What are you reading the week of July 15, 2023?

I finished the last Inspector Maigret mystery, Maigret and Monsieur Charles. It was an excellent ending to the series. I've decided to read the Rabbi David Small mystery series now, starting with Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman.

I have about 50 pages left in The Russo-Ukrainian War by Serhii Plokhy. I should finish it up on Saturday.

This week I'm working on Leonidas Polk (not impressed so far (it did get better further in the book)), The British Surrealists, and Gather the Fortunes.

Just about done with this slate so I'm going to start To Break Russia's Chains.

Started this audio via Libby ~

Lemon Curd Killer (Tea Shop Mystery, #25)
by Laura Childs

Two nights ago I finished The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer as part of my project of reading through Singer's novels at the rate of two per year. My review of what I found to be a thought-provoking and moving book can be found on the book's work page and on my own Club Read thread.

Next up for me will be Out of the Red, a collection of columns from the 1940s and 50s by the great American sports writer, Red Smith. The book was an anniversary gift from my wonderful wife.

This week in audiobooks - I finished The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker, a sequel to the wonderful The Golem and the Jinni. It was a fine sequel, not as good as the original, but certainly very enjoyable. I'm now listening to The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, which focuses on the life of an Akha girl - the Akha are an ethnic minority in several eastern countries. It's very interesting, and I like it quite a lot, especially learning about such different customs and way of living.

This week in books: It took me forever to read The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult, because it wasn't a great book. The Egyptian setting and the archeological dig are great but the rest of the story isn't. Now I'm reading The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill, and like all of Hill's Simon Serailler novels, it's excellent and engrossing.

This week I've been reading and enjoying The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams. It was a gift from my aunt.

Candy And Me – Hilary Liftin
3.5***

Subtitle: A Love Story
Paperback subtitle: A Girl’s Tale of Life, Love and Sugar

Hilary Liftin has had a lifelong addiction to candy. I can relate. I consumed quite a lot of sugary treats as a child. One of my uncles (my mother’s brother) was a pastry chef and had his own bakery. Another uncle (my father’s brother), had a grocery store; I was so jealous of my cousins because I believed they could have all the candy they wanted for free. (I was wrong about that, of course.)

As she recalls her childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, she reflects on the many candies she consumed, adored, sought, hoarded and absolutely without guilt enjoyed. Some of these I had never heard of (Bottle caps?), others were also among my favorites, (Junior Mints, Orange Slices and Circus Peanuts), and still others we will have to agree to disagree on (I love Starlight mints, she can’t abide them; she loves candy corn, I’d sooner kiss a sheep.)

We have, both of us, learned to live with a sweet tooth, and moderate our consumption. But it was sure nice to take a walk down memory lane, when penny candy was plentiful, and I had a whole DIME to spend on it!

I finished The Absentee. It is basically a political book using fiction to decry the decimation of the Irish by absentee landlords. Along the way it also jabs at the pretenses of English high society and softening it all with a love story and a happier than realistic ending.

Hondo – Louis L’Amour
Book on CD performed by David Straithairn
3.5***

An iconic work of American Western genre, featuring a strong, rather taciturn, loner who lives, and is willing to die, by his principles, and a vulnerable but equally strong woman determined to keep her family home and protect what she holds dear.

The setting is practically a character: the southeast corner of Arizona, populated by rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, coyotes, jackrabbits and pumas, not to mention the various Apache tribes fighting to regain their historic lands. Hondo Lane is at home in this unforgiving landscape, having lived with the native Apaches for some years and learned how to find water where this is none, how to track game (and men), and how to avoid being tracked. Angie Lowe is also at home here, having grown up on the ranch with her father who was on friendly terms with the local chief, Vitorro. They are, obviously, perfect for each other. Except … he’s a confirmed loner acting as a scout for the local military unit, and she is already married (though her good-for-nothing husband has been missing for a few months).

As tensions between the Native Americans and the military units increase, Hondo feels compelled to return to Angie Lowe’s side.

David Straithairn does a fabulous job of performing the audiobook. He brings these characters to life.

The text I had handy included a significant afterword by L’Amour’s son that gave more background into how the author came to write this work which launched his fame and career as a writer of Westerns. I’m glad I took the time to read it after listening to the audiobook.

The Owl & Moon Café – Jo-Ann Mapson
3***

Four generations of women work hard to support themselves with their small café, while giving to the community in their northern California town.

I got caught up in the family dynamic fairly quickly. Bess Moon (known as Gammy) is the matriarch, who really needs to step away and rest. She’s been solely responsible for her daughter (and granddaughter) since her husband died early in their marriage. Alice / Allegra is Gammy’s free-spirited “hippie” daughter who ran off for a “summer of love” when she was barely sixteen, coming home pregnant and raising her child, Mariah, as best she could with Gammy’s help. Mariah managed to get her master’s and land a teaching position at the local college, though she, too, got pregnant while she was a teenager. Her daughter, Lindsay, is a genius attending an expensive private school and interested in science.

As happens in real life, things get messy. Major illness, loss of a job, bullying and strained budgets are stressing all the Moon women. Not to mention a couple of men added to the mix.

Secrets will come out. Fights will be had. Tears will be shed. At the end, I’m certain the Moon women will find a way to deal with whatever life throws at them.

Started this Christian audio via hoopla ~

Starfish Pier (Hope Harbor, #6)
by Irene Hannon

An Assembly Such as This
Pamela Aidan
3/5 stars
This is the story of Fitzwilliam Darcy, the love interest of Elizabeth Bennett from the novel Pride and Prejudice. In this book, the author covers Darcy's storyline including his family and friends. He does meet Elizabeth, at a party but she is hardly in this as the emphasis is on Darcy. Very interesting. Aidan has written four books in this series so it will be interesting to see where she goes with this storyline.

The Hour of Land – Terry Tempest Williams
3***

Subtitle: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks

This is a book I would not have picked up were it not for being a book-club selection. I share the author’s love of this country’s National Parks, and of nature in general. I recently visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park for the first time, and was particularly interested in reading the chapter on that park. And, looking at the index, I noticed several other parks I was eager to read about: Big Bend, Arcadia, Gettysburg, Alcatraz Island and Cesar Chavez National Monument.

Williams is a good writer, and there are times when her descriptions take the reader straight to the park she is visiting. Some of these passages are downright poetic. However …

Williams spent less time on the park itself and its natural and/or historic wonders than she did on a political agenda, whether that be the mistreatment of Native Americans or the disturbing fervor of Civil War re-enactors (especially those portraying the Rebel forces) or, most often, the shameful policies of the then-current administration (G W Bush) with respect to mineral and drilling rights for big oil. I don’t even disagree with her point of view, but it wasn’t what I expected or wanted from this book. So I give it a middle-of-the-road 3-star rating.

The new thread is up over here.