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)
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 Lifeby 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.
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)
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!
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.
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 Hotelby 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.
Partly out of response to the recent film version, my local book group opted to re-read Little Women. Most everyone in the group had read it at least once. As a girl, I was caught up in the lives of these four sisters and was stunned when Beth died. And Jo was my favorite character. As an adult, I found some of the early chapters slow going and a bit tedious (the plays they created didn’t appeal to me) and thought that Marmee was just too good to be true. For me, it got better farther in, although since I knew the story, I admit to doing a lot of skimming. Jo was still very much my favorite sister and agreeing to marry her professor fit her personality. What I liked about the film version, which echoed the novel more closely than I initially realized, was the sheer energy and exuberance of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy. They are lively girls and re-arranging the order of events and letting Jo dominate added punch.
WATCHING
Between my treadmill viewing and sampling other programs with the Chief Penguin, I’ve located some good viewing.
Inside the Vatican (PBS)
This 2-hour documentary focuses not just on Pope Francis, but also to a large extent on the individuals around him who work for the Vatican. From the men who are tethered up high to clean the Bernini sculpture in St. Peter’s, to one of the interpreters of the pope’s speeches, to the Vatican’s social media director, to the head of security, to newly named cardinals from Madagascar and Pakistan, it is a fascinating portrayal of what is both enclave and enterprise. Highly recommended!
It might seem like a classic May-December romance, except that the woman is 60, and he in his thirties. Julia is a recent divorcee with unhappy grown children while Benjamin comes out of nowhere and chats her up at a museum exhibit. What is he after? Her money, say her children. Or something else? And what happened to this family in the distant past to generate so much angst? Not knowing Benjamin’s ulterior motives or what scarred Patrick, Della, and Leo, her children, makes for underlying suspense. I enjoyed this 6-part series, while finding Julia somewhat unbelievable in her unquestioning acceptance of Benjamin.
Anne Trenchard & daugher-in-law Susan (parade.com)
Belgraviais another series by Julian Fellowes, based on his novel of the same name, and written and directed by him. Opening on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo and then fast forwarding to 1840, the series is set in the exclusive London neighborhood of Belgravia. It’s a classic story of upper middle-class striving, gambling, thwarted love affairs, and subterfuge. Mr. Trenchard is a successful businessman in trade with a married grown son, Oliver, and a deceased daughter, Sophia. Unbeknownst to his wife Anne, he has provided financial support to a young cotton merchant, Charles Pope, who, subsequently, attracts the attention of the rich and titled, Lady Brockenhurst. How these two families and their relatives become intertwined in each other’s affairs is the stuff of drama and intrigue. While the first episode is a bit slow and the end results mostly predictable, it’s fun entertainment. Recommended.
A DIFFERENT SORT OF SUMMER
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Folks crowd beaches, friends congregate at barbecues, and parades abound. Not this year. In the midst of Covid-19, this year is different. States are loosening up and lifting their shelter-in-place and lockdown decrees, while many people remain wary and businesses and restaurants open under restricted conditions.
As we pause to recall the reason for this holiday, may we also think of the 100,000 individuals in this country gone because of Covid-19. The front of today’s New York Times is entirely covered with the identities of 1,000 of those people, a mere fraction of that death toll. It is a sobering piece that makes me doubly appreciative of all that I have, especially my health. What follows is a small sampling of those who are no longer here.
BY THE NEW YORK TIMES MAY 24, 2020
One hundred thousand.
Coronavirus (new scientist.com)
So imagine a city of 100,000 residents that was here for New Year’s Day but has now been wiped from the American map.
Auditor in Silicon Valley. Patricia Dowd, 57, San Jose, Calif.
Great-grandmother with an easy laugh. Marion Krueger, 85, Kirkland, Wash.
Wife with little time to enjoy a new marriage. Jermaine Ferro, 77, Lee County, Fla.
Sharecropper’s son. Cornelius Lawyer, 84, Bellevue, Wash.
Cancer survivor born in the Philippines. Loretta Mendoza Dionisio, 68, Los Angeles
Former nurse. Patricia Frieson, 61, Chicago
Ordained minister. Merle C. Dry, 55, Tulsa, Okla.
Traveled often in the United States and Mexico. Luis Juarez, 54, Romeoville, Ill.
Bounce D.J. and radio personality. Black N Mild, 44, New Orleans
Vietnam veteran. Michael Mika, 73, Chicago
Conductor with “the most amazing ear.” Alan Lund, 81, Washington
Preserver of the city’s performance traditions. Ronald W. Lewis, 68, New Orleans
Loved to travel and covered much of the globe. JoAnn Stokes-Smith, 87, Charleston, S.C.
Liked his bacon and hash browns crispy. Fred Walter Gray, 75, Benton County, Wash.
Member of a Franciscan monastery. John-Sebastian Laird-Hammond, 59, Washington, D.C.
Squeezed in every moment he could with his only grandchild. Carl Redd, 62, Chicago
Followed in his father’s footsteps as a pipefitter. Alvin Elton, 56, Chicago
Jazz pianist, composer and educator. Mike Longo, 83, New York City
Educator and marathoner. Arnold Obey, 73, San Juan, P.R.
Co-wrote nine books about computing. Donald J. Horsfall, 72, Rydal, Pa.
Active in the AIDS Foundation. Kevin Charles Patz, 64, Seattle
Engineer behind the first 200-m.p.h. stock car. Larry Rathgeb, 90, West Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Could make anything grow. George Freeman Winfield, 72, Shelburne, Vt.
Early woman on Wall Street and a World Bank official. Carole Brookins, 76, Palm Beach, Fla.
Renowned for her business making detailed pins and corsages. Theresa Elloie, 63, New Orleans…
Loved reading, especially mystery novels.Peggy Rakestraw, 72, Matteson, Ill.
Preacher and blues guitarist.Landon Spradlin, 66, Concord, N.C….
Architect of Boston’s monumental City Hall. Michael McKinnell, 84, Beverly, Mass. …
Loved travel, mahjong and crossword puzzles. Carol Sue Rubin, 69, West Bloomfield, Mich. …
Taught math, English and history for over 30 years. Julia Maye Alexander, 81, Upland, Calif. …
Known for her Greek chicken and stuffed peppers. Helen Kafkis, 91, Chicago …
First black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.Lila A. Fenwick, 87, New York City
Met Opera violist and youth orchestra conductor. Vincent Lionti, 60, New York City…
No one made creamed potatoes or fried sweet corn the way she did. June Beverly Hill, 85, Sacramento …
Took great joy in writing little ditties under her pen name, Penelope Penwiper. Susan Grey Hopp Crofoot, 97, Westwood, N.J. …
One of the few African-American corporate bond traders on Wall Street. John Herman Clomax, Jr., 62, Newark …
Loved his truck, Dorney Park, Disney World, model trains and especially California cheeseburgers. James W. Landis, 57, Krocksville, Pa.
