The Cue Card

Hi. How is everyone doing? I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. I have been off the blog for a while due to my knee replacement surgery last week. I came home from the hospital on Friday afternoon and I’m getting my bearings. All is fine and I’m on the road to recovery, which right now includes strengthening exercises and plenty of icing. I’m still working to get the swelling down, but it’s coming. My husband and sister-in-law from Vancouver deserve a lot of credit for getting me through. And thanks to all of you for the encouragement and thoughts you sent beforehand. It was much appreciated.  

Before the hospital, I picked out a Christmas tree and we plan to decorate it this weekend. Hopefully the next post will be a bit more Christmassy. I still need to get more into the holiday spirit. I don’t even know where November went?!

In terms of shows lately, we’ve still been alternating episodes of the TV series Lessons in Chemistry (starring Brie Larson) with The Diplomat (starring Keri Russell) along with Bosch: Legacy (Season 2). All three shows are pretty good. I haven’t decided if we’ll return to watching the final season of The Crown (after four episodes) because reliving what happened to Princess Diana in that sad chapter is not really something I’m gravitating to right now.  

Meanwhile in book news, it seems the judges of the Booker Prize surprised a lot of people (me included) when they awarded Irish author Paul Lynch with this year’s Booker Prize for his novel Prophet Song. Oh my, I had to quickly look up what the novel was even about. I guess I was so sure Paul Murray would win for The Bee Sting since those who read it praised it so highly.

But no! It went to Prophet Song instead, which is a slow-burn dystopian novel about a woman’s struggle to protect her family as Ireland collapses into totalitarianism and war. The book only became available in North America today, Dec. 5, so perhaps it’s no wonder not many knew too much about it here. From what I’ve read, I think it has its backers and those who don’t think too much about it. But I’m putting the novel on my list for 2024. Its theme of a democracy falling into an authoritarian state seems timely and one we should all fear and work our hardest to prevent. 

And now I’ll leave you with a review of the only book I finished lately. 

Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper / Random House / 304 pages / 2023

I listened to this nonfiction book narrated by the author and I was taken by his enthusiasm for telling his story and his passion for birding. He covers a lot of ground and at first I didn’t even realize the book would be mainly a memoir of his life story … about his family, his coming out gay, his time at Harvard, his career working at Marvel and such. The book is also a bit of a travelogue about his far-off adventures (he’s traveled widely), and other parts include his birding and tips, as well as his Black activist work on civil rights. So the birding aspect is just one facet in a book with many. 

People might remember Christian Cooper for the awful incident he had in Central Park in May 2020 with a white woman who crazily accused him of threatening her life (when he only asked her to put her dog on a leash since they were in a protected area of the park), but his book is so much more than that one incident. It gives us a great introduction to him as a thoughtful, bright person who seems terrific. Along the way, I liked his strength, courage … and insights about birding and civil rights these days. 

People might have once thought that a black man in NYC being a passionate birder might be a total novelty, but Cooper says that is improving now. More African Americans and other races and ages are getting into birding and wildlife watching, and that’s good for everyone. Thanks to Christian Cooper and others like him. It’s certainly refreshing.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this book and if so, what did you think? How is your reading going lately?

Hi All. I hope you are well. The snow here has melted away and we are back to fall conditions with a family of deer grazing on our front lawn. This photo of our two Labrador dogs Willow and Stella was taken a couple weeks ago after the first snowstorm. The dogs love the snow and are my everyday helpers, getting the mail and doing errands with me. They like the dog park too in town.

Willow is a ball-crazy, red Lab and is almost three (her birthday is coming up on Nov. 22!), and Stella is our yellow, food-crazy senior girl at 11.5 years old. She’s the boss around the house, who’s never missed telling us its meal-time even by a minute. Both dogs get about a thousand pats per day, which is what they pretty much demand and deserve. 

Nothing is too new in the reading department, though I’m about five books behind pace now of my Goodreads reading goal for the end of the year, argh. I doubt I will catch up, but I have made a TBR list of about eight to 10 books I hope to squeeze in before Dec. 31. I will keep those under wraps for now. How are your reading goals going? Are you on track? Also don’t forget: next week Canada’s Giller Prize will be announced on Monday, as well as the National Book Award on Wednesday. I’m thinking Birnam Wood will win and perhaps This Other Eden, but I’m not totally sure.

And now here are a few reviews of what I finished lately. 

This Other Eden by Paul Harding / Norton / 224 pages / 2023

(4.3 stars) This was my first Paul Harding novel and wow he writes like dynamite. Beautiful passages of the setting and characters. And Edoardo Ballerini narrates the audiobook so well, bringing to life the story of a small mixed-race community on an island off Maine, established in 1792 by the patriarch Benjamin Honey, a former slave, and his Irish wife Patience. More than a century later in 1911 the Honey descendants are still living on Apple Island along with a couple other families and eccentrics — with the children being taught classes by white mainlander Matthew Diamond, who visits the island on weekends. Though all is not well when state officials, motivated by eugenics, start getting involved with the island’s direction and the poor people there. 

It’s sad and tough how the story plays out. There’s quite a few characters to keep track of, but the main characters — Esther Honey, the grandmother, and especially her grandson Ethan, who is a promising painter — are interesting to follow. Ethan gets sent off the island by Matthew Diamond to pursue his art and there he meets and falls for the Irish maid Bridget. You’ll want to see what happens to them.

Overall this is a tragic story and all the more since it’s based on a true story of long-ago inhabitants on Malaga Island, now an uninhabited 41-acre reserve off the coast of Maine. I thought the novel was well done — harsh yet with beautiful lyrical passages. I could’ve used a bit more perhaps from the minds of its main protagonists – but that’s just a quibble. The novel’s a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Booker. But will it win? I am not sure it will, but I’d be okay if it does. 

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue / Knopf / 304 pages / 2023

(4.0 stars) The novel’s beginning – I found sort of creepy when married university prof Fred Byrne gets involved in the lives of two 20-something friends James Devlin and Rachel Murray who work at a bookstore in Cork, Ireland, that is throwing him a book launch. Rachel, 21 in 2010, is a student of Dr. Byrne’s and has a crush on him, and her roommate James is her new BFF, whom she meets at the bookstore. The start seemed like a used coming-of-age plot and made me feel that I was done with 20-something, millennial fare. I recall thinking I wouldn’t be picking up another. After all, I only read the first Sally Rooney book.

But then as it goes on the story expands its horizons — in the second half — and I found the novel much more engaging and worthwhile. Rachel, who’s trying to find her way amid the bleak recession, gets an internship with Deenie, Dr. Byrnes’s wife who works in publishing. Meanwhile her BFF James is trying to come out of the closet and also write a TV script, while Rachel’s dating a guy named Cary on and off. 

Rachel gets into quite a terrible bind and predicament along the way. And Dr. Byrne is quite the rogue. It’s one of those situations that marks one for life and Rachel is best to leave town after. The plot explores the lives of Rachel and James as they move on and where they go after some years … their friendship and the relationship with Cary too. 

Despite the serious drama of the plot (which I can’t say too much about without ruining it), there’s some funny lines weaved throughout the book, which made me snicker. I also liked how the ending came back around and gained some resolution about what had happened earlier, which I gather Rachel is able to find some comfort in. I listened to the audio narrated very well by Tara Flynn. The author Caroline O’Donoghue is one to watch, even though I like to think this is my last millennial, 20s story. This novel was on my summer list. 

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray / Berkley / 368 pages / 2021

4.3 stars. When the novel was picked for my book club, I had no idea about the life story of Belle da Costa Greene and how she passed as white for years as the personal librarian to financier J.P. Morgan’s massive rare collection, even though she was secretly black. I had no idea either how successful she became in her role as Morgan’s librarian, bidding and making important acquisitions for rare art and manuscripts and representing Morgan abroad in a white man’s job role and world. From 1905 to 1913 when Morgan died Belle managed his collection, and then his will granted her $50K, which was over a million in her day. She continued on as librarian under Morgan’s son and became director of the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1924 and retired in 1948. 

Whoa this lady put herself on the line and had a lot of courage, facing the ire of JP Morgan and hiding her “secret,” and becoming so accomplished with his rare collection. The authors do a good job fleshing out her story, when a bit is missing from the real record since Belle burned her personal letters. Still the book provides an interesting glimpse into how Belle mingled in high society NYC and what her relations were like with the Morgan family and her own black family who lived with her for some time and she supported. As well as there’s a romantic angle between Belle and an art historian that you don’t know whether it will last or not. 

Mostly the tension permeates throughout the novel over Belle’s secret of passing as white during days of much racism, segregation, and white supremacy and whether she will be found out. At the end I wanted to know a bit more about her and the secret – which was not addressed in the Authors’ Note at the back. Still it’s an intriguing historical tale of a strong woman’s will, brilliance, and gumption that I’m glad I learned about. I’m hoping it will provide a good discussion for our book group next week.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these books or authors, and if so, what did you think?  

Hi. I hope everyone is well. We’re supposed to have our first snowstorm this week, which is not too unusual considering it’s almost Halloween time, but am I ready for it? Nooo.

Last week we had a sunny day when I took this photo, yay. I had to get out for one more warm day. It felt nice and I liked using my Trek road bike for one more ride, which is what I trained on for our Italy bike trip. It’s my lucky chariot, lol.

Not much else new, but I see that the movie Killers of the Flower Moon, which I posted about last week, hasn’t received completely favorable reviews. Kirkus Reviews sort of panned it for being more focused on the bad guys and not enough on the Osage people, and Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post says the book’s suspense has been taken out of the movie. Uh-oh. I still plan to see it sometime — either at home or at the theater — but I will temper my expectations.

Perhaps the movie Nyad about long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster will be more enjoyable. It entails Nyad’s training and 2013 swim from Cuba to Florida. Has anyone seen it yet? It’s out in select theaters now and streams on Netflix beginning Nov. 3. Those two actresses should be a dynamo combination.

Speaking of movies, we watched the movie Golda this past week about the former prime minister of Israel Golda Meir (played by Helen Mirren) and the stakes she faced in 1973 when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel. It’s a pretty intense little war drama, and for the most part, we liked it. It shows the precarious position of Israel at the time, and Helen Mirren of course is excellent.

Though she sure has to smoke a lot of cigarettes in the role. Apparently Golda Meir was a chain-smoker who knocked off 70 cigarettes a day, which it seems the film’s director took to heart. It’s one big cigarette-fest that made us a bit sick. Still it seemed pretty true to life. Liev Schreiber plays U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his scenes talking with Mirren as Meir are apparently indicative of their close diplomatic relationship. It goes without saying: the timing of the film is pretty apropos with the awful recent events going on all over again. Isn’t it dreadful news. Is there an ounce of hope anywhere?

We also watched the documentary about spy author John le Carre’ called The Pigeon Tunnel, which just came out on AppleTV+ and is based on his memoir. It was filmed before le Carre passed away in 2020 and shows the famous British author giving his last interview, which is quite candid and revealing.

Whoa, he had a terrible family life. His mother left when he was like 5 and his father was a swindler/criminal, who had the author later in life bail him out a couple times. The film also delves into le Carre’s career during the Cold War and his time as a spy. It touches on the traitor Kim Philby and on the author’s books. So if you like those or are just curious, it’s quite interesting and worth seeing.

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of the books that I finished lately.

The Observer by Marina Endicott / Knopf Canada / 255 pages / 2023

This is a bit of a quiet novel about a couple — Julia Carey and Hardy Willis — who move in the 1990s to a tiny town in northeastern Alberta, Canada. He’s a new recruit with Royal Canadian Mounted Police and she’s hired as an editor for the local newspaper The Observer.

Written in the first person from Julia’s perspective, the story starts off a bit slow as they’re meeting people in the town and learning their ways and trying make ends meet to pay bills. Julia feels like an outsider who’s not used to a rural community, though eventually they start making friends especially with the other RCMP members there and their spouses.

Hardy, as a new member, is given much brunt work and is on nights, seeing to wrecks on the highway, death notices, and other grim tasks. Julia tries to help him cope, but he doesn’t tell her much of what he encounters on the job. The story moves about like little episodes about town, from one thing to the next … with Julia handling sporadic work at the The Observer and becoming friends with a recent widow named Stephanie whose RCMP husband committed suicide. She wants to ask her more about it but holds off for a while.

As the novel goes along, I became more drawn into Hardy and Julia’s lives … as they have a baby and things become harder for Hardy on the job. You come to realize the stress and hardships these police members face as they endure threats, crimes, and victims in bleak circumstances, which take a mental health toll on them. It leads to a scare and down time in Hardy and Julia’s lives that they must face together. You’ll want to stay tuned to see what happens.

Apparently the novel is based on the author’s own life of her several years in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, (near where years later four RCMP members were killed tragically by a gunman on a rural property in 2005). By novel’s end, I found it pretty affecting and a bit of a haunting look back on one’s life … when some deeply impressionable events happened. It’s a quiet, small-town tale but still manages some poignant ripples. It’s my first novel by Canadian author Marina Endicott novel and won’t be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me the ARC to read and review.

Island Home: A Landscape Memoir by Tim Winton/ Milkweed /256 p / 2017

I’ve loved much of Australian author Tim Winton’s fiction, but this book was really more essay-like than what I was expecting as a memoir. Much of it includes the western coast of Australia — places Winton grew up, which I know he loves and essays on saving the environment and his environmental work, which I admire and I’m all for.

But I found the book episodic and the chapters brief and not all that well explained to an outsider whether in mentioning species or places. Parts of it flew past or beyond me, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Still I admire Winton’s love of nature, environmental awareness, and his work in the campaign to save the Ningaloo Reef and other wild places. But in terms of reading, I’ll stick with his fiction in the future.

That’s all for now — what about you have you read these authors, or seen these movies and if so, what did you think? Enjoy the week.

Hi all. I just wanted to touch base that I’ll be taking a bit of blogging break while we’re away on our bike trip in Italy. We leave soon and I have my e-reader stacked full of fall reading for the plane, including one novel for PW to read and two advanced copies I haven’t gotten to yet, which include Canadian authors Sarah Bernstein’s novel Study for Obedience (out Oct. 10) and Marina Endicott’s novel The Observer (out Sept. 12). I’m a bit surprised to see that Study for Obedience just made the shortlist for the Booker Prize announced a few days ago. I’ve heard it’s quite strange, but I’ll give it a shot. Also Paul Harding’s novel This Other Eden made the Booker shortlist and I was listening to the audio recently, but I think I’ll switch to the ebook as I might like it better in print.

I wanted to take Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book Roman Stories (out Oct. 10) with me, but I didn’t get an early copy … so I’ll wait. When I return home I’ll try to put together a Preview of October release picks as there’s some good upcoming novels to make way for. Meanwhile I bought tickets to the upcoming book festival Wordfest (Oct. 11-15) and plan to see journalist Susan Casey talk about her new book The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean (out Aug. 1) and Mary Trump on her book The Reckoning. Not sure why she’s here, but I’m sure Canadians are very wary of her uncle running for reelection. There’s also a slew of other authors coming including: Ashley Audrain, Patrick DeWitt, Michael Crummey, Emma Donoghue, and Anne Berest, whose novel The Postcard I read earlier in the summer. I’m not sure how many I will see as I live far from the city these days.

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.

The Furrows: An Elegy by Namwali Serpell / Hogarth / 288 pages /2022

As it opens, a biracial woman named Cassandra Williams recounts her brother’s death in a tragedy at a Delaware beach when she was 12 and he was 7. Thereafter the story relates how the grief affected the later lives of her and her parents. Her white mother, who’s long denied that he died, goes on to form a nonprofit for missing children; while her black father leaves to remarry; and Cassie, who’s seen many therapists over the years, has had trouble processing the reality of the tragedy and her memory of it. At the time, she blacked out and his body was never found.

The short-ish novel starts pretty straightforward, but the second half gets sort of kooky: when things turn up casting some doubt whether the boy actually died or has just been missing. Cassie, or C as she’s called, becomes involved with a man who thinks he went to school with him. Uh-oh. That’s not all that’s odd, but I will leave the rest to you.

This is my first time reading this author who is Zambian. Her 2019 debut The Old Drift received a lot of recognition as did this one, but I wasn’t that enamored with the story. It was just a bit odd and trying to be elusive, though its exploration of grief and how it can blur reality and memory is an interesting theme. I gave it 3.5 stars.

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis /Norton /320 p /2021

As good as this nonfiction book might be for a person in public health, it was not really what I expected and not really the book for me. I think by picking it up, I was trying to get a grip on the recent pandemic and what went wrong to control it and why some leaders seemed so dangerously irresponsible. But the book doesn’t get to the recent pandemic until quite late in the book — and a lot of the book seemed to be data analysis of various other pandemics, crunching the math, disease modeling, and genomic sequencing. I didn’t really feel the human element of the victims in the hospitals as it wasn’t that kind of book.

Two people who are mostly talked about throughout the book are: Veterans Affairs official Carter Mecher and California deputy chief health officer Charity Dean — who both did a lot to wade through government bureaucracy and complacency to sound the alarm about the disease threat and spread and to come up with plans of containment and to get leaders to implement them. I admired their fortitude and years of commitment in fighting communicable diseases. I’m sure they’re public health heroes and saved numerous lives, but a biography of their careers was not really what I expected this book would be. Still I was interested when it talked about the various ways the previous Administration or the CDC blew it in protecting the public; how they downplayed the disease and threat in various ways.

But generally the book was more a numbers and modeling kind of book in understanding pandemics and what to do; and less the human side of pandemics inside hospitals, or a political one. So you just need to beware of that going into it, which unfortunately I wasn’t. I found it at times a laborious listen on audio, though admirably its information tells a true tale of these two people in particular who made a difference fighting disease and its spread in public health against major odds and bureaucracy. I think wonks might like it more.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think? Ciao for now.

Hi. Are you ready for fall? I’m still half in summer mode, but the colors seem to be changing up here. Our Italy trip is next week and we are getting excited and organized.

Meanwhile a few literary book awards are on the horizon. I sort of follow them for recommendations and to see what they consider the best of the year. Sometimes I agree with the choices and other times not so much. Note these upcoming announcement dates:

1) National Books Awards / Finalists on Oct. 3 / Winner on Nov. 15 / (My prediction: This Other Eden by Paul Harding)
2) Booker Prize / Short List on Sept. 21 / and Winner on Nov. 26 / (My prediction: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray)
3) Canada’s Giller Prize / Shortlist on Oct. 11 / Winner on Nov. 13 / (My prediction: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton)

Recently the National Book Awards announced its longlist, which is below. So far, I have read two of the novels that I marked with asterisks. I wasn’t a big fan of Chain-Gang All-Stars (though I suspect it might win) and was just so-so about The End of Drum-Time, but I’m curious to read This Other Eden and perhaps Night Watch.

• Justin Torres, Blackouts
• LaToya Watkins, Holler, Child
• Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars*
• Aaliyah Bilal, Temple Folk
• Eliot Duncan, Ponyboy
• Tania James, Loot
• Jayne Anne Phillips, Night Watch
• Mona Susan Power, A Council of Dolls
• Paul Harding, This Other Eden
• Hanna Pylväinen, The End of Drum-Time*

Have you read any of these and do have any predictions? And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett / Harper / 320 pages / 2023

4 stars. This novel warmed to me in the second half; I especially became more invested near the end. The story has two alternating components: the present day where Lara, 57, lives with her husband Joe on a farm in Northern Michigan and her daughters Emily, Maisie, and Nell are home due to the Covid pandemic and available to pick cherries; and the past where a young Lara has an acting role in the play Our Town at the venue near Tom Lake where she forms friendships and becomes involved with the actor Peter Duke. It’s about Lara’s personal life that summer and her career stint as an actress and thereafter.

At the novel’s beginning, things to me felt quite sentimental and idyllic in setting and tone; and everyone in the family gets along wonderfully during Covid (no talk of deaths or the nation in free fall), and the cherries are ready for picking. Lara’s telling her daughters about this past time in her life, which they all are curious about since Peter Duke had become a big star. Early on, I guess I felt a bit ho-hum at times with the novel starting out. Then much later the story became more interesting to me — about the trajectory of Lara’s life … and what happened that fateful summer between a group of theater friends, among them Peter Duke and his tennis pro brother Sebastian, who keeps an eye on him. And why Lara decided later not to stick with acting and how she came to return to Northern Michigan to live after a stint of working in New York. The plot becomes more webbed so to speak. And I liked how the story felt very nostalgic about one’s past youth and the defining turns that mark one’s life … for which Lara was very grateful about — how it turned out. She made the right choices for her when it counted.

Patchett has various lines throughout Lara’s life that are quite poignant. And it seems a particularly personal story to Patchett (though I haven’t heard her interviewed for this). I’m guessing that she likes the play Our Town, which is pretty sentimental, and once maybe dabbled in acting or thought of it. She incorporates dogs, sewing, and even tennis (yay), not to mention plenty of farming and family. It’s quintessential Patchett — with things that are often favorites and what she does best. I liked this one better than her novel Dutch House, in which I never much liked the mothers in it.

As for Tom Lake, I listened to the audio version narrated by Meryl Streep, who gives a great performance. It was a bit interesting since the plot hinges a lot around acting … and here Meryl reads it and you wonder … how things were familiar or different to her. I’m guessing she had some head nods with the experience.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane / Farrar Straus / 352 pages / 2022

4.3+ stars. Whoa I don’t even know where I first heard about this novel, but I put it on my summer reading list back in early June and just spent the past two weeks with the audio version … while painting the back deck. Make no mistake: this is no flash-in-the pan, quick summer read, this is a slow-burn mystery, being historical and literary fiction down to its core. It’s slow and long but pretty amazing all the same. This author lifted me off the ground and put me in the Flinders Range amid a community of people in Southern Australia who are in crisis mode soon after it starts.

That’s when six-year-old Australian boy, Denny Wallace, goes missing during a dust storm in 1883. He gets turned around and lost in the outback. His family is beset with worry and grief: Where is Denny?! He is the only boy in a large family, with Mary and Mathew as his parents and five sisters to boot, namely the young Cissy Wallace, who is probably my favorite character in the book. She’s quick fire and will say whatever’s on her mind, while riding into action.

Which is saying a lot because there’s a large cast from the community of Fairly who are featured in the novel, some of whom go out on search parties to find Denny. There’s newlyweds Minna Baumann and her husband Robert; and the Swedes Karl and Bess Rapp, itinerant artists; and Mathew’s Aboriginal hired hand, Billy Rough; and the hapless vicar Mr. Daniels, and the arrogant police Sergeant Foster, who wants to write a book; and a slew of others who escape me at the moment. The novel goes into their relations with one another, their back stories, and the search for Denny — who plays a part too, in trying to survive, but he takes off his hurtful boots, and leaves them behind, which can’t be good.

Amid the storyline is a bit of the undercurrents and clash between the settlers and Aboriginals, who are the best trackers and do much of the work. Fiona McFarlane is a terrific writer and a new author to me. I must go back and find her 2013 debut The Night Guest to read, which I’ve heard is very different from this one but also really good.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think?