Category: Books

Summertime: Novels & Crime

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NOVEL ADVENTURES

WOMEN & MEDICINE

Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati

(go.authorsguild.com)

If you’re a historical novel junkie and you like medical minutiae, then the sequel to Donati’s earlier tome, The Gilded Hour, might be just the perfect diversion.  Set in the 1880’s in New York, specifically Greenwich Village and environs, it’s the continuing tale of two female doctors, cousins Sophie and Anna Savard, who struggle to overcome prejudice and to provide comprehensive OB-GYN care for women of all classes.  Anna is married to a police detective, and Sophie is a rich widow, but also biracial.  Together they get involved in a series of missing persons cases.  

Donati is the pen name of Rosina Lippi, a retired university professor. She loves details and has done meticulous research (even creating newspaper clippings based on real events) to present what Manhattan was like in the 19th century—its architecture, the culture, and its politicians.  Chock full of secondary characters, friends and relatives of the two doctors, all intertwined with several subplots, Where the Light Enters is engrossing and highly readable!  (~JWFarrington)

SMALLTOWN OHIO

The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz

Connie Schultz (Cleveland.com)

I was not familiar with Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, before reading The Daughters of Erietown.  Schultz grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, and this historical novel (1950’s to 1990’s) overlaps with her early years and some of her personal experiences.  It’s the warmhearted story of three generations of women with limited means and big aspirations who are products of their time and place.  

The central focus is on Brick and Ellie McGinty, sandwiched between his father, Bull, and mother, Angie, and their own children, Samantha (Sam) and Reilly.  Brick is a high school basketball star with a college scholarship and Ellie dreams of going to nursing school.  When she becomes pregnant, they marry, and their choices narrow to staying put in their blue-collar life.  As the years pass, Ellie doesn’t give up completely on her dreams, while her daughter takes a somewhat bolder approach.  Brick soaked up being the center of attention in high school and seeks out that kind of attention in all the wrong places.  This is small town life marked by abuse, adultery, racism, and poverty in a time when smart women might end up stuck.  

Growing up, my family visited my cousins in Ohio each summer; Schultz convincingly evokes the cultural and social aspects of that time.  You will end up cheering Ellie on and applauding Sam for her gumption.  Recommended!  (~JWFarrington)  

SCANDINAVIAN VIEWING

The Sommerdahl Murders  (Acorn)

(cancelledshowstv.com)

As you probably have realized, the Chief Penguin and I like crime series.  The Sommerdahl Murders is a Danish series set in a small coastal town.  Dan Sommerdahl is the lead detective and he works with his partner, Flemming, and his wife, Marianne who is a criminal technician.  Dan and Marianne have been married for 25 years, but often, his job has taken priority.  In the opening episode, the situation comes to a head as he gets consumed by a murder case and misses a key dinner.  Unlike the Swedish series, Rebecka Martinsson, this one is faster-paced and very lively.  Quite a contrast to the frozen Arctic of the other and very good viewing!  Season 1 is eight episodes, and it seems very likely that there will be a Season 2 available here sometime next summer.  

Note: Header photo of flag from covenantcare.com

Girl surrounded by stacks of books

Tidy Tidbits: Mostly Books

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READING

FASCINATING WOMAN

Lady First:  The World of First Lady Sarah Polk by Amy S. Greenberg

(charlotteonthecheap.com)

History has not been kind to James Polk, the unpopular president known for his Manifest Destiny policy and the U.S.-Mexican War of the 1840’s.  He only served one term in office and his widow outlived him by more than 40 years.  Sarah Polk, on the contrary, was charming and gracious and cultivated the image of a deferential and very proper southern Christian woman.  In reality, she was also smart, well-educated and astute. She easily related to men and manipulated government officials in service of her husband’s political career, especially during the White House years.  Her correspondents were numerous, and she hosted many a reception, even when she and James lived in rented rooms in a D.C. boardinghouse while he was in Congress.   

The Folks were plantation owners with a raft of slaves, and after his death in 1849, Sarah continued to keep their slaves.  During and after the Civil War, she aimed to be seen as friendly to the Union while quietly and privately continuing her efforts on behalf of the Confederacy and Confederate causes.  Ahead of the times in her influence and power, Sarah Polk was a multi-dimensional individual who had a lasting impact on her times and was revered by many into her late 80’s.  This is a fascinating and engaging biography and an account of some of the most critical years of the 19th century.  (~JWFarrington) 

WATCHING

ARCTIC MURDERS

Rebecka Martinsson  (Acorn)

(thekillingtimestv.wordpress.com)

Rebecka Martinsson is an attorney at a prime law firm in Stockholm when she returns north of the Arctic Circle after the death of a close friend.  Convinced that all is not right, she becomes involved in a murder investigation.  There are eight episodes in Season 1, and each murder mystery is a two-parter, all taking place in the cold, frozen north.  

It takes a little bit of effort to get into this series; dialogue is sparse, Rebecka is both smart and unorthodox in her approaches, and sometimes the connections between characters are hard to sort out.  Nonetheless, the Chief Penguin and I got hooked on this series and watched all of it.  Apparently, Season 2 has debuted in Sweden, so we can cross our fingers we’ll eventually get it in the U.S.

SUMMER READING

Here are a few of the titles I plan to read over the next few months. What is on your list or in your stack?

Barbarian Days:  A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (a memoir, winner of the Pulitzer Prize)

William Finnegan (mensjournal.com)

The Body in Question by Jill Cement (Notable book, novel about an affair between jurors)

German Boy:  A Child in War by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel (a memoir, recommended by Dean)

The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz (first novel by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist)

Spying on the South:  An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz (re-tracing Frederick Law Olmstead’s journey of the 1850’s)

Note: Header image of girl and book stack is from ipipliwool.comyr.com.

Diversions: Other Lives on Screen & Page

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RECENT READING

EVOCATIVE MEMOIR

The Farmer’s Son:  Calving Season on a Family Farm by John Connell

(irishcentral.com)

I had read good reviews of this work and since we were originally going to Ireland this month, I was doubly attracted to it.  Connell’s account of the months from January to June working on his father’s farm in County Longford delivering calves and lambs is both precise and brooding.  The work is hard, physical and unending, the winter weather cold and damp, the unexpected expected, and the life isolating.  His father is a difficult man with a temper and they often argue and then go for long periods without speaking. 

One feels initially that Connell only reluctantly returned to the farm to deal with personal issues and to grapple with his writing.  The farm is a stark contrast to his previous life in Toronto and only gradually do his ties to the land and his connection to nature return to the fore.  His plain prose often surprises with its literary references while he conveys the details of delivering an animal, the evolutionary history of the cow, and shares his thoughts on his faith and his few friendships.  It’s chock-full of the endless round of daily farm chores and what they entail, but what remains with me is Connell’s journey to a fuller understanding of who he is and where he fits in.  Almost haunting.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

ILLUMINATING BIOGRAPHY

What Stars Are Made Of:  The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin by Donovan Moore

(nymag.com)

Like too many scientific fields, astronomy was a closed circle of men until well into the 20th century, open just a sliver for smart women (known as “computers”) whose job was to collect data.  Cecilia Payne was an exception.  Brilliant, driven, and not deterred by social mores or niceties, she barreled through, or navigated around, the hurdles designed to keep women in their place.  And, she was responsible for discovering the primary element found in stars.  

An English woman who studied at Cambridge, England, she was urged to come to the U.S., specifically to Harvard, where opportunities for women scientists were marginally better.  Intending to stay just for the duration of her fellowship, she ended up spending her entire career at Harvard, becoming the first chair of the astronomy department and ultimately, being granted the rank of full professor.  

Cecilia came of age in the 1920’s and, in the U.K. academic world, women were strictly governed by rules of dress and conduct.  From being heckled on the way down the lecture hall to the front row seats, to not being able to work alone with a male student or scientist in the observatory, learning required persistence and boldness.  Moore’s biography is engaging and accessible, and while focused on Payne-Gaposchkin, is a lesson in astronomy and a history of notables in the field, both men and women.  Thanks to my friend Suzy for the recommendation. (~JWFarrington)

CHOICE VIEWING

PHARMACEUTICAL PUZZLER

Acceptable Risk (Acorn)

(rte.ie)

This is one of the best crime/mystery series I’ve watched recently.  When an executive for global pharmaceutical firm leaves his home in Dublin for a meeting in Montreal, he never returns.  Lee Manning’s violent death raises alarms in Sarah, his lawyer wife, and sets her on a trail for answers to what all his international travel entailed.  Sarah worked for the same firm, Gumbiner-Fischer,  and has two children.  Probing close-mouthed company officers and getting nowhere, she teams up with police detective Emer Byrne, who later is officially removed from the case.  What was really going on at the firm and why all the secrets?  Intriguing, fascinating and totally absorbing!

ESCAPE FROM THE MIDWEST

The Chaperone (Amazon Prime)

(pbs.org)

This film is adapted from a novel of the same name by Laura Moriarty.  It’s the early 1920’s and 16-year old Louise Brooks from Kansas City, has been selected to spend the summer with the Denishawn School of dance in New York.  It’s a long train journey from her home to the city, and she needs a chaperone.  Her mother recruits an acquaintance, Mrs. Norma Carlisle, to accompany Louise and stay with her during the auditioning process.  Louise is feisty and bold and challenges the very proper, straitlaced Norma at every turn, as they both explore a new world of experiences.  Louise Brooks is a real person who eventually became a popular silent screen star.  This is light fare, a pleasant diversion for a summer afternoon, and fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy seeing Elizabeth McGovern blossom as Norma.

Note: The header photo seen in a restaurant run by women, “Behind every successful woman is HERSELF” seemed appropriate for this blog which is mostly about determined women.

Tidy Tidbits: Escaping the News

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WHAT A HORRIBLE WEEK!

American life and U.S. politics hit a new low this past week.  Aside from the continuing dire news about the pandemic, there was the brutal Minneapolis killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer, followed by nights of violence in that city and mass demonstrations in others around the country.  Add in the president’s smear of respected news host, Joe Scarborough, and his tweets about looting and shooting, and it seems that absolutely anything goes.  As Florida opens up some, we here feel a bit in a bubble.  We read the depressing news, are angry and upset by it, but are fortunate to be well and safe.  Strange, weird times.

ESCAPES—READING AND VIEWING

NEW NOVEL

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

(fandm.edu)

At first, I was mystified as to where this novel was going.  Was Vincent male or female and what was her/his relationship to the Paul of the next chapter?  Skipping around in time and place (Vancouver, Dubai, Manhattan), Mandel creates a circle of characters who revolve around or otherwise intersect with Jonathan Alkaitis, investor and Ponzi scheme creator.  Vincent, decades younger, is Jonathan’s pretend wife; artist Olivia Collins invested with Alkaitis and seeks his attention; while Oskar and Harvey who work for him, both know, and not know, what they are doing on the Seventeenth Floor.  Paul, Vincent’s brother, initially works at the same glass hotel as Vincent, but then mostly disappears to take up composing and performing.  

It’s a high life for a while, and Alkaitis is Bernie Madoff writ large.  We follow Alkaitis to prison where he invents an interior life, his counterlife, which increasingly becomes entwined with, to the point of replacing, what is real.  And we hear from his colleagues and how they each fare after the fragile bubble bursts.  Mandel concentrates on the shifting lives and changing personas of individuals as they find and lose money, friends, and love.  This is my first experience of Ms. Mandel’s writing and I loved it!  (~JWFarrington)

WARHORSE?

War and Peace (Prime Video $)

Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton (bcstudios.com)

This BBC adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel was written by Andrew Davies and produced in 2016.  There are eight episodes and it stars, among others, James Norton (of Grantchester fame) and Lily James (Lady Rose in Downton Abbey).  Set before and during the battles led by Napoleon against the Russians, it’s a grand spectacle about the lives of several young Russian elites.  There are beautiful women in lavishly decorated ballrooms, gruesome and gory battle scenes, and soul-stirring Russian songs; all against the glorious architecture of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the snow.  

Somehow, I escaped to adulthood without having read this masterwork, so I found the beginning a bit confusing with so many counts, countesses and princes to keep straight.  Shortly after, I became absorbed in their lives, loves and lusts.  

Note: Header photo of Florida sunrise ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).