What are you reading the week of January 29, 2022?

I finished Hippocrates VII, which includes Epidemics 2 and 4-7. I ran across an interesting fact in this series of case histories. Several times the author mentioned that some woman, prior to her illness, had recently been shaken in child birth. At first I thought this referred to an emotional or physical trauma. However, it turns out that it was a common practice in ancient Greece to shake women when they were in labor. I was suddenly struck by the image of someone shaking a ketchup bottle while muttering, "Come on, come on!"

The image so amused me that I shared the story with some coworkers. While they found it amusing, when I told them I was reading Hippocrates, they stared at me as if I'd grown a second head. Frankly, reading Hippocrates was worth it just to get this one story out of it.

I'm about 3/5 of the way through Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers. I am loving the writing and visions and the energy.

Just finished Detransition, Baby. Interesting and well-written.

Continuing to enjoy this audio novel via hoopla ~

The Second Mrs. Astor
by Shana Abe

I've been reading The Outsider by Stephen King this week. It's been so good I wanted to call in sick every day and read, but, you know, responsibility.

>3 framboise: I'm excited to hear this. I plan to read this fairly soon.

I've just finished the wonderful Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam. What a treat.

I'm slowly reading The Waves by Virginia Woolf. I'm reading it as if it were prose poetry and it doesn't have to make sense. It's a different kind of book for me. Definitely outside my comfort zone but I'm not sorry I started it. :)

I'm also reading The Plot and it's a good read although I loathe the main character.

Currently working on Speed Duel. After that will come The Empress of Salt and Fortune and Zero-Sum Victory.

Just finished All the Children are Home by Patry Francis
HIGHLY recommended.

Finished reading Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier. Enjoyed it for the most part. I have started The Autobiography of Josiah Henson.

Still reading Gemini Cell and Claws for Alarm.

This week I read three books:

The Last Maasai Warriors by Wilson Meikuaya, a Maasai warrior; parts of it were written by his close friend Jackson NTirkana. I'm fascinated by the Maasai people, but this book managed to make the tribe boring - it was not very well written while being replete with details.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It will be added to my list of favourite books, I think. This week I discovered that it had been my maternal grandmother's favourite book, which increased my liking of it.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane was a big surprise. I've been avoiding for years because I don't enjoy war stories, and it turned out that yes, this was a war story, but more than that it was a psychological examination of the main character, Henry Fleming, a soldier and occasional deserter, present at his first battles. I was riveted by the book, and won't hesitate the next time I'm presented with a war story.

After I finished The Man in the Wooden Hat, I had some questions so I started rereading the first book in the trilogy, Old Filth. I was also able to snag the third book from Hoopla, Last Friends. All other reading is on hold at the moment. :)

The Yellow Wallpaper and Selected Writings – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
4****

The title short story is Gilman’s classic story of a woman driven mad by her husband’s controlling “remedy” for her post-partum depression. Told in first person, the woman relates how her physician husband, John, has secured a colonial estate for their summer getaway. He is a very practical man and sure of his scientific facts. His prescription for his wife’s malaise is completely rest, and so she is locked in her attic bedroom, with its hideous yellow wallpaper and ordered to do NOTHING. No, not even a walk in the garden. And slowly she goes mad. Frankly, I was not a great fan of this story and dreaded reading the rest of the collection as a result, but I’m glad I persisted.

First published in 1892, Gilman’s story ignited some controversy, and she has been hailed as a feminist. She certainly is that. Among the stories in the collection is one involving a woman-developed pair of communities, where men take second place, and women run the show, and which prosper in a determined obscurity. Other stories show women stretching their wings and engaging in additional education or business pursuits despite their husband’s (or father’s or brother’s) objections, and succeeding, not just in their businesses but in life.

While the focus of virtually all these stories is the lives of women –how they are repressed, how they overcome, how they succeed – there is one notable story, Mr Peebles’s Heart, that shows the advantages to the man in the relationship from also spreading his wings and giving over some of the duties traditionally assigned to men to a woman in his life (wife, employee, sister, etc).

>6 nancyewhite: Let us know what you think.

On roll w/my reading! Just finished The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. It's been a while since I've read one of hers. Quick read and enjoyable.

Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
3/5 stars
A young, woman artist, along with her boyfriend and another couple, travel to an isolated island in Quebec. She is searching for her father who has gone missing and they end up staying in his cabin. Unfortunately, the longer she stays there, the relationships between her friends and lover strain and the more her state of mind unravels. Not my favorite of all her books but I love her writing and the ideas she provokes.

I finished Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet, which I found to be a profoundly rewarding reading experience. Anyone interested will find my review on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be The Handle, the 8th entry in Richard Stark's (a.k.a. Donald Westlake) gleefully wicked Parker crime series.

Just finished Holy Sh*t and had barely laid it down before hubby snatched it up.

We are both big Mary Roach fans (though her latest, Fuzz, was somewhat of a disappointment), and Mohr's style is very similar, with that mixture of scholarly attention to detail and a wicked sense of humor.

Lots of information here -- did you know that "dirty" words are apparently stored in a different part of the brain than the vocabulary we use in everyday speech? Or that the body has a measurable physiological response to using them?

Fascinating, informative, and surprisingly funny.

Going to end the month with Gone with the Whisker, a cozy mystery.

Cockroaches – Jo Nesbø
Digital audiobook performed by John Lee
3***

Book two in the popular Norwegian mystery series, has Inspector Harry Hole traveling to Bangkok to “help” investigate the murder of Norway’s Ambassador to Thailand, who was found stabbed in a brothel. Harry seems an unlikely choice for such a political sensitive assignment. He’s an alcoholic and a barely functioning one at that. But he takes the long flight as an opportunity to dry out (at least temporarily) and get his brain engaged once again.

I started reading this series with The Snowman and then decided I needed to go back to book one and start at the beginning. Nesbø crafts a complicated plot with many twists and turns and enough suspects, and side plots, to distract the most dedicated detective – and reader.

Harry is really growing on me. He’s flawed, of course, but I like the way he thinks and figures out the mystery. I also like how Nesbø explores Harry’s personal demons and struggle with drink. It’s not an easy thing to overcome and while he doesn’t dwell on it, the author doesn’t sugarcoat it either. I really liked Liz Crumley, who is an inspector in the Bangkok Homicide division, and would love to see more of her in the series.

I’ve been to Bangkok several times, and while my travels avoided the seedier areas of town that Harry must navigate as he looks into the case, I can say that Nesbø’s writing definitely evoked the sights, sounds, smells and flavors of that city for me. That steamy heat! The incessant cacophony of traffic! The relief of entering an air-conditioned building and enjoying an ice-cold beverage!

I did find myself cringing quite a bit at the more violent scenes. So, if you bothered by such graphic depictions this is probably not the series for you.

John Lee does a great job of narrating. He sets a good pace, and his diction is easily understood even when listened to at double speed.

Finished Claws for Alarm by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. Meh. Added In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten to my rotation.

>13 enaid:

A great trilogy by Jane Gardam if able try to obtain The People on Privilege Hill it follows on with a few of the main characters, it is a collection of short stories.

>21 Aussi11: I did find it and it arrived today in the mail. So excited & thank you for the recommendation! I found The Man in the Wooden Hat to be quite moving. Betty was really something! I also enjoyed Last Friends. Isn't Jane Gardam a treasure? She reminds me a bit of Muriel Spark but without the razor sharp edges.

I finished The Autobiography of Josiah Henson. It was a dry and somewhat dull (especially the latter half) retelling of events in his life.

I’m doing a re-read of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

Finished In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten. Enjoyed it. Added Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton to my rotation.

¡Hola Papi!– John Paul Brammer
Audiobook read by the author
3***

Subtitle: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons

Brammer studied journalism and creative writing and landed a job writing an advice column for INTO, which was published by Grindr, the popular gay hook-up app. He wasn’t sure he was doing “the gay thing” right, or that he had any business giving advice, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. His column, ¡Hola Papi!, took off like wildfire.

This collection of essays serves as a memoir and self-help guide to pressing questions about growing up, surviving break ups, finding love, and all the issues young people – both gay and straight – have to navigate in the process of becoming adults. He recounts his experiences in a small Oklahoma town, his horrible middle-school years, when he was bullied to the point where he considered suicide, his confusing teenage years in the closet, his awakening in college, and his eventual move to New York.

The beginning of each chapter poses a question asking for advice. There are some chapters where I wondered where his story was headed and if he’d ever connect to the question being asked. But Brammer’s honesty and empathy propelled me forward.

Brammer narrates the audiobook himself. He does a fine job, it IS his own story after all, and I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job of narrating it. I did read about half the book in text format, however.

Jumbo: This Being the True Story Of the Greatest Elephant In the World– Paul Chambers
3***

This is a “biography” of the African elephant who gave the world a new word for large, gigantic, stupendous, huge, magnificent: Jumbo.

Chambers details how the young calf was captured by nomadic Hamran traders, and subsequently, through the hands of various dealers in exotic animals, delivered to the zoo in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. That facility eventually sold the young animal to the London Zoological Society, where he came under the care of Matthew Scott, who would become his champion and life-long keeper, and where Jumbo became the darling of Victorian England.

I’d heard of Jumbo before, but only as part of P T Barnum’s circus. I found it fascinating to learn how the giant elephant was trained and treated while at the London Zoo, the thousands of children who received rides on his back, and the outcry on learning that Barnum would take the beloved elephant to America. I also appreciated learning more about the various personalities surrounding Jumbo, from Scott to the head of the London’s Zoological Garden, Abraham Bartlett, to P T Barnum.

I am an admitted fanatic when it comes to elephants, but even I lost interest a few times. And I think that readers who don’t want to read about any mistreatment of animals would best avoid this work. (It’s historically accurate, but that doesn’t make it easier to take.)

I finished The Handle, the eighth book in Richard Stark's (a.k.a. Donald Westlake) wickedly entertaining "Parker" crime series. Next up is this month's reading group selection, a memoir, The Education of an Idealist, by Samantha Power.

>22 enaid:

Good that you tracked down a copy. Enjoy.

Just finished Gone with the Whisker, a fun little cozy mystery.

Next up is The Vanishing Sky, for my F2F group which meets Tuesday.

Enjoying the latest from one of my favorite authors
Lily A Tale of Revenge by Rose Tremain

I am in a Gilded Age mood right now. I am enjoying the new HBO series, and I am listening to novels which feature the Gilded Age.

audiobook via hoopla ~
Deception by Gaslight: A Gilded Gotham Mystery
by Kate Belli

>30 Aussi11: I didn't know Rose Tremain had a new one out. She's a real favorite of mine!

I just finished The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. It was slow to get going, I thought, but the last few chapters were pretty exciting except that I'd already guessed the secret. A great idea but a little overwritten? Also, the main character wasn't as interesting as the villain. :(

>32 enaid:
I checked up on Wiki, and that lists all of her novels plus, she has written two since 2020.
Islands of Mercy in 2020, another good read.

I just finished an egalley of Sandra Dallas’ upcoming work of historical fiction, Little Souls. Set in Denver during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, it was quite a bit darker than some of her other books, but very good. The release date is April 26, 2022.

Set aside Fight Night out of boredom.

Next up for listening is Strangers I Know by Claudia Durastanti.

I have just finished reading the novel THE READER by author BERNHARD SCHLINK

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Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness
Digital audiobook performed by Jennifer Ikeda
3***

Book two in the All Souls Trilogy picks up where book one left off.

SPOILER ALERT – if you haven’t read book one, you might not want to read any farther.

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Diana has successfully transported herself and Matthew back to 16th-century England, where they hope to find a witch to successfully help Diana learn her craft, and, perhaps more importantly, find the original Ashmole 782 manuscript. Matthew, having been here before, has an easy enough time fitting in, but Diana is pretty obviously “not from here” and that causes some issues. There is much political intrigue, not only that related to witches vs vampires vs daemons, and Matthew and Diana are mired deep into the muck quickly.

I was not so caught up in this book as I was with the first one. I felt it dragged in places and I didn’t feel the same passion between Diana and Matthew so evident in Discovery of Witches I did enjoy the appearances by famous real-life 16th-century figures (Shakespeare, Marlow, Queen Elizabeth I, etc), as well as learning a bit more about the various kinds of witches and following Diana’s quest to find her roots and learn her craft. And I loved her familiar!

Diana cannot seem to let go of her modern sensibilities and has a tendency to interfere in ways that put them in danger. (Sounds familiar to anyone who’s read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.) Matthew continues his usual brooding and protective behavior. As a result, their relationship hits a few bumps, but they do manage to work things through. There are times when I want to slap Matthew and tell him to just explain in detail, but I suppose that would lessen the suspense and the tension between him and Diana. Harkness also includes a couple of touching scenes involving parental love as well.

The puzzle continues in book three, which I’ll read – eventually. I don’t feel a pressing need to do so, however.

Jennifer Ikeda did a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She really brings these characters to life.

>36 Erick_Tubil:

The Reader is a great movie.

The new thread is up over here.