tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20036797890922727412024-03-17T23:02:30.491-04:00The Cyberlibrarian: Reviews and Views on Current LiteratureWelcome to my blog. I am Miriam Downey, the Cyberlibrarian. I am a retired librarian and a lifelong reader. I read and review books in four major genres: fiction, non-fiction, memoir and spiritual. My goal is to relate what I read to my life experience. I read books culled from reviews in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Bookmarks, and The New Yorker. I also accept books from authors and publicists. I am having a great time.
Hope you will join me on the journey.Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.comBlogger752125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-14458591498754569182024-01-04T10:35:00.000-05:002024-01-04T10:35:29.111-05:00Announcement<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEYA1RR-RcQbaoZ-BfzlFbFEW208pHyuU65Ftm11GLl97S3mNxjT2w85hRUvyBb-APxVuOkZx0T4Hz_sOeAik6ZNAYgPYoFS9jge-89IacioKD-gw3YqXz7A82G5cvoREHFiWf-XW5rJyRltyxdFwJyGY_6BxIpPrycGMAgYFzyO85SfrZIaXfpfjJ59_a" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="519" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEYA1RR-RcQbaoZ-BfzlFbFEW208pHyuU65Ftm11GLl97S3mNxjT2w85hRUvyBb-APxVuOkZx0T4Hz_sOeAik6ZNAYgPYoFS9jge-89IacioKD-gw3YqXz7A82G5cvoREHFiWf-XW5rJyRltyxdFwJyGY_6BxIpPrycGMAgYFzyO85SfrZIaXfpfjJ59_a" width="182" /></a></div>Dear friends and followers,<p></p><p>I will be shutting down this blog on Sunday, January 7. </p><p>I have reviewed books for 13 years, 775 books. </p><p>If there are book reviews you would like to save, please do so before then.</p><p>I have thousands of books on my Kindles and on my book shelves that I want to read over the next few years, and I would like to do so without the pressure of publishing a review. </p><p>I will continue to list the books I have read on Goodreads, Edelweiss, and NetGalley. </p><p>Of course, this has been a difficult decision for me, but ultimately it is for the best.</p><p>Thank you for your loyalty. Goodbye.</p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-61387227832352317642023-11-27T16:39:00.001-05:002023-11-27T17:03:33.599-05:00West with Giraffes<p> By Lynda Rutledge</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuh7XutBaGwjFj0fPYqUQwXvJp0wAJ-VnLQ81hPVtlRrPKY-tHkkJjpBHV6M30fRPdhBU2n_MupRg-hlsiK8GnlZeUVGU3ykXUqFZ3GuSZVEJTBVVIdosBWkw1JULa18Va0FvQgoJ_w2u8sFjs8EgD3AD7TqgmCXXy3iOyuWbr4j7W9gGG6msE9A5nAKs/s1500/cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuh7XutBaGwjFj0fPYqUQwXvJp0wAJ-VnLQ81hPVtlRrPKY-tHkkJjpBHV6M30fRPdhBU2n_MupRg-hlsiK8GnlZeUVGU3ykXUqFZ3GuSZVEJTBVVIdosBWkw1JULa18Va0FvQgoJ_w2u8sFjs8EgD3AD7TqgmCXXy3iOyuWbr4j7W9gGG6msE9A5nAKs/w236-h355/cover.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lake Union<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2021<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">356 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Historical
Fiction<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Woodrow Wilson Nickel (or Woody Nickel as he is called) is a
very old man in a nursing home who has a story that he has to get told before
he dies. And what a story it is! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he was a teenager, a victim of the Dust Bowl era in the
Texas Panhandle, Woody attempts to travel to New York to meet his cousin, his
only living relative, but the cousin can’t be found once Woody gets to the
city. While in New York, he witnesses an historical event so bizarre, his whole
life is changed. A pair of giraffes, on their way to be the first giraffes at
the San Diego Zoo, miraculously survive a hurricane while they are crossing the
Atlantic. Absolutely fascinated by the experience of seeing the giraffes, Woody
decides to follow the truck to California.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A series of circumstances finds him driving the truck across
the country for the zookeeper--the “old man “-- across the country. What
follows is one of the craziest journeys ever—every moment compelling and
dramatic. Some of the events are historically accurate, and some come from the
mind of Lynda Rutledge, the author. But as the reader goes <b><i>West with
Giraffes</i></b><i>,</i> we are led to imagine what the real trip was like. Throughout
the journey, Woody, the boy, becomes Woody, the man. He learns to care for the
giraffes, learns to appreciate the old man, and falls in love with a young photographer
who is following the truck. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rutledge backs up her crazy story with newspaper articles
that appeared during the actual trip as well as the wired messages the old man
sent to Belle Jennings Benchley, the head zookeeper at the San Diego Zoo. And
Benchley is one of the incredible factual characters in the story. She was the
first female zookeeper in the country, and she was responsible for making the
San Diego Zoo one of the most famous zoos in the world. Rutledge says that she
first came across the story when she was in the zoo’s archives working on
another story. Apparently the story of the giraffes' cross country trip made
the newspapers across the country every day of their 12-day trip, and Rutledge’s
imagination took hold as she was reading the newspaper accounts. The result of
her imagination is <b><i>West with Giraffes</i></b>. And by the way, I found
this picture of the actual truck and giraffes. This trip really did happen!</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQt-oGUqIBMmbhUEqHVsK57KZY15zdM-1wbIWuXuxfYtan4z5HinTOkM5IGOR9qRqzhMz38RFVr1aQxloYck6LNZSRerIoB0U2bAKs9Eqm1_DaDFFw16cuhJ27ZuJAQCUx0jzCdoW37g7P5ON0DtMCIvpYT8Fu1UfYrOdl6b4x6z6qhBc-b4RB4ruUlbT2/s2048/truck.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1754" data-original-width="2048" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQt-oGUqIBMmbhUEqHVsK57KZY15zdM-1wbIWuXuxfYtan4z5HinTOkM5IGOR9qRqzhMz38RFVr1aQxloYck6LNZSRerIoB0U2bAKs9Eqm1_DaDFFw16cuhJ27ZuJAQCUx0jzCdoW37g7P5ON0DtMCIvpYT8Fu1UfYrOdl6b4x6z6qhBc-b4RB4ruUlbT2/w368-h315/truck.jpg" width="368" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rutledge tells the story beautifully—which is an important
asset to the book, because it would be easy to get bogged down in the details
of a 12-day trip. We are able to see Woody maturing before our eyes, at the
same time that we witness all the dangers the truck and the giraffes are
experiencing. One of my favorite moments in the book happens while in the
desert. Woody and the old man look up to see that they are being followed by a
flock of birds and both men and giraffes are struck by the magic of that moment—remarkable
in its peacefulness. A meant-to-be moment. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlLYnV4Y3qCd3Y1TKhtJfJd7D2x_W5sc5_cOnol1u3Sa3omfMeMufkcMzNVfD7j6CBHjvVk3JV1bM7122VtjzySd_U5r_GX8D3xqlmx_JNRCgKpp6idUH3tJnQERPbmUp46zxfwLhzLyG6d6Dv0FUoj0I8a10Qvta0yWrTDRfNnHcH0wP5eNSP4kkWwPt/s294/author.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="210" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlLYnV4Y3qCd3Y1TKhtJfJd7D2x_W5sc5_cOnol1u3Sa3omfMeMufkcMzNVfD7j6CBHjvVk3JV1bM7122VtjzySd_U5r_GX8D3xqlmx_JNRCgKpp6idUH3tJnQERPbmUp46zxfwLhzLyG6d6Dv0FUoj0I8a10Qvta0yWrTDRfNnHcH0wP5eNSP4kkWwPt/w210-h274/author.jpg" width="210" /></a>This is my book club’s reading for the month. I would not
have picked it out on my own, and I am very grateful for the choice. I can’t
wait to ask my friend how she heard about the book and to discuss it Thursday
night with my book club. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Lynda Rutledge <a href="https://www.lyndarutledge.com/">website.</a>
By the way, Rutledge has a new book coming out in January, <i>Mockingbird
Summer.</i> It is another historical fiction book taking place in 1964. Wait?
Is it possible that 1964 could be history? Makes me feel like old man Woody.<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-1066269629439319802023-11-15T16:51:00.000-05:002023-11-15T16:51:04.878-05:00Murder Ballads Old & New<p> By Stephen L. Jones</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGnX7UrrXPla27CnhvO9kK9-yf9-UQk4FbSchyphenhyphenNxMh2rommQ1ad9M8V875XSJoVmpNjvnltN3btXMQSC9PVODragaar4_Qv0u0Pha5qyIlBjgfwoqTxHYHxR5zhYgc_tlX75Zy1HQJf6ZfKUDaRs2RrG8ZgDa7p6aBHhFGBF1R7nMlfBAJ0XAK0W7Mo0Rb/s1500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGnX7UrrXPla27CnhvO9kK9-yf9-UQk4FbSchyphenhyphenNxMh2rommQ1ad9M8V875XSJoVmpNjvnltN3btXMQSC9PVODragaar4_Qv0u0Pha5qyIlBjgfwoqTxHYHxR5zhYgc_tlX75Zy1HQJf6ZfKUDaRs2RrG8ZgDa7p6aBHhFGBF1R7nMlfBAJ0XAK0W7Mo0Rb/w253-h380/cover.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Feral House<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">224 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Music
History</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="a-text-italic"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 11pt;">Here is the book’s
description. “<b><i>Murder Ballads Old & New: A Dark and Bloody Record</i></b><i> </i></span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 11pt;">is an exploration of an age-old topic— our human
need to document the horrors of the world around us. The murder ballad,
here expanded to include songs about traumatic loss in modern variants and
multiple styles, including punk, post-punk, alt-country, and folk. The book is
a graveyard stroll past tombs both well-kept and half-hidden. </span><span class="a-text-italic"><i><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Murder Ballads Old
& New</span></i></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> excavates
facts about killers, victims, and the folkloric storytellers who disseminated
their tales in song.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 11pt;">Author
Steven L. Jones focuses the tragic ballad as “an act of remembering and a
soul-reckoning with the ineffable.” Songs examined range from obscure tunes
from the founding days of the United States to familiar canonical songs learned
in schoolrooms and honkytonks. Jones tackles each song in a manner that’s equal
parts musicological, psychosocial, and genealogical as he uncovers stories that
reveal larger contexts and maps the lineages of songs and themes, forebears,
and ancestors. <span class="a-text-italic"><b><i>Murder Ballads Old & New</i></b></span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> includes a wide range of songs and
performers from the relatively unknown (Boiled in Lead, Freakons, Nelstone’s
Hawaiians) to the ironically famous (Johnny Cash, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth).
Highlights </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">include tales of Muddy
Waters guitar sideman Pat Hare, whose incendiary blues boast “I’m Gonna Murder
My Baby” proved grimly prophetic. And honky-tonk pioneer Eddie Noack, whose
morbid stab at late-career rebirth, “Psycho,” couldn’t match the bottomless tragedy
of his own life. As well as Depression-era holdup man Pretty Boy Floyd,
Schubert’s mythical Erlkönig, and the Manson Family.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although I did not read the entire book, the introduction
was very informative. And then, I read specifically about two songs: Lou Reed’s
<i>The Day John Kennedy Died</i> and <i>Desolation Row</i> by Bob Dylan. I was
particularly interested in Desolation Row because Dylan wrote it about a
lynching in his father’s hometown, Duluth, which is my home town. Dylan grew up
in Hibbing MN, but his father was a young boy in Duluth when three circus
workers were lynched. I found it a fascinating example of history preserved in
music. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsmbe1L8Yza3VcbEeItJq5Gpaf4_PguHXcUL3-STxywwp8HfkrETW1uQkZG3VH1V6QB8JhHSBv9KFyjPuhnObQp-lORHnGdcoI4oVsLSKyJNxbVtpn1nxdT9lL1BnrQhU1CmxEloAMfYoQd3bc73yogtv_u9z70SL2TfBjP_LjVQAEygJC1A85c57p482/s600/author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsmbe1L8Yza3VcbEeItJq5Gpaf4_PguHXcUL3-STxywwp8HfkrETW1uQkZG3VH1V6QB8JhHSBv9KFyjPuhnObQp-lORHnGdcoI4oVsLSKyJNxbVtpn1nxdT9lL1BnrQhU1CmxEloAMfYoQd3bc73yogtv_u9z70SL2TfBjP_LjVQAEygJC1A85c57p482/w277-h277/author.jpg" width="277" /></a></i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Murder Ballads Old and New</i></b> is a very dense,
quite scholarly book, but music lovers will very much appreciate it. This copy is going to my musician brother. It came to me from the publisher, and it is on
the market this week. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are YouTube versions about both songs: Lou Reed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulmYEwPsju4">The Day John Kennedy Died</a>
and Bob Dylan<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJ-4X6p7ww">Desolation Row</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-78554990736482894762023-11-14T13:02:00.000-05:002023-11-14T13:02:35.066-05:00Life After God<p>By Mark Feldmeir</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEKM0XBiSiFgiusSyOfYuMZuNnIvxGSq65PSDklOWY-9gK2D9E4hR8zX5GM6zkep6wdwjtXGfrgu9jOkUoDDMfbWdH3PUn5EFnltAqbu5_qHPs-CViglRu9Ayb3nEgqnF-v2KBxzlS1vjzQXONrmqkSRWVRp6M1_evDw6TpFQmzx7fp4gGsQYi7B7GjEfk/s466/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEKM0XBiSiFgiusSyOfYuMZuNnIvxGSq65PSDklOWY-9gK2D9E4hR8zX5GM6zkep6wdwjtXGfrgu9jOkUoDDMfbWdH3PUn5EFnltAqbu5_qHPs-CViglRu9Ayb3nEgqnF-v2KBxzlS1vjzQXONrmqkSRWVRp6M1_evDw6TpFQmzx7fp4gGsQYi7B7GjEfk/s320/cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Westminster John Knox<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">220 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Spiritual
Growth<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Here is the publisher’s summary of the book. “<span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;">The understanding of God that many
Christians insist is so clear in the Bible makes faith seem like an
all-or-nothing proposition. When much of that rigid projection seems in doubt,
it’s not surprising that many people leave behind this take-it-or-leave-it
religion. Pastor Mark Feldmeir offers an introduction to a God that many people
weren’t aware existed—a mysterious, uncontainable, still-active God who loves
and cares for real people with real problems. </span><span class="a-text-italic"><i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Life after God</b></span></i></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> offers glimpses of the ineffable God, who can emerge when we forget
what we think we’re supposed to believe about God and open us up to the
mystery, wonder, and compelling love we crave.</span>”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last night, a young woman close to my family called me for
some help. She has had 4 or 5 deaths in her family within the past year,
including her mother. In the course of the conversation, she asked me, “Do you
think God is mad at me?” Thank goodness I had just read Rev. Mark Feldmeir’s
book because I was able to answer her with some truths, rather than some
platitudes or a wake-up call to pray for forgiveness for wrongs she may have
committed. Feldmeir’s truth helped me to tell her that what God was offering
was strength to carry through during the times when life seemed overwhelming.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The subtitle of the book is “Finding faith when you can’t
believe anymore.” Feldmeir explores the Biblical concept of God, traditional
evangelical views of God, and a more cognitive awareness of the presence of a
loving, trusting, and supportive God. The text is written in almost a prose poem
style, or perhaps sermon style. It is very easy to read and digest. And, more importantly,
it is encouraging and supportive. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is a perfect book for those who are struggling with their
faith, and those who wonder about why we are believing in a God at all. For me,
it put into words the faith in a God whose arms are wrapped around me and
supporting me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-W7DN3JY-xDjkGF9tRqjnax2LWQvLK6anVJy1HeUrOMxxe6QTV9XJczcb-4AWXkYD2EGwQozg5_2HfVWb2OStxHpdg0mFLG_r22O5QN5EdWjNMa2oesMJX9ZRYw3zTuutSgNXNEAgsgYa00RkiicPMIAIcUA8-2XDO609Yx6Txx9SH31KSIKiKLCoj8fx/s600/Feldmeir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-W7DN3JY-xDjkGF9tRqjnax2LWQvLK6anVJy1HeUrOMxxe6QTV9XJczcb-4AWXkYD2EGwQozg5_2HfVWb2OStxHpdg0mFLG_r22O5QN5EdWjNMa2oesMJX9ZRYw3zTuutSgNXNEAgsgYa00RkiicPMIAIcUA8-2XDO609Yx6Txx9SH31KSIKiKLCoj8fx/w210-h210/Feldmeir.jpg" width="210" /></a></i></b></div><b><i>Life After God</i></b> is composed in a way that
allows the reader to get through the book in a couple of sittings or to do as I
did, read one section a night as my evening meditation. I have suggested the
book for my spiritual growth book group at church, when I will read it again. I
also think that it would do well as a 6-or-8 week study because there are study
questions at the end of the book.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark Feldmeir is the pastor of <a href="https://gostandrew.com/">St. Andrew United Methodist Church</a> in
Highland Park, Colorado. I identified so well with the book, it makes me want
to visit the church sometime. <o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-88125425219998303702023-11-06T15:52:00.000-05:002023-11-06T15:52:08.746-05:00Killers of the Flower Moon<p>By David Grann</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv-Q5ZYwnWwqDYlk-TtX6ecC_WL27oawCS7ooj9zFwoVJpREr4yTuH351UatPShsb19oeq4GA-JNLQn7ikOcXnzhNvCo5Um9LH10435GpHmuUVTPcgHvAaeOApwUDQceLQPWnL7q2j6VwAL98wKU9DHwM0aKVMlH4ab22jaIv9Eyc2vrx7dHBO-bqoDAdO" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="973" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv-Q5ZYwnWwqDYlk-TtX6ecC_WL27oawCS7ooj9zFwoVJpREr4yTuH351UatPShsb19oeq4GA-JNLQn7ikOcXnzhNvCo5Um9LH10435GpHmuUVTPcgHvAaeOApwUDQceLQPWnL7q2j6VwAL98wKU9DHwM0aKVMlH4ab22jaIv9Eyc2vrx7dHBO-bqoDAdO=w221-h340" width="221" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vintage Books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2017<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">377 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>History<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The subtitle is: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. In anticipation of seeing the movie <i>Killers of the Flower
Moon</i> this week, I decided to read the historical book of the same name by
David Grann. The book is the horrific study of a time in American history when
white men chose to steal the money and the lives of members of the Osage tribe
of native peoples in Oklahoma. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, the Osage were pushed
out of Kansas into what appeared to be sterile and unoccupied land in Oklahoma.
After suffering for several years, the tribe discovered that the land they had
been forced to settle was rich in oil, and the tribe became very rich—rich enough
that they exposed themselves to the greed and avarice of white America. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Grann tells the stories of several families who became so wealthy
that most of them had to have appointed white guardians to watch over them and
determine how their money would be spent. After a few years, natives, both
women and men, went missing, were found dead, or died of poisoning at alarming
rates. Federal officials were called in to solve the murders, and the young J.
Edgar Hoover was delegated to solve the mysteries. Thus the beginning of the
FBI.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is history told in great detail with a huge number of
characters, all very well drawn. Sometimes, I felt that there were too many
characters, but I kept reading and trying to keep it all straight. Tom White, a
former Texas Ranger, put together an undercover team that, along with Osage
help, began to “expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American
History.” The reader tries to keep up with the details.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjy7NBhHpQXezmOe45eFyosnvZ8lpvBkTR2QfU5chNGzVXtoThY6EJaVJNeMLqBvS8DM104ii-ALD5yFsSVNjVqHQDZi4in246166z2fIKMmblogrcg3yxDpUpY7Z3j9UGM9aAJs3OfPi7IS9qg7ZoNu5OYZ1a8f9pis_BWvePFDw0w9HlLKsj5deFbn5oR" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjy7NBhHpQXezmOe45eFyosnvZ8lpvBkTR2QfU5chNGzVXtoThY6EJaVJNeMLqBvS8DM104ii-ALD5yFsSVNjVqHQDZi4in246166z2fIKMmblogrcg3yxDpUpY7Z3j9UGM9aAJs3OfPi7IS9qg7ZoNu5OYZ1a8f9pis_BWvePFDw0w9HlLKsj5deFbn5oR" width="161" /></a><br />The most interesting part of the book to me was when the
author David Grann tells the story of how he began to do the research for the
book, including interviewing descendants of the people massacred. By doing so,
he found evidence of crimes and conspiracies that were never discovered by
Hoover’s men, 90 years previously. The reviewer on the <a href="https://www.bookforum.com/print/2401/-17548">Book Forum</a> concludes, “Remarkably
he succeeds. But there’s nothing triumphant or Agatha Christie-like about the
end result. What we’re left with, instead, are circles of complicity that widen
and widen until, terrifyingly, they grow to encompass the reader as well.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am very much looking forward to seeing the movie later
this week. My thinking is that the many names in the book will be easier to
identify when we are looking at visuals, rather than reading the names. Hoping.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Additionally, I have an unsolved question in my own life. My
great aunt Helma taught American history in Tulsa Oklahoma in the 1940s and 1950s.
Did she know about this part of Oklahoma history, or the part about the murders
in Tulsa’s Black Wall Street? I know we will never know the answer. My guess is
that both of those horrific times were never discussed and she never taught
them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David Grann <a href="https://www.davidgrann.com/">website.</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another review of the book in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/books/review/killers-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FBook%20Reviews&action=click&contentCollection=books&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collec">New
York Times</a> by Dave Eggers.<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-58702888306082539652023-10-16T21:11:00.002-04:002023-10-16T21:15:14.739-04:00Normal Family<p>By Chrysta Bilton</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgap4UIJ_NDwlxiVREiaYXd1IjAa-H9_YK8CyBxljsl5SFmD3AbxcRovnc9t5a4wOgEhdWItIrHxLchtynXX9lTflbK3TC8honOr2uFevvxuWrdiYJTfjPWAzkEWP86QDxFL9L_1F2PnOCrbLpM69u9Sz0rGgosxO4SjNkQ0mLHduDdYTfFEDmmMu_HXkVo/s464/cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="300" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgap4UIJ_NDwlxiVREiaYXd1IjAa-H9_YK8CyBxljsl5SFmD3AbxcRovnc9t5a4wOgEhdWItIrHxLchtynXX9lTflbK3TC8honOr2uFevvxuWrdiYJTfjPWAzkEWP86QDxFL9L_1F2PnOCrbLpM69u9Sz0rGgosxO4SjNkQ0mLHduDdYTfFEDmmMu_HXkVo/w232-h359/cover.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Back Bay<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2022<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">272 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Memoir<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The subtitle, “On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings”
created some anxiety in me. I had just watched a documentary called <i>Taken at
Birth</i> about Dr. Thomas Hicks, who sold over 200 babies from his clinic in
Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s. I worried that this might be a similar
story, but <b><i>Normal Family</i></b> has a totally different perspective and is
a first-person account of Chrysta Bilton’s life as the daughter of a single gay
woman and a paid sperm donor. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bilton’s mother is quite a character, and Chyrsta and her sister Kaitlyn had a very unstable childhood. Debra, their mother, wanted more
than anything for joy in their lives, but because of alcohol, drugs, and
an off-and-on career, she was pretty much unable to provide what the girls
needed. Jeffrey, their father, shows up whenever Debra pays him to come over,
but what they don’t know is that he is regularly donating sperm to a fertility
clinic, resulting in more than 35 half-siblings. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the girls grow up, they come to understand their mother
better and see less of their father, who has his own demons. Jeffrey, on the
other hand, is beginning to realize that the other children of his sperm may
want to know him and starts to reach out as Donor 150. This realization came as
a result of a New York Times article about sperm donors and Donor 150. In
his own way, he was proud of Chrysta and Kaitlyn, and wanted his other children
to know him as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bilton tells this story in such an delightful way that the
reader is totally engaged with her life story, the trials she and her sister
experienced, and the strength that guided them through to adulthood. At one
point, Bilton even tells about how she was dating a guy, who turned out to be
her brother. The <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/chrysta-bilton/normal-family/">Kirkus</a>
reviewer says, “Bilton’s warts-and-all depiction is sometimes hilarious,
sometimes horrifying, always grounded in extraordinary forgiveness and
resilience.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi1yMvVSsZh5JpM4zuQCo9HdPCtjgYNQjjxAI2VTTtGlGHefDVfK_bzzeLJnTyjFEYyqMx9ZoLUo1TNUxcXT4b-gRE5_OPc6fEk2ASxEmfgNw_TOD0lARFhzqWEIhihaPCf_YUk1ghndwQhdp9M6q8rRctICjnqTiWcVA4oSZHajnxY0OpOQMS2ttQ_pz/s250/author.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="201" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi1yMvVSsZh5JpM4zuQCo9HdPCtjgYNQjjxAI2VTTtGlGHefDVfK_bzzeLJnTyjFEYyqMx9ZoLUo1TNUxcXT4b-gRE5_OPc6fEk2ASxEmfgNw_TOD0lARFhzqWEIhihaPCf_YUk1ghndwQhdp9M6q8rRctICjnqTiWcVA4oSZHajnxY0OpOQMS2ttQ_pz/s1600/author.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br />Of course, this happened in the early days of sperm donation
and sperm purchase. Now, DNA and ancestry websites help people find their
relatives. Chrysta tells about how several of her siblings met each other, in
part because of the urging of her husband, who felt that Chrysta needed to have
that closure in her life. The meetup made her sister, Kaitlyn, very
uncomfortable, and she only stayed for a short time. On the other hand, the meetup helped finish Chrysta's journey.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have an acquaintance whose son was the sperm donor for a
lesbian couple, and they had a beautiful little girl. Right away, the couple <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asked my friend if she would fill the role of
grandma to the little girl. My friend was thrilled because she doesn’t have any
other grandchildren. The little group meets several times a year, and my friend
and her granddaughter Zoom with each other frequently. I certainly recommended <b><i>Normal
Family</i></b> to her. Actually, I would like to recommend it to anyone who
likes memoirs. It is fascinating and a “wholly absorbing page turner.” And you
thought your childhood was crazy!!! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chrysta Bilton’s <a href="https://www.chrystabilton.com/">website</a><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-35196660631098749372023-10-10T21:24:00.004-04:002023-10-11T15:12:00.044-04:00Holy Food<p> By Christina Ward</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvl5iKTBFBWPDdUR8_o6MLbFcQRA5qAkKk7YZ8RYCRRDeN4UbLKpJBQDZB-y30n9Sk7sVkcWoKq-HBLdo2cqBjz8B2f_tsqJCoMqC4Yy2mQeZ1zjfhkpNlFFdsQ4cduO4DqIOgWyvfri3vw3lVigcXMCZIbIFMz3ygsy8WjaS-ppVs7HBF_o3GNaR57Osl/s1730/Holy+Food+Blue.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1730" data-original-width="1211" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvl5iKTBFBWPDdUR8_o6MLbFcQRA5qAkKk7YZ8RYCRRDeN4UbLKpJBQDZB-y30n9Sk7sVkcWoKq-HBLdo2cqBjz8B2f_tsqJCoMqC4Yy2mQeZ1zjfhkpNlFFdsQ4cduO4DqIOgWyvfri3vw3lVigcXMCZIbIFMz3ygsy8WjaS-ppVs7HBF_o3GNaR57Osl/w254-h363/Holy+Food+Blue.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Feral House 2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">368 pages <b>History/Cookbook<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The subtitle for <b><i>Holy Food</i></b> reads: How cults,
communes, and religious movements influenced what we eat.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And here is a summary from the
publisher: “Religious beliefs have been the source of food "rules"
since Pythagoras told his followers not to eat beans (they contain souls),
Kosher and Halal rules forbade the shrimp cocktail (shellfish are scavengers,
or maybe G-d just said "no"). A long-ago Pope forbade Catholics from
eating meat on Fridays (fasting to atone for committed sins). Rules about
eating are present in nearly every American belief, from high-control groups
that ban everything except air to the infamous strawberry shortcake that sated
visitors to the Oneida Community in the late 1800s. Only in the United
States—where the freedom to worship the God of your choice and sometimes of
your own making—could people embrace new ideas about religion. It is in this
over-stirred pot of liberation, revolution, and mysticism that we discover God
cares about what you put in your mouth.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until I looked over <b><i>Holy Food</i></b>, I really had not considered the
food implications of religious movements and cults. I knew that we could get a
really good meal in Amish Shipshewana, Indiana, and that cereal came from
religious Dr. Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan, but I had never looked very
deeply into the topic. Christina Ward truly has done an incredible job of
delving into the topic of food and religion in the United States. <a href="https://www.kitchenartsandletters.com/products/holy-food">One reviewer
says</a>, “As Ward demonstrates, by no means were all relationships wacky,
coercive, or deceptive. But the centrality of food to people’s lives meant that
again and again—especially in a country that was inventing itself repeatedly
over centuries—new ideas about religion came with new ideas about eating and
drinking.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of particular interest to me was the section on The Lost Tribes of
Israel that included the group called the House of David in Benton Harbor,
Michigan. When I first moved to Southwest Michigan, we visited the House of
David several times. In the early 1900s the cult had created a resort near Lake
Michigan that included an amusement park. Because of their vegetarian and
kosher background, the resort created an atmosphere that was comfortable for
the many vacationing Jewish people from the Chicago area. By the time we got
there in the mid-1960s, the House of David was in its last days. Only a few
practitioners were left and the amusement park and restaurants were closed. We
walked the grounds and imagined what it must have been like in its heyday. Oh,
and I do have to say that when my father was a teenager in southern Minnesota,
he played a baseball game against the famous House of David baseball team.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAk1Y_PZ3wHjTv4nWSgdYEhsO7uHDrhFLA9dnwvjO6Y5ecaHBnYPuIlTIr3D5IsdY1u48mmA7ouRA0lXtsvqmj_E0Z4XWtkNnl5CQgemYshwcVbMkxOGah9CPMW2hoo1XW1juD1BjuHywVjA9vN2sivqdYjhiN96LGDngP-JO6Sc_vZlvOGSYjllOK1N-/s3750/Ward-2881-2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3750" data-original-width="2500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAk1Y_PZ3wHjTv4nWSgdYEhsO7uHDrhFLA9dnwvjO6Y5ecaHBnYPuIlTIr3D5IsdY1u48mmA7ouRA0lXtsvqmj_E0Z4XWtkNnl5CQgemYshwcVbMkxOGah9CPMW2hoo1XW1juD1BjuHywVjA9vN2sivqdYjhiN96LGDngP-JO6Sc_vZlvOGSYjllOK1N-/s320/Ward-2881-2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>I also enjoyed the section about the Kellogg sanitarium in Battle
Creek, our neighboring community, and about how Dr. Kellogg created cereal as a
way to clean out the bowels. The Seventh Day Adventists, of which Kellogg was a
member, is a very strong denomination in Southwest Michigan, in part because of
Kellogg’s notoriety. Berrien Springs MI, in the southwest corner of the state,
is the headquarters for the Seventh Day Adventists, and they have one of the
very best vegetarian grocery stores I have ever been to. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ward includes lots of very interesting recipes from the many denominations,
cults, and cultures. “It is a fascinating exploration of the American soul and
table” By the way, there is even a recipe for Funeral Potatoes.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The publisher sent me this amazing book, and I discovered that I had another book by Christina Ward on my Kindle, <i>American Advertising Cookbooks.</i> I've got to look at that book next. </p>
<br />Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-72833230755710056622023-10-03T12:25:00.000-04:002023-10-03T12:25:50.142-04:00Sure, I'll Join Your Cult<p> <span style="background-color: white;">By Maria Bamford</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCF8b8VzbhNqcWnCKKtOYb5ofOc5TpnDRD7gp871uZu3U2hrczq_wnKCLNQZODlLVt6ei9IQG9Bfvdhu53LdxOknWRD6V8ImjVdAj3oD4xOuFblJKmspFAHCHQCCYUv-IaQG0Fx_KkBdlVbwiXAawUIIM5FyltUbMBi3gDie6zqXhnXDRVNKPpGFOO-5h/s1500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="988" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCF8b8VzbhNqcWnCKKtOYb5ofOc5TpnDRD7gp871uZu3U2hrczq_wnKCLNQZODlLVt6ei9IQG9Bfvdhu53LdxOknWRD6V8ImjVdAj3oD4xOuFblJKmspFAHCHQCCYUv-IaQG0Fx_KkBdlVbwiXAawUIIM5FyltUbMBi3gDie6zqXhnXDRVNKPpGFOO-5h/w254-h385/cover.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Gallery<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">288 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Memoir</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">It was the title <b><i>Sure,
I’ll Join Your Cult</i></b> that really caught my attention when the advanced
readers copy was offered to me by the publisher. I had been going down a cult
rabbit hole with books and TV shows, and I thought Bamford’s book would fit
right in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">First, I am sorry
to say that I had no idea who the author was because of my lack of familiarity
with stand-up comedy. I also had no idea what her interpretation of the word “cult”
would be, but I dove into the book and read and laughed my way through it. The
book hit home with me on many levels.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">I loved her
understanding of cults. I had never looked at cults the way she did. She used
the term to describe Overeaters Anonymous and other 12-step programs, Dale
Carnegie’s <i>How to Win Friends and Influence People </i>and even to describe
Suzuki violin training. Once she described these programs, I bought into her
idea that these are very cult-like although non-religious operations. I completely
understood her predilection for joining these organizations to help her out of
whatever mental state she was in—and at the same time to participate in <i>something,
</i>even when she’s not very good at it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">The Washington
Post reviewer says that the book becomes a “portal directly into Bamford’s
mind.” The review also suggests that there is an “authenticity to her words
that elevates them into something beyond the category of comedy memoir.” The
reader is able to identify with her even as we are laughing at her pain and
misfortune—because of the very clever way she presents her life to the reader. Each
chapter closes with a crazy recipe (not real recipes), and I found myself
looking forward to these recipes because they tied the entire chapter together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">I particularly
appreciated her honesty about her mental health issues—even though they are
told with self-deprecating humor. She mentions in the introduction: “I do not
know what I’m talking about. And full disclaimer: cults, books, books about
cults, and comedy are no replacement for meds. Medicine is the best medicine.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">I listened to the
first third of the book on a car trip and then read the rest on my Kindle. I recommend
that you listen if you can. The audio version of the book is extremely funny
because it is read by the author, and she has a quirky and wonderful way of
emphasizing words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs that makes listening a
fantastic experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">I watched several
YouTube videos of Bamford’s comedy and a couple episodes of her Netflix series,
Lady Dynamite. So, I was really surprised when I read that she had grown up in
Duluth, Minnesota, my hometown. She had even gone to the same elementary school
my siblings and I had attended. More than that, her mother had belonged to the
same women’s organization that my mother had belonged to and her father had
been active in the community theater—just like my dad. </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi787A_IbFGdJCfLmq0kaKJiKnLrwkZgcV-j1p3TRmC6pI3-pnonz-8TU4WA-9KTeE57sVhK9LigzPhzVb2WUsy926AMhIVGZ4R4VQMSVh_8TTx-YY9Mti79Mi00E1zrYmPec-mSQwC0ATSD9kT7Cwi0uqvGpAO1Ubab0NP60tgiJMcdB44NqM1__kg76rK/s1800/Bamford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi787A_IbFGdJCfLmq0kaKJiKnLrwkZgcV-j1p3TRmC6pI3-pnonz-8TU4WA-9KTeE57sVhK9LigzPhzVb2WUsy926AMhIVGZ4R4VQMSVh_8TTx-YY9Mti79Mi00E1zrYmPec-mSQwC0ATSD9kT7Cwi0uqvGpAO1Ubab0NP60tgiJMcdB44NqM1__kg76rK/s320/Bamford.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>More of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/09/06/maria-bamford-join-cult-memoir-review/">Washington
Post</a> review: “Some of her misadventures—among them, being committed to a
psych ward and accidentally killing a beloved pug — feel like anything but
laughing matters. But it’s a testament to Bamford that she’s able to fill these
pages with stories that are relatable and consistently hilarious, even when
they’re harrowing … This material, and the quirks of its presentation, make the
memoir feel like a 270-some-page portal directly into Bamford’s mind. That
notion would probably be terrifying to Bamford, who worries frequently on the
page that she may be coming across as a massive narcissist. But there’s an
authenticity to her words that elevates them into something beyond the category
of comedy memoir.”<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 15.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Recommended</span><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-11236387293789896812023-09-22T12:46:00.000-04:002023-09-22T12:46:26.466-04:00Small Things Like These<p> By Claire Keegan</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-dCUopYmNZ9Obekd31iySwWWuFbRlnwCy9uLkxS5ltV4XBraVAnWvZJiCKfPe6cxCV-6RKlCvOWyBB2z-KiF5WJm2ytlXWHTYApgKu0MRowrq64azSnERC9SWGfvwR6eCm8xsgxn_g4bIsgTSWo-gbz2McRT98lMHsaVIBGdE7zhGBneBm31RyvTPekg/s1500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="973" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-dCUopYmNZ9Obekd31iySwWWuFbRlnwCy9uLkxS5ltV4XBraVAnWvZJiCKfPe6cxCV-6RKlCvOWyBB2z-KiF5WJm2ytlXWHTYApgKu0MRowrq64azSnERC9SWGfvwR6eCm8xsgxn_g4bIsgTSWo-gbz2McRT98lMHsaVIBGdE7zhGBneBm31RyvTPekg/s320/cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Faber<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2022<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">110 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Literary</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I was a girl in the 1960s, I knew a couple of girls who
disappeared from school for several months, only to return after “visiting some
relatives” or “living with Grandma and Grandpa.” Claire Keegan explores this
all-too-common occurrence in her 2022 Booker Prize-nominated novella, <b><i>Small
Things Like These</i></b>. And just like in 1960s Minnesota, in 1980s Ireland,
these things are not talked about and remain a secret.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Small Things Like These</i></b> is so intricately
woven in only 110 pages, that I realized after I read it the first time that I
was missing something. So I read it again, and my heart broke at the integrity
of Bill Furlong, an almost 40-year-old man who owns the village coal and lumber
company. Bill is married and the father of five daughters. He is a stalwart,
well-respected <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>member of the community.
He goes to mass every week and his daughters go to school and get music
training at the school run by the local nuns. One day he makes a discovery that
makes him confront both his past and the complicit silence of his community—a community
completely controlled by the Catholic Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Christmas plays a role in the story line. In one delightful
scene, Furlong’s children all write letters to Santa with their lists of
presents. Bill and his wife Eileen read
the letters after the children go to bed, choose the presents they can afford
from the list, and then burn the letters in the fireplace. We are made
completely aware of the unity and the love within this family.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet Furlong yearns for more. This paragraph is profound in the
way he thinks about life. “Always it was the same, Furlong thought; always they
carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand. What would life
be like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things?
Might their lives be different or much the same—or would they just lose the run
of themselves?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipY0AMGzCiIeOOWQneDmLixOU4R3I_Ry-c_8RBYljyjc11yo2qwGrigPg0HU_RJr3lrouq5s_Ovh975W2LhFrpr_H5xhFcs-fwgm-c3dYBkWWMDgCl3_EB8dUukEb_Xo-NtLHT9Ll8FIS0nFkUA9fHSoWUGWUwW5CanVM1ew3qhqy4Eh2oRCmXubPWvSIR/s1721/claire-keegan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1157" data-original-width="1721" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipY0AMGzCiIeOOWQneDmLixOU4R3I_Ry-c_8RBYljyjc11yo2qwGrigPg0HU_RJr3lrouq5s_Ovh975W2LhFrpr_H5xhFcs-fwgm-c3dYBkWWMDgCl3_EB8dUukEb_Xo-NtLHT9Ll8FIS0nFkUA9fHSoWUGWUwW5CanVM1ew3qhqy4Eh2oRCmXubPWvSIR/s320/claire-keegan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Claire Keegan is one of Ireland’s most prominent authors,
and this was the first book I had read written by her. It is brilliant in the concept as well as in the composition. I am absolutely amazed
at her ability to say so much in so few words. We understand Bill Furlong; we
understand his community; and we understand the secret the community is
holding. I was overwhelmed. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Two awesome reviews of her book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/books/review/small-things-like-these-claire-keegan.html">New
York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/1065780684/claire-keegan-book-small-things-like-these-magdalene-laundries">NPR</a>.
<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-7079114870014827442023-09-12T13:05:00.000-04:002023-09-12T13:05:09.954-04:00A Darker Shade of Noir<p>Edited by Joyce Carol Oates</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwv5-3X93hdq5CWKe-F7ssx-nyCY4jSMi9lygYzuCZ75OZzx0ouW-sLE617imjgKHQjcB_iGbUJksM4Hd6FY8zk50ipdg55PAOKdjwiUhjn9tIYEMUiqRZCqHJAII2rmqBKO8WNsp1Pz2eXHr5HVW3aOQBwFHFTlrklqouNv2n20pGOti8mzlc8h-4X5ws/s1000/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="631" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwv5-3X93hdq5CWKe-F7ssx-nyCY4jSMi9lygYzuCZ75OZzx0ouW-sLE617imjgKHQjcB_iGbUJksM4Hd6FY8zk50ipdg55PAOKdjwiUhjn9tIYEMUiqRZCqHJAII2rmqBKO8WNsp1Pz2eXHr5HVW3aOQBwFHFTlrklqouNv2n20pGOti8mzlc8h-4X5ws/s320/cover.jpg" width="202" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Akashic Books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">266 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Noir/Horror<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Joyce Carol Oates has written a remarkable introduction to <b><i>A
Darker Shade of Noir</i></b>, Akashic Books’ newest addition to their collections
of Noir fiction. It really tells you everything you need to know about the book
and its outstanding group of women authors, each of whom contributed a story to
the collection, including Oates, Margaret Atwood, Tananarive Due, and Megan
Abbott—authors that I knew about and had read before. The introduction can be
found <a href="mailto:https://crimereads.com/joyce-carol-oates-women-body-horror/">here</a>.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories in the
collection tell every type of modern versions of female-related horror similar
to the mythological figures whose names we know, such as Medusa, or the Salem
witches. Each of the stories considers one type of female horror. For example, “Frank
Jones” by Aimee Bender really captures your attention when she tells the story
of a young woman with skin tags that she saves to horrifying results. The woman
in the next story by Tananarive Due can’t stop dancing. She has been dancing ever
since her grandmother died.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JOATC-USqEzH6T5nORpfIYTa8IFKowImue4T1Pd_0Klr8Y0SAyzFelLgq2vZUzKbK0zZJ-1yznQTOwfLX026EvMRphHqY8AjLyiTbnUIHf5ISKIgBdYPFjd0--lrlDlaK_e2iRqbSEfSVvcgfFsL_ydNoHyEeyWcEp57cdvpfOIqoNFgk08TwYhFUHZe/s1000/Joyce-Carol-Oates.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="948" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0JOATC-USqEzH6T5nORpfIYTa8IFKowImue4T1Pd_0Klr8Y0SAyzFelLgq2vZUzKbK0zZJ-1yznQTOwfLX026EvMRphHqY8AjLyiTbnUIHf5ISKIgBdYPFjd0--lrlDlaK_e2iRqbSEfSVvcgfFsL_ydNoHyEeyWcEp57cdvpfOIqoNFgk08TwYhFUHZe/w212-h224/Joyce-Carol-Oates.png" width="212" /></a></div>I think most women understand the idea of body horror in its
more basic forms, as well as the history of the subjugation of women through
the centuries. Joyce Carol Oates addresses this superbly in the written diary
of a woman in a mental asylum in the mid-1800s. And, of course, there is the
accounting by Margaret Atwood of a snail that invades a woman’s skull, her
soul, and her psyche. Way creepy!<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I really got spooked by Megan Abbott’s story about a
haunted house in Penny’s neighborhood. Apparently the doctor who owned the
house killed his wife and children many years before. Through the years,
neighborhood children told the story of the killing and the haunting. Young
Penny decides to investigate one night to disastrous results. I remembered a big
deserted house on the river in the small Minnesota town I lived in as a child.
The really brave kids would run up the steps and knock on the door on
Halloween. One Halloween, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I
saw a light in one of the upstairs rooms, and everyone ran out of that yard as
fast as we could! I had a bad dream the night I read Abbott’s story!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I could go on and on. These are marvelous stories that
touched a real nerve—in both my body and my mind. Highly recommended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-25828470316345094482023-09-05T12:31:00.000-04:002023-09-05T12:31:40.464-04:00Saving Myles<p>By Carl Vonderau</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftSDxXWOVV3_Dj9MkuZs4frXCndsT8a1WGAAfAblDVKTtn0R8JmPQIJHODMfBXQRZT9ulrc4yPXv1UNQKv78ePBT6gTREXuHwGiA-z_DXDCEW5v3zLLHptxK4T4a9r4O-7deJvW5bjt6QvRBr8oPDvHJMgkcblMUKWFhAcV3zv_fJG4vzUnwpfv62CgWJ/s400/Saving-Myles-Carl-Vonderau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="262" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftSDxXWOVV3_Dj9MkuZs4frXCndsT8a1WGAAfAblDVKTtn0R8JmPQIJHODMfBXQRZT9ulrc4yPXv1UNQKv78ePBT6gTREXuHwGiA-z_DXDCEW5v3zLLHptxK4T4a9r4O-7deJvW5bjt6QvRBr8oPDvHJMgkcblMUKWFhAcV3zv_fJG4vzUnwpfv62CgWJ/w229-h349/Saving-Myles-Carl-Vonderau.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oceanview<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">33 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Thriller<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is every parent’s worst nightmare: Wade and Fiona
Bosworth are shocked to find that their 18-year-old son, Myles, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is using drugs and may even be selling them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had already spent a huge amount of money
at a drug-rehab program at the Hidden Road Academy in Utah, and now, he seems
to have stooped even lower. The stress has caused his parents to separate, and
the carefully crafted training Myles has been under has crashed. He has a new
girlfriend, and together they cross the border to Tijuana to buy drugs
to sell. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Myles is kidnapped by a drug cartel, and the kidnappers are
asking a huge amount of ransom. Although Wade is a banker, he does not have the
resources to meet the ransom demands until Fiona’s boss at the nonprofit she
works for says he can help with the ransom. Everything in all of their lives
falls apart at the moment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first half of <b><i>Saving Myles</i></b> is very much
concerned with Myles’ welfare—his training at the Academy, his rebellion, his
kidnapping, and the ways his parents negotiate to pay the ransom with help from
Andre, Fiona’s boss. It is then that Wade’s banker training kicks in. We learn
more than we might want to learn about real estate bankers, the complexities of
banking, and possible collusion with rich Mexican criminals. Everything bogs
down for a while, and then in the last quarter of the book, we reach a
satisfactory conclusion on all fronts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is obvious that Vonderau knows a lot about banking,
because, of course, his first career was as a banker. I have often chuckled
about how many thriller authors are former lawyers, and now we have a banker.
The kind of business he does is very much like the kind of business my husband
did, real estate investment. I understood the complexities that Wade is
negotiating as he works to find the money to pay the kidnappers, but I could
only imagine what the reader who knows nothing about this type of finance is thinking.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, readers are so concerned about
saving Myles that they can just read through the morass of business dealings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqPkMdU5TIy8odX66cvKUJ95POnigg-8dltLrLayOWc9jO9D_WBDclK1vN1U8OlWdS9fY9t4TAXcfX4BxnDp9E5Pzok5z5RCAt4_-pzUBi8LcNQLlaSBhsYq9r9Pw6yRnjn_CFm-c6iMP3I0KzTNYKnfOM7UQnw71vFE-fw-hxFl_AcqTKzIVBOwM2Aje/s600/Carl_Vondereau-1-600SQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqPkMdU5TIy8odX66cvKUJ95POnigg-8dltLrLayOWc9jO9D_WBDclK1vN1U8OlWdS9fY9t4TAXcfX4BxnDp9E5Pzok5z5RCAt4_-pzUBi8LcNQLlaSBhsYq9r9Pw6yRnjn_CFm-c6iMP3I0KzTNYKnfOM7UQnw71vFE-fw-hxFl_AcqTKzIVBOwM2Aje/w294-h294/Carl_Vondereau-1-600SQ.jpg" width="294" /></a></div>In other words, the worry about Myles supersedes the
complexities of the narrative. <a href="mailto:https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/saving-myles/">One reviewer</a>
says, “Carl Vonderau masterfully weaves a complex and twisted narrative,
exploring the depths of a parent’s love when faced with seemingly unfathomable
criminal situations, intrigue, suspense and tension.”<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t think that I would have found <b><i>Saving Myles</i></b>
on my own, but it came to me from the publisher. The cover and description
intrigued me, and the tension of the plot kept me reading. I think you will as
well. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Carl Vonderau <a href="mailto:https://carlvonderau.com/">website.</a><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-48369251067486517892023-08-29T15:39:00.008-04:002023-09-05T11:36:57.044-04:00The Cabin<p><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">By Landon Beach</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohW6swOjkbxQ5oVEuSBgdcu-1h2NMzkxv4nrJcHAoJxjWjHT_vFvSqwZruW9DvdTgWUA0mlYTGSLB4xoETXCRPb27QgIgCv2b3VxTOLKYY6ZqfzeQvDl53ci0C9aXlq0sx9qBybbcQ2v7FW0lDFzj1xJrSrzRrgQmyYVKSga6FN_aSvv7nAZLL3XpeBzn/s500/cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohW6swOjkbxQ5oVEuSBgdcu-1h2NMzkxv4nrJcHAoJxjWjHT_vFvSqwZruW9DvdTgWUA0mlYTGSLB4xoETXCRPb27QgIgCv2b3VxTOLKYY6ZqfzeQvDl53ci0C9aXlq0sx9qBybbcQ2v7FW0lDFzj1xJrSrzRrgQmyYVKSga6FN_aSvv7nAZLL3XpeBzn/w249-h374/cover.jpg" width="249" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Landon Beach
Books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2019<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">327 pages<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b>Thriller<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On we go to
Lake Ontario and another book by Landon Beach, part of his Great Lakes Saga series
of books. While Lake Huron is a major part of <i>Huron Breeze</i>, which I read
last week, Lake Ontario is just a minor player in <b><i>The Cabin</i></b>. Here
is the summary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;">“A potential worldwide catastrophe looms large, while CIA
Officer Jennifer Lear waits in a Berlin café to meet with her agent who has
critical information regarding the chilling emerging threat. But the agent is
late, and the meeting turns into a frantic struggle to survive, generating many
questions about how it all could have gone so wrong--the first being: Who
exactly is Jennifer Lear?</span><span style="color: #0f1111;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Six months later, Iggi and Maria Hilliard arrive at
their secluded log cabin on the southern shore of Lake Ontario to celebrate the
4th of July with two friends. One is a co-worker of Maria's, Haley Girard, who
is struggling with the idea of turning thirty and just looking for a place to
relax away from Rochester. The other guest is recently divorced Detroit
Detective Cal Ripley, a man who has been on the front lines since 9/11 and
needs time away from his job and Detroit.</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The plan is to relax, reflect on life, and
reconnect. Maria is also hoping that Haley and Cal find some chemistry.
However, as the weekend unfolds, it becomes clear that not everyone in the
cabin is who they say they are.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the major attractions of the book are the delightful
main characters, who are all in their early 30s and are trying to make sense of
adulthood. Maria, a teacher, is trying to connect her friend and fellow teacher,
Haley, with Cal, who she knows from her youth. Iggi, a sports journalist, is
not particularly eager to spend the weekend with people he doesn’t know, but as
the weekend wears on, and the men kayak and swim, they realize that they have more
in common than they anticipated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The plot is intense, and the reader gets so caught up in the unfolding
espionage that it is very difficult to turn out the lights and go to sleep. I
guess that I was expecting <b><i>The Cabin</i></b> to be more like <i>Huron
Breeze</i> as a mystery set on a beach, but instead the beach is only part of
the setting. The story spends time in Detroit, Berlin, Vietnam, New York City,
and Langley Virginia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be sure to read
the title of each chapter, because the time, the year, and setting changes in
every chapter, and reading each title carefully will eliminate confusion that
may arise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Much of the story takes place in the early 2000s, with 9/11
still very present in everyone’s minds. There is quite a lot of political
discussion—some of it quite intense. Frankly, I found this to be the one
drawback to the novel. There is no denying, however, that the action and
suspense overrides the politics. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Landon Beach has had an interesting career as an educator—and
now a novelist. I love that he has based most of his novels around the Great
Lakes. He was interviewed by The Real Book Spy, Ryan Steck, who by the way is a Kalamazoo writer and
reviewer. Steck has reviewed most of Landon Beach’s books. Tune in to his great
interview podcasts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73jw5mAvL4bor7iayxCaX3hf8Vsy_tX3Fu3k92V-ShosbyJGIQmCvLMv3_wKngKLVxoRKfIRTJpptP-MJobrJRtTICE-xu0dY3WmHVdVLxwySXSyn0mu2QJ-4eoxUlh7XanZjVKqeMkLYC0e-MDuxJiXswzw-SnFPrv6qOAMq0xCbMeZu6rEgtXsClK0v/s2100/Landon%20Beach.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73jw5mAvL4bor7iayxCaX3hf8Vsy_tX3Fu3k92V-ShosbyJGIQmCvLMv3_wKngKLVxoRKfIRTJpptP-MJobrJRtTICE-xu0dY3WmHVdVLxwySXSyn0mu2QJ-4eoxUlh7XanZjVKqeMkLYC0e-MDuxJiXswzw-SnFPrv6qOAMq0xCbMeZu6rEgtXsClK0v/s320/Landon%20Beach.jpg" width="229" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Landon Beach <a href="mailto:https://landonbeachbooks.com/">website.</a>
Here is what he has to say about his Great Lakes Saga, of which <b><i>The Cabin</i></b>
is the Lake Ontario setting. “I have always thought that the Great Lakes
region, beautiful and rich with history, would provide the perfect place to set
stories. My approach for the 5-book saga is to tell one story set on or around
each Great Lake. Don’t let the different genres dissuade you. The books are all
summer reads full of drama, tension, betrayal, murder, lust, romance, mystery,
and suspense.” <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So now, my summer reading journey is complete. I have re-read
<a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/07/long-shining-water.html">The
Long Shining Water</a> (Lake Superior), <i><a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/07/famous-in-small-town.html">Famous
in a Small Town</a></i> and <i><a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/08/tom-lake.html">Tom
Lake</a></i> (Lake Michigan), <a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/08/huron-breeze.html">Huron
Breeze</a> (Lake Huron), <i><a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/08/cleveland-noir.html">Cleveland
Noir</a></i> (Lake Erie) and <b><i>The Cabin</i></b> (Lake Ontario). Where
shall I go next?</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-21111644370716221412023-08-23T20:51:00.000-04:002023-08-23T20:51:30.542-04:00Tom Lake<p>By Ann Patchett</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZezRg6NcvqlEYEkZcbsaIG-ETQeyWqrBIdjJBbLHMT3snGCpmjI9Za_cbm8bkiLYdgT7vAsC7cyOz18EScgavJKYtG3eTdrMrL4tdAOlu3_MIOtGb4pTGtsB6VmR1NmygwBC9Uz2JLY2rmP0pcKmCDBBYLRawxKzGM9CaYX52YtVwagIM2PEk5XRSdTX/s500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZezRg6NcvqlEYEkZcbsaIG-ETQeyWqrBIdjJBbLHMT3snGCpmjI9Za_cbm8bkiLYdgT7vAsC7cyOz18EScgavJKYtG3eTdrMrL4tdAOlu3_MIOtGb4pTGtsB6VmR1NmygwBC9Uz2JLY2rmP0pcKmCDBBYLRawxKzGM9CaYX52YtVwagIM2PEk5XRSdTX/s320/cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harper<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">320 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literary<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the next book on my tour of the Great Lakes takes us
back to Lake Michigan. <b><i>Tom Lake</i></b> by <br />
Ann Patchett is based in a cherry farm near Traverse City, Michigan. I read the
book during Michigan cherry season, and loved the book as much as I loved this
season’s cherries. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The book begins when young Lara is registering people who
are auditioning for roles in a local production of the classic play, <i>Our
Town</i>. She becomes so disgusted with the quality of the actors, that she
decides to audition for the part of Emily herself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because of her classic portrayal of Emily, a few years later,
she is called by the area’s summer stock theater, Tom Lake, to take over the
role of Emily when the actress playing the role leaves. There she meets and has
a brief affair with Peter Duke, a young actor who went on to become a famous
movie and television actor. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fast forward more than 20 years to 2020. Lara farms a cherry
orchard near Traverse City with her husband Joe. Joe inherited the farm and
orchard from his aunt and uncle after he and Lara met at the Tom Lake Theater.
It is the pandemic summer, and Lara and Joe’s three daughters have returned
home. All five of them are picking cherries, because it is too difficult to
find workers due to the pandemic.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Over the course of the summer, the girls ask their mother to
tell them the story of her summer at Tom Lake, and she, very poignantly,
recalls that magical summer in her life. By listening to her stories, the
daughters come into a realization of who they are and what they want their
lives to be. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <i>Washington Post</i> reviewer says, “Tom Lake is about
romantic love, marital love, and maternal love, but also the love of animals,
the love of stories, love of the land and trees and the tiny, red, cordiform
object that is a cherry.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Tom Lake</i></b> fit my summer perfectly. I had been
having cherry spitting contests on the Lake Michigan beachfront with my grandchildren, and telling lots of
stories of my childhood. Then a group of family went to see <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>
at our local summer stock theater, The Augusta Barn Theater, and I was able to
transfer what I saw that night to what Tom Lake theater must have been like. And
while I was absorbing Patchett’s writing, I was visiting with my siblings, and
we were telling stories of our childhood. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_UtlxduoYZJprn3Z9rIVIausADvf0crqSqMXgjWFDn73hK5He55zlBSTGYQJuDe8v_QHXrVaMxWS79gA_AYMpDNIamES6ybxYgFXdIyUN5BZ1bTdhgvTeUwKNbS97KPm1GErVF1E3s2GVXdmTOT0kub5fLntbBh9uMpUvR58hac9wVFCfZ7PjYIS8y4J/s1202/author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1200" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_UtlxduoYZJprn3Z9rIVIausADvf0crqSqMXgjWFDn73hK5He55zlBSTGYQJuDe8v_QHXrVaMxWS79gA_AYMpDNIamES6ybxYgFXdIyUN5BZ1bTdhgvTeUwKNbS97KPm1GErVF1E3s2GVXdmTOT0kub5fLntbBh9uMpUvR58hac9wVFCfZ7PjYIS8y4J/w228-h229/author.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>That is the beauty of Patchett’s writing. She elicits great
respect for her characters, particularly Lara. She understands her life well—the
adventures of the theater and the affair with a soon to be famous actor, the
choice to marry a cherry farmer, and the pandemic that brought her family all
together. Patchett loves her characters and hence we love them as well. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The New Yorker</i> had a wonderful review of <b><i>Tom
Lake</i></b> in their August 7 edition, and the <i>Shelf Awareness</i> website
named it one of the best books for the week of <a href="mailto:https://www.shelf-awareness.com/sar-issue.html?issue=1187">August
18</a>. The reviewer neatly summed up the book. “In many ways, Patchett’s
stunning novel is a story of opportunity missed or not taken; her daughter’s
unspoken questions hang between them. ‘Are you sorry? Don’t you wish?’ <b><i>Tom
Lake</i></b>, though, is not a novel of regret but rather one of clarity,
offering a tale of gratitude borne of perspective and experience, a life lived
in the present—even as it is shaped by the past.”<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-27722207049060840052023-08-06T13:39:00.003-04:002023-08-06T13:45:20.036-04:00Huron Breeze<p><span style="font-family: arial;">By Landon Beach</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwINBm6s2i_G4gimfuWSiA16H32bGkE6GvivyAQ6Js8oFA7v4Au8n3jFtLzY1OHkmsQYqDp5PNBFwCXzeSAusrk9Xa3MqUxxjFgdXXcQi27_5obHQQJCZDv7QhFu3awC2jaKA-BsOzimuAwzuxK4kmOurcsdBmsB7uLxQkxr96G6V0Zt3mXkqOlfGjEmhy/s600/cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwINBm6s2i_G4gimfuWSiA16H32bGkE6GvivyAQ6Js8oFA7v4Au8n3jFtLzY1OHkmsQYqDp5PNBFwCXzeSAusrk9Xa3MqUxxjFgdXXcQi27_5obHQQJCZDv7QhFu3awC2jaKA-BsOzimuAwzuxK4kmOurcsdBmsB7uLxQkxr96G6V0Zt3mXkqOlfGjEmhy/s320/cover.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Kindle Edition<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2021<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">381 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Mystery<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Huron Breeze </i></b>is the first book in the Sunrise-Side
series of books by Landon Beach. Books 1 and 2 are available; book 3 will be
available at the end of this month, and book 4 available at the end of 2023. <b><i>Huron
Breeze</i></b> is, of course, located on the shoreline of Lake Huron, on the “thumb”
of Michigan. Here is the plotline.</span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><br /></span><span style="color: black;"><span>Ten years ago, Riley
Cannon (a legendary author) produced three of the bestselling thrillers of all
time. Then, she up and vanished, leaving the last three books of the saga not
finished and producing the largest mystery in all of publishing.<br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>Now, one decade later, there’s word from her
mega-agent, the powerful and glamorous Topaz Kennedy, that there’s a new Cannon
novel all but finished. However, Topaz knows the actual truth: Riley Cannon’s
not even begun writing it yet. With the clock ticking down toward the
publication date, there are desperate measures are needed.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>At the same time, Kaj Reynard is in the sunrise-side
town of Hampstead, Michigan, and emerges from Lake Huron on a cool night in
June and falls face down onto the beach right next to a fading bonfire with a
knife sticking out of his back. Who would murder him? And why?</span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>That’s where veteran Hampstead PI Obediah Ben-David, a
guy that has never taken on a case which he couldn’t solve, comes in. However
this is a whole different sort of mystery. The one piece of evidence is the
knife, which doesn’t have any prints on it. Not a soul saw or heard a boat that
night, and the woman sitting next to her bonfire didn’t see anybody else in the
water. It’s almost as though the deep blue waters of Lake Huron murdered Kaj
Reynard, and the Huron breezes blew him up to the shore.<br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>With Hampstead now in jeopardy of losing its summer
revenue from vacationers that are chilled to their bones about a killer on the
loose. Ben-David takes an apprentice on, some computer coder, named Rachel
Roberts, who lives just down the beach from where Kaj came ashore. Bored by her
solitary existence spent behind a screen all day, she believes becoming a PI
would be a welcome sea change in her life. However neither of them could
possibly foresee the web of treachery, lies, and danger that they’ll encounter.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>For when the summer Huron breezes show up, the
inhibitions vanish, the blood boils, and nobody’s safe.</span></span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>I especially enjoyed following
the crime and its solution through the eyes of Rachel Roberts. She needs a plot
for her next novel, and following Ben-David as he pursues the killer is like a
dream come true for her. At the same time, Ben-David enjoys helping teach
Rachel detective skills. Does he know that she has a pen name and a series of
novels and movies in her past? Does he understand that she is searching for a
plot, rather than a new career as a detective? I am anxious to read the rest of
the series to see what she decides to do with her life.</span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMH1Z0zlz-1J6IlRG3xACtUPPLwadk1nknS49pHTmnVjHFn86O7QO9_qVdnrLbZZbmLqtnf0qYddfPGdDVBFQBqwr4me1CSn1LHOshcvlYfppTvg4ExYpwisGwhJAO5aLjvq45OQVg5OXtbp839dc55OHJUaSWYZbwdNLbsDjp-zc_Whgh-zdNJkpgFYHo/s2100/author.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMH1Z0zlz-1J6IlRG3xACtUPPLwadk1nknS49pHTmnVjHFn86O7QO9_qVdnrLbZZbmLqtnf0qYddfPGdDVBFQBqwr4me1CSn1LHOshcvlYfppTvg4ExYpwisGwhJAO5aLjvq45OQVg5OXtbp839dc55OHJUaSWYZbwdNLbsDjp-zc_Whgh-zdNJkpgFYHo/w198-h277/author.jpg" width="198" /></span></a><span><span style="color: black; font-family: arial;">Beach is a very clever, creative writer and has created a propulsive can’t stop reading plot. He said in an
interview with the <a href="mailto:https://therealbookspy.com/2022/11/22/huron-nights-landon-beachs-next-sunrise-side-mystery-novel-coming-out-this-december/">Real
Book Spy</a> when he wrote <b><i>Huron Breeze</i></b>, he intended it to be a
stand-alone mystery, but an audience of readers convinced him that he had the
beginnings of a series featuring Rachel Roberts and based on the Lake Huron
coastline.</span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><br /> </span><span style="color: black;">My own summer
challenge is to read books based in the Great Lakes region. I read <i><a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/07/famous-in-small-town.html">Famous
in a Small Town</a></i> which takes place on the shore of Lake Michigan, <a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2023/08/cleveland-noir.html">Cleveland
Noir</a> where several of the stories take place on Cleveland’s Lake Erie
beachfront, and now <b><i>Huron Breeze</i></b>, taking place on Lake Huron. In
past years, I read a couple of books based on Lake Superior, my favorite of
which was <a href="mailto:http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/07/long-shining-water.html">The
Long Shining Water</a>, and now I need to find one based in Lake Ontario. </span></span></div><div style="margin: 7.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></span>Hope you have as much fun with <b><i>Huron Breeze</i></b> as
I did. </span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-26526492955837413582023-08-03T10:05:00.000-04:002023-08-03T10:05:14.397-04:00Cleveland Noir<p>Edited by Michael Ruhlman and Miesha Wilson Headen</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacu0fHgQHPChH9nosgxpUthZb0sgEQdDB7Gj0aPTO1T0xPSKuJL0BPoVkg45dZohCizHwEWQxNIv1MEMwTZJUKL0bQRF5SDhXyBKP9qn-chafKeO6vlqzbwiup3ThtPFZbMVF0wBXkMV0BTLaUtnPZVz1qTYWSr6X_T4Rk11I80_oBmPf_ue56eGO1WCy/s1000/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="636" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacu0fHgQHPChH9nosgxpUthZb0sgEQdDB7Gj0aPTO1T0xPSKuJL0BPoVkg45dZohCizHwEWQxNIv1MEMwTZJUKL0bQRF5SDhXyBKP9qn-chafKeO6vlqzbwiup3ThtPFZbMVF0wBXkMV0BTLaUtnPZVz1qTYWSr6X_T4Rk11I80_oBmPf_ue56eGO1WCy/s320/cover.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Akashic Books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">288 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Noir<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Akashic sent me <b><i>Cleveland Noir</i></b> to review,
I noticed immediately that I had read books by Paula McLain and Thrity Umriger,
both of whom had stories in this iteration of the noir genre and the great
series that Akashic publishes. The book was published this week and is very
much worth a read.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Apparently the city of Cleveland has had it’s share of real
life noir, including Eliot Ness, who worked for a while as Cleveland’s Director
of Public Safety, the disappearance of Beverly Potts that has been an
unsolved crime for the last 60 years, and the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, which
resulted in her husband Dr. Sam Sheppard being charged and subsequently acquitted
for her murder. All of these brought crime in Cleveland to the nation’s
attention.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The stories in <b><i>Cleveland Noir</i></b> have a lot going
for them. Each story oozes atmosphere and compelling danger. The editors suggest:
“ It’s this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes the city—an urban
center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs—a perfect backdrop
for lawlessness.” They also suggest that these stories are love letters to
their city and suburbs. I must also note that several of the stories take place
or mention the lake and the beach, which, of course, is Lake Erie.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first story in the book is by Paula McLain. In that story, two teenagers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>enter into a “business” of robbing drunk
people of their property, credit cards, whatever. My favorite sentence in the
story is “We had accidentally landed on a planet where the air was to thin for
guilt to populate.” Says a lot, doesn’t it!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had to look up the facts related to Susan Petrone’s story,
“The Silent Partner.” The story retells the story of Ray Chapman, a Cleveland Indians
player who was killed by a pitch—the only major league player to ever die from
an injury received during a major league game. Fifty years later, a reporter is
exploring the death for an anniversary story and comes across information that
seems to indicate that the incident wasn’t an accident. I’ll leave you to guess
what happened as a result.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXP8bpMomyKK7aVTFpEzIWu9js9zlf62NzHrBcR9ibO0NK7CpJYu8_yWjJWltXAdrZ3iqVIjUo0vOwqXnK-PWtUj94gtNeKQ6ukD5SWtIlpdmGJZms7nrSp3uwXD1GMkItkcKXO_bDOZGVNXAEUvOu3wYI5v8J-9ktwt-IbZ98xy7D-B5UdaOgVOK0SlwQ/s1072/Authors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXP8bpMomyKK7aVTFpEzIWu9js9zlf62NzHrBcR9ibO0NK7CpJYu8_yWjJWltXAdrZ3iqVIjUo0vOwqXnK-PWtUj94gtNeKQ6ukD5SWtIlpdmGJZms7nrSp3uwXD1GMkItkcKXO_bDOZGVNXAEUvOu3wYI5v8J-9ktwt-IbZ98xy7D-B5UdaOgVOK0SlwQ/s320/Authors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">And the stories go on and on. I really enjoyed <b><i>Cleveland
Noir</i></b>. Look up the Akashic Noir series of more than 100 books. If you
are going on a trip, use the list as a guide to the underbelly of whichever
city you are going to visit. You won’t be wasting your time, and you can find
whatever crimes you might enjoy to explore.<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-56543895557190114412023-07-20T20:59:00.000-04:002023-07-20T20:59:26.443-04:00Zero Days<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmddrDOMtTfAnKO6spDW_svpvMrSRnn4L-vYRHdczE73md6JTQPbNYv9UqQZKr_ms0SsZjSqugyJBny_MrhwTs3gR7t7HzH7MLKdDaR0JI7FezLiNU0aKZpVbzN3kMKj1F92RO-t_6jFje5YGaatb2zcTSCyZejYwWuh5iq7UQzsj9B7brj5feECkLAVP8/s500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmddrDOMtTfAnKO6spDW_svpvMrSRnn4L-vYRHdczE73md6JTQPbNYv9UqQZKr_ms0SsZjSqugyJBny_MrhwTs3gR7t7HzH7MLKdDaR0JI7FezLiNU0aKZpVbzN3kMKj1F92RO-t_6jFje5YGaatb2zcTSCyZejYwWuh5iq7UQzsj9B7brj5feECkLAVP8/s320/cover.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>By Ruth Ware<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gallery Books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">368 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thriller<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What a page-turning, breathless, romp <b><i>Zero Days</i></b>
is! Although I figured out fairly early who the villain was, I just kept
reading and reading and reading until I could breathe again!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jacintha, or Jack as she is known, certainly has the most unusual
career I have ever read about. She is the partner, with her husband, Gabe, in a
company that tests security systems. She does the dirty work in the middle of
the night penetrating on site a company’s cybersecurity, while Gabe manages the
computer work at his desk. After one very hazardous night where she is picked
up by the police, she returns home to find Gabe dead with his throat slit. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jack is absolutely grief stricken, but when she realizes
that the police consider her the prime suspect, she uses her best skillset to
escape from the police station. Injured and full of grief, with a phone that
keeps alerting people to her whereabouts, Jack sets out to pursue her leads and
to try to piece together her husband’s murder. The only person she trusts is
her sister, Helena, but even Hel’s phone and house may be compromised by the
police.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For eight days, Jack is on the run, and the reader is
running right along with her. The <a href="https://www.booklistonline.com/Zero-Days-/pid=9777804"><i>Booklist</i></a>
reviewer calls her a “very original and very real protagonist.” I was
fascinated by everything Jack knew how to do to get into and out of all the
places she was exploring. She was seriously injured climbing out of one building,
but she continues to persist. Using several burner phones and a variety of
tools she continued to solve every problem that came her way. “Solve the next
problem. And then the next one after that. Keep putting one foot in front of
the other. Until you can’t walk any further.” And just when the reader thinks
that she will finally be captured, she escapes yet again.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I finally had some time to reflect on my feelings about
the book, I had to be impressed in two ways. I loved the protagonist that Ware
created. Although she is headstrong, she has an amazing will to succeed and
persist. And frankly, she is incredibly smart. And so is the author Ruth Ware.
I can only imagine how much research Ware had to put into the cyber-verse and
cyber crime to be able to put this novel together. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkml0TyGznDf8f15GcC2BlrJQjPQ1ogv_j3k8TksGUE80nKcM4e8lXBg9niE02GrcCisk2ZtSCEbSXTw_-i5va73VhCy2BP7Xqf_h1j1G3ghbF1d8AeMsf3CUs50lAZoXBGy8E8O5M8DFBmgVqpIQa2Uo0PkTrAOWZuf-8IUWqwZGb5wb38BTYZcQNVmj/s1350/RWare-New-Author-Photo-OPT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkml0TyGznDf8f15GcC2BlrJQjPQ1ogv_j3k8TksGUE80nKcM4e8lXBg9niE02GrcCisk2ZtSCEbSXTw_-i5va73VhCy2BP7Xqf_h1j1G3ghbF1d8AeMsf3CUs50lAZoXBGy8E8O5M8DFBmgVqpIQa2Uo0PkTrAOWZuf-8IUWqwZGb5wb38BTYZcQNVmj/s320/RWare-New-Author-Photo-OPT.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Oh my gosh, I was looking up reviews of the book, and I
discovered that <b><i>Zero Days</i></b> has a definition beyond the number of
days Jack had to solve the crime that killed Gabe. According to the <a href="https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/zero-day-exploit">Kaspersky
website,</a> zero-day is a broad term that describes recently discovered
security vulnerabilities that hackers can use to attack systems. The developer
just has “zero days” to fix the system. Whoo! That gives the book’s title a much
deeper meaning, and gives me even more to admire Ruth Ware for! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don’t get too worried about not understanding the
terminology in the book. The plot moves so quickly and Jack is so amazing, the
reader is able to navigate the cyber terminology and run right along with Jack.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Loved this book!<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-52597913908846284662023-07-10T17:53:00.000-04:002023-07-10T17:53:21.066-04:00Famous in a Small Town<p> By Viola Shipman</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBLqVXqglCryjWIp2NeeQETUA01eUBRJ23zXvljKuLu_d-LNB6vYfVJszIaMYsK8yZSkpnwZwxSuBdyKK-INHq_6YUm9-Wh2tmqd21IrGGlE9YDvHJ3VRhGm73UFCUbxLJchYtRCar8c0hcnUzhCWWX3mGHrj8pvzndoL5QIEsengskNTnl5Bz_PnVkml/s620/FamousinaSmallTown-Cover-2303-620h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="412" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBLqVXqglCryjWIp2NeeQETUA01eUBRJ23zXvljKuLu_d-LNB6vYfVJszIaMYsK8yZSkpnwZwxSuBdyKK-INHq_6YUm9-Wh2tmqd21IrGGlE9YDvHJ3VRhGm73UFCUbxLJchYtRCar8c0hcnUzhCWWX3mGHrj8pvzndoL5QIEsengskNTnl5Bz_PnVkml/w230-h346/FamousinaSmallTown-Cover-2303-620h.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Graydon House<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">352 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Fiction<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just what I needed—a Lake Michigan beach read while I was at
a Lake Michigan beach! Of course I know Viola Shipman (Wade Rouse) and her/his
books. This is my fourth Viola Shipman Lake Michigan novel, and I have loved
them all. <b><i>Famous in a Small Town</i></b> was especially fun to read
because I was at our cottage while I was reading it and it is cherry season,
one of the main details of the novel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not only is the novel a look at cherries and summer at Lake
Michigan, but also a very introspective look at two women facing crossroads in
their lives. Mary is 80 and the owner of a small village general store and post
office. Her main call to fame is that she won a cherry-spitting contest when
she was 15 years old. Her life has had a lot of ups and downs, but she has
carried on the ownership tradition of the Very Cherry General Store for her
entire adult life. She doesn’t know who will take over the business when she
can no longer manage it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Becky Thatcher (yes, that is her real name) is also at a
crossroads. She is the asst. principal at an elementary school in St. Louis MO
and has just ended a long term relationship. She and her best friend decide to come
up to Michigan to visit the vacation spot of Becky’s childhood, Good Hart MI. Mary
and Becky meet and realize that they have had similar visions of the future.
Mary believing that a women will come to take over her store and her legacy,
and Becky believing that something will happen to make her feel alive again.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course there is a plot, but as in all Shipman novels, the
primary focus of the novel is the character study and the relationships between
the main characters. I connected particularly with Mary, of course, since I
have just had my 80<sup>th</sup> birthday, but I also connected with Becky
because I had a similar career in education.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because I was reading <b><i>Famous in a Small Town</i></b>
at the Lake Michigan beach during cherry season, I bought several quarts of
cherries at the local Pentwater farmer’s market. I engaged in a bunch of cherry
spitting contests with my grandchildren, and I was always beaten by my
10-year-old grandson, Davick. Perhaps he better go up to Good Hart and compete
in the spitting contest next summer. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had to laugh at one quote early in the book. Becky and her
friend are watching some teenagers behaving badly. Becky quips: “Think
teenagers are bad? You should run into a middle-school girl on a bad day.” Ahh—I
had just spent two weeks with two middle-school girls. How well I knew!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My favorite description came fairly early in the book. Mary
muses about Lake Michigan: “When you stand here and look out onto the lake with
the water this still, it looks as if God has finger-painted the entire world in
blue and gold stripes.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some would say that there is much too many musings and
philosophical ponderings in the book and not enough plot, but I found most of
it enlightening and sometimes consoling. Perhaps it was because I was sitting
in a spot much like the spot Mary and Becky were viewing in Good Hart, and I
was feeling many of the same things.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4JTYYEm0_qV0vmkc67PPD2aoOu4t2HLIU0_K5TCoxye7kDABSr8S3cvynorEnnwV-7OSAnLrWWKnO0IXQqDSLgv19LP0UekBIThuzFbeT9Q88bAvn34TZF11CSdswDwkEHHArkZiF35Pj4VdEziYUMekY_mit-FDLo5krI46UfB2uTkRyVFaBSkgGTdw/s275/Rouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4JTYYEm0_qV0vmkc67PPD2aoOu4t2HLIU0_K5TCoxye7kDABSr8S3cvynorEnnwV-7OSAnLrWWKnO0IXQqDSLgv19LP0UekBIThuzFbeT9Q88bAvn34TZF11CSdswDwkEHHArkZiF35Pj4VdEziYUMekY_mit-FDLo5krI46UfB2uTkRyVFaBSkgGTdw/s1600/Rouse.jpg" width="183" /></a></div>You do need to know if you are not from Michigan that there
is a tiny village named Good Hart on the west coast of lower Michigan. It is
situated in the Tunnel of Trees which plays a big role in the novel. I was
surprised to see on the map that Good Hart has a general store much like the
one in the novel. Shipman did some good research. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My advice to you would be to read <b><i>Famous in a Small
Town</i></b> on the beach somewhere. You will absorb it the same way I did.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here are my reviews of the other Viola Shipman books I have
read: <i><a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-summer-cottage.html">The
Summer Cottage</a></i>, <i><a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-clover-girls.html">The
Clover Girls</a>, </i>and <i><a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-secret-of-snow.html">The
Secret of Snow.</a> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wade Rouse aka
Viola Shipman has also written several memoirs. I have one from the publisher
that I haven’t gotten to yet. I’ll save it for another week.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wade Rouse <a href="https://waderouse.com/">website</a>.
Viola Shipman <a href="https://violashipman.com/">website</a>.<i><o:p></o:p></i></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-47475001019453586742023-06-23T22:13:00.000-04:002023-06-23T22:13:34.303-04:00The Soul of an Octopus<p> By Sy Montgomery</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3ZGuNitA___U__L5MUPCjs0l0OFUI6b5K05OreBq2f2rjljA7xnOTNt8EMu-T0ZFrjR8gyY3T4K8PPvNoVPZs5sTdnf-2dImPm-Y0XTc_rRaDFwHTAHqdmB27489_P81_zrQRJIXTTfqSWIpEk2d-7ER4yuly0OODwmjPfeDvKD0SZyZUuWPtjya_Bq1/s500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3ZGuNitA___U__L5MUPCjs0l0OFUI6b5K05OreBq2f2rjljA7xnOTNt8EMu-T0ZFrjR8gyY3T4K8PPvNoVPZs5sTdnf-2dImPm-Y0XTc_rRaDFwHTAHqdmB27489_P81_zrQRJIXTTfqSWIpEk2d-7ER4yuly0OODwmjPfeDvKD0SZyZUuWPtjya_Bq1/s320/cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Atria<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2016<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">272 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zoology<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was in the middle of reading <b><i>The Soul of an Octopus</i></b>
when my grandson and I arrived and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The aquarium
is a bit daunting to visit since there is no paper map or paper list of aquatic
life to be found. So, I asked the nearest employee where we could find the
octopuses. (By the way, the plural of octopus is indeed, octopuses. Learned
that in the book.) She said that they only had one, but she took me to the tank
where the octopus hung in the front corner where we could see its entire body.
I was so excited that I read the rest of the book with enthusiasm.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And what an amazing discussion we had at book group. We all
admitted that nature books would not be our first choice of genres, but <b><i>The
Soul of an Octopus was</i></b> so brilliantly written that we took the deep
dive into it and loved every minute. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sy Montgomery is a naturalist and a nature writer. She has
written several books about animals, including pigs, hummingbirds, turtles,
tigers, and hawks. Many of her books are for children as well as adults, and
she has traveled around the world exploring and discovering the richness of the
animal world. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most of <b><i>The Soul of an Octopus</i></b> takes place at
the New England Aquarium in Boston, where Montgomery first was exposed to an
octopus, and she basically fell in love with these strange, highly-intelligent
shape-shifters. Montgomery documents her experiences with several inhabitants
of the aquarium, and also shares the relationships she creates with the other volunteers at the aquarium. We learn a lot about those
people who love the animals of the aquarium as much as she does.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGcTu5TnjHSsp9kDpnzQiLRtM1FfHH1NSK_LU5VUJcjRoqnF5ruORGmq_tIK0wD2oHKWsN7oscTlFLhgfoWlPD_EkJO6VuBu4D8m91cfmeZeuc9gCVmdVT_ZnyrUMefUBVU1DxR630ruB0MUGoP0etTFVfG9_tHOBd1-F_49l-h-SZMTfK_IuntQVdEiz/s1000/author.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1000" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGcTu5TnjHSsp9kDpnzQiLRtM1FfHH1NSK_LU5VUJcjRoqnF5ruORGmq_tIK0wD2oHKWsN7oscTlFLhgfoWlPD_EkJO6VuBu4D8m91cfmeZeuc9gCVmdVT_ZnyrUMefUBVU1DxR630ruB0MUGoP0etTFVfG9_tHOBd1-F_49l-h-SZMTfK_IuntQVdEiz/s320/author.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />One of the most interesting chapters in the book concerns
Montgomery learning to deep sea dive. It is not an easy process for her, but
reading about it is extraordinary. Here is what she says: “ At last, in the
warm embrace of the sea, breathing underwater, surrounded by the octopus’s
liquid world, my breath rising in silver bubbles like a song of praise; here I
am.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also watched the documentary, <i>My Octopus Teacher</i>,
which is on Netflix. It won the Oscar for best documentary in 2020, and it
compliments the book completely. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>The Soul of an Octopus</i></b> was a finalist for the
National Book Award, and is a terrific read. I heartily recommend it.<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-56774070305207321222023-06-12T12:20:00.000-04:002023-06-12T12:20:45.623-04:00Leadership by Example<p> By Frank Sonnenberg</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTtW0bHvqdhx1St9tcTGpCskMSm7XX-jervxeO6ztltwebxs2koltu9RGJxv5vgUF0N-eAD4LZOlUugfLYNMt8s9ERMo9LO5G-5tq15Suh5F0TBKHIntfTJPYTxYHCMu96EBw_7n7CxUANDwKsgt3c-xWuzferLbpqH-5lvUf41FfdzJ8yMic5hoYobw/s1500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTtW0bHvqdhx1St9tcTGpCskMSm7XX-jervxeO6ztltwebxs2koltu9RGJxv5vgUF0N-eAD4LZOlUugfLYNMt8s9ERMo9LO5G-5tq15Suh5F0TBKHIntfTJPYTxYHCMu96EBw_7n7CxUANDwKsgt3c-xWuzferLbpqH-5lvUf41FfdzJ8yMic5hoYobw/s320/cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kindle Direct<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">277 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Self-Help</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The Shortlist<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The subtitle of <b><i>Leadership by Example</i></b> is “Be a
role model who inspires greatness in others.” It is an incredible compendium of
short life lessons for leaders of all sorts. Of course, I looked at the book
from the standpoint of educational leadership, which is my own life experience.
I tried to figure out who should read this book and who should I recommend read
this book. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The best thing that I noticed as I looked through the book
is that the chapters are very short, and everything in the book is divided up
into brief sayings or mantras. For example, in the chapter about making errors,
Sonnenberg outlines 30 sources of unforced errors. All of them are identifiable.
Here is one sample: “Rushing around. There’s a big difference between acting
quickly and rushing around aimlessly. The former is deliberate, the latter
haphazard.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDiSexiG62QFPGmImUeB_zSiJEhJOcPPidJccxSG-0YD1vB6TfzR89EiDdfv4qjeoC6wI7aq9LvY4GXyFNTnrPbbMIIahniCqAOfBEQMeUwnlm6Tdgi16vxjiNHks8O1O7V_DRriM4Kq-sv6KOBX54QbnPYqsbR8JoYwrMs6x29UaT4OSwWMWRyH49A/s290/frankbiophoto_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="290" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDiSexiG62QFPGmImUeB_zSiJEhJOcPPidJccxSG-0YD1vB6TfzR89EiDdfv4qjeoC6wI7aq9LvY4GXyFNTnrPbbMIIahniCqAOfBEQMeUwnlm6Tdgi16vxjiNHks8O1O7V_DRriM4Kq-sv6KOBX54QbnPYqsbR8JoYwrMs6x29UaT4OSwWMWRyH49A/w191-h186/frankbiophoto_.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>“Yeah.” You say. “I’ve been there. I’ve done that!” There
lies the good of the book. A leader could read a chapter a day or even one
short paragraph a day and be inspired to change behavior and make better
decisions.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sonnenberg has written 10 books about leadership. I’m
thinking about who might appreciate receiving this ARC from me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Leadership by Example</i></b> is published tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-53771659790825251932023-06-07T17:37:00.000-04:002023-06-07T17:37:29.824-04:00Austin Noir<p>Edited By Hopeton Hay, Scott Montgomery, Molly Ordintz.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrHVvbl0tpZQ-nsphzfDNFtBLQGrZ1AJRmV4O0jPV9KuH6p0q8flUiSGZihJo5Ej9FPxVMazoNykBD3Azw7RRGWsm4hRSL1fvUxdN8RlXxQt2t6OCNT6ITs3lPBHXPc91Fu5GUCevkrU9m2Ni-ruG_CpKzLdEjV4wYSRx2aaNlHdXVKKhiDPNC-QlBg/s500/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrHVvbl0tpZQ-nsphzfDNFtBLQGrZ1AJRmV4O0jPV9KuH6p0q8flUiSGZihJo5Ej9FPxVMazoNykBD3Azw7RRGWsm4hRSL1fvUxdN8RlXxQt2t6OCNT6ITs3lPBHXPc91Fu5GUCevkrU9m2Ni-ruG_CpKzLdEjV4wYSRx2aaNlHdXVKKhiDPNC-QlBg/s320/cover.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Akashic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">296 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Noir <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I haven’t read any Noir for quite a while, so I was excited
to pick up <b><i>Austin Noir. </i></b>I spent several days on a trip to Austin
probably 15 years ago, so I was eager to see if my memories were represented in
the stories in this volume. And indeed they were. Lady Bird Lake, where we
attended a wedding (the reason for our trip), the bats under the Congress
Avenue Bridge, as well as the downtown entertainment district are all in the
book. Here are the stories: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; color: #0f1111; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">*Part I - Crossfire</span></b><span style="color: #0f1111; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The pink monkey by Gabino Iglesias</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Stunts by Ace Atkins</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Reflections by Amanda Moore</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Good Neighbor by Jeff Abbott</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A Thousand Bats on an Austin Night by Scott
Montgomery</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<b><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">*Part II - Nothing I can do about it now</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
</b><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Rush Hour by Richard Z. Santos</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Sapphire Blue by Alexandra Burt</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Charles Bronson by Lee Thomas</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Saving by Miriam Kuznets</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A Time and Place by Jacob Grovey</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<b><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">*Part III</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
</b><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The Foundation by Chaitali Sen</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Michael’s Perfect Penis by Molly Odintz</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Stitches by Amy Gentry</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Bangface vs. Cleaning Solutions, LLC by Andrew
Hilbert</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought the stories
represented the city well. I got a big kick out of “Michael’s Perfect Penis” by
Molly Odintz, one of the book’s editors, although it is probably more a Neo-Noir
story than actual noir. I enjoyed “A Thousand Bats on an Austin Night” by Scott
Montgomery simply because I could visualize exactly where the story was taking
place. And, of course, I had to read “Saving” by Miriam Kuznets, because she is
named Miriam. It is a very good story. Oh, and by the way, lots of people will
recognize the craziness of “Stitches” and the college scene as remembered by
Amy Gentry. I was impressed that even at the darkest moments in the stories,
the authors were still able to capture the vibrancy of the city of Austin.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrb7_9YjqrZzU1cLJnzCUzCnPnkuzwVeUGYsxRMVz2ZUNn2LnXNouhoimxYOwhAymgd1BT2t7McE7CNlWVWhWgtcfT91v0cLt8HpXpQCKCqBfMpEHyaCY7kFgO8W2cW-3BLLeL_XgsZ4g_SruV0dL_7vTQ6gP59Q11e5S7y-3OWosnFNoa2fLWO-lKw/s1248/map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="1248" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrb7_9YjqrZzU1cLJnzCUzCnPnkuzwVeUGYsxRMVz2ZUNn2LnXNouhoimxYOwhAymgd1BT2t7McE7CNlWVWhWgtcfT91v0cLt8HpXpQCKCqBfMpEHyaCY7kFgO8W2cW-3BLLeL_XgsZ4g_SruV0dL_7vTQ6gP59Q11e5S7y-3OWosnFNoa2fLWO-lKw/s320/map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">I am always fascinated by what authors and publishers
consider to be noir. And I know that readers feel that way as well. I wrote
an essay for my site several years ago about Noir and Neo-Noir. It remains one
of my most-read entries. <a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/search?q=Noir+and+Neo-Noir">Here</a>
it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Akashic has just sent me two noir books coming out this fall—one
set in East Jerusalem and the other set in West Jerusalem. Look for my reviews
later. I just love this series. Anywhere you want to visit, check out the noir
versions of the city before you go. There’s a book for that!<o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-3703731725248559602023-06-06T13:21:00.000-04:002023-06-06T13:21:21.523-04:00Retribution<p> By Robert McCaw</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2rxjste17IFiJI_KIqBm0yT0V3u_soOoudfzDVB_6G8mOWjQmYhf3RI_eRusNpOuI6G1_TBa8K7yjGwAWOkX4zHnX--361ihksSwLlsny9iGe2rK4QpCYn6h9DHvSOolW5Cyw5WlntQLUnYiyU0kk6IRr05FZ2MjBUOWI6bps6W_ijs70Zw3BVpmWQ/s378/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="247" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2rxjste17IFiJI_KIqBm0yT0V3u_soOoudfzDVB_6G8mOWjQmYhf3RI_eRusNpOuI6G1_TBa8K7yjGwAWOkX4zHnX--361ihksSwLlsny9iGe2rK4QpCYn6h9DHvSOolW5Cyw5WlntQLUnYiyU0kk6IRr05FZ2MjBUOWI6bps6W_ijs70Zw3BVpmWQ/s320/cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oceanview<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">336 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Mystery</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Retribution </i></b>is the third Chief Detective Koa
Kane novel I have read by Robert McCaw. All the novels take place in Hilo on
the big Island of Hawaii, and all are police procedurals. What makes <b><i>Retribution
</i></b>such a unique experience is the setting and the unique names of the
characters. Most all of the main characters are native Hawaiians. This lends
both charm and confusion, because few of the names are easy to remember. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Koa Kane is the Chief Detective of the Hilo police
department. Although he is well-respected in the department and by the city
prosecutors, he has a secret criminal past and a younger brother Ikaika, who
has a troublesome past that is well known. Surgery on tumors in Ikaika’s brain
has turned his mental health around, and he has been doing very well, much to
his brother’s relief. Imagine Koa’s surprise when a young man is found dead in
an alley with a knife recovered beside the body covered in Ikaika’s
fingerprints. And that’s only the beginning.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It begins to appear that Koa is the real target of a series
of crimes with several bodies piling up—all connected in some way to Koa. Most insidiously,
Koa’s girlfriend, Natani, is the intended victim of a car bombing, which kills
her co-worker and best friend, who had the misfortune to be driving Natani’s
car. Additionally, Koa is having to contend with a new Assistant Chief Detective,
Moreau, who thinks he knows it all when in actuality, he knows nothing. There’s
something off about Moreau, and Koa begins to think that Moreau’s connection to
Hilo’s mayor may have some significance. The reader begins to distrust Moreau
as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Koa continues to impress the reader with his integrity, his
foresight, and his intuition. It is his intuition that helps him realize that
the fingerprints on the murder weapon are false, even though fingerprints are
supposed to be foolproof evidence. He quickly sees the connection to all the
murders and bombings, and also is able to move quickly when he is just given a
couple of clues. Thus, the plot of <b><i>Retribution </i></b>seems to move
quickly, and I turned pages quickly—or flipped the screen quickly, since I was
reading it on a Kindle. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, Hawaii is a major character in the novel, and McCaw
does a great job of helping us visualize this remarkable setting. We learn a
bit about scientists searching for turtles and the technology they use in their
search. We learn about the volcanic activity and how some Hawaiian roads are
constantly having to be cleared of rubble. We also learn that native Hawaiian
narcotic drinks are much better than beer, even though the beer may be local.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7meJ7iS5CZC3RCz1c_c7n2n7GrOY9z4FEkzLRFgLOPdIfIIjYmRYN4ti6Kr8LgeAdIz4GLx9is55OPQ2ayWPRQCDz5lCCJGIly2ZiHXvI2m8XZasU8To1J9pCBFOKYQmPBaVujLV4dQ6C2Yk91cLfr9kz4o1neRyawus26L_vrfEg1I1DCgC4n87-w/s493/author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="493" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7meJ7iS5CZC3RCz1c_c7n2n7GrOY9z4FEkzLRFgLOPdIfIIjYmRYN4ti6Kr8LgeAdIz4GLx9is55OPQ2ayWPRQCDz5lCCJGIly2ZiHXvI2m8XZasU8To1J9pCBFOKYQmPBaVujLV4dQ6C2Yk91cLfr9kz4o1neRyawus26L_vrfEg1I1DCgC4n87-w/w236-h236/author.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>I think that I enjoyed <b><i>Retribution </i></b>the most of
all the McCaw novels I have read, and I believe this is because the plot moves
quickly and Koa Kane moves just as quickly to get to the heart of the
situation. There is less back story to wade through, and that
contributes to the pace of the book. Several reviewers complained about the
incorporation of Hawaiian slang. One said, “Although I suspect this was done
not only to add realism but to show respect for Indigenous Hawaiians, it seems
excessive here.” Actually, I got a kick out of the slang and tried to figure out how to pronounce it. Prior to
reading <b><i>Retribution</i></b>, all I could pronounce was Aloha. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The other books that I have read are <i><a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2019/07/off-grid.html">Off the
Grid</a> </i>and <i><a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2020/07/fire-and-vengeance.html">Fire
and Vengeance</a></i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His books do not
need to be read in order. Robert McCaw’s <a href="https://robertbmccaw.com/">website</a>.
<b><i>Retribution</i></b> is released today. So glad the publicist gave me the
opportunity to read it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-59782796234237650772023-05-27T12:43:00.000-04:002023-05-27T12:43:14.116-04:00Women Talking<p> By Miriam Toews</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpNKMTLpB5QUgpAtDHkiBzKYsgVVWgfKxCNWuBZPVkwmjZyLOSTM682XPxC7Zet5wr9ib1kfN7HX9QpbTdJlML9DIgDUhvnti93wOSJ9Xi2EpXGll7RdLzpQOzuV82ZC3Ylhhv5cCiyyMR-DPLwOEGcSV6VL7b8WVo-SrR14lqTHflD2oUIUJ2hYjPQ/s634/cover.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="420" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpNKMTLpB5QUgpAtDHkiBzKYsgVVWgfKxCNWuBZPVkwmjZyLOSTM682XPxC7Zet5wr9ib1kfN7HX9QpbTdJlML9DIgDUhvnti93wOSJ9Xi2EpXGll7RdLzpQOzuV82ZC3Ylhhv5cCiyyMR-DPLwOEGcSV6VL7b8WVo-SrR14lqTHflD2oUIUJ2hYjPQ/s320/cover.webp" width="212" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bloomsbury<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2019<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">227 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literary<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If there is such a classification as “real-life dystopia,” <b><i>Women
Talking</i></b> is a perfect example. This ironic, iconic, and timeless story
about abused women was the book we discussed at book club this week. I read the
book after I saw the movie, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Motion
Picture and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. I watched the movie again just
before book group. Those friends who had not seen the movie struggled a bit
with the book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A brief summary. There are several large Mennonite
communities in the countryside of Bolivia. (Who knew?) Most of these
communities are ultra conservative. Between 2005 and 2009, more than 150 women
and girls were raped at night in their home by a group of colony men who
sedated them with animal tranquilizer. Miriam Toews used this horrible story as
the foundation of her novel, <b><i>Women Talking. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></b>In the novel, the women are meeting in
the hay loft of a community barn to discuss these attacks and how they should
respond to them. They ask August, the local schoolteacher who grew up in the
colony, to help them keep the minutes of their meetings because they can’t read
or write. That doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The book is primarily discussion, with few plot devices to
move the story forward. The women do not talk about their rapes but what they
should do to get out of there. Some of the men have been arrested, and other
men of the community have gone to the city to bail them out. The women see this
as an opportunity to escape. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #363636; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The women have come up with three
competing plans. They can remain in the colony and live exactly as they did
before the assaults, they can stay and fight for change or they can hitch up
their buggies and leave. Although they disagree constantly and sharply, there’s
one point on which they concur: They have been treated like animals — and it
didn’t start with the rapes. ‘When our men have used us up so that we look 60
when we’re 30 and our wombs have literally dropped out of our bodies onto
spotless kitchen floors, finished, they turn to our daughters,’ a woman named
Salome says. ‘And if they could sell us all at auction afterwards they would.’
Fierce, articulate Salome often gets the last word, but the novel is a choral
ensemble piece in which each woman chimes in with a distinctive voice.</span>”
This is from the <i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/books/review/women-talking-miriam-toews.html">New
York Times</a></i> review.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reader becomes
totally caught up in these discussions, and as the sparse plot begins to
thicken, the reader’s anxiety rises. The ending has the women leaving the
colony, and the reader is left not knowing what will happen to them. Yet, the
plot is not the most significant aspect of the book. The role of women in this
society is the most important piece. The burning question is whether or not
their faith means that they have to forgive these men who have attacked them.
Faith is the theme of the book. Of course, the role of women is the most
important talking point of the novel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Book group had an extremely lively discussion about the book
and the movie. The major gripe my friends had concerned the difficulty the
readers had keeping track of the women. The problem is that their names are
difficult to remember. This is not such a problem in the movie, because the
viewer sees the faces of the women, and the names are not so important. In
other words, it all made more sense in the movie. The movie stays pretty close
to the book, although a few things are altered.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDg2KyjjqmN6easnmYUL1e2vNSHhbBXLN7TJ4uNMHPO8MgJd_Uz_y0S7pMq3d_8BpKxXS4PPBstfLNbhOOJ1bohOpRhy8hGYsLHRDxgjAOQKEW_Z64yG4KryR29MmWrU8OjyuXhGehEb8HSUIciCMUQRG4kRC0__PDr79P_-TD-nK3hGP-1wQG2cFuw/s1020/Miriam%20Toews.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1020" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDg2KyjjqmN6easnmYUL1e2vNSHhbBXLN7TJ4uNMHPO8MgJd_Uz_y0S7pMq3d_8BpKxXS4PPBstfLNbhOOJ1bohOpRhy8hGYsLHRDxgjAOQKEW_Z64yG4KryR29MmWrU8OjyuXhGehEb8HSUIciCMUQRG4kRC0__PDr79P_-TD-nK3hGP-1wQG2cFuw/s320/Miriam%20Toews.webp" width="320" /></a></div>Reader reviews on Goodreads are all over the place on this
book, but most professional reviewers gave the book high marks. Toews comes
from a Mennonite community near Manitoba Canada. She left the colony when she
was 18 and thus she is the perfect person to tell this story. She said that she had to
write this story because it could have happened to her. Here is an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/miriam-toews-interview-women-talking-b2342058.html">interview</a>
with Toews that helps explain her desire to tell this story. <o:p></o:p><p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-26643677539033978242023-05-22T17:02:00.000-04:002023-05-22T17:02:24.495-04:00All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me<p> By Patrick Bringley</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLrydZsyLyF1oPdmkaiz3knonBaxdQus5GLthz9xjmGU0gZYMnST5uqVEcwDLu3rLK6m7Yv8lFt_q6YpsWnfIa6e6q7u6KBQ8tlHC1JYSPy62zhuSbs9WPru9qmfqtfHrXNApwnx6pcGZkkD46MHmHhOtQn5POY2fg3XtAjT93IfJy6ERpyoYQq4JqA/s945/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="945" data-original-width="787" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLrydZsyLyF1oPdmkaiz3knonBaxdQus5GLthz9xjmGU0gZYMnST5uqVEcwDLu3rLK6m7Yv8lFt_q6YpsWnfIa6e6q7u6KBQ8tlHC1JYSPy62zhuSbs9WPru9qmfqtfHrXNApwnx6pcGZkkD46MHmHhOtQn5POY2fg3XtAjT93IfJy6ERpyoYQq4JqA/s320/cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Simon and Schuster<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">240 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Memoir<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The advance readers copy of <b><i>All The Beauty in the
World</i></b> by Patrick Bringley sat on my pile of books for several months.
It always looked so intriguing, and it kept reappearing on the top of the stack
as if calling to me. Finally, I ditched all the books that I was meandering
through and decided that this was it. I began to delve into Bringley’s ten
years as a Metropolitan Museum of Art guard. And I am so glad that I did. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After a family tragedy, Bringley chose to change the
trajectory of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his career. He became a
guard, took notes, and has treated the reader to an intimate look at life at
the Met. Early on in his job he learned that a day as a guard is “a day of
perfect loneliness.” That other than sore feet, this is a perfect job. He
sought to learn everything he could about the art in the museum, the way the
museum is run, and most importantly who the patrons are that visit the museum.
Because, after all, the job of a museum guard is to protect the patrons and the
art.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of this he shares from his unique guard’s-eye view. He
chose this job because it was “the most straightforward job I could think of in
the most beautiful place I knew.” This job gave him time to grieve his brother’s
death, to learn all that he could, and stand still and reflect. And because of
his dedication and his note-taking, we have the opportunity to learn and to
grow as well. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are a lot of facts that the reader has to wade
through, including statistics about the 2000 employees and the 600 guards, many
of whom come from Guyana, Albania and Russia. Bringley tells us a lot about the
visitors to the museum. He outlines the three types of museum visitor: there is
the sightseer who is sort of along for the ride; the dinosaur hunter who
primarily is looking for entertainment and big stuff; and then there are the
lovers—the art lover here for an exhibition, the art lover who really loves the
museum itself; and the lovebird, who move through the museum looking for peace
and joy. (I believe that I have represented every one of those types of viewers
at some time in my life.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOgrE-K7XkgGmrAurs6QLlUVxicemm8Eo-phE8JTgE8FOcFgBVoX5lTPje-f02z_S5yklhtkCfQ8weS0fEyqoVJ3L8GROefZdPGAMB_MhvzdKEl_aoiRIJc32fRsmMKU53oPqy59cuAqZYeWbWeS470-lGwFTx3yXH0PvrLBfvTcYHvpK72Ndc8ch7g/s800/metropolitan-museum-met-facade-untapped-new-york1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOgrE-K7XkgGmrAurs6QLlUVxicemm8Eo-phE8JTgE8FOcFgBVoX5lTPje-f02z_S5yklhtkCfQ8weS0fEyqoVJ3L8GROefZdPGAMB_MhvzdKEl_aoiRIJc32fRsmMKU53oPqy59cuAqZYeWbWeS470-lGwFTx3yXH0PvrLBfvTcYHvpK72Ndc8ch7g/s320/metropolitan-museum-met-facade-untapped-new-york1-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most importantly, Bringley tells the reader about all that
he learned in his ten years at the Met, including the paintings and other art
works that meant a great deal to him. Each of those art works are documented at
the end of the book. He has suggestions for when to visit the museum and how to
arrange a visit. He says, “You may not have words to describe your sensations,
but try to notice them anyway. Hopefully, in the silence and the stillness, you’ll
experience something uncommon or unexpected.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In a much younger year of my life, we were in Paris. We got
caught up in the Modern Art Museum and spent hours as <i>lovebirds</i>.
Suddenly we realized that we had not been to the Louvre and it was getting
close to closing time. We ran across the street and said breathlessly to the
guard, “Ou est la Mona Lisa?” Apparently this was not the first time that
breathless visitors had asked that question, and the guard personally led us to
the painting. Bringley would have called us <i>dinosaur hunters</i>. I have
also gone to art museums as a <i>sightseer</i>, not particularly looking for
anything, but just out for the sights. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when the Van Gogh exhibit was at the
Chicago art museum, my daughter and I drove to the city for a day and only went
to that exhibit, another type of art visitor, the <i>exhibition</i> visitor. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When you are totally engrossed in a book, you often find
examples all around you. I discovered several <a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538045/freakonomics-radio">Freakonomics</a>
episodes about art museums and stolen art. I watched <i>The Thomas Crown Affair</i>
and focused on the museum guards who are prominent early on in the movie in red
suit coats, and today I watched <i>From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler, </i>which is about a brother and sister who run away to the
Metropolitan Museum. The book of the same name by E.L. Konigsburg is 55 years
old, and both the book and the movie are charming. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9lTA7V5gUVI65ns6cxt4GqE7Zs3MDxldQU8hF4h7CXG2aHvIOaLeM5t-nCp0iGofuTxFAKuNpcnDVHg8x173jyiVyTD5CF745zbWlFAT04fSQKH_whb-P6SQ9WRNOcXlN5sBQ-q1kpBPv8JPj9-KniKSIU_QXrvZJf6RS4Cw-Ah1QPLcPNkNTdEE4Q/s717/author.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="683" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9lTA7V5gUVI65ns6cxt4GqE7Zs3MDxldQU8hF4h7CXG2aHvIOaLeM5t-nCp0iGofuTxFAKuNpcnDVHg8x173jyiVyTD5CF745zbWlFAT04fSQKH_whb-P6SQ9WRNOcXlN5sBQ-q1kpBPv8JPj9-KniKSIU_QXrvZJf6RS4Cw-Ah1QPLcPNkNTdEE4Q/w253-h266/author.jpeg" width="253" /></a></div>There is so much to absorb while reading <b><i>All the
Beauty in the World</i></b>. I felt like I just kept growing and growing, yearning
and longing for such wonderful growth experiences. The NPR reviewer says that
the book “reminds us of the importance of learning not ‘about art, but from it.’
This is art appreciation at a profound level.”<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Patrick Bringley’s <a href="https://www.patrickbringley.com/">website</a>.
He even gives private tours of the Metropolitan Museum. That would be something
amazing to do on a visit to New York. <o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-74853297173377558572023-05-18T21:37:00.000-04:002023-05-18T21:37:07.146-04:00The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life<p> By Frederick Buechner</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yLlWv6sFC159z2ufZlbJREXYdDRSsEb_1cFFMscqboug8vEOeQeCRVp6ddrMCaG2PiTdvbjVk0Y9Da7Qj3bSmzHeFcOEA2FGAMm5TCtxSOiMSxP7vabignM1mLZ-pF2d1OApueEvVkA1Li6C0eLqE_gkdKTj2_K_LCTdd6KUrFMTUIpe6cOLYIGz_Q/s600/book%20cover.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="392" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5yLlWv6sFC159z2ufZlbJREXYdDRSsEb_1cFFMscqboug8vEOeQeCRVp6ddrMCaG2PiTdvbjVk0Y9Da7Qj3bSmzHeFcOEA2FGAMm5TCtxSOiMSxP7vabignM1mLZ-pF2d1OApueEvVkA1Li6C0eLqE_gkdKTj2_K_LCTdd6KUrFMTUIpe6cOLYIGz_Q/s320/book%20cover.webp" width="209" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Zondervan<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2017<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">121 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Spiritual<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Frederick Buechner was a writer, a theologian, a philosopher.
He had the ability to say things that we all would like to be able to say—to connect
his words with people’s hearts. Written in 2017, <b><i>The Remarkable Ordinary</i></b>
is one of his last books. It came from a series of lectures Buechner gave in
1987 and 1990. He died in 2022 at the age of 96.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is a brief book, divided into three sections: Stop, Look,
and Listen for God; Listening for God in the Stories We Tell; and Telling the
Truth. In the Forward by the book’s editor, John Sloan suggests that Buechner
is a writer for devout skeptics and loyal believers. He seems to understand his
readers and wonders with them without condemning the questioning. He wants to
find the inner light within people and to celebrate the way that light shines.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I found myself underlining sentence after sentence and
writing comments over and over. This particular book seemed to touch my soul.
Was I feeling particularly vulnerable, or did Buechner have the remarkable ability
to connect with my thinking, my concerns, my worries, and my cares. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Somehow reading Buechner’s words helps the reader pay<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attention to the ordinary in life and find the
joy in the ordinary. He tells many stories about his life and how those
incidents in his life helped him find peace. He suggests that we listen deeply
to our stories and use them to find our own peace. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQ15Q0fcIzde3wXeBax4oSFOwjDjifT-rU2rGc97KXYxIeL7xPRuJCojg5wq79QkZuGhezqBnV1usLxrV-pO8RWkWzzqbIob_qKdj3WUiH0ANdypUqIyWGgqi-1B7uXRysjjsJeB_KR60nACrGqGtLqhRBC5JjtL1VmnhiYTPcuTb5UMZmSMFjC99kA/s2700/Buechner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQ15Q0fcIzde3wXeBax4oSFOwjDjifT-rU2rGc97KXYxIeL7xPRuJCojg5wq79QkZuGhezqBnV1usLxrV-pO8RWkWzzqbIob_qKdj3WUiH0ANdypUqIyWGgqi-1B7uXRysjjsJeB_KR60nACrGqGtLqhRBC5JjtL1VmnhiYTPcuTb5UMZmSMFjC99kA/w187-h281/Buechner.jpg" width="187" /></a></div>I am living alone for the first time in my life—since my
husband died six months ago. The surprising thing for me is that I am learning
to be at peace with this new reality. Buechner’s words have helped me to relax
into my life and to find moments of intense joy and moments of beauty.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The words of Frederick Buechner came to me at the right time
and the right place. I can’t wait to discuss it with my church book group next
week.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also read and reviewed <i>A Crazy Holy Grace</i>. You can
find my review <a href="http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-crazy-holy-grace-healing-power-of.html">here.</a><o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2003679789092272741.post-63222031466779539472023-05-06T16:39:00.000-04:002023-05-06T16:39:36.869-04:00Liquid Shades of Blue<p> By James Polkinghorn</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWmdYvIfmFPG4Srpr3cwV0YHKMfDLMc2JEEvw4xG2OYT6Y4aeAF4yGgPL1VGYkYFh9TRmhyRiIrGfYug8_G0AiSmQeN6sTyI-Z8cIGf-6rHzkGjgz5asdvRjRp1VOd7oI7ze7sYrMquyevSDoHzG22K7cRn8GlG28WbQdXN4dWnoblLQLo9NXxlzfrEw/s378/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="246" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWmdYvIfmFPG4Srpr3cwV0YHKMfDLMc2JEEvw4xG2OYT6Y4aeAF4yGgPL1VGYkYFh9TRmhyRiIrGfYug8_G0AiSmQeN6sTyI-Z8cIGf-6rHzkGjgz5asdvRjRp1VOd7oI7ze7sYrMquyevSDoHzG22K7cRn8GlG28WbQdXN4dWnoblLQLo9NXxlzfrEw/w227-h349/cover.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oceanview<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2023<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>208 pages<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Thriller<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here is a synopsis of the story line from the back of the book. “When
hungover ex-lawyer and Key West bar owner Jack Girard groggily wakes up one
morning, he’s greeted by a beautiful woman lying next to him and a shrill,
ringing telephone. Seeing the call is from his father, Claude “The Duke”
Girard, Jack answers. Within seconds, he learns that his mother is dead in an
apparent suicide, and Jack hits the road, heading back to his childhood home in
Miami to face his tyrannical father.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The death of his mother brings up haunting memories from
Jack’s past—memories of his brother Bobby’s suicide when they were in college
together. Being back in Miami only continues to dredge up his family’s traumas,
but things grow more complicated when The Duke suggests that his estranged wife’s
alleged suicide may have been a murder.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As Jack begins to uncover the truth about his mother’s
death, including the secret she had revealed to only two people—the same secret
Bobby had taken with him to his grave—he finds himself in imminent danger. Can
Jack reveal the true story before it’s too late? He has to act quickly, or he
fears he may be the victim of the next Girard family tragedy.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My opinion of the book is both positive and negative. Here
are some of the things I appreciated. The setting was terrific—coastal Florida
from Key West to Miami. The road between the two areas is described well
through several chapters as Jack travels from his apartment in Key West to the
family’s homes in Miami. Jack also remembers very well the waters where the
family set sail through the good years of their lives together. Hence the
title, <b><i>Liquid Shades of Blue</i></b>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jack is a well-defined and developed character. He had a
very hard time adapting to life following the suicide of his brother, Bobby,
and now his mother is dead. This has led to estrangement from his father, which
is understandable considering that The Duke is very overbearing and to a large
extent unlovable. Jack has trouble dealing with his father’s ways, but having
been betrayed by his father when he was a young lawyer in the family law firm, he
changed careers completely and moved far away. Now he feels compelled to try to
solve the mystery of his mother’s death. Something feels very “off” to him and
to the reader. Thus the reader understands who he is and the pain he is
experiencing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand, I felt that the plot was a bit contrived,
and a bit clunky. I sort of knew that the mother’s death was not a suicide, and
I had glimmers of who the murderer was, but I didn’t expect the ending to be quite
so brutal. It was almost like the author didn’t quite know how to end the book,
so all of a sudden it was over. <b><i>Liquid Shades of Blue</i></b> for sure. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1RxgkbRUPi1H_68DDVXJZCn9_p7g2twkk_bJYF1ISUlCnARHuH3-VT-u33JMYcyAd6ybejX5vehUlwyfYiAyQMLwpZUHSUx3A27HUcMrIBTM5OHv8ip6orBl4XfzL0KrKIpkbFpSjUHsZhrfX5_1x0334_56mzrmPQ_14_VDP_T5KI_OXtpvcyIsyA/s1024/author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1RxgkbRUPi1H_68DDVXJZCn9_p7g2twkk_bJYF1ISUlCnARHuH3-VT-u33JMYcyAd6ybejX5vehUlwyfYiAyQMLwpZUHSUx3A27HUcMrIBTM5OHv8ip6orBl4XfzL0KrKIpkbFpSjUHsZhrfX5_1x0334_56mzrmPQ_14_VDP_T5KI_OXtpvcyIsyA/w192-h256/author.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>To his credit, Polkinghorn did not spend a great deal of
time with his characters in the courtroom, which is a failing of a lot of
lawyer/mystery writers. I appreciated that. The other good thing about the book
is that it didn’t ramble; Polkinghorn knew where his plot was headed and he purposefully
headed that way. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Liquid Shades of Blue</i></b> will be released next
week. <a href="https://jamespolkinghorn.com/">Here</a> is Polkinghorn’s
website. My copy of the book came from the publicist. <o:p></o:p></p>Miriam Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06178327409488797975noreply@blogger.com0