Review: WANDERING STARS

Title: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Book Beginnings quote, from the Prologue

Friday56 quote from page 40, last page of the preview:

Summary: Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, through the Carlisle Indian Industrial Schools, to beyond the shattering aftermath of the shooting of Orvil Red Feather's shooting in Tommy Orange's brilliant book, There There.

Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother, Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed at the shooting by secretly cutting himself and enacting blood rituals that he hopes will connect him to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is equally adrift, experimenting with Ceremony and peyote, searching for a way to heal her wounded family (Publisher).

Review: Tommy Orange opens Wandering Stars with a dedication which frames one of the main themes of the book -- addiction:

The book is both a prequel and a sequel of There There. Readers are introduced to all the family members in that first book and understand the theme is about what life is like for Urban Indians. Then in Wandering Stars we realize the tentacles of racism and the National degradation that happened centuries ago to Native Americans still taints lives today. Drug addiction, poverty, alienation are terrible, predictable side effects.

Wandering Stars is a hard book because looking at the true history isn't easy, especially when we have to counter a message we've been fed a steady diet of about the Native American experience, "Yes it was bad, but it was along time ago, so get over it!" The quotes from the prologue and page 40 tell us a bit of what to expect. Native American children weren't treated like other children and when they were sent to the Indian Schools like the Carlisle Indian Industrial school those in charge tried to "kill the Indian, to save the man."  Imagine being told that your culture, your language, even the way you wear your hair is bad and in order to be "good" you should just melt into the dominant culture and not make a fuss.

I honestly wish that every American was required to read Tommy Orange. The way he consolidates history, the history of indigenous people, is so crisp and sharp, it is impossible to misunderstand or not have a correction to prior thinking about historical "facts." This book has a double message, that about the horrors of addiction, which clearly is not just a problem for one race of people. But as the character Junior, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, says the Tolstoy line in Anna Karenina “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” isn't true. "All Native American families are unhappy for the same reason," Junior says, "because of alcohol." I'd amend that statement to "drugs and/or alcohol" since several of the characters in this book are addicted to the new, more powerful depressants like fentanyl and other opioids. 

Fortunately Orvil makes it out the other end in Wandering Stars, and finds healing and wholeness in exercise and in his own culture. There is a message of hope to cling to.

Rating: 4.25 stars.

 

-Anne

TTT: Posts I’ve Written that Give You the Best Glimpse of Me

Top Ten Tuesday: 

Posts I’ve Written that Will Give You a Good Glimpse of Me

I hope you visit a few of these posts so you can get to know me better. Titles are hyperlinked.

Sunday Salon -- The Joyful Edition

Aug. 10, 2024

Where I focus on good news, as I see it, in what is happening in politics since the entry of Kamala Harris.

Review and top ten things I like about Brotherless Night

July 15, 2024

A brilliant top ten Tuesday activity where I reveal what I like about a particular book. I should do this activity for every book I review. It really made me think and in the process I reveal aspects of my values.

New York Times Review of Books -- 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

July 12, 2024

I enjoy reading book lists of 100 best books of the 21st Century was curated by 504 literary luminaries. You can see how many of the books I've read and those I hope to read. There is also a link to the whole list of 100 titles so you can check out which you've read/want to read. 

Favorite Moments from a Recent Trip

June 10, 2024

My sisters and I went on a trip this summer to Norway and Germany to visit relatives and to sightsee. This was a TTT post where I identified some of the top moments of the trip.

Wrapping Up Poetry Month with Five Short Reviews

April 26, 2024

I love poetry/ This is something one should know if they want to get to know me better. I know a lot of people don't share this love, but I hope you take a look at these reviews and possibly give one of the collections a try.

Sunday Salon -- Leave Only Footprints + Our National Parks Odyssey

April 14, 2024

This is a recap of a family trip we took this Spring to visit the five National Parks in Utah, plus a review of the book Leave Only Footprints which is about all the National Parks in the US.

Review and discussion questions for The Rabbit Hutch

March 2, 2024

I am in two book clubs and I enjoy them both so much. This review lets you see into my brain a bit as I am the one who had to generate the discussion questions for the book, The Rabbit Hutch.

Children's Nonfiction Book Review, with help from a six-year-old

February 18, 2024

As a grandma AND a Cybils judge in the nonfiction category, I take an opportunity to insights from a kid after we read the books together.

A Look Back at 2023 Through My Sunday Salon Posts

January 6, 2024

This is a two-fer. I have hyperlinked all my favorite posts about favorite moments from 2023. This post is the best of the best for 2023.

My 2023 End-of-the Year Survey of Books

December 30, 2024

As a reader I think people get to know me better if they see what I am reading and what I like. I do this rather detailed survey every year in December. It provides a nice snapshot of my reading year.

-Anne

Review: KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE

Title: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Book Beginnings quote:

"My mother always says it's common as pig tracks to go around with a run in your stocking," Helen says, eyeing Billie's ripped hosiery critically.

Friday56: 

Brad Fogerty, a junior field operator from the Museum. I opened my mouth to say hey, but before I could ease myself out of my hiding place, I froze. Brad was masquerading as a member of the crew. That meant he was working.

Summary: 

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now they are being sent on a cruise as their retirement gift where they discover they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death.

To get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman--and a killer--of a certain age. (Publisher)

Review: Though not the type of book we usually choose for our book club, Killers of a Certain Age is this months offering. Four retired assassins, all female, all in their 60s, have to work together and kill or be killed. Based on the cover and the books description, I expected the book to be infused with humor. There were some funny moments or scenes, but mostly it was a serious, deadly serious, book. I am not sure what we will discuss in our meeting. This is a problem with mysteries and book club discussions. What is there to talk about after you know how everything works out? Here is a list of the discussion questions. Honestly of all of the questions, I think our club will have the most fun with the last one: What do you think is next for the four assassins?

So now I've told you two things you might not have known: (Spoiler) 1. They survive and 2. This seems to be the first book in a series, but as far as I can tell, it is a standalone.

Rating: 3 stars

-Anne

Review and a peek at Austen retellings: PRIDE, PREJUDICE, AND OTHER FLAVORS

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep."

Next month my book club will be discussing Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev. It doesn't take a college professor to figure out that this book is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's most famous work. Heck, the title alone gives it away.

In the bio at the back of the book Sonali Dev is said to write Bollywood-style love stories. I admit I spent a lot of time picturing the characters of Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors in a made-for-TV miniseries where they eventually do burst out into a Bollywood-type dance scene. 😊 

Okay this Bollywood-style dance scene has nothing to do with the book, I was just looking for an excuse to link it to my blog so you could experience a Bollywood dance for yourself. Tee-hee . This particular dance, Naacho Naacho, became a dance craze a few years back and everyone was filming themselves doing it. Like here.

Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules:  1. Never trust an outsider; Never do anything to jeopardize your brother’s political aspirations; and 3. And never, ever, defy your family.  Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes.

Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha’s arrogance. And then he discovers that she’s the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life (Publisher).

The fun part about reading this Pride and Prejudice retelling was trying to figure out who was who compared to the original. At first I thought DJ (Darcy James) was clearly the Darcy character. The names were similar after all. But Trisha is the person who has family money and fame, and, boy, is she a snob. Trisha had many siblings but she was very close to one sister (Elizabeth and Jane?) But then I decided they were both very prideful and prejudiced. So I vacillated back and forth in my opinion. There were other characters who were a little easier to figure out: Julia Wickham was the villain, and DJ's sister was named Emma. Was that an homage to another Austen character (Emma?) My favorite parts weren't even the characters but the descriptions of the food. My goodness Sonali Dev must be a food aficionado in order to write about the preparation of the food she was describing. There is even a recipe at the end of the book which I know I will never make...egads, a squillion calories and ingredients I'd have no idea where to find. But I did enjoy reading the recipe. It sounded yummy. 

My problem with the book isn't so much with the book itself but how it compares to the original.  This is the way I've felt about all the Jane Austen retellings I've read. I enjoy them because they remind me of the original but none of the writers get even close to Jane Austen's talents. Here are a list of the J.A. retellings I recall reading with links if you want to read more.

• Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. I read this book back before I was blogging or keeping track of my books online. I loved it alot but I didn't even realize it was a retelling until someone told me so later. I hadn't entered into my love affair with Austen at that time. In a lot of ways this was fresh enough and different enough for the day, this may be my favorite retelling.
• The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Another pre-blogging read for me. This introduces reader to all the Austen heroines through modern examples.
• Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series by Pamela Aidan. I read the first book, An Assembly Such As This in 2008 and didn't particularly like it. It is a retelling of the P&P story from Darcy's point of view. I skipped the second book, but read the third several years later, These Three Remain, and I really liked it a lot. It gave such plausible explanations for how Darcy found Lydia and how he tried to conquer his feelings for Elizabeth.
• Jane Austen Heroes series by Amanda Grange. I went through a phase where I tried to read all these diaries of the heroes in Austen's books. I managed to read five of the six. Once again these diaries tell the same story as Austen's story just from a different POV.
• Mr. Darcy's Diary
• Edmond Bertrand's Diary
• Mr. Knightley's Diary
• Captain Wentworth's Diary
• Henry Tilney's Diary
• Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer. Similar to the diaries mentioned above.
• The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater. A racier version of the diaries.
• The Austen Project by a variety of authors. I read two of the four books in this project. (The project didn't publish retellings of Austen's last two books. I read: Eligible (Sittenfeld)-- Pride and Prejudice -and Emma (McCall Smith) -- Emma.
• Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rieger. A Time traveling two-book series.
• Longbourn by Jo Baker. A Pride and Prejudice story told from the point-of-view of the servants.
• A Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. A mystery involving Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
• Dancing with Mr Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House. A short story collection, inspired by not retellings. I loved many of the stories.
• What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullen. Not a retelling, but explanations about why Austen wrote what she did about certain topics. Enlightening.
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. Silliness.

My biggest beef with Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors was its length. But its length: 481 pages, qualified this book for a the Big Book Summer Challenge.

-Anne

Review: SOMEHOW: THOUGHTS ON LOVE

I am reading the library's print version of Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott. Normally if I owned a copy or read an e-version of the book I would make a point of highlighting my favorite phrases. This post is my effort to highlight my favorite thoughts. It is pretty disjointed. I won't blame you if you decide to skip this review, but I hope you stick with it.

The book begins with a epigraph is a poem: "The Guest House" by Rumi. It seems completely perfect for a book about love. It reminds us to celebrate who and what comes our way.

The first chapter seemed to be especially quote-worthy:

One thing is certain: Love is our only hope. Love springs from new life, love springs from death. Love acts like Ghandi and our pets and Jesus and Mr. Bean and Mr. Rogers and Bette Midler. Love just won't be pinned down (3).

When we are paying attention, we see how much holds us invisibly. Love is a bench (6).

The Dominican friar Timothy Radcliffe wrote that God can never tell you to not love someone. God can only tell you to do a better job loving someone (7).

Love is what our soul is made of, and for (10).

When we tell someone that God is always with them they may reply (or think) "But I need someone with skin on." Be goodness with skin on.   (Paraphrase p. 12)

Anne Lamott is often sought out for advice on how to cope with life's failures. She is pretty humble about what advice she has to offer. She says, When we wrong someone our prayer can be: " Bless him, change me. Help me like myself again." I love this prayer: Bless him/her, God. But change me! 

Each of Lamott's books always seem to be autobiographical, at least in part. In this book she talks quite a bit about her father, how he left the family, the scars from that relationship. At one point she and her younger brother take the father, who is dying from cancer, to the beach. While there he falls over and his pants get wet in the surf. Yet, the look of joy at being at the beach at low tide negates the mishap. She said, "We all felt it, that rare feeling, those rare moments out of time, not religious or esoteric, just piercingly alive for a few moments, moments of eternity, my father tasting the joy of being alive" (71). I've experienced those types of moments. Haven't you? Moment which can be bottled up for use later when we need them. When my father died we asked the choir of the church for help fulfilling one of his wishes: to sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" at his memorial service. They did better than that, they sang it while the organist played it on the big pipe organ. Whenever I need it, whenever I want to feel close to my Dad again, I can call up that beautiful moment when 200 mourners, a big choir, and a fantastic pipe organ made music together honoring a great guy.

I'm getting to the age where more and more of my friends are dying. Last month alone I lost three. Anne Lamott, too, has experienced the death of many friends and she does not shy away from being with them in their last hours and days.

I have been with many people who were dying and what is revealed besides the worry is that they loved, both what they will miss and what still fills and feeds them.  Karen in her bed with her cat and us, photos of her family; my father happy as a child that morning on the beach, wet pants and all. Those ornate ordinary times, the grip of the a hand as you walk up the trail to car, laughing in spite of it all, vanilla pudding (78-9).

Lamott shares how important it is to live our love out loud. And to accept love when it is given by others. "Apricity means the warmth of the sun in winter, and the warmth for me was people loving on me out loud" (86). All of us need to feel the warmth of love coming from others. Accept it! Snuggle into it.

She shares her advice when one wants to recover from an attack: "Here is the launch code when under attack: gratitude (make a list!) chores, chocolate, service, breath, nature" (87). She hopes she gets a chance to whisper these into her grandson's ears after she is gone, when he needs help. Her consistent advice throughout the book is to get out in nature and take a walk, and to do service to help the needy. I would concur that these almost always bring me out of a funk!

It is hard to welcome pain but it may help to remember: "Rumi said that through love, all pain will turn to medicine" (87). We often need the medicine that only love can provide.

Anne Lamott quotes so many authors and poets in her books, like I am quoting her here. Tee-hee! Here she quotes the writer Arundhati Roy and her beautiful statement and then adds to it:

"'Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.' ...it reminds me if I stop and listen, I will hear hope. I hear it in nature, in singing, in stories of goodness, in the saddest places, in celebration, but maybe most often in gently absurd stories of love" (95).

One of her favorite songs became a star in chapter six, "Song". I'd heard the song "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead before but hadn't really listened to the words. This verse really stood out to me:

Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty

If your cup is full, may it be again

Let it be known there is a fountain

That was not made by the hands of men

"Ripple" by the Grateful Dead

I have a relative, X, who is a recovering alcoholic, who doesn't? Anyway as I read the 7th chapter, "Cowboy", I  kept wishing that this relative could read it. Lamott talks about the importance of human connections. Ask any teacher who taught before and then after the COVID shut-downs and they will tell you how impactful it was for students to be away from other students for those years. Kids don't know how to make friends anymore. They don't know how to compromise or work on projects together. It is so sad. Heck, I think I will copy off the pages and share them with X. I know he will appreciate the wisdom therein.

In the CODA, Lamott paraphrases William Blake, "We have to learn to endure the beams of love." This message, this thought makes me cry today. I am crying for myself and for so many people I know who keep dodging these beams, trying to hold ourselves together with spit and baling wires, rather than submitting to the beams of love which can help us grow and evolve. Only love can heal us from our loneliness and despair.

If the younger ones in our lives can remember only this one idea, that they are here, briefly, a little space to love and to have been loved, they they will have all they need, because love is all they need, rain or shine...good old love, elusive and steadfast, fragile, and unbreakable, and always there for the asking: always, somehow (191).

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out I rated this book with 5 stars.

-Anne

TTT: Literary Orphans

Top Ten Tuesday: Literary Orphans

It is hard not to root for literary orphans, they are all alone in the world, trying to make their way without the support of parents. Here are a few of my favorites:

Harry Potter in the series by J.K. Rowling. Harry is probably the most famous orphan alive.😊 

Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Dickens was acutely aware the world he lived in wasn't fair to impoverished children. He writes about another very famous orphan in another book, Oliver Twist. 

Demon Copperhead in a book by the same name by Barbara Kingsolver. This modern day orphan is fashioned after another Dickens orphan: David Copperfield.

Huck Finn in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Unlike most of the other literary orphans, Huck Finn doesn't seem to mind being on his own and free after his alcoholic father abandons him. Don't forget about another Mark Twain orphan: Tom Sawyer.

Danny and Maeve Conroy in The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. These siblings think they are orphans when their father dies and their step-mother throws them out of the house. Later we learn they aren't orphans, but their reliance on one another is absolute by that time.

Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The sense of isolation and being alone in the world is very palpable in this story about a famous orphan. 

Rill, Camillia, Gabby, Lark, and Fern Foss. A fictional story, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, about five siblings stolen in a real-life scandal involving the Tennessee Home Society Orphanage in the 1930s. Rill, the oldest, tries her darndest to hold her family together.

Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Anne has to be one of the most loving characters in all of literature.

Pak Jun Do, who believes he is The Orphan Master's Son, a book by Adam Johnson set in North Korea. Orphans are all led to believe they are related to famous and important people. Pak Jun Do learns the truth late in the novel.

Odie and his brother Albert  O'Banion, and several friends in This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger reminds us that "Found Family" is often just as important to us as our original family.

-Anne

Review: THE BERRY PICKERS

In 1962 a Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia travel to Maine to pick berries. One day the two youngest, Ruthie (4) and Joe (6), spend their lunch time sitting on a rock together. At some point Joe leaves Ruthie and moves down to the lake alone. He is the last person to see Ruthie. She seems to vanish into thin air. The family searches for her diligently for the whole month they are still in Maine, devoting every hour they aren't picking berries looking for her. Joe is wracked with guilt, fearing somehow it is his fault she is gone. At the end of the summer the family is forced to return to Canada without their daughter. Joe's guilt and grief of all family members shape the rest of their days. One event and the trajectory of each of their lives are irrevocably altered.

Meanwhile the story shifts to focus on Norma, a young girl growing up in Maine with an aloof father and an overbearing mother. She is told that her memories of another life, another mother are just dreams and nevermind there are no photos of you as a baby. There had been a fire which burned them all up. Her skin is darker than hers because of an Italian relative.

Norma grows up knowing something about her life is off and continually searches for the key which will open up her past. Joe lets his anger and grief get the best of him and he spends the rest of his life trying to run away from them. The chapters alternate between Joe and Norma, who the reader already knows is really Ruthie.  "The novel is less concerned with maintaining a mystery than with exploring how brutality ripples out, touching everything and everyone in its wake. Peters beautifully explores loss, grief, hope, and the invisible tether that keeps families intact even when they are ripped apart" (Kirkus Reviews).

Will the brother and sister meet before it is too late for both of them?

On the fringes of the story is the indigenous stories of racism and brutality, of forced boarding schools, and poverty. A story where whites are not condemned for kidnapping while natives are not even given any help in locating a lost child. It is a heartbreaking story. 

As I prepared for our book club, question #9 in this discussion guide states that ultimately The Berry Pickers is about forgiveness. That statement brought me up short. Do whites deserve forgiveness for the wretched way they have historically treated the First People of this continent? "Sorry. We were bad. Get over it!" I am going to have to sit with this thought for a while. Maybe, in terms of this story, self-forgiveness is what Joe needed and what ultimately brought him home to his family. And that IS a good thing.

Rating: 4 stars.

2024 Twenty Books of Summer Challenge

20 / 20 books. 100% done!

-Anne

Review: NORTH WOODS

Back in July I read a book, Brotherless Night, which I identified as the 'best' book I'd read all summer, maybe all year. I made the distinction between 'best' and 'favorite', though. Favorite implies a desire to tell others and to already start planning a reread, best implies literary skills of the author or importance of the story. Well, here we are at that crossroads. Brotherless Night may be the best but North Woods by Daniel Mason is the favorite book I've read this summer. 

North Woods was on a lot of the end-of-year-best-books lists. It also garnered a bit of chatter this spring as a possible choice for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (It wasn't selected.) It's synopsis gained my attention and attracted me to it:

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries.

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants . An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. (Publisher)

In a small way North Woods, whose stories revolve around a small cabin in Western Massachusetts over the centuries, reminds me of The Overstory, whose stories all relate to trees. North Woods has a series of linked stories told chronologically centering the action on or near the cabin. Three centuries of stories, families, characters, and schemes. And all these stories are not told in the same formats -- some are told in prose, others in lyrics and poetry, newspaper articles, medical case file entries, real estate advertisements, a true-crime detective story, a page entry from an almanac, and even a historical society speech. In addition to the humans in the stories, we also meet some of characters again as ghosts, and in the most comic of the stories we encounter a beetle who is making her home in a piece of wood brought into the cabin as firewood, and her beetle-lover who is very attracted to her scent, “What perfume! Threo-4-methyl-3-heptanol! Alpha-multistriatin!”

Daniel Mason clearly has a naturalists eye for details many of us city-dwellers would miss. In fact a detail I missed as an audiobook listener, each of the twelve chapters dealt with a different season or month, which allows the readers to see the forest and the environs around the cabin in what is now Western Massachusetts from a different and new vantage point as well. 

North Woods is a story about American history told at a micro scale: colonialism, puritanism, homesteading, Indian Wars, Revolutionary War, abolition, seances, LGBTQ+ issues, suburban sprawl, mental illness make appearances in the stories. It was looking at a history not of a particular family but of a particular location. It got me thinking what my spot on earth would have to say, what stories it would tell, over time.

The audiobook was excellent and used a variety of voice actors, ten in all. That seems about right considering the story took place over at least three centuries. But I didn't get the benefit of viewing any of the photos, illustrations, or the variety of written formats in the book. I think, but I am not sure, that the odd illustration on the cover is actually a historical drawing. The cougar, called a "catamount" in the book, is often talked about with no actual sightings. So it makes sense to include an illustration of what the people of the time thought the cat might look like.

My rating: 5 stars.

2024 Twenty Books of Summer Challenge

19 / 20 books. 95% done!

-Anne

Review: MY BRILLIANT FRIEND

Title: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein

Book Beginnings quote: 

(Prologue)This morning Rino telephoned. I thought he wanted money again and I was ready to say no. But that was not the reason for the phone call: his mother was gone.

Friday56 quote: 

I calmed down. Lila looked around, identified the opening from which we had dropped Tina and Nu. We went along the rough bumpy wall, we looked into the shadows. There dolls weren't there. Lila repeated in dialect, they're not there, they're not there, they're not there, and searched along the floor with her hands, something I didn't have the courage to do. 

Summary: Two girls growing up in Naples, Italy in the 1950s form a friendship that borders on a rivalry. The story begins in childhood where the girls are in the same class at school, competing for the highest marks. It runs through their adolescence where Lila is forced to drop out of school to work in her father's shoe shop, but Elena (aka Lenù) goes on with her education first to the middle school and eventually to the high school. Even though Lenù is the one in school, it is often Lila who helps her friend on school assignments and understanding the material. As they age, Lila, who was always skinny and dirty, becomes a great beauty, while Lenù, always the better looking of the two when they were young, finds herself gaining both weight and pimples. Lila ends up getting married at the end of the book and the reader is left to understand that she won the big prize by marrying first.

Review: This July, The New York Times Book Review published a list of The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, chosen by 503 literary luminaries. The No. 1 book was My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein. I had a copy of the book kicking around the house but had never read it. It was high time to dust off my copy and read it for myself. As the summary makes it sound, it isn't a complicated -- it is a coming-of-age story of two friends, Lila and Lenù, as they navigate through adolescence while living in a deeply impoverished area of Naples. I liked the book fine but wondered at its placement in the number one spot on the list. Searching around the Internet for some insight I bumped into a review of the book by Vinay Prasad. He says,

Ferrante does all the things I love in a novelist. She writes of mundane matters -- simple truths of the heart. Her characters aren't involved in assassination plots or terrorism. They don't want to change the world. They wish merely to live and be happy, perhaps to rise slightly in social status and wealth. 

Ferrante is a recluse no one knows who she is. In fact, she may be a he or a them. No one knows. When her first manuscript was accepted for publication, she told her publisher she would not do any publicity for the book, saying, "The novel is the end of the art and the author is irrelevant."

My Brilliant Friend ends on a cliffhanger, of sorts, or at least abruptly, so readers will want to read on to find out what happens next. Luckily there is a sequel, in fact there are three sequels in the Neapolitan series, published between 2012 and 2014. The fourth of the Neapolitan novels, The Story of the Lost Child, also made the 'Best Books of the Century' list. Clearly I need to read on after reviews like this:

 "Nothing quite like this has ever been published before," proclaimed The Guardian about the Neapolitan novels in 2014. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a world undergoing epochal change, Elena Ferrante tells the story of a lifelong friendship between two women with unmatched honesty and brilliance.

Have you read the book? Series? What are your thoughts?

2024 Twenty Books of Summer Challenge

18 / 20 books. 90% done!

-Anne

Emergency 24-Hour Blog-n-Readathon

Eek! I have a reading emergency. Time to drop everything and take care of business. Today I start an emergency blog-n-readathon due to congestion and a book pile-up.

Goal: To read or blog for 24 hours in the next 72 hours. Starting now.

Books:

1.  Killers of a Certain Age by Raybourn -- Print. Currently completed 60%, 105 pages to go.
2.  Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Dev -- Audio. Currently at 18 %, 12 hrs and 27 minutes to go.
3.  Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Lamott -- Print. Library book due August 24. 191 pages to go.
4.  A Bell for Adano by Hersey -- Print. Spin Book for Classics Club due Sept. 22. 269 pages to go.
5.  Reading Genesis by Robinson -- Print. Another library book due in three weeks. Renewal not possible without waiting in another long line for it.
6.   A Song for Achilles by Miller -- Audio. Currently completed 5%. 11 hours of listening left. Due in 13 days.

Past due blog reviews:

1.  The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters -- Finished reading July 30th.
2.  Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange -- finished reading August 8th.
3.  North Woods by Daniel Mason -- finished reading August 9th.

My progress: I will record my progress here at the end of each day until 24 hours of reading/blogging is finished or 72 hours have passed, whichever happens first.

On your mark. Get set. Go!

.........

1st Update...24 hours later

• Completed: Killers of a Certain Age by Raybourn -- 2 hours
• Progress: Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Dev -- Audio. Currently at 48 %, 7 hrs and 56 minutes to go. -- 4 1/2 hours
• Started: Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Lamott -- 15 minutes
• Total hours: 6 hours, 45 minutes.

2nd Update...48 hours later

• Progress: Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Dev -- Audio. Currently at 61 %, 5 hrs and 55 minutes to go. -- 2 hours
• Progress: Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Lamott -- reading and blogging about it at same time --33% complete, pg. 68. -- 2 1/2 hours
• Progress:  A Song for Achilles by Miller -- Audio. Currently completed 20%,  9 hours of listening left. -- 1 1/2 hours
• Blogging: Review for North Woods. -- 2 hours
• Total hours for the day: 8 hours. Total for the readathon so far: 14 hours, 45 minutes

3rd and final update...72 hours later

• Progress: Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Dev -- Audio. Currently at 89 %, 1 hr and 39 minutes to go. -- 4 1/2 hours
• Progress: Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Lamott -- reading and blogging about it at same time --63% complete, pg. 129. -- 2  hours
• Progress:  A Song for Achilles by Miller -- Audio. Currently completed 24%,  8 1/2 hours of listening left. -- 1/2 hour
• Blogging: Review for The Berry Pickers -- 2 hours
• Blogging: Review for Killers of a Certain Age (scheduled for Thursday publication) -- 45 minutes
• Started: A Bell for Adano. 260 pages left to go. 
• Total Hours for the day: 9 hours, 45 minutes. Total for the readathon: 24 hours and 30 minutes

My thoughts/observations:

• I am so close to finishing Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors. (Approximately 50 pages left.) Whew. It has been a slog listening to what will be over 15 hours of the audiobook. A goodly amount of my time on this readathon was spent listening to it (13+ hours)
• Though I only completed one book, I made progress on four others. That makes me feel calmer since all of those books have been screaming for attention for weeks! Now they all know I will get to them and their turn is coming! 
• I completed three reviews. It is not the three I'd planned, but the best laid plans.
• I blogged as I was reading Anne Lamott's book, so I am halfway finished with that review.
• How I want to review Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors has come into focus. Look for that this coming week as I hope to finish the book today.
• A Song for Achilles is probably going to be the last book I finish because I am listening to it with my husband. We only listen when we are in the car together. I hope the library will allow a renewal.

Upcoming bookish goals/plans:

• Finish Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors today and write a review for it to be published by next weekend or before.
• Finish Somehow: Thoughts on Love. Polish and finish review by Friday. Return to the library by that date.
• Continue reading A Bell for Adano. Renew book, if needed.
• Plan what to carry with me on the plane to Wisconsin. Possible audiobook: Transcendent Kingdom.
• Start: Reading Genesis.

Three days later:

• I've finished Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors the book and blogpost.
• I've completed Somehow: Thoughts of Love, both the book and the blogpost.
• I've listened to more of A Song for Achilles. Completing 57%, only 4 1/2 hours left of listening time.
• I started Reading Genesis and decided it wasn't for me. I've already returned it to the library.
• I've made progress on A Bell for Adano, Gather, and Transcendent Kingdom. There is no standing still in the reading world. Onward!
• Tonight I hope to start my review of Wandering Stars which I will post sometime next week.
• I'm feeling good about my progress!

-Anne

Have you read these books that Barack Obama recommends from his 2024 Summer Reading List?

So I was doom joy-scrolling on Twitter (X) yesterday and this list of Barack Obama's Summer Reading List jumped into my feed. I haven't read any of these books. Have you? I decided to do a little research on each of them and add those of interest onto my TBR. Please let me know, in the comment section, what you think of any of these books you've read.

James by Percival Everett

        Fiction. An action-packed reimagining of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn story. 4.55 stars on Goodreads. On my TBR already.

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

        Nonfiction. Memoir. Sports. "There’s Always This Year is a classic Abdurraqib triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. It’s about basketball in the way They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is about music and A Little Devil in America is about history—no matter the subject, Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves." 4.22 stars. I don't usually read sports stories but this one had me with the word: poetry. Adding to my TBR to at least look at.

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer

        Nonfiction. "An epic, heartbreaking, and deeply reported history of the disastrous humanitarian crisis at the southern border told through the lives of the migrants forced to risk everything and the policymakers who determine their fate." 4.48 stars. Sounds good but at 522 pages, I'll take a pass.

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

        Fiction. "Frenetic, surprising, and strikingly original, Headshot is a portrait of the desire, envy, perfectionism, madness, and sheer physical pleasure that motivates young women to fight—even, and perhaps especially, when no one else is watching." 3.69 stars. Fighting girls? Hmm. Not sure about this one.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

        Fiction. Mystery. "Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances." 4.35 stars. Sounds good. Adding to TBR.

Beautiful Days by Zach Williams

         Fiction. Ten Short Stories. "With exquisite prose and a lacerating wit, Beautiful Days holds a mirror to the many absurdities of being human and refuses to let us look away." 3.77 stars. Not interested.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

        Fiction. "A paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum." 4.24 stars. Adding to my TBR.

Memory Piece by Lisa Ko

        Fiction. LGBTQ+. "In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity." 3.23 stars. I've read and enjoyed this author but I am put off by that low raing.

The Ministry of Time by Kalianne Bailey

        Fiction. Sci-Fi. "A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley." 3.63 stars. Already on my TBR.

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How American Cracked Up in the 1990s by John Ganz

        Nonfiction. Politics. History. "A lively, revelatory look back at the convulsions at the end of the Reagan era―and their dark legacy today." 4.27 stars. Sounds too wonky for me.

Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Man is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It by Richard Reeves

        Nonfiction. "His new book, Of Boys and Men, tackles the complex and urgent crisis of boyhood and manhood. Reeves looks at the structural challenges that face boys and men and offers fresh and innovative solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narrative that plagues this issue. Of Boys and Men argues that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality." 4.08 stars. Sounds like an important book but I don't feel like reading it. 😒

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

        Nonfiction. Biography. History. "On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?" 4.51 stars. I confess this sounds really interesting. but I'm cautious to commit to it. 

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

        Fiction. Humor. "A darkly comic workplace caper that explores the aches and uses of solidarity, Help Wanted is a deeply human portrait of people trying, against increasingly long odds, to make a living." 3.61 stars. It sounds funny it could also be corny. Hmm.

-Anne