Bright Burning Things

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone is doing well. I’ve been busy with various projects lately so I have been off the blog for a while. Now I’m back to check in and see what people are reading. I look forward to stopping by everyone’s blogs to see what’s up. Spring is trying to take hold here though we had some snow on Monday, which surprised my geraniums and petunias waiting patiently to be planted. Gardening should be better on the weekend when temps are forecasted to be in the mid-60s.

Meanwhile look at these two beauties at left: Willow and Stella, photographed by my husband on a walk a couple weeks ago. They are big loves and are particularly looking forward to swimming season to chase their balls in the river. 

In book news, I see that Joshua Cohen’s novel The Netanyahus won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this past week. I am embarrassed to say I don’t know his novels so it seems like a surprise to me, but various fans of his works say he’s a brilliant author. As for what The Netanyahus is about The New York Times says it: “imagines Benzion Netanyahu, academic and father of the Israeli prime minister, arriving to interview for a job at a fictional New York college (modeled on Cornell) in the late 1950s.” Apparently it’s based on a true event that’s written as a satirical comedy, exploring Jewish identity and campus politics. I’m curious to try Cohen’s writing out. Have you read him?

Meanwhile on the TV lately, we watched the 6-part spy series Slow Horses on Apple TV+, which we liked quite a bit. It’s about a group of British intelligence agents who try to solve a case and includes a rough looking Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas among others. 

We’re also several episodes into the 10-part series The First Lady on Showtime that touches on the lives of Eleanor Roosevelt (played by Gillian Anderson), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis). The show got pummeled with bad reviews in the press, but we’re sort of liking it regardless, though it seems to jump around too quickly between the three storylines and has some awkward transitions. Still we can’t turn away from it now. 

Lastly we’re almost done with Season 1 of Julia on HBO Max about the life of Julia Child and how she established her TV show The French Chief, which aired from 1963 to 1973. It’s enjoyable and light but also shows what a pioneer Julia was, persevering despite the sexism of her day. And Sarah Lancashire, the British actress who plays (American) Julia, does a wonderful job as the iconic chef. The series has just been renewed for a second season. 

And now I’ll leave you with reviews of a couple novels that I finished lately. 

Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding / HarperVia / 336 pages / 2021

What It’s About (courtesy Publishers Weekly):  Sonya, a single mother, and former London stage actress, finds her life in Dublin derailed by disappointment and alcoholism that puts her at risk of losing the 4-year-old son she adores.

My Thoughts: Whoa. This story about addiction is pretty intense and the main character Sonya is someone whose neck I sometimes wanted to ring … particularly at the beginning of the book when she blacks out after drinking too much and her 4-year-old son Tommy and their dog are nowhere to be found when she wakes up. Sonya also has severe temper problems with others and is capable of lashing out at any moment. Despite all that, there’s a sense that she’s not a total lost cause but has a long road ahead of her through rehab and recovery in order to show that she can care for her boy again. 

I ended up rating the novel 5 stars on Goodreads not because Sonya’s likable or even redeemable as it goes along, but more because it’s quite a tour de force and the writing is awesome and felt quite real. It simmers along compellingly, and the audiobook read by the author is quite a performance. Harding puts a lot into it (and at the beginning I thought the audio speed was on high but it was just Harding on a tear) and she seems to embody Sonya completely. Sonya, despite her flaws, is quite bright and witty and you come to learn how much she really loves her boy Tommy and their big black dog Herbie. I came to root for them all — especially Sonya along the darkened way. 

Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry / Penguin / 240 pages / 2016

What It’s About (courtesy Kirkus Reviews): After she discovers her sister brutally murdered, a woman’s search for answers becomes as much about understanding the sibling she’s lost as finding the killer. 

My Thoughts: I read Berry’s second novel Northern Spy last year so I wanted to go back to see about her first one, and it’s quite a weaved web and crime novel. Both novels are about sisters. And in this one a young woman named Nora finds her murdered sister Rachel and dog at her home in a grisly scene in the British countryside, and becomes obsessed with finding her killer. Along the way you get a good sense of how disheveled Nora is becoming as she analyzes her sister’s past and what might have happened to her. 

There’s a sense too that the sisters had a more complex relationship than at first you think. Nora loved her but there were also tensions between them. So what happened? And did Nora have anything to do with it? You’ll have to read till the very end to find out. The psychological tensions in this one are fairly good and perhaps I liked it a tad more than her second novel Northern Spy. But in both you can tell that author Flynn Berry is good at exploring sisterly bonds and the currents — both dark and good — underneath.

That’s all for now. What about you have you read these novels or seen these TV shows, and if so, what did you think?

Posted in Books, TV | 38 Comments

May Preview

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Susan

Hello bookworms: Happy Indie Bookstore Day. Saturday was the day celebrating the small privately owned book shops that aren’t apart of big conglomerates or chains.

Somehow the indie bookstores here seemed to have weathered the pandemic the past two years enough to survive. A couple even seem to have prospered during these times. I guess readers came to the rescue, ordering more and going out less. 

I admit I tend to get books from the library instead of buying them, but I try to support the indie bookstores when I can. So yesterday I went over to Owl’s Nest Books, my closest indie store and browsed for a while before purchasing the novel Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I see other bloggers are liking this one. The co-owner of the store rang up my book and gave me a nice complimentary little book bag. How’s that for personalized attention? Pretty good, right? 

Meanwhile, Sunday is the start of May. Wow, I love May … as about mid-month the buds come out and the trees, bushes, and grass all turn green. It’s wonderful. I even like May and June now better than July and August since the smoke from western wildfires these days is getting too prevalent in the summer. But apparently May was once considered a bad luck month to get married. There’s a poem that warns: “Marry in May and you’ll rue the day.” Who knew? Luckily I was married in June (sigh of relief). And on a positive note, May has a lot of new releases to wade through.

For starters, I like the sound of Hernan Diaz’s new novel Trust (due out May 3), which is about a wealthy couple, the Rasks, in 1920s New York. Benjamin is a successful financier, and Helen is the daughter of aristocrats. “There’s a novel written about the couple,” according to the New York Times, “which is one part of Trust; subsequent sections of the book advance their story from other angles, each with the possibility to change everything you thought you knew.”

Aha. This plot and narrative mix slightly reminds me of Lisa Halliday’s 2018 novel Asymmetry. If you liked how that one flipped the narrative about, then you might like this new one as well. Though Trust has themes about money, power, class, and perception. It sounds a bit mysterious so count me in. 

Next is Candace Miller’s nonfiction book River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile (due out May 17). Wow I’m actually picking a nonfiction book this month! That’s quite rare, but the epic journey of British explorers John Speke and Richard Burton in the 1850s to chart the Nile River in Africa is an amazing adventure story full of hardships and setbacks, which I’ve read a bit about before in Fawn Brodie’s book The Devil Drives: the Life of Sir Richard Burton.

Apparently Miller’s new book shows not only Speke and Burton’s rivalry but also how an African guide played a crucial role in their mission. Miller’s book promises to be catnip for readers enticed by accounts of the pioneers of exploration. 

I also like the sound of Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel Remarkably Bright Creatures (due out May 3) about a widower named Tova, who works at an aquarium in the Pacific Northwest, and Marcellus, the giant octopus living there who forms a friendship with her. As author Kevin Wilson says: the novel is “a beautiful examination of how loneliness can be transformed, cracked open, with the slightest touch from another living thing.” And Van Pelt’s writing, he says, “is so finely tuned that it’s a natural element of a larger story about family, about loss, and the electricity of something found.”

Oh yeah. It seems we deserve a heartwarming story right now, especially with an exceptional octopus. Plus Marin Ireland, with Michael Urie, narrates the audiobook. What more do you want?

I’m also looking at Chris Bohjalian’s novel The Lioness, Vanessa Hua’s Forbidden City, Moses McKenzie’s An Olive Grove in Ends, Alyssa Songsiridej’s Little Rabbit, and Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s The Evening Hero. If you check out any of these, let me know your thoughts.  

Moving on to what’s screening this month, there’s the true crime miniseries The Staircase (out on May 5 on HBO Max), starring Colin Firth as a writer who’s accused of killing his wife, played by Toni Collette, after she’s found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their home. It includes the long court battle that ensues and is based on the real life case of American novelist Michael Peterson and the death of his wife in 2001. (Hmm I didn’t know about this.)

The cast seems amazing with not only Firth and Collette but also Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, and Odessa Young among others. You might not even like true crime stories, but it doesn’t matter now because you’re watching it. 

Next is the spinoff of the detective series Bosch called Bosch: Legacy (due out May 6 on Amazon Freevee). In the spinoff show, Bosch has retired from the LAPD and is now working as a private detective for attorney Honey Chandler, played by Mimi Rogers. Bosch’s daughter Maddie (now a cop) is in the new series, but I don’t see his old partner Jerry (Jamie Hector), or his boss Grace (Amy Aquino), or even Mayor Irving (Lance Reddick).

Ugh without these mainstay characters, I’m sure I’ll feel like a fish out of water. And here we were riveted to Bosch for seven seasons, but now he’s on a network that was formerly Imdb TV, which we don’t get. So Bosch is on his own for now. 

Still the espionage thriller Tehran Season 2 is starting on May 6 on Apple+ TV. And now Glenn Close is joining the cast. I’m not sure in what capacity yet, but the series is about a young female Mossad agent (played by Niv Sultan) who is on an undercover mission in the Iranian capital … trying to avert a future nuclear war no doubt. It’s scary stuff, and Season 1 kept me on the edge of my seat. Now we will see how it plays out in Season 2. 

Next is the six-part TV series The Essex Serpent (out May 13 on Apple+ TV), based on the 2016 novel by Sarah Perry, about a woman (played by Claire Danes!) in 1893 who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical sea serpent. There she forms a bond with the pastor, who I gather is skeptical of science, until a tragedy causes locals to blame her for attracting the creature.

It’s interesting that Claire Danes was drawn to this Victorian-era role, but perhaps it didn’t hurt that she’s playing opposite Tom Hiddleston as the pastor. Though apparently Keira Knightley was set to play the leading role but pulled out right as the filming was due to begin. Can Claire compare to Keira in this kind of role?

Lastly there’s also another Downton Abbey movie due out May 20 called Downton Abbey: A New Era, which is a sequel to the 2019 movie. This one sees mostly all of the main cast back, and the plot includes the Abbey being used for a Hollywood film set … as well as a few of the Crawleys are sent on an adventure to the south of France to uncover the mystery behind Violet Crawley’s newly inherited villa.

The movie has received some mixed reviews but looks pleasing enough judging by the trailer. And as usual it’s great to see the large familiar cast back in action. It’s been a while.

Finally in new music for May, there’s new albums by the Black Keys, Florence + the Machine, Harry Styles, Wilco, Liam Gallagher, Mandy Moore, and the Canadian bands Arcade Fire, and Stars. I’ll pick Harry Styles new one Harry’s House (due out May 20) as my choice this month though there’s been only one song released to listen to so far. That’s the breaks.

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to this month?

Posted in Top Picks | 24 Comments

One More Blast

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Susan

Greetings book worms. How is your April going? Did you conquer tax season? It’s a bit hard to believe April is almost over. But so far winter here still doesn’t want to go away. We had two freak snowstorms this past week — one on Tuesday and one on Friday. I took this photo from upstairs looking out the window. Oh my. It was a lot of snow at the time, but it should all melt away over the next couple of days. We’ll be back in the 50s and 60s soon.

Despite the weather, I got out to see a movie at a theater and a concert at a church this past week, which felt so weird after being cooped up the past two years from the pandemic. Not sure people know what to make of it yet, or whether to trust it fully — as if we might be hit with another wave and more isolation, but here we are for now. 

Meanwhile, you might remember that I missed putting out a preview of new releases this month as life was busy, but I want to just list some book titles now that look good in hindsight. April has had some big-named authors with new novels out, notably Emily St. John Mandel with Sea of Tranquility, Jennifer Egan with The Candy House, and Douglas Stuart with Young Mungo. Have you conquered any of these? I have not touched them yet. But I’m also looking to try out such novels as Sara Novic’s True Biz, Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry, and Annie Hartnett’s Unlikely Animals. I’ve seen some reviews of these popping up around the blogosphere that make me want to pick them up. What would you recommend for April books?

Last week as I mentioned I went to the movies on a snowy night and saw the British movie drama Mothering Sunday. Our book club had just discussed the novel by Graham Swift, which was good because it seemed helpful in following the movie since the storyline jumps back and forth a bit between the present and future of the character’s life.

There’s a kind of Downton Abbey feel to the movie since its set in 1924 and is about a maid (Jane Fairchild) who is in service at a wealthy estate. She’s secretly been involved for years with Paul Sheringham, the heir of a neighboring estate whose two brothers have died in WWI. But now he’s supposed to marry a daughter of a wealthy family friend, so this is apparently Paul and Jane’s last secret rendezvous together.

Oh it’s tough saying goodbye. And there’s a lot of nudity and cigarettes in the film. That’s the first thing you’ll notice. But actors Odessa Young and Josh O’Connor, who played in The Crown and Emma, seem to pull it off well. The movie follows the novel fairly closely, though the book is still a bit better, with the character’s inner thoughts and all. Still the movie is worth seeing and let me escape for a while to the British countryside and a mansion far far away. 

Then on Thursday we saw singer Frazey Ford and her band play at the Knox Church, which is a real church in town and a cool venue. She used to be with the Be Good Tanyas but now is usually found solo when she tours. She’s Canadian and lives in the Vancouver area so not sure how well-known she is in the States, but when I lived in Virginia the Be Good Tanyas played there.

She was really good this time and it was neat to see a concert after two years of not having any. But Frazey didn’t play much from her 2014 solo album Indian Ocean, which is my favorite, though she did sing one great song off that aptly called Done. She calls it her bitch anthem, and she surely kicks ass singing it. You can hear the video version of the song here. If you get a chance, see her live sometime. Her folky rock music is often groovy and bluesy.  

Lastly here’s a review of the novel I finished lately. 

Assembly by Natasha Brown / Little, Brown / 112 pages / 2021

This is a short British novel, which I listened to twice as an audiobook. It’s about a black woman who’s worked hard her whole life to attain the success she has in the finance industry … to get a slice of the middle class. Her white boyfriend, a politician, comes from an old moneyed family and she gets an invite to attend his parents’ upcoming lavish anniversary party, which she’s pondering. She also has a choice to make after she gets a breast cancer diagnosis from her doctor and has to decide what her follow-up will be. 

I liked the tone and astute narrator of the story — who seems to be going over her life assessing what she’s gone through to get where she is and what’s around her — though I found parts of it a bit hard to follow as it jumps around a little. The story seems to be the narrator’s examination and critique of British society on such things as: race, class, wealth, gender inequality, and the effects of colonialism. Whoa she cuts to the quick about it all. And it’s obvious she’s sick and tired of what she’s seen and experienced and the system as it is. I wanted to know a bit more about her life story and how she moved up the ranks etc., though the short novel seems mostly filled with her thoughts and whether she wants to keep going in such a society. I think this is my second or third novel this year that plays out like a modern-day Mrs. Dalloway with the party at the end hanging over the character. Virginia Woolf would be pleased with her ongoing popularity in today’s world.

Pippa Bennett-Warner, who reads the audiobook, does an excellent job as the character, and I will be curious to see what author Natasha Brown puts out next. 

That’s all for now. What about you — do you know any of these artists, and if so what did you think? 

Posted in Books, Movies, Music | 28 Comments

Awaiting Spring

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Susan

Hi. How is everyone doing? Well here it is already the 12th of April and I’m just now putting out my first post of the month. That’s quite unusual but I’ve been tied up with things lately.

Last week I refereed a national junior (U14) tennis tournament and had to be at the indoor courts for 11 hours a day all week. Crazy for an oldster like me, but the teenagers, who came from across the country, had a strong competition, and I only had to give them occasional warnings on behavior. So I’m glad it went well and I can rest up now. 

Before that I had a neat opportunity through Publishers Weekly to interview author Geraldine Brooks, who has a new novel coming out in June called Horse. You can read my short Q & A with her here. Brooks has always been a talent and someone whose books I’ve admired. You might recall her novel March — that imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women — won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005. Her new novel follows the true story of the life and legacy of the famous 19th-century racehorse named Lexington. I enjoyed it and think it’s one to check out. 

And now after having nice spring-like weather last week, we have returned to wintry conditions this week. Brrr. Wind and snowflakes, snowflakes and wind. I think it’s winter’s last stand. But I have posted a photo from a couple weeks ago when things looked more promising. And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner / Knopf / 256 pages / 2021

I listened to the audio of this memoir, which the author Michelle reads well. When I picked it up I didn’t know what the book was about and that it’s in part a cancer story about Michelle’s Korean mother. I had recently finished Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days, which also has a sad cancer story in it, so here I was again back picking myself up off the floor. Had I known what it was about, I probably would’ve skipped it, but then that would have been a mistake. 

This memoir is in part a sad poignant story about the author’s relationship with her dying mother, who Michelle didn’t always get along with, but they reconcile and Michelle cares for her during her illness and moves her wedding up so her mother can be there. The thing is: the memoir is also about a lot more than a cancer narrative and what happens after. It’s also about Michelle and her mother’s Korean heritage, their love of Korean food, their family with her American father, and Michelle’s travels in Southeast Asia. Later it also talks about Michelle’s blossoming career as a musician and singer with her band Japanese Breakfast, which I didn’t know about before, but plan to check out. 

Granted this memoir has a lot about cooking and eating Korean and Asian food in it and I am not a foodie (like so many others are) per se so those parts sort of passed me by a bit, but still it had enough other things that lured and spoke to me. I liked how it was about the author’s identity being half Korean and American, her place in her family, and finding herself and what she wanted to do and how she could contribute. I was impressed by the author’s creative talents and her poignant memoir. 

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift / Knopf / 196 pages / 2016

Publisher’s summary: Twenty-two-year-old Jane Fairchild has worked as a maid at an English country house since she was sixteen. For almost all of those years she has been the clandestine lover to Paul Sheringham, young heir of a neighboring house. The two now meet on an unseasonably warm March day—Mothering Sunday—her last day to be with him before he weds a family friend’s daughter of his own class. It’s a day that will change Jane’s life forever. 

My Thoughts: I think I found out about this short novel from JoAnn over at the blog Gulfside Musing and then I had my book club pick it to discuss, which we plan to do later this evening. A new movie has been made of the novel, but I haven’t seen it yet. And I have to wonder if it can capture the main character Jane’s inner thoughts as interestingly as the book does, but we will see. 

Set mostly on one day (Mother’s Day) in 1924, this British novel starts off slow. Oh the minutia! Many times, I wanted to say: Get on with it. But then towards the end it gets more interesting … after more happens, and the maid (an orphan) Jane Fairchild’s life opens up. The event that happens in this comes when she’s just 22, which she never talks about later in life, and it hangs over her, but then the novel talks about her becoming a writer in her 40s and marrying a man who was a code breaker in WWII. And how the narrative talks about fiction writing and truth is intriguing along with what’s happened in Jane’s past. It mixes both to interesting effect.

The novel and beautiful writing reminded me a bit of Ian McEwan’s novels Atonement and On Chesil Beach, both of which are excellent and have a sad, haunting quality that hangs over a character about something from their past. Mothering Sunday might not be for everyone due to its slow start, but it’s worth sticking around for. 

Lastly my husband and I streamed the movie Licorice Pizza recently — a quirky, coming-of-age film that’s a bit of a love story between its protagonists Alana Klein and Gary Valentine, growing up in the San Fernando Valley in 1973. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, but I think we wanted to like it more than we actually did.

And so while I enjoyed the performances of Alana and Gary — played by Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman — and some of the scenes and the whole 1970s vibe to it, the story went off on weird tangents that weren’t that great. So for me it was a mixed bag. There are some cute and funny parts to it … and the actors did well, but the script needed more honing or streamlining. You know what I mean … though as a Californian I remember those gas lines back in the ’70s and those long lost songs and awkward teenage days.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read or seen these, and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books, Movies | 43 Comments

Home on the Range

Posted on March 26, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone is having a lovely spring weekend. It’s great to officially say that now: spring! I’ve been off the blog for a while since I was in Southern California visiting my parents, which was wonderful to see them. It was an excellent trip, and they are okay. I took these two photos there and you can see a bit of green in the California landscape, which is nice to glimpse for such a drought-ridden place. Though it could always use a lot more rain. 

Now I’m back in Canada trying to finish chores and get organized. It’s nice to be reunited with the dogs and the hub. My reading has taken a bit of a hit lately but hopefully I can get back on the ball. I was just busy with other things for a while and other projects. You know how it goes.

Meanwhile this Sunday is the Academy Awards. So here are the movies I’ve seen: Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, House of Gucci, King Richard, Being the Ricardos, Spencer, Dune, and Passing. I still haven’t seen the other nominated films, but it’s too late now before the show. Do you have any predictions on what will win Best Picture? And do you plan to watch the Oscars? I guess I plan to, and I wouldn’t mind if CODA and Belfast take home something, but I’m not sure whether the little indie film CODA will be able to take home the big prize. Hmm. But that would be something. 

Speaking of movies, I noticed that the trailer came out of the upcoming film based on the bestselling novel Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. The “marsh girl” named Kya is being played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, who I don’t know yet, but she’s a British actress who’s been in the TV series Normal People among other things.

I read the Crawdads novel back in 2018, which is about an abandoned girl who raises herself, living isolated in the marshes of North Carolina from 1952 to 1969, and then runs into trouble. I liked its setting and the natural world it espouses, though the plot I thought gets a little wobbly as it goes on, but we will see how it is. The movie, which comes out July 15, was actually shot in Louisiana and not N.C. So what do you think — will it be a good movie, or not half as good as the book?  

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon / Farrar Straus / 208 pages / 2021

What It’s About: The main character is a black woman named Liselle in Philadelphia who is hosting a dinner party at the beginning for the people who helped with her (white) husband’s political campaign for the state legislature … even though he lost and she’s been contacted by an FBI agent who tells her that her husband is being investigated for corruption. 

Liselle’s mother who she calls to ask advice on whether or not to cancel the party is a piece of work, and Liselle begins to wonder if her marriage is over. Meanwhile as the party goes on, there’s alternating chapters of Liselle’s much earlier days at Bryn Mawr college as a literature major and a lesbian … with her lover Selena, in particular. 

But after college they go their own ways over a decade or so, and the story goes into Selena’s life and mental troubles along with her job working for an abortion-enabling nonprofit. It also tells of Liselle’s life marrying and having a child and working as a teacher. They meet up once or twice over the years, then later in the present Liselle and Selena both start wondering about the other … as the party, which started at the novel’s beginning, plays out.

My Thoughts: Apparently this relatively short book was inspired in part by Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, which also features a consequential party. Its title Afrekete is taken from a character in an Audre Lorde book, which Liselle and Selena relate to. I thought the writing was well done and the author a new talent to me. The novel delves mostly into the characters relations with one another, their various life stages, and the ongoing party. There’s not a lot of action per se to the plot, but there’s observations and much dialogue about gender, race, sexuality, and the socioeconomics of the times. Some of it is satirical and a bit funny. I thought the telling was bold and a bit edgy. If you’re squeamish about lesbian themes stay clear. I listened to this novel as an audiobook narrated expertly by actress Karen Chilton. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this one and what are you reading now?  

Posted in Books | 37 Comments

Spring Fever

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone is doing well. Are you ready for spring break? Well I’m getting there. I’ll be flying to Southern California tomorrow to visit with my parents. It should be beautiful in the desert areas right about now.

Meanwhile my husband will be holding down the fort while I’m away and taking care of the dogs. Things are starting to warm up and the snow is melting. It’ll likely be mud season when I return in 10 days, and we’ll have to get out the doggy towels to wipe the girls’ paws. 

In book news, I see that the Audie Awards recently announced that Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary won Audiobook of the Year. Wow, who knew. Did any of you listen to it? It’s narrated by actor Ray Porter. My husband read and liked the book, but I haven’t picked it up yet. Perhaps the audio is the way to go.

Also the Audie Award for Best Fiction book went to Dawnie Walton’s novel The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, which is narrated by a full cast. I just put my name on the library wait list for it. In the memoir category, Ashley Ford won for her book Somebody’s Daughter about her dysfunctional family, which she wrote and narrated. If you like audiobooks as much as I do, here’s the full list of Audie Award winners.  And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant / Minotaur / 288 pages / 2021

What It’s About: An Iraq/Afghanistan war vet (Cooper) and his young daughter (Finch) have been living out in the woods off the grid for 8 years … with only one other neighbor out there (Scotland) who keeps an eye for them … as well as Jake, a friend of Cooper’s from the war days who brings them food and supplies once a year. But then on the one day Jake doesn’t show and that leads them to take some risks getting groceries … as well as contending with a couple strangers who come into their neck of the woods. Over the course of the story, you learn why Cooper is hiding out there in the first place and whether it’s time for him to face up to real life again. 

My Thoughts: This slow-burn suspense novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, is done well and is fairly gripping. I liked how the story made me feel some sympathy for Cooper even though he has faults and has made mistakes in the past. But you’re not all together sure of him, or Scotland, or the others — and what they’ve done or might do, so it adds a bit of uncertainty along the way to what will happen. But there also seems an earnestness about Cooper and his young daughter Finch that makes you care about them, and the woods provides a beautiful refuge, which is all Finch has ever known. 

How the story is paced made me just want to rush to the end to see what would happen, but the author holds off the reckoning — making you anticipate or want it more — and doesn’t let you know the outcome till the very end. Unfortunately the only trouble I had with the novel was the ending, which seemed too farfetched or unlikely to me and felt somehow anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting a big bang but no — it was more a quietly resolved ending.

Recitatif (1983 story) by Toni Morrison / Knopf /96 pages /reprinted 2022 

This short story, which was recently published as a stand-alone book, is one that author Toni Morrison called an “experiment” for not identifying whether the two main characters in it are Black or White, yet making race an integral part of the story. I listened to it twice as an audiobook and then heard Zadie Smith’s lengthy introduction to it, which is best heard after you finish. 

It’s a story about two girls in poverty — Twyla and Roberta — who meet when they are 8 years old at a state orphanage in the 1950s. They are the only ones there that are dropped off not as orphans but because one’s mother is sick and the other’s mother dances for a living. There the girls bond over their failures and similarities and eventually both leave the orphanage. Then over the decades into the late ’60s and near 1980, Twyla and Roberta run into each other at various places as their lives change and their friendship does too. Along the way, it’s interesting to think about their different perspectives on things, especially what happens to Maggie, the mute kitchen worker at the orphanage, who has something you’re unsure of happen to her. 

The way Morrison writes it, she seems to mix the characters’ traits, some perhaps stereotypical Black and others more White without revealing which girl is which, leaving the reader to ponder (or try to guess) these things, though often I was busy following the story of their lives and not what skin color they were. After all both are humans with similar emotions and flaws, which perhaps is one point of the story. 

It’s interesting food-for-thought about Twyla’s and Roberta’s various perspectives (especially on what happens to Maggie) and how race and attitudes towards race play a part. I was actually expecting the story to go on when it abruptly ended. So I think I was expecting to get a bit more about Twyla and Roberta. So perhaps I thought the experiment could’ve been a bit more. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read either of these and if so, what did you think? Happy spring and time change everyone.

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March Preview

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Susan

Well it’s been a very grim week of news from Ukraine and hard to think of much else as we move tentatively into March and spring. We were in Vancouver, B.C., last weekend visiting with my husband’s brother, sisters, and spouses, who we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic. It was great to see them and spend time visiting. While there we stopped in at a Ukrainian restaurant for lunch to support and to chat. Of course the owners were horrified about what’s happening in their country and thankful for all the support around the world. Let’s pray for a miracle that the war will stop and that civilians will be able to flee the utter senseless destruction. 

While in Vancouver we saw an interesting exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery about Shakespeare’s First Folio, which is the first collected works of 36 of his known plays that came out in 1623. Who knew that when Shakespeare died in 1616 only half of his plays were in print, so the First Folio, which was compiled by two actors in Shakespeare’s theater company seven years after his death, really ensured that the plays would be preserved and passed along.

The exhibit also included the Second, Third, and Fourth Folios as well, which were subsequent editions that had additional material. The books were something to behold and are like the holy grail of English language literary history. I felt lucky to see them. Apparently 235 copies remain around the world of the original First Folio. 

And now let’s check out what’s releasing this month. Gosh I’m all over the place on what to pick up. I have my radar on about nine novels, including new ones by Anne Tyler (French Braid), Stewart O’Nan (Ocean State), Sarah Moss (The Fell), and Kate Quinn (The Diamond Eye).

But there’s also a few debuts starting with Lee Cole’s novel Groundskeeping (out March 1) about an aspiring writer who moves back home to Kentucky in the run-up to the 2016 election to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Uh-oh. There he meets Alma at the local college and the two start a relationship though she wonders about his relations with his family. I hear it’s part coming-of-age story and part love story between two aspiring writers from very different backgrounds … that shines a light on class and a divided America. Hmm. I like the sound of this one. 

Two more debuts are Melissa Fu’s novel Peach Blossom Spring (out March 15) and Lee Kravetz’s novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P (out March 8), which is said to be a literary mystery that explores the creation of poet Sylvia Plath’s only novel The Bell Jar. Hmm who wouldn’t want to know more about that? Apparently it weaves together three narratives to bring about Plath’s life (her psychiatrist, a rival poet, and later a curator) while painting a picture of the constraints on women’s lives back then.

As for Melissa Fu’s novel, it spans continents and generations, looking at the history of modern China — from Japan’s invasion to Mao’s rise — through the story of one family. Hmm, you might have noticed lately I’ve been on a bender for historical fiction having to do with Chinese history and immigrants. There seems to be several novels like this out that are pretty compelling, such as Peach Blossom Spring. 

Two other new novels that look good are: Karen Joy Fowler’s historical novel Booth (out March 8) about the family of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin. He was one of 10 kids from a family that lived in a cabin 30 miles northeast of Baltimore. It’s set in a divided pre-Civil War America that is tearing families apart and is apparently eerily similar to today’s fanaticism. Hmm yikes.

Then there’s Susan Straight’s new novel Mecca (out March 15) that “follows the intertwined lives of Californians who navigate wild fires, racism, ICE raids, death, love, and la corona.” Straight is an author who is said to write lovingly about the area of California where I grew up — the Inland Empire — and yet so far I haven’t read any of her books. So what am I waiting for? She apparently conjures up similar vibes to the California writings of Joan Didion, so we will see. There’s something about those Santa Ana winds, canyons, and highways that lure me back.

As for what’s new to watch this month, there’s five upcoming TV series that look pretty good. First is The Dropout (starting March 3 on Hulu) starring Amanda Seyfried as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, whose health tech company didn’t exactly go as planned. The series looks like it doesn’t sugar-coat anything, so I’m sure it’ll be maddening to follow what these people were up to. We don’t get Hulu here in Canada but maybe I can find it elsewhere. Seyfried looks pretty convincing as Holmes, who was convicted of criminal fraud and is awaiting sentencing in September. Till then she’s living on a multimillion dollar estate in Silicon Valley.

Then there’s Toni Collette in the thriller drama series Pieces of Her (on Netflix March 4) that’s based on the novel by Karin Slaughter. It was filmed in Australia about a daughter who learns that her mother (played by Collette) has a past she never knew about, which she begins to piece together over time. It looks to have much angst and action about it. And Toni Collette is busy these days with another series called The Staircase with Colin Firth coming to HBO Max later this spring. Keep you posted on that.

But if you want a few laughs perhaps check out the series with Amy Schumer called Life & Beth on Hulu starting March 18. It co-stars Michael Cera as her love interest and features 10 episodes of half-hour shows that follows Beth (played by Schumer), who after an accident starts having flashbacks to her teenage self while trying to manage who she wants to become.

So if you like Amy’s comedy, or are in need of a few laughs, then perhaps check it out. I don’t think I’ve watched her in anything since the 2015 movie Trainwreck, but she can be pretty funny at times though often a bit crude too.

Next is the TV series based on the novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (on Apple+ starting March 25). Wow I just read this heartbreaking epic in 2020 and thought it was fabulous, so I’m looking forward to this series of 8 episodes. It’s about a Korean immigrant family over four generations that leaves their homeland during WWII to survive and undergoes some terrible hardships in Japan.

Some of it was filmed in Busan, South Korea … but other parts if you look carefully were filmed at the Britannia Shipyards near Vancouver, B.C., which are stand-ins for Asia. Many Korean actors will star including Minha Kim, Lee Min-ho, and Youn Yuh-jung who won an Oscar last year for her role in the movie Minari, and I’m thinking it will be very good.

But after that if you need some lightness and you will, you might try out the TV series Julia (on HBO Max, starting March 31) about the life of television chef Julia Child. It looks like good fun and actress Sarah Lancashire seems amazing in the effervescent role as Julia Child. You might remember Meryl Streep played Child in the 2009 movie Julie & Julia, which was good, and this upcoming series seems to be just as excellent. 

That’s all for things to watch but don’t forget the Academy Awards is on Sunday March 27. I still haven’t seen too many of the nominated films yet, but I liked Belfast and CODA and hope to see Macbeth and Licorice Pizza soon, though I’ve been saying that for months. Hmm.

As for music in March, there’s new albums by Band of Horses, the Weather Station, Dolly Parton, Michael Buble, and an album of cover songs by the Cowboy Junkies among others. I’ll pick Canadian artist the Weather Station’s quiet new one How It Is That I Should Look at the Stars (out March 4) as it seems to have some somber, pretty songs on it for these times. 

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you most looking forward to? Happy March to you. Stay well.

Posted in Top Picks | 52 Comments

Trout River and Beyond

Posted on February 20, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone had a great week. We had a snowstorm last night and woke up to about six to eight inches of new snow, which is nice for skiing and the scenery. The dogs love it too. Though I hear temperatures are going to plunge this week for here and much of North America so hunker down and stay warm if you can.

Next month, I am planning to fly to Palm Springs and visit my parents, so I might have to wait till then to feel some real heat. The desert is usually beautiful this time of year and I have tickets one day to see the upcoming Indian Wells pro tennis tournament there, so I’m looking forward to that. 

Meanwhile the Olympics has ended and I’m glad to have seen various parts of it. Nathan Chen’s free skate was probably one of the highlights for me. I also liked the pairs skating and ice dancing as well as the cross-country skiing and biathlon.

I missed seeing the entire hockey games, but congrats to the Canadian women who continue to be a powerhouse in the sport. Now I’ll likely have some sports-action withdrawals, but we’ll probably get back to seeing some of the Oscar nominated films in the evenings. So far, I’d recommend the movies of Belfast and CODA. Have you seen those?

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.

Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng / Simon & Schuster / 2021

What it’s about: The story follows four main characters whose lives weave together and apart and later back together in interesting ways. There’s Momo, a man from the small Chinese village of Trout River who wins a scholarship to university in Beijing in the late 1960s, and Dawn, a friend and violinist he meets there who dreams of being a musician but must hide her aspirations during China’s Cultural Revolution. They make a pact after a date together but then part ways after graduation, and Momo meets Cassia, a nurse who helps him at a dentist office. 

Both Momo and Cassia are affected by a loss they experience during the Revolution, and later they marry and have Junie, who’s born without full legs. At age 5, Junie begins living with her Grandparents in Trout River — for reasons made clear later in the story — and then when her parents move at separate times to the U.S. Junie stays behind, and they plan to bring her to the States and reunite when she’s 12, but things begin to happen that none of them can foresee.  

My Thoughts: I’m so glad I finally got to this novel. It’s the best debut I’ve read in a while and there’s a lot to think about in it. I listened to both the audio and read the novel afterwards … because my book club was discussing it, so I needed to recall all the particulars. It’s a story that takes place from the 1960s into the 1980s and from China to the U.S. and back, touching on immigrants, history, music, word translations, and the culture of both countries. Whoa it’s chock full, yet still is very readable and alluring. 

Quite a bit of sad things happen in it, but it’s written and interweaved so interestingly that it transports and grabs you from the beginning and takes you along. And since I’m intrigued by novels that deal with the Cultural Revolution and protagonists that try to escape and heal from it, this novel was was a win-win for me. I will look for whatever this author puts out next … though since she’s a professor of Chinese cultural history at the University of Toronto, I’m not sure she’s focusing solely on writing fiction these days. We’ll see.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this one, or others like it, and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 34 Comments

These Precious Days

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone is doing well. We had a nice hike Sunday morning in the nearby mountains along the river with the dogs. It was not too strenuous, which is good because unfortunately my knees are not too good anymore. I’ve been told I will need knee replacements in a couple years. Ugh. It’s hard to believe but something I have to deal with. I’ve been playing sports and running most of my life so now in middle age things fall apart, which is a bummer. I’m still able to play competitive tennis (doubles) three times a week wearing knee sleeves, but we’ll see how long I can continue. 

Meanwhile, did you watch the Super Bowl out somewhere? Or just stay at home? Maybe you skipped the game for the Puppy Bowl or just watched the half time show. What was that half time stage, like a doll house? We watched the game at home, and have been watching the Olympics most other nights. The cross-country skiing has been awesome and some of the figure skating too, particularly Nathan Chen’s performance (Wow), though I’m surprised and dismayed that they decided to let the young Russian skater (Kamila Valieva) compete after testing positive for a banned substance on Dec. 25. That’s the big news lately. Good grief, what does that say to others in the future? Or others who’ve been thrown out in the past? Most athletes want to keep the Games clean, so this will be an affront I think. It’s too bad too because obviously the girl can skate like a dynamo, but cheating shouldn’t be overlooked, or else it just diminishes the whole competition’s worth.

On the reading side this past week, I finished one novel for PW and one audiobook & read combo for me. I’ll leave my thoughts below. 

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett / Harper / 320 pages / 2021  

Perhaps it’s just me but I’ve always liked Ann Patchett’s nonfiction more than her fiction. Her first essay collection This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (from 2013) I remember liking a great deal, and this new one has some memorable moments as well. I loved the audio version of These Precious Days read by the author, Wow.

And I’m still wondering how Ann got through reading the title essay — without losing it — about Tom Hank’s assistant Sooki, an artist, who becomes her friend and is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and comes to stay at their house while receiving treatment in Nashville during the pandemic. I’ll never know. It gutted me. It was like a wave that took me to its peak and threw me down onto the beach with great force. Though despite the terrible sadness of the situation, it’s told very well and beautifully. I also read parts of the hardback copy too and liked Sooki’s paintings on the book’s front and back cover. 

Ann talks about various things in this collection: her family, her schooling and Catholic upbringing, her trips and friends, her love of books and her bookstore in Nashville, her husband’s flying, her knitting and writing. Some chapters went by me without a huge connection or interest. Then there were others chapters that really hit me. My favorites of the bunch: Three Fathers, Sisters, There Are No Children Here, Two More Things I Want to Say About My Father, and of course the ones about Sooki: These Precious Days and A Day at the Beach. It was these six essays out of the 23 that really sealed the deal for me, though other ones had their moments too. 

Her essays about her father and mother are very poignant and moving, and I loved her essay talking about being a motherless person and all the flak she’s received because of that. People will say some of the craziest or harshest things or give advice if you’re a motherless person, despite if you’re unable to, or whatever your personal reasons might be for not having, or wanting children, and Ann captures that so well. She’s pretty straightforward about it in one of her more lengthy chapters. 

And once again, as with the last collection, I was a bit stunned how open and honest Ann is in writing about her life and personal life. She just lays it out there. It’s obvious in these many essays (most of them are pretty short) that she’s a very gracious person, who adores animals and is very close to her family, friends, and dogs (past and present). She seemingly does so much for her friends and has a goodness about her and also some fun wry humor. Various times she made me laugh out loud. Other times she writes about the sad deaths of those she’s lost, such as her father and friends. But the touching tributes she gives them are also filled with light. Maybe that is how she got through reading the audio. All in all, I found her words and grace beacons to savor. 

That’s all for this week. What about you — have you liked Patchett’s books and what do you think … about “this, that, and the other”?  (A Seinfeld-ism). Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted in Books | 32 Comments

February Preview

Posted on February 6, 2022 by Susan

Hi. I’m about a week behind posting this preview of what’s coming out as we were away recently, but I will leave you with another Idaho photo, yay!

There’s a lot going on and releasing this month. Who knew the shortest month of the year — and maybe the coldest — could be so packed. No, it’s not time for the Oscars or the Grammys, both have been moved to March and April, but there’s the Winter Games from Beijing and the Super Bowl next weekend from Los Angeles. Wow, I’m still getting my bearings on this. 

Meanwhile did you get hit by the snowstorm last week? It pretty much missed us up north, but it appears people are digging out in the Midwest and other places. We’re still having a lot of wind here, which is ruining our snow and turning things to ice, yikes. It’s not too good. 

As for February releases, I’ve been all over the map on which books look notable. But for sheer pleasure page-turning kind of reads perhaps Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair, Jillian Cantor’s Beautiful Little Fools, Anna Pitoniak’s political thriller Our American Friend and Lucy Foley’s latest whodunit The Paris Apartment are the go-to novels this month. As for debut novels, I’m curious too about Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, Brendan Slocumb’s The Violin Conspiracy, and Julia May Jonas’s provocative Vladimir. Have you read any of these already, or have any of them on your radar?

Then there’s the veteran authors with new novels this month: Tessa Hadley (Free Love), Jennifer Haigh (Mercy Street), and Canadian Heather O’Neil (When We Lost Our Heads). I’ve read and liked these authors’ works in the past so I will likely get to their new ones, but I’ve decided to pick up the three books (below) as my main reads.

First is Toni Morrison’s short story Recitatif (out Feb. 1), which was originally published in 1983 and is now being put out as a standalone book with an introduction by Zadie Smith.

It’s listed at just 96 pages but I’m sure it will pack a punch — about two, close women who have known each other from a young age and then lose touch … only to cross paths later on in various places. One is white and one is black but the narrative doesn’t say which is which, though their racial identity is said to be crucial. It’s left to the reader to make assumptions and perhaps sense their own biases. The story was Morrison’s “experiment” and I’ve heard it’s excellent. I missed it back in 1983, so I hope to remedy that soon. 

Next up is Gish Jen’s new short story collection Thank You, Mr. Nixon (out Feb. 1). I usually don’t prefer short fiction over novels, but it just so happens this month that these two books interest me. Perhaps I’m still in the reading mode about China and the Chinese-American immigrant experience — as I recently read Weike Wang’s novel Joan Is Okay.

And this collection too is said to be about living between cultures and features personal relations against a political or economic backdrop. It features 11 interlinked stories that span 50 years … from Nixon’s visit to China all the way to the present with the Covid pandemic. I have not read Gish Jen, who’s a second-generation Chinese-American, before but she’s written a lot of books and grew up in New York. 

My third pick is Julie Otsuka’s new novel The Swimmers (due out Feb. 22) about a group of recreational swimmers who cope with the disruption to their routines when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool. Much of the story I gather has to do with Alice — a woman who has swum at the pool for 35 years and now is dealing with the early stages of dementia — and her daughter who sees the decline. It sounds like a sad, heartfelt tale that is very moving. I have not read Otsuka before, but she seems to have own writing and narration style that resonates with many readers, so I will check out her book. 

Meanwhile on screens this month, there’s not a whole lot new due to the Olympics and the Super Bowl (Go Rams!). I’m quite the sports freak so I’m sure I’ll be watching these. But others I know plan to boycott “the genocide games,” which was the way the Huffington Post referred to the Olympics, since it’s being held in Beijing. Can a person support the athletes but not exactly the authoritarian communist regime where it’s being held? I’m not exactly sure, but I like many of the winter sports and find the athletes amazing. I’ll be cheering on skier Mikaela Shiffrin, and my friend’s son Canadian skier Trevor Philp, among others.  

Besides the Games, did you notice that British actress Lily James (Downton Abbey and Cinderella) is in the Pam & Tommy TV mini-series (out Feb. 2)? Oh my, I didn’t even recognize her as Baywatch legend Pamela Anderson. We don’t get Hulu so I haven’t watched it but just thought it a bit funny that this proper British actress is playing Pam. What a project to land, right? Apparently Lily had to dash into the ocean with the actor playing Tommy … and of course it was freezing, ha welcome to the Pacific. 

There’s also an upcoming Showtime TV series called Super Pumped (starting Feb. 27) about the story of the transportation company Uber, focusing on the CEO and the highs and lows of Silicon Valley. Hmm. I’m not exactly pumped or planning to watch it, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has the lead role, is a likable actor … as is Kyle Chandler who’s also in it. So perhaps it might be worth an Uber.

And for those who liked Graham Swift’s 2016 novel Mothering Sunday, it’s being released as a movie on Feb. 25. The British drama is about a maid in post WWI England who “secretly plans to meet with the man she loves before he leaves to marry another woman.” Uh-oh, sounds tough. I hope to read this short novel (177 pages)  before I see it. Actress Odessa Young and actor Josh O’Connor star and Colin Firth and Olivia Coleman have parts as well. It could be just the thing for winter watching. 

Speaking of which we just finished watching the very likable movie CODA, which came out in 2021 on Apple+, about a girl in high school who’s the only non-deaf person in her family. As her parents’ fishing business is threatened, she contends with whether she can go off to pursue music school or needs to stay helping her parents. Have you seen this one? Young British actress Emilia Jones does an amazing job as the girl (it took her nine months to master sign language) and Marlee Matlin is great too as her mother. It’s a bit sentimental but heartwarming. And like some other fishing and sea movies it’s filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts…. just like The Perfect Storm, Manchester by the Sea, and the TV series of Olive Kitteridge (yep, it wasn’t in Maine). 

As for new music this month, there’s new albums by Eddie Vedder, Spoon, Tears for Fears, and Canadian singer Basia Bulat among others. I’ll choose the Texas band Spoon’s new album Lucifer on the Sofa (due out Feb. 11) as my pick this month. 

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you most looking forward to?

Posted in Top Picks | 36 Comments