The Cue Card

Hi all. Thanks for your well wishes about our trip. We had a nice drive from Canada and arrived in California four days later. The dogs enjoyed our overnights at hotels from their dog pillows, lol. We took an interesting tour at the Hoover Dam and saw Lake Mead and various sights along the way. You can see SoCal, at left, still has some nice snowpack in the mountains … and less so in the desert of Nevada, photos below. It’s nice to be back in my hometown, where I’m checking in on my parents. Today my Dad is waging war with his weeding tool on the dandelions in the yard. He’s keeping them at bay.

I have taken a bit of a blogging break while being here. Still I hope to visit your sites when I can. Currently I’m reading Liane Moriarty’s 2021 novel Apples Never Fall for my book club discussion in early May. It’s a bit long at 469 pages and is about an Australian family whose mother goes missing. The story keeps you guessing a bit. I will see where it goes. I’m also just starting an audio of Scottish writer Muriel Spark’s 1988 novel A Far Cry From Kensington, which seems pleasing. I have not read Spark before, but she appears to be a gem of a writer and received much acclaim during her life (1918-2006).

For a survey question this month, I am wondering when is the preferred time you do the majority of your reading and where do you like to read most?

I will start us off with an answer. For some reason, I really enjoy reading when I first wake up, early morning I’ll stay in bed and read for a while before the day starts. Then I get up and conquer the day, lol. It’s a quiet time that I like. I also like to read at night right before I go to sleep. My audio listening happens during the day, mostly on walks, while doing yard work, or driving. What about you — where and when does most of your reading take place? Do you have a comfy chair, sofa, or a patio you like to sit in while reading?

And now I’ll leave you with a few short reviews of what I finished lately.

True Grit by Charles Portis / Simon & Schuster / 215 pages / 1968

I liked the main character 14-year-old Mattie Ross from beginning to end. Her voice looms large in this classic Western set in the 1870s in which she goes after her father’s killer into Indian Territory with the help of Marshall Rooster Cogburn and Texas Ranger La Boeuf.

I listened to the audio version read by author Donna Tartt who is part Mattie Ross I think. So good. This one is a keeper. You could finish the story and then start it again from the beginning. Donna Tartt is an enthusiastic reader and the audio includes a postscript essay by Tartt, which talks about her family’s love of the novel and her thoughts about it. I only lament that Tartt has not read for more audios. She has a Southern accent, which is perfect for this tale, which starts in Arkansas.

But for some reason, I never saw the movie True Grit — either the 1969 version with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, or the 2010 version with Jeff Bridges as Cogburn and Hailee Steinfield as Mattie Ross. I’d like to go back and watch both, if I can find them. Did you see them?

The Caretaker by Ron Rash / Doubleday / 252 pages / 2023

I seem to be in the minority on this novel, which received many high marks. Some of the writing is really well done, but I didn’t really believe or warm to the premise too much. It’s hard to say more without giving away the story, but it’s a sticky situation.

Set in the 1950s in rural North Carolina, a boy (Jacob) gets involved with a poor girl (Naomi) who is a seasonal maid who his parents don’t want him to mix with. They elope anyways and his parents pretty much disown him. Then he’s drafted into the Korean War and asks a friend (Blackburn) to watch out for his pregnant wife while he’s away. Jacob spends a year or so there and gets into a dangerous firefight. Meanwhile things at home take a turn due to a dubious secret plot that upends their lives. Only time will tell if they find out about it.

This is my second novel I’ve read by Ron Rash whose novel Serena I read years ago. I often like his Appalachian settings, and while I have liked his books and characters, they haven’t been a total home run for me yet. Still his books are worth checking out.

The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper / 288 pages / 1947

This book is often cited on lists of the top nonfiction of the past century as a significant historical work. First written in 1947, the author was appointed by British intelligence in Germany to write a report investigating the final days of Hitler and those around him at the end of WWII in April 1945 and how his death was confirmed and what happened in the underground Berlin bunker where he was and the months leading up to his suicide at 56 with Eva Braun, 33. They were married 40 hours before their deaths.

The book also offers a bit of a sprawling picture of the Nazis, their party ranks and power plays among potential successors to Hitler in the final days. Some where deluded in thinking they could continue on even as the Russian and Allied forces were closing in … that the Allies would allow the Nazis even to exist after surrender. They were nuts in various ways.

The book focuses quite a bit on Nazi architect Albert Speer and his thoughts on Hitler, as well as evil Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goring, and it made me feel a bit sick listening to the audio about the totalitarian regime. But for historical purposes and other reasons needs to be known about so it can be avoided at all costs. It’s a dark time and lesson in history.

That’s all for now. Sorry to end on such a grim thing. I hesitated about whether to include a review of such a book here, but if we never study past history and its horrors then how do we know and learn and get beyond such dark events. I was a history major in college and then went into journalism, but I mostly read fiction now, lol. Fiction is the antidote.

I hope you all are having a nice April. The roses are starting to burst here so the next post will likely include colorful roses. What about you — have you read any of these books or authors, and if so what did you think?

Hi all, I hope you are well. It’s a bit crazy how much things can change in a week right? If you saw last week’s picture of the yard and this week’s, you might notice that the white stuff is back. I think we have about three to five inches of snow now with more to come through Sunday. It’s okay, we can always use the snowpack in the mountains. I’m not sure if this is winter’s last stand or not. Often we get one more storm in April, but it’s usually just light spring flakes. 

No big news in the reading department. I returned most of my “library loot” back to the library sadly … since our trip is coming up. I still have Ron Rash’s novel The Caretaker and Rita Bullwinkel’s novel Headshot as well as an Irish novel I’m reading for PW. So those will keep me busy till we leave along with the audio of Donna Tartt reading Charles’s Portis’s 1968 novel True Grit in her Mississippi accent. Tartt did this narration back in 2006, but heck it’s one of the few things we have of the elusive slow-working author, so I’ll give it a whirl. You might recall it was 2013 when her last novel The Goldfinch was published and usually it takes her about ten years between books. So where is the next? LoL. No word so far. 

And now for my survey question of the week, I’ll pose the blogging question: do you have a set day of the week that you post on, or does it vary? Do you plan ahead with blog posts on timing and content, or is it more spontaneous and sporadic? I will say I try to post once a week, but it can vary on what day. I’d like it to be — perhaps every Friday but then things come up and the plan goes sideways. I often have things in mind for content a bit ahead of time but nothing is really engraved in stone. What about for you?

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

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain / 1884 

I revisited this classic on audio in all its vernacular language since I wanted to get a handle on it before reading Percival Everett’s new novel James, which reimagines the novel from enslaved Jim’s perspective. 

You might recall the story about Huck Finn is a first-person narrative told by him around age 13 during the 1830s and ’40s in a small town in Missouri along the Mississippi River. It’s a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in which Tom and Huck end up getting a good sum of money and that follows Huck into this story. Huck’s alcoholic, abusive father “Pap” tries to get the money and locks him in a cabin. In time, Huck fakes his own death and escapes running away to Jackson Island, where he reunites with his guardian’s slave, Jim, who has run away after hearing he was about to be sold. 

Huck and Jim find a raft and decide to go downriver on a journey that turns out to include various close calls with thieves, slave catchers, natural dangers, and con men. They often find themselves in dicey situations, which has Huck coming up with schemes, plots, and getaways. Even friend Tom Sawyer gets involved towards the end when Jim is captured and they try to get him back. 

Often referred to as the “greatest American novel,” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been one of most banned books of all time. I’m against banning any books or changing any words of classics, but I admit I struggled with its vernacular and things. I didn’t struggle with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but this novel with its elements about race and racism is more complex. 

In the novel, Twain is satirizing some of the society of the day — and people’s racist beliefs. During the journey, Huck learns much and becomes closer to Jim as it goes along. He sees his humanity and saves Jim at various times. But the language — 219 uses of the N-word — and the stereotypes are tough to navigate. The story also prattles on in places, particularly the section involving the con men — the King and the Duke. Their long section drove me pretty crazy, and in various parts the story has a lot of shenanigans afoot, which tried my patience.

My favorite part is just they’re floating downriver on the raft … while escaping bad guys and injustices. This I could completely understand. So all in all, it was mixed for me. I still admire the talents and gumption of Twain for his day … and think Percival Everett’s tale might be a worthwhile look too.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read Twain’s books and what did you think?

Hi all. Does it feel like spring where you are? It probably is. It’s even feeling a bit like spring up here. Most of the snow has melted away once again, and we are enjoying balmy temps. We might even go for a bike ride this weekend, which is a bit unheard of here in March. And the month is flying by, isn’t it?

We are gearing up for our road trip to California in April, just about two weeks away. It’s hard to believe. I’m getting together a few audiobooks for the trip, which include mostly historical nonfiction ones for my husband. Sorry to say, I will be leaving fiction behind for a while on the journey, then fling open my beach bag of novels once we get there, lol. Is it almost time for the beach?

Good news is I saw a pileated woodpecker this past Wednesday when the dogs and I were at a wooded park near the river. They are fun to see, but we don’t get to see them often. Their red heads make them easy to spot. I didn’t take this particular photo as I couldn’t get a good shot of him bobbing around, but I recorded the bird’s sound, which my Merlin Bird app recognized as the pileated woodpecker. Apparently the bird is the largest woodpecker species in North America and likes to eat carpenter ants, among other things. Its strong bill can chip large holes into trees searching for insects. Do you have these birds where you are?

And now you can see my “library loot” for this week. I still have several remainders from the weeks prior. Ann Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful just came in for me. I need to jump on it quickly since it’s long, but I think I’m going to start Ron Rash’s novel The Caretaker next. It looks like a quick, good read set in a small Appalachian town during the Korean War years. I read the author’s 2008 novel Serena, which was turned into a movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, but I think the new one looks a bit better.

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

Absolution by Alice McDermott / FSG / 336 pages / 2023

4.4 stars. This is a story about a woman named Tricia looking back on her life and her friendship with a woman, Charlene, whom she meets in Saigon in 1963. Tricia is corresponding decades later with the woman’s daughter Rainey and telling her things that happened there.

In the ’60s, Tricia and Charlene are “helpmeets” to their husbands’ careers in Vietnam early in the war, giving parties and supporting them. Newly arrived and married Tricia, 23, meets Charlene at a garden party when her baby throws up on Tricia’s dress. From this incident, Charlene comes up with a plan to sell Barbie dolls to help fundraise for toys and things for children in the local hospitals.

Soon Tricia is part of Charlene’s “cabal” to try to do good around Saigon, helping with the Barbie sales and traveling to a leper colony to measure the people for new clothes there. It turns out Charlene, a mother of three, is a “dynamo” of altruistic schemes, trading on the black market, pushing people around, hanging at the country club, popping pills, and doing what needs to be done for her causes. Meanwhile Tricia and her husband are trying to start a family, but she’s having trouble with miscarriages. These worlds collide sometime down the line.

This might not sound like much, but in Alice McDermott’s hands with all the things at play she turns it into gold. A lot of things going on mix: with the Vietnam backdrop, early feminism, faith, war, morality, friendship, children. The novel’s structure too is pretty cool as it looks back and is also in the present. There’s a nostalgia looking back and a naivete of one’s life at age 23 amidst a war zone.

I think Alice McDermott said she was wondering about the wives in Graham Greene’s 1955 novel The Quiet American — what their lives were like — and came up with this novel. The time and place came alive for me with these characters in the 1960s. I have not read McDermott before, but I picked up her novel Charming Billy once when it came out in 1997. I’d like to read more of her books, which mostly have Irish Catholic characters and themes from McDermott’s background.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these authors and what did you think? Have a great weekend.

Hi. How is everyone doing? We are having mild weather here this week, and it feels a bit like spring but that could change next week. Still March is just around the corner, yay. Are you ready for spring?

It turns out my husband and I are planning a road trip at the beginning of April to visit my parents and stay in Southern California for a few weeks. We have never driven there from Canada and plan to bring our dogs and take four or five days, stopping for sights and walks along the route. It’s going to be a humdinger of a trip, lol. Have you ever taken a long road trip and where did you go?

Meanwhile, I saw a neat article in The Washington Post today about the return of an author who wrote a peculiar and captivating tale in 1997 called Lives of the Monster Dogs, which was sort of a cult hit back then about a colony of talking canines trying to find their place in the world. Now after 27 years, the author Kirsten Bakis has finally written her second novel called King Nyx (due out Feb. 27). It’s not about the Monster Dogs this time but is a feminist gothic tale set in 1918 about a paranormal researcher. I’ll have to add it to my list as I’m glad the author is back.

It reminds me though — back in the 1990s, I wasn’t reading a lot of novels because I was working full-time in D.C., doing grad school, playing tennis, and having a social life too, lol, but Lives of the Monster Dogs was sent to me by my Canadian boyfriend at the time — now my husband — and I read and loved it. The particulars of it are now murky, so a reread is soon in order. I still have my original copy, pictured above, despite two moves and twenty-five years later. Ha, funny how things go. Have you read it?

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

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spenser-Ash / Celadon Books /368 pgs /2023

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this debut novel about 11-year-old girl Beatrix who is sent by her parents to live with a volunteer family in America after the Germans begin bombing London in 1940. The parents are conflicted about sending their daughter but feel it would be safer. Meanwhile the Gregorys, who live in Boston and have two boys (ages 9 and 13), welcome Beatrix into their family and really take a shine to her, especially when they get to their summer place on an island in Maine. 

As the years go by during the war, “Bea” comes to feel more at home with this family than with her own parents and their spare life in London. The novel alternates short chapters among the various characters including: Bea, her parents in London, the parents in America, and their sons William and Gerald, which gives a variety of interesting perspectives. 

I found it really drew me into their world and I especially liked the first half of the book when Bea and the boys are teens and the Gregorys are loving their summers in Maine on the island: swimming, boating, and hiking in the woods. It felt so carefree and fun before America joined the war and they become more involved. The two boys become quite close to Bea.

But then when the war ends and Bea has to leave to return to her parents, things become harder for them all. Their ties with one another become less as the years go by and the kids start careers but is still formative to them all. Years later, they become in touch again after a loss … with visits in America and the UK and their ties develop anew.

I found this poignant story well written and well done and I got caught up in their lives which felt quite real. I didn’t realize there was a program during WWII where parents sent their kids abroad for safety reasons. I’ve read other novels where parents in London sent their kids to the country in the UK during the Blitz, but this abroad premise opened another facet to that circumstance. I found it an accomplished debut and a touching family story.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain / 270 pages / 1876 

What can you say about Tom Sawyer? He’s mischievous and imaginative — a cunning orphan boy (around age 12) who often gets himself into trouble and then by some miracle comes out on top looking good. He’s a regular brighter Dennis the Menace of the 1840s … in small-town Missouri along the Mississippi River. I thought the tale of his adventures, which I listened to on audio, was fun and I laughed at times as Tom goes about his ways, turning boring days into adventures. 

He makes white washing the fence look enjoyable, falls for classmate Becky Thatcher, and runs away and plays pirates with his buddy the vagrant Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper to a nearby island. But later when they’re missing for days and the town thinks they’re dead, they come out awashed with love when they reappear at their own funeral. 

Tom and Huck also come up against Injun Joe and witness the crime he committed in the graveyard, with Tom later testifying in court. Later they go in search of buried treasure … and Tom and Becky get lost in a cave for a few days. It’s scary then and Tom cuts it a bit close in that misadventure with Becky falling weak.

On the whole, the tale is good fun and draws interest for being written in 1876 … of how town life and boys were back then, often like boys are now. Twain was already well on his way with this his first solo novel. His writing and language are often a marvel.

I revisited this classic tale because author Percival Everett is coming out with the novel James in March with reimagines Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, which I hope to get to as well as the original.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think?