A few more books for those of you who still read!

 In no particular order, here are a few more books that I can either recommend or unrecommend.  

"The Searcher" by Tana French. I have mentioned French in previous posts. This novel is a stand-alone, none of her other "regular" characters are in it, just in case you were attached to the Dublin Murders Squad series. A retired American policeman leaves the U.S. and buys a rundown house in a small town in the Irish countryside. His goal is to be left alone and refurbish the house, take a lot of walks and drink pints in the local pub. While this seems like an easy undertaking, it isn't long before Cal Hooper gets involved with a poor, troubled kid trying to find out what happened to his brother. With Hooper's background as a detective from Chicago, he starts investigating this disappearance and his dream of being left alone is quickly overrun by the angst and anger his work creates in the small town.

French is sometimes a little dense, a little too wordy, but her descriptions of the countryside are beautiful, her characters are always great and fleshed out, the plot is always good and with a couple of good twists, this is an enjoyable novel. Just don't plan on breezing through it in two days.

Next up is "Monogamy" by Sue Miller, a prolific writer that I have enjoyed in the past. This novel has gotten a lot of play mainly because it is exciting to have a new novel from this excellent writer. The story is simple: two sort-of mismatched people meet, fall in love, get married, and then the husband, Graham, dies suddenly.  (Not a spoiler, we are told this on the book jacket.) His wife Annie tries to move on with her life but Graham was a larger-than-life kind of guy who expected Annie to live in his shadow, and now that he is gone, Annie has a difficult time finding her way out of that shadow. Plus, what she learns about Graham isn't always easy to take.

I liked the first third of this book, then didn't like it for the second third but by the time I was finished, I found myself thinking about it more than usual. Miller is a slow and thoughtful writer and she wants you to think about the characters, not just about what those characters are doing. She wants you to get to know them, even if you might not like them. It's a good read.

Moving on we come to "The Truants" by Kate Weinberg.  I have no idea why I put this on my library list, I must have been seduced by a good review. It's a debut novel (I should know better) and takes place at a college and has the usual assortment of unhappy students having affairs with each other and their teachers and strangers and in the end, who cares?  I didn't.

I also read "When No One Is Watching" by Alyssa Cole, a thriller of sorts, that was so contrived and manipulative that I couldn't finish it.

I also started the newest novel by Jody Picoult, "The Book of Two Ways" but never engaged with it.  Could be me, not the book.

Finally, I found a new author and read three of his books in a row. Matt Goldman writes detective novels and lots of stuff for TV, but the best things about his books are 1) they are quick, 2) they are very funny but not comedies, 3) they take place in Minnesota (!), and 4) I can download them onto my phone from the library.  The main character, Nils Shapiro, is a bit crazy and a lot smart. The crimes are odd and intriguing, but I just like the guy's sense of humor. If you found one in a used bookstore (yeah, like anyone goes shopping these days) it would be worth a buck or two to pick one up.

And that's all for now, folks. In addition to reading, I am on the last season (via Netflix) of the great TV show "West Wing" so the days of Jed Bartlett are almost over. The show goes off the air December 24, and I am determined to watch it to the end.

Hang in there. Stay at home. Don't breathe when other people are in the vicinity of your face. Stay warm. There are still lovely leaves on the trees, enjoy them while they last.

xo

Books! More Books! Book Reports!

Having little else to do, I read. And in the past 4 weeks I have read many books. As a kid in school, we had to write book reports, telling what the book was about (plot spoilers) and who wrote it,  if we liked it or not and why.  I can't go down that path again, and if you have read this blog for a while (HA!) you know I don't do plot synopsis, I don't do character analysis, I try to not give spoilers.  But if I didn't like the book, I tell you why.  If I liked the book, well, it is usually clear and no explanation is needed.

In no particular order, here's what I have read lately.

James Lee Burke: his latest novel is "A Private Cathedral" and it is 100% true to his traditional themes: guilt, angst, alcoholism, lust and many more sins of the soul.  And kindness and redemption. There is no point in trying to tell you about the plot.... people get shot, people lie and steal and kill and do many things that are unmentionable. Burke's novels are not for the faint of heart but they are about the darkness of one's mind and soul and of one's past, coming back to terrorize you.  I have liked every one of his books and this one was no different.

And then I decided to go back to the beginning and read his first Dave Robicheaux novel, "Neon Rain" published in 1987. From then to now, 33 years have gone by and yet the character from that first novel is the same in the current publication, just wiser and less impulsive and less physically fit.  Not to say that Robicheaux has diminished, it's just to say that he, like all of us, has gotten older. But Burke's description of New Orleans has always been perfect: "The esplanade was shady under the spreading oaks, and the wind blew pieces of newspaper through the intersection. The streetcar tracks were burnished the color of copper, and they trembled slightly from the rumbling weight of the car that was still far down the esplanade. The wind was dry, full of dust, the burnt-out end of a long, hot afternoon, and I could smell the acrid scorch in the air that the streetcars made when they popped across an electric circuit. Overhead, clouds that had the dull sheen of stream floated in from the Gulf, where the sun was already sinking into a purple thunderhead."

OK: moving on: By Louise Penny: "All The Devils Are Here" was published this year. Again starring the amazing Armand Gamache, head of homicide in Quebec. This novel has Gamache in Paris (!) visiting his daughter and son and their respective families. Gamache sits in the garden at Musee Rodin and visits with his godfather. They talk about old times, about families, about politics. Later that night his godfather is run over by a hit-and-run van and thus the tale takes off.

This novel takes place in Paris, my favorite city in the world, so it's no wonder I liked it so much. They walked down streets I have walked along,  visited neighborhoods where I have stayed and they popped into bakeries that I have frequented! Penny writes so beautifully about Paris, it is clear she loves the city as much as I do, and for that more bonus points are awarded.

Being a huge fan of Penny's novels, I have written about them here many times. Yes, they are about a murder or a death that needs to be solved but they are more about the nature of humanity, about hate and greed and kindness and love. She is a fabulous writer.

And, as an extra bonus, read this:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/magazine/lemon-meringue-cookie-gamache.html

If Dorie Greenspan doesn't convince you to read Louise Penny's novels, nothing will.

Third: John Grissom's latest novel: "A Time For Mercy."  I have read a lot of Grissom's books and have like most of them. This one, I liked but not hugely.  It felt plodding and padded. The story is of a young 16 year old boy/man who shoots the man who was beating his mother and terrorizing him and his sister. The trial comes down to this: cold-blooded murder or a murder to protect himself and his sister. 

I found the plot to be weak and predictable, the salient points are telegraphed to the reader much too far in advance and I never really came to like any of the characters, including the "hero" lawyer Jake Brigance. But hey, that's just me. Don't buy this, just download it or library it. Better than watching TV, although I am sure a movie is in the works. 

I have three more books to talk about, will do that tomorrow. Stay well, all of you out there.

xox

Documentary: A Life on Earth, David Attenborough

This documentary is on Netflix and you should watch it. Attenborough is iconic in his reporting on the planet, its health and its sorrows. In this film he shows us the worsening situation of the entire world, from Africa to Antarctica to  the United States, brought on by climate change and disregard for the stability of our planet.

Everyone should watch this, not because he explains how humans have wrecked the planet but because he explains how we can take back the real world that can sustain us and how all of us are culpable in the destruction that has already happened. It is not always a happy documentary but if you know Attenborough's work you know that the photography will be gorgeous and the writing will be perfect. He is a master at telling about  and showing the life in the wilds, be it Africa, South America, Asia, America and on..... And now he is telling us the peril our planet is in.

Take the 90 minutes out of your life and watch this. It might not change anything about your life now but it certainly will make you think and possibly make you act. 

I have always believed that no matter what humans do to defile the planet, our Earth will go on, it will live on long after our screwing around with it, destroying ecosystems, raising the temperature of the planet, ruining biodiversity. The Earth will survive. Perhaps we humans are just another "experiment" much like the dinosaurs, and we will have over extended our time in another 100-200 years. Attenborough alludes to that: who cares what we do, the Earth will continue on as a nice, life-affirming planet, maybe not with our lives, but the Earth adapts. The planet will be fine, it is us humans who will not survive.

Anyway, please watch this documentary. It is important. 

Here now. Promising to be here more.

These past months have been difficult for everyone.  We have been isolated, removed, confined. We are depressed, sad, lonely, angry and confused. There are no quick fixes, no patches to put on wounds, no uplifting bromides to make us feel better. What we need to heal, as a country, as a county, as a neighborhood, will not be forthcoming.

It is up to us, individually and communally, to find a way out of the sludge we have been wading in for the past 8 months. Or for the past 4 years.  So many of us are stuck in the swamp that has been our political mess and stuck in the despair of the Corona virus that threatens us at every corner. But it is time to find a new path around that mess.

I don't know the way around the mess, I don't have a new path but I know it is time to start looking for hope on the other side of the chaos we are currently in. Any helpful ideas are welcome.

Thank you for listening. I will keep you posted. 

, 

The loss of Thanksgiving

We are not alone in declaring our love for Thanksgiving. A non-secular holiday where one can gather with family, friends, strangers even and share food, stories, love and warmth.  

Not this year. This is one more thing that has been stolen from us in 2020. From St. Patrick's Day going forward, everything we looked forward to has been torn away. No spring, everyone is sequestered in their homes. No holidays, no Memorial Day or July 4th because we cannot gather, and when some people did, more people got sick. No summer because of no gatherings, because it was too damned hot and because fire season started early. No summer barbeques, no picnics, too many Red Flag Warning days and Spare the Air days. 

Then finally, when the best months of the year arrived - October and November - there was still no joy because of multiple fires, many evacuations, more heat, and the unsettled situation around the Presidential election which still makes our collective guts clench in rage, fear and depression.  And then we have Thanksgiving, again usurped by this fucking virus, or more to the point, by the fucking idiots who don't wear masks and think it's fine to hang out in groups and spread the virus to anyone in their path.  This is all depressing at best. It's paralyzing and isolating and pathetic. I haven't talked to a single person in the past month who isn't going through some kind of depression, a lack of joy for anything.

Yes, we can try to be bright and Pollyanna-ish and we can be grateful that most of us don't know anyone firsthand who has died from Covid (but everyone know someone who has had it) but that fake upbeat mood doesn't do enough to mitigate the incessant fear and anxiety that still surrounds us. Not having an end to the election  doesn't help one bit, either.

I have no ideas of how to get oneself out of this circling the drain. I am in that circle of depression myself. All we can do is hold on, hope and be kind to everyone we meet with the thought that some of that kindness might come back to us, and in the end, it might help. Something needs to help. This situation is not sustainable.

Thank  you for listening.

Netflix movie: Stranger Than Fiction

 We all need to watch something other than MSNBC or CNN right now. There isn't going to be a peaceful transfer of power,  no forthcoming agreement from the Republicans that Trump lost the election.  It's going to be a nasty battle.  But we can take our minds off of the prevailing fight and wait for the courts to reassure everyone that the election was fair and just.  And this movie is one to watch for that diversion.

The cast is stellar: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah. The story is good: a writer with writer's block starts talking about the book she is writing and narrating the character's life and that character turns out to be a real guy and he can hear her!  Yes, it sounds far fetched but it seems quite plausible when it's on the screen in front of you. Harold Crick (Will Farrell) is a very OCD kind of guy, works for the IRS, never deviates from his straight and narrow path until he has to audit a wild-child owner of a bakery.  And then his life goes down a much wider and wilder path. 

Bottom line, it's a love story of sorts. Great dialogue, great goofy performances from Hoffman and Thompson and a couple of scenes that will break your heart. Watch it.  Free on Netflix, a couple of bucks on Amazon.  Worth every cookie dollar you spend.

Plus you get this:  https://youtu.be/bFU545ZtOpE

Copy and paste that into your browser and listen to it.

Have a good week.

I'd go the whole wild world just to find her.

Or this:  https://youtu.be/cYGakznEllM

November 7

 I am not home so cannot write much on my phone but I simply want to acknowledge, in writing, the relief of this day with Biden’s election. We feel like we can breathe for a minute after holding our breaths for the past 4 days. Biden’s Presidency will not repair the damage to our democracy but that healing can begin. We need to be vigilant and work hard for the Democrat party in the next four years to prevent another Fascist from assuming power in 2024. 

Raise a glass to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tonight. What a journey they have had, along with all of us Americans.