What are you reading the week of June 24, 2023?

I'm currently reading Serhii Plokhy's The Russo-Ukrainian War. Plokhy gives an excellent parallel history of the development of Ukraine and Russia post 1991. Despite it's problems, Ukraine's government committed itself to at least the semblance of democracy after declaring its independence in 1991. Furthermore, it's ethnic and political diversity required that it develop institutions that were willing to compromise on issues in order to maintain that democracy. It was far from ideal, but the public developed a strong willingness to hold the government to account, refusing to accept the outcome of rigged elections in 2004.

Started this audio via Libby ~

The New House
by Tess Stimson

This week's slate is Constance Verity Saves the World, The Beauty and the Terror, and The Origin of Empire.

I just finished Lady of the English by Elisabeth Chadwick, which I started a week ago.
It is about Matilda, the daughter of Henry I, and the turbullence around the succession after her father's death.

It is a well written fiction based on historical events and people.

I'm very fortunate right now as I am reading an excellent family saga, and am listening to a great historical fantasy novel. It's an embarassment of riches!

The family saga is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which follows a Korean family who move to Japan during the second Sino-Japanese War. The historical fantasy is The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, and I'm loving the book.

I'm still reading Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner and The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson.

ETA - I also read Marvel's Voices: Pride by Marvel Comics for Pride Month.

I just finished reading The Plague

I've just started the baseball biography Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life by Bill Madden. Something relatively light after my month-long crawl through Mission to Moscow.

A Good American – Alex George
Book on CD performed by Gibson Frazier
5***** and a ❤

This is a family saga, covering four generations of the Meisenheimer family over a century. It begins in 1904 Hanover Germany when Frederick and Jette meet, fall in love and decide to sail for America, ultimately settling in Beatrice, Missouri, a relatively small town on the banks of the Missouri River. We watch them taken advantage of due to their lack of English, but also helped by the kindness of strangers. One of the first to help them refuses any money but asks that they “become good Americans,” a request they take seriously.

The story is told by Frederick and Jette’s grandson, James, as he looks back at his family’s history. As happens in real life, the family intersects with many of the residents of Beatrice: the doctor, pharmacist, bartender, preacher, banker, funeral director, teachers, farmers, those who are prosperous and those down on their luck. We view history through the lens of one family’s experiences – World Wars I and II, the great depression, floods, the assassination of JFK, etc. The one constant for Frederick and his descendants is music. From opera to jazz to barbershop quartets, music accompanies the events of their lives.

In summary, this is a story of immigrants, a story of quintessential Americans, a story of struggle and triumph and defeat and unabashed joy. I absolutely loved it and as soon as I had finished it, I wanted to read it again.

Gibson Frazier does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. I only wish that some of the operatic arias could have been sung. But that doesn’t really diminish Frazier’s performance.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Book on CD performed by Judith Ivey
5*****

I’ve read several books by Kate DiCamillo and even have one signed first edition (The Magician’s Elephant, of course). I’ve had this one on my TBR since it first came out and I heard one of the booksellers at my favorite indie bookstore talking about it. But I’ve just never gotten around to it, until …

I read Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days for my F2F book club meeting, in which is an essay on reading Kate DiCamillo. Patchett mentions several of DiCamillo’s works, and this is one of them.

Oh, but I loved this modern-day fairy tale! Edward is a china rabbit, hand crafted and meticulously attired. He lives with Abilene and her parents and grandmother in a house on Egypt Street. And he’s treated as the gentleman that he is, spending the days when Abilene is at school sitting on a dining room chair facing the window, so he can see her when she comes back up the walk at the end of the day. And then …

Well, you’ll have to read about his journey yourself.

It’s about compassion and sorrow and joy. About patience and perseverance and never, ever giving up hope. It’s about love and home and miracles.

I listened to the audio performed by Judith Ivey, who was simply marvelous. But I also had the text handy and found myself carefully studying the glorious illustrations. Each of the twenty-seven chapters has a detailed charcoal sketch representing something that occurs in that chapter; two further sketches open and close the book. And then there are the ten beautiful color prints sprinkled throughout the book. I could just look at them for hours.

Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey
Mark Dery
3/5 stars
Interesting biography of Edward Gorey, illustrator and writer. He published and illustrated over a hundred books and influenced other writers and artists. Was known as an eccentric and secretive. Interesting book but at times it dragged on. Authors

Dying For Chocolate – Diane Mott Davidson
Digital audiobook read by Barbara Rosenblat
3***

This is book two in the popular Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series. Divorced and trying to avoid further altercations with her ex (usually referred to as “The Jerk”), Goldy and her son Arch have landed in temporary quarters where she is the private chef to a wealthy couple, Gen Bo and Adele Farquhar. The position gives her a place a live and access to a dream kitchen, and allows her time to also take on catering jobs. She’s also dating a man she originally met in college. But not everything is going her way. A food critic is writing very negative reviews of Goldy’s work. The Farquhar’s have taken in a former boarder at the tony Elk Park Preparatory School, Julian Teller, but Goldy doesn’t quite trust him, and she’s not thrilled that Arch follows Julian’s every move. And then people begin to die.

I started this series ages ago and loved the recipes. At that time I didn’t care if I read the series in order or not and have no memory of reading this one (and it wasn’t on my “read” shelf). It has all the elements of a successful cozy mystery series: an amateur sleuth whose “career” puts her in contact with a wide range of people (whether victim or suspect), a home situation with added tension, a love interest, and some great recipes. I have to admit that Goldy is pretty resourceful when getting herself out of a jam and doesn’t always rely on the big strong detective to save her. On the other hand, if she kept her nose out of business that isn’t hers … well we wouldn’t have this series.

Barbara Rosenblat does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. I loved the way she voiced Gen Farquahar. What a character! The audio does NOT include any of the recipes that are printed in the book, so be sure to grab a copy of the text if you’re inspired to try concocting your own “death by chocolate.”

Started this full-cast audio via Libby ~

The Golden Spoon: A Novel
by Jessa Maxwell

From the library:
Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer
The 1st installment of "Texas Ever After" series.

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat (YA)
The 1st installment of the Dark Rise duet. Fantasy novel set in 1821 London. The 2nd installment Dark Heir releases later this year.

Southtown– Rick Riordan
4****

This is book five in the Tres Navarre mysteries. Tres is a former English professor turned private investigator in San Antonio, Texas. In this case a group of five inmates escape from a prison, presumably headed north towards Canada. Despite the leader being Will Stirman, a notorious human trafficker who vowed revenge on those who put him behind bars, no one seems very concerned except for Tres’s boss, Erainya. Suddenly, she’s trying to join forces with her rival PI Sam Barrera, and Tres can’t quite figure out why.

This is a hard-hitting detective series, and the body count climbs as the plot progresses. I like Tres. He’s intelligent and a bit sarcastic. His personal relationship is also fraught, and he’s sharing custody of his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, with his former and once-again current flame, who’s pressuring Tres to move to Austin and give up the PI business.

The setting is practically a character, and Riordan includes many landmark locations that brought me back home again.

There are a total of seven books in this series; the last one was published in 2007. These days Riordan concentrates his efforts on his YA / middle-school fantasy series which have been hugely successful. I wish he’s write more books featuring Tres.

Finished We Only Need the Heads by John Scalzi and started the next story in the sequence, A Voice in the Wilderness.

I finished Ragtime which I thoroughly enjoyed. It presents a plot involving a disparate group of characters but most clearly it presents America pre WWI is all its diversity as well as its flamboyant embrace of possibilities.

The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation
Elizabeth Letts
Snowman was a horse that was to be sent to the slaughterhouse if it weren't for Harry de Leyer. He saw this horse and ended up buying him for $80 dollars. Turns out that it was a great decision for Harry, an immigrant and his family, who cleaned him up and entered him in the sport of show jumping. What a wonderful story about their relationship!

>17 snash: It's been decades since I read it and so I remember little about Ragtime, only the memory of a wonderful read. Thanks for reminding me of it.

This week, I'm reading Michael Connelly's Blood Work. An oldie but a goodie.

Taken To the Cleaners – Dolores Johnson
3***

The first book in the Mandy Dyer cozy mystery series gets the dry cleaner involved with a local bag lady brings in one of the cleaner’s signature laundry bags, inside of which is a bloody suit.

This has all the hallmarks of a successful cozy series. A wide array of possible suspects, an amateur sleuth whose “day job” brings her in contact with lots of people, a hunky detective who just may have a personal interest in our heroine, and a cast of colorful supporting characters. She also has an irascible cat, who seems to hate everyone. The setting is Denver and this episode is set in December, so you know there will be cold and snow to contend with.

I figured out the killer long before either Mandy or the police, but it still held my attention. (Though I admit to yelling at the book several times with an “What are you thinking?! It’s obviously XXX!”) There were also a number of loose threads, but the culprit was ultimately apprehended and that’s what really counts.

This was first published in 1997 and it shows … limited computer use, no cell phones. Still, I’d be willing to try another in the series.

The Violin of Auschwitz–Maria Àngels Anglada
Translated from original Catalan by Martha Tennent
2.5**

From the book jacket: In the winter of 1991, at a concert in Krakow, an older woman with a marvelously pitched violin meets a fellow musician who is instantly captivated by her instrument. When he asks her how she obtained it, she reveals the remarkable story behind its origin…

My Reactions
I really wanted to like this book … no … I wanted to love this book. But it missed the mark for me. I think that is because it felt unfinished.

The basic story line is engaging and what kept me reading, but there were huge gaps that left me hungry for more detail. Anglada began with a date in 1991, so we know where we are at when the violin first makes an appearance. And the next chapter begins Daniel’s story (the luthier who crafted the violin) as he struggles to survive in the concentration camp. In bits and pieces we learn of the conditions, the sadistic doctor, the capricious whims of the commandant, the deprivations, the dreams and nightmares, and the fragile friendships formed. But suddenly Daniel is crafting a violin and we don’t know why. Or how he got the tools and materials. I actually went back to the previous chapter and re-read, thinking I must have dozed off and accidently skipped ahead. But I hadn’t.

Eventually we are able to piece together the story, but not until there are a few more abrupt changes in time frame that not only were disorienting, but made me feel that parts of the story were left out. In summary, while the storyline played the reader’s heartstrings like a violin virtuoso, I felt that the book was unfinished.

>19 Copperskye: A while back I read a tome titled The Novel: A Biography which made me realize there were many classic novels and otherwise noteworthy novels that I'd never read. I ended up with a list of some 100 novels that I wanted to read. Ragtime was on that list and one I'd likely missed otherwise. I'm now starting in on Sister Carrie

The new thread is up over here.

Edward Gorey: His Book Cover Art and Design
3/5 stars
There is not much to say about this book. There is a brief review about his artwork but the book mainly contains his book covers. Definitely, for Gorey fans!