What are you reading the week of November 26, 2022?

Still working on Italy in the Era of the Great War and Samurai to Soldier. Winged Bull will probably come after those.

This has been a bloody awful week. My long-term boyfriend, with whom I had planned to spend my life, unceremoniously dumped me and told me he'd never actually loved me. I haven't read much.

I finished the audiobook Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks, which was interesting, and am now listening to Unmasked by Paul Holes, which I thought was going to be a good true crime work, but has turned out to be the author talking a lot about himself. (no touchstone for the title)

Just beginning to dive into The Specialty of the House, the complete mystery stories of Stanley Ellin. The title story was his first published story, and it's still spectacular after 70+ years.

>2 ahef1963: Well, good riddance then. *hugs* Sorry you’re dealing with this…

I started another Vera book, Silent Voices, by Ann Cleeves.

>2 ahef1963: That's awful. I, too, am really sorry you have to go through something like that.

I'm about 40 pages from finishing Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. Next up for me will be John Heartfield: Laughter is a Devastating Weapon. Heartfelt was (per Wikipedia) "a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon."

The Christmas Bookshop– Jenny Colgan
3***

Carmen Hogan is the “not successful” younger daughter, who’s always lived in the shadow of her uber smart and successful older sister, Sofia, whose an attorney married to a fabulous man, with a fabulous house and three (soon to be four) fabulous children. More interested in having fun, Carmen elected to work in a department store rather than go to college. Now her boyfriend has broken up with her and the store is closing putting her out of a job. Her Mom suggests that she go live with her sister for a bit; Sofia can get her a job and could use the help with the kids. So, she reluctantly goes to Edinburgh, where Sofia arranges for her to work with one of her clients, Mr McCredie, whose bookshop will have to close if he can’t turn a profit this Christmas season.

This was a delightful rom-com. The city of Edinburgh is described as a virtual living Christmas card during this season, with fairy lights and snow and decorations, and all the shopkeepers on the street hosting parties. But Carmen certainly has her work cut out for her. Mr McCredie is more interested in collecting books than in selling them. The place is dingy and no one but he can find anything. Still, Carmen is a good retail seller, and she slowly brings him around and meets two promising romantic leads: Blair Pfenning, the charming, rich, bestselling author she manages to coerce into a book-signing event, and Oke, a dendrologist (tree expert) who dresses and looks like he’s an impoverished student but is kind and attentive.

The drama of the sibling rivalry and Sofia’s “mean-girl” nanny add some additional tension and help Carmen clarify her own notion of her self-worth and what she wants out of life. She also helps Sofia’s youngest, Phoebe, (who, frankly, is just like Carmen in so many ways) come into her own. But make no mistake, it’s Carmen’s potential romance that is the main focus of this charming story.

>2 ahef1963: Ugh...since it came down to this hopefully it's well and truly a clean break.

>2 ahef1963: Sad but better now than later. You will find the Right One and be happy. Sending hugs.

I am listening to A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia B. Edwards on You Tube.

>Sorry, but I have to agree, better now than later.

I finished The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. The narrator of presents the end at the beginning and then leaves the reader to put together the how and why and who all was involved bit by bit. A picture of the lethal effects of publicity.

Things My Son Needs To Know About the World – Fredrik Backman
Book on CD read by Santino Fontana
3***

In this collection of essays, new father Backman speaks directly to his infant / toddler son about life and being a man. Some of these essays are quite humorous and self-deprecating. Some fall a little flat. But all are entertaining. He covers such subjects as bullies, getting your child to eat, being careful, the importance of best friends, and love.

Santino Fontana does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. I forgot that it wasn’t Backman himself who was reading.

>2 ahef1963:
I'm so sorry to hear about this. My best friend gave me good advice: "Time wounds all heels." He'll get his.

>2 ahef1963: Sending love!

I'm reading Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune by Keith Thomson for my book club. I don't really agree that pirates are gentlemen, but it's been interesting nonetheless.

All the kind words and hugs - thank you all. It really helps.

Just finished The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I really liked the first half or so of the book. Then I got mired down into too many statistics, and too many happenings racing by so quickly that I couldn't keep up. It is extremely possible that I didn't get into the book because of my personal life, so apologies to Ms. Orlean if I've not given your book the praise it deserves.

>2 ahef1963: Sorry about your relationship - you deserve better!

I finished Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. This famous book, which appears both on many a "Banned Books" list and also on the list of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, is in turns exhilarating, hilarious, thought-provoking, tedious, irritating and, for its misogyny, deeply disturbing. My longer review is up on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I've now started John Heartfield: Laughter is a Devastating Weapon -- His Original Photomontages and Printed Matter from the Akademie der Künste Berlin and the David King Collection at Tate Modern by David King and Ernst Volland. Heartfield was a famed artist who first came of age in pre-WW2 Germany. He was a staunch anti-fascist, and a founding member of both the Dadaist Movement and the German Communist Party. His political montages and prints are very powerful, and they are recreated in this volume, essentially a coffee table book, to excellent effect.

Enjoyed this OverDrive audio ~

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting: A Novel
by Sophie Irwin

Nora Ephron: A Biography
Kristin Marguerite Doidge
4/5 stars
This isn’t the first book I have read about Nora Ephron but she is such an interesting subject to read about and was such a success in her career with writing and film that not every book on her can contain all that we know about her. When I checked this out from the library I work at, one of the patrons saw that I had that book and she wanted to check it out too. I think Ephron’s life was not long enough for her fans, family and friends yet she will still be a role model to women everywhere!

I finished John Heartfield: Laughter is a Devastating Weapon by David King and Ernst Volland. Helmut Herzfeld was an artist and graphic designer who came of age as an artist during the fraught and chaotic days of 1920s Weimar Republic Germany. He changed his name to John Heartfield as a political protest against what he saw as the disastrous rise in toxic German nationalism that had already led to the insane, meaningless carnage of World War I. Heartfield was a founding member of the short-lived but extremely influential Dadaist movement and, along with artist George Grosz, is credited with more or less inventing the art of photomontage. My longer review of this fascinating volume of biography and astounding graphic design can by found on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs.

Starting: Death, Diamonds, and Deception by Rosemary Simpson
#5 installment in "A Gilded Age Mystery" series
I've checked out all the books so far in this series from the library.

Finished Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves. Liked it. Added The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman to my rotation.

Added A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny to my rotation.

Finished The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman. OK read.

Started this OverDrive audio ~

All Good People Here
by Ashley Flowers

I returned from my camping trip with my brothers down in Arkansas a few days ago. I didn't have any time to read on my trip, but I finished The Red Prince before I left. I've read Maigret Goes to School since my return. I'm still pretty beat after driving 3000 miles and sleeping in a tent for several days in the pouring rain. It rained so much that we didn't get a chance to do any fishing, but I did get to retell the story of how I caught a trout with my bare hands. Of course, I had to follow that up with the story of how I caught a rock.

I have sadly just finished The Ruthless Garden by Margaret Simons
Next up A Keeper of Sheep by William Carpenter

The new thread is up over here.