october – ~*LunaSea*~

Psmith in the City

2026/10/21 gr4c5Leave a comment

Wodehouse, P.G. Psmith in the City. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Reason read: Wodehouse was born in October. Read in his honor.

I was a bit surprised by the lack of plot in Psmith in the City. But when it lacked in plot it made up in humor. If anything Psmith in the City is Wodehouse’s nod to bad bosses (or bad jobs) everywhere. For Michael Jackson and Rupert Psmith, employees at New Asiatic Bank where their old school friend is the head, they are watched to see how long they are gone from the office, whether it be a lunch break or picking up the mail. Mike and Psmith hate their jobs as much as the boss hates them. Mike has bigger dreams of studying at Cambridge and playing cricket professionally. Psmith is fully of witty banter and devil may care attitude. Together, they are the perfect friends. I especially enjoyed the scene in the Turkish bath when Psmith gets Mike’s job back for him. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the series plays out.

Author fact: P.G. Wodehouse’s full name is Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

Book trivia: in 2008 this was turn into a radio show.

BookLust Twist: first from Book Lust in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade By Decade – 1910s” (p 175) and again in More Book Lust in the chapter called “P.G. Wodehouse: Too Good To Miss” (p 234). From everything I have read I am supposed to read Psmith in the City before Leave It To Psmith.

Searching for Caleb

2026/10/21 gr4c5Leave a comment

Tyler, Anne. Searching for Caleb. Ballantine Books, 1996.

Reason read: Tyler was born in the month of October. Read in her honor.

Justine Peck’s career as a seer began when she was asked to run the fortune telling booth at the school bazaar. Once people started whispering in her ear that she had serious talent she turned it into a full-blown business. However, despite all of Justine’s talents, no matter how hard she searched, she could not find her grandfather’s long lost brother. Daniel’s brother, Caleb left home abruptly in 1912, never to be seen again. Justine and her hard of hearing grandfather patiently travel from place to place following up on leads and peering into wrinkly faces, hoping to find long lost Caleb. In the meantime, Justine’s husband (and cousin) bounces from job to job, searching for his own place in life. He moves his family in the search for his true calling. Apparently, Justine was able to see his future either.
One of the things I love about all Anne Tyler books is her imagery. For example – before moving Justine searched the house for something to stir her coffee and came up with a screwdriver because everything else was packed up. [Although my question is this, if you knew you would be saving out the coffee maker for one last cup, and you know how you take your coffee, wouldn’t you save out a spoon? Here is another point. Duncan was professionally adrift. He frequently moved his family. Wouldn’t they have this moving thing down pat?]
Another strength of Tyler’s is her ability to capture realistic dialogue. I could hear their voices in my head.

As an aside, this is the second book I am reading where cousins get married.

Lines I liked, “Was there anything worse than the feeling you were sealed in a place, to frow old and stale and finally die” (p 490) and “She was the other shoe which never dropped” (p 261-262). Last one, “She had never managed to believe that some people truly will not be seen again” (p 284).

Author fact: Tyler is a Pulitzer Prize winning author. She graduated from Duke at age 19 with a degree in Russian studies.

Book trivia: I am reading seven books of Tyler’s. Searching for Caleb is the second oldest book on the list.

Setlist: “The Pardon Came Too Late,” “Just a Lock of Hair for Mother,” “The St. James Infirmary Blues,”
Mantovani, “Goodnight, Irene,” “Wabash Cannonball,” Caruso, Arturo Tosanini, Jan Kubelik, Czerny, Buddy Bolden, “Country Gardens,” “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “Blues in the Night,” Czerny, “Broken Yo-Yo,” “Stone Pony Blues,” “Careless Love,” “Mr. Crump,” “Stack O’Lee,” “Jogo Blues,” “Pig Meat Papa,” “Broke and Hungry Blues,” “Nobody Knows You When You are Down and Out,” “Doxology,” and “Bringing in the Sheeves.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Real Characters” (p 197) and again in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Baltimore” (p 34). I have to admit, I didn’t really get a sense of Baltimore or even Maryland in Searching for Caleb.

Golden Spiders

2026/10/21 gr4c5Leave a comment

Stout, Rex. Golden Spiders. Collins Fontana Books, 1954.

Reason read: the slog continues.

Golden Spiders begins in the kitchen. Nero Wolfe likes his sterling pie a very particular way and when it isn’t prepared to his liking, you guessed it, he sulks and refuses to eat Fritz’s prepared dish. Archie, ever the trickster, decides to punish Wolfe for his churlish behavior by allowing a young boy to interrupt Wolfe’s makeshift meal. Young Pete Drossos has an interesting tale about a damsel in distress. She was wearing spider earrings and Pete swore she asked him to find a cop. When the boy ends up dead as the result of a hit and run, the next day Wolfe is visited by the boy’s mother. With four dollars and twenty cents from Pete’s piggy bank, she pleads for Wolfe to solve her son’s murder. The plot thickens when the man thought to be driving the car that killed Pete is also a victim of vehicular homicide. Matthew Birch was an agent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service was killed by the same car on the same day. By taking this case, Wolfe solves more than Pete and Matthew’s murder as he is thrust into a blackmail scheme targeting poor immigrants.

Death by automobile is a favorite way to die in a Nero Wolfe mystery.
As an aside, on Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day I read the line about Columbus running into a continent he didn’t expect.

Book trivia: in the introduction, written by Linda Barnes, gave a walk-through of the house rules at 325 West 35th Street: the times in the plant room, rules during meals, and how to treat guests. Linda called Golden Spiders atypical. I would argue that Black Mountain is the most atypical Nero Wolfe story thus far.

Music: “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the never-ending chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 289). Just kidding.

Face Value

2026/10/20 gr4c5Leave a comment

Matera, Lia. Face Value. Pocket Star Books, 1995.

Reason read: October is to honor William Penn who was a pioneer of criminal justice reform/corrections. He was born in October.

Lia Matera’s Face Value opens with Laura Di Palma describing how an ex-colleague happened to show up at her office-warming party. Of all the nerve for Steve Sayers to show his face at her new law practice when he was the one to turned her mentor against her and worse, got her fired by exposing Di Palma’s pro bono work without the firm’s consent. I was expecting Sayers to be a pain in Laura’s butt for the duration of Face Value, but he quickly disappears from the scene when Laura takes on an unusual case in her new practice. An old friend comes to her for advice about a compromising situation. Quantum physicist turned spiritual guru “Brother Mike” has convinced this friend to explore her spiritually through (you guessed it) group sex with other devotees. While Brother Mike’s followers knew their sessions would be filmed, no one expected their wildest escapades to end up for rent at the local adult video store. Di Palma agrees to look into the case and finds herself involved in a mass murder of six strippers. As the case becomes more complicated Di Palma decides to represent Brother Mike and recruits her old boyfriend for help.

Whenever I meet a new character who is part of a series (which means I will be spending some time with them), I always take note of their personality. Right away I learned that Laura was not good with emotion. She was ab avid hiker and had complicated relationships with ex-lovers.

Music: Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Give Me a Licking.”

Author fact: Lia Matera has a website here.

Book trivia: Face Value was a very quick read but I took my time with it because every character holds a clue to the mystery.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117).

Gaudy Night

2026/10/14 gr4c5Leave a comment

Sayers, Dorothy L. Gaudy Night. Harper & Row Publishers, 1936.

Reason read: after many false starts I am finally getting around to reading the next book in the Harriet Vane/Lord Peter Wimsey series.

From the very beginning of Gaudy Night, Sayers makes sure the reader is connected to Harriet’s past. This is important for the story to be successful. In Gaudy Night Harriet returns to her alma mater, Shrewsbury College, for a reunion of sorts. Called a ‘Gaudy Night Dinner’ Harriet attends the feast during the college’s reunion weekend and has a wonderful time reconnecting with people and the place. However, afterwards Harriet receives a nasty message tucked inside the sleeve of her college gown, calling her a “dirty murderess.” Someone knows of her past: years earlier she had been on trial for the death of her lover, but ultimately acquitted, thanks to Lord Peter Whimsey coming to her rescue and proving her innocence. Despite all that, there are people out there who still think of her as guilty beyond a shadow of doubt. The messages don’t stop there. Harriet and others continue to receive threatening missives. Someone has a bone to pick with the women of Shrewsbury College. Shrewsbury administration is adamant that Harriet solve the mystery…with the help of Peter, of course. What better way to avoid public scandal than to have alum Harriet Vane investigate the nasty letters? Never mind that Harriet is not a trained investigator. The fact that she writes compelling mystery fiction is clout enough. When the investigate stalls, of course Lord Peter must come to Harriet’s rescue and uses this latest mystery as an excuse to yet again propose to Miss Vane. I found the scene when Peter gives Harriet a lesson in self defense while flirting silly. Peter even outfits Harriet with a dog collar to protect her precious neck while sleeping.
Marriage and romantic relationships are a prominent theme in Gaudy Night. [As an aside, Wimsey is so persistent and Vane is continuously so reluctant that I wished more than a few times that Peter would give up. I wanted him to break the news to Harriet that he has found someone else; a bombshell of a girl who he considers his true love.] All in all I found Gaudy Night to be a long and winding story that moved away from the mystery for long periods of time.

Line I liked. When Peter is talking to Harriet he utters, “The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo” (p 404). Phrase I also liked, “…distorting-glass of suspicion…” (p 462).
Confessional: there is talk of suicide throughout Gaudy Night that was difficult to read. I had a friend who took her life earlier this year.

Author fact: After reading Have His Carcase the author fact was Dorothy Sayers full name. The fact for this blog is that she died at 64 years of age.

Book trivia: I am always annoyed when someone like a hairdresser always gets caught up in murders. Their involvement never seems clever enough. There is no murder in Gaudy Night.
Audio trivia: my version of Gaudy Night was read by Ian Carmichael.

Music: “Love in Bloom,” Bach, “Greensleeves,” Morley: Canzonets for Two Voices, “Sweet Cupid, Ripen Her Desire,” Tobias Hume’s “True House of Joy and Bliss,” and Bach Concerto.

BookLust Twist: You can always tell just how much Pearl loves a book by how many times it gets mentioned in various chapters. Gaudy Night appears in all three Book Lust books. There is a double mention in the original Book Lust: first, in the chapter called “Academic Mysteries” (p 4), and again in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117). In More Book Lust, Gaudy Night shows up in the chapter called “Ms. Mystery” (p 169). Finally, there is a fourth mention of Gaudy Night in Book Lust To Go in the chapter simply called “Oxford” (p 170).

Mexico Set

2026/10/13 gr4c5Leave a comment

Deighton, Len. Mexico Set. Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.

Reason read: to continue the series started last month in recognition of the National Security Act.

In Mexico Set readers rejoin M1-6 agent Bernard Samson as he trails his Soviet counterpart, Erich Stinnes, a KGB major whom London Central salivates to recruit to their side. This is a strategic dance that takes considerable time. Samson travels between Mexico, London, Paris and Berlin delicately trying to seal the deal while avoiding traitors and blackmailers. Samson’s ex-wife has made it personal by threatening to take their children if he interferes with her KGB man. Remember, back in Berlin Game Mrs. Samson flipped and works for the enemy now. Like any good thriller worth its weight, Mexico Set has an abduction, a suicide, and a murder. Suspicions abound and loyalties become murkier by the day. As Samson goes deeper into his mission the net tightens incrementally around him. Pieces of his old watch are found at the murder scene of one of his own men. He is the one to bring the poisoned meal that kills another of his agents. Samson has no idea of his enemies except the obvious one, his ex-wife. Could it be that Fiona is trying to make the Department think she got her ex-husband to change sides with her? Then there is the Russian passport with his name and picture…
I appreciated that Deighton gave a two sentence recap of Berlin Game, artfully setting the stage for Mexico Set without spoiling either book. Another bonus was Deighton’s explanation of the difference between recruiting and enrolling someone to their side. For those interested, recruiting is a civilian term for swaying ordinary people. Enrolling is when an enemy can be flipped into joining the other side.
What makes Berlin Game and Mexico Set so riveting to read is that Len Deighton was a master of realistic dialogue. His characters are believable in emotion and speech. I was kept on the edge of my seat for the entire book.

Lines that mentioned coffee which I loved, “It was a heavy Mexican coffee that Biedermann had turned into a devil’s brew that made my teeth tingle” (p 40). Sounds like my kind of cup. Here is another coffee reference, “She stared at me with enough calm dispassionate interest to make me worry whether my coffee was poisoned” (p 69).
A non-coffee quote, “For fear is so unwelcome that it comes only in disguise and guilt as its favorite one” (p 189).

Author fact: Deighton went to art school.

Book trivia: cover art is by Arnold Schwartzmann. This is the first time I have ever seen an artist explain their cover art.

Music: Mozart’s Magic Flute, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Duke Ellington, Elvis, the Beatles, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Ingrid Haebler, “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Cold War Spy Fiction” (p 61).

Sourdough Without Fail

2026/10/12 gr4c5Leave a comment

Downham, Kate. Sourdough Without Fail: 100% Whole Grain Bread, Pizza and Pastries for Any Kitchen.

Reason read: as a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program I get to read interesting books. I often learn something along the way. This is one such time.

Pros: I appreciated the option to chose your own adventure according to your skill level or experience baking. The photography is beautiful. The attention to detail is impeccable and the amount of information, impressive. I appreciate the thorough indexing and plethora of information.
Cons: the organization was a little wonky. I expected a primer on sourdough starter right up front, before anything else: where to obtain it, what you need to feed it, how to know when to feed before diving into a recipe, and so forth. Maybe there could be a more thorough glossary of terms upfront so I’m not asking what an oven spring is right out of the gate. However, the answer does come later in the book.
All in all I learned a great deal about sourdough baking. Since I am inexperienced, I was not expecting there to be so much math (figuring out the percentages of ingredients around flour, for instance), but I have heard said that baking is a science. My only experience is with pizza dough. I would like to rewrite this review once I have made something with a sourdough starter.

Author fact: Downham has written other books about food. Her cheese book looks interesting.

Book trivia: the book was funded through Kickstarter.

The World of Henry Orient

2026/10/07 gr4c5Leave a comment

Johnson, Nora. The World of Henry Orient. Little, Brown and Company, 1958.

Reason read: Supposedly, October 6th – 14th is Teen Reads Week. Confessional: some library had that information on a sign in their window.

Nora Johnson split her time between California and New York, thanks to divorced parents. Looking back on childhood memories, she wanted to write a book about what it was like to grow up in the Big Apple. This is an old New York; back when they had wicker seats on the subway and you could buy an ice cream for a quarter. [As an aside, I wonder what she would think of today’s New York.] The World of Henry Orient tells the tale of two twelve year old friends, Marian Gilbert and Valerie Boyd with New York as their backdrop. Marian lives a sheltered life on the Upper East Side while Val is a whirlwind of creativity, culture and crazy. Because of their quirkiness and refusal to join the cliques, they are each other’s only friend…until they discover classically trained musician, Henry Orient. Henry, decades older than Val becomes her obsession. Soon Marian is using Henry as a way to get closer to Val, encouraging her to stalk the older man to learn his habits and eventually, his every move. This behavior sends the already fragile Val into a breakdown of sorts. World of Henry Orient ends with a surprising yet realistic twist. I rather liked the ending. Confessional: there is a scene when Marian and Valerie eat lunch at the Melton Arms. It reminded me of the scene in Beaches when Hilary took C.C. to dine in her hotel.

One mention of Bonwit’s brought me back to when my grandmother gave me a fur coat from the department store.

Quotes to quote, “She traded in gossip the way grownups play the stock market” (p 20), “Just when I am starting to compensate for my lack of home life, it arrives in town” (p 82), “Perhaps it is good to be lonely sometimes, to be able to stand here and feel everything, all at once” (p 87).

Author fact: Nora Johnson was born in Hollywood, California. Her photograph for The World of Henry Orient makes her look like she was destined for the silver screen.

Book trivia: this should be a movie. Oh wait. It sort of is.

Music: Mozart’s “Turkish March,” Bartok, Khatchaturian, Bach, “We Three Kings,” Good King Wenceslas,” “Deck the Halls,”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Teenage Times” (p 215).

Without Reservations

2026/10/07 gr4c5Leave a comment

Steinbach, Alice. Without Reservations: the Travels of an Independent Woman. Random House, 2000.

Reason read: According to the web, Steinbach celebrates a birthday in October. Read in her honor.

In January of 1993 Alice Steinbach decided to take a leave of absence from her job as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Her two sons had grown up, no longer dependent on her. Influenced by a “journalistic idol” who wrote about Paris for fifty years in The New Yorker, Steinbach headed to France first.
Admittedly, Alice has become a sort of hero for me. I loved how she easily met people by joining them at a cafe table or sharing a seat on a train. Striking up random conversations affording her a travel companion everywhere she went. I loved how she wrote postcards to herself as a shorthand journal and a keepsake for the future. I loved Steinbach’s fond memories of her mother and grandmother. They served as virtual travel companions.
What would have put Without Reservations in a completely different class is if Steinbach has taken a nod from Nick Bantock and made the postcard pages feel real. Instead of back and white photographs, Steinbach could have printed them on different paper and in color. On the reverse page, (think just like flipping over a postcard), Steinbach could have included her message.
A question: when is travel really travel? Is it when you are on the move, physically going from one place to another? Or are you traveling simply by being away from your own hometown and cozy bed?
Steinbach blurs the lines between solitaire and independence. As I mentioned earlier, no matter where she goes in what country, she always ends up sightseeing with someone else. Not much of her travel is truly alone.

As an aside, I was going to say imagine going to a cafe that was once a favorite spot for artists like Picasso or F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, but I do know what it’s like. I listen to music in a venue that was once haunted by the likes of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Carly Simon. The cushions are as old as the hills so maybe Dylan sat on them before I ever did.
Confessional: I want to adopt Albert’s Theorem: mishap equals excellent adventure.

Author fact: Alice Steinbach won a Pulitzer for feature writing in 1985.

Book trivia: my copy of Without Reservations includes a reader’s guide, questions for discussion, and a list of books for suggested reading.

Music: “Who-o Goes the Wind,” “How High the Moon,” Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Edith Pilaf, Oklahoma, Mozart, Chopin, “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again,” Ella Fitzgerald, Cole Porter’s “My Funny Valentine,” Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’ Armore,” Fred Astaire’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” Verdi, Caberet, and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Explaining Europe: the Grand Tour” (p 82).

Door into Summer

2026/10/06 gr4c5Leave a comment

Heinlein, Robert A. The Door Into Summer. Doubleday & Company, 1957.

Reason read: October is Star Man Month. Okay, so I admit I had to look this one up. I had no idea what I meant by “Star Man Month.” Guess what! I still do not know what I was talking about. To Google Star Man brings up…me. Meh.

In the 1950s Daniel Boone Davis is a brilliant yet naive engineer with a knack for inventing futuristic household chore helpers. While ideas and designs come easily to him, the business side is murky so he enlists the help of a business partner and Daniel’s fiancé. What could possibly go wrong? Of course the pair double cross Daniel and steal his company. Heinlein introduces his readers to the idea of cold sleep, a form of suspended animation for humans wanting to preserve themselves for the future. This is the perfect way to get Daniel out of the way, making the company takeover complete.
There is a scene in The Door Into Summer that made me think of the movie, “The Lake House” starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. In Door into Summer Daniel is trying to explain to Ricky how he will meet her in thirty years into the future. She has to trust that he will be there when he tells her where to go. Totally like the Lake House except for the fact Ricky is only eleven years old.
As an aside, I loved the nine year old Tomcat named Petronius the Arbiter (Pete for short) and I loved that he understood human speech and drank ginger ale.

Quotes I liked, “Cats have no sense of humor, they have terribly inflated egos, and they are very touchy” (p 42). Yes, yes there are. Here is another, “I am smart enough to appreciate real genius when I meet it” (p 141).

Music: “Time On My Hands.”

Author fact: Heinlein died in 1988 at the age of 81. To read the small bio on the back flap of Door Into Summer, it sounds like an unbelievable fiction. Did he really own a silver mine and when he tried to sell it was the buyer murdered the night before? Did he really know chess before he could read? Was he really friends with eight murderers?

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Time Travel” (p 220). In the beginning, I had to question if Door Into Summer was really a time travel book. D.B. Davis simply took the deep sleep and “waited” for time to march by. Thirty years later he “woke” the same age as he was when he entered the long sleep. It’s not like he jumped thirty years into the future. Later in the book there is an authentic time jump. Phew!

Black Mountain

2026/10/06 gr4c5Leave a comment

Stout, Rex. Black Mountain. Bantam, 1983.

Reason read: I am still sloggin through Rex Stout’s canon of Nero Wolfe mysteries.

In the Rex Stout series, Nero Wolfe is known for being a recluse. He does not like leaving his brownstone apartment for anyone or anything. In Black Mountain Wolfe not only leaves his residence and his beloved New York City, Nero leaves country. There are a whole bunch of firsts in this book. Nero at the morgue. Nero on a train. Nero on a boat. Nero making dinner. Nero hiking in the dark through a “jungle of rock” in Montenegro, as Archie called it. Hiking so long and so far that Nero’s feet bleed. Nero taking care of Archie. Nero taking on a case where he is his own client. I should back up a little.
Marko Vakcic, a reoccurring character in the Nero Wolfe series is found murdered. This is a personal blow to Wolfe as he and Marko were childhood friends in Montenegro. His death brings back a memory of climbing Black Mountain, a peak he first summited when he was nine years old. Of course, Nero and Archie must travel back to the Balkans to find Vakcic’s killer and bring them to justice. Along the way readers learn more about Nero’s past and political views.

Line to make me laugh, “the day that Wolfe would like to climb steps to look at children will be the day I would like to climb Mount Everest” (p 119).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the never ending chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 289).

Ender’s Game

2025/11/02 gr4c5Leave a comment

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Read by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison. Macmillan Audio, 2004.

Reason read: October is Science Fiction Month.

Planet Earth is prepping for a galaxy war against the Buggers. The last skirmish was eighty years ago and Earth barely survived. Recruiting this time around has to be aggressive and highly tactical. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, born in a society of limiting offspring: only two children per family, is known as an extra or Third. As a Third Ender must leave planet Earth at six years old for a boarding school where he trains to be a soldier. He leads an army of other children and it is here that he proves to be a natural-born leader and a prodigy at winning battles. So the saga begins.
Back home, the proverbial power struggle between good and evil begins. While Ender grows into a tactical fighter, his brother Peter demonstrates increasing violent tendencies every day. Their sister, ironically named Valentine (the symbol of love) as the token female, stands in the middle of the two brothers.
One of the most fascinating elements of Ender’s Game is that Card challenges the assumption about reality and what is “normal.”

Author fact: the idea for Ender came when Card was sixteen years old. He was fascinated by the idea of a Battle Room.

~~Book~~ Audio trivia: listening to the audio was a treat because Orson Scott Card explained his process for writing Ender’s Game. I had no idea the book was meant to be read aloud. Also, when Card first presented Ender’s Game he was told it was fantasy. He needed to change some details, bring in aliens to make it science fiction.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 213).

Collector of Worlds

2025/11/02 gr4c5Leave a comment

Troyanov, Iliya. Collector of Worlds: a Novel of Sir Richard Francis Burton. Translated by William Hobson. Ecco, 2010.

Reason read: Sir Richard Burton died in October. Read in his memory.

The fictional account of Sir Richard Francis Burton reads like a cinematic masterpiece. Burton’s personality comes alive. He was obsessed with disguises and liked to pose as a Muslim. One of his aliases was Mirza Abdullah from Persia. Against all odds, to survive Burton needed to blend in as a native. He was described a difficult and mysterious yet brilliant. He was a master of various languages. His concubine, Kundalini, wanted to marry him. She told him stories during sex. Troyanov takes three of Burton’s best known periods of life: as a British officer in India, Burton’s pilgrimage to Mecca, and everyone’s favorite game – where does the Nile originate? By fictionalizing Burton’s life Troyanov was able to make sweeping statements about nineteenth century culture in colonized countries. The varying literary writing styles help to separate Burton’s adventures.

Quote I loved, “She left behind a smile as small as the folded-down corner of a page in a book” (p 57). Here is another that, strangely enough, reminds me of my childhood, “Richard Francis Burton died early in the morning before you could tell a black thread from a white” (p 444). Here’s the weird parallel – when I was really young my sister had a poster of two horses, one white and one black. We would sleep together on Christmas Eve and were not allowed to get up on Christmas morning until we could see both horses distinctly.

Author fact: There are a few ways to spell Troyanov’s name. For LibraryThing, I have substituted a J where there is a Y. I am reading three of his books for the Challenge.

Book trivia: not all the foreign words are included in the glossary. I couldn’t find abbasids, bubukhanna, bazzaz, kaaba, or devadusi.

Music: “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Star Trekkers” (p 221).

In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz

2025/11/02 gr4c5Leave a comment

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

2025/11/02 gr4c5Leave a comment

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).