What are you reading the week of June 4, 2022?

I didn't do much reading this week. I'm less than a hundred pages into A Herzen Reader, a collection of essays and letters by Alexander Herzen. Herzen was a 19th century Russian dissident who published a couple of Russian journals from abroad. Interesting background reading to the Russian revolution.

Started Lambs of God by Marele Day not far in, seems to be promising.

First up are a couple of "coffee table" books that tend to be bed-side reading for me; Early US Jet Fighters and Abstract Art: A Global History. As for portable reading, there's Silver State Dreadnought and Light from Uncommon Stars.

Starting this OverDrive audio today ~

Made in Manhattan
by Lauren Layne

I've been in the process of buying a new place and preparing to move for the last 5 or 6 weeks so my reading has slowed although I did just finish the very good book, Girl, Woman, Other. It's a collection of character sketches/biographies of a collection of interwoven friends and acquaintances and their ancestors. It is set in England, most of the characters, black females, numerous LBGQT. Very well written and insightful.

Finished Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie. Meh. Started The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson. Still reading All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay.

This morning I finished reading Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia for my book club. I loved it, and they did too.
Now I'm reading The Institute by Stephen King.

I raced through George’s Simenon’s The Misty Harbour this morning and thought it was very well done. I started and stopped a couple books this afternoon but I think I’ve settled in with Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April.

Finished Lies My Teacher Told Me, finally. The last couple hundred pages were a real slog, since Loewen made his point in the first 50 or so pages and just repeated himself ad infinitum for another 268 pages, randomly throwing in exclamation points which I assume were intended to wake up the dozing reader.

Three duty reads coming up -- a couple of LTER reviews and a F2F group read. Will probably start the shorter LTER tomorrow (not sure which one it is; I'll have to check the files) and then cruise through the group read.

Young Jane Young – Gabrielle Zevin
Audiobook narrated by Karen White
4****

The novel is divided into five sections, each narrated by a different character: Rachel, Jane, Ruby, Embeth and Aviva.

The basic plot is that a young woman with a degree in political science and Spanish, gets a job interning with a congressman, and then begins an affair with him. Of course, he’s married, and much older than she is. But she’s young and “in love.” And even when she confides in her mother and her mother tells her to end it, she doesn’t. And then she’s caught. And her life is in ruins, while the congressman’s wife and staff rally ‘round to save his position and reputation.

Can you forgive yourself your youthful mistakes? Can you recover from such a public humiliation? Will you make further bad decisions to compound the problem? Or will you be able to put it behind you and go forward with grace and dignity and courage? Will the public let you?

Many of us have crises in our lives – some small, but some potentially devastating. For most of us those crises remain fairly private, shared only with a few close friends or family members. But what if it’s a public scandal? This is a wonderful exploration of the ways in which women deal with such personal disasters.

I thought the multiple narrators (and Zevin manages to give each of them a unique voice) was a very effective way to tell this story. I was cheering for every one of them, though I admit it took me a while to come to the side of the congressman’s wife.

Karen White does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She has multiple female characters to deal with and she’s able to differentiate them. I particularly liked how she voiced Ruby and Rachel.

Finished The Night She Died by Dorothy Simpson. Enjoyed it. Next up is Six Feet Under by Simpson.

I finally finished the 43-hour audiobook of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I've been listening on and off since April 15. One of the reasons it took me so long were that there were bits of the book that distressed me, as well as times where I didn't like the main character at all. I'll be giving it 3.5 stars.

Now I'm listening to Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham, which is an odd book. He's one of my favourite wrtiers - The Chrysalids helped me through my ungainly young adolescence - and he's no less impressive a writer here. But it is an odd tale.

Am reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and likng it very much.

I've started Diary of a Lonely Girl or the Battle Against Free Love by Miriam Karpilove. This novel was originally written in Yiddish and published in serial form in a New York Yiddish newspaper in 1918 and only recently compiled into novel form and translated into English.

Olga Dies Dreaming – Xochitl Gonzalez
2.5*** rounded up

I received an ARC from Flatiron books. Book’s scheduled publications date is Jan 2022.

From the book jacket: It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are gold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers. Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy.

My reactions
I really wanted to like this. I’d heard the author in a virtual event and felt her enthusiasm for the story and for her characters. I liked that her focus was on two successful siblings and their rise to those positions, despite parents who abandoned them and left them in the care of their loving grandmother. I liked Gonzalez’s stated focus on social issues of gentrification and the resulting displacement of families struggling to find affordable housing in an urban landscape, not to mention the changes to the neighborhoods that the influx of dollars bring. And on the personal issue of living up to expectations – of our parents, our friends, our community, ourselves – and the struggle to find one’s own path.

But I found a book with rather unlikeable characters that I just never quite connected to. I felt the “bad guys” in the book were the easy stereotypical “big business” villains. (And, yes, I know they exist and do great damage in the name of profits, but still…) And the whole intrigue with the Acevedo siblings’ mother – a revolutionary living in the mountains of Puerto Rico – never quite clicked with me either.

I did like the relationship between Prieto and Olga, though I didn’t really warm to either one of them. And I really liked Matteo and how he balanced Olga’s temperament. This is a mature man, with flaws, but still open and honest and willing to talk!

Started this cozy audio via hoopla ~

The Quiche of Death: The First Agatha Raisin Mystery (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, 1) by M. C. Beaton

The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)
by Andrzej Sapkowski
4/5 stars
There are several books in this series and according to one source this book was first book to read. Geralt of Rivia is a witcher (bounty hunter). He uses his magical powers to protect fiends from hurting others. He sometimes travels with a friend named Dandelion who helps him out. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the others in the series. The Witcher Series Book One

Fun Fact -In the TV series, they changed the name of Dandelion to Jaskier, which is the character's name in Polish.

A Fall of Marigolds – Susan Meissner
Digital audiobook performed by Tavia Gilbert
3***

On the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center destruction, Taryn Michaels is confronted by an article in People magazine that shows an image of two people staring up in horror as they witness the events of 9/11. The unidentified woman in the photo is Taryn. In August 1911, nurse Clara Wood works at Ellis Island, a “place in between” where she can feel safe from her memories of witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Both women lost someone they loved in the respective tragedies, both are connected by a single scarf printed with a pattern of bright marigolds.

Meissner does a good job of weaving these stories together and moving back and forth in time across a century to explore common elements of grief, guilt, loss and PTSD. I liked Clara’s story better than that of Taryn, probably because of it’s setting on Ellis Island, and specifically at the hospital on the island where arriving immigrants who needed to be quarantined or who were otherwise ill were treated before they could complete their immigrant journey.

Both women struggle with the ethical dilemma of what (and when, if ever) to reveal or withhold to others. Do you allow someone to continue to believe what you know to be false? Is it a kindness to leave them to their illusions, or better to give them the unvarnished truth? My F2F book club had quite the discussion about this.

I did think that Clara’s insistence on holding onto a fleeting romance was a bit over the top, but then the shock of witnessing such a horrific event could explain that. Taryn’s loss was much more understandable. Though her reluctance to tell her daughter about her father was puzzling.

Tavia Gilbert does a very good job of performing the audiobook. She has a gift for dialect and was able to differentiate each of the many characters. A dual timeline can be more challenging for a listener but Gilbert handled this beautifully and I was never confused about which story I was following.

From the library: The Complete Works of Isaac Babel
It includes all of his fiction, reports from his stint as a journalist, plays, and screenplays. His daughter Nathalie Babel Brown contributes biographical essays to the book.

She Who Became the Sun a magic-light historical fantasy. Very enjoyable.

The Enchanted April was, well, enchanting. I also read Love & Saffron which was a very quick read. I’m a sucker for epistolary stories. Now I’ve started Moonflower Murders.

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
by Sonia Purnell
5/5 stars
This is the amazing story of Virginia Hall, a woman who had lost her leg in a hunting accident at the age of 27 and who ended up becoming a spy in World War II for the SOE (Special Operations Executive), helping to organize and aid the French Resistance. After the war, she ended up working for the CIA. Highly recommended!

Starting this audio via hoopla today ~

The Widow and the Highlander (Tales from the Highlands, Book 1)
by Martha Keyes

Finished Six Feet Under by Dorothy Simpson. Not bad but not as enjoyable as the first book. Started Puppet for a Corpse by Simpson.

I have just finished reading the book Awakenings by author Oliver Sacks

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In the Frame – Helen Mirren
3***

Subtitle: My Life in Words and Pictures

I don’t read many “celebrity” memoirs, but I love Helen Mirren. She’s an accomplished actress and I’ve enjoyed virtually every movie or TV show in which I’ve seen her perform. This is her autobiography / memoir, supported by many photos.

Looking at her as a young woman, leading a rather nomadic lifestyle with a theatre troupe in Africa and across the USA, as well as in the UK, gives me a completely different perspective on her as a woman. What a free spirit! What tenacity and courage and drive! I applaud her ability to remain focused on her own goals and desires, to know what is the right thing for her career and to pursue her craft. Brava!

I also quite enjoyed learning more about her family background, including her parents’ own immigrant story coming from Russia to the English countryside.

The Plague Dogs
Richard Adams
3/5 stars
Written by the author of Watership Down, this is the story of two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, who live in a research testing facility in England where they have been experimented on and handled cruelly by the men who work there. One day, a handler did not lock them in properly and they escape from the facility causing great consternation that they may be carrying the plague and a huge man hunt for the animals ensues. I loved Adam’s Watership Down but I found that this book dragged on too long.

The new thread is up over here.

>27 JulieLill: I read Watership Down forty some odd years ago and thought it was one of the best books ever. I reread it a couple of years ago and was not as entranced by it. Time's a funny thing. ;-)

I am back in Egypt with Curse of the Pharoahs and Amelia Peabody.

>28 fredbacon: I tend not to re-read books for just that reason plus I have too many books on my reading list.

I am re-reading Magic's Silken Snare by ElizaBeth Gilligan. It's part of my challenge to re-read books on my shelves to decide if I want to keep them or if they need to go to a local free reading library.

Also, this afternoon I brought some childhood books to a local vintage bookstore. They were much loved, and I perused them a few months ago and realize either how antiquated they are ("If You Lived in the Days of the Dinosaurs") or that they are in good enough condition to bring joy to another young reader. My inner child is a little downcast and getting lots of hugs. She's got a lot of other books that she can peruse, like "Sam, the Firehouse Cat" and the Little Golden Book of "Peter Pan and Wendy." But it's sometimes hard to say goodbye to old friends.