Tag: june

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).

Fear

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Rybakov, Anatoli. Fear. Translated by Antonina W. Bouis. Little, Brown & Company, 1992.

Reason read: to continue the series started in May.

This is the continuation of the story of the first generation to grow up under the Soviet regime. One of the things I appreciated about Fear was that Rybakov took the time to recap The Children of Arbat before launching into the story of Fear. It was nice to have a refresher on all the different characters and where we last left them: Lead character Sasha Pankratov has been exiled to Siberia for making a flippant joke in 1934 in the school newspaper. Lesser characters like Yuri went to work for the secret police and had blackmailed Vika into becoming an informant. Maxim Kostin was in the army and in love with a teacher, Nina. Lena Budyagina, daughter of a Soviet diplomat and Yuri’s on again, off again lover, had an illegal abortion and almost died. Nina and Varya are on opposite sides of the Soviet loyalty.
Fear takes place between 1935 – 1937. Again, Stalin is a prominent character in the book. Rybakov does a good job humanizing the dictator (Stalin liked flowers), and express his growing paranoia and erratic behavior: on good days Stalin would remind subordinates of orders he never gave in the first place. On bad days, he would find trivial ways to execute long-loyal subordinates. It was troublesome when to talk of Stalin’s wife’s suicide was considered counterrevolutionary slander. Stalin was out for revenge against even people who did not betray him. Good citizens scrambled to distance themselves from lifelong friends; individuals “confessed” to be criminals. The political landscape is as such that a tenth grader could be expelled for saying the wrong name on an oral report.
Embedded in the story is the spiderweb-thin thread of hope is Sasha and Varya’s love. Is it strong enough to endure insecurity, assumptions, self-doubt, and Stalin?

Confessional: I gave myself nightmares thinking too hard about how Soviet rule investigated “terrorism” cases: investigation time was shortened to ten days; there was less time to defend oneself (only 24 hours); no lawyers could be present at a trial; appeals were not allowed; sentencing began immediately. So…if you were wrongly accused of being a terrorist…I ask myself what is the point of the formality of a trial? People are just going to be found guilty of something and when you are guilty you are as good as dead.

As an aside, I very much appreciated that Rybakov took the time to recap, Children of the Arbat, the first installment of his trilogy. Now I would like a dictionary of Russian names. They are all very confusing to my untrained ear.

Author fact: Rybakov also wrote Dust and Ashes, the final book in the series.

Book trivia: Fear is the second book in the Arbat series.

Music: Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, “I Remember When I Was Still Young Then”, Vadim Kozin, Alexander Vertinsky, Nadezhda Plevitskaya.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Russian Heavies” (p 210)

Galatea 2.2

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Powers, Richard. Galatea 2.2 Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995.

If you know the story of Pygmalion than you will recognize Galatea 2.2 as its clever reinterpretation.
Interestingly enough, Galatea 2.2‘s fictional protagonist is named Richard Powers and is a writer, using the names of books he has written like Gold Bug and Prisoner’s Dilemma. Richard is also a Humanist-in-Residence at an unnamed research facility. His failed relationship with a former student is woven in with his present day life and colors his thinking on the daily. During a year-long residency, he and a colleague embark on building a thinking machine. With his long term relationship in shambles and writer’s block stalking him daily, training a neural network seems like the perfect diversion. As an aside, why anyone would want to create a computer that can pass a comprehensive exam in English literature is beyond me. The whole story reminded me of the movie Short Circuit when #5 learned to think for himself. There is always a vector involved somewhere.

Quote I liked, “And chaos chose that moment to hit home” (p 3). I love the imagery. Can you just see chaos as a cat, perched on high, waiting for the perfect moment to attack?
As an aside, could Powers be talking about someone else when he wrote the line, “He looked as though he took tanning cream orally” (p 16)? <Insert thinking emoji here.>
Here’s another quote I loved, “No one knows how full my hands were, or care” (p 171).

Author fact: I am reading a total of nine books by Powers. Two of them he mentions in Galatea 2.2: Prisoner’s Dilemma and Gold Bug Variations.

Playlist: “You’re the Top”, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, “Three Blind Mice”, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings John Philip Sousa, Traverner’s Western Wynde Mass, “Amazing Grace”, Diana Ross, Purcel’s “Evening Hymn”, Alfonso Ferrabosco, and “Old Black Joe”.

Writing in book on pages 4, 11, 30, 31, 63, 79, 171, 188, 270, 279.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Mechanical Men, Robots, Automatons, and Deep Blue” (p 150) and again in the chapter called “Richard Powers: Too Good To Miss” (p 191).

Cracking Up

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Lownds, Gordon. Cracking Up: From Rising Star to Junkie Despair in 1,000 Days: an Unlikely Addicts Memoir. Life to Paper, 2025.

Gordon Lownds begins his story in October of 1998 in rehab. He calls himself an unlikely addict, but how easily a stripper crackhead turned his life upside down (all for the sake of hot sex) indicates otherwise. Annabelle got him to pay for acting classes, an apartment, clothes, jewelry, headshots, twenty-eight days of rehab (which did not work), a vehicle, and so much more. She was a blackmailing siren who took Lownds entire life and dashed it upon the rocks.
As an aside, I seriously could see Lownds’s story ending up in a movie. His over the top personal life of joining a carnival when he was seventeen, being a male go-go dancer for a short time, and being a bass player in a band seemed Hollywood enough; never mind the fact he is a divorced father; there is plenty of graphic sex, violence, wealth, drug dealers, cops, and drama in his adult life. Let’s not forget Annabelle, the gorgeous troublemaker who started this whole adventure. His story is too outrageous to be true. Reading Cracking Up was a very wild ride.

Confessional: I lost a friend to addiction. If it wasn’t outright suicide, it was an accidental overdose. I have to wonder what really made Lownds, at forty-eight years of age, decide to try crack cocaine for the first time? Was a woman really to blame?

Second confessional: my link to Cracking Up expired and somehow the book was not save to Funnel. I did not finish the book.

Setlist: Enigma, Sly and the Family Stone’s “Hot Fun in the Summertime”, “Suicide Blonde” by INXS, “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne, “Private Dancer” by Tina Turner, “Purple Rain” by Prince, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”, Nine Inch Nails, “Life in the Fast Lane” by the Eagles, and Tower of Power’s Back to Oakland.

Goodbye to a River

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Graves, John. Goodbye to a River: a Narrative. Alfred A. Knopf, 1960.

Reason read: June is National River Cleanup month. What better way to honor the event than by reading a book about a little known river called the Brazos?

The premise behind Goodbye to a River sounds like something I would do. When John Graves found out the state of Texas was going to dam parts of the Brazos River he decided to take a three week journey on the river of his childhood to say goodbye. Portions of the Brazos clearly reflected Graves’s childhood memories. Other times he reflects on the history, myths and legends of the region. At times he becomes philosophical, thinking of “Saint” Henry David Thoreau and “Prince” Ernest Hemingway, but more often he recounts tales of violence and racism: scalpings, hangings, raps, and murders indicative of the Comanche history of the region. He mentions Charles Goodnight from time to time. Occasionally, he interacts with locals he meets along the way, but most of the time he is alone with a dog he calls the passenger. My favorite parts was when Graves remembered the exact same trees he used to climb and the same beaches he used to build campfires on.
Did you know that October is the best month for traveling the Brazos for the weather is at its most pleasant?

As an aside, I would like to hear a canyon wren singing in harmony with her desert landscape.

Lines I loved, “You are not in a hurry there; you learned long since not to be” (p 3), “The silent air of ruin is fragile” (p 44), “Heights have that kind of humor” (p 126), and “One can get pretty literary on islands” (p 168).

Confessional: when I said Goodbye to a River reminded me of myself, here is what I meant. I was supposed to be paid off from the job I had had for over twenty years. Knowing the end was near, I spent four weeks saying goodbye to every corner that meant something to me.
As another aside, I am watching Only Murders in the Building (yes, I know it has been out for a while). Brazos makes me think of Steve Martin’s character.
As yet another aside, the mention of Alma-Tadema paintings reminded of Natalie’s interpretation of his daughter’s poem, “If No One Ever Married Me.”

Author fact: Graves taught “off and on” at Columbia and spent time wandering and writing (according to his biography).

Book trivia: the children’s version of Goodbye to a River was illustrated by Russell Waterhouse.

Playlist: “Annie Laurie”, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, “The Good Old Rebel”, “Beulah Land”, “Drink to Me Only”, “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton”, and “Rambling Wreck”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “A River of Words” (p 201).

Safest Family on the Block

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Brick, Jason. The Safest Family on the Block: 101 Tips, Tricks, Hacks, and Habits to Protect Your Family. YMAA Publication Center, 2025.

The first thing that struck me about Safest is the number of introductions in addition to the preface and foreword. There is an introduction for every chapter (all ten of them) as well as an introduction to the book by Larry Hagner, a foreword by Andy Murphy
Jason Brick has consulted a plethora of people for how to keep his family safe: a parenting coach, author, registered nurse, Federal Air Marshall, several CEOs and presidents of companies, a safety influencer, fire safety captain, army sniper, mental health clinician, babywearing expert; even a SWAT team crisis negotiator and a US Secret Service agent. There are twenty experts testifying to the validity of Brick’s information.
It all started when he became a dad for the first time and the advent of COVID.
Each chapter of Safest is barely longer than two pages so despite it being jampacked with information, it is surprisingly short. Brick will teach you how to stay safe in a myriad of different situations: fire and accident, automobiles, school, online, sex, relationships, communication, travel and crime. He debunks popular myths like stranger danger and has a special chapter on school bullying and your child’s online life.
Favorite portion of the book: the Golden Rules Action Plan, a checklist of things to do for a safe environment at the end of every chapter.

Favorite quote, “Even if your action isn’t optimal, it will still be better than doing nothing.” Amen to that.

Author fact: you could call Jason Brick a jack of all trades. He is a writer (obviously), a safety expert (duh), but he also is a traveler and a martial artist.

Book trivia: Safest was born out of a “show” with one hundred episodes.

Two Years Before the Mast

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Dana, Jr., Richard Henry. Two Years Before the Mast: a Personal Narrative of Life at Sea. Fearon Publishers, 1971.

Reason read: June is Celebrate Oceans Month. Maybe that is a made up reason to read about the ocean, but I’m going with it because it is a good time to sail.

Two Years Before the Mast is the true story of Richard Henry Dana’s two years spent at sea first, on the brig “Pilgrim,” bound for California via coastal South America. Using his journal to write Two Years Before the Mast, one has to remember this is August 14th, 1834. Time before canals and motorized vessels. California was not part of the United States. In 1934, California was part of Mexico. As a Harvard student, bound for a career in law, Dana had to take a hiatus from his studies when an illness affected his eyesight. Doctors recommended some time away from the books to allow his eyes to rest. The brig “Pilgrim” is in the business of transporting animal hides and furs. Once on the “Pilgrim,” Dana quickly learned about life on the ocean on the fly: getting over seasickness, learning to push through fatigue, finding his sea legs. Once settled into a life at sea, Dana then had to desensitize himself to a tyrannical captain who flogged sailors ruthlessly and without provocation, long days of continuous work, and making the most of shore leave.
This is a great account of life at sea as well as in ports. As an aside, I had to laugh when Dana’s vessel could not get over a sandbar at low tide due to the unusually heavy load they were carrying. They had to wait until low tide in order to be released from the channel.

Lines I liked: said of San Francisco – “If California ever becomes a prosperous country, this bay will be the centre of its prosperity” (p 194).

Confessional: I have spent most of my life on the ocean so when Dana described dolphins swimming just a few feet below the surface of the water I could picture every color.

Author fact: Dana was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Book trivia: Two Years Before the Mast was illustrated by Dennis Dierks and my copy provided a biographical sketch by Dana’s grandson, H.W.L. Dana.

Playlist: “O Pescator”, “Onda”, “All in the Downs”, “Poor Tom Bowline”, “The Bay of Biscay”, “List, Ye Landsmen”, “Heave, to the Girls”, “Nancy O!”, “Jack Crosstree”, “Cheerily Men”, “All in the Downs”, “Poor Tom Bowline”, “The Bay of Biscay”, and “List, Ye Landsmen”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “See the Sea” (p 201).

Civil to Strangers

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Pym, Barbara. Civil to Strangers: and Other Writings. Edited by Hazel Holt. E.P. Dutton, 1987.

Reason read: Pym was born in the month of June. Read in her honor.

We owe the publication of Civil to Strangers to the loving family and friends of Barbara Pym. As literary executor Pym’s sister made sure Pym’s words lived on. It is a good thing because Pym was a master at showcasing the true sense of small community. The silent dislikes and quiet jealousies; a society full of disappointed and disappointing people. No one wants to be taken for granted and yet they are, repeatedly. These are the stories of a microcosm of flawed people. In the main story, Civil to Strangers, Cassandra March-Gibbon wants her husband of five years to pay more attention to her. As a writer, Adam is terribly preoccupied. Cassandra thinks by pretending to have feelings a new stranger from Budapest she will force Adam to be more demonstrative of his love for her. The plan backfires when Adam encourages the relationship with Stefan Tilos. The situation goes from bad to worse when Tilos develops feelings for Cassandra (as one is apt to do when someone is lavishing unprovoked attention on them). Tilos in turn needs to make Cassandra jealous when she does not show any sign of wanting to commit to a relationship. Cassandra is not making Adam jealous. Tilos is not winning over the girl. Nobody is getting exactly what they want. By taking separate holidays, Adam and Cassandra allow themselves to take stock of their marital situation.

Other writings in Civil to Strangers include:

Gervase and Flora
“Home Front Novel”
So Very Sweet
“So, Some Tempestuous Morn”
“The Christmas Visit”
“Goodbye Balkan Captain”
Across a Crowded Room
“Finding a Voice” – a radio transcript.

Quotes to quote, “…but now, since her marriage, she had felt less tempted to break out” (p 17).

Author fact: Pym was twenty-three when she wrote Civil to Strangers. It was her second novel.

Book trivia: Civil to Strangers was unpublished at the time of Pym’s death. It and several other writings were publishing posthumously. The working title was Adam and Cassandra. Seems simple enough.

Music: Haydn’s Creation. That’s it.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Pym’s Cup Runneth Over” (p 195).

The Temple

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Spender, Stephen. The Temple. Harper and Row Publishers, 1987.

Reason read: June is Pride month. Read in honor of love, no matter how you find it.

To know that The Temple is a semi-autobiographical fiction gives weight to Spender’s words. Most everything that happens to the main character, poet Paul Schoner, in The Temple is something that happened to Spender in and around 1929. He thinly disguises his relationship with other writers (most significantly W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood) as he travels to Hamburg from Oxford. It is important to remember that in the 1920s censorship was prevalent in England. As a homosexual, Spender needed to live his life in lies. His true identity was hidden like a secret. Germany in 1929, while more forgiving about lifestyles, was also going through its own dark period. Spender includes the growing sense of foreboding as Hitler comes to power. Though fascists and Nazis Spender paints a picture of a society that foregoes the history of friendship for the sake of power. It’s violent ending is a sign of dark days ahead.

Author fact: Spender was the first non-American to serve as Consultant in Poetry in English to the Library of Congress.

Book trivia: The Temple could be a movie.

Setlist: Cole Porter’s “Let’s Fall in Love”, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, Wagner’s Ring cycle, Beethoven, and Schubert.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Oxford” (p 170). As an aside, I am not sure I would have included this in the Oxford chapter. I would have thought it more appropriate it a chapter on Germany or homosexuality.

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).

Note to Self

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Nova, EV and Freya Sharp. Note to Self. Harbor Lane Books, 2025.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program I get to read interesting books from LibraryThing. This is one such book.

Think of Note to Self as a collection of tiny pep talks geared mostly towards women. Yes, you can read the entire book in one sitting, if you want. There are only fifty affirmations. I would caution against inhaling the whole book at once because every chapter becomes more repetitive as time goes on. The five clearest messages are 1) you are not alone, 2) every ending is a new beginning, 3) you are capable, worthy, and loveable, 4) it is okay to say no, especially if saying yes means sacrificing selfcare, and 5) breaking down only means building up or said another way, every ending is a new beginning. E.V. Nova and Freya Sharp take turns doling out the sage advice.
In short, this is a cool little book to pick up anytime you need a little pick me up. Tell your friends!
Author fact: Freya Sharp’s bio is a must read!

After Life

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Ellis, Rhian. After Life. Amazon Encore, 2000.

Reason read: After Life takes place in New York, a city rich in culture. The Puerto Rican Day Parade also takes place in New York in the month of June.

I am the type of person who tries to look at a situation from every angle before making a judgment about it, good or bad. I want to walk around it, peer under it, climb over it and look down from above; I want to make sure I haven’t missed a single detail. So when Naomi Ash says “First I had to get his body into the boat” in the very first line of After Life I did not immediately assume she intentionally murdered her boyfriend, Peter Morton. Nowhere does she say as much on page one. Maybe Peter Morton had an accident, like falling off the roof or a fatal health episode, like a heart attack. And maybe, just maybe, since Naomi Ash lives in such a remote area she needed to illegally dispose of his body. Thinking a little darker – maybe Peter and Naomi fought and things went horribly sideways. Or maybe his death was a suicide, but he made it look like murder because he wanted to frame her. In the first two hundred pages of After Life the reader cannot be sure of anything at all. For two hundred pages Naomi slowly navigates the story of her childhood, her teenage years, how she became a medium, and her current life in the community of Train Line. She carefully parses out the details of everything but Peter Morton’s death. The mystery of what happened to her boyfriend stays tightly under wraps for a good portion of the book.
But the story is worth the wait. In the meantime Ellis writes with an other-worldly aura that keeps the reader entertained. She moves through language with languid grace, like slow moving water. Take for example, the way Ellis describes a voice falling flat in a deep snow-covered landscape. She is correct. If you have ever stood in a winter white landscape you know if the snow is deep enough it has a way of making sound plummet into an eerie depth of alien silence.
The plot of Ellis’s short book is simple. Naomi Ash, following in her mother’s footsteps, is a medium. She lives and practices her craft in a community called Train Line in the fictional town of Wallamee, in upstate New York. She has let readers know that she continues to carry the secret of disposing of the body of her boyfriend, Peter Morton. The secret has laid buried, just like Peter, for a decade. Like all skeletons, in the closet or otherwise, they eventually resurface and when Peter’s bones are discovered, the whole town buzzes with the mystery. Meanwhile, coincidentally, Naomi’s mother’s trade is growing stale and people are tiring of her. Her radio show is about to be canceled. What better way to jump start a failing career than to solve the mystery of the bones?

Confessional: as the hostilities towards Naomi grow I found myself becoming more and more anxious for her. First the child she babysits in the afternoons starts to turn on her, then Officer Peterson takes a curious dislike to her.

As an aside, when I first saw the title I immediately thought of Ricky Gervais and his show of the same name. They are not the same.
As another aside, the harvesting of grapes made me think of my wedding. All of the wine came from the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.

Lines I immediately identified with, “My mother’s good moods could be more bewildering than her bad ones” (p 64), and “You could life up one of her lies and find a truth beneath it, and then find beneath that truth another lie, and spend your whole life pulling away layers and never get to the bottom of it” (p 122), and one more, “Mothers and daughters are put on Earth to tear each others hearts out” (p 249). Enough about mothers. Here is another good quote completely unrelated to mothers, “…but opening my mouth on that subject would gain me no friends” (p 96).

Author fact: After Life is Rhian Ellis’s first and only novel.

Book trivia: the version of After Life that I picked up was a Nancy Pearl Presents a Book Lust Rediscovery. She wrote the introduction to this edition. Confession: I had never heard of Book Lust Rediscovery and wonder how many other books are republished as such.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “First Lines to Remember” (p 86).

Black Orchids

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Stout, Rex. Black Orchids. Books on Tape, 2007.

Reason read: to continue the series started in November. We’ll be here awhile.

We all know Nero Wolfe is loath to leave his New York City brownstone. The few exceptions readers have seen so far are when Wolfe thought Archie’s life was in danger or when orchids were involved. This time, it is the allure of three rare hybrid black orchids at a flower show. Wolfe cannot resist their siren song. Lewis Hewitt is the wealthy business man who has three variations of a black orchid showcased at the exhibition, and Wolfe wants them all for himself. During this exhibition, additional entertainment includes a strange exhibit of a couple miming a picnic. Day in and day out, the couple pretends to enjoy a garden lunch. When the male companion, Harry Gould, is murdered, Wolfe sees an opportunity to gamble with Hewitt for the orchids. Hewitt is facing murder charges when it is discovered his walking stick was used in the commission of the murder. All evidence points to Hewitt as the guilty party.

Author fact: Rex Stout enlisted in the Navy.

Book trivia: Black Orchids was published as a novella along with a second story, Cordially Invited to Meet Death.

Book Audio trivia: Michael Pritchard narrates the audio book I listened to in the car. Someone digitized the cassette tapes so every once in awhile Michael will say, “this book is continued on cassette number three, side A” or “this audio is continued on side B. Please turn the tape over.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 226). Here is the weird thing about this addition – Black Orchids is a novella and since Cordially Invited to Meet Death is not on my Challenge list, I am not reading it.

Children’s Bach

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Garner, Helen. The Children’s Bach. Pantheon Book, 1984.

Reason read: May is music month but there is not much in the way of music in this book.

Within less than two hundred pages Helen Garner has managed to condense a complete picture of the institution of marriage. Dexter and Athena Fox had a steady, quiet relationship. They went for long walks and coexisted in relative peace. That is, until along came Elizabeth, a former friend of Dexter’s from college. They hadn’t seen each other in years, but without warning Elizabeth started shaking up their lives with her rock musician boyfriend and his teenage daughter in tow. Suddenly, Athena was seeing the world through a different lens and started to wonder if she made the right choices early in life. Her marriage. Her lifestyle. Her future. It as if Athena experienced a mid-life crisis of epic proportions.

Quotes I had to acknowledge, “In this frame of mind, savage with homesickness and loneliness, she roamed the city, daring it to tackle her” (p 36). So beautiful. And this was, that made me laugh, “He was chucking a mental” (p 130).

Confessional: Gaps in the dialogue make the action jumpy. When did Dexter agree to give Elizabeth and Vicky a ride? One minute they are in the airport, the next they are traveling in a car.

Author fact: Garner published many of her journals. She also wrote Monkey Grip which is on my challenge list.

Book trivia: the foreword forewarned of the numerous characters. Indeed. Athena. Dexter. Arthur. Billy. Elizabeth. Vicky. Philip. Poppy. The fact that the book made Rumaan Alam want to go for a run is intriguing. Supposedly she hates to run.

Setlist: Ravel’s Bolero, La Traviata, Haydn, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do”, “The Wild Colonial Boy”, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, Steve Winwood, Elvis Presley, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Mary Ford and Les Paul’s “How High the Moon”, Don Giovanni, “The Vicar of Bray”, “Jerusalem”, Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok, Bach’s Small Preludes, Kabelevsky, and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”.

Nancy said: Pearl admitted that The Children’s Bach was old and hard to get a copy of.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Australia, the Land of Oz: Fiction (p 26).

Too Much Too Young

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Rachel, Daniel. Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story” Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a Generation. Akashic, 2024.

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing I sometimes get to review cool books in the Early Review program. Too Much Too Young is one such book.

Sit down too long with Too Much Too Young and you will start to feel like you are reading an encyclopedia of song and band names. Namedropping and song humming. Daniel Rachel has done his homework and then some when it comes to the musical beginnings of the 2 Tone record label with art student Jerry Dammers. Rachel even includes a tweet from 2020. The record label’s first signed bands: the Specials, the Selecter, and the Madness (and to think they could have signed UB40). 2 Tone’s sound: from the beginning there were a British take on Jamaican music but after a while they morphed into a mad scientist blend of ska, reggae, punk, rock, Motown, funk, pop, R & B, soul, and disco. Their goal: to represent opposition to discriminations of all types, to fight for equality, and to rage against a national epidemic of violence. They encouraged positivity and joy. Their look: tonic suits, porkpie hats, skinny ties, wraparound shades, and Dr. Martens. Rachel exposes the good, bad, and the ugly of the era. Well worth the encyclopedic read even though, when you think about it, you are reading about a record label that only lasted less than two years due to creative differences, clashing egos and in-fighting.
As an aside, I did not know that Jerry Dammers introduced the concept of Musak.
Same as it ever was: sometimes all it takes is that one unexpected opportunity. The Automatics stood in for the Clash and got their sound out there. Imagine Dragons did the same thing when the lead singer for Train was unable to perform.
Same as it ever was: skinheads hated the hippies and Pakistanis. There will always be hate in this world.

Natalie Moment: when Rachel was talking about performing “Hard Time”, a pessimistic song but dancing while performing it. Natalie talked about performing “What’s the Matter Here?” being a danceable tune about child abuse.
Another Natalie Moment: Too Much Too Young = Eat For Two?

Book trivia: Too Much Too Young takes its title from the Specials song “Too Much Too Young”, their first number 1 hit.

Author fact: Rachel has written a bunch of interesting books. Too Much Too Young is my first.

Best Line possible: “A band stands or falls by its drummer” (p 270). Amen to that.

Playlist Extravaganza:

  • Songs:
    • “007”
    • “10 Commandments”
    • “19”
    • “Aint No Love in the Heart of the City”
    • “Al Capone”
    • “Alcohol”
    • “Alphabet Army”
    • “Anarchy in the UK”
    • “At the Club”
    • “Atomic”
    • “Away”
    • “Back Home”
    • “Back to Life”
    • “Backfield in Motion”
    • “Baggy Trousers”
    • “the Ballad of Robin Hood”
    • “Bank Robber”
    • “Bed and Breakfast Man”
    • “Begin the Beguine”
    • “Berlin”
    • “Best Friend”
    • “Big Shot”
    • “Bitch”
    • “Black and Blue”
    • “Bluebeat and Ska?”
    • “the Boiler”
    • “the Boxer”
    • “Braggin’ and Tryin’ Not to Lie”
    • “Break down the Door”
    • “Bright Lights”
    • “Burn the Shithouse Down (Before the Yanks Do)”
    • “Cardiac Arrest”
    • “Carolina”
    • “Carry Go Bring Come”
    • “Celebrate the Bullet”
    • “Chant Down Babylon”
    • “Chiang Kai Shek”
    • “Click Click”
    • “Conscious Man”
    • “Concrete Jungle”
    • “Conspiracy”
    • “Coward of the County”
    • “Dancing wioth Tears in My Eyes”
    • “Danger”
    • “Dawning of a New Era”
    • “Do nothing”
    • “Do the Dog”
    • “Doesn’t Make It Right”
    • “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”
    • “Double Barrel”
    • “Drowning in Berlin”
    • “the Easy Life”
    • “Easy Snappin'”
    • “Embarrassment”
    • “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)””
    • “the Entertainer”
    • “Envy the Love”
    • “Everyday”
    • “the Feelin’s Gone”
    • “Female Chauvinistic Pig”
    • “Fiesta”
    • “Free Love”
    • “(Free) Nelson Mandela”
    • “Friday Club”
    • “Friday Night, Saturday Morning”
    • “Funky Stuff”
    • “Gangsters”
    • “Ganja”
    • “Geno”
    • “Get Off of My Cloud”
    • “Ghost Town”
    • “Girls Talk”
    • “Give It Up”
    • “Going Underground”
    • “Greek Tragedy”
    • “Guns of Navarone”
    • “Hands Off…She’s Mine”
    • “Happy Birthday”
    • “Hawaii Five-0”
    • “Hear My Sing, Violetta”
    • “He’s Gonna Step on You Again”
    • “Hey Little Rich girl”
    • “Holiday Fortnight”
    • “Hot Legs”
    • “Housebound”
    • “I Call Your Name”
    • “I Can See Clearly Now”
    • “I Can’t Stand It”
    • “I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down”
    • “I Could Be Happy”
    • “I Don’t Want to Live with Monkeys”
    • “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
    • “I Shot the Sheriff”
    • “I Spy for the FBI”
    • “I’ll Fly for You”
    • “I’m an Upstart”
    • “I’m Going to Kill Myself”
    • “I’m in the Mood for Dancing”
    • “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida”
    • “Inner London Violence”
    • “the International Jet Set”
    • “the Israelites”
    • “It Aint Easy”
    • “It Mek”
    • “It Should Have Been Me”
    • “It’s Up to You”
    • “Jackpot”
    • “James Bond”
    • “Japanese Boy”
    • “Jaywalker”
    • “Jingle Bells”
    • “John Peel’s New Signature Tune”
    • “Jungle Music”
    • “Keep On Moving”
    • “King”
    • “Kingston Affair”
    • “Land of Hope and Glory”
    • “the Land of Make Believe”
    • “Let’s Clean Up the Ghetto”
    • “Let’s Do Rock Steady”
    • “Lip Up Fatty”
    • “Liquidator”
    • “Little Bitch”
    • “A Live Injection”
    • “Living a Life Without Meaning”
    • “London Bridge”
    • “Lonely Crowd”
    • “Long Live Love”
    • “Long Shot Kick de Bucket”
    • “the Lost and the Lonely”
    • “Love of the Common People”
    • “Lovers Concerto”
    • “the Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)”
    • “Maggie’s Farm”
    • “Magic Roundabout”
    • “Man at C & A”
    • “Mantrovani”
    • “Message in a Bottle”
    • “A Message to You Rudy”
    • “Messages”
    • “Mirror in the Bathroom”
    • “Mirror, Mirror (Mon Amour)”
    • “Missing Words”
    • “Mistakes”
    • “Money in My Pocket”
    • “Monkey Man”
    • “Monkey Spanner”
    • “Moonlight Sonata”
    • “Mother and Child Reunion”
    • “Mr Brown”
    • “Mr Full Stop”
    • “Mule Jerk”
    • “Murder”
    • “My Boy Lollipop”
    • “My Collie”
    • “My Ding-a-Ling
    • “My Generation”
    • “My Girl”
    • “Nee Nee Na Na Na Na Na Na Nu Nu”
    • “Neanderthal Man”
    • “Never on a Sunday”
    • “Night Boat to Cairo”
    • “Night Klub”
    • “Nutty Train”
    • “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
    • “Oliver’s Army”
    • “On My Radio”
    • “One of Us”
    • “One Minute Every Hour”
    • “One Step Beyond”
    • “Our Lips are Sealed”
    • “Out on the Streets”
    • “Palm Trees”
    • “Pearl’s Café”
    • “People Get Ready”
    • “Picking the Blues”
    • “Pirates on the Airways”
    • “Plead I Cause”
    • “Poison Ivy”
    • “Police and Thieves”
    • “The Prince”
    • “Put the Punk Back in Funk”
    • “Put People First”
    • “Pussy Prince”
    • “Racist Friend”
    • “Ranking Full Stop”
    • “Raquel”
    • “Rat Race”
    • “Red, Red Wine”
    • “Red Top”
    • “Reggae in Your Jeggae”
    • “Return of Django”
    • “Riders on the Storm”
    • “Robber Dub”
    • “Rock and Roll Nightmare”
    • “Romeo and Juliet”
    • “Rough Rider”
    • “Roxanne”
    • “Rude Boys Outa Jail”
    • “Ruder Than You”
    • “Rudi Got Married”
    • “Run for Your Life”
    • “Run Me down”
    • “Runaway Boys”
    • “Rush, rush”
    • “Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic”
    • “Saturday Night Special”
    • “Save It For Later”
    • “Sea Cruise”
    • “The Selecter”
    • “Shake Some Action”
    • “Shop Around”
    • “Silly Games”
    • “Ska Wars”
    • “Skinhead Moonstomp”
    • “Skinhead Symphony”
    • “Smokestack Lightning”
    • “Smoking My Ganja”
    • “Sock it to Em JB”
    • “Son of a Preacher Man”
    • “Soul Limbo”
    • “Soulful I”
    • “SpasticusAutisticus”
    • “Speak to Me of Love”
    • “Special Brew”
    • “Stereotypes”
    • “Stepping Into Line”
    • “Street Feeling”
    • “Stupid Girl”
    • “Stupid Marriage”
    • “the Sun Has Got It’s Hat On”
    • “Sweet and Dandy”
    • “the Swinging Cats Sing”
    • “Take 5”
    • “Tarzan’s Nuts”
    • “Tear the Whole Thing Down”
    • “Tears of a Clown”
    • “the Telephone Always Rings”
    • “Texas Hold-Up”
    • “They Make Me Mad”
    • “the Third Man Theme”
    • “Three Minute Hero”
    • “Time Hard”
    • “Time is Tight”
    • “To Cut a Long Story Short”
    • “Tom Hark”
    • “Too Experienced”
    • “Too Hot”
    • “Too Much Pressure”
    • “Too Much Too Young”
    • “Too Nice to Talk to”
    • “A Touch of Velvet – A String of Bass”
    • “Touchdown”
    • “Train to Skaville”
    • “Turning Japanese”
    • “Twist and Crawl”
    • “Under My Thumb”
    • “Video Killed the Radio Star”
    • “Vienna”
    • “Walking on the Moon”
    • “War Child”
    • “War Crimes (the Crime Remains the Same”
    • “Watching the Detectives”
    • “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
    • “We’re Only Monsters”
    • “West End Girls”
    • “What I Like Best About You is Your Girlfriend”
    • “What is Soul?”
    • “Whatcha Talkin’ About?”
    • “What’s It All About, Alfie?”
    • “When I Need You”
    • “Whine and Grine”
    • “the Whisper”
    • “Whistling Song”
    • “Why?”
    • “Why Argue with Fate”
    • “Wild Boys”
    • “Window Shopping”
    • “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”
    • “Wonderwall”
    • “Wrong Attitude”
    • “X”
    • “Yeh Yeh”
    • “Ylang Ylang”
    • “You Keep Me Hanging On”
    • “Young, Gifted and Black”
    • “Young Hearts Run Free”
    • “You’re Wondering Now”
  • Bands:
    • 10cc
    • ABBA
    • Adam and the AntsAngelic Upstarts
    • Akry Iykz
    • Alex Harvey Band
    • Altered Images
    • Andrew Ridgely
    • Apolloinaires
    • Aretha Franklin
    • the Automatics
    • Bach
    • Bad Manners
    • the Beat
    • the Beatles
    • Belinda Carlisle
    • Black Velvet
    • Blue Mink
    • Blodwyn Pig
    • Blondie
    • Bob Andy
    • Bob and Marcia
    • Bob Dylan
    • Bob Marley and the Wailers
    • Bobbie Henry
    • the Bodysnatchers
    • Booker T and the MGs
    • Boomtown Rats
    • Bow Wow Wow
    • Buck’s Fizz
    • Burning Spear
    • the Buzzcocks
    • Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
    • Capital Letters
    • Channel A
    • Chapter 5
    • Charlie Parkas
    • Charlie Parker
    • Chic
    • Chrissie Hynde
    • Chuck Berry
    • the Clash
    • Climie Fisher
    • Cockney Rebel
    • Cole Porter
    • Cool Interrogators
    • Coventry Automatics
    • Coventry Special
    • Criminal Class
    • the Cult
    • Curiosity Killed the Cat
    • the Damned
    • Dandy Livingstone
    • Darts
    • Dave and Ansel Collins
    • David Bowie
    • David Byrne
    • David Wakeling
    • Debbie Harry
    • Def Leppard
    • the Defendants
    • Dennis Brown
    • Desmond Decker and the Aces
    • Dexys Midnight Runners
    • Diana Ross
    • Dickie Doo & the Don’ts
    • Dire Straits
    • Dollar
    • the Dooleys
    • the Doors
    • Dr. Hook
    • Duane Eddy
    • Dudu Pukwana
    • Dum Dum Boys
    • Duran Duran
    • Dusty Springfield
    • Earthbound
    • Eddy Grant
    • Elton John
    • Elvis Costello and the Attractions
    • Elvis Presley
    • England World Cup Squad
    • the Equals
    • Equators
    • Eric Clapton
    • ET Rockers
    • Ethiopians
    • Everything But the Girl
    • the Faces
    • Fats Domino & the Coasters
    • Fine young Cannibals
    • Flamin’ Groovies
    • Fleetwood Max
    • Frankie Ford
    • Freddie and the Dreamers
    • the Friday Club
    • Fun Boy Three
    • Generation X
    • George Fame and the Blue Flames
    • George Michael
    • Gil Scot-Heron
    • the Go-Gos
    • Gregory Isaacs
    • Grinderswitch
    • Haircvut 100
    • Hard Top 22
    • Heatwave
    • the Higsons
    • Hipsway
    • Holly and the Italians
    • Horace Andy
    • Hot Chocolate
    • Housemartins
    • Howlin’ Wolf
    • Huey Lewis and the News
    • Hugh Masekela
    • Human League
    • the Hybrids
    • Ian Drury & the Blockheads
    • the Impressions
    • Iron Butterfly
    • Isley Brothers
    • J.B. Allstars
    • Jam
    • Janet Kay
    • Jaywalkers
    • Jazz Afrika
    • Jethro Tull
    • Jim Morrison
    • Jimmy Cliff
    • Joan Armatrading
    • Joan Baez
    • John Kongo
    • John Lennon
    • John Mayall
    • Johnny Nash
    • Johnny Rotten
    • Johnny Thunders
    • Jolly Brothers
    • Joy Division
    • Julian Bahula
    • Junior Murvin
    • K.C. & the Sunshine Band
    • Kate Bush
    • Kenny Rogers
    • Kim Wilde
    • the Kinks
    • Kool and the Gang
    • Laurel Aitken
    • the Lambrettas
    • Lena Martell
    • Lene Lovitch
    • Leo Sayer
    • the Leyton Buzzards
    • Liam Gallagher
    • Lionel Hampton
    • Little Feat
    • Lloydie and the —
    • Lou Reed
    • Lynn Franks
    • Madness
    • Mark Knopfler
    • Marvin Gaye
    • Matchbox
    • the Maytals
    • the Members
    • Mersey Beat
    • the Meritones
    • Merton Parkas
    • Mick Jagger
    • Millie Small
    • Mistakes
    • Mo-dettes
    • Mobiles
    • the Mood Mosaic
    • the Monkees
    • Motorhead
    • New Romantics
    • Neville Hinds
    • Neville Staple
    • Nicky Thomas
    • the Nips
    • Nite Train
    • Nolan Sisters
    • Oasis
    • Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
    • Paul Hardcastle
    • Paul McCartney
    • Paul Simon
    • Pauline Vickers
    • Pay King
    • Pet Shop Boys
    • Peter Tosh
    • Pink Floyd
    • the Pioneers
    • Piranhas
    • Plastic Ono Band
    • The Pogues
    • the Police
    • Poly Styrene
    • Posh Spice
    • Prefabsprout
    • the Pretenders
    • Prince Buster
    • Pharaoh’s Kingdom
    • Public Image Limited
    • Ray Charles
    • Red Beans and Rice
    • Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers
    • Right Hand Lovers
    • Rod Stewart
    • Roddy Radiation and the Wild Boys
    • Rolling Stones
    • Ronnie Lane
    • Rory Gallagher
    • Roxy Music
    • RU12
    • the Ruts
    • Sade
    • the Saints
    • Sam & Dave
    • School Meals
    • the Selecter
    • Sex Pistols
    • the Shadows
    • Sham69
    • Showaddyywaddy
    • Sinead O’Connort
    • Siouxsie Sioux
    • Simply Red
    • Sister Sledge
    • Skatalites
    • the Slits
    • Sly and Robbie
    • Soft Cell
    • Soul II Soul
    • Southside Greek
    • Small Faces
    • Spandeau Ballet
    • the Specials
    • Special AKA
    • Squad
    • Squeeze
    • Steel Pulse
    • Steeleye Span
    • Stevie Wonder
    • the Stooges
    • Stray Cats
    • Style Council
    • Suicide
    • Sunday Best
    • the Supremes
    • Swing Out Sister
    • the Swinging Cats
    • the Swinging Laurels
    • Talking Heads
    • Ten Years After
    • Thin Lizzie
    • Thompson Twins
    • Three Degrees
    • Toyah Wilcox
    • the Transposed Men
    • True Expression
    • Tubeway Army
    • UB40
    • UK Subs
    • Ultravox
    • Untouchables
    • the Upsetters
    • the Vibrators
    • Victor Romero Evans
    • Wah! Heat
    • Way of the West
    • Wayne/Jayne County
    • Wham!
    • the Who
    • Working Week
    • XTC
    • Yoko Ono
    • the Young Rascals