Tag: book lust ii

Killer Smile

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Scottoline, Lisa. Killer Smile. Read by Kate Burton. Harper Collins, 2004.

Reason read: I forgot to finish the series started in December of last year in honor of Pennsylvania becoming a state. Somehow I let this one fall off the list.

Mary DiNunzio works for Benny Rosato’s law firm as an associate. Mary’s latest pro bono case is on behalf of the estate of an Italian-American interned in Montana during World War I. Amadeo Brandolini committed suicide during his internment and the family wants to sue the government for reparations. DiNunzio’s mission is to sort out the legalities of Brandolini’s estate, but ends up righting a long-forgotten carriage of misjustice. What starts as a simple estate case turns complicated when people start dying; people who had dared to talk to Miss DiNunzio.
For comic relief, DiNunzio’s boss keeps sending Mary on dates with impossible men. I appreciated how Scottoline wove this side story into the bigger plot.

As an aside, Mary DiNunzio sometimes annoyed me. Lawyers are supposed to be somewhat smart. I found it irksome that Mary did not know where to find Montana on a map, she did not know what an engineer does for a living, could not identify a marlin, and she had no idea what quantum physics was. I’ll forgive her for not knowing the difference between a bow and stern of a boat. but am I making an assumption that lawyers are supposed to be savvy and book smart?
Prophetic vision: in my copy of Killer Smile there are a series of book club questions. One of them is “Do you feel safe in your country?” Killer Smile was written in 2004. Let’s ask that same question twenty one years later.

Author fact: Did I already mention that Scottoline was a trial lawyer? I am pretty sure that I did. She graduated from law school in 1981. The other fact is that Scottoline is really funny in her interviews.
Narrator fact: Kate Burton is really good!

Book trivia: Scottoline was encouraged to bring the story of Italian-Americans interned in Montana after learning the history of her grandparents’ experiences. She even shares photographs of their alien registration cards. Scottoline wanted to bring that lesser known history to light.
Killer Smile is Scottoline’s eleventh book.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Big Ten Country: The Literary Midwest: Pennsylvania” (p 25). Pearl mentioned this was one of her favorites.

Pagan Holiday

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Perrottet, Tony. Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists. Random House, 2002.

Reason read: Tony Perrotte celebrates a birthday in October.

I don’t know which is more entertaining: Perrottet’s humor or his descriptions of traveling around ancient Rome and Naples. His denial about his wife’s pregnancy was funny (“…avoiding our impending parenthood situation” (p 127) as he called it. He certainly went to great lengths to see ancient Italy as a tourist would. Diving to see the lost town of Baiae with its spas, village, and lighthouse was interesting. Visiting the ancient hook-up spots and gladiator arenas. Imagining ancient day Ubers with stables for renting mule-pulled wagons. One’s status dictated how many mules pulled a customer around and whether or not he or she had a mule driver. Speaking of driving – what about chariot road rage as compared to modern day six lane highway antics? Or imagine soliciting a prostitute at their “office” better known as the local cemetery. Perrottet also visited Greece and Turkey hauling along his increasingly pregnant wife. Learning the sex of the child while on their journey brought them both one step closer to the reality of becoming parents, but it didn’t stop Perrottet from seeking out lost cities and crawling around pyramids.

As an aside, I would like to know if the Appian way is still lined with family vaults. That would be pretty interesting to see. I also want to know if Medusa’s head still graces with Arcadian Way.

Author fact: Tony Perrottet also authored Naked Olympics which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: Pagan Holiday was originally published as Route 66 A.D.

Music: “O mio babbino caro,” Jim Morrison, George Michael, Ringo Starr, “Zorba,” the Beatles, “Frere Jacques,” U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m looking For,” Cole Porter,

Natalie connection: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a pre-Raphaelite painter featured in Pagan Holiday. His daughter wrote a poem called “If No One Ever Marries Me” which Natalie set to music.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Dewey Deconstructed: 900s” (p 62). Also noted in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Where On Earth Do These Books Belong?” (p 261).

Bee Season

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Goldberg, Myla. Bee Season. Doubleday, 2000.

Reason read: I have a category called “Special Child Month” and this book falls in it.

Poor eleven year old Eliza Naumann just wants to be noticed by her family. Every member of her family has their own preoccupation. Older brother Aaron, once destined to becomes a rabbi, is on a quest to discover the right religion for him. Slowly he becomes absorbed into the Harre Krishna culture and dreams of becoming a pujari speaking Sanskrit. Mother Miriam has a fixation on stealing things. She stole a random shoe from a mall department store sale rack. She didn’t even want the shoe, useless without its mate, after all. She ended up throwing it away. Each theft begs the question why Each family member slips further into the background while Eliza becomes obsessed with words. When she discovers she is good at spelling her father becomes her champion and urges her to “remove herself entirely from daily life, to brush against the limitless” (p 98). There is an open-ended conclusion to this fractured family.

Lines I liked, “Besides, he can always masturbate to his memories” (p 48) and “It is late enough that the grass is filled with tomorrow’s dew” (p 196).

Author fact: Bee Season was Goldberg’s first book and the only one I am reading for the Challenge.

Book trivia: the front and back covers of Bee Season mimic a dictionary. The novel was made into a movie in 2005.

Music: Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Flock of Seagulls, Pachelbel canon, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,” the Eagles, and “Oh Susanna.”

BookLust Twist: first, in Book Lust in the chapter called “Jewish American Experience” (p 132), and then again in More Book Lust in the chapter called “Child Prodigies” (p 43).

Love at Second Sight

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Leverson, Ada. The Little Ottleys: Love at Second Sight.

Reason read: to finish the series started in August.

When we catch up to the lovely Edith she is now the mother of a ten year old and still married to the horrible Bruce. It has been three solid years since Bruce was so taken with Mavis Argles that he tried to run away and elope in France. It didn’t work out and Edith, faithful to a fault took him back. Home again, Bruce continues to point out Edith’s shortcomings like they are earth-shattering catastrophes, “…as a matter of fact, a curl by the right ear was only one-tenth of an inch further on the cheek than it was intended to be” (p 348), but Edith just shrugs him off more than ever. Despite her steadfast loyalty to Bruce, Edith hasn’t completely forgotten Aylmer Ross. Alymer, home with a war injury, is still madly in love with Edith, but she stubbornly is determined to make her marriage work.
The new element of Love at Second Sight is that Edith and Bruce are housing a widow who shows no signs of leaving. We have no idea where she came from or why she is there but, Madam Frabelle charms her way into every person’s heart and influences every mind. She determines the outcome of Love at Second Sight.

As an aside, Bruce and Madame Frabelle’s little journey confused me a little. First they are on a train, then a boat, then they frequent a hotel for lunch. Then they pop over to Hampton Court and then back to the river where Bruce shows off his rowing skills and then back to the Belle of the Rover and to the train. What a day!

Music: Mozart, Handel, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, “Drink To Me Only with Thine Eyes,” and “I’ll Sing Thee Songs of Araby.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Viragos” (p 227).

Absolute Truths

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Howatch, Susan. Absolute Truths. Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

Reason read: to continue the series started in April in honor of Good Friday and Easter (the theme being religion).

Even though Absolute Truths is part of the Starbridge series, each story is self-contained and can be read on its own. It should be noted that each book is connected to the others through characters and plots. This has been said before, but never is it more true than in Absolute Truths. We come back to the character of Charles Ashworth. If you remember from the very first Starbridge novel, Glittering Images, Charles was sent to make sure there was nothing sinister happening in the Jardine household where a young woman (Lyle Christie) was serving as companion to Mrs. Jardine. Charles became obsessed with Lyle and eventually married her. When we catch up to Charles in Absolute Truths, Lyle running the perfect household. When Charles loses Lyle he has to figure out his absolute truth. I have to admit, I was disappointed to return to a character who already had the spotlight in 1937. It would have been more fun to explore the life of a younger character and move beyond the 1960s.
As with every other installment in the Starbridge series, the main character is plagued by sexual impulses and the threat of excessive alcoholic stupors. Charles Ashworth is no different. He is wracked by guilt over things he barely understands. As always, ghosts circle and demons threaten. Jon Darrow leads the charge back to sanity, asking the question: is love the absolute truth?

Quote to quote, “No degree of impatience can excuse vulgarity” (p 43).

Author fact: Wheel of Fortune is Howatch’s most notable novel.

Book trivia: Absolute Truths is the sixth and final book in the Starbridge series. Book Lust To Go only lists three of the books while More Book Lust mentions seven. Pearl is in error when she lists Wonder Worker as part of the Starbridge series.

Music: Jack Buchanan, “Tennessee Waltz,” David Rose’s “The Stripper,” “Zadok the Priest,” and “Thine Be the Glory.”

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 chapter called “Entering England” (p 76). As an aside, Pearl mentions Wonder Worker as the last Starbridge book in the series. Even though Wonder Worker does have some of the same Starbridge characters Howatch does not consider it part of the series.

Sexual Politics

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Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics: a Surprising Examination of Society’s Most Arbitrary Folly. Doubleday, 1970.

Reason read: Millett was born in the month of September. Read in her honor.

Millett has a lot to say about male dominance and the history of sexuality. Her book, Sexual Politics, has been called sensational and groundbreaking. Critics gush that she was original in her thought. Sexual Politics has been reviewed as well researched and historically significant. Traditional gender roles persist despite changes in sexual behavior and norms. Sexual identities and behaviors are shaped and controlled by society’s influences. Millett opens Sexual Politics by breaking down works by authors like Henry Miller, Normal Mailer, and D.H. Lawrence. Line by line she interprets intimate scenes to demonstrate a man’s power over women. Erotic moments are no longer playful or sensual. In turn they become acts of dominance, humiliation, and abuse. Women are described as gullible, manipulated, possessed, and compliant. Men are arrogant, controlling, and often times they demonstrate contempt for the women with whom they share intimacy. In the second half of Sexual Politics, Millett goes on to describe the Victorian age when it was common law that a woman ceased to be her own person once she entered marriage. Her wages, possessions, and even children became property of the man of the house. His wife assumed serf status. Millett explores the norms of patriarchy – violence is a “right” of the dominant male. Whole societies (tribal Africa and elsewhere) subscribe to the hierarchy. Women are sometimes idolized or patronized but always exploited. Male dominance has been a universal standard for centuries. Just look at Freud’s clinical work. He was the king of the penis envy theory and had the idea that women were just castrated males (“…maternal desires rest upon the last vestige of penile aspiration” p 185). Women cannot advance knowledge because of their lack of a penis – you cannot put out a fire without “equipment.”
Remember the attitudes towards women in Nazi Germany during World War II…
All in all, Sexual Politics was depressing to read. Consider this: if you are a woman and you work in an occupation that serves others (teacher, nurse, governess), you are a servant or slave. If you are a live-in caretaker you are no better than a prisoner, kept under surveillance. Millet has this way of taking ordinary situations and turning them on their heads.

Confessional: I have never heard of the slang word “gash” for female anatomy.
As an aside, after reading Sexual Politics I started to think about lyrics that illustrate these points (Josh Ritter’s “Eve ate the apple because the apple was sweet” and Natalie Merchant’s “Adam cracked his rib and he let us go”).
As an aside, it is interesting to be reading a memoir written by a modern day call girl along side the work of a sculptor from the 1970s.

Odd quote, “Before the reader is shunted through the relatively unchartered, often even hypothetical territory which lies before him” (emphasis is mine). Why him?
Best quote about functionalism, “When it filters down to practical applications in schools, industry, and popular media, it may simply become a form of cultural policing” (p 221).

Author fact: Millett was an artist.

Book trivia: be prepared for graphic sex scenes from the usual suspects.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar” (p 120).

Tenterhooks: The Little Ottleys

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Leverson, Ada. The Little Ottleys: Tenterhooks. Virago, 1908.

Reason read: to continue the series started in August.

We return to the marriage of Edith and Roger. By this time they have been married for eight years. As a twenty-eight year old, Edith has more spunk in Tenterhooks. Her relationship with Aylmer is one of refreshing independence and gaiety. I practically cheered when she ended a letter to him with “I want you” even though it was not what she intended to say. Poor Aylmer! But there is hope for Edith. She spreads her social wings, becoming popular with the Mitchells to the point where they cannot have a social gathering without her in attendance. She is desirable and charming. She even laughs off her husband’s verbal abuse and silly philandering. She proves to be stronger than he ever imagined.
Tenterhooks is a society brimming with silly people. Someone could say “do not write to me but here is my address of where I will be…”; where when marriage happens by accident that relationship greatly scandalizes the community for decades. The insult of the day was to say that someone was dowdy or out of fashion. Eloping while married can be laughed at and ignored.

Quote I liked: even though I did not care for Mr. Ross as a person I liked when he said “Time doesn’t go by hours” (p 218). More quotes to quote, “Why cry for the moon?” (p 269) and “It is human to play with what ones loves” (274).

Music: Tosti, Melba, Caruso, Bemberk, Dubussy, and Brahms.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Viragos” (p 227).

Naples ’44

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Lewis, Norman. Naples ’44: a World War II Diary of Occupied Italy. Pantheon, 1978.

Reason read: In Naples, there is a pizza festival usually celebrated the third week of September.

Norman Lewis kept a clear-eyed diary from September 8th, 1943 to October 24th, 1944 when, as an Intelligence Officer in the Italian Labyrinth, he joined an established Field Security Service outfit in Italy near the end of World War II. Not having a specific assignment Lewis moved about Naples fulfilling various tasks. Beyond Naples Lewis visited the island of Ischia and the city of Caivano.
Besides a first-hand account of the Allied liberation of Italy, Lewis was witness to the civilian suffering and the colleterial damages of war. Wide spread bombings, children being prostituted by their parents, police and mafia corruption. Grossly underpaid officers resorted to crime to make ends meet. I found it interesting that Lewis learned to turn a blind eye from some small forms of corruption. He casually admitted “I am gradually becoming drawn into the system” (p 172). In the end Lewis enjoyed his time in Italy so much that he wished he had been born there.

Quotes I found telling, “I found Dr Lanza in his clinic, which smelt not only of ether but success” (p 141) and “This is the season and situation when insanity has become almost respectable” (p 145).

Author fact: Lewis lived to be 95 years old. He also wrote Goddess in the Stones (January 2036), Tomb in Seville (July 2037), and A Dragon Apparent (September 2056).

Book trivia: my audio version was read by Nicholas Boulton. In the book version there are no photographs.

Music: “O Sole Mio,” “Ammore Busciardo,” Torna a Sorrento,” and “Triumphal March” from Verdi’s opera Aida.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Ciao, Italia” (p 46).

Sunne in Splendour

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Penman, Sharon Kay. The Sunne in Splendour. St. Martin’s Press, 1982.

Reason read: King Richard III died in August. Read in his memory.

Fabulous. Glorious. Beautiful. Absorbing. Exceptional. Painstaking. Immersive. Captivating. These are the words critics used to describe Sunne in Splendour when it was first published. The only word I focused on the most? Painstaking. I was intimidated by all 900+ pages. I will be the first to admit that historical fiction is not my thing so I thought this would be a slog. And yet. Sunne in Splendour is a best seller. And. And! And I admit, very entertaining.
This is a time in history when boys of ten wed for political positioning. Brothers killed brothers for the throne. Beheadings were the entertainment of the hour. Backstabbing and betrayals of all kinds ruled the day. Christmas truces could be broken without warning. Penman delivers a glorious fifteenth century England that is bloody and brutal. Richard III is right smack in the middle of it; becoming king on a technicality of legitimacy.
Everything about Sunne in Splendour is detailed perfection. Everything from the food people ate, their choice of drink (spiced hippocras), where they lived and the clothes they wore.

Author fact: Penman died in 2021.

Book trivia: Sunne in Splendour contradicts the well known view of Shakespeare’s Richard III.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 80).

Mystical Paths

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Howatch, Susan. Mystical Paths. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

Reason read: to continue the series started in recognition of Easter back in April.

As with every other Starbridge novel, Mystical Paths is designed to be read independently of others in the series, but it is recommended to read them in order. Characters who were in the background in previous novels jump to the forefront in later ones. This time, Jonathan Darrow’s son, Nicholas, narrates the story. Nicholas and his father are modeled after the work of Christopher Bryant and are both psychics. Nicholas is now twenty-five years old and has a “sex-mess” in the middle of the 1960s. He believes he is one half of his father and suffers from somnambulism. Every night he has to tether himself to something before falling asleep for fear of wandering off somewhere. He leads a double life in order to protect his father, his other half. Yet at eighty-eight years old, Jonathan Darrow is still sharp as a tack and can run circles around his son. Like the other Howatch books, psychological situations are examined through a spiritual and theological lens with the help of a spiritual advisor or religious mentor. Mystical Paths is one of my favorites due to the plots many twists and turns.
I think I have said this before, but the benefit of reading the Starbridge series in order, one right after the other is that besides character development the reader gets the varying perspectives of the same history. Each character recalls the same point in time with different feelings and memories. It reminded me of Michael Dorris’s Yellow Raft in Blue Water.

Every Howatch book (so far) has a character with sexual hang-ups or has trouble with alcohol. Nicholas Darrow is no different. Lines I liked, “As I mooched around, bored out of my mind, I wondered how the Church could survive the 20th century when one of its most famous training-grounds had been so wholly smothered by the dead hand of an irrelevant past” (p 19), “Funny how the vast majority of the human race has to generate a repulsive amount of noise before it can convince itself it’s having a good time” (p 55),

Author fact: Beyond the Starbridge series I have two more Howatch books to read for the Challenge.

Book trivia: According to the author’s note, Mystical Paths is the penultimate book in the Starbridge series. However, Pearl lists a seventh book, Wonder Worker, to round out the series. Wonder Worker is actually the first book in a different series.

Setlist: Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Beethoven, Rolling Stones, “River Deep, Mountain High” by Tina Turner, John Lennon’s “Money,” Mick Jagger, “It’s All Over Now” by the Rolling Stones,” Ella Fitzgerald, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Berlioz, Dead March,

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: the Family of Clergy” (p 86).

Love’s Shadow: the Ottleys

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Leverson, Ada. The Ottleys: Love’s Shadow. Virago, 1908.

Reason read: August is Levenson’s birth month. Read in her memory.

All three novels contained in The Ottleys are portraits of marriage or deep friendships. The three novels, published four years apart follow the relationship of Edith and Bruce Ottley. In Love’s Shadow Edith acts as a punching bag for her husband’s criticism. She takes the blame for things she did not do. She is often ridiculed for not being smart. Occasionally, Edith with participate in verbal sparing with her husband – only her jabs fall short of making any lasting impact of Bruce. Confessional: I found Bruce Ottley to be a detestable creature. He is even worse when his hypochondria acts up. There are other romances in Love’s Shadow that are just as ridiculous as Edith and Bruce. Edith’s friend Hyacinth has eyes for Cecil, who in turn desires the older, widowed Eugenia.
Levenson is a master at delivering sly humor. The subject of aging, “all men are good for, at a certain age, is giving advice” (p 89). Levenson’s insults are pretty clever, too. “You’re full of faults, and delightfully ignorant and commonplace” (p 147).

Author fact: it is a well known fact that Ada Levenson was a good friend of Oscar Wilde. His nickname for her was Sphinx. It is a shame that she was better known for that unique friendship more than her novels.

Book trivia: Love’s Shadow is the first book in the Ottley trilogy. Tenterhooks and Love at Second Sight follow. Sally Beauman wrote the introduction to The Little Ottleys.

Music: Schumann’s “Merry Peasant,” Mendelssohn’s Wedding March,

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Viragos” (p 227).

Scandalous Risks

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Howatch, Susan. Scandalous Risks. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

Reason read: to continue the series started in April in honor of Easter. Since Howatch’s entire series is about the Church of England I thought this would be appropriate.

When we catch up to the residents of Starbridge it is the 1960s are we are introduced to our first main character outside of the Church of England. Venetia Flaxon’s story is told in first person and she is not a religious arch anything. Not a bishop or dean or deacon. She was just a child and a minor character in Ultimate Prizes. Now she takes the lead as a young amorous adult in Scandalous Risks. Her first scandalous risk is to fall in love with 61 year old Neville “Stephen” Aysgarth. Desperate to stay connected to her crush, Venetia takes a job transcribing the notes of Bishop Charles Ashworth as he writes a book disputing the philosophies of Honest to God by John Arthur Thomas Robinson. [A book that is still in print to this day.] This is the center conflict in Scandalous Risks. Bishop Ashworth wants to destroy the teachings of Robinson. Who better to transcribe the Bishop’s scribblings than Venetia who was raised by an agnostic father? Her own motives are no so innocent. To learn more about her dean she uses someone she despises to get close to people in his past, like Jonathan Darrow, his once spiritual advisor. Meanwhile Aysgarth is still practicing his multi-personality tricks in order to not commit adultery by being Neville with Venetia and Stephen with his wife. Stephen is acutely aware of his wife’s well-being while Neville is free to be in love with Venetia. To complicate matters, there are four Nevilles to chose from! [As an aside, in case you were wondering, Venetia’s second scandalous risk was to wear trousers on a Sunday!]
The next generation of characters are introduced: Nick, Jonathan Darrow’s son, is a psychic like his father.
With every Starbridge book, each chapter is headed by a quote from someone connected to the Church of England. This time John Arthur Thomas Robinson, the author of Honest To God.

Quote I loved, “Having reflected that my triumph would have been far more gratifying if Eddie had not been psychically repulsive and mentally exhausting” (p 93). I definitely know people like that. And here is another, “Dimply it occurred to me that in order to participate intelligently in these extraordinary conversations I needed a wisdom which I had not lived long enough to acquire” (p 203).

Author fact: Susan Howatch has been compared to Anthony Trollope.

Book trivia: I probably should have mentioned this with the first book, Glittering Images, but I didn’t think of it. Every book in the Starbridge series can be read independently of the others. Howatch recommends reading them all in order because the histories of each character brings a richness to the plot.

Music: the Beatles’s “Love Me Do”, Beethoven, Swan Lake, Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” “I Need You Love Tonight,” and “You’re Right, I’m Left, She’s Gone”, “Moonlight Sonata”, Aida, “Ode to Joy,” Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Eden Kane, Floyd Cramer, Del Shannon, Jim Reeves, Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day”, the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” and “Got a Lot O Living to Do.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: The Family of the Clergy” (p 86).

Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

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Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.

Reason read: the Buddhist Lent is celebrated in July.

Fadiman tries to explain the Hmong culture, break down the stereotypes, and debunk the myths about this mysterious population of Southwestern Asia. At the heart of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the story of a Hmong child, Lia Lee, diagnosed with epilepsy and the cultural clash between American doctors and Hmong beliefs. Old world meets modern America: pig offal thrown into a Rainbow low-suds detergent bucket during a ceremony to heal a Hmong. Lee’s family were destined to forever search for her soul after she suffered a catastrophic seizure that left her mentally impaired.
I think it goes without saying that we fear what we do not understand. I firmly believe that in order to truly understand another culture, you need to submerge yourself in their world for a least a year. For example, it is not peculiar for a Hmong person to hunt small game with a crossbow. Maybe not down the streets of midtown Philadelphia, but what is the difference to a hungry person when a meal is right in front of them?
As an aside, resources within The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down are a little outdated. For example, the St. Olaf website about the Hmong no longer exists.
As I closed the book on the Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‘s final pages, I wondered where Lia was today, or more importantly, where was her soul. I learned she died when she was thirty years old.

Quote that sums up the book perfectly: “…diseases are caused by fugitive souls and cured by jugulated chickens” (p ). No on in modern medicine knows how to practice cross-cultural medicine without offending some spirit.

Author fact: I am reading two books by Fadiman for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down has been used in classrooms as a textbook.

Setlist: U2, Bon Jovi, White Snake, Motley Crue, “Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Happy Birthday.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Social Studies” (p 205).

Ultimate Prizes

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Howatch, Susan. Ultimate Prizes. Alfred A Knopf, 1989.

Reason read: to continue the series started in April in honor of Easter.

Susan Howatch has struck gold with a literary formula that works: someone has a spiritual crisis and a member of the Church of England comes to the rescue with intense conversations and guidance. Most of the time, these crises involve sexual hang-ups and rocky marital relations usually brought on by long suffering family traumas. In Glittering Images Charles Asgood sought the spiritual consultation of Jonathan Darrow. In Glamorous Powers Jonathan Darrow conducts intense interviews with his superior. In Ultimate Prizes is it Neville Aysgarth’s turn to take young and beautiful Dido Tallent under his wing as she seeks a religious education. After Tallent destroys Neville’s psyche, he in turn needs rescue and finds it in Jonathan Darrow and Aidan Lucas.
The “ultimate prize” meant having the perfect spouse, the perfect family, the perfect career.
Neville Aysgarth is a mere forty-one years old; really too young to be an archdeacon. His spiritual philosophy and religious career was based on Charles Earle Raven, a Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Raven had a unique perspective, believing that science and theology belonged together. Aysgarth’s game changes when he becomes a widower. His ultimate prize because an obsession. He loved the chase but not the win. It was this pursuit that ultimately demolished friendships, both political and personal.
As an aside, it is interesting to see another character’s take on a previous character. Jonathan Darrow is disliked by Neville, but it is Darrow who introduces him to Aidan Lucas when Neville needed spiritual guidance. Additionally, Howatch cleverly reveals secrets about characters from previous stories so that more than once readers have that ah-ha moment. The title of the next book in the series usually pops up by the end of the book.

Quote I liked, “A hangover combined with horror, guilt, and self-loathing is hell on earth” (p 136). Confessional: I couldn’t help but think of the Dave Matthews Band when I read the line, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” (p 44).
Second confessional: Even though I knew “ringing down the curtain” meant repentance, I grew weary of how many times Neville Aysgarth made reference to his curtains – going up or coming down.

Author fact: In 2012, Howatch was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Hope College.

Book trivia: Ultimate Prizes continues the theme of intense spiritual guidance. Like Glittering Images and Glamorous Powers, Ultimate Prizes contains deep spiritual conversations.

Music: “Lili Marlene”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: the Family of the Clergy” (p 86).

Orange Fish

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Shields, Carol. The Orange Fish. The Fourth Estate, 2004.

Reason read: June is short story month.

  • Orange Fish – a couple finds their marriage saved by a lithograph of a fish.
  • Chemistry – a group of people join the YMCA Winter Enrichment Program to learn the recorder.
  • Hazel – after her philandering husband dies of a heart attack, Hazel learns to live again. As an aside, my father was the same age as Brian when he died, at fifty-five.
  • Today is the Day – the planting of the blisterlily.
  • Hinterland – Meg and Roy Sloan of Milwaukie, Missouri travel to France.
  • Block Out – Meershank has writers block so travels to Portugal with his wife, looking for inspiration.
  • Collision – Marta is waiting for Malcolm Brownstone, the Recreation and Resort Consultant, to arrive.
  • Good Manners – Georgia Willow oversees instructing people on Canadian manners.
  • Times of Sickness and Health – Kay is surrounded by people always telling her what to do.
  • Family Secrets – when family secrets are all that you have, you tend to protect them.
  • Fuel for the Fire – a daughter lets her aging and widower father burn anything he can find in her glorious fireplace.
  • Milk Bread Beer Ice – Barbara and Peter Cormin are a sad couple with nothing to say after thirty-plus years of marriage.

Author fact: I found a Carol Shields Literary Trust website here. Really cool site.

Book trivia: Orange Fish is comprised of twelve short stories about friendships and relationships and won the Marian Engel Award in 1990.

Quote to quote, “How was he to know she would mistake a random disruption for lasting attachment?” (p 136).

Confessional: I just lost my Papa-in-law last week. When the protagonist of Orange Fish confessed that he wanted to run a dude ranch, I thought of Papa. He, too, had cowboy fantasies.

Setlist: Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Chopin, Handel, and Vivaldi.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Carol Shields: Too Good To Miss” (p 197).