Category: Books

Tidy Tidbits: Reading & Watching

JWF 3 Comments

MEMOIRS:  OF GEOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY

Mill Town:  Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault

Kerri Arsenault (twitter.com)

Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small town of Mexico, Maine, adjacent to neighboring Rumford and home to an active paper mill.  Like the river Androscoggin that runs through the region, her memoir meanders along a nonlinear path.  We learn about her immediate family and her grandparents and great grandparents from Acadia. Almost all of these relatives worked in the mill and many died of cancer.

 Arsenault was one of the few of her cohort who left Maine and lived abroad, thanks to her husband’s military career.  Over many years, she sought to discover and document what toxic chemicals from the mill, dioxin being one example, were polluting the environment and leading to early deaths.  This quest for information and certainty (never arrived at) is a recurring thread in her detailed narrative.  

I found the first chapters somewhat overwritten. As I got further along, I appreciated her commentary on Mainers in general and the working class in particular.  Probably of greatest interest to those with Maine connections.  

Inheritance:  A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love by Dani Shapiro

The author with her father (thecut.com)

Dani Shapiro’s beloved father died when she was only twenty-three.  Her mother died some years later, but was also gone when Shapiro sent her DNA for testing.  At age 54, the news that her father was not her biological father turned her world upside down. She felt forced to question many facets of her upbringing and her identity.  Raised an Orthodox Jew, her blonde hair and blue eyes were unlike other family members and drew comments. What she does with the information and how she tries to locate other relatives make for a dramatic story.  

I found her account riveting.  Most families have some secrets; the big secret in her family was overwhelming and initially devastating.  I predict an animated discussion when my book group takes it up next month.

ON THE SCREEN

As counterpoint to the ongoing societal strife, the Chief Penguin and I have been savoring gentler viewing options.

All Creatures Great and Small (PBS Masterpiece)

At the time, we watched the 1978 PBS version of veterinarian James Herriot’s memoirs.  I even read a couple of them.  I wondered if this new series would be engaging enough to hold my interest and was pleased when it did.  The setting is Yorkshire, England in the 1930’s. Newly minted Herriot arrives to become the latest assistant to Siegfried, an established vet with strong opinions.  Add in Siegfried’s hapless nephew Tristan, a housekeeper who nicely keeps everyone in line, sick animals and cantankerous farmers, and you have the makings of a lively drama.  A welcome change of pace!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Netflix)

Published in 2008, the historical novel of the same name was made into a movie in 2018. It’s set on the the island of Guernsey in 1946.  I had previously read the book and seen the film when it was released.  It’s a fun romantic story about a writer, Julia Ashton, who travels to Guernsey to research a local society that existed during the German occupation.  Her visit is prompted by a letter she receives from Dawsey, a local farmer who has a book she previously owned.  Some of the locals are quirky and suspicious of Julia’s motives, but her innate charm endears her to most.  The ending is predictable, the journey heartwarming and delightful.  Lily James sparkles as Julia.

CATCHING UP

The lifelong learning series we usually attend in the winter are virtual only and being offered for free.  This past week we watched three of the Global Affairs lectures, two given by former U. S. ambassadors.  One was on affairs in the Middle East, another on the issues facing President Biden, and the third about Covid-19—the vaccine effort, the international organizations playing a role in combatting it, and some insights behind the lack of preparation in this country. All were informative.

Escaping Reality: Reading & Viewing

JWF Leave a comment

AN APPALLING WEEK

Like many of you, we’ve been glued to the television news, avidly following the latest developments, and devouring articles in the paper and online media.

 Wednesday afternoon American democracy was severely tested with the Capitol building breached and ransacked by domestic terrorists. Early Thursday morning brought the official certification of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice-president.  The fact that the Congress ultimately did its job, its duty, was one bright light. Now we must endure the remaining days until the inauguration and fervently hope that that man in the Oval Office is contained and constrained.  And that through impeachment, or removal per the 25th Amendment, or censure, he suffers for the horrible consequences of his actions.  

When you feel the need to escape reality, here are some print and viewing options.

ESCAPING INTO FICTION

SPIES BETWEEN THE WARS

Death in Focus by Anne Perry

Some years ago, I read a number of Anne Perry’s Victorian murder mysteries, then I stopped following her work.  This new mystery, the first in a series, was perfect December escapism.  It’s 1933 and Elena Standish, a photographer formerly with the Foreign Office, is with her sister Margot in Amalfi, Italy.  There to take photos at an economic conference, Elena becomes involved with handsome, charming Ian Newton. When a man is found dead at their hotel, Elena agrees to take the train home back to London with Ian.  Their journey is interrupted, and Elena finds herself entangled in political events in Berlin.  

Elena is an intriguing heroine and equally compelling are her grandfather Miles, formerly of MI6, and her father Charles, a diplomat.  I look forward to the next book of her adventures. 

ARCTIC QUEST

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McGonaghy (theguardian.com)

This novel is Australian writer McConaghy’s first introduction to the U.S. market.  Living in a future when all mammals have disappeared from the world, Franny Stone sets out on a search to see the last remaining terns.  In Greenland, she convinces Ennis Malone, captain of the fishing vessel Saghani, to take her on as a crew member with the promise that finding these birds will lead them to fish.  As a reader, we know that Franny is driven to find the terns.  Her life has been tumultuous, impacted by suicide and violence, and, as her journey unfolds, the layers of her life are peeled back.  

There are flashbacks to her marriage, time in prison, and seemingly unremitting despair.  I found the novel quite bleak initially, but gradually became more immersed in Franny’s mission and then felt rewarded by the ending.  

SOARING INTO NONFICTION 

LIFE BEYOND EARTH?

The Smallest Lights in the Universe by Sara Seager

(exoplanets.nasa.gov)

Sara Seager is a fascinating and talented individual who sees things most of us never dream about.  Her memoir is a personal love story wrapped into a passion for stars and exoplanets.  Always feeling different, Sara was drawn to the outdoors and to the night skies.  She became an astrophysicist and a professor and married Mike who loved canoeing and being on the water. They had two boys.  When Mike died, Sara was 40, a widow who’d never mastered any of the mundane chores of daily life.  How she dealt with these challenges while continuing to achieve scientific greatness makes for an engaging and candid astronomy life story.  

ON THE SMALL SCREEN

IMMERSION IN INDIAN SOCIETY

A Suitable Boy (Netflix)

Lata & her three suitors (scroll.in)

Based on the very long novel of the same name by Vikram Seth published in 1993, this series opens in 1951. It’s several years since India gained its independence. A widowed, well-off mother is determined to find the right potential spouse, a suitable boy, for her daughter. Lata, a dedicated literature student, is not sure she wants to marry, but recognizes she has a duty to her family.  Three young men capture her attention, and she is attracted to each to a greater or lesser degree.  One is a fellow student, but a Muslim, not Hindu; another is a published poet; and the third is an ambitious businessman in the shoe industry.

Lata is the focus, but there are subplots around her cousin Maan who is besotted with a courtesan and his father’s political career as a government minister.  A look at Indian customs and society that will hold your interest!

RE-VISITING THE BRITISH ROYALS

The Crown (Netflix)

We have been spacing out our viewing of the ten episodes in Series 4 of The Crown and just finished the last one.  For many viewers, this season will be the first one they remember living through the events.  Here are Charles and Diana’s courtship and troubled marriage and also Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister.  

All the actors are excellent.  I found the portrayal of Thatcher especially poignant.  Her last few meetings with the queen are painful as Thatcher struggles to understand her political demise.  While the Brits may quibble, and probably rightfully so, about the series’ overall accuracy, The Crown is drama and as such captivating viewing. 

Note: Header photo of a Florida sunset ©JWFarrington.

Tidy December Sunrise

December Diversions

JWF Leave a comment

ON THE SCREEN

Holiday Cooking Class 

The other evening, we enjoyed a cooking demonstration.  Clarkson University, the Chief Penguin’s alma mater, invited alumni to see and join their campus chef in the preparation of several dishes.  They included a colorful cranberry and whiskey cocktail, baked brie, baby potatoes wrapped in bacon, and julienned root vegetables with pistachio butter.  

One example of baby potatoes (serious eats.com)

The ingredient list was shared ahead of time and full recipes after the event.  The chef was very well organized, moved efficiently through the steps, and we could almost taste the results!  This was a different kind of viewing experience and a very successful one!  We haven’t yet bought any ingredients, but we will likely try at least one recipe.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Young Beth (Netflix.com)

The Queen’s Gambit, the name for an opening chess move, is a suspenseful seven-part series, even if you don’t play chess or understand the intricacies of the game.  It’s the 1950’s and when Beth Harmon’s mother dies in a car crash, the eight-year-old is sent to a very strict orphanage.  Lonely and feeling out of place, she lingers in the basement where the custodian plays chess by himself.  Observing and later learning from him, she demonstrates a real aptitude for the game.  

As a teenager, she is adopted by a childless couple. With the encouragement of her new mother, Beth enters a state chess championship, mostly to earn the prize money. As the 1960’s advance, Beth’s prowess takes her across the country and around the world.  She stands out as female in a very male world  One wonders if and when she will stumble.  

At first, I thought her character was based on a real person, but this is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Walter Tevis published in 1983.  Good entertainment!   

RECENT READING

CHILDHOOD IN POSTWAR BRITAIN

This Time Next Year We’ll be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the popular and award-winning Maisie Dobbs mystery series.  She has now put her hand to writing about her childhood growing up poor in rural Kent.  Born in 1955, when asked if she considered herself more a child of the 50’s or the 60’s, she reflected that her childhood was really Edwardian.  Steeped in nature and the countryside, she and her brother John spent summers spent picking hops with their parents.  They also lived for many years without indoor plumbing or a telephone.  It was a spare life based on hard physical labor of all sorts.  

In sprightly prose, Winspear shares her delight in being outdoors in all weathers and her love of stories, stories told by her mother, but also by her many aunts and uncles.  Her parents started married life as vagabonds of a sort. Later, her father established a business as a home contractor while her mother rose in the civil service as a prison administrator.  The memoir is a collection of stories and reminiscences, many grounded in the horrors of WWI, with only a bit about how Winspear became a writer.  More than anything, it is a loving and candid tribute to her parents, both deceased, and to a way of life now gone.  (~JWFarrington)

A NOVEL FOR LIBRARY LOVERS

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Writers of historical fiction often settle on a particular period and then create multiple works set in that era.  Fiona Davis focuses her novels on notable historic buildings in New York.  Earlier works highlighted the Dakota apartment building, the Barbizon hotel for young women, and the art school housed in Grand Central Terminal.  Her newest, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, takes place largely within the New York Public Library’s grand edifice.  In the early years of the 20th century, an interior apartment for the library superintendent was tucked away out of sight.  

Lion sculptures outside the New York Public Library (nypl.org)

In 1913, Jack and Laura Lyons, the superintendent and his wife, live in this apartment with their two children Harry and Pearl.  Jack is responsible for the safety and security of the building including its rare books.  When books go missing, he is a prime suspect.  Fast forward to 1993.   Sadie, a special collections librarian, is organizing an exhibit of rare first editions and other works in the Berg Collection, when several volumes go missing.  How the thefts in 1993 are linked to the events of 1913 make for an intriguing story of family relationships and the world of books.  

Davis has done her research, and it shows in her knowledge of the NYPL and the trade in stolen books.  She also brings in changing sexual mores and the constraints faced by women who desire more than just housewifery and motherhood.  The reader can assume there will be a happy or satisfactory ending, but how the author gets us there keeps us engaged.  (~JWFarrington)

Girl surrounded by stacks of books

2020 in Books: My Favorites

JWF Leave a comment

In general, I average reading at least a book a week.  This year, I did the same, but even though I had more available time, it was sometimes hard to settle down.  One of the effects of worrying about Covid-19.  My reading was heavily novels with a few mysteries, memoirs, and other nonfiction mixed in.  Here are some of my favorites for the year. Several of these titles are now showing up on notable and best-of-the-year lists.

NOVELS—CONTEMPORY, HISTORICAL, AND DYSTOPIAN

Monogamy by Sue Miller

Wonderful prose by this noted author in a reflection on marriage after the spouse has died.  Finely drawn characters.

Sea Wife by Amity Gaige

Marriage and parenting entries in a log kept by a woman on a momentous sea voyage with her husband.  Superb!

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

A poignant coming of age story about Casey, an aspiring novelist, grieving the loss of her mother and confused about the two significant men in her life.  Great setting in Cambridge, Mass.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

From the other end of the spectrum, prickly Mainer Olive Kittredge confronts aging and challenging relationships.  For fans of the earlier Olive novel, this is another winner.

Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati

Two female doctors in late 19th century Manhattan search for missing women.  A tome for long winter days and a sequel to her earlier book.

Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Atwood has crafted an excellent story of torture and treachery in Gilead, a most worthy successor to The Handmaid’s Tale.  I liked it even better than the earlier book!

MEMOIRS—Political and Personal

Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Power was raised in Ireland and then served in Obama’s administration.  A candid and engaging political memoir.

Self-Portrait in Black and White by Thomas Chatterton Williams

This is the lone nonfiction book I read about race in 2020.  Williams is a contributor to Harper’s Magazine and a Black man married to a white woman.  How it feels to straddle both the Black and white worlds when your daughter is a blue-eyed blonde.

NONFICTION—Illness & Ireland

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

Since an abnormal psych course I took in college, I’ve been fascinated by schizophrenia and autism. Kolker’s account of six siblings out of twelve suffering from schizophrenia in the 1950’s is riveting.

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

Motivated by a planned June trip to Ireland that didn’t happen, I delved into this account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.  It’s dense and highly detailed, but I learned a great deal and found it worth the investment of time.

MYSTERY—Favorite Author

Hid from Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming

After a hiatus of some years due to deaths in her family, this author returns with a multi-layered mystery about three murders, years apart.  Cleric Clare is here, but the focus is on her spouse, police chief Russ, over several decades.  Meaty and satisfying!

CURRENT READING

Meanwhile, I’m working my way through Obama’s memoir.  Very well written, but better read during the day than before bedtime!  

Note:  Book jacket images are from Amazon and several other web sources.