CRITICAL MASS

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Critical Mass, Sara Paretsky, G P Putnam's Sons, 2013, 462 pp

Summary from Goodreads: V.I. Warshawski’s closest friend in Chicago is the Viennese-born doctor Lotty Herschel, who lost most of her family in the Holocaust.  Lotty escaped to London in 1939 on the Kindertransport with a childhood playmate, Kitty Saginor Binder.  When Kitty’s daughter finds her life is in danger, she calls Lotty, who, in turn, summons V.I. to help.  The daughter’s troubles turn out to be just the tip of an iceberg of lies, secrets, and silence, whose origins go back to the mad competition among America, Germany, Japan and England to develop the first atomic bomb.  The secrets are old, but the people who continue to guard them today will not let go of them without a fight.  

My Review:

This crime thriller was on my stack of reading for the last week in 2016, consisting of books I had meant to read during the year but hadn't gotten to. It is Ms Paretsky's 18th novel and I have now read them all. One more to go and I will be caught up before her next one comes out later in 2017. She is one of my top favorite mystery/crime novelists. Every book so far has been amazing for its genre.

V I Warshawski, fearless and crusading private investigator, once again finds "the crimes behind the crimes" as Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times puts it. In her hometown of Chicago she ferrets out corruption and destructive inequalities, taking down criminality and standing up for the forgotten people. If we had a few like her in every major American city, our country would be more like what our Founding Fathers hoped they were founding.

Critical Mass uncovers secrets and lies going back to the WWII arms race with its competition between Germany and the United States to develop the first atomic bomb.

Reading coincidence: Michael Chabon's Moonglow, read earlier in December, covers similar territory. In both books the traumas of Nazi concentration camps and the use of Jewish scientists to further that research are key plot elements.

The fast pace, multiple characters, extreme danger to V I's life, and her biting yet comedic take on all events are as present here as in all her books. I always make a list of characters as they appear, tedious near the beginning but eliminating the need to turn back the pages and remember who's who so I can enjoy the ever accelerating pace that invariably makes up the last 100 pages.

In Critical Mass (a physics term meaning the minimum amount of material, such as plutonium, necessary to maintain a nuclear chain reaction), Paretsky honors Jewish Austrian physicist Marietta Blau. She was a researcher whose scientific work deserved a Nobel Prize she never got because she was Jewish. Paretsky's fictional character Martina Saginor is based on Ms Blau.

Even more impressive, the story makes clear the destruction of so many lives due to secrets that were kept both by members of the researcher's family and by some sorry practices of government and corporations, hidden behind actions justified by national security.

No matter what your politics or your patriotic views, Critical Mass will challenge you to pay more attention and look more deeply into our current times. Also it is more fun than watching Twitter fights!

(Critical Mass is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

THE CRY OF THE OWL

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The Cry of the Owl, Patricia Highsmith, Harper & Row, 1962, 271 pp

I have now read five of Highsmith's novels. A few days ago I wrote in another review about the importance (for me, at least) of reading books written by women. Now I have to add that there are all kinds of women writing stories and this author is on the far side of some spectrum.

For one thing, she seems to lack sympathy for human beings or at least she rarely creates characters who are admirable and many, including women, who are despicable. I know this is true in life. None of us, men or women, are always admirable and some are despicable. Thus I must contradict myself and say that she does have a certain sympathy for the despicable and looks deeply into why and how that is. We have writers like that now, but Patricia Highsmith was doing this in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Cry of the Owl includes two spurned men. Robert, who is depressed and adrift after his divorce from a despicable woman and another man who turns hateful after his fiancee takes up with Robert. Just to unstabilize things a bit more, Robert has been lurking outside the window of this other woman's house, being a peeping Tom.

It gets messy right away as the murky motivations of both the men and the women never become quite clear. If I had to live as any one of these people, I would be fearful for my sanity. Robert at least has a couple good friends which I suppose is a sign that he is not despicable but he is unbalanced and weird in an Aspergers kind of way.

I have always been afraid of people who appear insane to me. I try to steer clear of neurotic individuals. I feel these are healthy attitudes but a better understanding of what makes such people the way they are does help alleviate the fear. Besides self preservation, it is also a fear of the unknown.

That is why I read Patricia Highsmith.


(The Cry of the Owl is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

MISTER MONKEY

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Mister Monkey, Francine Prose, Harper, 2016, 285 pp

I read Mister Monkey for an on-line discussion group. I have always meant to read Francine Prose but somehow never have. Now she has entranced me and I will read more.

I was one of the few participants in the discussion who liked the book. I think because for me it was about people with unfulfilled dreams, one of my obsessions as I get older and look back at the dreams I had.

Mister Monkey is a children's musical adapted from a novel written by a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Said novel was converted by an editor into what became a bestselling picture book for kids, along the lines of Curious George. Now the author is rich but he hates the musical because it makes a travesty of his original story.

Mister Monkey, the novel by Francine Prose (quite erroneously described as "madcap" by whoever wrote the dust jacket copy) uses the musical as a framework to take readers into the lives and souls of various people connected to an off-off-off-off-Broadway production of a tired old show. Included are several of the actors, the director, the costume designer, a grandfather, and Ray, the original author of the children's book. Each chapter features one of them but in circling around begins to connect them all in interesting and surprising ways.

I am not much of a theater goer but one of my sons spent a year of college being a set builder and one of his daughters acts in every play she can at high school. In fact, I have always liked novels set in the theater, so here I was again enmeshed in all the tacky backstage interpersonal trauma of actors, directors, playwrights, and support crew. Ms Prose must have some theater experience because she crafts those scenes so perfectly.

Ultimately though, this is a story about people of all ages and different walks of life who are mildly unhappy but looking for joy wherever they can find it. I could not put it down. 

Today the shortlist for the 2017 Tournament of Books came out and Mister Monkey made the list! I have read 6 of the 16 books that will compete in the tournament. Watch for more reviews of the rest of the books since I always attempt to read as many of them as I can. 

(Mister Monkey is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.) 

THE STORY OF THE LOST CHILD

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The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante, Europa Editions, 2015 (translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein) 473pp

This is the fourth and final novel in the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante. All through the days of reading it, I was dying to know what became of Lila, who had disappeared at the beginning of My Brilliant Friend, the first novel. When I did find out, right at the very end, it was simultaneously underwhelming and wondrous. Why?

Because Ferrante planted that mystery in my mind two years ago when I read My Brilliant Friend, then in over 1000 pages in four novels told an engrossing story about the relationship between Elena and Lila, all the while keeping me in suspense. By the time I got to the end, it made total sense yet I could almost have predicted what happened. Truly a feat, the way she kept me hooked, let me participate in the story, and satisfied me with what was less than a full surprise.

No spoiler, but there is a lost child in this volume who adds another deep layer of sadness to the story.

The only other thing I can add is pretty personal. Since the timescape of these books covers approximately the same years I have lived, they have helped me make sense of much that has happened in my life, even though they are set in Italy and I am American.  I am always newly amazed how much good fiction does this for me.

It is an important activity for women all over the world to tell their stories and to read the stories of other women. I know that sounds obvious and pedantic. Sometimes the truth is obvious once one sees it. In 2016, 58% of the books I read were written by women. Since I need all the help I can get being female in this world, I think I will go for 75% in 2017!!

(The Story of the Lost Child is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

THE MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT

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The Magician's Assistant, Ann Patchett, Harcourt, 1997, 357 pp

I had twice tried to start this novel in the past and had never gotten beyond the first few pages. The first paragraph is just two short sentences:

"PARSIFAL IS DEAD. That is the end of the story."

The second paragraph is a good half a page:

"The technician and the nurse rushed in from their glass booth. Where there had been a perfect silence a minute before there was now tremendous activity, the straining sounds of two men unexpectedly thrown into hard work. The technician stepped between Parsifal and Sabine, and she had no choice but to let go of Parsifal's hand. When they counted to three and then lifted Parsifal's body from the metal tongue of the MRI machine and onto the gurney, his head fell back, his mouth snapping open with no reflexes to protect it. Sabine saw all of his beautiful teeth, the two gold crowns on the back molars shining brightly in the overhead fluorescent light. The heavy green sheet they had given him for warmth got stuck in the guardrail lock. The nurse struggled with it for a second and then threw up his hands, as if to say they didn't have time for this, when in fact they had all the time in the world. Parsifal was dead and would be dead whether help was found in half a minute or in an hour or a day. They rushed him around the corner and down the hall without a word to Sabine. The only sound was the quick squeak of rubber wheels and rubber soles against the linoleum."

I had just read 217 words, full of description, with two oddly named characters and all I knew for sure was that one of them is dead. Both times I was not sure if I wanted to know more.

This time I was reading it for a reading group meeting, our holiday party, for which I was hosting. I had two and a half days to clean and decorate the house, make a main dish, and read the book. No choice but to power on.

Rereading that second paragraph for the fourth time as I started to write this review, having finished and loved the book, it makes all the sense in the world. Now I know those two characters almost as well as I know some of my friends. I know why they have such odd names, why Parsifal died, and why Sabine comes across in that paragraph as almost a mere onlooker. I still feel that was a risky way to begin a novel.

The Magician's Assistant is Ann Patchett's third novel. I read Bel Canto first, many years ago, and became an instant fan. I next read The Patron Saint of Liars, her first novel and loved it so much I could barely breathe through the whole book. I have always loved her unlikely combinations of people and situations, her theme of how unlikely most of life is but how it often works out anyway. I now think, having read six of her seven novels, that The Magician's Assistant is, if not weaker than the others, at least less successful.

The novel has no chapters. It is a 357 page long story. Magic, AIDS, murder, death, people who disappear, who pretend to be someone else, abusive men, Los Angeles vs the mid-west prairie, homosexuality, siblings, Jews, and more all crammed in. There are equally powerful scenes of love and of horrific events. It ends with a scene as confusing as the opening one.

Yet, I loved it! I think loving Ann Patchett is similar to loving one's family. You take the best, the not so good, and even the bad, as they come but you don't give up on the family. Even if you do give up on certain members for a while, you eventually go back. In fact, The Magician's Assistant is exactly about that.

Funny thing: I have since come across several other readers who had to start the book more than once to get through it. If you are already a fan, I promise you, it is worth reading. 

(The Magician's Assistant is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

JANUARY READING GROUP UPDATE

Only four meetings this month and two are discussing the same book! This happens more and more often lately but it is good for my personal reading plans plus I get a wider range of ideas from attending two discussions of the same book. I know many of you don't care for reading groups but I will tell you, they are way better than just reading reviews and Goodreads/blog posts as far as exchanging ideas in real time. I feel like that is an important part of citizenship, especially in these times. End of sermon!

At the Holiday parties of my groups, we voted on our favorite book read during 2016. Each time it sparked more discussion. A common refrain was the benefit many members found from having read books they might otherwise have never read, broadening their views and knowledge and getting them out of their comfort zones. (That wasn't a sermon, just a share!)

Laura's Group:

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Tina's Group:

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One Book At A Time:

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Bookie Babes:

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Wherever you are reading, I wish you a wonderful reading month. Have you read any of the above books?

SWING TIME

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Swing Time, Zadie Smith, Penguin Press, 2016, 453 pp

I loved reading this! It is about long-time friendship between two mixed race girls in London from the 70s to now. It is about girls and their fathers. Overall, it is about women's lives as mothers and daughters, how to be a creative woman in modern times, finding a sense of self, and how privilege or the lack of affects women.

I don't believe we ever know the narrator's name, but we get to know her well because we see the world through her eyes. She has what we call in our house, the curse of self-awareness. Actually much of the time she is quite clueless, being batted around by circumstance and finding it difficult to stand up for herself. In that respect, she can be an annoying character and hers is a sad story. I have no problem with annoying characters. I suspect each of us is annoying to others in some ways.

What I love about Zadie Smith is her ability to pit such a character against characters who appear to know what they want but in truth are just as clueless when it comes to the actions they take. Thus she gives the reader a full picture of how random and heartless life can be.

The narrator's friend Tracey shares with her a dream of being a dancer and a fascination with music, performing, movies, and pop culture. Tracey is gifted and determined but also reckless. The narrator's mother wants something else for her daughter; Tracey's mother is fully behind her. Their friendship is unbalanced, it ebbs and flows, both are victims but the narrator is the rescuer.

Tracey has some success. The narrator takes a job as assistant to Aimee, a famous singer and video star. (Some reviewers say Aimee is loosely based on Madonna. I took her as an example of the world of entertainment and the unreal level of privilege that goes with that life.) Working for Aimee keeps the narrator so busy and so off-balance that she has almost no time to think about herself, the world around her, or the confusions she is running from. Yet that nagging self-awareness dogs her.

Aimee, of course, is white. She is a powerhouse of determination, but unlike Tracey she uses her fame and riches to create change in the world, including starting a school for girls in an African village. She is so protected that her recklessness harms others but never herself. The whole African scene gives the author another way to examine race, poverty and social conflict.

The novel put me in the role of spectator to all these issues, giving me a look into experiences beyond my own. It was a bit like watching the Amy Winehouse documentary that won an Oscar in 2016 or like reading all those novels by writers of color I delved into this year. I felt a grim fascination and I could not look away.

Is that a good thing? I am not sure. I am certain however that good fiction does take us readers outside of our own bubbles and Zadie Smith is stunningly good at that. The anti-heroine of Swing Time with her curse, ends up with a bit of insight and a sense that she still has a chance to be her own person.

(Swing Time is available in hardcover by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

TOP 25 BOOKS READ IN 2016

(This is not a picture of me. It is a picture of how I feel when I am reading.)

I had another fabulous year of reading. In fact, my original list of favorites for the year had 33 books on it, so just know that there were 8 runners up!

What makes a favorite book for you? For me, it is an almost undefinable quality but is always composed of one or more facets including the writing, the emotional impact, the depth of enchantment I feel while reading, the new, to me, information or learning, etc. It is all personal opinion. 

Stats: 

Books read: 122

Pages read: 39,123. Average pages per day: 107. Average books per week: 2.3

Published this year: 27

Fiction: 87

Non-fiction: 4

Written by women: 68

Translated: 15

My Big Fat Reading Project: 27

Children/YA: 2

Indie Presses: 6

Speculative/Sci Fi/ Fantasy: 9

Mystery/Crime/Thriller: 12

Plays: 4 (3 were Shakespeare because of the retelling project)

Classics: 1

Memoir/Biography/Autobiography: 4

Poetry: 1

Short Stories: 1

(The numbers add up to more than 122 because some categories overlap.)

 

All those stats are mostly for my records. Make of them what you will. I would say that reading more than 50% books written by women contributed plenty to my reading joy but I also read many excellent books written by men. I think that makes me some combination of good and bad feminist!

 

THE LIST:

(Alphabetical by title, mostly published in other years, and all reviewed on this blog. If you would like to read the review, enter the title in the search box at the top left corner, hit return, and you will be taken there.)

 

All The Ugly and Wonderful Things, Bryn Greenwood

The Big Green Tent, Ludmila Ulitskaya

Commonwealth, Ann Patchett

Contenders, Erika Krouse

The Ecliptic, Benjamin Wood

The Enchanted, Rene Denfeld

Gold Fame Citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins

Hagseed, Margaret Atwood

Here I Am, Jonathan Safran Foer

Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi

La Rose, Louise Erdrich

Let Me Die in His Footsteps, Lori Roy

The Little Red Chairs, Edna O’Brien

Loving Day, Mat Johnson

Moonglow, Michael Chabon

The Queen of the Night, Alexander Chee

Saint Mazie, Jami Attenberg

The Seed Collectors, Scarlett Thomas

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

Sweet Lamb of Heaven, Lydia Millet

Swing Time, Zadie Smith

The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen

Uprooted, Naomi Novik

Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin

The Woman Who Read Too Much, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

If I follow your blog, I have read your lists for the year's most loved books. If I don't follow you or you don't have a blog, feel free to let me know of great reads I may have missed in the comments. Thanks to everyone who visits here!

 

 

BOOKS READ IN DECEMBER

December may have been my best reading month this year. Despite the parties, the holiday preps, and some long fat books, I read 10! I had hoped to wrap up the 1962 list for My Big Fat Reading Project but alas I only read two of those and still have eight to go. Instead I have spent the days after Christmas reading from my towering TBR stacks and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Except for one that was only tolerable, I loved every other book I read. I had hoped to get reviews posted for all the December books by tonight. That did not happen either. I was reading! 

Stats: 10 read. Fiction: 10. Written by women: 7. Reread: 1. Historical (at least partially): 3. Mystery/thriller: 2. Translated: 1. Big Fat Reading Project books: 2.

Favorites: Moonglow, Swing Time, The Story of the Lost Child.
Least favorite: Something Wicked This Way Comes.

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What were your favorite books read in December? 

MOONGLOW

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Moonglow, Michael Chabon, HarperCollins, 2016, 429 pp

Summary from Goodreads: In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother’s home in Oakland, California to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon’s grandfather shared recollections and told stories the younger man had never heard before, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried and forgotten. That dreamlike week of revelations forms the basis for the novel Moonglow,...

It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, of sex and desire and ordinary love, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at mid-century and, above all, of the destructive impact—and the creative power—of the keeping of secrets and the telling of lies.  

My Review:

My reading in December has included so many great novels and this is one of them. Michael Chabon takes the memories of a week spent with his dying grandfather and by refiguring them as fiction, spins a yarn that covers how the history of that man's lifetime determined the history of the author's family.

Grandfather's history goes back to WWII, continues into postwar times when Nazi scientists were recruited for American development of both weapons and space travel, and continues on to demonstrate the ways that the past creates the present for individuals, families, societies, and even extends into the future.

The grandfather is a larger-than-life character. Because Chabon's week with him happened just after he had published The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, his first novel, anyone who has read his later novels can see influences from his grandfather's tales in the characters Chabon created later. 

I found in Moonglow a more sober Chabon. Some of the freewheeling hysteria of his recent novels is subdued. Not that Grandfather was not a freewheeling character, not that he was not surrounded by hysteria for much of his life, but that the author in looking back now finds it also full of sorrows and a certain regret.

As much as I am fascinated by debut novels, when an author is often the freshest he or she may ever be and still sparkling with innocence, I realized while reading this one why I like the works of an author's later more mature work. Because no one can see the big picture of how one's life is embedded in the ways of the world around one until one is about half-way through. That big picture is sobering indeed as you see the interlocking pieces and how they formed the jigsaw puzzle that is your present.

One feature of the story I particularly liked was Chabon's growing understanding of his mother and his maternal grandmother. We all have at least one of the former and two of the latter. As children all we can do is love or, failing that, put up with them, but by middle-age we can see behind the scenes of their lives and understand some of why they shaped our lives as they did.

I think Moonglow may be best appreciated by an older reader though hopefully has much potential insight to reveal for a younger one. My only qualm after finishing it was wondering how long I must wait for the next Chabon novel. Well, there are a few of his I have not read yet, so I can console myself with those.

(Moonglow is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

 

THE KING MUST DIE

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The King Must Die, Mary Renault, Random House, 1958, 338 pp

I am always excited to find a new author to admire. Of course, Mary Renault is not new to the world. She was born in London in 1905 and died in 1983, having built for herself a reputation for vivid historical novels, many of them set in Ancient Greece. She was named by J F Kennedy as his favorite author. I have meant to read her for years and am so pleased to have found a wonderful writer with a great deal of scholarship and intelligence backing up her fiction.

The King Must Die is the first of two novels covering the life of Theseus, a legendary hero of ancient Athens. Mary Renault takes quite some literary license with the legend, the major one being that Theseus was not of heroic size but was of short stature. She explains the archeological evidence for this in her Author's Note, painting him as "a light-weight; brave and aggressive, physically tough and quick; highly sexed and rather promiscuous, touchily proud, but with a feeling for the underdog; resembling Alexander in his precocious competence, gift of leadership, and romantic sense of destiny."

Theseus tells his own story and it is as wild and full of adventure as you would expect from a man who may have had Poseidon for a father and who killed the famous Minotaur, that half bull/half man who fed on human flesh. She makes this complex character come to life, carefully depicting the ways he learned to use his mind as well as his courage and strength to overcome enemies and obstacles.

A few years ago I managed to get through Will Durant's The Life of Greece. I loved having Theseus fleshed out as it were and the daily world of ancient Athens and Crete made real. I already have the second volume, The Bull From the Sea, on my shelf. I look forward to reading her other novels about Plato, Alexander and more.

I want to thank Helen and her She Reads Novels blog for having a part in leading me to finally reading Mary Renault.

 

A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY

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A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving, William Morrow, 1989, 627 pp

I am a big fan of John Irving. Whatever wild tangent he goes off on, I accept his novels unconditionally. He puts so much of himself, his views, his character, into every one. And his capacity for exploring and celebrating all the weirdness of humanity is of the highest order.

I first read Owen Meany in 1999. At that time, I had previously read Cider House Rules and The World According to Garp and loved both. Owen Meany felt like his masterpiece then and on rereading it now (for a reading group discussion) and having read five other of his books, I have decided it still holds that position for me.

I have written elsewhere about the practice of rereading, something I rarely do. In this case, it was an entirely worthwhile experience. The seventeen years of living I have done since the first reading afforded me a much deeper penetration into the story and the characters.

Owen himself seemed both more tragic yet less Christ-like than he did before. The narrator, John, seemed more worthy of pity. I mean, to have someone as odd as Owen make him become a Christian is just, I don't know, so weird. But none of that matters because this is a novel about how one's childhood and youth, one's family and hometown, the historical events one lives through, one's friends and enemies, create the life one will lead as an adult.

I had completely forgotten the influence of the Vietnam War and somehow had not felt as searingly the intelligence of Owen, his visions, his ability to orchestrate events. On my first reading John barely registered for me. He moved to Canada for Pete's sake!

I was a war protestor in the late 60s and helped lots of guys evade the draft. That draft was a Damocles sword hanging over so many lives. I think reading The Sympathizer this year reawakened many memories and added to the depth of my experience reading Owen Meany now.

All in all, this was a highlight of my year of reading in 2016. 

(A Prayer For Owen Meany is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

HERE I AM

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Here I Am, Jonathan Safran Foer, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2016, 571 pp

Summary from Goodreads: How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years--a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy.

Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks, in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning of home--and the fundamental question of how much life one can bear. 

My Review:

At its heart, Jonathan Safran Foer's new novel is the story of a marriage unraveling. That the couple are upper-middle-class American Jews in the early 21st century only adds to it richness.

Jacob and Julie's initial passion turns out to be unsustainable in the face of parenthood, disappointed careers and, possibly most of all, the unrealistic demands they have placed on each other. While some readers and critics have complained about the novel being autobiographical, I say there are legions of married couples who find themselves unable/unwilling to fulfill their marriage vows but how many can write about it as well?

Others express the criticism that Foer has taken on too much for one novel: marriage, children, religious identity, Israel, etc. For me the kids were possibly the best feature in the story and I already knew he could do kids right from reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I also wonder how any serious novelist can write about contemporary times without including the spiritual and political aspects of life. They are so intrinsically bound together in these times.

I was impressed, I found the book easy to read, it challenged my mind, and the characters, if rarely admirable, were complex and fascinating. I was thinking about it for days after I finished reading. 

(Here I Am is currently available in hardcover on the shelf at Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

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Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury, Alfred A Knopf, 1962, 307 pp

Ray Bradbury's classic was going to be my Halloween book. I am glad I chose We Have Always Lived in the Castle. They are both about dealing with evil but Shirley Jackson did it better.

In Something Wicked, the story takes place in Green Town, IL, a week before Halloween when a ratty carnival comes to town, blown in on a dark and stormy night. Best friends Jim and Will, both just days from turning 14, can't resist. They live next door to each other and have years of practice sneaking out at night.

What they witness at that carnival freaks out each boy in a different way. Will runs from it, Jim is drawn in. What follows is loss of innocence, one boy coming to an understanding with his father, while the other figures out his deepest desires.

It is a classic story about good vs evil, innocence vs experience, and the cusp of adulthood. I had a problem, as I usually do reading Bradbury, with his awkward and overwrought prose and with the transparency of his themes. I was sorely tempted to leave the book unfinished but I kept reading and hoping to figure out what makes this book so admired by so many.

So I finished, I did not figure it out, and I am done with reading Ray Bradbury. I have read seven of his books and had the same experience nearly every time. I liked The Martian Chronicles best, but I prefer Neil Gaiman for innocence lost stories and Shirley Jackson for creepy evil ones. 

(Something Wicked This Way Comes is currently available in paperback on the shelf at Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH

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Into the Beautiful North, Luis Alberto Urrea, Little Brown and Company, 2009, 338 pp

Summary from Goodreads: Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the United States to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.

Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, Into the Beautiful North is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.

My Review:

I loved this book! It was fun to read with wonderful characters but was also a light satire about heavy and complex issues: Mexico in the 21st century, the failings of its government, the ridiculous tourist trap that is Tijuana, the dangers of crossing the border into the USA, and the different fates of Mexican immigrants both legal and illegal. If that was not enough, it contains a quest, a road trip, and a coming of age story.

As ambitious as all that sounds, Urrea pulled it off seemingly without effort. Nayeli is one of those heroines who captures both your heart and mind, so determined, so ethical, heedless of danger and compassionate.

If you have never been to Mexico (that would include me), or if you live in America but were born there, or if you are some combination of both, I think you would find much to enjoy as well as ponder in the novel.

As far as "building a wall" goes, well good luck with that!  

MY REAL CHILDREN

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My Real Children, Jo Walton, Tor Books, 2014, 320 pp

The election happened. I could not read fiction. I had a review deadline for The Terranauts and was almost through reading that so I got professional (more than I can say for some politicians I will not name) and finished it. I had the next book on my reading plan for the week sitting there but I just couldn't start it. 

One of the little known blessings of e-readers is that I have almost a library of unread books there that I forget I own. Like a recovering invalid, I flipped through all those titles and Jo Walton called out to me. Better yet, she rescued me.

When the story opens, Patricia is in one of the upper tiers of a senior facility. She surreptitiously checks the notes clipped to the end of her bed, where nurses list actions taken, medications given, and evaluations: "confused today" "very confused." Patricia's memory is slipping away but when she remembers to check the notes she can also find out the date.

Patricia is the most confused about her children. "Sometimes she knew with solid certainty that she had four children, and five more stillbirths: nine times giving birth in floods of blood and pain, and of those, four surviving. At other times she knows equally well that she had two children, both born by caesarean section late in her life after she had given up hope. Two children of her body, and another, a stepchild, dearest of them all."

In her reality, all of these children visit her. Very confused she is!

My Real Children is one of those stories of alternate lives a person could have; like Kate Atkinson's Life After Life or Making It Up by Penelope Lively. All of these books feature women whose lives are matters of chance, as are everyone's, but with the added, or should I say, lessened chances that women have. 

Love, sex, marriage, childbearing and child raising all dependent on sufficient or not enough knowledge, opportunity, support, and freedom.

How many times have I thought, what if I had not made that choice (of husband, job, religious affiliation, school, move, pregnancy, separation, etc.) 

I loved Patricia in all her variations and I loved the way Jo Walton constructed her novel. I am not one who goes in for "comfort fiction." This is not that but I did feel comforted and it was what I needed the day I read it. 

(My Real Children is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.) 

THE TERRANAUTS

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The Terranauts, T C Boyle, Ecco, 2016, 508 pp

Note: I am way behind on posting about the books I have read, so it will be my attempt to catch up by the end of the year. You can always binge read my reviews on that boring time that is Christmas Day after dinner!

This review was originally published at Litbreak.

 

T C Boyle’s new novel is all about the plot, with the author is at his acerbic best. You would not be blamed for thinking he has no faith at all in humanity until you get to the end. I can’t tell you about that because it would be the final spoiler of all the spoilers I will not reveal.

In case you were living under a rock like I was in 1991, one of the major science experiments of all time called Biosphere 2 put a crew of eight scientists into an artificial glass-enclosed ecological environment for the purposes of demonstrating its ability to support human life leading to the successful colonization of planets. Located in Oracle, AZ, it was a 3.14-acre facility stocked with animals, seeds, trees, and five biomes. The carefully selected four women and four men were committed to remain sealed in for two years with phone lines to headquarters and a viewing window for visitors as the only contact with the outside.

These men and women were called Terranauts but they were human beings with many of the strengths of young, highly educated adults and all of the weaknesses. It is just the sort of story that an author like T C Boyle would be attracted to as a novelist. The publisher calls it “A deep-dive into human behavior in an epic story of science, society, sex, and survival.” It has all of that though Mr Boyle is always and forever mainly interested in human behavior. He does not miss one quirk or forgo any chance to take such behavior to the limit.

The day that the Terranauts go into the biosphere is called Closure. In Part 1, Pre-Closure, we meet the sixteen hopefuls as they vie for the eight spots available and then are chosen much like the sorting ceremony in Harry Potter. Three of the16 tell the story in alternating chapters. Dawn, nickname Eos, is a blonde beauty designated as Manager of Domestic Animals, strong in purpose and loyalty to the project. Ramsay, known as Vodge, will be Water Systems Manager with a second hat of Communications Officer. In addition to his scientific skills he is the consummate PR guy, as well as a ladies man. Linda is passed over, full of rage, and though she had been Dawn’s best friend before closure she turns traitor. Her chapters give the view from outside as she hangs on hoping to be chosen for the second team two years hence.

Included in the cast of main characters are the visionary who had conceived of the project (GC, short for God the Creator, is his nickname, known only to the Terranauts) and his chief aide Judy, nickname Judas. In order for GC to keep his investors happy, all manner of media events and spin must be created, another stress and strain on the outcome.

Reading along, one wonders how such dedicated, trained scientists could possibly be so venal, self-involved, hateful, and scheming. But isn’t that what we have been wondering for the last two years as we suffered through the Presidential campaign and its aftermath? It made for some queasy reading hours.

A good amount of science permeates the novel, though not as much as in The Martian or Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves, but the focus is on interpersonal drama, personal motivation, and the very real physical/psychological hardships inside Biosphere 2. Combine that with the fact that these longsuffering candidates, who have worked for years at low pay, will emerge as celebrities when they successfully complete the two year enclosure. Whether they will prevail or not, a whiff of cult essence permeates the mindset of every person involved in the experiment from GC on down through the Terranauts themselves, the 16 upcoming candidates for the next two year enclosure, to all the support staff. It is the classic visionary and his loyal minions scenario that T C Boyle has explored in earlier novels like The Women and The Inner Circle.

Through every shift of loyalties, every emergency, and the many twists of plot, he keeps you hanging by threads of hope and anxiety. Though everyone stays in character, some admirable, some despicable, none of them are without complexity. If you have ever had experiences with cultish groups, you will be fully invested in the novel. If you haven’t, you might not be. Either way, expect some shifts in your own worldview. This is one of his best.

(The Terranauts is available in hardcover and ebook by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

 

THE SUICIDE OF CLAIRE BISHOP

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The Suicide of Claire Bishop, Carmiel Banasky, Dzanc Books, 2015, 384 pp

Summary from Goodreads: Greenwich Village, 1959. Claire Bishop sits for a portrait—a gift from her husband—only to discover that what the artist has actually depicted is Claire’s suicide. Haunted by the painting, Claire is forced to redefine herself within a failing marriage and a family history of madness. Shifting ahead to 2004, we meet West, a young man with schizophrenia obsessed with a painting he encounters in a gallery: a mysterious image of a woman’s suicide. Convinced it was painted by his ex-girlfriend, West constructs an elaborate delusion involving time-travel, Hasidism, art-theft, and the terrifying power of representation. When the two characters finally meet, in the present, delusions are shattered and lives are forever changed.

My Review:

Carmiel Banasky's debut novel dwells on two long term taboo subjects concerning human life: suicide and mental illness. It also floats along between two time periods and societal issues: war protests in the 1960s and art theft at the turn of the 20th century. If that were not enough the story includes an Hasidic Jewish convert, a mysterious painter, and a wealthy unfaithful husband. 

It is a challenging read. I do not recommend it to any but the most intrepid readers. Readers who like to go beyond and beneath the standard acceptable ideas about life, family, and society. Readers who walk down the street or stand in lines and wonder about what goes on inside the people they observe around them. Readers who sometimes ponder on whether they are as well-adjusted and happy as they appear to their acquaintances and family members. Readers to whom the phrase "lost in a book" is literal.

The reward for me in reading books like this is the rich understanding of the breadth of ways that human life is lived. We are all connected, we all need help sometimes and faith in something, and we all need to take care of each other.

I have mentioned in other reviews the wonderful Nervous Breakdown Book Club, a monthly subscription service that brings you fiction and non-fiction from both mainstream and overlooked authors. I would not have heard of nor read this novel if not for them.

Brad Listi, the guy behind the book club and the editor of The Nervous Breakdown literary culture mag, also produces a weekly podcast, Otherppl, during which he interviews authors. His interview with Carmiel Banasky is here.

Finally a shout-out to the publisher Dzanc Books, independent, non-profit, and located in my spiritual hometown, Ann Arbor, MI. They publish innovative literary work, mentor emerging writers, and do much other work to advance literature and reading.

Note: I do not receive any compensation from the above entities. I just think they are great and want to spread the word.

(The Suicide of Claire Bishop is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

  

DECEMBER READING GROUP UPDATE

In December, all manner of different things take place during my reading group meetings: a special outing to a restaurant, a potluck dinner at my house, voting on our favorite book of the year, wild book exchanges, and even sometimes literary games. I have already made chocolate pie for a group this past Sunday and I am making another one for tomorrow night. Time to eat, drink, and be merrily literary! But we also read and discuss a book...usually.

Tina's Group:

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Laura's Group:

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One Book At A Time:

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Tiny Book Club:

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Are you having any bookish parties this month? 

 

THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE

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The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken, Doubleday & Company, 1962, 168 pp

THE SUNDAY FAMILY READ

I have read 10 novels by Joan Aiken. I love both her adult stories and the ones for children. She was born in East Sussex, England, in 1924, was the daughter of the poet Conrad Aiken, and died in 2004. She wrote her first novel, The Kingdom and the Cave, when she was 17 and continued to write for her entire life. She portrays children in wondrous ways, similar to Elizabeth Goudge but with magic and supernatural elements instead of religious ones.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is the first in her 11 book series The Wolves Chronicles. The series is set in an alternative history of Britain, but not knowing British history well myself, that barely matters to me. What I love are the children and the story.

Two girls, one rich and exuberant, the other poor but wise, are cousins who have more exciting adventures daily than most girls have yearly. Dangers barely escaped, cruel adults outwitted, loyalty and bravery, are the keys to the tale. The parents are not neglectful, just rather oblivious in their trust of servants and governesses, but also kind and generous. A rather feral boy, reminiscent of Spiller in The Borrowers series, is their champion.

This is breathless, page turning stuff intentionally created to thrill and entertain young readers and probably laid the ground for the best in children's literature today. It makes me happy that I still have dozens of her books left to read, including retellings of all six Jane Austen novels.

The Wolves Chronicles series would make a great holiday gift for enthusiastic female young readers. 

(The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

BOOKS READ IN NOVEMBER

Despite best intentions, November reading was doomed: election aftermath blues, Thanksgiving trip, and a couple long books. I did however like every single one I read.

Stats: 7 read, 2 by women, 7 fiction, 1 from My Big Fat Reading Project 1962 list.

Favorites: My Real Children and Into the Beautiful North

Least favorite: Something Wicked This Way Comes

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How did your November reading go? 

LAST DAYS OF NIGHT

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Last Days of Night, Graham Moore, Random House, 2016, 357 pp

Summary from Goodreads: A thrilling novel based on actual events, about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America—New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? 

My Review:

I read this excellent historical fiction because I have a bit of an obsession with Nikola Tesla. Luckily one of my reading groups picked it, meaning I read it sooner rather than later.

It is 1888 and Thomas Edison has engaged in a huge legal battle with George Westinghouse over who invented the light bulb. Electric light is just beginning to replace gas light and there is money to be made. Enter Nikola Tesla with his discoveries about alternating current, thickening the plot.

The battle is told through the eyes of Paul Cravath, just graduated from Columbia Law School and in his first year of practise as a junior partner at a small legal office. When George Westinghouse hires him to conduct a counter suit against Edison, Paul anticipates his career getting off to a great start.  

Brilliant story telling puts this untested lawyer smack in the middle of an untested legal issue. Everyone involved makes mistakes but Paul's are the most interesting since we already know how it turned out. (Well, at least I thought I did though I learned much more about the infamous rivalry.) Paul's unceasingly hard work and perpetual setbacks power the plot. Through most of the book I was as stressed out as Paul was, wondering if he would fail epically or win the day for Westinghouse. In the end, he did neither.

Reading about the intersection of science, business, and law that made the book a thriller, I was amazed both at the violence of the times and by how much the late 1800s set the stage for the oligarchy we live in today. J P Morgan gets involved as the financier. Even banking plays a role.

My favorite characters though were Tesla with his almost autistic personality and Agnes Huntington, Paul's love interest, a woman as intriguing as Lilliet Berne in The Queen of the Night.

Graham Moore is the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game. I predict he will go far. 

(Last Days of Night is currently available in hardcover on the shelves at Once Upon A Time Bookstore.) 

 

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE

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We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson, The Viking Press, 1962, 146 pp

Summary from Goodreads: Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.

My Review:

This was my Halloween read. (Yes, I am a bit behind in posting reviews.) It was perfectly spooky and unsettling.

The best aspect was a steady building of creepy tension. Though that is Shirley Jackson's most notorious skill, she kicked it up a notch here in her final novel.

Mary Katherine and her older sister Constance live alone with their senile Uncle Julian in a big house on the edge of town. The rest of the Blackwood family are dead. None of the family were liked in town and Mary Katherine is the only one who ventures there for the weekly shopping. She is bullied in disturbing ways. During the course of the tale you find out the whys for all the strangeness.

It gets continuously more disturbing and there is no redemption at the end. If that bothers you, don't read Shirley Jackson, ever!

I have not read much Stephen King but now that I have read all of Shirley Jackson's novels, I believe I may be ready. She holds up a mirror to our deepest unspoken fears and desires. We all have them as well as evil thoughts we dare not act out.

I also want to read the recently published biography: Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin. Ms Jackson gives me courage and permission to tell my own stories.

(We Have Always Lived in the Castle is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

  

THE SLAVE

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The Slave, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Farrar Straus and Cudahy, 1962, 311 pp (translated from the Yiddish by the author and Cecil Hemley)

Summary from Goodreads: Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her, and the two escape together to a distant Jewish community. Racked by his consciousness of sin in taking a Gentile wife and by the difficulties of concealing her identity, Jacob nonetheless stands firm as the violence of the era threatens to destroy the ill-fated couple. 

My Review:

I have not yet read anything by I B Singer I did not love. The Slave is no exception. Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 and always wrote in Yiddish until his death in 1991, in Surfside, FL.

After all my reading this year about slavery in America, I come to this reminder that slavery is as old an institution as prostitution. Both seem to be inherent in the human story. 

The Slave is an epic in 311 pages. Jacob was a learned and pious Jew, son of wealthy parents, who found himself a slave to a farmer in a remote mountain village. His birthplace, Josefov, was a Polish town that lay in the path of Ukrainian Cossacks in the 17th century. The ensuing massacres had cleared the town of Jews. Jacob fled, thinking his parents, wife and children dead, then fell into the hands of robbers who sold him into slavery. 

Though he desperately strove to stay true to his faith, Jacob began to love the farmer's daughter. Wanda was a step above her environment, a practically prehistoric milieu of pagan superstition, tooth and claw existence, and rural poverty. But she was a Gentile and therefore forbidden. Her passion for him finally overcame his religious scruples and they planned to escape.

Of course, that plan fell through on the first attempt. Jacob's life from then on is one of perils and his search for redemption, taking him all the way to Israel as part of the early Zionist movement, at last reuniting with Wanda, and on to his final days where he finds peace and wisdom.

Besides being a beautiful love story, the novel is also a contemplation of the place of religion in human society including the contradiction that it condemns believers who do not follow its commandments while it honors the phenomenon that spirituality can lift us above our animal nature. The result is a timeless tale.

How interesting that Singer published a novel called The Slave just as the Civil Rights Movement was catching fire in America, his adopted country since 1935.