1977). Only recently was I able to steal their copy to read it for myself. I promise to bring it back, mom!
Seven chapters. Seven different characters from 1915 to 1969. One small compliant: the chapter called “Dane” was not from Dane’s perspective. He was barely in it, which was a disappointment because I wanted to get to know him better. Having said that, The Thorn Birds will give you an intimate portrait of the rest of the Cleary/O’Neill family over the course of fifty plus years. It all starts when Paddy Cleary’s sister invites him and his family to work on her farm with the promise of inheriting the sprawling plantation after her death. Paddy bundles up his wife and seven kids to for the Australian Outback. There they learn to love the land, if not each other.
My favorite part of The Thorn Birds wasn’t the plot. It was the characters; each one fully realized. McCullough was right to name her chapters after them. Mary Elizabeth Carson was a diabolical woman I truly adored. She knew the nature of greed. She knew the pitfalls of love. What if greed was to be pitted against love in a fierce battle? Out of jealousy, she decided to find out. Her actions after her death set in motion a chain of events that would ultimately alter the course of history for generations to come.

Confessional: I am currently reading The Thorn Birds alongside Glittering Images and Beyond Belief. It is a bit much to be reading three very religious books at the same time. While theology is a strong theme for two of them, they are all completely different.

Book trivia: No quoting from this book in any manner whatsoever. Whatever. I know that The Thorn Birds was also made into a movie starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. Guess what? I never saw it.

Author fact: Coleen McCullough also wrote a series about Caesar which is on my list.

As an aside, is there really such a bird that impales itself on a thorn?

Music: “Faith of Our Fathers”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust from the chapter called “Hong Kong Holidays” (p 118). The only reason why Thorn Birds was even mentioned in More Book Lust is because of John Lanchester’s Fragrant Harbor. Interestingly enough, The Thorn Birds did not make it into the index of More Book Lust. Author Colleen McCullough also did not make it into the index. Woops. Technically, I did not need to read this book, but I am glad that I did.

No More Words

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Lindbergh, Reeve. No More Words:

Reason read: this was a gift from a new pen-pal I just started exchanging letters with this last December. Something in her holiday card compelled me to write her back and we have been communicating every since.

Everyone knows the author Anne Morrow Lindbergh. If they do not then they should! In the summer of 1999 she was ninety-three years old and living with her youngest child, Reeve. Reeve, at the time of No More Words, was a fifty-four mother sandwiched between caring for her elderly mother, being a wife, and raising a seventh grader son. She writes of this experience beautifully.
In a nutshell, No More Words is a poignant memoir. It was lovely of Reeve to quote her mother’s work at the beginning of every chapter, but she also included some of her sister’s poetry and a snippet of her father’s autobiography. Like a delicious cake studded with extra sweet strawberries, Reeve’s memoir is a treat of all the Lindbergh’s voices.
Maybe it is because I am of Reeve’s age when she lost her mother. Maybe it is because my own mother’s health keeps me up at night. Maybe it is the simple fact that I know nothing lasts forever, but No More Words became a primer for me on how to listen to your mother. I mean really listen. Reeve taught me how to remove the resentment and hurt and just be. Reeve travels beyond correcting and criticizing to compassion and calm. I only hope I have that same grace when it is my turn.

Confessional: I had Reeve in my head when my mother telephoned last weekend. She can go months without speaking to me so when, after only four weeks, she said we hadn’t spoken for awhile I almost felt combative. Taking a deep breath, I let the comment pass and instead listened to her babble on about 1920 sausage-making methods, chimpanzees in space, and pheasants in the yard. How many of these moments will I have left?

Favorite takeaway (and there many): the chant of right here, right now set to breath in and out.

Book trivia: each new chapter begins with a quote from something Anne Morrow Lindbergh has published, either in a college paper or in a book.

Music: “Wabash Cannonball”, “Winter Wonderland”, Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Andres Segovia.

Stagehand

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Aretsky, David H. Stagehand: a Backstage Pass to My Life Stories. BookBaby, 2024.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I occasionally get to review pretty interesting books. This is one of them (set to be published on April 4th, 2025).

Shame on me for judging a book by it’s title. I seriously thought this would be a peek behind the stage curtain of a career in music. No-name songwriters or big time musicians, I did not care which. Aretsky did not need to kiss and tell or name names (although for a bunch of stories, he does). I just wanted to hear about a life in the music industry from backstage. I know someone in the industry so I know how hard it is. In truth, there are a few chapters here and there about his career in entertainment, more towards the end, but for the most part, Stagehand is one man’s lament over losing the love of his life. Aretsky has been in the entertainment industry for over forty years, but it is about the eighteen year relationship with his Ex that he really wants to talk about. In truth, the stories are great. Aretsky is a natural storyteller, but the timeline is chaotic and the stories pinball around the various chapters. 1982 snuggles up to 2001 then jumps to 2019 and back to the 1990s again. It was hard to follow at times. In addition to the stories bouncing from decade to decade, they go from roommate to roommate, relationship to relationship, exotic adventure to exotic adventure. At various times I wanted to draw a timeline, just so I could make sense of what Aretsky wanted to say about his life thus far. My takeaways were: he enjoys going to the gym and staying physical fit; he has a myriad of female friends, and he moved around a lot in his younger years. And then there was the Ex…

Confessional: when David said he could write a book about his time with “Larry” I thought to myself that is the book I thought Stagehand would be. He mentioned wanting to write another book. My only advice would be to organize the stories a little more.

Setlist: As to be expected, there is a great deal of music mentioned! AC/DC, Alabama, Annie Lennox, Art Garfunkel, B-52s, “Back to the Cave”, Bad Religion, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Beauty School Dropout”, Bette Midler, Billy Idol, Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, Bobby Brown, Bonnie Raitt, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”, Bret Michaels, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, Captain & Tennille, Celine Dion, “Chances Are”, Cheap Trick, Cher, Chaka Khan, Chicago, Chick Corea, Chubby Checker, “Chuck E.’s in Love”, Clint Black, Cole Porter, “Cryin'”, the Crystals’ “Da Do Ron Ron”, Crystal Gayle, Dale Kristien, Darlene Love, Devo, Dionne Warwick, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”, Dolly Parton, Donna Summer, “Don’t Be Cruel”, Dred Zeppelin, Edgar Winter, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Emmy Lou Harris, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Eurythmics’ “Let’s Go”, “When Tomorrow Comes”, and “Missionary Man”, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, “Everything Your Heart Desires”, “Forever in My Life”, Foreigner, Four Italian Tenors, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Avalon, GBH, Gene Simmons, “Sugar Magnolia” by the Grateful Dead, “Girls and Boys”, Gladys Knight, Guns N’ Roses, GWAR, Hall & Oates, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters’ “the Twist”, “Housequake”, Harry Belafonte, “He Has a Headlock on My Heart”, “Heaven Knows”, “I Want to Take You Higher”, “I Say a Little Prayer”, Iggy Pop, “I’ll Take You There”, Itzhak Perlman, “Irresistible Bitch”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, Jackie Evancho, Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire”, , Joan Jett, Jody Watley, John Entwistle, Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, Judy Garland, Kiss, “Last Time I Felt Like This”, “Love and Happiness”, Lea Salonga, Led Zeppelin, Linda Ronstadt, Lita Ford’s “Close My eyes Forever”, “Love Will Keep Us Together”, Madame X, Mariachi La Reyna de Los Angeles, Mariachi Sol de Mexico, Megadeth, Melissa Manchester, the Mentors”, Merle Haggard, Metallica, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Miles Davis, “Misty”, “Mother Popcorn”, Motorhead, Mr. Big, “My Prerogative”, Natalie Cole, Neil Sedaka, New Edition, “O Sole Mio”, Oleta Adams, “On the Edge of a Broken Heart”, “Only Women Bleed”, “Out of Touch”, Ozzy Osbourne, Pat Travers, Paul Anka, Pebo Bryson, Peter, Paul and Mary, Phantom, Rocker & Slick’s “Men Without Shame”, “Piece of Me”, the Plasmatics, Poison, the Police’s “Roxanne”, Preservation Hall Jazz Band”, Prince, Quiet Riot, the Ramones, Randy Newman, Randy Rhoads, Ratt, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regina Bell, Rickie Lee Jones, Robert Plant, the Ramones, Robin Trower, the Rolling Stones, Ronnie James Dio, Rubin Studdard, the Runaways, Sam Kinison, Sammy Davis Jr., “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, Sebastian Bach, Sex Pistols, “Sex of It”, “Shake for the Sheik”, Sheila E., “Ship of Fools”, Skid Row, Slayer, Smokey Robinson, Social Distortion, “Star-Spangled Banner”, Stevie Wonder, Stryper, “Sweet Thing”, “Tall Cool One”, Temptations, “That’s What Friends are For”, Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Tony Orlando, the Troggs’ “Wild Thing”, the Tubes, UFO, Vixen, Warrant, Was (Not Was)’s “Are You Okay?”, Wayne Newton, White Snake, Whitney Houston, the Who, “Whole New World”, “Wild, Wild West”, Winger, Wynonna, Wynton Marsalis, Yanni, and Ziggy Marley.

As an aside, my apologies to GNR. In Stagehand the name of the band was spelled “Guns and Roses.” Their name must have gone through some kind of autocorrect.

S

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Drakulic, Slavenka. S: a Novel About the Balkans. Penguin, 1999.

Reason read: the war in Bosnia started in the month of April.

To set the stage: in 1992 the Bosnian War was raging. S. was only twenty-nine years old. She was a home-room teacher proud of her profession. Single and young, she had her whole life ahead of her. Early one morning, and without warning, she was bundled off to a warehouse by a boyish soldier toting guns and more than plenty of ammunition. Naively, even though he did not say much, she thought she was going away for a short time. Wanting to be prepared for anything, she packed a small backpack with a red dress and her very best fancy shoes made for dancing.
You cannot help but notice any character or location of importance is anonymized with a single letter. S., G., F., and the baby are all nameless. Where they are going is an unnamed town. Despite being nameless the characters are full of personality. E. is a nurse. Z. is E.’s daughter. D. is the cook. You get the picture. This unwillingness to give characters and places formal names gives the story anonymity and, by default, more authenticity. These things further removes S. from the realm of pure fiction. When we first meet S. it is after her detainment and she has given birth to a child. Her character broke my heart. Her newborn baby boy is a product of rape and therefor despised. She sees the child as a disease, a cancer, a parasite, or, at the very least, a burden she is unwilling to carry much less look upon. Who can blame her? Her survival after four months of unthinkable torture is nothing short of heroic.
The soldier’s abuse was hard to read: forcing a woman to drink his urine, putting his cigarettes out on her naked body, striking her about the face until she passes out from pain. Rape seemed like the most benign atrocity. Murder seemed the most merciful. Drakulic takes pity on us: S is only 200 pages long.

Profound words, “…the survival instinct is the highest law of existence” (p 55).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Balkan Specters” (p 31).

All Shook Up

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White, Debra. All Shook Up: Vineleaves Press, 2024.

Reason read: I really like stories of triumph and was pleased to receive Debra White’s story as part of the Early Review program for LibraryThing.

If you are of a certain age, you might be able to imagine a certain toy called a Viewfinder. Look it up if you do not know what I am talking about. For those of you in the know, imagine All Shook Up is a viewfinder with three cards: her terrible accident, her lifelong volunteerism, and her journey to find faith. Each card holds slides or pictures of an important part of Debra White’s story. She has chosen each picture with care. It is obvious every single moment is important to her.
The first card holds the story of her accident. This section hit me the hardest because as a runner, I have worried about being struck by a distracted or drunk driver. [As an aside, an acquaintance of mine was mowed down by a truck just half a mile from her home; a route she had been running for over two decades.] White’s accident sets the stage for the rest of her memoir. The slides (still using the viewfinder metaphor) tell the story of how it happened, her debilitating injuries she is lucky to have survived, and her subsequent rehabilitation, slow recovery, and hesitant reentry into some semblance of a normal life.
Card number two covers the many different charities and volunteer work Debra dedicated her post-accident life to. Despite being disables and scooter-bound, Debra poured her heart and soul into every organization her helped. From animals to airplanes to children to refugees, she cared deeply for every single animal and person she met.
Card number three illustrates White’s views on religion and the God who saved her from her 1994 car-pedestrian accident. She felt she had a debt to pay. Her acceptance into the American Muslim Women’s Association was heartwarming.
White’s life may have been shattered by her horrific accident but she was able to rebuild that life, piece by piece, until it resembled something extraordinary. Her lesson to us all should be broken can be beautiful. Because of some of the repetitiveness I felt that some of the chapters were published separately as essays. Nevertheless I truly enjoyed her story.

As an aside, I need to tell my aunt about the plant and food sniffing Beagles from the Beagles Brigade. She loves those dogs!

Author fact: Debra has her own website here. It is simple but includes a wonderful picture of her with one of her beloved dogs.

Playlist: “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”, “Jingle Bells”,

Banvard’s Folly

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Collins, Paul. Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity and Rotten Luck. Picador Press, 2001.

Reason read: something about Australia.

What happened to the once popular toasts of the town when they fell into obscurity? Paul Collins not only wanted to know, he wrote an entire book about thirteen of these people.
The first character Collins chose to focus on was John Banvard. Even Charles Dickens was impressed with John Banvard for Banvard proved to be an interesting and ambitious guy. His first claim to fame was a panoramic of the entire Mississippi River. Banvard wanted to paint the largest (longest) painting the world had ever seen so he spent two years floating down the river sketching different views as he went. A misconception that stuck was that his painting was three miles long. Banvard later went on to paint panoramas of the Palestine and Nile rivers. In addition to being an actor and artist he could decipher hieroglyphics and often gave lectures on the skill.
Next, Collins moved on to a man who forged the great works of William Shakespeare. Even when the jig was up and William Ireland confessed to the forgeries, he could not get his father or even the general public to believe him. Adding insult to injury, when the papers came around to believing the hoax they pointed the finger at Ireland’s father instead.
After that came the interesting characters of Ephraim Wales Bull and his Concord grape; George Psalmanazer’s religion, John Symmes, a man obsessed with the idea of a hollow Earth; Rene Blondlot and his N Ray machine; Francois Sudre, Alfred Beach, Robert Coates, Augustus Pleasonton, Martin Tupper, Delia Bacon (another Shakespeare nut). Thomas Dick and, my personal favorite, Richard Locke, a self taught astronomer.
In the end there is always that one person who has to disprove a notion, debunk a myth, or pull back the curtain on a mystifying event. No one can just let the mystery be. Which is why so many of these people faded into obscurity over time.

Best imagery ever: “…man-bats lived in a land of towering sapphire pyramids and were accompanied by flocks of doves…picnicking on cucumbers” (p 262). Sounds like a place where you would find Prince hanging out. Sign me up.

As an aside, I leaned a new word: crapulous.

Author fact: When I searched for information about Paul Collins I found a writer who also is a rock and roll guy. They are not one and the same.

Book trivia: Banvard’s Folly includes photographs of each individual featured in the book.

Natalie connection: Collins includes a quote from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Natalie wrote a song honoring Whitman called “Song of Himself.”

Music: Elvis and Pink Floyd.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “People You Ought To Meet” (p 183).

Over My Dead Body

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Stout, Rex. Over My Dead Body. Porirua Publishing, 1938.

Reason read: to continue the series started in December in honor of Rex Stout’s birth month.

A fencing student is murdered. Why fencing? It certainly makes for a different and interesting twist. Over My Dead Body starts off as a theft investigation but escalates to an epee stabbing someone to death. I guess an epee makes for an unusual weapon. As usual, Wolfe’s ability to solve the crime is based on deductions brought about by human nature, process of elimination, and acute attention to detail. Over My Dead Body is no different, but this time Wolfe doesn’t shy away from threatening blackmail to get the information he needs to close the case.
With each new mystery readers learn a little more about Nero Wolfe’s personal life. In Over My Dead Body it is revealed that Wolfe was once an agent of the Austrian government and he was also a member of the Montenegrin army. He currently contributes to a loyalist group in Spain. He also has an adopted daughter. I certainly didn’t see that coming, considering his opinion of women and his reluctance to leave his brownstone apartment.
As usual, Archie does not disappoint. He continues to be full of vim and vinegar with his sarcasm and wit. He demonstrates perfect synchronicity with Nero. There is never any need for Wolfe to explain anything to Archie. They communicate through subtle gestures, raised eyebrows, and odd comments. Nero and Archie practice a whole bunch of trickery in Over My Dead Body and their symbiotic relationship saves the day every time.
Readers will also learn more about Archie and Nero’s abode. I believe this is the first time the secret compartment with the peephole has been utilized.

Lines I loved, “I can give you my word, but I know what that is worth and you don’t” (p 226) and “For God’s sake, let’s step on it, or my bed with think I am having an affair with the couch” (p 354).

Author fact: Stout married a designer and was with her up until his death.

Book trivia: An adaptation of Over My Dead Body was the final episode of a television drama.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called, obviously, “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 226)

Bonny’s Boy

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Rechnitzer, F.E. Bonny’s Boy. Muriwai Books, 2007.

Reason read: April is national dog month.

Even though this is a book for children Rechnitzer addresses some adult themes. Davy Edwards and his parents are patiently waiting for Davy’s brother, Nat, to return from war. Nat is in the Navy and while he is away Davy was assigned to watch over Bonny, Nat’s sweet and very pregnant cocker spaniel. After Bonny dies while giving birth the family agonizes over how to care for the near-dead pup (who dad wanted to drown). It is up to Davy to save the pup he names “Bonny’s Boy.”
Besides war and death, Davy’s family confronts competitiveness, jealousy and even violence when Davy wants to enter Bonny’s Boy into dog show competitions. If he wins he could take Bonny’s Boy to the big leagues – all the way to Madison Square Garden! The only problem was he was going up against a wealthy and experienced neighbor who historically always won these events. This neighbor would stop at nothing to continue to do so, even resort to animals cruelty if he had to. I found myself getting anxious when Davy got the idea to show Bonny’s Boy in the first competition; a real David and Goliath situation.
When Nat finally comes home from the Navy readers get a taste of the dangers of warfare, but the real lesson is about doing the right thing no matter what. Throughout the entire story Davy exhibits honesty, friendship, integrity, and courage.

Author fact: F.E. Rechnitzer’s full name was Ferdinand Edsted Rechnitzer. He passed away in 1965.

Book trivia: Bonny’s Boy was illustrated by Marguerite Krimse.

As an aside, I was really excited when Davy’s mother announced that she was serving apple pie with cheese for dessert. That is my favorite.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Great Dogs in Fiction” (p 104). As an aside, neither the author nor the title were in the index. Technically, I could have skipped this book.

Banking on Death

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Lathem, Emma. Banking on Death. Simple Media, Inc., 2016.

Reason read: someone told me that April is banking month. I am not sure what that means, but I’m going with it and reading Banking on Death in observance.

Everyone is looking for Robert Schneider. An inheritance cannot be distributed until all members of the Schneider family have been accounted for, and Robert is missing. [As an aside, in this day and age, you can just hire someone to do some reverse genealogy, and Robert would be found in no time.] The clock is ticking. As soon as Mother Hilda passes, the inheritance comes due to the children and John Putnam Thatcher must distribute it to the surviving heirs. Thatcher is not your average crime solver. He is not a homicide detective or even a private investigator. He is a seasoned banker and chairman of SLOAN, looking to solve the mystery of Robert Schneider, rumored to have been murdered. There is no doubt Robert Schneider was a less than stand-up guy with a reputation for adultery, callous abandonment of his wife and newborn son, backstabbing, and greed. He was a loudmouthed heavy drinker who was vice president and owned 10% of the family business, Buffalo Industrial Products, Inc. Plenty of people wanted him dead, and with the possibility of gaining his portion of the substantial inheritance, his own family can be added to the list of suspects.
Lathem is sly with the details. Clues point to a whole host of murderous characters. Did Robert’s widow want revenge for a failed marriage? Stan Michaels did not get along with Robert at all. His daughter, Jeannie, had an affair with Robert. Did Jeannie’s husband, Roy Novak, want to kill Robert for sleeping with his wife?
A blizzard holds the key to everyone’s alibis. Buffalo, New York, is the perfect setting for an epic snowstorm.
A word of caution: there are many characters in Banking on Death with a great deal of unnecessary information about each of them. Take Rose Theresa Corsa, a secretary at the investment firm. She has two younger sisters and a niece named Maria; she is religious and attended midnight mass at Christmas; she provides cooking assistance to her mother; she has a large group of relatives; her closest friend is Maria; she was late to work for the first time in four years. A great deal of information for someone who has nothing to do with the story. Consider Charlie Trinkham. He is an associate chief of the trust department. He is engaged to be married to a much younger woman. Ken Nicholls did not go to his family reunion in San Francisco, and even though he is a Harvard graduate, he did not dress appropriately for Boston weather in winter.

As an aside, was the detective story created by Edgar Allan Poe? I need to look that one up.
As another aside, Banking on Death takes place in much different times. Photographs of the crime scene were printed in the newspapers.

Author fact: Banking on Death is the first novel of writing duo Mary J Latsis and Martha Henissart.

Book trivia: John Putnam Thatcher is the protagonist in Lathem’s banking mysteries. In Banking on Death we learn that he has three kids (all married). One child lives in Connecticut. His daughter Laura is pregnant with her fourth child and married to a doctor, Ben Carlson.

Quotes to quote, “the best thing a banker can do is cultivate silence” (p 97), “But, even senior vice-presidents are not totally immune to a little sensationalism” (p 140) and my absolute favorite, “Death had occurred sometime before the discovery” (p 178). Brilliant.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117).