Tag: NonFiction

In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz

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Wrong, Michela. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo. Harper Collins, 2001.

Reason read: Mobutu Sese Seko died in October. He was Zaire’s first president. Read in his memory.

More than a biography of Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbedu wa za Banga, Michela Wrong set up to write a love letter to the Congo. Even though Mobutu was a dictator and the first and only president of Zaire, the history of his homeland is a tale that is just as interesting to tell. It is a story of great triumphs and devastating downfalls; a cautionary tale of corruption, greed and betrayal.
It is a small detail of In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, but I appreciated knowing Mobutu’s origin story of his love of leopard print. I am sure it is exaggerated, but the story goes that Mobutu’s grandfather used to ridicule him for being afraid of leopards. After killing one its skin became Mobutu’s personal fashion plate for his hats. I like to think every time Mobutu wore a leopard print hat he was giving his grandfather the proverbial middle finger.
As an aside…Every time someone saw me with In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz in my hands they would murmur, “ah…Heart of Darkness…” followed by either “I hated that book” or “I loved that book.” No one ever said it was just okay.

Chilling quote, “Knowing nothing about the past, of course, frees a population from any sense of blame for the present” (p 59). Or future, I would add.

Author fact: Wrong was a correspondent. As an aside, I found her comment about the potential spread of AIDS to be somewhat naïve. She was describing a hospital where AIDS carriers and HIV negative patients were “indiscriminately mixed together, their narrow beds only inches apart” (p 138). Even if the mixed patients were holding hands the HIV negative person would not be infected unless they shared blood.

Book trivia: the title of the book comes from a character in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

Music: “As Time Goes By,” “Hotel California,” Koffi Olomide, Zaiko Langa, Papa Wemba, Mick Jagger, Bryan Ferry, Wenge Musica and its variations: Wenge Musica 4×4, Wenge Musica Maison Mere, Wenge Musica BCBG, Wenge Musica Kumbela, Wenge Musica Aile Paris, Tabuley Rochereau, Pepe Kalle, and Gregorian chants.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Africa: Today and Yesterday” (p 10).

Pagan Holiday

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

Reason read: Tony Perrotte celebrates a birthday in October.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mayor of Castro Street

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Shilts, Randy. Mayor of Castro Street: the Life and Times of Harvey Milk. St. Martin’s Griffin Press, 2008.

Reason read: the “How Weird Festival” happens in October in San Francisco.

What a different (but same) time we live in. We have moved beyond having a Director of the Coors Beer Boycott and yet, yet, yet we still persecute (and prosecute) those different from us. Haven’t we learned anything? But I digress.
Shilts portrayed Harvey Milk as ambitious to a fault. Using a plethora of sources he was able to bring Milk to life, covering extensively both his political and private life. Milk would stoop to incredible lows to create controversy and promote his agenda in the name of the homosexual lifestyle. The betrayal of Bill Sipple’s privacy being just one example. What struck me the most was how Milk knew all along he would die by a bullet to the brain. His ambition was so great that even the fear of assassination couldn’t stop him from fighting for the underdog. He knew how to connect with his Castro Street constituents and collect lovers for a lifetime. Ever the consummate reporter, Shilts turned over every rock to find the detailed story of Milk’s life. Shilts interviewed over one hundred and forty people and poured over thousands of documents for his biography of Harvey Milk. He even sought the audience of Dan White and his attorneys to offer another perspective of the Castro Street Mayor’s tragic end. It is too bad he was unsuccessful.

As an aside, I had to do a deep dive into Bob’s Burgers. In Milk’s time it was a hangout spot on Polk Street in San Francisco. I wanted to know if the cartoon of the same name had anything to do with the restaurant. It does not appear so.
An ah-ha moment: discovering the muse behind Lou Reed’s “sugar plum fairy” in the song “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.”

Author fact: Shilts also wrote And the Band Played On which was on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: Mayor of Castro Street includes a smattering of photographs. I would have liked to see the Castro Street camera shop where Milk first set up a campaign office.

Setlist: “Theme from Rocky,” Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Joan Baez, Carmen, Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Leslie Gore, Lou Reed’s “Take a Walk on the Wild Side,” “Danny Boy,” “Notre Dame Fight Song,” “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” “Happy Birthday,” “Star Spangled Banner,” Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, Cher, “As Time Goes By,” Judy Garland, “Anchors Aweigh,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” Mahler, Strauss, Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Wagner, Verdi, Bidu Sayao, Mills Brothers’ “Always,” Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli, Puccini’s Tosca, Meg Christian’s “The Rock Will Wear Away,” John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, David Bowie, Mahler, “God Save the Nelly Queens,” and “We Shall Overcome.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter simply called “San Francisco” (p 196).

Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science

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Gribbin, John. Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science: the Universe, Life and Everything. Yale University Press, 1999.

Reason read: October is Science Month.

Atoms. Electrons. Energy. Hydrogen. Nucleus. Photons. Quantum. Particles. Molecules. Do you feel as though you are back in a physics or chemistry class? Gribbin will take you there. You’ll be reminded of the chemical action of covalent bonding and the spectral signature. You’ll meet geniuses of the day: Michael Faraday, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton. You’ll read up on the supercontinent of Gondwanaland. You’ll have a good chat about the Solar System, minus Pluto. There is a mention of climate change with and without human intervention. Gribbin will tell you his favorite theories with unbridled enthusiasm. You can almost hear the excitement as he warms up to his various topics. Everything Gribbin explains is done in a folksy, casual manner so as not to scare the reader away: “But the details need not bother us” (p 69). He will simplify the science by making Disney analogies and talk to you as if you are leaning over beers in a bar. This was fun.

Author fact: Gribbin also wrote Stardust which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: the illustrations in Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science are helpful.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Boks (For the Interested But Apprehensive Layperson)” (p 211).

Wild Oz

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Clodd, Geoff. Wild Oz: Hilariously Unfiltered Backpacking Stories. Independently Published, 2025.

Reason read: this is a selection from LibraryThing’s Early Review program.

I do not know exactly what I was expecting from Wild Oz but this turned out to be a much different adventure. I think the subtitle about backpacking made me think he would be roughing it a little more than he did in his Oz adventures. I also thought there would be more variation to his escapades, especially through Thailand. Australia was just a string of towns where Clodd got this drunk and banged that chick. His stories start and stop without fanfare. Like a giggling kid farting for attention Clodd will tell you about crashing his moped in Thailand or trying to eat a dozen ice cream cones. The year is 2008 and he has decided to travel with a friend to Australia and Thailand for a year or more.
As an aside, Clodd interrupts himself from time to time to tell Vegas stories. That makes sense because he sustained his meager financial existence on internet gambling. I have to admit the prostitute stealing a plate was pretty funny.
Sometimes I thought Wild Oz was written by a horny fourteen year old left alone in the house without his parents for the very first time. His command of slang was pretty extensive (“suck on that!”). Chasing temporary employment and bedding various women while juggling excessive drinking and drugging, Clodd was finicky about dirty hands and paranoid about skin cancer and going bald. I think I just summed up the entire book in this last paragraph.

Fun fact: my husband and I have this game during horror movie season where we try to count the dead bodies. Exactly how many people were murdered during Nightmare on Elm Street? Sometimes we turn it into a drinking game – a swig for every time someone dies. We should take turns reading Wild Oz aloud and take a glug every time Clodd has sex with a different woman. That could be fun.

As an aside, I want to know how often Geoff has had to say “two fs and two ds” when telling someone how to spell his name.

Book trivia: Clodd makes pop references that some people may or may not get. For example, I didn’t know who Screech and Zack were.

Author fact: Wild Oz is Clodd’s first and only book on LibraryThing.

Playlist: “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas, Creed, Outkast, “Rape Me” by Nirvana, Janet Jackson, and Wolfmother (which I have on my run playlist).

Catapult

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Paul, Jim. Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon. Avon, 1991.

Reason read: In October there is a festival where people fling pumpkins. Read in honor of gourds flying.

Jim Paul first got the idea to build a siege weapon when he was traveling back from Utah a decade or so before 9/11. He had been in the desert writing a piece about Dinosaur National Monument when he found a sizable piece of quartz. Toting this quartz through security at the airport he said, “It’s not a weapon. It’s just a rock” but the more he thought about it the more he envisioned the quartz flying through the air like some kind of Monty Python gag. Recruiting his first-name-only friend, Harry, Paul goes about finding funding to build a catapult as an art installment. What transpires is a humorous look at history, science, physics and friendship.
As an aside, Jim Paul was not the only person to be fascinated with flinging things. Ozzy Osbourne wanted to fling chicken livers into the audience during his early shows.

Jim Paul was also very funny. Here are two quotes that made me laugh, “Her scream made my eardrums rattle like bad speakers” and he confessed to a “therapeutic measure of irresponsibility” (p 10).

As an aside, when Paul mentioned a woman named Veronica worked on the movie Star Wars I had to wonder if she was in the series ILM. I think Harry worked at ILM, too. Can you tell I am watching the ILM series right now?

Author fact: In addition to being a writer for the Washing Post Jim Paul was also a poet.

Book trivia: The illustrations are pretty cool.

Music: Frank Sinatra’s “Young at Heart” and Guns ‘n Roses.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Living Your Dream” (p 156).

Snow Fleas and Chickadees

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Quesnel, Eve. Snow Fleas and Chickadees: Everyday Observations in the Sierras. Illustrated by Anne Chadwick. University of Nevada Press, 2025.

Call it a small nature guide or a short literary companion. Either way Quesnel is motivated to share her observations about nature while living in the Sierra Nevada. What started as a column in a local paper has turned into a cute little book. Quesnel can tell you where to go to find a stand of Quaking Aspen to witness their splendor when the leaves turn golden. She solved a long standing curiosity I had (but was too lazy to research) about the “eyes” of birch trees. I am a fan of foraging for food so pulling fir needles of the trees for a snack made me hungry. But you won’t learn just about trees. Animals and birds and insects each have a chapter. How different spiders make their webs was pretty fascinating. Swallow tail butterflies can lose their tails and live. Who knew?
Much like other (short) ebooks, Snow Fleas does not start until page 30 of the 192 page book. I wished it was longer!

I won’t find a sooty grouse or a pica in my neck of the woods.

author fact: I liked how humble Quesnel is, saying “I am not an “ist” of any kind (preface, page 8).

Book trivia: Snow Fleas started as a newspaper column. I said that already. the illustrations by Anne Chadwick are fantastic.

Kansal Clunker

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Kansal, Neil and Ruchin Kansal. Kansal Clunker: the Car That Rebuilt Us. Koehler Books, 2025.

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

Prepare to be thoroughly entertained by Neil Kansal and his father, Ruchin. Sharing perspectives on a singular adventure, they have written a charming book about driving across the country in what they call the Kansal Clunker, a rebuilt 1998 Acura Integra with 159,068 miles. What started as a desire to learn how to drive a car with a manual transmission in 2020 turned into an epic road trip. Stopping at interesting sights along the way filled out an adventure of a lifetime. From Connecticut to Colorado, this was a chance for sixteen year old Neil to get to know his father as a person and vise versa.
I thought the maps, memories, photographs, and family comments were a nice touch.

Natalie connection: the family relocated to Newtown, Connecticut. Natalie has performed in support of Ben’s Lighthouse a few times now. I will be attending the benefit this November.

Playlist: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “Happy Birthday,” Garth Brooks, Blake Shelton, Kane Brown, and “Itsy-bitsy Spider.”

Author facts: Ruchin design Cinemark theaters and Neil was a principal cellist of the University Orchestra.

Book trivia: you can learn more about the Kansal adventure via their website and Instagram site.

Arabian Sands

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Thesiger, Wilfred. Arabian Sands. E.P. Dutton and Company, 1959.

Reason read: September is back to school month and a good time to learn about a strange region of the world.

Wilfred Thesiger was driven to go where others had not. He had a strong desire to test his limits and, where others shied away from them, unique challenges excited him. Nothing motivated him more than to say, “I know that no European had ever been here before me.” He sailed to Bahrain in a dhow simply because he wanted to have the same experience as an Arab sailor. He remembered his childhood as an explanation for his wanderlust spirit for his mother loved Africa.
In Arabian Sands Thesiger reported the Arabia he traveled in 1959 was unrecognizable from his earlier expeditions. He talked of long treks into the desert where “now” (in 1959) there were marring roads instead of endless stretches of dusty sand. [As an aside, what would he think of the region today? I am sure it has changed even more so since 1959.]
As a locust officer on behalf of the Locust Research Centre at the Natural History Museum, Thesiger was free to travel across the Empty Quarter. Although he showed no fear of danger wherever he went he had to hide behind a Syrian façade because of his Christianity. He absorbed the strange and fascinating culture of harsh people in a violent landscape. For example – the Islam faith. It regulated one’s religious observance, a man’s interactions with society and even the detailed routines of his daily life. Thesiger described the confusion of trying to identify various tribes by their saddles. It was important to know friend or foe to protect the camels from constant theft. [Speaking of camels, I found it remarkable that camels could be identified by the shape of their toes in the sand.] Thesiger became friends with Hamdu Uga who admitted he had just murdered three men. Thesiger casually reported that a mere two days later the young chief was murdered as well.

Quote to quote, “No, it is not the goal but the way there that matters, and the harder the way, the more worth the journey” (p 260).

Author fact: Thesiger was an avid hunter. He reported shooting seventy lions in the five years he was in the Sudan.

Book trivia: Maps were drawn by K.C. Jordan. Speaking of maps, there is a huge, fold-out map of the Empty Quarter at the back of Arabian Sands.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Armchair Travel” (p 24). Again, in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Arabia Deserta” (p 23).

Cooking as Therapy

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Borden, Debra. Cooking As Therapy: How to Improve Your Mental Health Through Cooking. Alcove Press, 2025.

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

Before reading a single sentence, my first thought about Cooking as Therapy was actually a question. Is this going to be cheesy? Pun fully intended. It is cheesy…to a certain degree. When you use metaphors and puns that come across like bad dad jokes, you are going to illicit a few groans here and there. (Case in point, the trademarked term of sous therapist.) The trick is finding a cooking metaphor that matches an emotion: boiling, baking, etc. My favorite analogy was washing your hands signifies cleaning out the negativity. As an aside, the use alliteration was abundant.
My second thought was another question. Can this book deliver on everything it promises: a possible fix for finding calm, banishing self-doubt, increasing self-esteem and confidence, adding positivity to my life, exploring change, improving communication, creating balance, strengthening spirit, and alleviating overall feelings of sadness?
The world is inundated with experiential therapies using activities like horseback riding, surfing, yoga, yoga with baby goats, forest walking, beach sand play, baby animal cuddling, corn mazes, nature exploring, art classes, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, EMDR, gestalt, CBT, and SFBT. Cooking is a natural fit. I have always heard that cooking is a show of love; cooking is the fastest way to a man’s heart, yadayadayada. Why not a path to the healing heart as well?
Cooking As Therapy is organized in a logical format. Part I is all about methods of cooking and Part II is all about the act of cooking (sessions). It takes nearly 160 pages before you get to the chapter called “How to Use This Book” so like watching water come to a boil, have patience. Cooking as Therapy includes a bibliography for further reading. This book is not just for tackling mental illness. Stroke* and addiction rehabilitation patients can benefit from it as well. Borden gives you the terminology to create your own therapy sessions. Verbs translate into metaphors for mindful and healing observations.
My only suggestion? Encourage people to read through the recipes several times over before beginning. It is a lot to follow the recipe and perform the associated mindfulness tasks. Not every pun or metaphor is obvious.

*How would have Gregory responded to such a therapy? The guy barely ate anything as it was.

Bonus care: Borden pointed out the index in print does not match the electronic version.
Headscratcher moment: Borden says to put away your phone. I’m reading this on my phone.

As an aside, my two degrees of separation from Borden: she mentioned the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. While I have never been there myself. I knew a yoga instructor and a massage therapist who worked there.

Music: Train’s “Bruises.”

Author fact: Borden dedicated her book to her brothers. Borden has her own website here.

Behind Closed Doors

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Silversmith, E.S. Behind Closed Doors: Memoirs of an American Call Girl. BCD Memoir, 2025.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I get to read interesting books. This is one of them.

Every so often I review a book that has me in a dilemma. Does Silversmith want me to cheer her on as a call girl or does she want me to grimace and shudder alongside her in shamed sympathy? Can I shrug off her story with indifference and say that the lifestyle was one hundred percent her choice? Silversmith’s stories are mostly about dangerous, dirty, and unhealthy situations she had put herself in for the sake of making a more than decent living. There are a sea of contradictions within the pages of Behind Closed Doors. I didn’t get the sense she was backed into a corner of desperation where the only dark hope of escape was being a call girl other than by the urgings of a domineering boyfriend. Yet, at another time when she is completely alone and unsure how to pay her rent she resorts to prostitution. It is true sex workers of any ilk run the dangerous risk of being infected with an STD or life threatening disease. Pregnancy or sterilization can occur if one is not careful. Beyond the threat of violence or death there is the unspoken reality of the erosion of mental health. Even worse, it is a known fact that serial killers target sex workers. The perception is these women are all alone, despite having husbands, boyfriends, and even children. Silversmith is aware of the statistics and although she calls her services “high end” she spends a fair amount of time in rundown, sketchy trailers and motels. Maybe that is why there was a fair amount of sighing, frowning, shuddering and mace and taser gripping in her stories. Luckily for her, as she says, she has a “flexible moral compass.” She is able to peel back the curtain and resolve some logistical curiosities like rules of engagement, payment options, and prescribed duration of service.

Observations: I wanted to know the end of the story about the time she couldn’t perform due to an extraordinarily heavy period but she stole the group’s booking fee anyway. Or the time her agency practiced robbery by leaving clients “high and dry” by pulling the fire alarm as a diversion.

As an aside, I envy Silversmith’s keen eyesight. From across the street, in the dark, and through a car window she could see that a client was sporting dandruff.

Music: Misfits, the Ramones, and Bob Marley.

Sexual Politics

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

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

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

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

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

Author fact: Millett was an artist.

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

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

Naples ’44

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With His Pistol in His Hand

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Paredes, Americo. “With His Pistol in His Hand: a Border Ballad and Its Hero.” University of Texas, 1958.

Reason read: Parades birth month is in September. Read in his honor.

As with all great legends the stories about them are passed down through the generations to the point where no one knows the truth anymore. Ballads are sung to remember (misremember) and honor (or exaggerate) the legendary events and humans throughout history. “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” is the ballad for Gregorio Cortez. No one can agree on what he looked like or where he was born. Legend has it he shucked corn for a living. Maybe he picked cotton. Maybe he was a barber? Everyone said he could shoot a pistol and talk to horses. He might have been an expert trail tracker. He certainly was a weather predictor and a womanizer (No one can agree on who he actually married, though). He was also crafty and smart. He often got away from posses by blending in with the common folk on either side of the Rio Grande. He was peaceful yet he killed many men “in self defense.” Posse after posses chased the infamous man and his little mare across the wild Texas countryside. Cortez is able to walk amongst the commoners because, while they all knew of his exploits, he was unrecognizable in a crowd. Exaggerating the villainous nature of the Mexican people only increased the paranoia and prejudice against Cortez. When Gregorio Cortez is finally caught his legal battles raged for over three and a half years. For one trial Cortez’s supposed wife testified in his defense but by the next trial she had divorced him. Despite being found guilty, he was pardoned in July of 1913.
In the end, no one could decide how Cortez died. Was it a heart attack? Poison? He was only forty-one years one.
The second section of “With His Pistol in His Hand” is not nearly as exciting. Paredes spends this time comparing and critiquing the variations of the El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez ballad and describing the narrative elements and the development and quatrain structure of a ballad.

Lines I liked, “If the ballad maker wants to justify the deeds of his robber hero, he will transform him into a border raider fighting against the outside group, the Americans” (p 144).

Author fact: Paredes was able to talk to singers about the variants of corrido the performed.

Book trivia: “With His Pistol in His Hand” was illustrated by Jo Alys Downs.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Texas Two-Step (After a Bob Wills Song)” (p 225).

Lyndon: an Oral Biography

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Miller, Merle. Lyndon: an Oral Biography. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980.

Reason read: Lyndon’s birth month was in August. Read in his honor.

Merle Miller spent more than five years compiling Johnson’s oral history. The miles he put in, literally and figuratively, are astounding. Lyndon B. Johnson was a complicated man living in the time of the greatest society. Known for his aw-shucks attitude, he started out being a good ‘ole boy who voted against antilynching and antidiscrimination laws but ended his career as an instrumental advocate for federal aid to education, the creation of Medicare, changes in voter rights, and stronger civil rights. The death of Texas Congressman James P. Buchanan was a turning point in Johnson’s political trajectory. His campaigns were memorable – arriving by helicopter when running for senator. By the end of his political career Lyndon had weathered a tumultuous era: the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the march in Selma, Alabama, the Vietnam War.
As with any oral history, the chronology jumps around a bit. Case in point: the birth of Lyndon’s first child came before the purchase of the radio station, KTBC.
Miller provides an intimate primer on the inner workings of the United States government. Probably the most fascinating section was the hour by hour, behind the scenes account of the Kennedy assassination and the transition of power to Lyndon B. Johnson. He also peeled back the curtain on Lady Bird Johnson’s life as well. Just as Lyndon was thrust into presidency, Lady Bird became the First Lady overnight. There was no time for preparation but she acclimated to her position with grace. As an aside, her note of encouragement to her husband was beautiful.

Author fact: Miller died when he was only 67 years old. My copy of Lyndon was signed by him.

Book trivia: Miller does not leave a detail unexplored. By default, readers get glimpses into the personality of President Roosevelt and a short biography of Lady Bird (Claudia)’s life leasing up to meeting her husband, to name a couple.

Music: Lena Horne, “I’ll Be with You When I’m Gone,” “Kate Smith on the South,” “God Bless America,” “San Antonio Rose,” “Dixie,” “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You,” Beethoven, “Hello, Dolly,” “The Eyes of Texas,” and “Ruffles and Flourishes.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss” (p 155). If Pearl wanted, she could have included Lyndon in the “Presidential Biographies” chapter as well.