Tag: march

Last Amateurs

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Feinstein, John. The Last Amateurs: Playing for Glory and Honor in Division I College Basketball. Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

Reason read: in college basketball there is a thing called March Madness. Read in honor of the hype.

John Feinstein spent a season with the basketball players of the Patriots League. What started as an assignment for the Washington Post (even though Feinstein was not working for the organization at the time) turned into The Last Amateurs. This is an in-depth peek into the lives of the players as athletes, students, sons, and brothers. Ambitious coaches become fathers and husbands. Characters become real people as personal lives are explored. Because Last Amateurs is extremely well researched readers will get a play by play of the more significant games and mini biographies of coaches, colleges, and players. All the heartbreak due to injury or losses as well as the triumphs of success. They will also get added detail like the careers and alma maters of the parents of the players. Rutgers, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Navy, Lehigh, Lafayette, Army, Colgate, Duke, Wagner, Yale, Penn State, and Villanova are the institutions to get Feinstein’s extensive coverage. Feinstein’s description of the the game between Lehigh and Lafayette was pretty exciting. I almost could feel the atmosphere in the gym as the players battled for the win.
Confessional: I had never heard of the Patriot League.

The me connection: Feinstein mentions Fairleigh Dickinson University. I earned my Bachelors degree from F.D.U.
Another connection: the Worcester Six. When Feinstein mentioned the horrible fire that took the lives of six firefighters I immediately thought of the race I have run as a fundraiser for their families.
I am always looking for ways to become a better supervisor. When Feinstein said players were always looser when the coach was not in the room it struck a chord with me.

Author fact: Feinstein has written a bunch of books on a variety of subjects. I will be reading another book about basketball and one about the PGA for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Feinstein admitted that every good book needed photographs. The Last Amateurs has a great suite of black and whites.

Music: “Happy Birthday,” and “Amazing Grace.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Sports and Games” (p 225).

A New Life

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Malamud, Bernard. A New Life. Farrar, Straus and Cuahy, 1961.

Reason read: Malamud passed away in the month of March. Read in his memory.

Moving from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, Seymour Levin has a cringy start to his new life. His boss invites him for dinner on his first night in town. He hasn’t even been to his new residence before Levin has hot soup dropped in his lap, is peed on by his boss’s young son, and is forced to wear his boss’s clothes while his are being cleaned by his boss’s overanxious wife. It is almost as if Pauline and Gerald are holding Levin hostage. Somehow right away you know Levin’s new life on the west coast isn’t going to be all that he dreamed it would be.
Once settle in Cascadia, Levin experiences a lot of firsts: first driver’s license; first ownership of a vehicle; first time out of a big city; first time teaching at the college level; first time confronting a student about cheating; first time confronting a peer about censorship; first time challenging a time-honored text. Throughout all these firsts, Levin is desperate for human companionship. A brush of a female breast at a party and he suddenly he is in love. The wife of his boss takes advantage of his loneliness to treat him as a confessional. Things spiral from there.
Levin’s professional immaturity causes him to get caught up in the political drama of the liberal arts degree and who will be the next head of the department.
All along you are wondering, what kind of life did Levin leave behind in New York? Strange that he didn’t research the area (or the job) before uprooting his entire life. And who is this Leo Duffy guy that everyone says they should not talk about and yet they do?

The more things change…”Also we are worried because he is a foreigner and everybody is touchy on that subject nowadays” (p 78). This was 1961. Nothing has changed.

As an aside, what does Levin mean when he said he killed his choices? Is it like when Natalie said she mercy killed her cravings?
As another aside, I love it when there is a connection between the books I am reading. In New Life there is a heated discussion about student athletes and how their studies take a back seat to sports. The students are more important as athletes than academics. In Last Amateurs by John Feinstein there is a very real commentary about the same controversy.

Quotes to quote, “He was dead set against the destruction of unlived time” (p 59), “The future as new life was no longer predictable” (p 164) and “Out of love he gave her up” (p 251).

Author fact: Malamud write two other books before A New Life.

Book trivia: A New Life has shades of autobiography as Malamud, a Jewish New Yorker, taught in Oregon. Was he trying to escape his past like Seymour Levin?

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “The Jewish-American Experience” (p 132). Also in More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living High in Cascadia” (p 152).

Shadow Puppets

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Card, Orson Scott. Shadow Puppets. Read by David Birney and Stefan Rudnicki. Macmillan Audio, 2002.

Reason read: to finally finish the series started in October in recognition of Science Fiction month way back in October.

We pick up where we left off in Shadow of the Hegemon. Bean married Petra and they are trying to have children, ones without Bean’s mutated genes. As an aside, I found Petra’s fawning behavior a little unsettling considering how much of a badass she was in Shadow of the Hegemon. Did love make her mushy? Where was the smart warrior from before? Anyway, back to the characters. Achilles is somehow still terrorizing the universe despite losing his most of his backers. Peter Wiggin is trying to unite the planet Earth for survival. Peter’s parents insist on going with him everywhere (and are hilarious, I might add). A few other battle school grads pop up in interesting places with even more interesting roles.
The geopolitical parts of Shadow Puppets were more interesting than the didactic Mormon sections. I appreciated the return of Alai, an old battle schoolmate, despite his convoluted character. I think it is safe to say this was my least favorite of the Shadow series.

Author fact: Orson Scott Byron Walley Card studied theater.

Book trivia: Shadow Puppets is the third book in the Shadow series and the seventh book in the Enderverse series.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 214).

Breaking the Barnyard Barrier

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Rhodes, Linda. Breaking the Barnyard Barrier: A Woman Veterinarian Paves the Way. University of Nevada Press, 2026.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to real really interesting books. This is one of those books.

The year is 1975 Mormon Utah and six months after graduation Linda Rhodes is surrounded by a bunch of worried men and a very pregnant cow trying to give birth to a breeched 150 pound bull calf. The men in the room are not used to a woman taking charge of what is normally their world and, despite it being the middle of the night, their discomfort is palpable. I cannot imagine the pressure Rhodes must have been feeling. Her student loans were coming due and this internship was her one shot to prove she could be a capable large animal veterinarian. This is how readers are introduced to Linda and her memoir, Breaking the Barnyard Barrier.
Throughout Linda’s fight to become a large animal veterinarian she had to endure sexist comments about sewing being a “girl thing” and being called a little lady or dear. The university where she interned did not have a changing room for women. And speaking of clothes, Rhodes had to dress feminine for her interview despite the position being a farm job.
At the same time as trying to prove herself in a man’s world, Linda juggled a long-distance marriage and ailing parents. Her support system was across the country and could do very little to help.
The unexpected bonus of reading Breaking the Barnyard Barrier was learning more about Utah (the roads are numbered in relationship to how far away the towns are from the Temple) and Mormons (they do not drink coffee or have anything to do with the beverage. You can be disowned for drinking coffee!). I also appreciated the black and white photographs. Utah is beautiful.
I truly enjoyed Breaking the Barnyard Barrier and I hope Rhodes writes again. I’m sure there are plenty more stories she could tell.
As an aside, is it standard to ask a new veterinarian to put a nose ring on a bull? Linda is tested with such a task and if I remember correctly, so was James Harriet in All Creatures Great and Small.

This has got to be one of the coolest playlists yet: Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty,” Joan Baez, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” Doc Watson, Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Oh Death,” the Grateful Dead, “Home On the Range,” Joni Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, “Ukulele Lady,” “Somebody Stole My Gal,” Jim Kweskin, and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Murder By the Book

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Stout, Rex. Murder By the Book. Bantam Books, 1992.

Reason read: to continue the series started a year ago.

It is not often that Inspector Cramer needs help from Nero Wolfe, but that is exactly what happens in Murder By the Book on the very first page. Cramer is horribly stuck on a case that has gone cold as ice. Leonard Dykes, a clerk for a law firm, has drowned in the East River. It seemed to be a suicide until Joan Wellerman was killed in a hit and run accident. These two people have a connection so was it suicide and an accident or murder for both? Adding to the body count is Rachel Abrams, a stenographer thrown from her office window. She also has the same connection. Author Baird Archer seems to be in the middle of the mess as it is his unpublished manuscript which ties all three deaths together. It appears that anyone who reads it winds up dead.
Navigating the twists and turns of the case is, as always, wise-talking Archie Goodwin. He gets a chance to flirt with multiple ladies in this adventure.
This was the first Nero Wolfe mystery that I was able to listen to as an audio book. It was fun, but I think I’ll stick to print.

As an aside, my birthday is one of a few pivotal dates in the story.

Confessional: I am getting pretty sick of Stout telling his readers that Wolfe never leaves his house on business. I have not been keeping track, but the last book had Wolfe gone for months.

Author fact: I am losing track of what I have said about Mr. Stout. Did I mention he was the sixth of nine children?

Book trivia: Murder By the Book is the nineteenth book in the Nero Wolfe series.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the never-ending chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 226).

Surviving the Wild

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Kimberly Anne. Surviving the Wild: an Untamed Woman Opens Her Cage. Awaken Village Press, 2026.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I sometimes get to review fun books. this is one such book.

Kimberly Anne wants her memoir to come with instruction. My takeaways were to not be afraid to take chances, find ways to travel the world, and if you do, bring nice underwear. Kimberly begins her story twelve years earlier on a farm in Wisconsin, divorcing her husband of fifteen years. On impulse she and a girlfriend travel to Belize for a little getaway. Unexpectedly, she meets a beautiful and sexy stranger. On impulse she returns to Belize to live with him. Thus begins Kimberly’s love affair with the Caribbean, if not the man. After Belize came Costa Rica, Panama, and Puerto Rico. And more men.
In truth I would have liked to have gotten to know Kimberly Anne a little better as a traveler instead of Kimberly the horn dog with a libido the size of Alaska. Towards the end of Surviving the Wild Kimberly turns a little didactic about her personal and spiritual growth, but I still didn’t get the sense of who she was before or after her personal transformation. I know way more about her underwear situation than was necessary. She called herself “wild” and “feral” but what exactly did she mean by that? In my mind, feral is living off the land without a single modern convenience. No running water. No cooked meals. No comfy roof overhead. No dependence on anyone or anything.
One cannot help but make comparisons to Elizabeth Gilbert, intentionally or not.

As an aside, when Kimberly talked about a “tiny island” with less than 1,000 residents I thought to myself she should try an island with less than 60 people. You want to talk about knowing everybody and their business!
As another aside, Kimberly reminds me of Kathleen Edwards. Someone once told her she had the face of angel and the mouth of a sailor. I cannot confirm the angel part as there are no photographs or full names in Surviving the Wild but I can confirm the sailor bit.

Confessional: I just spent eight weeks training for a run. My trainer filmed her sessions in Costa Rica and talked about the pura vida spirit of the island. I was surprised Kimberly Anne didn’t mention this during her time on the island.

Playlist: Burna Boy, Snoop Dogg, Romeo Santos, and Taylor Swift.

Devils in the Sugar Shop

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Schaffert, Timothy. Devils in the Sugar Shop. Unbridled Books, 2006.

Reason read: Nebraska becomes a state in the month of March.

Devils in the Sugar Shop takes place in the Old Market district of Omaha, Nebraska, back in a time when smokers were cordoned off in dark lounges with thread-bare carpets and worn exhausted furniture. The “sugar shop” is an adult sex toy shop. Deedee Millwood is it’s top seller and has won a trip to the Bahamas. Reminds me of my aunt, only she sold cars for Toyota and was sent to Mexico several times.
All of the characters are interconnected in various ways. There isn’t much a plot in Devils in the Sugar Shop. With the advent of Valentine’s Day approaching everyone ‘s sense of priority is out of whack. Not much happens in Devils in the Sugar Shop except a lot of gossip and party planning. Everyone is screwing someone else. Deedee is nearly forty and divorced. Her best friend is Ashley Allyson. Deedee and her husband, Zeke, are taking art classes to improve their divorce (how progressive of them). Zeke is messing around with Vivian, also a friend of Ashley Allyson. Ashley’s husband, Troy, works for Mrs. Bloom at the Omaha Street, an alternate news weekly, as an editor and writer. Viviane Daily, an artist of sorts, enjoys day drinking and is receiving obscene pictures from an unknown stalker. Mrs. Bloom is also in the aforementioned art class. Mrs. Bloom used to be a birthday clown, a reverend, an art therapist at a prison, and an organizer of poetry slams for cancer patients. Ashley’s son Leo is gay. Tucker is tallish dwarf and an artist from Mississippi. Peach and Plum are twenty-something year old twins who own a bookstore. Plum is married to Mickey.
Once you get all the characters straight, Devils in the Sugar Shop is a sexy romp set in Omaha, Nebraska (of all places).

Does anyone else find it ironic that Ashley’s first novel was published with a font created by a children’s book author? Keep in mind Ashley writes erotica.

Author fact: while Shaffert wrote a bunch of other books, I am only reading Devils in the Sugar Shop for the Challenge. As an aside, Timothy Schaffert knows his shoe brands.

Book trivia: the cover of Devils in the Sugar Shop is based on a design for a Polish release of an 1968 Italian film. Cool.

Music mentioned: Garth Brooks, Vivaldi’s “Spring,” Jean Stafford, Josephine Baker, Concrete Blonde, Diana Ross, Roy Eldreidge’s “If I Had You,” Red Hot Chili Peppers, Orenda Fink, “King of the Road,” REO Speedwagon, Air Supply, Billie Holiday’s “Everything Happens to Me,” “I Must Have That Man,” and “I Don’t Want to Cry,” Bloodcow, Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, Cher, Mary J. Blige, Chet Baker, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Heart of Glass,” and Tina Turner.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Nebraska: the Big Empty” (p 148).

Mystique

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Quick, Amanda. Mystique. Bantam Books, 1995.

Reason read: March is Quick’s birth month. read in her honor.

Written in 1995 as a historical romance, Mystique features Sir Hugh the Relentless, a knight destined to tangle with a sharp-tongued and beautiful redhead named Lady Alice. Sir Hugh is a dark, brooding, physically perfect legend. Alice is a green-eyed and headstrong twenty-three year old stuck living with an uncle who has stolen her family fortune. Together, Hugh and Alice search for a missing dull green crystal. It’s an ugly and misshapen stone, but somehow everyone wants it. Beyond the ugly green crystal lies a deeper curse – the rivalry between the manors of Rivenhall and Scarcliffe. Independently, both parties want something from the other. Each has an ulterior motive. So do Alice and Hugh. Alice wants she and her brother to be free of a tyrannical uncle and Hugh wants a wife. Readers are frequently reminded that Hugh is your typical black-haired, black-clothed, dangerously intelligent knight while Alice maintains a witty, feisty and independent air. She prefers science over romance. She wants to join a convent to study natural philosophy.
In the beginning of Mystique I was not sure if I liked Alice. While she was funny (calling her first sexual encounter with Sir Hugh the Relentless as “instructive”), she was also annoying in her pursuits. I begrudgingly admired her determination to not let anyone rule her.
Maybe it was just me, but I thought Mystique ended abruptly.

As an aside, what is it about the color Kelly green? Amber, the main character in Forever Amber, also wore a great deal of green.

Line I liked, “He made it a rule to hire the most adept individuals and then he gave those individuals the authority to carry out their duties” (p 152).

Author fact: Amanda Quick is the penname of Jayne Ann Krentz. If you are holding a book by Amanda Quick, you are reading a historical romance-suspense. Although I am not reading any, if you are holding a book by Jane Castle, you are reading a futuristic paranormal. To learn more about Quick visit her website here.

Book trivia: Mystique is not the only Amanda Quick book I am reading for the Challenge. Also on my list is Scandal, Mistress, Wicked Window, and Slightly Shady. Mystique is quick’s eleventh romance.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the cute chapter called “Romance Novels: Our Love is Here to Stay” (p 203).

Wife of the Gods

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Quarty, Kwei. Wife of the Gods. Narrated by Simon Prebble. Trantor Media, 2010.
Quarty, Kwei. Wife of the Gods. Random House, 2009.

Reason read: in the month of March Ghana obtained sovereignty.

Who would want to murder Gladys, a young woman studying to be a doctor. She volunteered at an HIV clinic battling the wide-spreading threat of AIDS across Ghana. She seemed to be a very sweet girl with a bright future ahead of her and yet she wound up strangled to death and hidden in a grove of trees. Darko Dawson has been assigned the case even though it is out of his jurisdiction. Because he has family ties to this remote village, Darko potentially could navigate the cultural conflict between witchcraft versus modern science.
Like any good murder mystery there is that one suspect who looks so good for the crime that you think how could it NOT be him? Everything points to Samuel, a man obsessed with Gladys. Witnesses saw him talking (harassing?) her right where she was murdered. He couldn’t account for his whereabouts before or after the crime…even Darko’s aunt swears the boy was seen talking to Gladys.
[As an aside: The definition of a wife of the gods is a woman who has committed a crime serving penitence with fetish priests. This woman is forced to have sex with the priests to “pay” for her crime.]
Confessional: I thought the ending of this book was perfect. It was very satisfying, akin to putting the last pieces of a puzzle into place. I enjoyed getting to know Darko Dawson and wished I had more Quarty books on my Challenge list to see what Darko did next.

Best quote in the book, “It’s always in the lying that a mistake is made” (p 310).

This was a book I enjoyed on audio narrated by Simon Prebble.

Author fact: Quarty is a crime writer and a physician. Wife of the Gods is Quarty’s first novel.

Book trivia: Wife of the Gods is the first book in the Darko Dawson series. It is the only book I am reading by Quarty for the Challenge series.

Music: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Africa: the Greenest Continent” (p 7).

Soul Food

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Caldo, Enzio. Soul Food: Simple Lessons Served Warm: Kitchen Stories and Life Lessons from Chef Enzio Caldo’s Table. Lucent Trail Press, 2026.

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

While there are no recipes in Soul Food, Chef Caldo draws comparisons between cooking and navigating life. It is a really cute, whimsical book. Starters such as bruschetta and garlic bread; Comfort foods like soups and stews; mornings of pancakes and eggs; dinners, desserts, and left overs: they all become the vehicles for simple life lessons. This is the kind of little book I would give to a casual friend or acquaintance as a holiday gift. Less than 122 pages with a great deal of blank space, it is perfect for someone who wants a little pick-me-up; someone who reads their horoscope daily and looks for answers in tea leaves.

Calisthenics for Beginners

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Pure Calisthenics. Calisthenics for Beginners. 2026

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I am privileged to review interesting books.

Calisthenics for Beginners, although a mere 186 pages long, includes appropriate quotations from influential people, cool illustrations of the targeted areas of the body to be worked, and photographs of each exercise in action. Because the word ‘calisthenics’ has fallen out of fashion I appreciated the definition. While you won’t need weights or machines, you will need some equipment usually found at the gym or in some parks:
1) Long bar
2) Pullup bar
3) Parallel bars or a dip station
4) Jump box
5) a wall
You will be introduced to a variation of pushups, muscle-ups, chin-ups and pullups along with variations of pushups and other exercises which do not need equipment such as squats, bridges, and lunges.
As an aside, I did a doubletake on the section on handstands.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to start a fitness program. It is easy to follow and the exercises are straightforward.

Once Upon a Tome

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Darkshire, Oliver. Once Upon a Tome: the Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller. W,W, Norton & Company, 2023.

Reason read: gift at the AIC holiday party. My copy was signed.

While Oliver Darkshire has written other books, I am only reading Once Upon a Tome. I found it humorous and informative (Darkshire will teach you how to identify a cryptid, for one). As Darkshire goes about his day doing inventory in one of the world’s oldest bookstores, decerning what makes a book rare and dealing with the quirky customers like the Spindleman, you can smell the old books and feel the ghosts with their tucked away desks.
As an aside, the physical book of Once Upon a Tome is wonderful to hold. The cover design was by Paul Buckley after anonymous.
And a comment: I wish we lived in a world where we did not have to identified ourselves by how we loved or who we considered family. When someone has to “come out” as gay I am always asking what does that have to do with anything? I don’t walk into a room and announce my preferences. Neither should you. What does it matter who you are intimate with or who you chose to call family?

Line I liked, “The saying goes that once you’ve spent two years in the book trade, you remain there for life because you’ve become unemployable anywhere else” (p 204). Oh. So, that’s what happened to me.

Author fact: As mentioned before, Darkshire has written more than just Once Upon a Tome.

Book trivia: the numerous footnotes were super annoying. I started to skip them after some time.

Music: Wagner

Among the Believers

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Naipaul, V.S. Among the Believers. Alfred A. Knopf, 1981.

Reason read: Indonesia has a day of silence. It is always following the new moon of March. Read in recognition of this fascinating 24 hours.

Naipaul takes a six month journey across Asia just after the Iranian revolution. During his travels through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia he encounters Muslims who have returned to the founding scriptures of Islam. His conversations and interviews with them are thought-provoking and insightful. These people are the believers. In a nutshell, Among the Believers is in-depth and descriptive travel book that takes a look at exploring the Muslim faith.
As an aside, I have so any questions! Did the hanging judge ever find out that Naipaul called him a clown? Is Naipaul’s favorite descriptive color ochre? because he used the word a lot in Among the Believers. It is true I am an armchair traveler. It is too complicated to think about the rules and customs of a middle eastern country. The rules of the mosque, for example. Which foot enters the holy space first? How do worshippers wash their hands? Do they remove their shoes and if so, when and where?

As another aside, I never thought about Islamic urban planning. Think about it. Toilet fixtures that had to be arranged so that a backside would not be directed towards the City of Mecca. Indeed.

Author fact: Naipaul was born in Trinidad.

Book trivia: Among the Believers is followed by Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted People. I will be reading it next month. Other books by Naipaul on my list: Mystic Masseur and Loss of El Dorado.

Music: the Carpenters, Handel’s Messiah, and Bach.

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

Lee’s Lieutenants – Vol 3

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Freeman, Douglas Southall. Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Volume 3: Gettysburg to Appomattox. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1944.

Reason read: to finish the series started in January in honor of General Robert E. Lee’s birth month.

The third and final installment of Lee’s Lieutenant’s opens in June of 1863, nearly 162 years ago. The civil war is nearly over. Lee’s right-hand man, Stonewall Jackson has died. Losing Jackson was a tremendous blow for General Lee. Longstreet was his only subordinate with similar military experience. I have to wonder if Longstreet resented the comparison. Many think the loss at Gettysburg, in simplified terms, can be blamed on the absence of Stonewall Jackson. His death prevented cavalry efficiency and amplified the poor management of artillery. Ammunition was in short supply by the time they got to Gettysburg.
For what Freeman could not possibly glean from diaries and first-hand accounts, he speculated and said “this is surely how it happened.” But speaking of the letters and diaries, the missives varied in intimacy. Some soldiers when they wrote home did not want their loved ones to worry about them so they kept details vague. Others were extremely honest about their harrowing experiences in battle.

Confessional: It is hard to understand the philosophy of war. In the midst of ferocious battles an army can take time out from all the fighting to showcase their abilities to a grandstand of feminine spectators. There were other shenanigans like bringing a mule into the grand cavalcade. It is a well known fact that during World War II on Christmas day, soldiers took a break from battle to play football with the enemy. It was back to business the very next day.
How about the advancements in communication? Can you imagine a soldier these days passing a note to a superior? There were barely any accurate maps, no GPS so it is no wonder that many soldiers lost their way and bumbled into enemy territory.

Quote I had to quote, “the stench of battle was in the air” (p 155). How is it that I believe I know what that smells like? Impossible.

Book trivia: As I mentioned earlier, this is the last installment of the Lee’s Lieutenant series.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Civil War Nonfiction” (p 58).

Brig of War

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Woodman, Richard. A Brig of War. John Murray, 1983.

Reason read: to continue the series started in February in honor of history month.

When we join Nathaniel Drinkwater he is aboard the brig Hellebore. Admiral Nelson has ordered Lieutenant Drinkwater to deliver an urgent message to the British squadron in the Red Sea and hunt for Edouard Santhonax. On the professional front Drinkwater is responsible for settling disputes no matter how trivial. The power struggle dynamic between Drinkwater and Rogers builds tension throughout the plot. But Rogers is not the only enemy. Morris, Drinkwater’s nemesis in An Eye of the Fleet comes back to taunt Drinkwater with his higher rank and mind on revenge.
In his personal life, Nathaniel has since married Elizabeth (which was kind of a shock to me since the last time I knew, Nathaniel and Elizabeth had only seen each other the once. Confessional: I had forgotten there was a whole other book, A King’s Cutter, between An Eye of the Fleet and A Brig of War.). In my world it appeared that Woodman, not one for sentimental fluff, sailed right over their courtship and wedding. Now Elizabeth is expecting their first child (by not reading A King’s Cutter maybe I was forced to skip right over the sex, too?).
Woodman continues to educate his readers on nautical terms and superstitions. Words like binnacle, capstan, fo’c’s’le, catheads, jackstay, futtocks, spanner, and cascabel are common throughout A Brig of War. Woodman addresses the taboo of homosexuality and women aboard a ship.
As an aside, I keep comparing the vast difference in connectivity from 1798 to 2025. Drinkwater could not get word to Elizabeth to inform her of his latest assignment. He would be at sea well beyond the birth of their child. For all she knew Drinkwater had deserted her at the instant he became a father. These days, at the very least, she would catch an errant post on Insty, if not a vague text.
A Brig of War only spans less than two years of Drinkwater’s life at sea (February 1798 to January 1800). Again, like An Eye of the Fleet, Woodman draws from real events and real people. Some of the senior officers described in A Brig of War really existed.

Monhegan Six Degrees: I loved Woodman’s description of the phosphorescence trailing behind the wake of the dolphins. It reminded me of the glowing tide on the the beach.

Author fact: Richard Woodman left school at sixteen (same age as my dads when he left home to join the coast guard).

Book trivia: A Brig of War is actually the third book of the series. The Challenge has me skipping a bunch. I will skip The Bomb Vessel and The Corvette in order to get to 1805.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the simple chapter called “Sea Stories” (p 218).