Books, bread and boredom

 To classify Tana French as a writer of crime fiction does her a huge injustice. Yes, her novels are centered on solving a crime but her writing is so much better than simple police procedure. French lives in Ireland and her stories take place there. Her writing is atmospheric, dark, sometimes comedic, always spiraling down a rabbit hole of evidence and quirky characters. 

Her second novel is "The Likeness" (which I just finished) and while the premise is rather preposterous the story works because French can take the odd bit and make it believable. A female detective is involved in a murder investigation where the victim looks exactly like her.  Instead of publicizing the murder, the police decide to have this detective go undercover and pretend to be the dead girl in order to find out who is the murderer.  Unbelievable, yes, but as a novel it works.  Psychologically twisted in whodunit sort of way, it's a compelling read and is the perfect antidote to the reality we are all facing right now with fires, covid, politics, pollution and impending doom.

I have read a couple of Tana French's other novels and can recommend them as well. They are not quick reads, she is a dense writer, but they are all entertaining and engrossing.  

Bread: 30 + years ago I had a bread recipe that I loved. It was a honey-oatmeal yeast bread and is incredibly delicious. For some odd reason it dropped out of my bread-making recipe roster. Two weeks ago it popped into my mind and I had to question why I had put it on the back shelf. I dug it out of my file, made it and was blown away once again about how good it is. Great texture, delicious oaty taste and one can use either honey or molasses. Each gives it a different taste, of course, both very, very good.  The recipe makes two loaves so I gave it to random friends and it now has a very strong, loyal following and I am loving making it again.

Finally: boredom. That's all I am going to say on that subject. With people fleeing for their lives, seeing their homes destroyed by fire, others in hospitals fighting for their lives, with the overwhelming anxiety we are facing with the election in two months, with so many people world-wide out of work and facing eviction, starvation and worse, complaining that I am bored is nothing but a glaring example of white privilege.  So I am shutting up about that.

Please remember to be kind to each other. Tempers are short right now, we all feel like there are bees buzzing in our bodies, no one is sleeping right, everyone is anxious.  We need to calm down, we need to cut everyone some slack and simply be kind.

Charming and Beautiful Netflix Documentary

 With all the bad, frightening and unsettling news that constitutes our current world, one needs to search out things that will instill hope and awe. It's rare to find this on TV but here's an antidote to some of the negativity surrounding us right now: "My Octopus Teacher" on Netflix.

Filmed in the waters of South Africa, this short (90 minutes) documentary is a story of a scuba diver who decides to explore the waters around his home and discovers a dense kelp forest alive with an ecosystem that is like a foreign country to him.  The tidal waters are rough and freezing but he goes diving every day,  Eventually he finds and is intrigued by a small, female octopus.  From being totally skittish and stand-offish, this sea creature comes to recognize the diver and they develop a sort of "friendship."

Well, okay, it might sound strange and hokey but it isn't. The underwater photography is stunning, the scenery from that different world is mesmerizing and the octopus and her environment are fascinating. The story is emotional at times but it reminds us of the beauty in the natural world and the life and death struggles of every living creature.

Check it out. I guarantee that you will enjoy this little film.  

Book Reviews!!!

 As I mentioned previously, my reading mojo has returned.  Lately there is nothing to do but bake, eat, sleep, walk the dog and read.  Luckily the last three books I have read (and one I am listening to on CD in my car) have all been good.  Without further ado and in no particular order:

"Nothing To See Here" by Kevin Wilson is so quirky in its premise that I had no great desire to read it.  But it was available for downloading onto my Portable Device (i.e. phone) that I opted to get it and am so glad I did. (Side note: not all books are available to download and I do not like reading books on my PD (i.e. phone) but one takes what one can get in these troubled times. Right?)

This story is about, ostensibly, a sort-of loser woman in her mid 20's who doesn't have a real job who is contacted by the woman she loved in her brief stint in college to watch over a set of sort-of orphaned twins who ..... can set themselves on fire.  No wonder no one wants to be a nanny to fire kids, and these aren't cute, cuddly kids either.  OK, you can see why I hesitated to read this book, it sounded too contrived to be even half-way reasonable. But the thing is this: not only does it become reasonable, it becomes much more than that. It becomes real. Lillian, the mid-20's sort-of nanny, realizes that she can not only help these kids, but that the kids are real and needy and loving and (....wait for it....) so is she!  In the end it's a great story about shedding one's past and embracing the vagaries of life and its uncertainties and insecurities.  And in the end, it's a great story of love and how kindness can overcome even children who can set themselves on fire.

Read it if you get the chance.  Right now, with everything that is happening in our world, danger, fire, death, virus, evil.... this book is a little tonic for all of that.  Wrap your arms and your soul and heart around this little book and love it.

Whew. Didn't mean to get so philosophical there. 

OK, book number two is a first novel and you all know I approach first novels with trepidation. This one was better than most.  "Such A Fun Age" by Kiley Reid is a book for right now. A young (again mid-20's) black woman is a babysitter for a rich white family and one evening Emira has the little kid in an upscale (i.e. expensive) grocery store and is confronted by the security guard questioning if that little white girl is supposed to be with that over-dressed black woman.  Well, things happen, nothing bad, but repercussions ensue, of course. The novel goes on to the explore Emira's relationship to her employers, Alix and Peter, and there's lots of race and economic issues that are tossed about. Reviews of this book have made much of the black-vs-white themes in the relationships but I am not going to get into those. Read the reviews. But it's a good story of one woman trying to find her way in a world that isn't hers but maybe could be someday. Emira loves the little girl she takes care of but that little girl's future is one that Emira will never have. She needs to figure out where she is in all of that.  Eventually, she does.

Those two books were surprisingly good and I had little expectations for them. I enjoyed both of them.  "Nothing To See Here" made me almost cry at the end because Lillian had so much to lose and so little to hold on to but she landed on her feet.  In "Such a Fun Age" I was a little more confident that Emira would figure it out.... and she did and carried on. Neither book was pandering and both were well done.

Two more books to review. Tune in tomorrow.  (And that means you, Ms. Mahalo.)

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James Bond

 Don't ask why but I have been watching James Bond movies the last couple of nights.  James Bond and Jed Bartlet of the "West Wing" series.  And look at that!  They have the same initials!  Coincidence?  I think not.

I saw "Casino Royale" in the theater but might not have seen it since then.  Totally enjoyed watching it again and it led into "Quantum of Solace" which is a totally weird name of a movie, even for Bond. But here I am, enthralled. I have a feeling I didn't see this Bond movie,  so it's totally new to me.  The next in the series is "Skyfall" and that one I did see in the theater. Perhaps I have not seen it since then, don't know yet.  I will let you know when I get to that one.

There is something about James Bond that gives me comfort.  I know that Sean Connery was the totally best Bond ever but times change and we have to ride that wave of change. Daniel Craig is fine as Bond. He's not as suave or dashing and he does that weird thing with his mouth, a little pouty thing,  but he is great in the current action sequences and he gets the job done. And that's the point: the job gets done. Bad guys get erased. Good guys don't flourish but they don't often die either.  It's not always black and white but it is always bad guys die.  In this time of uncertainty, that's fine with me.

So no judgement here, please. The fact that Bond is a sort of killing machine doesn't mean I like killing. It means I like the entertainment factor of good vs evil and good sometimes winning.  That seems to be happening less in our present day world. So indulge me in my fantasy of Bond doing clean-up work.  It's working for me right now.

OK, over and out.

Talking to you

 Sadly, I have not been talking to you. The reasons are obvious, at least if you know me and read me now and then. My take on our world is gloomy, depressed, sad and angry.  Why would I want to share thoughts of that kind with anyone? I can hardly stand to have them living in my mind, let alone putting them out into the world. There's already too much angst and sadness, anger and gloomy crap running amuck everywhere. 

But I must communicate, I must talk, I must write. While those negative birds are flying around in the cavern that is my mind, there are also some less negative ideas fighting to take hold. Those I will share with you.  Not tonight, but tomorrow and the next day and the next. Be patient.  Thank you in advance for that patience.

Talk to you very soon.

Trashy book review !!!

 Yes, we all pretend to read "good" books, ones with thought, substance, intelligence.  But often I read trashy novels because they are entertaining and we all need some entertainment now and then.  Or all the time. I read a lot of reviews, in the New York Times, Washington Post, Goodreads, yada yada.  I have no idea where I read the review of this book and it doesn't matter but it ended up on my library list and curb-side pick up at libraries is now a thing, so there it was, in my hands.

"The Guest List" by Lucy Foley isn't too trashy but just trashy enough. It's well written and well paced. The twists and turns in the plot are enough to make your head spin around like Regan's in "The Exorcist."  But rest assured, there is no devil possession in this book.  All the evil comes from the characters.

Six different characters narrate interlocking chapters.  We know from the outset there's going to be a murder, we just don't know who dies and who does the killing. Each of the six have motives and means. It's a crap-shoot until the last couple of pages. And therein lies the entire skeleton of this novel. 

The location is a remote, creepy, dark and gloomy small island off of the mainland of Ireland. The event is a very well-produced and very expensive wedding. The cast of characters includes bride, groom, best man, maid of honor, caterer, a plus-one and lots of other random people who could be killers or just hangers on. 

A storm comes in unexpectedly, wind and rain and loss of power !!!!  A body is found !!!  Bloody clothes !!!

You can read this book in two days, that's how unsubstantial it is.  But I am not saying it's a crappy book, it's just a trashy novel that you can leave on the bus or on the beach and not miss it.  Pretty close to the end a wise reader can almost figure out the last of the twisty plot devices but since the person who gets killed isn't very likable, it's a bit poetic finding out the who, why, where and when of the killing.

Don't buy this book.  Get it from the library or a used book store. But for a beach read, or a book to get you through a couple of Covid days of going nowhere, it's fine.

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Virus, heat, fire and sadness

It's been a while since I have put pen to paper here. Or fingers to keys. These days are either full of angst, anger, sadness and fear or they are full of nothing. Some days it's a struggle to not go back to bed, pull up the blanket and sleep.  Sleep until November and if the election goes bad, sleep again and never get up. 

There is too much happening right now that is out of our control. It's not just Covid and the incredible heat wave we have had, not just the social unrest over Black Lives Matter, not just the fires that are threatening my daughter's house as I type this.  It's all of that and more:  fear of four more years of Trump, fear of getting sick, the unrelenting unemployment, our impotence in all of the above and the uncertainty of what is going to happen in a week or a month or three months.  Never have I felt so powerless as I do now.

I have read books, watched movies, baked. I do have some things to share. But right now, at 10:00 pm on this Tuesday night, while I am guessing the R.N.C. is finishing up its fucking campaign rhetoric, while the hills in historic redwood sanctuaries are burning, while families I know are trying to hold it together with one half of their income demolished,  while our country continues to be split apart because of disastrously inept leadership and while my belief in my country continues to erode, there is nothing but sadness in front of me.  It is very, very difficult, right now, at this moment, to find goodness in our world. 

I will try to find it again tomorrow.  Good night. And good luck.