December Preview

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Susan

Well we’ve come about full circle now. It’s the last month of the year and one of the best — especially in the days following Christmas and Hanukkah — for reading and reflection. It’s not over just yet but the Year in Books is winding down and the busy holiday season is now upon us. How is your shopping going? I have yet to start singing the Whoville Christmas song from the Grinch soundtrack (what are those lyrics anyways?), but I’m getting pretty close. We don’t leave town for a couple of weeks and I’m just starting to get into the holiday spirit … thanks to the lights around the neighborhood.

For those who like to check out lists of the 10 Best Books of 2018: I’ve added several below for you to peruse:

The New York Times
The Washington Post
Amazon
Publishers Weekly
Kirkus Reviews

I noticed that author Lisa Halliday’s novel “Asymmetry,” which came out last February, made quite a few of these lists so I will have to check it out. It’s a tale that’s told in three distinct sections and is said to draw on Halliday’s brief relationship in her 20s with author Philip Roth among other things. Hmm, have you read it yet?

I’m also thrilled to see Esi Edugyan’s novel “Washington Black” made quite a few of these lists. I’m almost finished with her book and have loved it for its adventure, humanity and storytelling, which is very engaging, as was some of the storytelling in Tommy Orange’s novel “There There,” which also made a few of these lists. I’ll be commenting more in later posts about Best of 2018 Book lists but for now I’ll let my mind meander over these a bit more.      

In other book news, the biggest announcement I heard lately was that author Margaret Atwood plans to put out a sequel to her 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” due out in September 2019.  (Check out this interview Atwood gave the L.A. Times about it). In fact she says she’s almost finished writing the novel, which will be called “The Testaments.” Wow, how big is that?! I just revisited “The Handmaid’s Tale” last year in light of the TV series and thought it seemed as prescient as ever. Which is I think why Atwood finally decided to write a sequel — the current political climate felt ripe for Offred’s story to return. The new novel will start 15 years after the ending of the last book, so the characters will be older and time will have passed — which leads one to wonder:  how things will be in Offred’s neck of the world — worse, better or unchanged?!  Ohh “The Handmaid’s” was such a dark tale about the State of the Union, but I’m glad Offred has returned. As one would say: the Resistance continues.  I for one, will snatch it up once the novel becomes available next fall. 

And now just a peek of what’s coming out in December.  Honestly there’s not much notable literary fiction that releases this holiday month, but I am keen to check out British author Diane Setterfield’s new novel “Once Upon a River,” which Judy at the blog Keep the Wisdom had mentioned was coming awhile back. I’m not sure there’s ever been a book club that hasn’t assigned Setterfield’s 2006 debut novel “The Thirteenth Tale” to discuss — my club being no exception. We read it too!  She seems to be an author with a vast imagination who can weave magic and the power of storytelling into her tales.  Her new novel is about a mysterious young child that is found along the River Thames and no one knows whose she is. Three families are keen to claim her — though each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known. Ahhh it’s that kind of story. Apparently it’s a “beguiling tale, full of twists and turns like the river at its heart,” so says author M.L. Stedman, so count me in as it’s getting much praise. 

Meanwhile I think I’ll pass for the moment on Anna Burns’s novel “Milkman,” which recently won the 2018 Man Booker Prize and has been called the last great novel of the year. Set amid the Troubles in Northern Ireland and narrated by a bookish, alienated 18-year-old girl, it sounds quite alluring and is said to be quite memorable, but apparently it’s also said to be one of the most challenging reads of the year because of how it’s written, so says Ron Charles of The Washington Post.

Dwight Garner, too, of the New York Times calls the novel “interminable,” and says he would not recommend it to anyone he liked. Yikes. I don’t think I can handle a slog right now, so I guess I will pass on it for the time being. Still if you read and like it, let me know. 

Meanwhile for movies it’s the month to be merry.  There’s an array of notable ones I hope to see heading to theaters including: “Mary Poppins Returns” starring Emily Blunt in the lead role and “Mary Queen of Scots” starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary Stuart and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I. Wouldn’t you like to see those two duke it out? There’s even another pop music diva story “Vox Lux,” this time starring Natalie Portman as the pop star with problems. You recall the recent movies “A Star Is Born” then “Bohemian Rhapsody” and now “Vox Lux” so pop music is surely making its way into movie storylines lately. Even Disney is banking on the songs of Mary Poppins to lure you in. Though I’ve read that the songs won’t be the same as those in the 1964 original movie with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, though Dick Van Dyke apparently makes a cameo in this sequel, which is cool. I’m not exactly a big Mary Poppins aficionado though I do recall having to sing all the songs in my grade school chorus. So I’m quite familiar with: Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-oo.

Perhaps I’m most curious about the movie “Vice” this holiday season, which is oddly enough about the story of Dick Cheney and his power as vice president under George W. Bush.  It hasn’t really been screened for critics yet so it’s hard to say how good it will be, but judging by the trailer it looks to be a funny satire and it’s uncanny how much the actors look and sound like the real politicians. Kudos to Christian Bale as Dick Cheney and Sam Rockwell as President Bush and even Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld and Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney. Wahoo, this spoof seems too good to be true. Gosh who can forget those consequential, dubious days when weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were said to be a “slam dunk.” I think they’re forever ingrained in our brains. 

Lastly in albums for December, I’m sure I’ll be surrounded by a lot of great Christmas music this month, but for my album pick: I’ll go with Springsteen’s double album being released Dec. 14 of his show on Broadway.  For those like me who didn’t get to New York to see Bruce in person this past year (ugh!), the new album “Springsteen on Broadway”  features Bruce’s complete live solo acoustic performance (music and stories) of the show and is the soundtrack to the Netflix film of the same name. The show itself is based on Bruce’s best-selling autobiography “Born to Run,” which I read in a heartbeat in 2016.  So thanks to Bruce for these much anticipated Christmas gifts this year.  

That’s all for now.  What about you — which releases or reads this month are you most looking forward to?  And if you saw the Boss on Broadway, please spill the beans. 

Also please note: I subbed out my previous post’s Library photo for one of my own that I took of the new facility. Please check it out when you have a spare moment.  Many thanks as always to my visitors.

Posted in Top Picks | 23 Comments

Vi and From the Corner of the Oval

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Susan

Greetings. I hope those in the U.S. had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We did not travel anywhere but instead plan to visit family in California over Christmas.

Meanwhile all is well here. I went to my first lecture and visit of Calgary’s new Central Public Library at left, which recently opened here.  It’s quite a state-of-the-art facility (inside and out) and who other than author Susan Orlean — whose new book “The Library Book” pays tribute to libraries — should be one of the first author speakers at the place. It was quite wonderful to attend and hear her speak about her book, which is partly about her love of libraries as well as the circumstances surrounding the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library that destroyed so many books there and shut the library down for seven years. I have not read it yet, but I surely plan to check it out — as well as more of our new library. 

Also I want to give a shoutout to Esi Edugyan who won Canada’s top literary award — the Giller Prize — last week for her novel “Washington Black.” Wow, this is her second time winning the Giller (her previous win was for her novel “Half-Blood Blues”) and she’s just 40 years old. I think only Alice Munro has ever won the prize twice since it started being awarded in 1994.  I have just started “Washington Black,” which follows the journey of an 11-year-old boy who escapes slavery at a Barbados sugar plantation, and so far I’m really digging its storytelling. I was stoked when the author came here in October and I met her and got a signed copy of her book. Very cool. Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of what I finished lately. 

Both the books this past week I was able to read the print versions of as well as listen to them as audiobooks read by the authors. It’s sort of neat to do both or a combination of both. You get to process the words in two different ways. I just so happened to get both versions from the library at the same time, go figure. The first one “Vi” by Vietnamese-born Canadian author Kim Thuy is a short novel that sort of reads like an autobiographical memoir, while the second book — Beck Dorey-Stein’s debut “From the Corner of the Oval” is a memoir that at times reads a bit like fiction. So I guess that’s the genre-bending ways of the book business these days.

First off, Kim Thuy’s novel “Vi” follows the story of a girl named Vi, the youngest of four kids, whose life along with that of her family’s is changed forever by the Vietnam War. She manages to escape with her mother and brothers as “boat people” to refugee camps before Saigon falls. Eventually the family makes its way to Canada to forge a new life. But while her mother and brothers set down roots, Vi proceeds on a different path despite her mother’s disapproval, following a boyfriend to Montreal where she studies for degrees in translation and law that leads to international aide work abroad — and to Vincent, the love of her life. 

It’s a story quite lyrically told in short episodes, which I found powerful as refugee lit along the way. I might not have understood exactly everything in it due to a cultural gap or the way she tells it, but still the novel left me with an impressionable picture of Vi’s journey — and how her mother never really approves of her despite Vi’s hard work to make something of herself and find her place in the world despite all the obstacles. Vi travels to Hanoi after the war doing aide work and other countries, which is interesting, and towards the end it becomes a bit of a love story between her and a man named Vincent, who is a naturalist. Unfortunately the ending felt a bit abrupt and left things sort of a mystery with me wanting to know more. Grrr.

This is the second novel I’ve read by Kim Thuy (the first being “Ru”) and each seems to be autobiographical in nature. She herself left Vietnam at the age of 10 with her family as boat people to Canada, settling in Quebec,  and she’s worked as an interpreter and lawyer among other things before becoming a writer.  So much of the novel seems to be her own story that it left me wondering which parts were fiction. Hmm. Will she be writing a memoir someday or is this her way of doing it?  Already she’s written three novels (“Ru,” “Man,” and “Vi”) that all seem to compliment the one before and tell of the refugee experience such as the one she has had. The impressions in them get me a bit each time — as I’m still fascinated by the Vietnam/boat people story and what happened to such people’s lives after they arrived in their new country. 

Next up, I finished Beck Dorey-Stein’s debut memoir “From the Corner of the Oval” about her five years as a White House stenographer during the Obama administration. Many bloggers have already written about this book so I was appropriately geared up for it and I was not disappointed. I flew through the thing and found it quite entertaining. It’s like cotton candy for the politically Young and the Restless. Okay maybe not exactly that but other people have likened it to “Bridget Jones goes to the White House” or “The West Wing” meets “The Devil Wears Prada” or even “C-Span meets “Sex and the City.” You get the picture …. it’s not too heavy.  It has enough twenty-something mojo in it to cut through a wonk’s briefing book in no time.

You probably already know — but the memoir tells about a lackey who comes to work as a stenographer for the president and travels with him on Air Force One domestically and internationally. I mean no disrespect. I liked Dorey-Stein, her vibrant youngness and openness. She seems bright, albeit naive, along with those she hangs with though she’s far from perfect. I couldn’t believe how she first applies for the stenographer job — through Craig’s List? Oh my. She thinks it’s for a law office so she skips the interview: but then she’s later told ‘you might want to come — the job will have you traveling with the president.’  The president? The president of what? Ohh you mean … that president. Holy smokes. You can’t make this stuff up. 

Much of it depicts the typical DC story about young politically minded staffers who work around the clock and don’t make much money but live the life working for big wigs. They work hard and party harder. Stories like these are often hard to resist. I once worked on Capitol Hill so it’s a bit relatable. And Dorey-Stein has a funny sense about her that moves the story along. I liked how the memoir combines the professional side of politics and current events with her personal life. It’s amazing too how she travels to 45 different countries with the president and shares her eye-opening experiences along the way. It’s neat just being a fly on the wall to her conversations and I liked what she had to say and reveal about President Obama. 

But man, are there boy troubles for her that dominate the book!  A fair warning to all:  the author falls for a senior staffer to the president who’s a total womanizer.  I just wish he went by the wayside much earlier in the book, but unfortunately he has a hold on her pretty much throughout it. Gosh the endlessness of this part and all her boy troubles gets a bit tiresome and crazy, but still I floored it to the end … to hear what happens when the Trump administration comes to town and she flies the coop along with her close group of work friends. It made for a quick and engaging read, whether she drives you a bit crazy or not.

Lastly we’ve been watching the new AMC TV series “The Little Drummer Girl” based on the John le Carre novel about a team of Israelis who seek to put an end to the increasing number of bombings thought out by an elusive Palestinian. The Israelis end up hiring a British actress as an agent to infiltrate the Palestinian network and so far that is where we are now with plenty of episodes left to watch.  Apparently the series first ran in Britain on BBC One.  The  one American actor recognizable in it is Michael Shannon, who as the head Israeli honcho, delivers a pretty good foreign accent for a guy born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. You might remember him as the bad guy in “The Shape of Water.”

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

Posted in Books, TV | 22 Comments

Dear Mrs. Bird and Tin Man

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Susan

Ahh November, what a fickle month. Some days we get fall here, other days we get winter. The snow doesn’t know whether to melt or to stick around. I’d like to send some to California to douse the fires there, which have been so awful and tragic too from what’s been on the news. I can’t believe it. Sympathies to all those affected. 

To a happier topic: in book news this week I want to congratulate Sigrid Nunez for just winning the National Book Award for her novel “The Friend,” which I read and reviewed in April. Wow. It’s a pretty different kind of narrative but interesting too. The win surprised me, though probably in a good way.

Also Michelle Obama’s new memoir “Becoming” is making quite the wave this week. Apparently, it sold more preorders than any other adult book since Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” in 2015.  And now officially it’s out and selling more, making it one of the biggest books of the season.  I’m a bit curious about it too and currently I’m #159 on the library’s wait list for the 12 copies on hand — and that’s just in Western Canada. Your library is likely to have more of a demand. While I wait for that and various other books, I’ll leave you with some reviews of what I finished lately. 

A.J. Pearce’s debut novel “Dear Mrs. Bird” is something I read on a whim after it was a July Book of the Month pick on Amazon. It’s about a 22-year-old girl named Emmy Lake in London during the Blitz of World War II, who dreams of becoming a war correspondent but instead finds herself a junior secretary to a magazine advice columnist named Mrs. Bird. The archaic Mrs. Bird has many rules and won’t respond to letter writers who ask her advice on an array of sticky or unpleasant matters concerning the war or people’s private lives. But Emmy feels for the women writers whose lives are stressed by the bombings and have husbands away and she starts to secretly respond and answer their questions using Mrs. Bird’s name. Uh-oh.

It’s not a big story but gets into the shoes of Emmy and her roommate Bunty as they go about working and trying to do as much as they can for the war effort, while also managing their love lives with their boyfriends and avoiding the bombs. I found the novel at first to be a pretty lightish story of wartime Britain and a bit repetitive too about Emmy’s conflicted feelings at the magazine. Luckily the story picks up near the end — a few darker incidents happen to the girls — and I warmed to the story a bit more.  

In the end I liked how it turned out for Emmy and Bunty and how the novel delved into their friendship and what it was like for women on the British home front during WWII and the Blitz. The magazine and its reader feedbacks (where Emmy worked) conjured up an interesting facet of life back then and what women were going through during those dark times. Many were remarkable with all they did, holding families together amid the human tragedies and working for the war effort in various capacities. This story brings that out quite well … as well as the 1940s lingo, fashion, and magazine/news craze back then. On the one hand it’s a bit light-ish fare, but on the other, the storyline underlies the grimness of what was happening back then. 

Next up I listened to the audiobook of British author Sarah Winman’s 2018 novel “Tin Man,” which starts out with Ellis, a 45-year-old widower working the night shift at a local car factory — whose career his father made him pursue decades earlier instead of his artistic ambitions. A lonely man, Ellis hasn’t recovered from his wife’s death but in looking back on his life, the story follows how it was shaped by his artsy mother’s early death and the comfort he found in his youth with his best friend Michael, whose relationship with him evolved into something much deeper. Fast-forward years later and Ellis is married to Annie and Michael has moved away and is no longer in touch. What happened in the years in between unfolds little by little in the novel’s second half. 

Oh my, this novel though slim, packs a powerful punch and the writing is often beautiful. I didn’t know what it was about going in — but essentially it’s a story about a close friendship between two boys — that grows into something deeper and is set in the early AIDS era. First Ellis narrates his story — and then in the second half Michael narrates his. There’s a lot of grief in the novel: death and heartache and loneliness. But my, how Winman can write circles around the experience. My only caveat with it was that it jumps around in time quite a bit and I got lost a few times and had to revisit parts. Still I liked the swirl of memories it conjures up about the characters’ lives. The author reads it for the audiobook and gives a terrific narration. 

I also finished the audiobook of Anne Lamott’s 1994 nonfiction book “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life,” which I found informative, funny, and entertaining too. In addition to being a fiction and nonfiction author, Anne Lamott taught writing classes for years (and may be still at it), which is where this book originates from. I didn’t realize it was written long ago — perhaps my library just got a hold of the audio — though the book didn’t seem dated. I hadn’t read this author before but I found her quite engaging. I’m not a writer per se, but even if you’re not a fiction writer but just like writing or are considering doing some in the future — this book offers various helpful hints and advice. It might even help you become a better reader. 

What I liked too is her saying that writing doesn’t have to be for publication purposes only but is also rewarding for the journey of the process … the joy and therapy of it. Publication likely won’t make you wealthy or a star she says so it’s better not do it solely for that reason. She peppers the book with many anecdotes from her life, which are interesting and also funny. I laughed at various times listening to the book. I also appreciated Lamott’s positive life-affirming attitude. She seems to be a hopeful and humorous person, which I found endearing.  I plan to check out more of her nonfiction books and might even buy a copy of this one after it’s returned to the library. 

As for movies recently, my husband talked me into seeing the submarine action movie “Hunter Killer,” starring Gary Oldman and Gerard Butler, which turned out to be an enjoyable suspense flick. Apparently it’s been made clear that we have to see all sub movies whenever they come out — as my husband was caught up as a kid with subs during the Cold War when his uncle worked on them. And this movie is about an American submarine crew that teams with Navy Seals on a mission to rescue the Russian president, who’s been kidnapped by a rogue general. What more do you want? 

Much of it is under the sea and is intriguingly shot in the sub — as well as there’s a land invasion component to it too. It’s definitely Hollywood hype, but I don’t know how members of the military do it. I would be freaked to be in such a confined underwater tube, but they manage it quite well. Don’t expect the movie to be as good as “The Hunt for Red October,” but it was entertaining if not completely plausible. 

Lastly we also saw Season 1 of the TV series “Jack Ryan,” which is available on Amazon Video, starring John Krasinski as a CIA analyst who is thrust into a dangerous field mission after he uncovers communication of a terrorist threat. It’s a pretty entertaining spy series based on Tom Clancy’s fiction and character, and is not too unlike the TV series “Homeland,” which we also follow. Krasinski is an interesting choice to play Jack Ryan and we’ve wondered at times if he’s miscast in this action role (after all he did play goofy Jim on “The Office”). He makes a smart, clean-cut Jack Ryan, but he’s also a bit awkward at times amid the action scenes. Granted, the TV series is much different than the “Jack Ryan” movies, which are totally action packed. The TV series builds more, with more character and plot development and has less action. So I guess John Krasinski it is. Apparently the series has been renewed for a second season, which I’ll probably continue to watch once it comes out.  

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

Posted in Books, Movies | 25 Comments

November Preview

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Susan

Greetings. It’s now November so we are down to two months left of the year.  How are your reading goals going?  Mine are off-track, but it’s okay I’m not going to freak out just yet. There’s been lots of distractions along the way … including news out of the U.S. and the election. I voted absentee ballot from Canada, just doing my part as a U.S. citizen living abroad, but I’ll spare you the political talk here. Just to say: I hope you were able to vote … as it seems a critical election. My dog and book assistant has been a bit worn out from all the coverage and the political campaigning.

Meanwhile I feel there’s still plenty of time to read some wonderful books for the year so I’ll hold off on making a list of favorites until the end of December. I know quite a few bloggers participate in Nonfiction November this time of year and I’ll likely read one or two nonfiction books this month to honor the meme. It’s good I finally came off the library waiting list for Beck Dorey-Stein’s memoir “From the Corner of the Oval” so I’ll likely plunge into that soon. Admittedly I’m a bit of a sucker for Washington, D.C./political staffer kinds of books. After all, I was once an intern punk on Capitol Hill, ha. 

This month has some strong fiction coming out too. There’s new ones by such well-known authors as Joyce Carol Oates, Sebastian Faulks, Jonathan Lethem, and Liane Moriarty among others. I’m keen to get my hands on a few alternatives such as Eugenia Kim’s second novel “The Kinship of Secrets” about two sisters growing up on opposite sides of the world in the 1950s, one in war-torn Korea and the other in America. Inspired by her own family’s experiences, the author tells the story through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, who have vastly different upbringings. The story revolves around whether the family will be able to reconnect or whether family secrets will stand in the way. It sounds good to me and might be in the same ball park for those who liked Min Jin Lee’s novel “Pachinko.” 

I’m also curious to check out Idra Novey’s second novel “Those Who Knew” about a woman who suspects that a prominent senator she was involved with back in her student activist days is taking advantage of one of his female aides. When the girl winds up dead, the woman finds herself revisiting her own fraught past with the senator. Yikes. Apparently she questions her complicity after staying silent years ago about what the senator did to her. It’s a novel that sounds ripped straight from the headlines and one that’s been receiving considerable hype this month, so I’m game.  And Judy at the blog Keep the Wisdom had good things to say about Novey’s debut novel “Ways to Disappear,” which is a literary-mystery type of story that also sounds quite interesting.   

Next up I’d like to get my hands on Allen Eskens’s new novel “The Shadows We Hide,” which is a sequel to his 2014 crime/mystery novel that I enjoyed called “The Life We Bury.” Hooray I had no idea the author was planning on a sequel but I was keen on his protagonist — college student Joe Talbert Jr. — last time. In this one apparently Joe, now a cub reporter for the Associated Press, returns to investigate the murder of the father he never knew and must put together the missing pieces of his family history — before his quest for discovery threatens his own life. Uh-oh. Hopefully Joe doesn’t become too like Camille Preaker from Gillian Flynn’s novel “Sharp Objects” on me, but I don’t think he will. Eskens’s prior crime mystery made for a good audiobook listen so I’m thinking I’ll go that route this time again.

Then there’s John Boyne’s latest novel “A Ladder to the Sky,” which seems to have quite the malevolent protagonist in Maurice Swift … who’s a literary Tom Ripley kind of character straight out of a Patricia Highsmith kind of plot. Swift, apparently, is an aspiring writer and ruthless man who will stop at nothing in pursuit of success. I have not been drawn to this author before, but this story seems to be a bit of sardonic commentary about those involved in the literary/publishing world, which might appeal to me. I’m willing to see if “A Ladder to the Sky” is as similarly chilling and clever as a Highsmith plot. Swift’s character sounds truly Machiavellian and I’m wondering if I’ll find that off-putting or interesting. Hmm, only time and reading will tell. 

Lastly I like the looks of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut novel “My Sister, the Serial Killer.” No offense to my own sister,  but what an alluring book cover!  Apparently it’s a  short, darkly funny novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends. Uh-oh I hate when that happens, ha. This novel sounds quite unique and Susie at the blog Novel Visits who’s already read it says: it’s a “really fun, fast-paced book.” While the author Idra Novey calls it a “wry and refreshingly inventive novel about violence, sister rivalries and simply staying alive.” So what’s not to like?  I’m keen on Nigerian authors such as Ayobami Adebayo and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so I’m eager to discover Oyinkan’s work too. She seems to have a dark sense of humor. 

Meanwhile in movies it’s going to be a big month, woohoo. There’s quite a few notable ones I hope to see at the theater. First off, director Steve McQueen of “12 Years a Slave” fame is back with “Widows,” which looks to be a fast-paced heist thriller about four widows who decide to finish the job that their criminal husbands had started before losing their lives. It looks to be quite the crime drama set in Chicago and stars a notable cast particularly with Viola Davis leading the way, and Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell too. Gillian Flynn had a hand too in adapting the screenplay from the novel by Lynda La Plante. 

Also receiving a lot of praise is the movie “The Favourite” set in 18th century England with British actress Olivia Coleman starring as Queen Anne whose attentions and rule are vied for by her friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and a new servant who arrives on the scene played by Emma Stone. Stone’s character apparently rocks the boat at the Royal palace, which ends up playing into her own ambitions. I don’t often see a lot of period piece movies but these three actresses together — along with the critical praise this film is getting — is enough to get me to the theater. Kudos to Olivia Coleman whose role I’m eagerly awaiting as Queen Elizabeth II in the new season of the TV series “The Crown,” which is schedule to air next year in North America. 

Another potent movie looks to be “If Beale Street Could Talk” about a woman in Harlem who scrambles to prove her fiance is innocent of a crime while carrying their first born child. Adapted from the James Baldwin novel, it stars KiKi Layne and Stephan James whose careers should take a huge upswing after this intimate and (still) timely drama directed by Barry Jenkins who also did the award-winning movie “Moonlight.”  In fact Barry Jenkins is on a roll these days and is currently directing an 11-episode TV series based on the Colson Whitehead book “The Underground Railroad,” which I believe is coming out next year on Amazon. Stay tuned for that. 

Meanwhile three other movies this month look to be winners too. “Boy Erased” follows the son of Baptist parents who is forced to take part in a gay conversion therapy program, Uh-oh. It seems to be a moving coming-of-age drama starring Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman. There’s also “A Private War” — a biographical film about the life of the courageous war correspondent Marie Colvin, which stars Rosamund Pike, who looks to be in top form in the role. As well as there’s the movie “Green Book” with the lovely actors Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen starring as a musician and his driver who tour venues of the American South in the 1960s. Perhaps it’s a bit like “Driving Miss Daisy” in reverse?  That’s all for movies and I didn’t even mention Claire Foy as the latest tough Lisbeth Salander in the Dragon Tattoo franchise — the new movie being: “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.” Foy’s been busy these days after playing Janet Armstrong in “First Man.” I guess I shouldn’t be so bummed that she’s no longer on “The Crown.”

As for new albums in November, there’s new ones by the Pistol Annies, Mark Knopfler, Mumford & Sons, Jeff Tweedy, and Rosanne Cash among others.  It’s a bit of a hard choice to decide my pick. I could go for a mixed tape with a bit of each but if that isn’t good enough then I’ll pick Rosanne Cash’s new album “She Remembers Everything” because she’s put in some miles during her career and is still sounding good. 

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

Posted in Top Picks | 28 Comments

The Alice Network and The Lotus Eaters

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Susan

Greetings. It feels like I have been away for a long while. I went to Southern California a couple weeks ago to visit my folks and I haven’t posted on the blog since. Things just got away from me this month, but I’m glad to be back and share some of my photos (at left and below) of my time there. California was really lovely, both the desert and the beach. And it must have rubbed off here too because we’ve had great weather in Canada the past couple of weeks, which makes me happy. Fall can be such a gorgeous time of year, and Halloween is supposed to be clear and nice so we will gear up for the trick-or-treaters. 

Meanwhile in recent book news I see that Northern Irish author Anna Burns won the 2018 Man Booker Prize for her novel “Milkman,” which isn’t even available in North America till Dec. 11. Hmm, it seems obscure, but it beat out Richard Powers’s novel “The Overstory” and Rachel Kushner’s “The Mars Room” as well as Esi Edugyan’s novel “Washington Black,” which all made the shortlist among a couple others. That isn’t too shabby competition. Hail to Graywolf Press for its plans to put out the book, which was inspired by the author’s own experience growing up in Northern Ireland. Apparently it’s a dark, experimental novel about a “bookish 18-year-old girl harassed by a paramilitary figure called the milkman during the Troubles in Northern Ireland,” according to The Post’s Ron Charles. What makes the book memorable apparently is the funny, alienated voice of this girl who “refuses to join in the madness,” so writes The Sunday Times. She sounds like a cool character so I’m game to check it out.  Meanwhile I will leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

My latest reads were both big sagas — historical fiction that took my mind far away.  First, Kate Quinn’s 2017 novel “The Alice Network,” was my choice for the plane flight to California, which didn’t disappoint as the pages fell easily by the wayside. The book is still amazingly popular as currently there’s 260 holds on 49 copies at my library. But I almost didn’t pick it up because of one critical blog review, but I’m glad Judy’s review at the blog Keep the Wisdom and my sister steered me to do so. It’s an entertaining, sweeping yarn of a story and otherwise I would never have known about this real life spy network that operated during World War I. 

“The Alice Network” is a novel that alternates chapters between two time periods — from 1915 as Eve is recruited to be a spy in France during World War I — and then in 1947 when 19-year-old Charlotte (or Charlie) goes searching for her cousin Rose after WWII. Both stories come together in a fairly swift-paced saga — as a pregnant, yet single Charlie teams up with the curmudgeonly Eve (and Eve’s ex-convict chauffeur Finn), who she thinks might know where her cousin is. Eve though has some baggage and scores of her own to settle, so the journey turns out to be quite a goose chase. And while the link and bad guy between the two timelines was a bit of a stretch for me, I went with it. 

What interested me most was the exploits of the Alice Network, which was based on a real spy operation during World War I and the woman who ran it: French secret agent Louise de Bettignies (also known under the pseudonym as Alice Dubois). Carefully weaved together in the story are a few characters who are based on the real spies and the events that happened to them while others are fictitious. I hadn’t known much about WWI spies or how Resistance fighters were able to intercept German information, so this story intrigued me in that aspect. The courageous feats these women spies pulled off to acquire and pass information along about German military maneuvers — at grave danger to themselves (even to the point of sleeping with the enemy, yikes) — kept me on my toes.

“The Alice Network” is not a dense read nor a powder puff read.  There are some light-ish, romance parts  to it — as well as violent deaths too. It reminded me a bit of Jojo Moyes’s novel “The Girl You Left Behind” and Kristen Hannah’s “The Nightingale” — the same kind of reading perhaps. If you enjoyed those yarns, you’d probably like this. I thought the author did a thorough job of research — as well as having a keen interest and enthusiasm for the history behind it, which she writes about in some notes at the back of the book. For a plane flight and vacation read, it was just the right thing.

Next up, I finished the audiobook of Tatjana Soli’s 2010 debut novel “The Lotus Eaters,” which I was curious about after reading her recent historical novel about George and Libby Custer called “The Removes.”  “The Lotus Eaters” is quite a bit different from that but is also inspired by real people — in this case female war photographers such as Dickey Chapelle and Catherine Leroy who spent time working in Vietnam during the war.  This story is about a female war photographer named Helen Adams who comes to Vietnam in 1965 in the hopes of documenting the war that took her brother’s life. There she gets involved with Sam Darrow, a prize-winning photographer who shows her the ropes. Helen, Sam, and his Vietnamese assistant Linh turn out as the main protagonists of the story, which follows their lives as they become deeper entangled in Vietnam, each other, and their jobs during the war.

Oh my, it’s quite an involved saga. It hit me as being like a “Dr. Zhivago” of the Vietnam War — in that it’s epic and includes a bit of a love triangle. It’s chock-full of the war experience from 1963 to 1975 — from the streets of Saigon, to the missions into the interior, the scorching of villages, the soldiers’ fatalities, to ultimately the final days of the American evacuation and even into the Cambodian killing fields. Most of it is explored through Helen’s eyes and how she becomes taken with the country and the violence and risks that come along with being a war photographer.  The character of Linh too is intriguing, as he’s lost his family and must weigh conflicted loyalties between his heart and his homeland. 

The stories’ themes are plentiful: about war and destruction and its affects on people; the beauty and culture of Vietnam; the adrenaline of photojournalism; trying to find humanity despite the horrors; and about making sense of what happened there. I found quite a bit of the novel’s writing beautiful and a few parts of the action riveting. It wasn’t an easy or light book as it goes off in various tangents and is lengthy — a true saga about Helen’s career and loves and of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam — but I liked much of its truths about the country and the human condition. The author really got under the skin of these characters and I felt by the end they were quite real; they had all gone through so much! Kudos to the author who apparently spent 10 years writing the book, which showed in her depiction of its vivid details. This was my second novel of hers and I’ll be interested to read what she puts out next.

Lastly, I saw the movie “First Man” a few weeks back about the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong and his mission to the moon in 1969. It stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy as the Armstrongs. Wow it’s quite a somber and serious movie, which I guess I wasn’t totally expecting. For those who aren’t totally into NASA or space films, you might not find it completely entertaining … though it’s quite interesting but not exactly a light, happy film. This isn’t a Disney version. Both Gosling and Foy are good and seem to play down their star status for the roles. 

It’s a movie with relatively not a lot of dialogue but the cinematography makes it seem quite real.  A few scenes of shaky, spinning aircraft and propulsion, which go on for what feels like too long, might make you feel sick. I certainly was ready for those parts to end, yet I’m glad to have seen the movie. It made me feel how the odds were stacked against the astronauts’ endeavor and yet the moon landing was miraculously persevered and accomplished … despite the old technology back then and all the other hardships they faced. It was enough to make you realize their momentous feat in history. 

That’s all for now.  What about you have you read either of these authors or seen this movie and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books, Movies | 18 Comments

Crawdads, Varina — and A Star Is Born

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Susan

Well this weekend we get to escape our northern climate to visit my parents in Southern California, so that should be a nice warm break. So excited, woohoo, feel like we paid our dues. There’s a bit of snow here on the ground, which makes it seem like we went from summer directly into winter, though leaves are still on the trees or falling to the ground, mixing with the snow, which is confusing. But apparently fall and milder temps are forecasted to make an appearance next week, so hold on to your hat. 

Meanwhile the book festival is going on here — sadly I’m going to miss most of it — but I was able to meet Canadian author Esi Edugyan this week, who spoke about her new novel “Washington Black.” She signed a copy for me and I’m stoked to read it. The novel sounds like it begins as a historical, slave narrative and turns into a tale of adventure and scientific exploration. Wow, it’s receiving some high praise and has made the shortlist for both the Man Booker Prize and Canada’s Giller Prize. I can’t help but think it’s going to win the Giller, which will be announced in mid-November.  So I hope to read it before then.  Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a few reviews of what I finished lately. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens / 384 pages / Putnam / 2018

For the most part I enjoyed and admired much of this debut novel about a young abandoned girl (named Kya) surviving on her own in a shack at the edge of the coastal marsh in North Carolina. Her mom skips town, then her siblings trail off and eventually her drunk, abusive dad. To locals, she’s known as the Marsh Girl, for living amid the wild landscape. Much of the story is about her isolation and how it influences her behavior over the decades. 

To me, something about the story had a sort of “To Kill a Mockingbird” feel to it — perhaps because it’s set in a rural Southern landscape and is a coming of age tale of a young girl in the 1950s and ’60s that also has a murder mystery and a court case to it. Her lawyer Tom reminded me a bit too of an Atticus /Gregory Peck-like figure in “To Kill a Mockingbird”  — as the girl becomes the prime suspect in the death of the town’s star quarterback after he is found deceased in the marsh.  

“Where the Crawdads Sing” is an easy, quick read, which follows Kya’s romantic relationships with two boys over the years and her friendship with an African American couple that sells her gas for her little boat and befriends her. The story is often beautiful in its renderings of its coastal marsh setting and Kya’s life. The author, who was previously known for her nature writings about Africa, grew up in Georgia and North Carolina, which obviously runs in her blood, judging from her vivid descriptions of the plant and wildlife in the novel.    

Although some parts of the story seemed a bit of a stretch in believability — of a 6-year-old (at the beginning) surviving in the wilds without much food… not going to school etc., I went with it. Though by the very end I sort of thought the story went a bit too far — too nicely tied up or sweet or too much about poor Kya’s aloneness, but still I liked much of the world it created and I fell into its storytelling easily and quickly. All in all, it was a debut that swept me up pretty willingly. 

Varina by Charles Frazier / 368 pages / Ecco / 2018

This historical novel pleasantly surprised me in consuming me with its story about the real life of Varina Howell Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy. Little did I know that her story would be such a tale, especially in the hands of author Charles Frazier, who returns to the subject of the American Civil War some 20 years after writing his prize-winning book “Cold Mountain.”  Wow I should have known it would be good. 

Apparently in marrying a Mississippi landowner and widower twice her age, Varina Howell thought she would be living a quiet, secure life on a cotton plantation having children. But when her husband Jefferson Davis, a war hero from the Mexico War, ends up pursuing politics, her life takes a much different turn …. eventually putting her in the center of one of the darkest moments in American history when he becomes president of the Confederacy and the nation splits in two. Uh-oh.

The story unfolds as Varina is looking back on her life in 1906 and recounting it in episodes to a freed slave who she once rescued from the streets of Richmond to live with their family.  Unlike her husband, Varina had mixed feelings about slavery and the War, and even projected its failure, though looking back, she acknowledges her guilt and complicity, believing that “being on the wrong side of history carries consequences.” 

The novel jumps back and forth in time amid her life but what particularly riveted me was Varina’s flight out of Richmond with her six children and a few aides in tow as the South is about to collapse. They escape by railway and then in an ambulance wagon and on horses heading south as fugitives trying to make it to Florida and then escape to Cuba. Danger seems to lurk everywhere as they journey for weeks with a bounty on their heads. They run into a few survivors paranoid after the Union’s scorched-earth tactics and with people resorting to barbarism. It’s a dicey time (slightly reminiscent of Inman’s journey home in “Cold Mountain”) and you know their prospects aren’t going to turn out well from history, but you’ll want to stay tuned to Varina’s life in the aftermath of the war. 

It surprised me her strength and longevity and what she ultimately learns over the course of her 80 years — among other things: that the right side of the War won. Varina stood by her husband after he was arrested but also spent little more than half of their 45 year marriage with him. Their marriage was a challenging one, and five of their six children died before Varina passed away in 1906. Oh it was hard and there was a lot to mourn, grieve, and feel guilty about. Late in life, after her husband’s death, she earned her living writing for publications in her adopted hometown of New York City, where she was friends with General Grant’s wife, Julia, and knew such figures as Oscar Wilde and Booker T. Washington.

Varina’s was a tragic and complex life that seemingly came a long ways. Apparently she was quite educated and well read, could read Greek, though she grew up in Mississippi where her husband’s family owned slaves. Many of them seemed like close family to her, but she never in the book absolves herself from the complicity of being on the side of the Southern states during the War. 

I found Varina fascinating — flawed but sympathetic too. In the retellings of her life story, the novel reflects on the institution of slavery and her marriage to a man who comes off — as one reviewer put it — as a “delusional egotist whose skewed sense of honor cost countless lives.” It’s a book that’s well done, thoughtful, and in various ways beautifully written. Although it’s not a quick read and shifts around a bit unevenly, I think it’ll be one of my favorites of the year … as it enlightened me and piqued my interest to a great extent. I first listened to the audiobook of it, which is excellent, and then when it expired too soon, I read the novel from the beginning. I guess that’s when you know a book is excellent. 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn / audiobook / pub date 2006

Yes I finally got to this debut crime novel by the author of “Gone Girl,” which was turned into a eight-part TV miniseries this past July starring Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson among others.  I listened to the novel as an audiobook, which worked well and kept my interest for most of the novel. You probably know the story is about a reporter named Camille Preaker who returns to her small town in Missouri to cover the brutal murders of two young girls. Along the way she must unravel secrets about her own past — and those of her family’s — to get to the bottom of the story and survive her homecoming. 

What started out to me as a fairly interesting crime mystery with a flawed protagonist — sort of dissolved into an improbable soupy mess by the very end. I’m not sure I believed all of the whodunit, or that the extra plot twist made much sense to me. It was over the top, but then again that was the craziness of “Gone Girl” too.  I watched one episode of the miniseries, but I’m not sure I want to continue to fathom actress Patricia Clarkson as the creepy Mother.  After all, she was the nice lady in the 2003 movie “The Station Agent.”

Last but not least, I can report that I saw the movie “A Star Is Born” over the weekend. And for sure, it’s got some entertaining and powerful musical performances in it. Lady Gaga as a singer named Ally puts her voice to the test in impressive fashion, and Bradley Cooper, as an aging musician, is none too shabby either. One could probably lose track of time just looking into his eyes and shaggy face.  

Yet despite all that — my husband and I found the script a bit waning or weak and dated: and perhaps the paternalistic story a bit ill-timed. Maybe because of all the hype and critical praise, I was expecting the movie to be Unreal fantastic (movie of the year kind of stuff), and when it was just okay enjoyable, it seemed a bit less. For those who had similar reactions, you might like some of what reporter Libby Hill had to say in her Los Angeles Times article “A Star Is Born Dims in the Shadow of Kavanaugh Confirmation,” which I thought made some good points.  

Still “A Star Is Born” is an entertaining movie (though a bit dark too), but maybe just temper your expectations. 

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

Posted in Books, Movies | 26 Comments

October Preview

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Susan

Well we’ve made it to October and a big snowstorm just dumped about eight inches of white powder last night. Yikes, I kid you not — so much for fall (as pictured at left.) This photo was taken before the storm so I’m sticking with it in the hopes that fall will come back. Pretty please?

I hope your year-end reading goals are still on track. I’m a bit behind on my Goodreads challenge but hope I can still make it back through the woods so to speak. This month, I’m a little all over the place on what fiction looks good. You’ve likely seen there’s new novels coming out by Haruki Murakami, Barbara Kingsolver, Tana French, and William Boyd among others — hmm with those big names you know it’s likely going to be a good month. I have my sights on a few others too that I hope to get my hands on. 

First off, I got to go with British author Claire Fuller’s new novel “Bitter Orange”  since I’ve heard a lot of others talk about her two previous books. I’m a newbie to Fuller myself so I’m curious. Is she as good as everyone says?

This one is set in the summer of 1969 at a dilapidated English country mansion, about a woman who befriends a glamorous couple who is living in the room below hers. As she becomes increasingly entangled in their lives — so writes the publisher — the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong, begin to blur. Then apparently a small crime occurs that brings on a bigger one, which is so terrible that it will “brand their lives forever.”  Oh yes, please, I’ve already reserved a copy at the library. 

Next up, is another crime novel this time by Lou Berney called “November Road.”  Set in the wake of the assassination of JFK, it’s about a mob fixer who finds himself on the run and crosses paths with an unhappy Oklahoma housewife who’s also looking to restart her life. They meet to share the open road west and apparently find each other — while a hit man is on his tail — along the way. 

Hmm. According to Kirkus Reviews,  “Berney’s writing brilliantly reflects the times of both disillusionment and hope … capturing the few weeks at the end of 1963 — all that was lost and all that lay tantalizingly and inevitably just beyond the horizon.”  “November Road” sounds quite good, so count me in. 

Meanwhile I probably can’t resist Andre Dubus III’s new novel “Gone So Long” about a father who 40 years ago committed a shocking violent act that changed the lives of those in his family forever. Now terminally ill, he’s been released from prison and is set on visiting his estranged daughter, who he hasn’t seen in decades. But she is focused on moving forward, and others — like the maternal grandmother who raised her — won’t welcome him back either.

“Gone So Long” is said to be a slow burn of a novel that continues to fill in the characters’ backstory as Dubus inches them toward their climatic meeting.  Uh-oh. If you liked the author’s novel “House of Sand and Fog,” which was an explosive heart-wrencher, then you might check this one out as well. 

After those three crime novels, I’ll probably need something lighter … or dare I say romantic? And Patti Callahan’s biographical novel “Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis”  might be just the thing. I remember the 1993 movie “Shadowlands” about New York poet Joy Davidman and author C.S. Lewis’s love affair and that intrigued me, so now I’m back for more. 

This novel explores Joy’s life and how she came to know and eventually marry C.S. Lewis, the Oxford professor and writer of the Narnia books. They first bonded over letters she wrote him asking about God and faith and then she traveled to England to be with him. Theirs was quite a connection (with much religious talk thrown in) that was cut tragically short. Apparently the book is said to be a moving portrait of a complex woman and also a meditation on marriage. Hmm, yes, count me in. 

Last up is Edward Carey’s historical novel “Little,” which is said to be a quirky and macabre tale set in Revolutionary Paris about an ambitious orphan named Marie, who’s befriended by royalty and radicals, eventually transforming herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud, of waxworks fame.

Oh my, this novel, which is getting a lot of praise, sounds like quite a ride with those such as Margaret Atwood tweeting “not to miss this eccentric charmer.”  Booklist too says it’s “an immensely creative epic … Mingling a sense of playfulness with macabre history, Carey depicts the excesses of wealth and violence during the French Revolution through the eyes of a talented woman who lived through it and survived … The unique perspective, witty narrative voice, and clever illustrations make for an irresistible read.” Hmm. I want to give it a try!

As for movies, October looks to be the best month of the year so far for its amount of notable new releases. Woohoo!  A lot of the critics seem to be loving Bradley Cooper’s remake of the movie “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga. This is the fourth time it’s been made. So likely you know the story by now: he’s the hard-drinking musician who falls in love and helps a young singer find fame, meanwhile his career takes a downward turn. 

I remember the 1976 movie with a lovely rugged looking Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. Kris’s version seemed believable as he could knock a drink or two back in his day. Man I felt terrible when his character bites the bullet. Ahh well, I’ll see Brad’s version too — as it’s getting huge hype (or GAGA) about it. Okay I couldn’t help the pun.  I usually like country, folk, rock music kinds of movies — remember the 2009 movie “Crazy Heart,” which was similar? — so I’m definitely game.  

There’s also the biographical movie about the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong called “First Man.” Oh yeah, I want to see it.  It stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy and follows the years leading up to the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969. What more do you want? I repeat: Gosling in space as Neil Armstrong.

Then there’s the movie version of the bestselling young adult novel “The Hate U Give”  by Angie Thomas, which looks good. Actress Amandla Stenberg plays teenager Starr Carter who sees her best friend fatally shot by a white police officer and needs to stand up for what’s right in her community. Talk about timely.  The book too was a big success so I expect the movie version will do very well at the box office. Maybe it’ll even make an impact?

Then there’s the comedy-drama “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”  which looks decent too with Melissa McCarthy as the biographer Lee Israel, who turns to forging letters from deceased authors and playwrights in order to pay her bills: uh-oh. It looks to be more of a nuanced role for McCarthy so I’ll be interested to see it.

And I like the looks too of the Netflix movie “Private Life” with Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a married couple dealing with multiple fertility treatments, which ends up testing their marriage, uh-oh. Hahn and Giamatti seem to be a delightful duo in this comedy-drama set in New York City. I especially loved Giamatti in “Barney’s Version” and “Sideways,” so count me in.

Lastly in notable movies, there’s the adaptation of the 1990 Richard Ford novel “Wildlife” about a boy in 1960 who witnesses the crumbling of his parents’ marriage after the three of them move to Montana and his mother falls in love with another man. Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal star in the drama, which premiered at Sundance. Somehow I missed this particular Ford novel but it looks like his usual relationship-trouble kind of fare. 

If it’s new music you’re looking for, there’s new albums this month by Elvis Costello, John Hiatt, Edie Brickell, and Richard Ashcroft among others. I’m wondering a bit about the album “Wanderer” by Cat Power and “C’est La Vie” by Phosphorescent. I am a newbie to both so I’ll need to check them out as I go long this month. 

What about you — which new releases this month are you most interested in? 

Posted in Top Picks | 25 Comments

The Removes

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Susan

Perhaps due to my California roots, I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for American West / frontier / pioneer kinds of historical novels and I finished a couple of good ones last year with Paulette Jiles’s “News of the World” set in Texas after the Civil War, and Sebastian Barry’s “Days Without End,” about two Irish boys fighting for the U.S. Army in the Indian and Civil Wars. I had also previously tore through Daniel James Brown’s nonfiction saga about the Donner Party “The Indifferent Stars Above,” which was also quite gut-wrenching. So when given the opportunity, I jumped at the chance to read and review Tatjana Soli’s new historical novel “The Removes,” which takes place right as the Civil War is ending and the U.S. government is setting its sights on Native American territories across the Great Plains … uh-oh.  

The story chronicles the lives of Gen. George Custer, a hero of the Civil War who’s sent to defeat and remove the Indians, and his recently wedded wife Libby, who follows him to military outposts across the frontier.  It interweaves their lives in alternating chapters along with those of a young daughter of Kansas settlers (a fictitious character) named Anne, who’s abducted by the Cheyenne and is living as a captive among the tribe. 

I found “The Removes” to be quite a fascinating and illuminating read about all three, especially since I didn’t  know much about Custer and his wife in such detail before, other than his demise with his troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. I liked how the novel vividly conjured up their lives, relations, and travels as well as the battles Custer fought in the years leading up to Little Big Horn. It certainly captures how hard and violent life was like on the American frontier during the 1860s and ’70s. For those feint of heart, you might have to skip over the various graphic parts of this tale — as it doesn’t shy away from the atrocities that were committed by whites and natives alike during these years. 

 I also learned quite a bit about Custer himself and what he did and how others were affected.  He seemed a contradiction of sorts:  he traveled endlessly to fight and kill Indians or to relocate them and yet by the end he was close to Native scouts who worked with him and he took a Native mistress. Moreover he seemed more at home with life on the frontier, living similarly like the natives than he did back in the civilized world. He was close to his brother, Tom, who he liked to play pranks on and who served under his command in the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Indian Wars, and to his beloved wife, the apple of his eye.  Libby too seemed quite hearty and  survived the elements at desolate outposts and in storms often waiting for her “Autie” — Custer’s nickname — to return from his missions. 

© MEDFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTION/CORBIS

Theirs was quite a love story — Libbie and Autie’s, which quite surprised me in reading “The Removes.” I hadn’t known about her before. They had met each other in their hometown of Monroe, Michigan, and married in 1864 as he was becoming a war hero in the Civil War.  Despite long absences on the Plains when he was off scouting for Indians and she was back at the fort, they seemed very devoted to one another … no matter the infidelities, or hell or high water. Custer even was once court-martialed for leaving his post to make a long distance journey to return to his wife. Libby and Autie made the most of their times when they could be together, though theirs was often a difficult life with scant supplies at times on the frontier and under very hard conditions.  

It was none more difficult than Anne’s life. As an Indian captive chronicled in “The Removes,” she lives through years of horrific hardships with the tribe, being mistreated (along with raped) and trying not to starve while oftentimes being uprooted and on the move. Eventually she earns some degree of recognition as a seamstress and bears two children, while biding her time trying for an escape. Her life is quite unsettling and violent as are many of the battle scenes in the novel. You don’t know what will happen when her world collides with Custer’s, but it seems certain with time that she’s caught between two worlds — those of whites and natives — that she cannot fully return from. 

I liked much of the evocative writing of the characters’ frontier lives in “The Removes,” though the chapters with Custer and his wife seemed a bit more like reading history, while other parts such as the parts with the captive girl Anne flowed more like fiction. It’s not a fast read by any means; it’s quite an expansive take, but it catapulted me along with it. By the end, it seemed both a harrowing and tragic look at an expansionist policy that took both sides and these three characters down a dark path of no return  — as well as a sad and affecting look at the disappearing way of life on the Great Plains. I could have used a bit more at the end about the climax of what happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn, but overall I found “The Removes” a very well-researched and affecting historical read. 

 I recommend it especially for those who like stories about the American frontier. I hadn’t read Tatjana Soli before but I was impressed and hope sometime to read her acclaimed 2010 debut “The Lotus Eaters,” about a female combat photographer in the Vietnam War.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for involving me in the book tour of this novel and to the Publisher Sarah Crichton Books for providing me with a review copy of Tatjana Soli’s “The Removes.” For other reviews of the book check the link here. 

Coincidentally while I was reading about Libby Bacon Custer, I was also listening to the audiobook of Charles Frazier’s novel “Varina,” about Varina Davis, the wife of the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.  Wow both of these strong-willed women seemed to have some unique sensibilities for their times. I like how I came about these two at the same time. Both had compelling life stories — as partners of men on the wrong side of history.  My review of “Varina” will come out later.

What about you — have you read any of Tatjana Soli’s novels and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 21 Comments

September Mini Reviews

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Susan

Ahh fall is here.  Tomorrow we might even see some snowflakes, which is pretty crazy for September. Meanwhile those on the southern East Coast are about to get battered by Hurricane Florence. Yikes, stay safe everyone. I remember Hurricane Isabel when I was living in Virginia in 2003. I think I was without electricity for a week and the refrigerator had to be emptied. Tree branches were all over the place. This latest hurricane looks like much the same kind of trouble. The amount of water is intense. Be sure to have candles, flashlights, bottles of water, and of course a good book. 

My reading the past couple months has not been speedy or very much, but luckily I completed a couple good books at the end of August, which I’m still thinking about.  First off, when I was in Montreal for the tennis tournament I was loaned a book by a tennis friend who said “here read this.” Little did I know it would eventually blow me out of my chair — ha, but it did. 

“The Tennis Partner” is an autobiographical memoir written by Abraham Verghese almost 20 years ago in 1999.  You might know the author from his bestselling 2009 novel “Cutting for Stone.” Well this book was written when Verghese was a doctor practicing internal medicine in El Paso, Texas, in the 1990s. It’s about his friendship with an Australian medical resident he was mentoring there named David and the bonds they shared over playing tennis and their work at the hospital. During this time, Verghese, a father of two boys, is going through a divorce and David is trying to overcome his past problems with drugs. Uh-oh.  But as it starts he’s been clean for over a year and is on the verge of becoming a very talented doctor.   

Tennis seems to be both doctors joy and release from all the pressures at the hospital, and part of the memoir includes tidbits about tennis playing and strategy, which as a player I loved. Verghese is truly a fan of the game, woohoo. But the book is also more than that.  It’s about those days in El Paso and what happened in their lives at the hospital and off, and how his close friend David’s life spiraled out of control. For anyone, who has had a loved one or friend, or relative go through addiction, you will know the experience and shattering nature of this story. It reminded me of a dear friend I knew from work. “The Tennis Partner” is a moving, heartbreaking book — a true ode to friendship — and not something I will soon forget. 

Next up, turned out to be one of my favorite novels so far this year. “Elmet.” Who knew?!  I surely didn’t expect much when I picked up this debut novel as an audiobook listen, but wow now I can see why it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017. Half way through I found myself asking: who the heck is Fiona Mozley?!  Apparently she’s just another talented British author. 

I think it was the book’s narration that caught me up mostly. The story is told by a teenage boy named Daniel, who is living with his older sister Cathy and his “Daddy” in a house in the Yorkshire woods that his father built them with his own hands. They don’t have much — Daddy makes do with odd jobs and as a fighter — but they are a close-knit family, enjoying their solace and existence amid the woods. The kids had once gone to school but they didn’t fit in and were picked on, keeping now mostly to the bonds with each other and the nature in the woods.  

The story, which starts with a huge fire, goes back and forth in time to tell of their lives. And you know from early on with the fire something has gone terribly wrong, but you only begin to piece it together over time with the boy’s telling. It’s midway through when you learn about this villainous local landowner and his two entitled sons who try to uproot the family, getting them embroiled in a bitter land dispute. Daddy finally agrees to a fighting match deal for the property, but then something occurs that alters the family’s future.  It’s best not to say too much more, other than to say the story gets suspenseful and turns quite violent and the ending is quite a whopper. 

 “Elmet” is intensely told and the descriptions of the settings and amount of feeling in the story are terrific. Publishers Weekly calls it a “rugged, potent work whose concentrated mixture of lyricism and violence recalls Cormac McCarthy.”  Hmm, that’s not half bad for a debut author. 

Lastly, I also listened to the audiobook of Tommy Orange’s highly acclaimed debut novel “There There,” which tells the story of 12 Native Americans (some related) in Oakland, California, as their lives collide in the days leading up to the city’s inaugural Big Oakland Powwow. It’s a large cast, but the storytelling is quite fresh and compelling as it delves into the characters lives, all of whom seem to be struggling with a combination of poverty, alcoholism, depression, or abuse. A few of the female characters’ lives — those of Blue, Opal, and Jacquie — are particularly well told and drew me in from the get-go. Others took more time.  

It’s a story that tells about the urban Native American experience. I liked its connectedness — how the characters became linked with each other in the plot along the way, which was pretty cool. But although I liked hearing about the various characters, who alternate throughout the story, I found I lost track of some of them. Perhaps I would have liked a more pared down cast, and maybe too a different ending. Instead of what happens at the big powwow event, which is quite traumatic with a capital T … what if it didn’t happen that way and instead affected their lives differently? That’s what I kept thinking. What if the characters flourished in new ways from their connections at the powwow. Ahhh, but no!  Instead it felt like a knife into my back.

That’s all for now. I was going to talk about seeing the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” on the big screen and the coming-of-age story “Breath” on rental, but I think I’ve run out of time here. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed both.

What about you — have you seen either of these movies, or read any of these books, and if so, what did you think?

Posted in Books, Movies | 20 Comments

September Preview

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Susan

Greetings, Happy Labor Day.  If you can believe it, it’s September already. Where did the summer go? I don’t know about your area, but there’s a nip of fall in the air here now.  It’s cool, though luckily the smoke from all the wildfires seems to be mostly gone so we are pleased about that. As for my trip to Montreal, I had a great time at the Canadian tennis senior nationals and met my expectations by playing six singles matches there and one close three-set doubles match, so I was pleased to compete. The city too was fun to explore and we bicycled along the Lachine Canal out to the St. Lawrence River, which was lovely, see the photo below.  By the end of the week, my husband seemed ready to move there across the country, uh-oh.  Only I think it would help if I could parlez-vous some French.   

Now we’re back and I’m wondering about all the wonderful releases that are coming out this month. Usually September is the best month of the year for new novels (and birthdays, like mine, ha). And sure enough, there’s new ones by such well-known authors as Pat Barker, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Khaled Hosseini, Paulo Coelho, and Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) among others.  I was ready to pounce on Rowling’s latest  mystery “Lethal White” with private investigator Cormoran Strike before I noticed it was listed around 656 pages. Woof. So Cormoran and his sidekick Robin Ellacott will have to wait.  Meanwhile here are my picks this month.

First off who is author Abby Geni? She seems to write eco-thrillers as all three of her novels have to do with the natural world and the line between wilderness and civilization. I have yet to read her, but her books — such as “The Lightkeepers” from 2016 — have received considerable praise and this latest novel is no exception.

“The Wildlands” appears to be about a 9-year-old girl who accompanies her older, eco-terrorist brother on a cross-country mission of escalating violence, while their sister back home works with police trying to find them before it’s too late. It apparently ends with a showdown at a zoo in Southern California, gulp.  The novel is said to be a fast-paced page-turner and the book cover seems to be alluring too. So what are you waiting for? 

Next up is Esi Edugyan’s new novel “Washington Black,” which Kirkus Review says is a “runaway-slave narrative, which leaps, sails, and soars from Caribbean cane fields to the fringes of the frozen Arctic and across a whole ocean.”  Wow, count me in for a number of reasons.

First off, the author’s last novel 2011’s “Half-Blood Blues,” which I somehow missed, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won Canada Giller’s Prize. Not to mention, wonderful Judy over at the blog Keep the Wisdom gave it a highly praised review. “Washington Black” too is getting spotlighted all over the place (with Amazon calling it its pick of the month). Plus the author Esi grew up here in Alberta. Her parents were immigrants from Ghana, and I plan to see her talk about the novel when she comes to the book festival here in October. Woohoo.

Then there’s British author Kate Atkinson’s new one “Transcription” about an 18-year-old girl who’s recruited by Britain’s MI5 to spy during WWII. Decades later she’s contacted by agents who insist she get back in the game as a double agent … and she realizes there’s no exit. Uh-oh.

I love the sound of this story of espionage, betrayal, and loyalty. I have read Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie mysteries, but I didn’t get to her last two novels, which were quite different from those, so I’m quite eager to check this one out. As Kirkus Review says of “Transcription”:  “There is intrigue. There are surprises. … The deepest pleasure here, though, is the author’s language. As ever, Atkinson is sharp, precise, and funny.” What more do you want?

Next up is Elliot Ackerman’s slim new novel “Waiting for Eden,” which is about a soldier at a San Antonio burn center, wounded terribly three years ago in Iraq, and it deals with the post-war relationship he has with his wife. It’s narrated by the soldier’s dead best friend who was killed in the same incident that left him injured, and gets into the heads of all three characters including flashbacks of their pasts. 

Oh my, this one sounds quite shattering. I actually tried to avoid picking a war novel this month, but there’s so much strong praise on Goodreads about “Waiting for Eden” that I couldn’t pass it by. Some are saying it’s one of the best books of the year. Is it? I’ll have to read to find out.

Lastly there’s Samuel Park’s posthumously published novel “The Caregiver,” which “examines the relationship between a mother and daughter after years of mutual misunderstanding” so says Publishers Weekly.  The mother becomes involved with revolutionaries in Brazil, forcing the daughter eventually to flee to California where she becomes a caregiver to a woman dying of stomach cancer. There she grapples with her past and uncovers truths about her mother while coming to understand what it means to truly take care of someone.

It seems like a gem of a read and is very sad that the author himself died last year of stomach cancer at age 41 after finishing the novel. Ugh, what a heartbreaker so young and apparently quite talented, but his fiction lives on. 

As for movies in September, there’s several on my radar … such as, Robert Redford’s last film as an actor, which looks to be a bit of a charmer. He’s apparently retiring from acting after this one called “The Old Man and the Gun,” which is about a convict who escapes from San Quentin and at age 70 is involved in a series of heists that confounds authorities. Hmm it’s said to be a crime comedy-drama. 

Being his last film, I’m trying to think of which Redford film as an actor was my favorite over the decades. What’s yours? Perhaps for me it was “Jeremiah Johnson” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” But I was a sucker too for him in “Out of Africa,” “The Natural” and “The Way We Were”— not to mention “All the President’s Men.” So happy retirement to Mr. Redford and so long Hubbell.   

I also want to see “All About Nina,” which is supposed to be funny, about a stand-up comedian whose career is taking off, while her personal life is pretty much a disaster. That all changes when she moves to L.A. and meets a guy who challenges her preconceived notions. 

Hmm. It sounds like fun and stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I haven’t really seen much before, along with the hip-hop artist Common.  It looks like it might be just the right thing for a light September escape — and I’m hoping it has some laughs. 

In addition to that: Keira Knightley stars as the author “Colette” in a biographical film drama; Julianne Moore plays a renown opera singer trapped in a hostage situation in “Bel Canto,” based on the 2001 Ann Patchett novel; and Emma Thompson plays a judge deciding a life-and-death case in “The Children Act,” based on the 2014 novel by Ian McEwan. Wow that’s a lot of literary must-sees coming to the Big Screen. Get thee to a theater, pronto!

McEwan gets all of his books made into movies. It’ll be hard to beat “Atonement” and I still haven’t seen “On Chesil Beach,” but I hope to see “The Children Act,” especially with Emma Thompson in it, along with Stanley Tucci as her husband.  She plays a judge who’s deciding a case involving a teenage boy who is refusing a blood transfusion on religious principle. Meanwhile her marriage crumbles. Hmm. Sounds like a compelling drama to me — what’s not to like? 

Lastly in music releases, there’s new albums by such legends as Paul McCartney and Paul Simon — wow — as well as Lenny Kravitz, and Ann Wilson among others.  But since I’m a bit of a folkie these days, I’ll choose Amy Ray’s new album “Holler,” which is her ninth studio solo album. Apparently it was recorded live over a 10-day period in January in Asheville, N.C. I think Amy Ray is still part of the Indigo Girls, but she records her own music as well.  This one sounds filled with Southern traditional country rock / mountain music.  Check it out if you’re interested.

That’s all for now.  What releases this month are you most looking forward to?

Posted in Top Picks | 26 Comments