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

August Mini-Reviews

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Susan

Well I’m on my way soon to play in the national age-group tennis tournament in Montreal, Yikes.  I hope it will be fun and that my husband and I will get to explore the city too.  I’m a bit glad to leave Alberta behind right now as it is still very smoky here from all the fires burning in neighboring British Columbia. Instead of the gray skies, I will post this photo from early July, at left, which I took of canola fields in bloom in southern Alberta. Hope you like the yellow. 🙂 Also since I’ve been on the run lately, I will leave you with five mini-reviews of books I’ve completed over the past two months or so but haven’t written about yet. Although just short spins, I hope they will give you a flavor for each of them. 

Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin / June 2018, Ecco, 340 pgs

Shortened Publisher Synopsis:  When a fugitive from a Mexican cartel takes refuge as a caretaker for a nature preserve in the wilds of Virginia, he thinks his troubles might be behind him, only to find his quiet is soon upended when bear carcasses start turning up on the preserve’s lands.   

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this eco-thriller and its protagonist Rice Moore, who, despite being in hiding, tries to find out and stop the bear poaching going on at the preserve. It’s an enticing mystery as Rice begins to piece together who’s responsible and takes to the woods to catch those in the act. The plot is intriguing and suspenseful — both bear poachers and the cartel are eventually zeroed in on getting Rice — and the descriptions of nature and the land are superb. 

I just wish at the end that the book’s denouement had come down harder on the bear poaching and trophy hunting going on. It seems to have prohibited it more overtly at the preserve and halted it somewhat, but I was hoping for more punishment for the perpetrators, and for it to be more of a game changer on poaching. Still the novel brings awareness to it, and builds a compelling story of a flawed protagonist trying to do what’s right to protect wildlife on private lands.   

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer / April 2018, Riverhead, 454 pages

Shortened Amazon Synopsis: The story follows a decade in the life of a young woman coming of age who finds inspiration in a feminist icon who pushes her to confront reality.

My Thoughts: I found I liked the story, which I listened to as an audiobook, much better than I initially thought I would. Greer is the girl who attends her fallback college while her high school boyfriend Cory attends Yale. It picks up then after she’s been groped at a frat party and later becomes inspired to stand up for herself after attending a lecture by feminist icon Faith Frank, who in later life becomes Greer’s employer and mentor.  

The four main characters who tell the story (Greer, her boyfriend Cory, her friend Zee, and employer Faith Frank) all have complications to their lives that play out in the story over a decade or more that make them evolve in various directions. There’s betrayals and fall-outs and tragedies and jobs that are quit among them that felt real to me.  They aren’t completely likable people, but I found their lives kept me quite engaged. Essentially I think the story explores how feminism is passed on through generations and how — as as Amazon’s Al Woodworth puts it — “complicated female support can be in a world that does not always champion women.” Uh-oh. 

Overall I was impressed by Wolitzer’s tale-telling though the novel is not without flaws. The Faith character reminded me of a Gloria Steinem-type, though her talks don’t come off being all that brilliant, and I agree with others that Cory’s life at times stole a bit of the show. There were times too when years of their lives seem summed up in large swaths, which made it feel a bit passive action-wise in its telling. Still despite these qualms, I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Greer turns into a little Sheryl Sandberg by the end, writing a book about women needing to find their “outside voice” and be assertive. 

So while “The Female Persuasion” might not seem too earthshaking in its look at feminism, I thought — along with being entertaining — it put the spotlight in the right places and complimented well these #MeToo times.

Sunburn by Laura Lippman / February 2018, Morrow, 292 pages

What kind of mother leaves her 3-year-old daughter with her husband and skips town? So begins this psychological thriller that I found quite enticing. Lippman writes well and gets into the heads and dialogue of this damaged woman with a jail record, and her new lover Adam, who, it turns out unbeknownst to her, is hired to find her. Uh-oh. Red-headed Polly has quite the backstory.  She’s one rough chick who can take care of herself and see other’s people motives from a mile away. 

I was quite into the story, which I listened to as an audiobook, around the beginning and middle but then started to peter out a bit towards the end. There’s something so cynical about the story and character! And the cat and mouse game with Adam goes on a bit too long. Yet parts of it are intriguing and make for a speedy page-turner. Lippman, too, seems to be at the top of her game. “Sunburn” would be perfect at the beach … the book I mean — not too much the condition.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks / 1993, Vintage,  483 pages

Shortened Wiki Synopsis:  The plot follows two main characters living at different times. The first is Stephen Wraysford, a British soldier on the front line in Amiens during the First World War, and the second is his granddaughter, Elizabeth Benson, who in the 1970s is trying to find out more about her grandfather’s experience during the war.

My Thoughts:  Ahh this is a World War I saga on a grand scale — part love story, involving Stephen Wraysford and the passionate affair he has with a French woman in Amiens before the war, and part war novel, involving Stephen’s days fighting on the horrific frontlines during WWI. I first read it in the early 2000s and was inspired to revisit the novel, which I had forgotten parts of, after visiting WWI battle sites in France in June. 

I’m pleased to say in many ways, the novel still holds up from its days as a bestseller. The trench warfare and gritty battle scenes are intense and vividly played out and the soldiers’ feelings about the war seem right on. The affair Stephen has, too, with Isabelle is intense and haunts him throughout his days at the front. Oh how he loves and longs for Isabelle … but things don’t always go the way we want them to — do they? Uh-oh.   

I debated whether I thought some of the love or dramatic scenes seemed a bit schmaltzy and maybe they were somewhat. The author renders scenes of sex, childbirth, war and death all in one book, which is pretty brave … not too sure if he pulls out all of them but he is quite an engaging storyteller who kept my rapt attention in a saga that spans generations. I enjoyed both the 1910-18 parts of the book with British officer Stephen Wraysford and his soldier unit, and the 1970s chapters with his granddaughter Elizabeth Benson who is sifting through his life. All in all, it’s a story that still captures the agony and particular circumstances of the First World War better than most and brings it and the times vividly to life. 

The Outsider by Jimmy Connors / 2013, Harper, 416 pages

I found this memoir, which I listened to as an audiobook, quite candid and exactly as I remember tennis player Jimmy Connors being … brash, unapologetic, competitive, driven, conceited, etc. I loved tennis during Connors’s era (with Borg and McEnroe too), who was at his peak in the 1970s, and this book is a highly entertaining look at those times and at Jimmy’s life and career on and off the pro tennis tour. 

I wasn’t an avid fan of Connors back then (his behavior on the court was often terrible), but after listening to his memoir I actually give him more credit than I did back then — he wasn’t solely a jerk but behind the scenes cared for his group of friends and family and the game too. And as a player he was quite inspiring how he fought so hard during tennis matches, won a lot, and how long he played and contributed to the game. 

Being a fan of the sport, I’m glad I ended up listening to it. Sure he had his demons and problems: his language, his vices, his engagement to a young Chris Evert (ohh there’s dirt revealed here), his gambling and adultery … egads it’s all here in the book…. but he has some endearing moments as well: with his parents and wife Patti, who was once a Playboy model, and with some of the other players as well. Even his chapter on fellow player Vitas Gerulaitis, whose life ended tragically, hit me quite a bit. So pick it up if you’re a tennis fan.

That’s all for now.  Have you read any of these books — and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 16 Comments

August Releases

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Susan

August might just pass me by if I’m not careful. The days are whizzing by and our area has been in the midst of a heat wave this past week. It just reached the hottest temperature ever on record here at 36.4C or 97.5F, which makes Canadians in general melt. People aren’t used to that in these parts, especially without A/C. What’s worse though is all the smoke from the many wildfires in neighboring British Columbia that is contaminating the air. It’s totally gray outside and rather stifling. Luckily the heat is supposed to break over the weekend, hallelujah, but what about the air? Instead of a gray scene, I’ll post this photo from years past … of a happier summer day. Such fields of hay bales in the countryside usually seem to lift my spirits. 

Also last weekend we saw the neat little movie “Leave No Trace,” which I ended up really liking. It’s a drama that sort of crept up on me and by the end I was sort of filled with wonder. It’s about a troubled father (a war vet) and his close teenage daughter who live off the grid in a large forested park in Portland, Oregon … whose world is changed when social services gets involved and moves them into an apartment.  But eventually the two make a trek back to the wild.

It’s a bit of a quiet, beautiful film by the same director of the 2010 movie “Winter’s Bone,” which was similarly about down-on-your-luck kind of characters. Though I liked this one a bit better. It has some heart-rendering scenes of the father and daughter and quite a few with animals and nature in them. The performances too — by Ben Foster and  the young New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie — are quite excellent. See it, if you’re into these small-time dramas. 

Meanwhile I’ve been checking out what’s new that’s releasing this month and it’s been hard to whittle my list down to five books that I hope to get to. There’s new novels by such popular authors as: Julie Schumacher, Fiona Davis, Kate Walbert, Laura Van Den Berg, and Jon McGregor among others, though I’ve selected a few alternate releases for my picks.

First off, I’m keen to read a nonfiction book called “Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road” by debut author Kate Harris.  She’s a Canadian who’s a nature writer and adventurer — an Oxford Rhodes Scholar and MIT student who dropped it all to journey by bicycle along the Silk Road in Asia. Apparently her book about it — part travelogue and memoir — has been highly praised by the likes of Pico Iyer and Barry Lopez  among other notable writers. She’ll be speaking about the book and nature/adventure writing when she comes to the Banff Centre this fall, which I’d like to catch, so I hope to read it by then. 

Next up, is a rough, bleak debut novel called “Cherry” by Nico Walker, a 33-year-old war hero, medic in Iraq, who’s serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison for robbing 11 banks around the Cleveland area to fuel his drug addiction. I know, I know … I’m not sure exactly why I want to read it, but it’s received quite a bit of buzz about it. Apparently “Cherry” traces the arc of the author’s descent into addiction and crime after he returns home shattered from the war in Iraq. It’s said to be a raw coming-of-age story told in reverse, according to the NYT.

 New York Magazine has called it “the first great novel of the opioid epidemic.” Uh-oh. Who knows if it will be for me, but it’s one in the same genre of fiction by vets who have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan that explores the trauma of war and its aftermath. Perhaps it’s one you should read at your own risk.

I think I’m looking a bit more forward to Ling Ma’s debut novel “Severance,” which is said to be a post-apocalyptic novel that is quite clever and wryly funny.  It follows a couple women who continue to show up to their publishing jobs in Manhattan even though they’re among the last people in the city. Apparently people are contracting a “mysterious disease that impels them to continuously reenact a common routine from their life” as they waste away, so says Amazon’s Katy Ball.

Candace Chen is the winsome protagonist who eventually joins a band of survivors run by a ruthless leader that takes her on a pilgrimage to an Illinois shopping mall. I’m not sure what happens there, but my curiosity is piqued by this debut, which is said to be a satire of late-stage capitalism that touches on immigrants, displacement and motherhood. Hmm count me in. 

Lastly in books, there’s two more debut novels that I’m drawn to. Who knew this would be the month for notable first-time authors? First off, Crystal Hana Kim’s novel “If You Leave Me” has not only an alluring cover but also apparently an engrossing story to match. It’s a tale, according to the publisher: of war, family, and forbidden love — the saga of two ill-fated lovers in Korea and the heartbreaking choices they’re forced to make in the years surrounding the civil war. Uh-oh.

From all I’ve read about it — the novel sounds like quite a moving and immersive experience told from the perspectives of five characters.  Noted for its lyricism, it’s receiving high marks on Goodreads and even such authors as Richard Ford and Gary Shteyngart are singing its praises.  

There’s also been a lot of love on Goodreads for Delia Owen’s debut “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which makes me a bit curious to check it out. Part coming-of-age tale-infused with nature, and part mystery, it’s a story set in rural North Carolina about a 23-year-old dirt-poor girl, known as the Marsh Girl who was abandoned at a young age and comes to find solace in her natural surroundings.

But then when a man’s body is found in the marsh she’s apparently suspected of murder. The ensuing small-town drama and courtroom case are said to be compellingly done — as well as the depiction of its North Carolina setting. With all these components, what more do you want?

As for movies in August, there’s quite a few coming out that are adaptations of recent novels. I usually love to see these ones, especially if I’ve read the book beforehand.

You’ll probably recognize “Juliet, Naked” from the Nick Hornsby novel, which is coming out with Ethan Hawke and Rose Byrne.  There’s also “The Wife” — Meg Wolitzer’s novel — that stars Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce in the movie version. As well as “The Little Stranger,” with Domhnall Gleeson, which was a Sarah Waters novel back in 2009.

And don’t forget “Crazy Rich Asians” from the wildly popular Kevin Kwan novel — about New Yorker Rachel Chu who flies off to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family … though unbeknownst to her they’re just a wee bit crazy … rich. Ha, if it’s anything like the book, it should be quite a hoot and take home the biggest box office haul of these adaptations.

All in all, they should make for a good month of movies.  I’m a bit curious too to see Spike Lee’s new movie “Black KKlansman,”  which I guess is also based on a book — a true story by Ron Stallworth, who was an African-American police officer in Colorado who infiltrated the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter. 

How whacked is that?  It seems you can’t make this stuff up. In the hands of Spike Lee, this should be pretty entertaining to say the least. Part crime biography and part comedy, “Black KKlansman” I’m sure will have plenty to say about race and the times we’re living in. As bold as some of his early work, the film is apparently among one of Spike’s best.

Lastly, in albums for August there’s new ones by such artists as Jason Mraz, Amos Lee, Passenger, and the band Death Cab for Cutie among others, but I’ll pick the soon-to-be-out album by the Canadian folk rock band Great Lake Swimmers, which is called “The Waves, the Wake.” I usually like the band’s music so I’ll be sure to get it … as I hope to see them in concert when they come to town in September. 

One more thing: I saw the “Guernsey” movie last night on Netflix, which I talked about in the last post, and they did a good job with it. I might have liked it just as much as the novel if not more? Hooray for Dawsey played by Michiel Huisman and Lily James was good too as the incomparable Juliet Ashton. 

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

Posted in Top Picks | 28 Comments

We Begin Our Ascent and Other Reviews

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Susan

Oh blimey, it’s August already.  July went by in a flash and this month means fall and winter are that much closer, especially living in a northern country. Gads, August usually feels like the last hoorah and that the end is near, but I’ll do my best to hang onto summer as long as possible.  My Lab Stella (at left) has the right idea. She likes to cool off in the rivers here. She considers herself the best swimmer in the family and also the best canine swimmer in town. She’s that cocky around water. When she jumps in after her ball, she likes to make a huge splash as if to say this is lightweight stuff … give me some rapids or at least something to challenge me.  We try our best to appease her and take her swimming to various spots on the warmest of days, which seems to keep her happy.

Meanwhile I’ve been busy getting ready for the upcoming senior national tennis tournament, which starts mid-August. I debated whether to play in it this year since my doubles partner moved back to Austria, but in the end I decided to carry on with it. So I’ll be in Montreal mid-month swinging the racket amid the high humidity temperatures and trying not to pass out.  Luckily it’s quite a fun city to explore (we’ve been there once before), which I hope to do in between matches.  There’s some good bike paths and interesting sights along the St. Lawrence River and surely some enticing restaurants too.  So that’s on my radar ahead. Have you ever been there and do have any recommendations?  Until next time, I’ll leave you with a few reviews of what I finished lately.

British author Joe Mungo Reed’s lean debut novel “We Begin Our Ascent” took me a few weeks to get through. Don’t ask me why: the timing of it couldn’t have been better — all while we were watching the Tour de France.  I guess I wanted to absorb it into my bloodstream, or else it took me a while to be fully engaged in its story. Whatever the case, it’s narrated in quite a streamlined, taut style by a bike racer in the Tour de France who’s name is Sol. He — along with his other teammates— are trying to propel their top rider, Fabrice, to gain time over other competing teams’ riders.  Sol’s wife Liz is a research biologist who shares his extreme work ethic and ambitions and now they have a one-year-old son so they could really use the money if they were to succeed. But both become entwined in a doping scheme concocted by Sol’s team director Rafael. Yikes is right. 

The novel seems to be both about their marriage and about racing in the Tour … about pursuing difficult goals and determining whether they’re worth the price. I found the novel picked up towards the end and includes a wrenching climax in the race and about the scheme. The tale is a bit different than the Lance Armstrong saga if you’re wondering, and the author surely knows his stuff about professional cycling. I was impressed. I’m a fan of sports novels and this one is quite a good one. It shows what it takes being a pro athlete, the toll and hardships — the ups and and downs — and really gets into the complexities of the competitive experience.  For those who like sports novels, or the Tour de France, you might want to give this one a try. 

Next up, I listened to the audiobook of Australian author Jane Harper’s second mystery thriller “Force of Nature,” which is about an employee that goes missing on a corporate retreat in the wilderness. Uh-oh. Five women set out on the trail but only four return.  And once again Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk, who was in Harper’s first novel “The Dry,” is involved in investigating the case.  It so happens that the missing hiker had been an insider source for Falk on an extensive money-laundering case before she disappeared. Uh-oh.  

Hmm. The story revolves around the company’s work retreat that goes awry — team building anybody? — and includes quite the catfight among the female staffers who set out on the hike through the rugged wilderness. Things I liked about the mystery were: the mountainous setting and atmospheric feel of the wilderness and cold in it — as well as the allure of investigator Falk who seems to have feelings for his new partner Agent Carmen Cooper. I also liked how the mystery got solved and the ending that seemed a bit clever. All of the women hikers appeared a bit culpable in what happens. The second half of the book seemed better than the first, mainly because the pace picks up and things begin to happen and I finally came to differentiate among the various work colleagues.

What I didn’t care for as much was the cast of employees on the retreat — all of whom I didn’t find all that likable or sympathetic, which at times made me care less about the story.  The structure too, which jumps back and forth in time — from the search and investigation to the women hiking the trail — is at times offsetting in its many transitions but also kept me on my toes in its movement of the story. By the end, I enjoyed the mystery enough and will likely continue to follow Jane Harper’s Australian set novels, starring the enticing loner and amiable guy Agent Aaron Falk.  

Lastly, I was curious about “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” being made into a movie (via Netflix starting Aug. 10) so I listened to it as audiobook recently.  Somehow I had skipped the novel back when it was a bestseller in 2008. I’m not sure why, perhaps it was the fact that the story was entirely composed of letters did not overly appeal to me at the time, or maybe I was afraid it might be a bit on the fluffy, light side.  But now with the movie having Lily James playing the lead, and Matthew Goode and Penelope Wilton from “Downton Abbey” taking roles, I was going to see it through. Did I happen to mention that the hunky Michiel Huisman stars as Guernsey islander Dawsey Adams?  Gracious, I never imagined Dawsey from the book being like that.  No way and no how. Get me quarantined on that island at once!  Judging by the trailer, it’s a movie that follows the letters and story of the book fairly closely, so I’ll probably catch it once Netflix releases it. 

Returning to the book — you likely recall the novel is set in 1946 and is about a 32-year-old female writer who begins to correspond with members of a literary society on the island of Guernsey.  As the story relates, the Potato Peel Pie Society was created by Guernsey islanders initially as a cover to break curfew during the Nazi Occupation of the island during WWII. Though at the novel’s outset — the society’s beloved founder Elizabeth is still missing in France after being sent to prison there during the war.

Admittedly I came to like the author protagonist, Juliet, who is quite engaging — as well as I liked finding out about the information of Guernsey Island during WWII, which I had not known about before. The various characters too on the island were quite colorful and I liked how books in the story (thru the literary society’s members) played a key part in keeping spirits lifted during those dark times. The magic of reading is one of the novel’s various themes — so I can’t fault that. 

For sure some of the relations in the story come across too sweetly or such … and at times I got tired that it’s all told through letters … just get on with the story. The love part between Juliet and her suitors was all right though a wee bit much at times and maybe a bit unlikely. The ending too cuts off quite abruptly with Juliet’s wedding plans … as if that sums it all up.  Still I can see what the novel’s appeal was when it came out.  I don’t think I’ve  ever read anything about Guernsey Island before, which intrigued me about it. It’s sad to think that the original author Mary Ann Shaffer did not get to see it published before she passed away, which is a bit like Stieg Larsson passing away before his trilogy of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” came out. Tragically, they did not get to know of their considerable success.

That’s all for now. I did also finish Sebastian Faulk’s 1993 novel “Birdsong” (my second time for this one) and Laura Lippman’s suspense novel “Sunburn,” but I think I will save those and chat about them another time.

What about you — have you read any of these books — and if so, what did you think?  And most importantly, how is your summer going?

Posted in Books, Movies | 18 Comments

July Releases

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Susan

Summer is busy, is it not?  It seems Canadians try to fit everything they can do into a short summer season — and now I’m guilty of this too. I’ve got too many things in the frying pan so to speak, and I’m way behind on reading and posting. Who would’ve guessed my back deck reading has taken a back seat to regular life. Gracious. It’s usually the best time of year for cracking the spines of page-turners while sipping a cold beverage and being oblivious to the world passing by. Unfortunately this summer I haven’t gotten there yet — been a bit preoccupied with other things (and I’m still thinking about Normandy, see the lovely photo above of Juno Beach). Nor have I put together my fun-filled summer reading list yet. And now July is halfway over and I’m just now picking through this month’s new releases. Ahh well, it’s still better late than never.

There’s such a vast sea of promising books out this month I’m having a bit of trouble deciding which ones to grab.  First off there’s the latest ones by such popular authors as Caitlin Moran, Megan Abbott, Robyn Harding, and Suzanne Rindell.  Lord knows, I probably could use the irreverence of a Caitlin Moran book right about now considering our crazy times, but what about Anne Tyler’s latest novel “Clock Dance”?  Apparently the master of Baltimore is back with a new novel …. only this time Washington Post critic Ron Charles tells me it’s not as good as her usual novels. Huh? Are you kidding me?  Still I feel I should check it out: The story is about a woman who gets a call that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs help. She drops everything and flies cross-country to be there for this woman and her 9-year-old daughter and their dog. There, in her new surroundings, she apparently finds solace and fulfillment in unexpected places.  Hmm, sounds appealing. So what’s not to like, right? It’s Tyler. Gotta be there.

Next up, a lot of buzz has preceded both Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and R.O. Kwon’s debut novel “The Incendiaries.”  Wow these two books seem to be everywhere and there’s much praise about the writing of both.  I probably will need to find out if they live up to all the hype.  Ottessa’s title and book cover seem comically funny and enticing. Though as Chris Schluep of Amazon concedes: “Not a whole lot happens” in her story — which is about a Columbia graduate with an easy job at an art gallery who decides to take a year off just to sleep. The goal for the unnamed protagonist is basically to hibernate, which she writes about in the smallest of details, ha. It’s not said to be a happy tale — far from it — but instead apparently manages to be insightful and darkly funny. 

Hmm. Not sure whether that will make my summer reading list, but perhaps R.O. Kwon’s novel “The Incendiaries” will?   It is said to be an intriguing cult story about three students looking for something to believe in while attending an elite American university.  Apparently one of them is a young woman who is drawn into acts of domestic terrorism by a cult tied to North Korea. In addition to exploring the minds of extremist terrorists, Publishers Weekly says “The Incendiaries” addresses “questions about faith and identity while managing to be formally inventive in its construction (the stream-of-consciousness style, complete with leaps between characters, amplifies the subject matter).”  Hmm sometimes I like stream of consciousness narratives, other times not so much. Kirkus Reviews says the novel is “aesthetically pleasing but narratively underwhelming.” Ouch.  Still Post critic Ron Charles tells me it’s a fascinating book. Hmm, I remain intrigued to get my hands on a copy of it.   

Meanwhile Beck Dorey-Stein’s memoir “From the Corner of the Oval” looks to be a quick read that could spur me out of my distracted summer slump. It’s about the author’s years working as a stenographer for President Barak Obama, who she has a lot of praise for. It looks to be a gossipy book with plenty of workplace and love-life drama. Half of it takes a look at the inner workings at the White House, while apparently the other half is consumed by this young woman’s messy love life, hankering for one of her coworkers, who’s a senior staffer.

Uh-oh. Judging by some on Goodreads, they didn’t care too much for these parts about her personal drama, but despite that, many still liked it. I guess if you’re an Obama supporter, then you might enjoy this breezy, behind-the-scenes read.

Next up,  A.J. Pearce’s novel “Dear Mrs. Bird” looks to be a warm-hearted story set during the London Blitz about a plucky 22-year-old girl  who yearns to be a wartime correspondent, but turns out instead making her mark as a junior secretary to an advice columnist, secretly writing back to readers and offering them the support they need.

It’s said to be a winning wartime romp … an English tribute to the women of the homefront.  If you liked Helen Simonson’s novel “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” which I did, apparently this one is said to have some of that same kind of charm, underlying the graver circumstances behind it.  Hmm, I just hope the novel is not too feel-good light-y during wartime. But it appears to have garnered wide praise, so I plan to take a chance on it.  

Lastly I’d probably be remiss during summertime reading not to mention spy master Daniel Silva has his latest page-turner out this month — “The Other Woman,” which is his 18th novel featuring Israeli art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon. I hear it’s his usual gripping fare. Carmen over at the blog Carmen’s Books and Movies Reviews, who has read all of the Allon books and is a big Silva fan, will be so pleased.  And in this one, Gabriel Allon and his team must find the one woman who can reveal the identity of a mole who has reached the highest echelons of Britain’s MI6. The search takes him into the past — and into one of the 20th century’s worst intelligence scandals. Uh-oh.  Apparently the story’s driven by the actions of real-life British intelligence agent Kim Philby, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1963. Hmm, I’m quite intrigued. Book me on the next overseas flight and I promise I’ll make a considerable dent in “The Other Woman” by sunrise. 

As for July movies, there’s not much I feel I need to rush out and see.  I’m not really a “Mamma Mia” or “Ant-Man” kind of girl.  Though critic Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, whose reviews I follow, seems to like the movie “Blindspotting,”  which is a movie — both serious and at times humorous — about class and race set in Oakland, California.

As Hornaday says: “Just as Oakland itself is a gloriously ambiguous melting pot, nothing is precisely black or white in “Blindspotting,” a spirited, thoughtful, thoroughly entertaining valentine to a city and its still-unfolding history, and a bracing reminder that two things can be true at the same time.” Hmm, she often makes me want to see something — such as this one.

And currently my husband and I are in the midst of watching Season 7 of the TV show “Homeland” with Claire Danes continuing on as troubled agent Carrie  Mathison.  Only the bipolar ones can figure out the terrorist plots, right? I’ve been a bit addicted to the series over the past few years though it’s pretty over the top.

Now I’m wondering if the HBO series “Sharp Objects” is any good?  Has anyone seen it — based on the novel by Gillian Flynn? With a cast that includes Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson, I definitely plan to check it out.  Though Adams’s character — journalist Camille Preaker — who is sent to her hometown to cover a strange murder case — doesn’t sound too far removed from Claire Danes’s character Carrie Mathison (both have psychiatric histories that threaten to de-rail their lives and careers). I’ll probably have to sneak this one in under the radar — as my husband might well veto watching two shows starring such mentally challenged protagonists, ha.   

Last but not least, in albums out this month, there’s new ones by such artists as the alt-country band the Jayhawks, country singer Lori McKenna, and Canadian band Cowboy Junkies. All three sound worth checking out, but I’ll pick the Jayhawks new one “Back Roads and Abandoned Motels” for my selection this month, which is the Minneapolis band’s 10th studio album. It features new recordings of songs that frontman Greg Louris previously co-wrote with other acts: such as the songs “Everybody Knows” and “Bitter End,” which the Dixie Chicks put on their 2006 album “Long Way Home.”

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

Posted in Top Picks | 22 Comments