Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
*An example of a book that was not my “cup of tea” but I read it anyway!
Jackson Brodie is a private detective with an interesting case load: A father looking for the man who viciously murdered his daughter: an elderly lady with missing cats; a pair of eccentric sisters looking for the truth about their missing sister, and the sister of an ax murderer is looking for her runaway niece. The history of each case is detailed, with one or two more fleshed out than the others.
I can’t say I liked this book, I was ready to put it down, but slogged on. The "case histories" are connected by complete coincidence - only the tiniest credible amount, the characters are complete caricatures and the entire plot was contrived and overblown. The amount of murder, attempted murder, death, rape, and sexual abuse was gratuitous. Dysfunctionality was supposed to pass for “rich” characterization. The endless plot twists large and small, combined with multiple shifts in point of view were irritating. It was like having a conversation with someone who tells a story by taking 30 minutes to tell a 5 minute story. You just want to scream for them to get to the point. Finally, the repetitive mentions of sex was just weird and unnecessary.
Non-Fiction: Unidentified Flying Objects
Flying Saucers - Serious Business by Frank Edwards
News that NASA had a study group to study what we used to call UFOs, inspired me to read Flying Saucers - Serious Business. Published in 1966, it is an interesting look back at how people and government agencies responded to viewing unidentified flying objects – now called, UAPs.
“What was the mysterious solid object that struck a Comet jetliner in flight over India? - Has modern science already communicated with intelligent beings from outer space? - Why have UFO's undergone drastic design changes in the past sixty years? - What was the thing that followed a Polaris missile in 1961 and caused the radar tracking gear to lock on it instead of the missile? How could British television viewers pick up signals form a Texas TV station that had gone out of business three years earlier? What was the strange substance that dribbled from a crippled disc over Brazil in 1954? What was the reason for the mysterious power blackouts of the Northwest and the Southwest in the fall of 1965? What will the next UFO phase be and what are its unprecedented implications for the human race? FLYING SAUCERS -- SERIOUS BUSINESS The most revealing and astonishing story on UFO's ever to appear in print!” - publisher’s description
Frank Edwards (1908-1967) was a famous radio broadcaster of the 1950s. He was known as an early champion of flying saucers, a close friend of pioneering ufologist Donald E. Keyhoe, and a board member, from 1956 until his death, of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Edwards did a good job of organizing and compartmentalizing various aspects of ufology. And, while other author’s have disputed some of his information, this book remains one of the best-selling UFO books, ever. There are a multitude of UFO sightings described in it from all over the world.
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country by Amanda Gorman
Recently The Hill We Climb was in the news as another book being “banned” in a Florida school. Although I watched Gorman recite the poem, I had to read it and find out what happened.
A parent requested that the book be removed from a school library. She cited Oprah Winfrey as the author. Wrong! She wrote the foreward. Did this parent actually look at and read the book? Eventually the book was not “banned” or removed. The school decided to shelve the book in the “Middle School Section of the School Media Center” – the school is K-8th Grade. And the school has indicated that an elementary-age child would not meet resistance from a librarian should they want to walk over to the middle school section of the library to read the book.
What do I think about the poem? First, and most importantly, I do not read much poetry. I did read what professional critics said about The Hill We Climb. The critics said that it was cliché and full of platitudes. I agree with the critics about the presence of platitudes, but what did they expect out of a poem presented at a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance and patriotic symbolism?
Non-Fiction: Genealogy
It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree by A.J. Jacobs
An Israeli dairy farmer sends an e-mail to Jacobs explaining how he is a distant relative.
This starts Jacobs thinking of his ancestors and the concept of the World Family Tree (i.e. that we are all, in essence “cousins” descended from a scientific Adam and Eve known as the “Y-Chromosomal Adam” and the “Mitochondrial Eve”). He then dreams up a project to dwarf anything a rational human being might think of: coordinating a family reunion that breaks the Guinness World Record for most attendees. It would be a project that would take over a year to pull off and would become known as the Global Family Reunion. At this reunion, cousins and cousin’s cousins and not even related to you cousins, would demonstrate global, communal and familial unity.
Jacobs’ humor and positive attitude were refreshing. His idea of a world wide reunion to unify us is something I can get behind. Perhaps by coming to the realization that we are all related, we will learn to treat others with the care and respect they deserve as our cousins.
Audiobook Fiction: Mystery
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Susan Ryeland, a book editor, reads the manuscript of Magpie Murders. It was written by the best-selling mystery writer Alan Conway and is the ninth in his successful classic-Agatha-Christie-style, cozy-murder mysteries featuring German detective Atticus Pünd. *NOTE: If Howoritz had simply written an Atticus Pünd mystery, I would have been totally satisfied. However, there is more!
Susan discovers that the final chapters of Magpie Murders are missing. What happened? Where are the missing chapters? Before she can talk to Alan Conway, he dies in an apparent suicide by falling off the tower of his mansion. Then a suicide note in Conway's handwriting is delivered to the publisher’s office. Susan has doubts about his suicide and decides to investigate Conway's death in order to know the truth and to find the last chapters of the Magpie Murders manuscript. As Susan tries to find the rest of the manuscript she becomes embroiled in a real life murder and ends up playing amateur detective herself.
This one book is two mysteries, one nestled into the other - a whodunnit within a whodunnit. Initially I was annoyed when the plot switched away from Atticus Pünd, but then I soon found myself lost in Susan’s story and equally reluctant to let go back to Atticus Pünd. The audiobook readers were excellent and, while it is quite lengthy, Magpie Murders is worth the time spent listening/reading. Horowitz delivers on both mysteries and had me wondering whodunnit – twice over. I loved this book!
Audiobook Fiction: Mystery
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by Various Authors
This is a collection of new, original short mysteries featuring Agatha Christie’s legendary detective Jane Marple, written by twelve bestselling and acclaimed authors. Each author re-imagines Miss Marple while staying true to the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie mystery.
There are some great crime writers in this collection. But, as expected, some catch the style and tone of the original Miss Marple mysteries better than others, meaning that some of the stories are treats, while a couple were blah.
My two favorite stories were written by Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware, both excellent authors. Lucy Foley’s Evil in Small Places has Miss Marple getting caught up in an investigation while staying with a friend. Foley sets the tone brilliantly – the village setting, plotting, murder method and solution all felt authentic. Plus, she references many of Christie’s book titles within the context.
Ruth Ware’s story, Miss Marple’s Christmas, was, in my opinion, the best story in the collection. This mystery includes a Christmas party at the Bantrys, a jewel theft, very English characters … all within a quintessential “Miss Marple” plot. We discover that Miss Marple likes to read detective fiction, and is fond of the work of Dorothy L. Sayers which plays role in the solution of the mystery. A great story, very authentic and made me smile.
Audiobook Non-Fiction: History
The Secret Gate: A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice During the Collapse of Afghanistan by Mitchell Zuckoff
What was the Afghanistan evacuation actually like for the thousands of people who were there? This is the incredible true story of a young American foreign service officer, Sam Aronson, working the final days of the 2021 Kabul evacuation, and an Afghan writer and mother, Homeira Qaderi and her 8 year old son, Siawash. The Secret Gate relates the experiences of two people who actually had their “boots on the ground.”
Sam Aronson was looking to make a diplomatic career for himself and volunteered to travel to Kabul Airport and assist the State Department with the evacuation. Sam rescued as many people as he could navigating through bureaucratic red tape, and using new and old connections.
Meanwhile, Homeira Qaderi, academic, author, educator, and icon of Afghan women’s liberation who was awarded custody of her child after a divorce, found herself in a tremendous bind. She could either leave behind everything and everyone she loves, or take a chance living in a Taliban-controlled country.
Their stories are compelling – this is narrative non-fiction that grabs you and doesn't let go.
With all the politicians’ “blame game” stories regarding the pull out of US forces from Afghanistan, it is no wonder people don’t really know what happened. I learned a lot and realize how much factual information is ignored by our politicians. I think that people's opinion would change about the whole situation if they read this book. No one, not even the Taliban, was prepared for the speed of what actually happened.
Thankfully, our dedicated security, Armed Forces, and diplomats did a great job in the worst situation, under life-threatening conditions. They evacuated over 120,000 people. Their actions had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with military and civil service professionalism.
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Focusing on dictators in Europe (Mussolini, Hitler, Franco, Putin, and Berlusconi), South America (Pinochet), Africa (Gaddafi and Mobutu), and the United States (Trump), Strongmen is timely, well-researched, and it could not be more important at this particular time. Especially after the events in Europe on June 24!
Organized into three parts, this book describes how the "strongmen" came to power, how they remained in power - usually through a combination of propaganda, corruption, violence, and sex - and finally, how they left power. Unsurprisingly, while some were killed (Mussolini and Gaddafi), many others used their final months in power to secure relative stability for themselves and died largely unprosecuted (Pinochet). Strongmen is for anyone interested in history and politics or simply wants to engage as a citizen of the world. It’s intense, readable, and insightful, and a topic that’s critically important to understand.
Valuable Quotes from Strongmen:
“Strongmen will do anything to stay in office, even starting wars … political scientists call this phenomenon ‘gambling for resurrection’ and almost all lose the wager.”
“The authoritarian regards his departure from office as an existential threat - the end of being adulated by followers and controlling everything and everyone.”
“The authoritarian playbook has no chapter on failure ...Trump’s desire to stay in office indefinitely reflected fear of meeting a bad end, losing immunity from prosecution, or becoming a nobody.”
- “History shows the importance of keeping hope and faith in humanity and of supporting those who struggle for freedom in our own time. We carry with us the stories of those who lived and died over a century of democracy's destruction and resurrection. They are precious counsel for us today.”
International Fiction: Book Club Selection
Supernova: The Knight, the Princess and the Falling Star by Dewi Lestari, Harry Aveling (Translator – from Indonesian )
The novel begins with Dhimas and Ruben, two Indonesian men who had met while studying in America. Ruben makes a promise, “That in ten years time, I will create something that will bridge the gap between the various branches of learning.”
Now it's ten years later and the two men, Ruben, a professor of Psychology, obsessed with quantum physics and its link to spirituality and Dhimas, a professor in literature, start writing their masterpiece. They don’t want to write a dry academic article explaining their philosophy, but rather a novel: “We need to write something a lot of people will want to read. A poetic romance with a bit of science thrown in.”
Supernova is their creation. They designed their story and characters based on a classic fairy tale The Knight, the Princess, and the Falling Star, but with modern twists. The Princess is Rana; she is married, to Arwin, but marriage hasn't entirely lived up to her expectations. When she meets successful businessman Ferré, she thinks she's found her Knight, and is torn between what ending her marriage would mean and embracing what seems to be true love. The Falling Star is Diva, "our nation's supermodel, Crème de la crème" and a high-end call-girl, too. Finally, there's also the mysterious Supernova. Supernova is an online presence, “a cyber avatar" who basically offers advice in response to questions.
Supernova alternates between Dhimas and Ruben's writing efforts and the actual story that they are writing. As their novel progresses they comment on the story as it develops, even when it escapes their control and surprises even them. "I have no idea how the story will turn out, even though we're supposed to be writing it", Dhimas admits. Eventually they, too, become an unexpected part of the story.
Supernova is fast-paced as it mixes the action between the different characters and story-lines. The story weaves back and forth between the authors and their creation, but it doesn't become confusing. The veneer of deeper thought isn't entirely convincing, but it also isn't awkward. The end of the book includes a Further Reading bibliography for readers who want to explore the philosophers mentioned in the novel.
Non-Fiction: Cookbook/History
Tasting History by Max Miller
Miller begins this cookbook with an explanation of how his YouTube channel was created and a list of ingredients uncommon to modern cooks but prevalent in historical recipes. He then breaks his book into five sections; The Ancient World, The British Isles, Continental Europe, The Near & Far East, and The New World. Each section is organized chronologically, with the oldest recipe he has chosen to recreate to the newest (the newest is from 1914). Each recreated recipe is intriguing, with easy-to-follow instructions, and a historical anecdote.
There are some recipes that I would like to try from a historical perspective, like Mead or Gingerbread, Then, there are recipes I would like to try because they sound simply delicious, such as Sally Lunn Buns, Parmesan Cheese Ice Cream, and Samosas. I probably will not try the Spartan Black Broth – it includes 2 cups of pork blood!
The 1914 recipe for Texas Pecan Pie is from “a time before corn syrup came to dominate the dessert.” His adaptation of the original recipe uses sugar since corn syrup didn’t begin to dominate until the 1930s. The 1914 recipe also calls for a meringue topping, an addition not found in modern pecan pies. So even within a short time span of just over 100 years, Miller shows us how a recipe has evolved.
Full of stunning photographs, fascinating historical facts, and interesting recipes, Miller shines a new light into the taste palettes of the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment