What are you reading the week of October 23, 2021?

Sorry for being late. It slipped my mind. I'm about a third of the way through Connie Willis' Blackout. I enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog so much that I decided to read some of her other works.

Goldwyn
A. Scott Berg
4.5/5 stars
A. Scott Berg does wonderful job on this comprehensive biography of producer Samuel Goldwyn originally known as Schmuel Gelbfiz who flees from Poland in 1895, walking as he makes his way to America doing odd jobs. He eventually gets hooked up with Jesse Lansky and Cecil B DeMille to make his first motion picture and becomes one of the most powerful men in film.
This was so interesting- he also covered a lot of the history of Hollywood and film.

Just acquired this audio from OverDrive ~

State of Terror: A Novel
by Louise Penny & Hillary Rodham Clinton

So, I've been reading British Submarines in Two World Wars; and I expect to be doing so into November! Besides that, I'm working on Occupied America, Sea Change, and will pick up Origins of the Chinese Nation after those.

I'm just finishing up Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby. It's a very good book about a fascinating and important woman, though it was very detailed and therefore slow going.

Next up, I'll be finally getting around to Proust and starting his famous series by reading Swann's Way.

Still reading Piranesi, Odd Thomas, and The Midnight Library.

I'm reading and loving The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Looking forward to discussing it with my book club.

Just finished reading the novel The Client by author John Grisham

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I am reading Remembrance of Things Past Vol 2 by Marcel Proust and listening to Finders Keepers by Stephen King.

Really enjoying Rose Tremain's latest Islands of Mercy.

I’m reading The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey.

Finished listening to Finders Keepers.

Next up for listening is The Deep Deep Snow by Brian Freeman.

Nothing to See Here
Kevin Wilson
4/5 stars
Madison hasn’t heard from her college roommate Lillian in a long time. But one day she gets a call from Lillian to ask her to be a nanny to her new stepchildren. However, there is a catch, her stepchildren tend to break out in fire and her new husband is in politics and doesn’t want the public to know about them. Having nothing going on in her life, Madison heads out to re-connect with Lillian and assume care of the two children. This was an oddly delightful story of a young woman caring for the first time for herself and others through her new wards.

Say You’re One of Them – Uwem Akpan
Digital audiobook (abridged) performed by Robin Miles & Dion Graham
4****

This is a collection of short stories, dealing with various social issues facing African people throughout numerous countries on the continent. One story may deal with the Rwandan genocide (My Parents’ Bedroom), while another explores the competing goals of a family at Christmas (An Ex-Mas Feast), and yet another shows how a desperate uncle raising children orphaned by AIDS is coerced into an agreement he cannot keep (Fattening for Gabon). Two stories deal with the differences between Muslims and Christians (Luxurious Hearses focuses on a Muslim youth living with his mother in Nigeria’s north who is hoping to reunite with his Christian father in the south, while two six-year-old Best Friends in Ethiopia try to understand why their parents now tell them they must not play with one another (What Language Is That?).

All are beautifully written even when heart-wrenchingly difficult to read. Uwem focuses an unblinking eye on serious issues and while the reader is fortunate to not have to face such dilemmas, the reactions of the characters are totally understandable and relatable. The local English dialect used in some of the stories was sometimes difficult to get used to, but really gave a sense of place to the narrative.

The audiobook is abridged, with narrators reading only three of the stories. Still, Robin Miles and Dion Graham do a wonderful job of performing the text. And it is sometimes easier to understand the local dialect by hearing it than reading it on the page.

I finished Lost Children Archive with an audible wow!. It's an excellent, thought provoking book about lost children, Apache, Guatemalan refugees, and children of a dissolving marriage. All the stories are told in an overlapping manner including allusions to dreams, illusions, communion with the environment, loyalty, memories, documenting the echos, all presented in beautiful language. Truly impressive.

The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque, English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen
Sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, published in 1930
I had seen this novel at one time or another and decided to give it a read. I'd read All Quiet on the Western Front and seen the 1979 telefilm adaptation. The novel follows Ernst and his friends as they return to civilian life in post WW1 Germany.

I'm reading Susan Orlean's latest On Animals, a collection of reprinted essays, mostly from the New Yorker. She is such an entertaining writer!

Finished The Best of Friends, by Lucinda Berry, while traveling last week. I was all set to give it a rave review when I got to the "epilogue", which was trite and contrived and made me want to throw the whole mess across the room. (But I really didn't think that would do my Kindle any good...)

Currently re-reading Joanna Russ's The Female Man, which is just as odd as I remember it.

I'm currently reading (or listening to) Christopher Buehlman's The Necromancer's House. So far, it's a fun, character-driven dark modern fairytale and I'm really digging it.

Finished listening to the poignant mystery, The Deep Deep Snow.

Next up for listening is The Pull of The Stars by Emma Donoghue.

Finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Found it rather dull. Started Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

Holmes On the Range – Steve Hockensmith
Digital audio narrated by William Dufris
3.5***

From the book jacket: It’s 1893, a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job. When Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at the secretive Bar VR cattle spread, they’re not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a comfortable campfire around which they can enjoy their favorite pastime: scouring Harper’s Weekly for stories about the famous Sherlock Holmes.

My reactions
Well, this was a hoot and a half! I loved the brothers Big Red (Otto) and Old Red (Gustav) and how they worked together. Big Red narrates, as he is the more educated of the two, being able to read and write. But Old Red is the real fan of Holmes and his methods of observation and deduction, and it is he who finally solves the murder.

Hockensmith liberally sprinkles the text with colloquialism and colorful cowboy metaphors, and includes a host of memorable supporting characters (loved the Swedish cook!). The mystery plot was sufficiently complicated to keep me guessing right up to the reveal.

I’ll keep reading this series.

William Dufris does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. He has a gift for voices / dialects and I particularly enjoyed his interpretation of the Swede,

Finished The Female Man -- really did not remember much of it from my original reading in 2007. There are other books I read that year, including Rhett Butler's People, Lord Jim, The Martian Child, and The Other Boleyn Girl, that I **do** remember, so I guess that explains why I rated it only 2 stars last time and three this time....

Almost finished with Time Trials, by Jon and Dana McConnell, which I won. I'd have to consider it a YA side and reminiscent of the Harry Potter books, though with time travel instead of the high fantasy elements. An okay piece, but probably not something I would have picked up on my own.

On track to finish up the month with 8 reads.

The new thread is up over here.