Tag: book lust ii

Queen Victoria

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Longford, Elizabeth. Queen Victoria. Harper & Row, 1965.

Reason read: Queen Victoria celebrated a birth in May. Read in her honor.

Using private papers, journals, and letters, Elizabeth Longford has written thorough biographies of Queen Victoria several times over. Queen Victoria is more concise and compact than Longford’s other books on the subject of Victoria. If you are looking for a shorter version than Strachey or Hibbert, this is it. Longford touches on all the points: born Alexandrina Victoria in 1819, Victoria went on to have a long and thrilling life. She ascended the throne at eighteen, proposed to her beloved Albert a year later, had nine children, and went on to rule Britain, India, and Ireland. After the death of Albert, widow Victoria went into seclusion for eleven years. Twenty-nine years later, she dies. Backfill with the politics of the time (Disraeli, Bonaparte, Crimea, Prussia, and the Year of Revolutions), and Queen Victoria is a good representation of England from 1819 to 1901.

As an aside, I never thought about having someone wear a sprig of holly pinned to the neck of their dress in order to force one to keep her chin up.

Author fact: Elizabeth Longford has a literary prize named after her.

Book trivia: Do not confuse Queen Victoria with Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed (published one year apart).

Lines I loved, “…she would have married him anyhow, whatever the consequences” (p 139). Confessional: I would like to adopt Queen Victoria’s phrase, “We are not amused” (p 64).

Music: “God Save the King”, “The Wolf”, and Haydn’s “Funeral March”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Queen Victoria and Her Times” (p 191).

Glamorous Powers

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Howatch, Susan. Glamorous Powers. Harper Collins Publishers, 1996.

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

The world is teetering on the fringe of World War II. Abbot Jonathan Darrow experiences visions that tell him he must leave the Order. He has had the Glamorous Power of second sight since he was fourteen years old. (Readers will recognize Darrow as the pivotal spiritual advisor to Charles Ashworth in Glittering Images.) Despite his vision calling him to leave the Order, Darrow must undergo a thorough psychological analysis. Only Abbot-General Francis can grant his release and only after Francis determines it is in Darrow’s best interest to leave. The decision cannot be one borne out of spiritual crisis or impulse brought on by false visions. It is such a twist of fate from the pages of Glittering Images when it was Jonathan Darrow analyzing and healing Charles Ashworth’s psyche.
One of the delectable elements of the Stargate series is how soap opera dramatic the writing is. Emotions are turned up to eleven and events are earth-shattering. Words like terror, shock, harrowing, disastrous, horror, hostile, garish, rage, disturbed, diabolical, disgraceful, despair, doomed, menace, monster, disaster, tragedy, troubled, appalling, cruel, chaos, and crisis. Everyone trembles, feel faint or actually does faint, or gasps loudly in utter dismay. Some of Darrow’s angst is warranted. He experiences sensory overload while visiting his modern daughter. He is not used to the sharpness of the outside world. In time, Darrow discovers the work he is supposed to do on the outside. Glamorous Powers examines the sins of the father, handed down. Who will break the cycle?

Confessional: the miscommunications and assumptions Jonathan experiences with his wife filled me with anxiety. Their marriage was fraught with one misunderstanding after another and I constantly questioned if it would survive.

Lines I loved, “People always know when they’re not loved” (p 106). Indeed. Here’s another, “I’m busy learning how to kill people and I hope you are pleased” (p 267).
Two words I loved together, “emotionally dislocated” (p 235).

Author fact: Glamorous Powers is the thirteenth novel of Susan Howatch’s.

Book trivia: like Glittering Images, Howatch begins each chapter of Glamorous Powers with a quote from an individual who inspired the story. In this case, William Ralph Inge, an intellectual and Dean of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London (1911-1934). She includes a brief biography of Inge at the end of Glamorous Powers.

Music: Straus

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: The Family of the Clergy” (p 87). Also from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Entering England” (p 76).

In-Between World of Vikram Lall

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Vassanji, M.S.. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Reason read: Vassanji’s birth month is May (30th).

During a retreat from the world, Vikram Lall, a self-professed corrupt man, wishes to tell his story from childhood. It is a tale full of violence and torture, political corruption and redemption, ethnic prejudice and long-standing tradition. His world is a clash of cultures from his earliest memories. Vikram’s childhood starts innocently enough with friends of various backgrounds and skin tones. Not black like his Kenyan friend, Njoroge, or white like his British friend, Bill. Vikram’s family settled in Kenya after Vikram’s grandfather arrived as a Indian railway worker along with his British overseers to lay tracks in Kenyan landscape. Kenya had been trying to break free from British rule ever since.
Vikram learns early on that one has to be careful of causing too much suspicion. No one wants to be accused of being involved with the guerilla group, Mau Mau. As Vikram grows up, he learns survival does not always mean being honest. It is better to cause the heartbreak than to endure it.

An absolutely brilliant line full of foreboding. Early on Vikram says, “But my times were exceptional and they would leave no one unscathed” (p 3). He is admitting his destruction of other people.

Confessional: in the beginning of The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, Vikram withholds the source of his infatuation. It is as if he wants her to stay shrouded in mystery for a little while. However, if the reader has been paying attention, her name has already been revealed.

Author fact: Vassanji also wrote The Book of Secrets. I plan to read that three years from now.

Book trivia: The In-Between World of Vikram Lall should be a movie.

Music: Bing Crosby, Talat Mahmood, “Onward Christian Soldiers”, “Che Sear, Sera”, Bach, Berlioz, “Never on a Sunday”, Hemant Kumar, “Baa, Baa Black Sheep”, “It’s a Long Way to Tipperaree”, the Beatles, Elvis, “Wherever I Lay My Hat”, and “Dead Man’s Chest”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Africa: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 2).

Phoenix and the Carpet

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Nesbit, E. The Phoenix and the Carpet. Read by Anna Bentinick. Naxos Audio Books, 2005.

Reason read: May is Nesbit’s birth month. Read in her honor.

The Phoenix and the Carpet is the second book in the Psammead Trilogy. (Five Children and It and Story of the Amulet round out the series). The same five children as in the first book are back: Cyril (Squirrel), Anthea (Panther), Robert (Bobs), Jane (Pussy), and Lamb (Hilary). This time they discover an egg hidden in a carpet. It holds a beautiful talking phoenix. Like a genie from a bottle, once the phoenix is freed from the egg it explains that the carpet can grant three wishes a day. So the children’s adventures begin. The phoenix needs to often consult the Psammead to get the children out of various predicaments, but unlike Five Children and It, this time the Psammead is not the central character of the story.

Author fact: Edith Nesbit was a political activist in addition to being an author.

Book trivia: The Phoenix and the Carpet was first published in 1904. It became a British miniseries in 1997.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fantasy for Young and Old” (p 83).

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.

Deep Blue Good-By

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MacDonald, John D. The Deep Blue Good-By. Fawcett Gold Medal, 1964.

Reason read: Florida became a state on March 3rd, 1845.

Travis McGee lives on a 52′ barge-like houseboat docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His occupation is to recover items for people from time to time; whenever he needs the cash or is bored. Sort of like a freelance detective or repo man without structure. In a nutshell, McGee’s friend Chookie knows of a girl who needs help recovering something. She starts with the fact that her daddy went to prison for killing a man. While there David Berry divulged to his cellmate, Junior Allen, that he stole something of great worth. After David dies the cellmate is released from prison. He does the only thing a criminal fresh out of prison can do; he makes a beeline for the daughter’s residence to see if he can take possession of the stolen goods for himself. But first he has to completely traumatize a few women along the way. McGee does not know what the items are or where they might be. What he does know is that women should not be treated that way. In addition to getting the items back he wants to make the guy pay for brutalizing the fairer sex. What follows is a convoluted mix of violence, brainwashing, womanizing, and Florida sunshine. McGee is a flawed good guy who has his moments.

Quote I liked, “And I do not function on emotional motivation” (p 19).

As an aside, I would like to see his Rolls Royce that had been converted into a pickup truck.

Author fact: Macdonald wrote two books on my Challenge list: Only Girl in the Game (October 2036) and The Deep Blue Good-by.

Book trivia: Almost all of MacDonald’s books have a color in the title.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Florida Fiction” (p 89). It must be said that on the cover of MacDonald’s book the title reads, The Deep Blue Good-By. Not Goodbye.

Coal

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Freese, Barbara. Coal: a Human History. Perseus Publishing, 2003.
Freese, Barbara: Coal: a Human History. Narrated by Shelly Frasier. Tantor Media, Inc., 2005.

Reason read: February is Science Month.

From soup to nuts, this is the history of coal at breakneck speed (with some global warming/climate change lectures thrown in for good measure).
I will be one hundred percent honest. Before Freese’s book I had never really given thought to coal. It is an interesting topic. Every Christmas there is the joke about coal in the stocking and once in a while a coal mine collapse will make the news. I did know that it has always been a dirty fuel responsible for massive pollution in cities across the world like London and Pittsburgh. However, I don’t know anyone who burns coal for heat or locomotion. I don’t think I even know what a coal stove looks like.
After reading Coal readers will know there are different types of coal and their uses will vary. Historically, coal was used for making jewelry and as currency, in addition to being a heat and energy source. Once the dangers of mining coal were fully realized, companies put animals, children, and immigrant laborers to work in the mines. The illnesses and deaths resulting from working with coal were difficult to read. Despite being less than 300 pages, Freese reserves a good section of Coal for explaining the environmental repercussions of using coal. The statistics are staggering and eye opening.

Author fact: at the time of Coal’s publication, Freese was an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Minnesota. As an aside, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Freese sat her husband down and said, “I think I want to write a book about coal.”

Book trivia: there are a few black and white photographs in Coal: a Human History.

Narrator trivia: Shelly Frasier sounds like a little like Dolly Parton. I have no idea why.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the simple chapter called “Science 101” (p 195).

Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow

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Whiteley, Opal. The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: the Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whitely. Penguin Books,

Reason read: I was supposed to read The Diary of Opal Whiteley in honor of Oregon becoming a state in February, but it became too much of a pain in the ass to find the original. I settled for Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow and hope that it is considered a decent substitute. Another version is The Story of Opal: the Journal of an Understanding Heart. I will be 100% honest. I am not taking the time to learn of their differences.

Benjamin Hoff, author of The Tao of Pooh, was fascinated by Opal Whiteley. Indeed, Opal Whiteley was, and still is, a conundrum. Critics still want to know who is this child? By 1903, at six years old, Opal allegedly had written a masterpiece on paper bags and leaves and hidden the pages in a rotting log. Over one hundred years later she is considered a Cascadia pioneer who truly loved the land. In her precocious yet controversial diary, Whiteley concocted elaborate names her animals and wrote passages in French and Latin. She spoke to potatoes, gave funerals for mice, christened pigs, and listened to sap rising in the maples. She was frequently whipped by “the mama” (who she denied was her real mother), punished by teachers who didn’t understand her abilities, and was often lonely with only her beloved animals, a few neighbors, and the trees to converse with. She is forever thought of as innocence personified. Yet, to read her diary, it is full of intelligent joy. Even when she was weeding the onions, watching the baby, bringing in the firewood, washing the dishes, tending to the chickens, scouring the pots and pans, churning the butter, sewing, or sweeping the floor she was seeing to these chores with a certain level of cheerful lightheartedness. The controversy lies in the belief that Opal wrote her diary when she was much older. The only word I can use to describe Opal’s diary is sweet, even if it is fraudulent. The caveat to all this is that Opal Whitely was mentally ill. She was committed to a hospital when she was 50 years old and lived there until her death at age 92.
As an aside, obviously Opal got to Hoff as well. He tried on numerous occasions to see Miss Whiteley without success.

Quote I adored, “And when I grow up, I am going to buy her a whole rain-barrel full of singing lessons” (p 192).
Sweetest moment: Opal lost a toad in class. A classmate rescued the amphibian and returned it to Opal’s pocket without the teacher seeing a thing.

Author fact: Whiteley also write The Fairyland Around Us (1918) for children.

Book trivia: Opal’s story was published in serialized form in the Atlantic. Later, the Atlantic Monthly Press published it in book form as The Story of Opal: the Journal of an Understanding Heart. You can also find an online version from the University of Oregon.

Music: “”Ave Maria”, “Chant d’Automne”, “Gloria Patri et Filio”, “Nearer My God to Thee”, “Rockabye Baby”, and “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living High in Cascadia” (p 148). As an aside, I have no idea why this wasn’t in the chapter called “Child Prodigies” (from More Book Lust p 43). Even though there is skepticism that Whitely wrote her diary at age six, inclusion of her book would make more sense than The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Man Who Fell to Earth

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Tevis, Walter. The Man Who Fell to Earth. Narrated by George Guidall, Recorded Books, 2018.

Reason read: February is Science Fiction month.

Meet Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien from the planet Anthea. Standing rail thin at 6’6″ with pale skin and odd features, Newton has come to Earth in a desperate attempt to save his dying planet’s population. Less than three hundred souls are clinging to life while the planet dies away from drought and mismanagement. Newton’s brilliant plan is to use the earth’s resources to build a spaceship large enough to bring the surviving Antheans to Kentucky, of all places. Only, as time goes on, America’s vices get the better of him. Alcoholism and loneliness start to cloud his judgement. As suspicions about him grow, the question of human destiny becomes philosophical in nature.

Author fact: Tevis also wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, and The Queen’s Gambit. All titles on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: The Man Who Fell to Earth was made into a movie starring David Bowie. This is one that I will watch because I borrowed the DVD from a library.

Music: “Oh Lordie, Pick a Bale of Cotton!”, “Faith of Our Fathers”, “I You Knew Susie, Like I Know Susie”, Haydn, “Jingle Bells”, Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A Major, “Rock of Ages”, Strauss’ The Poet and the Peasant Overtures, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”, “White Christmas”, and “Adeste Fideles”.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Child Prodigies” (p 43). So. The Man Who Fell to Earth does not have a child prodigy anywhere in its plot. This, and other Tevis books, should not be in this chapter.

Diaries of Kenneth Tynan

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Tynan, Kenneth. The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan. Edited by John Lehr. Bloomsbury, 2001.

Reason read: Most people start a journal or diary in January; one filled with good intentions. This is in recognition of that practice.

What makes the diaries of Kenneth Tynan so fascinating is that he was a feared critic in his day but behind the scenes he was an insecure man. Outwardly, he didn’t suffer fools. Privately, even his diary entries could be scathing. The irony is that he would drop friendships when criticized…as if he couldn’t handle negativity aimed towards him. Underneath Tynan’s tough and snobby persona, truth be told, was a man who worried about appearances and cared what social circles accepted him. Example: he once did not want to attend a wedding because he did not have the proper attire, nor was he willing to rent the garb required. His diaries revealed an introspection and a strong desire to be loved by all. He loved to name-drop as if the glitterati of the day were his closest friends. In addition to being a running commentary on the who’s who of the day, Tynan tackled politics and even the philosophical concept of id, questioning what makes a soul. [As an aside, I have been bogged down by the word “my” for years. If your soul, body, and mind belong to “me” (my body, my soul, my mind), what or who is me?] His theory about Akhnaten is fascinating.
Overall, I found Tynan to be a sad individual. When Tynan’s wife reminds him of the declaration that his doctor warned against smoking – if he didn’t quit, he would be dead in five years (and he was), it broke my heart. Three years before his passing, as early as March 6th 1977, Tynan started writing about his funeral; what songs to play, etc. Diagnosed with emphysema, he was not in denial. He knew his time was limited. Like reading The Diary of Anne Frank I dreaded the coming end. Is it sacrilege to compare the two? Each journal entry nudged Anne and Kenneth closer to their demises.

As an aside, I was skeptical when I learned the Diaries of Kenneth Tynan only spanned the years from 1971 to 1980. He was born in 1927 so what happened to the rest of his diaries? Surely there was more to his life than nine years? Ah, but these were the most interesting of years!

Lines I liked, “…there is nothing more beautiful than the happy moments of unhappy men” (p 26), “Later I wrote her an appropriately corrosive letter” (p 77), and “You can accept the world; fight to change it; or withdraw from it” ( 380).
Phrases I liked, “radiant contempt” and “magnetic threat.”

Book trivia: the footnotes are helpful because it is basically a who’s who of celebrities and notables from the era. Tynan liked to name drop frequently. The footnotes also give further context or explanation to a vague comment. I have to admit they sometimes read like a gossip column, “so and so, the illegitimate child of so and so.”

Music: Adagio from Viviani’s Second Sonata for Trumpet and Organ, Al Jolson, Annie Ross, Bach, Barbra Streisand, Bartok, Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”, Benny Goodman, Carmen Miranda, Chevalier, Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway”, Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Danny Kaye, David Amram, Dinah Shore’s “Tess’s Torch Song”, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Edie Gorme, Ethel Merman, Frank Ifield, George Brassens, George Harrison, Gershwin, Goosens, Gracie Feilds’ “the Biggest Aspidistra in the World” and “Sigh No More”, Harry Belafonte, John Lennon, Kalner-Ruby’s “Show Me a Rose”, Lena Horne, Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della Pittura, “Lobby Song” “Mairzy Doats”, “Melody in 4F”, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, Mick Jagger, Miles Davis, Nobel Sissle, Paul Desmond’s “Take Fire”, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song,” Ruth Etting, Salieri, Sandi Shaw’s version of “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me”, Schubert, Shostakovich’s 5th, Stan Getz, Steve Lawrence, “That Night in Rio”, and Wagner.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust from the chapter called “Journals and Letters: We Are All Voyeurs at Heart” (p 130).

Final Appeal

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Scottoline, Lisa. Final Appeal. Harper Collins, 2004.

Reason read: Scottoline was born in the month of July and since I have been reading her other mysteries lately, I thought I would throw this one on the pile. Read in honor of Scottoline’s birth month.

Grace Rossi is a law clerk, assigned to a death penalty case and in way over her head. Even though she isn’t one hundred percent qualified, Judge Armen Gregorian believes in her and wants her to work with him on a high-profile death penalty appeal case…until the judge winds up dead. Grace must act like a cop, sniffing out the truth because the little clues are not adding up to a supposed suicide. Plus, there is her truth to face. It must be said that she was in love with the deceased and she had sex with him the night before he died. He said he loved her. She is convinced he was murdered.
Final Appeal has all the hallmarks of a thriller: Grace Rossi’s case is controversial and full of racial tension, sexual rejection, silencing the witness, and clandestine love affairs. Truth be told, I thought the death penalty case would have more to do with the mystery of the judge’s death until Scottoline throws in the possibility the judge was crooked.
I could have done without the subplot of of Grace’s memory of child abuse. I disliked that she was quick to accuse each of her parents. she even went so far as to question her child about inappropriate touching. It was completely unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the overall storyline.
My only complaint is that Scottoline has a writing tic that becomes more and more noticeable with every chapter. She uses the simile “like a…fill-in-the-blank” technique a lot. Examples: like a bouquet, like a skinny…, like a black-eyed Susan, like a thirsty…, like a traffic…You get the point. I could go on and on. There were so many similes I lost count.

Natalie Merchant connection: you know that if there is the slightest connection to Miss Merchant, I am going to make it. In the penultimate line of the 10,000 Maniacs song, Natalie sings “Who will read my final right and hear my last appeal?”

Book trivia: Final Appeal won an Edgar Award.

Playlist: C+C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Big Ten Country: the Literary Midwest – Pennsylvania” (p 31).

System of the World

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Stephenson, Neal. System of the World: Vol III of the Baroque Cycle. HarperCollins, 2004.

Reason read: to finish the series started in honor of Stephenson’s birth month in October.

The System of the World can be called a historical novel. It is epistolary in nature, satirical, and a roman flueve all in one. Before we dig into the plot, a little book trivia. Stephenson was nice enough to remind us of the story thus far (from Quicksilver and The Confusion).
Back to the plot: We begin with Book Six: Solomon’s Gold. Daniel Waterhouse, founder of the institute we know today as MIT, has been sent back to London to resolve a feud between Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton. The two brainiacs are squabbling over the invention of calculus. To utter anything about calculus, much less pinpoint who invented it, is to commit a grand faux pas of epic proportions. Jack Shaftoe is back as Jack the Coiner. Historically, the Whigs and Tories are about to face off. The irreconcilable dispute between science and religion rages (very reminiscent of “Inherit the Wind” by Lawrence and Lee). There are moments of sly humor that you might miss if you are not careful. My favorite: one of Mr. Threader’s spiels is the equivalent of the legal fine print on a contract.

Line I liked, “Daniel felt something very strange was happening to his face: he was smiling” (p 165).

Author fact: not to stereotype bald heads and beards but pictures of Stephenson on the internet make me think he would make a great bad guy in an action film.

Book trivia: System of the World bears the same title as a book of Isaac Newton’s. Another piece of trivia: System of the World won a Locus Award.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Neal Stephenson: Too Good To Miss” (p 214).

Everywhere That Mary Went

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Scottoline, Lisa. Everywhere That Mary Went. Narrated by Teri Schnaubelt. HarperAudio, 2016.

Reason read: Pennsylvania became a state in the month of December. Everywhere That Mary Went takes place in Philadelphia.

Mary DiNunzio has a problem. She is pretty sure she is being stalked by a stranger. Weird hang ups on her office and home phones, strange notes left at her desk, and a mysterious black car constantly following her all contribute to her growing sense of paranoia. As if these troubling events are not enough, Mary will not report them for fear of tarnishing her chances for a promotion at her law office. She’s up for partner. Meanwhile, she is still grieving the loss of her husband less than a year ago and she has hardly anyone to confide in. Her twin sister joined a convent, her personal assistant has troubles of his own (it is the 1990s and AIDS is running rampant) and her best friend disapproves of Mary’s new boyfriend, a fellow lawyer at the same firm. Mary’s life is a mess. When violence escalates Mary is forced to take action. Her life may very well be on the line.

Author fact: Scottoline used her experiences as a lawyer to start the Rosato & Associates series.

Book trivia: Everywhere That Mary Went is the first book in the Rosato & Associates series. I am reading two others, Mistaken Identity and Killer Smile. A fourth book, Final Appeal, is a stand-alone mystery.

Playlist: “HM Pinafore”, Prince, Madonna, and George Michael’s “Father Figure.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Big Ten Country: The Literary Midwest” (p 25).