Author: JWF

Maine Musings: Mostly Books

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VIRGINIA BOOTLEGGERS

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Author Walls (Simon & Schuster)

Set in rural Virginia during Prohibition, Jeannette Walls’ new novel, Hang the Moon, is a rollicking ride with a family of whiskey bootleggers.  The Duke, Sallie Kincaid’s father and kingpin of the local economy, is a big man both in size and personality.  He receives adoration but offers little in return.  With multiple wives and children from various relationships, he is a force to be obeyed.  In his motherless daughter Sallie, he inspires hero worship and a zeal to be like him.  

At 18, Sallie, the focal point of the novel, is called back home after having been sent away some years before.  She is determined to win the Duke’s admiration, or at least, his respect.  Learning to drive, she convinces him to hire her as his bagman.  She collects rents from the tenants, makes deliveries, and inevitably gets caught up in the long-running feud between Kincaid’s men and those of the Bond family. 

It’s a life of hard work, violence, and skirting the law.  Sallie is fierce and independent and while coming into her own after the Duke’s death, has seen only what she wanted to see about the relationships between her aunts, cousins, and siblings.  Her Kincaid family history is a complex web of extramarital affairs, deaths, and failed marriages.  

Walls cites an impressive number of sources in her afterword and details which characters are modeled after real people. Highly recommended–it’s hard to put down once you start! (~JWFarrington)

TAKEOFF ON LITTLE WOMEN

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Napolitano (author’s website)

Who are we in our 20’s and how do we evolve and grow as we progress toward middle age?  Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful is a wonderfully enveloping novel about four sisters and the two men who impact their lives.  The women: ambitious organized Julia; Sylvie, earnest reader and librarian in the making; and the twins, Cecelia artistic and free-spirited; and Emeline, nurturer and caregiver; are entwined in a close-knit Catholic family in Chicago.  Julia meets William Waters in college.  Unloved, overlooked by his parents, and unsure of himself, he is Julia’s opposite in so many ways.  

When they marry, William acquires an instant family which he finds both overwhelming and mostly delightful.  Julia is a planner who has her life mapped out; William struggles on her suggested path but is not as focused or driven as she.  He gets his kicks from basketball and mentoring injured players.

Charlie, the girls’ father, is an alcoholic dreamer and seemingly ineffectual, but he sees them all more clearly than they realize.  His early death leaves a big hole, and they reflect fondly on his always cheery greeting of “Hello, Beautiful.”  

There is a rupture when one sister leaves town and, over the decades as they age, their relationships shift as new people come into the mix.  The tightness of the sisterly bonds and a subplot about absentee fathers make for an emotion-laden experience. 

I found this novel so absorbing, I read it very quickly, completely caught up in the unfolding story.  Highly recommended. (~JWFarrington)

VIEWING NOTES (PBS Passport)

Will, wife Bonnie, & Geordie in Grantchester (PBS)

This past week, we finished the most recent seasons of both Grantchester and Endeavour. In Season 8 of Grantchester, Will is in turmoil, Leonard is having difficulties with his halfway house and Daniel, and Geordie faces forced retirement.  There’s a lot going on, and it’s emotionally absorbing.  There will be one more season with Tom Brittney as vicar Will Davenport before he departs the series.

This season of Endeavour is the finale.  We watched the first two episodes and had saved up this last one.  It’s poignant and bittersweet as almost everyone moves on to another place or phase.  DI Thursday may be retiring, there are old murders to solve, festering scores to settle, and Miss Thursday is getting married.  Endeavour Morse must face what comes after. 

Endeavour & Joan Thursday (WTTW)

If you are a fan of any of the Colin Dexter-based series from John Thaw in Inspector Morse, to Kevin Whately as Lewis, and then Shaun Evans as the young Morse in Endeavour, I highly recommend a short documentary.  

Morse & Lewis (CUNY TV)

It’s called Morse and The Last Endeavour:  A Masterpiece Mystery! Special.  It’s an affectionate look at the entire set of episodes from 1987 to the present and includes interviews with many of the actors about their characters, along with comments about what it was like to film in Oxford.  It’s a treat!  But there are spoilers so watch all of this Endeavour first.

There’s also a one-on-one interview with Shaun Evans about his evolving role as both actor and director. It too is on PBS Passport and worth watching.

Note: Header photo of lilies taken ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidbits from Maine

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TOUCHSTONES

For many years, we began our summer stay in Maine with a day or two in Portland. The pandemic changed that, and we had not been overnight there in several years. This year, we returned to the historic Portland Regency Hotel, formerly an armory, for one night. Its location on Milk Street is perfect for wandering the Old Port, venturing to Monument Square, or even going on to the Portland Museum of Art. That afternoon and at breakfast, we reconnected with John, our favorite longtime waiter and one of the nicest guys around.

My friends know I never pass up a chance to stop in a bookstore, and I have favorites in Portland and Boothbay Harbor. Before dinner on Friday night, we browsed in Longfellow Books on Monument Square. It’s a generously sized independent bookstore with a wide selection of fiction and nonfiction, both new and used, and a separate room devoted to children’s books. Naturally, I purchased a book for me, one for the grand girls, and some notecards.

On Saturday, we made our way up to Southport Island with some time time in Boothbay Harbor. Lunch was at Harborside 1901 Bar and Grill, a more recent favorite which we fondly call “Fiona’s Place” in honor of the founding chef. The Chief Penguin ordered fish and chips with a side of cole slaw while I inaugurated the season with my first lobster roll. Yummy!

After lunch, we visited Sherman’s Books and Stationery, a longstanding touchstone going back 30 years. This location is the mother ship and there are stores in eight other towns. The two-level store carries lots and lots of books, but also toys and games and a big selection of greeting cards, along with housewares and Maine memorabilia. It’s a treasure trove and it’s easy to get lost in here for an hour or more!

At the Southport General Store, another touchstone, we bought the weekly Boothbay Register, a must read for me, and stocked up on wine, ice cream, and pizza slices for dinner. The next day we got ahead of the summer crowds with an early morning trip to Hannaford, the area’s primary supermarket in Boothbay Harbor, for essentials.

Later in the day, it was time to check out the temptations at Pinkham’s Gourmet Market. This store, which initially sold just local seafood, keeps expanding its offerings and adding more goodies. Here we bought fresh crab cakes, deviled clams, some prepared salads, and a jarred Indian curry sauce. Back at the house on Southport, we hunkered down for the remainder of this rainy, foggy day, delighting in the cooler temperatures. So very Maine.

DINING OUT IN PORTLAND

David’s Restaurant in Monument Square

We have eaten at David’s a number of times in recent years and always enjoyed what we ordered. This dinner was better than ever and several notches up in taste and presentation. The highlight was the special starter of arancini made with three different cheeses and served on a smear of poblano cream. Spectacular!

One remaining arancino

We followed this with ahi tuna crudo and roasted Brussels sprouts for the Chief Penguin and delectable salmon cakes with pickled veggies for me (another special of the day). We shared a Caesar salad. Caesar salads are ubiquitous on menus, but they vary widely in the freshness of the greens, the crunch of the croutons, and the balance of garlic and Parmesan in the dressing. This one was a winner in all regards and was topped with a pair of white anchovies. The menu choices overall were so appealing, we vowed to return for lunch!

Note: Photos from JWFarrington (some rights reserved)

 

Tidy Tidbits: Viewing Options

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This week, I’m sharing a group of TV series that run the gamut from the life of a successful Italian businesswoman, to puzzling and murders to solve, to a devastating portrayal of providing hospital care under the Nazis.

DELIGHTFUL CONFECTION

Luisa at work (RMPBS Video)

Luisa Spagnoli Queen of Chocolate (PBS Masterpiece)

Have you ever enjoyed one of the chocolate kisses called Baci Perugina? If so, then you’ve experienced one of the confectionary wonders created by Luis Spagnoli.  Luisa Spagnoli grew up in Perugia.  An ambitious woman for her time (late 19th century), she bought a confectionary shop that made and sold sugared almonds.  From that beginning, with her husband Annibale and then their business partner Giovanni Buitoni, Luisa was the driving force behind the development of an innovative international candy business.  Later, she ventured into the world of fashion.

This is a feel-good story about hard work, determination, marriage, romance, and more.  During WWI, Luisa hired women to work in the factory and provided day care for their children.  She pushed back against traditional boundaries, lived outside the lines, and was an inspiration to many.  

There are four episodes each about an hour long.  Highly recommended as enjoyable change of pace viewing—perfect for summer!

GRIM WARTIME MEDICINE

Charite’ Season 2 (PBS Masterpiece)

Surgeon Sauerbruch (express.co.uk)

Charite’ is a large research hospital in Berlin that still exists.  It was central to medicine in the late 19th century and was bombed by the Allies in the Second World War.  Season 2 covers the period from 1943 to 1945 and is even more devastating than the first season.  

The hospital is operating under the Nazi regime.  Some staff are dedicated supporters of Hitler while others cooperate, when necessary, but privately try to work around it, and a few are secretly assisting the Allies. Noted surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch is one such complex individual whose role as a hospital leader sometimes requires compliance not defiance.  Psychiatry chair Dr. Max de Crinis was key in the development of Hitler’s euthanasia program.  Young physicians Anni and Artur Waldhausen face a moral quandary when their infant daughter appears to have a serious condition.  

Before the bombing, the operating rooms seem primitive, and the surgeries raw and graphic; later hospital conditions rival the battlefield.  It’s an intense series, not for the fainthearted, but provides a different perspective on aspects of the war. I personally found it riveting viewing.

DETECTIVES AT WORK

Karen Pirie  (Prime Video)

Detective Pirie (express.co.uk)

Scottish detective, Karen Pirie, is promoted and assigned to re-open and investigate a cold murder case from 25 years ago.  Initially pleased, she later suspects she was chosen because she is less experienced and female.  A young woman’s body was found slashed and dead on the local cathedral grounds.  Three young men who knew her well and hung out with her at a local bar were primary suspects, but no one was ever charged in her death.  Karen and her assistant look at old leads, talk to the original detective who handled the case, and run into roadblocks, but persevere.  There are 3 episodes all built around solving this one case based on novels by Valerie McDermid.

My initial response was that I didn’t care much for Karen as a character and wondered if the series would jell.  I stuck with that first episode and got hooked.  Taken together the episodes are an in depth look at motives, relationships, and corruption.   A second season has been commissioned. 

Ridley (PBS Masterpiece)

Alex & Carol (BritBox)

Alex Ridley is a retired British detective who gets called back to assist his former colleague Carol in solving a case.  He is still grieving the death of his wife and daughter by arson in a fire intended for him.  A parttime singer, Ridley also co-owns a local pub.  Music is a feature of this series, both in his performing with the bar combo and the jazz tunes that form a backdrop to the action.  

And it’s fun to see starchy Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen) of Call the Midwife as the precise but somewhat less stiff pathologist Dr. Wendy Newstone.  There are four cases in this first season, and they are each presented in 2 parts.  The pace is more leisurely than some crime series, but I’m enjoying getting to know Ridley and his compatriots. A second season is planned.

Note: Header photo of Luisa and Annibale Spagnoli is courtesy of Amazon.

Summer Fare: Reading & Watching

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This week was a good one for reading, and I’ve now checked two more books off my summer list.  I also watched the first season of All Heart on the treadmill, while the Chief Penguin and I learned some significant medical history in the engrossing Charite’ series. 

WEALTH AND HORSE RACING

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Author Diaz (BookPage)

Argentinian author Hernan Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for Trust, a financial family saga.  Set in New York, mostly in the 1920’s and 30’s, it’s primarily the tale of Andrew Bevel and his wife Mildred.  Their story is told by Andrew but also by a novelist, a stenographer, and through a long undiscovered diary.  The novel is in 4 parts, the first being “Bonds,” the 1937 novel within the novel which charts the lineage and rise of Benjamin Rask (the fictional Andrew Bevel) and his wife Helen.  

Andrew Bevel disagrees violently with the fictional depiction of his wife and arranges to write his autobiography.  How he perceives the events of his life, how others see them, and what his wife was really like unfold as the novel progresses.  There are financial details, repeated discussions of the 1929 and other stock market crashes, and descriptions of Andrew’s role in these events.  

The book has been highly and widely praised for being brilliant, charming, ingenious, and a host of other superlatives.  I have to say while I found it engaging and intriguing enough to read to the end, I was never completely captivated, nor did I find it exhilarating.  I did, however, appreciate the clever twist as the truth of events was unveiled.  Mildly recommended.  Perhaps of greater interest to readers interested in the financial world of an earlier time. (~JWFarrington)

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Brooks (Wikipedia)

Born in Australia, but residing in Massachusetts, Geraldine Brooks is a favorite author of mine.  I loved this novel!  It’s rich in historical detail, has complex characters (some based on real people and the others contemporary and fictional), and a sweeping time frame moving back and forth between the 1850’s, 1956, and 2019.  Ms. Brooks obviously knows and cares for horses.  With delicacy and thoroughness, she depicts the close relationship between enslaved Jarret and Darley, aka Lexington, the horse he trains; that itself is a love story.  

In the 1850’s, horse racing in the South was dominated by rich white plantation owners.  With slavery in place, trainers were slaves who could be easily sold to another owner.  Jarrett, a boy then young man, goes from being Warfield’s Jarret to Ten Broeck’s Jarret to Alexander’s Jarret until after the Civil War he is finally himself, Jarret Lewis.  

In the present day, a tossed aside painting sets in motion the examination of a horse skeleton and research on 19th century artist Thomas Scott.  Jess works in a conservation lab and Theo, a Black graduate student in art history, brings in the painting.  Thus begins their tentative, but warm relationship.  

Although one might posit that Brooks’ treatment of racism in 2019 is predictable, it is nonetheless believable.  Jess and Theo are fully realized characters, not cardboard cutouts.  Likewise, the portrayals of artist Scott and donor Martha Jackson add further depth to the story.  Highly recommended, whether you are familiar with or a lover of horses or not!  (~JWFarrington)

MEDICAL DRAMA ON SCREEN

All Heart (PBS Masterpiece)

Alberto, Delia, & Cesare (Just Watch)

This series, Cuori in Italian, from Walter Presents is set in Turin, Italy in the 1960’s.  Swedish doctor Alberto Ferraris is recruited to work with lead physician Cesare Corvara on quietly developing an artificial heart.  Tensions between the doctors on staff and qualms on the part of the Catholic Church about funding such an effort pose roadblocks.  Add in the arrival of an American cardiologist, a female no less, and work relations between colleagues suffer.  

Delia Brunello is not only highly accomplished, but she is also Cesare’s wife and knew Alberto in a past life.  Highly entertaining for both the medicine and the heart troubles.  Season 1 has eight episodes.  There is a second season, but I don’t think it is available here yet. (~JWFarrington)

Charite’ Seasons 1 & 2 (PBS Masterpiece; possibly also Netflix)

Nurse Lenze (The Movie Database)

Charite‘ is a historical German drama series set in Berlin in the late 19th century at the famous Charite’ Hospital.  Ida Lenze works as a nurse to pay off a debt, discovers she likes medicine and aspires to become a doctor.   She is curious and strong willed and interacts with several doctors who became famous and were later awarded for their efforts to develop vaccines.  Robert Koch is the only one I knew of beforehand.  His twin focus was on fighting tuberculosis and courting his actress girlfriend.  

Two other doctors research and experiment with injections to prevent diphtheria or at least curb its virulence.  Personal dramas and professional egos occasionally get in the way of reliable results.  It’s an engrossing first season. With its graphic depictions of primitive surgical techniques, one appreciates the many vaccines of today. There are three seasons, each consisting of 6 episodes.

We completed Season 1 and have now watched two episodes of the second one.  It’s set in 1943 and is both chilling and painful at points.  A young couple, both doctors, full subscribe to Hitler’s aims, and that impacts how they practice medicine.  Initially, the war seems faraway in Berlin until returning injured soldiers share what the front is really like.  Set against the Waldhausen couple are professor and doctor Ferdinand Sauerbruch and his wife Margot, also a doctor.  Compassionate and accomplished, they become aware of the insidious undercurrents in medical care at Charite’.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header image is Thomas Scott’s 1857 painting of Lexington, the very famous 19th century race horse, courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine.