Hi. I hope everyone had a great week. We had a very cold one here, but we’re starting to come out of it now after getting about a foot of new snow. It made things look all pretty and white and should be good for the ski trails. I heard that even Southern California where my parents are received a few snowflakes — how rare is that?! But can you believe we will start March this week? Wow spring is not too far off now. Have we turned a corner on winter? I think pretty soon … just knowing March is about to start is good news.
You might like to see the Live Web Cam of the eagles nest in Big Bear in the mountains of SoCal. Jackie, the bald eagle is sitting on the nest with two eggs about to hatch, and Shadow, her spouse is nearby. I hope they will be all right. The big storm there has watchers worried. Apparently 15,000 viewers are tuning in to see when the eggs will hatch, while Jackie is doing her best to incubate them during the snowstorm and winds. She’s a tough bird so I’m hopeful and pulling for her. Her eaglets could appear this week, fingers crossed for all.
In book news, lately I’ve been reading about the controversy over a decision in the U.K. to edit hundreds of words in Roald Dahl’s children’s books in order to update them for today’s world and make the stories and characters more inclusive. Have you heard about this? Well, apparently it’s caused such a firestorm that now both versions in the U.K. will be available — the edited one and the original version, so you can take your pick.
I think in general most people are troubled by the idea of censoring previous literary works, even if the books seem offensive or out of touch with the times. Perhaps people can just bring their own context to them, or decide to read them less. It seems if you start editing and trying to fix books from decades ago, where do you stop cleansing them? What do you think about this recent controversy?
And now I will leave you with what I finished lately.
The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger / Riverhead / 448 pages / 2022
I must be on a climate-change disaster binge this year after earlier reading The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton and now listening to this one on audio. I don’t think I’m doing it purposely or am I? Both novels take aim at Florida falling apart, and man, does it ever. Sorry to all who love and live in the Sunshine State. For you especially, these books might be hard to take. And Houston, too, is rocked in this one.
The Displacements is a lengthy novel about a hurricane disaster — a Category 6 (!) that lays waste to Miami and Houston — and its aftermath. It chronicles a mass displacement of swaths of the population — the “Hurricane Luna Migration,” which heads inland and into camps. The novel has multiple storylines of the people impacted that includes: a doctor’s wife (an artist) in Miami and her three kids and dog who flee and get bused to an Oklahoma mega-shelter; the FEMA official who runs the shelter there; and an insurance agent/drug dealer who tries to suck the evacuees dry.
Oh yeah this is a doozy of a story … and it goes from bad to worse for most of it. In places it’s pretty dramatic, and I was particularly focused on the main story of the well-off family who evade the hurricane only to lose everything while on the run and in the long weeks after in the shelter. The mother Daphne seems not totally astute for losing and not having access to their funds, while her stepson, Gavin, 19, gets involved with dealing drugs, and her younger daughter Mia naively implicates a friend picked up by ICE.
Surely being in a displacement camp as a Luna refugee without cash is rough. The novel does well painting the picture of the chaos in the disaster’s aftermath and those made destitute by it — as well as the economic and racial divides in the U.S. along the way, but the story also felt to me over-the-top and bloated — and even a bit hard to believe especially the part about Daphne’s missing doctor husband.
There’s a lot in this, and maybe too much stuffed in. It’s ambitious in its portrayal and the characters undergo some tough changes. The easiest part to believe is the huge disaster that causes the massive disruption and the large fleeing migration, which unfortunately seems all too real of what more swaths of the population could face in our future. The novel complements well with the other Florida disaster novel in 2022 The Light Pirate (about a girl staying put during such a hurricane), but in terms of how it’s put together and the story, I liked The Light Pirate a bit better.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read many climate-change disaster novels and if so, what did you think?
I think reading about the aftermath of a natural disaster is interesting. I recently finished the nonfiction book This is Chance!, which is about the 1964 Anchorage earthquake and what it was like afterwards. It focuses on Jeannie Chance who became the radio voice the country listened to as she narrated the needs, work, and results in Anchorage.
Hi Helen, wow that sounds quite good. I will look for your review of that disaster. I recall hearing about it. Huge earthquake disasters always scare the heck out of me, growing up in SoCal. As kids, we experienced the 1971 quake – I think 6.6 while we were living in San Marino. It felt big then. I hope L.A. won’t get another big one. Enjoy your weekend.
Pretty crazy that SoCal got snow! I know it’s normal for the mountains, but even up the coast, Santa Cruz got a dusting. I was happy we only had a little bit here, but I’m ready to have warmer temps. It was in the low 20s the other morning.
I have The Light Pirate in my stacks, and while The Displacements sounds worthwhile, I think I’ll hold off for a bit and see if it appeals to me in a few months.
Thanks for the link to the webcam of the eagle in Big Bear. We used to have a cabin near there, so it’s fun to tune in to this!
Take care, Susan. Hope the unpacking is going well.
Thanks Lesley, the house is coming together a bit. We enjoyed having our first guests over for lunch yesterday. We need to buy more shelving to put things but perhaps we’re in a bit of hold since we spent much on the renovations.
I always remember you were in Big Bear and San Diego. As kids, we learned to ski in Big Bear. We had a bus that took us to Snow Summit on Saturdays. So it was fun. But I don’t know that area now. The eagles are pretty cool.
I hope all the winter this year will help California with its severe drought problems. I plan to stop by your site & see what’s going on at the Cove. Hope all is well!
I don’t gravitate towards apocalyptic fiction, even now when I’m reading a lot of books I know nothing about beforehand. Anyway, this one sounds interesting. Good for you reading all sorts of disaster scenarios for the end of the world. 😮 😛 I finally recovered my reading mojo. This past week I read Foster by Claire Keegan, which would have been 4* if it had had an ending; it did not (!!!) Now I’m reading The Trees by Percival Everett, which was nominated for the Booker last year.
Hi Carmen, thanks for the update. I remember hearing about The Trees and will look to hear what you think of it. I read Foster but liked Keegan’s other short book Small Things Like These a bit better. It seemed a little more fleshed out to me but is still short. I wish she’d write a bit longer.
I’m not sure I gravitate to end of world stuff, Ha (I need happy stories!) … but these recent ones seem so real and got much attention when they came out. But I will be back reading non-disaster novels Asap. Though we are watching The Last of Us – apocalyptic TV series. Not sure I like it yet, but we’re watching it mainly because it was filmed all around here. We even have eaten at the diner which was in episode 1. It’s cool to see all the sights – some of which are recognizable, amid the ruins. Ha. Enjoy your week!
I didn’t mind that Keegan’s novellas were on the shortest side of short, but I did mind that she ended Foster so abruptly that left my mind spinning— Is she dead? Did she survive? Did they find her on time? You know, things like those. I intend to watch The Last of Us when all the episodes are available; I hate to wait for next week episode, especially if they end with cliffhangers. I hope you have a nice week as well.
Thanks Carmen. Yeah I know what you mean about the Foster ending … as well as shows that don’t come out all at once. That drives us nuts too. For like Slow Horses it was a bit agony waiting LOL.
I have awful memories of the evacuation we attempted during Hurricane Rita. Gridlock everywhere. And we’ve been through some terrible hurricanes. That said, I would like to take a look at The Displacements, even if it is just for its Gulf Coast setting, especially the parts about Houston.
I’ve been talking to many people about editing the Dahl books. No, I don’t like it. I read lots of children’s classics as well as adult classics, and there are often elements that are shocking. Still, these things are authentic parts of that world. That doesn’t mean that we like them or accept them, but we must always remember how things were. I’ve just read a George Eliot novel, Adam Bede, and in it, the woman preacher resigns her position and marries and has children. Disappointing, yes, but also authentic, as the church rules changed during the story.
I do wonder what others think about this issue.
Yeah Deb, I agree in general about leaving old books alone – warts and all. We can’t scrub history right? Or even what the world can be like now. Though I realize these Dahl books are very popular even today with young impressionable readers. But perhaps they can talk the books through in class or whatnot. And I see what you’re saying about what’s in the world & fiction being authentic to that.
Hurricane Rita must have been awful. I would think you could relate to these two recent hurricane novels. I have been in one – Hurricane Isabel in Virginia and I recall losing power for about a week, which is a bit tough … and the stuff in the fridge goes bad. I worry about hurricanes in the future around the Gulf. Scary things.
I live in Florida but I don’t mind reading books like The Displacements. It sounds good so I’m adding it to my list.
Hi Vicki, Yeah the book might interest you. I always think these major hurricanes are scary, but hopefully people can get out of town beforehand. Wishing you a great week.
Hurricanes are very scary! And no matter what category they are we can still loose electric. Once we were without it for almost a month.
Yikes, losing electricity a whole month?! That’s awful. I once lost electricity for a week during Hurricane Isabel when I was living in Virginia and that was bad enough … but Florida’s hurricanes are so devastating. Good grief. What a worry during the season. Stay well.
I love rain and there has certainly been a lot of it–almost nonstop for the last two or so days, but I am glad it has lightened up for now. So much rain at once isn’t good. There have been a more car accidents because of the low visibility and patches ice on the road.
I saw some samples of edits made in the new editions of Roald Dahl’s books. They were pretty big–not just a change of a word here or there, but major rewriting.
I hope you have a great week, Susan.
Hi LF – are you in the Bay Area? Or more Central Cal? It seems like a ton of rain lately. I hope you see the sun soon. It does get dangerous on the roads.
Rewriting Dahl’s works seems crazy to me. I guess that would make it more of an adapted screenplay. Hmm. Thanks you have a great week too.
I am actually in Southern California.
Wow LF (Wendy ? right), I didn’t realize that. For some reason, I thought you were more north. Pardon me. I grew up in Redlands with a little of the OC thrown in … so I’m biased to favor the south, LOL. I hope you enjoy it there.
I spent most of my childhood in Northern California (mixed in with Arizona, Hawaii, and Oceanside, California), but all my adult life in Southern California. I long for the green and delta in Northern California. But it’s probably safe to say I’m more Southern California now than I can claim Northern California.
Wendy is right–although I answer to LF too. 🙂
Since we’re living with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian daily, it’s going to be some time before I’m ready to tackle any climate change disaster books. Somehow it’s all to believable these days!
The rewriting of Roald Dahl just makes me angry… as does all of the literary censorship going on in Florida these days.
Hard to believe March is right around the corner. Spring will be here before you know it! Hope you have a good week.
Hi JoAnn, yeah you don’t need to read these hurricane books. Ian was just awful. And each year there seems to be another one, which is scary. I just hope Florida can always rebuild and perhaps learn more of how to protect itself.
Luckily the US publisher is not rewriting Dahl but it is disturbing that it happened in the UK. The US too had a crazy amount of censorship last year. It’s Nuts. I agree.
Hopefully March will be good. Wishing you too a great week.
We got snow too. And yes I heard that as well- SoCal getting snow! Wow.
I kind of agree about the editing. I don’t really think they should do that- I figure things are a product of their time and should just be appraoched with that expectation. Besides, who makes the decisions on how/ what to edit? No one will be happy ha ha so best to leave em alone?
Yeah Greg, I think why open the can of worms of editing Roald Dahl. That’s just a big task – so I think it’s best to leave the works alone. It’s like a bees nest, LoL.
How much snow did you get in Michigan? We got a lot last Monday & Tuesday maybe 8 to 12 inches ! We might get more this Tuesday, but it seems to melt on the warm days. Have a great week.
“Philip Pullman has said publishers should let Road Dahl’s books go “out of print” rather than attempt to edit his work to make it less controversial”
— https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/roald-dahl-philip-pullman-edits-b2285643.html
That’s my favorite reaction — let kids read something new!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, yeah Pullman’s comments seem pretty astute. Kids today perhaps should read or have a chance to read other things rather than having the Dahl books forced on them. They’ve been very popular for so many decades but maybe their time has come & gone. Thx for your comments.
I am not a fan of changing the works of authors to “update them.” They did that to Huck Finn, too. Ugh. Stay warm. I love the snow photo.
Hi Anne, thanks for stopping by. I didnt realize they did that to Huck Finn as well, ugh no!! We’ve had some cold days here and could use a Maui trip, LoL. We’re going to SoCal in April which will help warm the blood. Have a great week.
We have been getting a lot of snow and ice (which is worse I think) here too! Yay for March! The sun is getting stronger and snow can’t stick around. Regarding the Roald Dahl editing – I agree with you. Once you start, where do you stop. Old books are best understood in the context they were written. If it offends you, don’t read it. Hope your week is a good one!
Hi Gretchen, yeah avoid the ice if you can! I feel the days are getting a tad longer too. Yay for the coming of spring.
You put that well about the Dahl editing. It doesn’t sit well with me either. Keep the old stuff : old! Have a great week too.
I am curious about The Displacements.
The weather in California is pretty intense lately, with rain and wind, along with snow in some parts. I am ready for sunny days!
Enjoy your week, and thanks for sharing.
Hi Laurel : hang in there! You all in California have had a bit everything thrown at you but I think the sun should come in March … along with the flowers. I’m visiting the state in April and it must be nice by then. LOL. Enjoy your week.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard that they were going to edit Roald Dahl’s books…and when I saw a list of some of the words they were changing I was even more surprised, because I didn’t really understand why they picked those words. But then, I don’t believe in banning, or censoring, or editing books. Let people decide for themselves what they want to read… and what they don’t.
Yeah Lark, I tend to agree with all you’re saying. I was surprised too … that they were allowed to change his words. I guess the company that owns his copyright was agreeable to the editing for the UK copies. Hmm. But since the backlash now they’re going to make 2 versions of the books, which seems crazy too. LoL.
What a beautiful winter photo! I love snow, but must admit I am ready for spring by now!
I hadn’t heard about Roald Dahl’s children’s books, but I recently read about Enid Blyton’s books getting an overhaul (don’t know how well-known she is in the US, but she is a bestselling children’s author here in Europe). Anyway, I don’t like censure, but find the discussion a lot more nuanced, when it comes to books targeting young children, who are quite impressionable. Maybe the solution with two different versions isn’t so stupid after all?
I haven’t read many climate disaster books, but they might be quite scary, because they are not unrealistic at all!
Hi Stargazer, yeah these climate books are pretty much becoming reality, which is pretty daunting. And I have not heard of Enid Blyton (is that crazy?) but now I see from Wiki that her children’s books were/are hugely popular. I must try one. Even a BBC movie about her life with Helena Bonham Carter. I like finding these kinds of old books but I’m often aware when I read them that they where written in a different era with different mores and such. But I get the point that kids are impressionable readers — so maybe updated versions are okay.
We seem to be getting more snow coming in March than in Feb. LOL. Cheers!
Yeah, I don’t think sanitizing previous works does anyone any good. How can you talk about tough topics if you can’t even read about them. How do we know what people thought, or how they lived if everything gets sanitized to modern-day standards? How can you critically think about the world if you don’t know what other times and people have said?
We have gotten so much snow in our mountains! I think Utah’s ski resorts have gotten the most in the U.S. so far or pretty close to it. It’s been insane. More to come for us this weekend.
Light Pirate has been on my radar. I love the cover.
Hi Heather, great hearing from you. That’s awesome about the snow in Utah. I’ve heard it’s been a banner year for snow down south when I went to my niece’s wedding in Colorado in January. Wow like Utah, parts of Colorado were having huge snow! Woohoo. Perfect for skiing. I hope you get to enjoy it. We have had so-so here. Off & on year.
I agree with you about the editing of old books. Hmm. I will stop by your site to see what’s up in reading world. Cheers.
So glad we are now in March! Still lionish, but the lamb is peeping out and just around the corner.
I have a problem with editing existing works–I read a lot of classics, and there are a lot of things that make me cringe, but I think it is better to cringe and appreciate how the world and sensibilities have changed than to pretend that everyone, including favorite authors, didn’t have some issues that we as a society have working through or are trying to work through.
Better to have a disclaimer than to edit.
Yeah Jane, I agree with you. You read more classics than I do – so there’s plenty of cringe-worthy – but it’s best to leave classics as they are – I think. Glad to have you weighing in on this issue. And it feels great that it’s March now! We have a ton of snow at the moment but soon it will melt and the days are getting longer, woohoo! I can’t wait for spring. Enjoy your Colorado days.