Summer Reading

PURE ESCAPISM

Summer is often viewed as the time to indulge in lighter reading fare—mysteries, thrillers, beach reads and the like.  Here are two recent notable novels (one a first novel) that are well written and meet the criterion of being thrilling or suspenseful.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Sarah Penner (deadline.com)

First time novelist, Penner has penned an historical thriller about an 18th century female healer or apothecarist who also dispenses poisons.  Nella will provide them to any woman desiring to kill off a cheating or abusive man.  She mainly provides women with helpful herbs and salves, but her own life situation led her down this alternate path.  

In the present day, Caroline Parcewell has learned that her husband was unfaithful, but proceeds alone to London on their anniversary trip.  On a mud larking expedition, Caroline discovers an old vial which leads her to a hidden apothecary.  Seeking answers, she consults someone at the British Library and delves deeper into the historic record.   

Penner does an amazing job of detailing Nella’s life and her interactions with a young girl, Eliza, and then linking that with Caroline’s research.  Some readers might think that the parallels between Nella’s work and Caroline’s marriage strain belief, but I found them convincing enough.  A most accomplished debut!

The Survivors by Jane Harper

Author Harper (sun-sentinel.com)

Australian Jane Harper is a recent favorite author of mine.  I’ve now read all four of her mystery novels.  The Survivors is set on the Tasmanian coast and concerns the recent death of Bronte, a young woman working as a waitress at the local Surf and Turf tavern.  

Twelve years ago, another young woman, Gabby Birch, died, and two men drowned in a very bad storm. Kieran was eighteen at the time of the big storm and is still haunted by guilt over his own actions that day when his older brother Finn died.  Bronte’s drowning brings up memories. Kieran and his wife, Mia, friends Ash and Sean, and his parents Brian and Verity struggle to cope while secrets long festering are slowly revealed.  This is an atmospheric mystery with more conversation and less action, but still compelling.  You won’t soon forget the underwater caves of Tasmania!

SUMMER READING

Here are some of the titles I hope to read this summer.  A couple of them are for my book group so I may put them off until early fall, closer to when the group discusses them.  Besides these titles, I have a stack of other books waiting in the wings.

Eleanor by David Michaelis

I’ve read several biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt including Blanche Wiesen-Cook’s monumental three volume work.  Nonetheless, I look forward to this recent biography drawing on new research about her life.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

A much-praised novel about the Dust Bowl set in the 1920’s and 30’s.  Hannah is the author of twenty novels, but I don’t think I’ve read any of them.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

This historical novel about a female aviator covers decades and locales from Montana to London to modern day Los Angeles.   Cast in the role of aviator Marian for a new film a hundred years later, Hadley’s quest to find her place dovetails with aspects of Marian’s life.  I found Shipstead’s earlier novel, Seating Arrangments, finely drawn and am really looking forward to this tome! 

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

A novel of the 1918 pandemic, this time set in a Dublin hospital. Donoghue is author of the highly touted and gripping novel, The Room, as well as Frog Music.

The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen

A historical novel about a real person, Mary Bowser, a slave then freed, who posed as a slave to spy on Jefferson Davis.

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

(goodreads.com)

For those who enjoyed The Magpie Murders, this is another puzzling murder mystery by a prolific and acclaimed English writer.  Like in the earlier mystery, Horowitz himself is a character.

The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers

A novel of the Civil Rights era combining love and music in the marriage of a Jewish scientist and a Black singer.  Published in 2003.  Powers is also the author of The Gold Bug Variations and Overstory.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

I very much enjoyed Gyasi’s Homegoing so look forward to this novel about a Ghanaian family in the U.S. trying to make it midst addiction, depression, and prejudice.

Note: Header image of reading couple is courtesy of www.mymcpl.org (Mid-Continent Public Library).

Girl surrounded by stacks of books

Tidy Tidbits: Mostly Books

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.

Summer Reading Recap: 2019

SUMMER READING 

Here is a list of the titles I read this summer. Of these twenty-two titles, seven were on my intended summer reading list.  I started and abandoned American Spy and The Power of the Dog, read one story in Lauren Groff’s Florida, and am more than a quarter of the way into Middlemarch.  It’s a long book and I’m taking it slowly.

My favorite books were The Guest Book, Exposure, and The Lost Man of the novels and Salt Path and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone in nonfiction.  But, I have to say, Into the Raging Sea is an amazing piece of reporting.

FICTION

Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Exposure by Helen Dunmore

Force of Nature by Jane Harper (mystery)

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Lost Man by Jane Harper (mystery)

Mapping Murder by William D. Andrews (mystery)

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

A Question of Trust by Penny Vincenzi

Shadows on the Lake by Giovanni Cocco & Anneris Magella (mystery)

When We Left Cuba by Chantal Cleeton

Winter Cottage by Mary Ellen Taylor

NONFICTION

America’s Reluctant Prince:  Life of JFK Jr. by Steven Gillon

Into the Raging Sea by Rachel Slade

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (memoir)

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

Salt Path by Raynor Winn (memoir)

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl (memoir)

I also skimmed portions of Adventures in Nanaville by Anna Quindlen and The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates.

Maine Leisure: Screen & Page

ON THE BIG SCREEN—WOMAN POWER

(the wrap.com)

It’s hard to accept how sexist the sailing world was in 1990.  The Maiden, a new documentary, is a graphic account of skipper Tracy Edwards and her all female crew’s performance in the Whitbread Round the World Race. In the past women just didn’t compete there or at that level; or, if they were on one of the race boats it was to be the cook, how Tracy spent her first race.  Tracy is one determined individual, and she was determined to obtain a boat, hire a crew and strive to win the race.  

All twelve crewmembers were women and, despite the fact that all the male journalists (and probably the other skippers) expected that the Maiden crew wouldn’t complete that first leg, they did in first place!  And then they did it again in the second leg.  Although the film starts out slowly, it’s gripping with harrowing scenes of high seas and high winds.  What makes it even more enjoyable is that the crewmembers were interviewed in the making of the film so you see them on board and you get to see and hear their reflections today about their feelings at the time and the whole experience.

Kudos to our local non-profit Harbor Theater for screening this! They have done an admirable job bringing first run films and classics to the Boothbay Harbor community.

ENJOYABLE NOVELS

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs (ala.org)

It was just happenstance that the novel I picked up after reading No Visible Bruises about domestic violence was also about battered women.  Susan Wiggs writes very good popular fiction.  Her characters are believable and sympathetic and she treats their issues with warmth and understanding.  In this case, fashion designer Caroline both loses her job in New York and simultaneously finds herself in charge of two small children.  She has a rude awakening about the domestic abuse suffered by her friend Angelique.  Returning home to Washington State, Caroline must find a new career and deal with the children while she seeks to learn more about domestic violence.  This is a novel that educates the reader without ever being preachy.  (~JWFarrington)

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes (www.npr.org)

Holmes is a pop culture critic for NPR and this is her first novel. It’s sweet with a happy ending.  But then, like most romances, you know that everything will work out eventually.  Evvie Drake is a young widow who didn’t much like her husband before he died unexpectedly, but no one knows that, and she feels guilty about it.  Dean is a major league baseball player, a pitcher who’s got a case of the yips and is unable to pitch.  Evvie agrees to rent him the apartment in her house and thus begins an unusual friendship. 

Holmes creates two likable characters, each with plenty of mental baggage, and also pulls off a wonderfully enriching friendship between Evvie and her divorced friend and weekly breakfast mate, Andy.  If you like baseball and are intrigued by offbeat individuals, this is a good end-of-summer read. (~JWFarrington)

ON THE SMALL SCREEN—Footnote on Borgen

Cast of Borgen (oldaintdead.com)

The Chief Penguin and I just finished binge watching the last episode of Season 3, the final Borgen And I’m in serious withdrawal.  This Danish political series about a female prime minister is topnotch drama, some of the best television I’ve seen in recent years!  The third season flags a bit in the beginning, but then re-gains its focus. And the last episode brings everything to closure, possibly too neatly, but with a twist.

The acting is superb, the story is meaty, and the main characters have messy and fascinating personal lives.  It’s as much about the people as the politics.  There are politicians and their spin-doctors (Denmark has eight parties vying for power) and TV reporters scrounging for stories and better ratings than their competition.  Intense and gripping. I lived with these folks!

As critic Andrew Romano points out, “every public decision on Borgen has private consequences, and vice versa, which is something Hollywood usually ignores and real politicians, operatives, and journalists have to hide. Finally getting to see these secret repercussions spool out and spill over isn’t just spellbinding. It’s comforting, too.” (dailybeast.com)

Watching, I also felt as if I acquired a bit of Danish.  Borgen is available on Apple TV. The first episode is free and then, if you’re hooked, it’s $24.99 for a season.  Highly recommended!

Note: Text and header photo ©JWFarrington. Header was taken at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.