A Life of Reading Words
DATE: 7/8/22
Challenge Titles Finished (Totals To Date):
Titles Finished: Totals for 2022:
All titles left to go for Challenge: 3,931
Next count: 8/1/22
Kuhn, Sebastien J.M. Chef on Ice: Living and Working as a Chef in Antarctica.
Reason read: This is a LibraryThing Early Review win for the month of May.
Chef on Ice is sort of a misnomer. Kuhn does not just tell the story of cooking in Antarctica, he also describes starting up a pretzel business in the off months in Brisbane and Melbourne. He mentions other cooking gigs as well. A better title for the book would have been Adventure Chef: Daring to Cook Anywhere. Seriously. Sebastien sounds like one of those people who would be perfect for an assignment with CoolJobsdotcom. While not a professional writer, Kuhn writes with an abundance of emotion, briefly remembering the sights, sounds, experiences of his various cooking expeditions. He has fantastic subject matter but not the articulation to translate it to the written word. I would have liked more stories about the actual cooking – more about the meals served, sourcing the ingredients in such a remote area, food prep. That sort of thing.
Confessional: I had one head-scratching moment in terms of chronology. Admittedly, for most of the book I didn’t try to keep up, but when it came to Covid-19 Kuhn stated they endured a year and a half of lockdowns. Later he states he was back in business by November 2020. That would mean the Australian lockdown started September of 2018. I don’t know. Maybe I read that part wrong?
Most impressive moment: I was impressed with Sebastien’s level of respect when recounting the death of a crew member; never revealing the nature of the accident or the deceased’s identity. Other authors would sensationalize such a tragedy.
Confessional: I had to look up Kelly Slater and Zach Galifianakis.
Author fact: The entire time I was reading Chef on Ice I was wondering what kind of family Kuhn was leaving behind every time he ventured to Antarctica. He made mention of a mysterious partner and some dogs. It would have been better to leave them out of the story completely.
Book trivia: Chef on Ice includes a generous amount of color photographs. Some didn’t need an explanation, but some description would have been cool for others. It was hard to read on a phone. The formatting was strange. I could only read for less than thirty minutes at a time.
Playlist: none. There were plenty of opportunities for Kuhn to mention music but he never did. Blah.
Miller, Merle. On Being Different. Random House, 1987.
Reason read: Merle Miller celebrated a birthday in May. Read in his honor.
The prejudice one has for homosexuals borders on insane, yet it exists. Why anyone would see a link between homosexuality and communism is beyond me. Same with thinking marriage could be a potential “cure” for homosexuality. These are the beliefs of the ignorant. It took Miller fifty years to come out of the closet. That is an unimaginable length of time to hide one’s true self yet it happens all the time. Miller’s essay “On Being Different” is a valiant attempt to respond to the ignorant and expose the human side of love. He discusses the prejudices and fears without flinching. There is grace threaded throughout his anger.
Book trivia: the foreword was written by Dan Savage. Afterword One was written by Merle Miller. Afterword Two was written by Charles Kaiser. Acknowledgments were written by Carol Hanley. On Being Different is only a twenty-one page essay, but with all these other additions and appendices A through C is becomes a much longer book.
Confessional: I, too, like Halloween for all of its mask wearing.
Playlist: Paul Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Peggy Lee’s “Love Story”, Liberace, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, and “We Shall Overcome”.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss” (p 155).
Chernow, Ron. Titan: the Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Narrated by Grover Gardner. Blackstone Publishing, 2013.
Reason read: April is Banking Month.
Chernow has a knack for digging into the details of a person’s life, personally and professionally. He took on the project of writing John D. Rockefeller Sr’s life story after he studied other biographies about the man and discovered that significant parts of Rockefeller’s life had either been glossed over or omitted altogether. Other biographers (who shall remain nameless) focused more on Rockefeller the business man than Rockefeller the person after retirement. Even though it is true that John D. Rockefeller was history’s first billionaire, he had an interesting life beyond the lifelong quest for money. Never mind the fact that at a young age he did declare that someday “he was going to be the richest man in America.” There was more to the man than business smarts. He was a man of great contradictions. While he was a ruthless businessman hell bent on crippling competitors, he also understood the benefits of philanthropy and gave generous to causes and people in which he believed. He continuously bailed his brother out of debt time and time again while disowning his father just as often. More on that later.
By having unrestricted access to interviews and papers and by using Rockefeller’s own memoirs, Chernow was able to weave a first person voice throughout the history of the times.
I was always taught to respect my elders, no matter what my relationship to them. Rockefeller disowned his father at a very young age, telling people his father was dead; his mother, a widow. Indeed, “Big Bill” was a bigamist, scam artist, and liar. Not someone John D. wanted to be associated with. Luckily, John’s relationship with his own son, Junior, was not a contemptuous relationship.
By the end of Titan I was overwhelmed by number of projects to whom the Rockefeller name is attached: the Museum of Modern Art, the Grand Tetons, Acadia, Colonial Williamsburg, I could go on and on.
Confessional: I do not understand how someone considered frugal with a rural background cannot be fastidious. Maybe what Chernow was trying to say was that Rockefeller was frugal, and from a poor background, a skinflint. Rockefeller bought expensive clothes which he wore with impeccable immaculacy.
One degree of separation from Natalie Merchant: she and John D. Rockefeller, Sr. share a fascination with Joan of Arc.
Author fact: Chernow won a Pulitzer in 2011 for nonfiction biography. He also has his own website.
Book trivia: Titan includes two sections of black and white photographs. I have to say Rockefeller was a stern looking man.
Playlist: Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Chopin, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”, and “Hesitation Waltz”.
Nancy said: Pearl said if you like Chernow, you should read Titan.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Founding Fathers” (p 91). Confessional: this book shouldn’t be in this chapter. Rockefeller was not a founding father. Pearl included Titan because of Chernow’s other biographies.
Gogarty, Paul. The Coast Road: a 3,000 mile journey around the edge of England. Robson Books, 2007.
Reason read: April is the month in which Earth Day is celebrated. Gogarty took the time to travel around his corner of the earth.
Gogarty faithfully records the sights, sounds, and smells of villages and people he meets along his journey around the coast of England. All 2,800 miles of it in a newly acquired emotive motorhome he named Sid Sundance. He is no stranger to traveling around England. Gogarty previously spent four month on a pilgrimage around 900 miles of England’s inland waterways. This time he is traveling from town to town following the sea. At every stop he meets interesting people. From refugees seeking asylum to fishermen and artists; a man who poses as Dracula for tourists.
There is a sadness to Gogarty’s observations and conversations with locals in these poor seaside towns. Like Coney Island in New York, the grandness of the metropole in the late 1800s has all been changed since the devastation of war. The nostalgic heyday of Joseph Conrad and Henry James has given way to gaudy health clubs and modern art galleries with bad art. Gogarty describes the depressed area like a deflated balloon long forgotten after a birthday party. The children have all gone home and the decorations droop neglected. But Coast Road is not just a travelogue. You will get history lessons, studies in architecture, a running commentary on ecology and natural history, humor.
Can I just say I loved Gogarty’s writing? Every sentence was a explosion of imagery filled with aching beauty. My heart broke for the fisherman who could not quit the sea even though he had long since resigned himself to a life on terra firma. I smiled at the delightful memory of the Gogarty family bombing down the road – mom and dad on a motorcycle while the kids (all three of them) snuggled in the sidecar. Fast forward to adulthood: the advance of technology and the ability to send copy from the comfort of the front seat of Gogarty’s car elicited a grin from me. I would like to visit the pub that can only serve three guests at one time.
As an aside, I liked Gogarty’s “see no” monkeys. He has four: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and “hopefully do no evil”.
Second aside, I never thought about England being “stuck” between America and the Continent.
Third aside, how exactly does a Dutch auction work? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Quote I immediately identified with: “As an island race, we are all suckled by the sea, and whatever the particulars of the image seared on our memory, inside each of us there is an seaside all our own” (p xii). Amen.
Here is one I liked for its subtle humor, “the current PC climate has meant less of Punch knowing seven bells out of Judy” (p 68). Another amen. Another example of Gogarty being funny, “It has existed since 1050 and doesn’t look as if its had a lick of paint since” (p 270).
Author fact: Coast Road is actually Gogarty’s second travelogue. I am not reading the first, The Water Road.
Book trivia: Coast Road includes a collection of delightful color photographs.
Gogarty likes his music! Playlist: Abba, “Aint No Stopping Us Now”, “Aint She Sweet”, Albert King, “All You Need is Love”, “And Then He Kissed Me”, Andy Sheppard Trio, Anthony Keidis, Bay City Rollers, Beatles’ “Love Me Do” and She Loves You” , Ben Waters’ Boogie Band, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”, Bob Dylan’s “New Morning”, Billy J Kramer’s “Bad To Me”, “Born to be Wild”, “Bunty’s Such a Big Girl Now”, “California Dreaming”, “Anything Goes” by Cole Porter, Charlie Drake, “Da-Doo-Ron-Ron”, “Delilah”, The Denisons, Des O’Connor, Dr John’s “Iko Iko”, Elvis Presley, Eminem’s “Cleaning Out My Closet”, “England Swings”, “Evergreen”, “A Fine Romance”, Four Tops, Gillian Welch, “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday, George Harrison, “God Save the King”, “Good Golly Miss Molly”, Hank Marvin, Hank Williams, “Hi Ho Silver Lining”, Howlin’ Wolf, “Imagine”, “It’s Raining Men”, JJ Cale’s Troubadour album, James Brown, Jalikunda Cissokho, Jamiroquai, “Jesu, Lover of My Soul”, John Lennon, John Martyn’s “London Conversation”, John Williams, “Joy and Pain” by Maze, Julian Bream, Keith Moon, “Land of Hope and Glory”, “Little Ukulele in My Hand”, Lulu, Luvvers’ “Shout”, Mary J Blige’s “No More Pain”, Miles Davis, Morrissey, the Mojos, “Mr Wu’s a Window Cleaner Now”, Nat King Cole, Nickleback, “Night and Day”, Nolan Sisters, O Jay’s “I Love Music”, The Pogues, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ringo, Robert Johnson, Roger Daltry, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Rose Royce, Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”, Ry Cooder, Screaming Lord Such, Sex Pistols, Skatalites, Solo’s “Blowing My Mind”, The Stranglers, Stevie Marriott, Stevie Wonder, “A Summer Place”, Temptations, Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”, Tonic, the Troggs’ “The Very Thought of You” and “I Can’t Control Myself”, Tower of Power’s “It Really Doesn’t Matter”, The Undertakers, “We are Family”, “Wild Thing”, Watership Brass, Waterson: Carthy, The White Stripes, Willie Nelson, Van Morrison, Vera Lynn, and “Uptown Girl”.
Nancy said: Pearl called Coast Road excellent.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Entering England” (p 76).
Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa. Modern Library, 1992.
Reason read: Karen (Isak) Blixen Dinesen was born on April 17th, 1885. Read in her honor. I also needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge in the category of a book with a bird on the cover.
Karen (Isak) Christenze Dinesen von Blixen-Finecke was a woman well ahead of her time. There is no denying her courage, independence, intelligence and strength. To be a Danish woman living alone on a four thousand acre coffee plantation in the early 1900s takes fortitude. Her famous memoir, Out of Africa, covers her adventurous life in Kenya from 1914 to 1931. Whether it is keeping a pet antelope named Lulu, being caught in the middle of a shooting tragedy, or being at the bedside of a dying Kikuyus chief, Dinesen seems to have a deep understanding of, and respect for, her surroundings. She understood the cultures of the tribes with whom she lived. Agreeing with Kikuyus custom of not burying their dead and letting the African wilderness take care of their remains is one such example. She was respected within the tribal communities.
Personally, the elephant in the Out of Africa room was who was the real squatter on this plantation. Dinesen acknowledged that the squatters (who she employed) were born there, and their fathers’ fathers before them. Instead of saying the land is their birthright she states, “they likely regarded me as sort of a superior squatter on their estate” (p 10). Note the use if the word likely. Dinesen, being from Denmark, technically had no right to claim the land as inheritably hers. By the end of Out of Africa she came to a different conclusion by saying, “It is more than their land that you take from the people, whose Native land you take” (p 385). This, as she was returning to Denmark and leaving her squatters to displacement.
Author fact: Dinesen married her second cousin but divorced him in 1921. She then took a lover until his untimely death in 1929. I appreciated the fact that Karen kept this personal part of her life out of the pages of Out of Africa. As a memoir about Kenya, her romances, failed or otherwise, had nothing to with it.
Book trivia: Out of Africa has been called a masterpiece. I would have to agree, but I would have liked to see at least one photograph besides the author photograph on the back flap of the book. Confessional: I wanted to see Denys’ face so I Googled him.
Natalie Merchant degree of separation: there is a section of Out of Africa where Dinesen discusses the killing of elephants for their ivory tusks. the entire time I was reading the passage I kept hearing the 10,000 Maniacs song, “Hateful Hate” and the line “Curiosity spilled the blood of these for their spotted skins and ivory.” If you know the song, you can hear the chains being dragged continuously through the whole song.
Quotes to quote, “It is a moving thing to work together with a demon” (p 40), “There is something strangely determinate and fatal about a single shot in the night” (p 93),
Playlist: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G Major.
Nancy said: since Pearl mentions Out of Africa three times, it is safe bet to say she liked it. There is a part of me, however, that wonders if she brings it up because it is a classic and, well, easy to include.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Dreaming of Africa” (p 76) and again in Book Lust To Go in the chapters called “Africa: the Greenest Continent” (p 7) and “Kenya” (p 122).
Elliot, Jason. An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan. Picador Press,
Reason read: Victory Day in Afghanistan was on April 28th.
Elliot writes about Afghanistan with a passion that takes you along with him. You can practically smell and see the shops where one can buy shampoo, faux leather watch straps, sticky honey, blank staring heads of goats, army green grenades, prayer carpets, cooking pots, rotting vegetables, astringent medicine, wooly socks, or steel rockets…anything to suit your needs. His mission? To prove to the world that is was possible to travel alone in the places others shunned. (As an aside, what does he think of our world now? It is still possible?)
Besides passion, Elliot also writes with lyrical elegance. His statement about time being a river was stunning. It left me pondering my fishing abilities for days. Words like spectral, silent, ghostly, and luminous describe a simple ride through town, but those words also make the journey extra eerie and dangerous. He takes this imagery a step further by adding a touch of royalty by saying they are “kings in the night on our wild chariot” (p 47). It is a romantic image in a dangerous town for Elliot and his companion are out after curfew and could be shot on sight.
Speaking of danger, the section on the diabolical designs of landmines was difficult to read. I cringed as I read about explosives that were made out of plastic so that they would avoid detection by x-ray in a victim’s body. Or mines that “jumped in the air to about the height of a man’s groin before exploding” to cause a man the most damage and bleed to death…I could go on. My favorite section was when Elliot needed to distract himself from paralyzing fear. He fantasized about riding on the back of a giant fantastical simurgh and seeing with landscape from high above.
Elliot met with people with eyes open; people who supported the Taliban and even defended their actions, pointing out how order has been restored. Perception is truth to most people.
Personal observations: Can you imagine receiving a fax from someone chatting about curtain colors after you have been in the center of incoming tank rounds? It sounds inane.
When Elliot described people ripping off parts of Russian tanks and selling them for scrap I instantly thought of the opening scene to one of the Star Wars movies.
As an aside, I would understand why Elliot would want a guide traveling through unknown territories, but why does he need someone to sherpa (my verb) all his crap, too?
I mentioned before how elegant and lyrical Elliot’s writing is. Here are other examples: a brilliant description of a mood change, “…fell across my feelings” (p 208) or the removal of an ammunition belt, “slithering to the floor like an anaconda” (p 233). When Elliot described a ride in an overburdened vehicle struggling up a steep and windy mountainside I felt his fear as if I were right beside him. Here is another quote of brilliance, “Fear has its own seductive language” (p 265).
One degree of separation from Natalie Merchant moment: When describing the mysterious world of Sufi mysticism Elliot compared it to the ancient tale of the blend men and the elephant. The same story Natalie set to music on her double album, Leave Your Sleep.
Author fact: Elliot has a very simple but cool website. There isn’t a lot of information about him, but it’s still cool. If I could meet Elliot I would ask him if Beat ever read his book and if so, did he recognize himself as the one with the idiotic smile?
Book trivia: An Unexpected Light was the winner of the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award.
Music: Mir Fakhruddin, Pavarotti’s Nessun dorma, and Puccini.
Nancy said: Pearl called An Unexpected Light perceptive and exciting.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “The Islamic World” (p 126).
Lederer, Katy. Poker Face: a Girlhood Among Gamblers. Crown Publishers, 2003.
Reason read: Chris Ferguson is a famous American professional poker player who celebrates his birthday in April.
To be honest, I am not sure what to think about Poker Face: a Girlhood Among Gamblers. I found Lederer’s short memoir to be incredibly sad. While she has reached critical acclaim with her poetry, I am left wanting something else by the end of Poker Face. I can’t put my finger on why or what is missing. I found everyone in the Lederer family to be depressing and I have to wonder what they thought of Lederer’s tell-all book. Dad was a teacher at a New Hampshire boarding school before authoring books on word games, while the rest of the family takes up gambling in one form or another (mom goes to work for her son). While on the surface, Poker Face is the personal memories of one woman’s coming of age, the story takes the reader deep inside the mysterious world of gambling in New York and Vegas; specifically the card game that made her siblings famous, poker. In truth, it is more a primer on the ins and outs of learning the game. I learned more about professional gambling then I ever thought possible. I had no idea someone wrote a book on “tells” – the mannerisms and facial expressions that inadvertently give away a player’s hand or next move.
As an aside, when Lederer’s mother goes on the gameshow, “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” I couldn’t help but think of the Oxygen taping of Natalie Merchant’s concert. The end result, what viewers at home saw, was nothing like what happened live in the studio. The magic of editing!
Confessional: if I saw my mother sitting in the dark drinking and crying, and playing solitaire I would be freaked out.
Author fact: at the time of Poker Face‘s publication, Lederer was not even calling herself a writer. She worked for a proprietary trading firm.
Setlist: the soundtrack to Alanis Morrissette, Bob Marley, Chopin, Copland, “Convoy”, Duran Duran, Elvis, Phish, Sinatra, and Tracy Chapman.
Nancy said: Pearl called Poker Face fascinating.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Me, Me, Me: Autobiographies and Memoirs” (p 162).
Andersen, Withanee with Jim Andersen. Walk of Ages: a Generational Journey from Mt. Whitney to Death Valley. University of Nevada Press, 2024.
Jim Andersen made the journey from Mt. Whitney to Death Valley with three friends in 1974, back when he was thirty years old. They called themselves the Sandwalkers. Now, forty-three years later (in 2017) daughter Withanee wants to honor her father by retracing his footsteps across Death Valley as she turns thirty. She enlists the help of a coworker, her brother, and her boyfriend to accompany her on this epic journey.
With Walk of Ages only being 177 pages, and with a generous amount of photographs, the whole story can be read in one sitting. I definitely thought Withanee could have made it longer. There was so much potential for more. The landscapes are barely described in any detail. I wanted to know about their experiences besides a bum knee, blisters and beer. The different perspective of the same walk with memories from dad was interesting, but it would have been fun to have more narratives from others like Val or Shawn. What went through your mind when you kept making wrong turns and getting lost? What was it like to know you were going to propose to Withanee on this trip?
Confessional: I also want to know how many cases of beer the Sandwalkers Second Edition consumed on their journey. There seemed to be a never-ending supply on ice and I lost count of how many times they said they were motivated and/or powered by India Pale Ale! The craft beer scene has exploded since 2017. I am sure Withanee and Shawn have new favorites.
My only secret letdown was that Withenee and crew didn’t follow the original trip as faithfully as they could have. Withanee talks about walking in her father’s footsteps and while that was virtually impossible in some places, the Sandwalkers Second Edition took shortcuts to shave off miles wherever they could.
As an aside, as someone who participated in a three-day, sixty-mile cancer charity walk, I know all about the blister on blister phenomenon. The trick a series of treatments: Vaseline, moleskin, duct tape, double layer socks (Wright socks were my favorite) and cross trainers (Asics have always been my go-to shoe)…in that order. After that first year I never had another blister or hot spot.
Playlist: “Lookin’ for a Reason” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (their theme song), “Dem Bones”, and the National Anthem.
Book trivia: the title of the book is a play on the hymn Rock of Ages.
Flannery, Tim. Chasing Kangaroos: a continent, a scientist, and a search for the world’s most extraordinary creature. Grove Press, 2004.
Reason read: I have no idea why.
Why do kangaroos hop? It sounds like the start to a marsupial joke. Tim Flannery wants to tell you the punch line. Chasing Kangaroos is a fun exploration into the evolution of kangaroos all the way up to the extinction of Australia’s megaflora. Flannery will explain the journey of kangaroos across the planet as Europeans brought them to places like London and Hawaii. Royalty wanted them as exotic pets to roam their palace grounds. Flannery’s style of explanation makes every kangaroo-related subject matter interesting and entertaining. I found myself pondering facts like the footbones of animals, kangaroo chromosomes, why some kangaroos do not hop, why some kangaroos live in trees, and how they are related to the possum. I know more about the male anatomy of a kangaroo than I ever wanted to know. For male readers, heads up. Flannery will urge you to trace your own male anatomy for evidence of ancestral evolution of the scrotum before the penis. You’re welcome.
At the end of Chasing Kangaroos Flannery ends on a hopeful note, speculating that some species previously thought extinct might actually still be around.
As an aside, I had to laugh at the mention of a mass spectrometer. I know what one looks like and how it functions, thanks to watching a true crime science show. I also know that some carpets are trilobal in nature, but that is neither here nor there.
Author fact: Everyone mentions The Weather Makers (Flannery’s landmark bestseller), but I am reading Thowim’ Way Leg and The Explorers.
Book trivia: Chasing Kangaroos has a gorgeous section of color photographs of quokka, wallaby, euro, bettong, and of course kangaroos. The author makes it into a few photographs as well.
Setlist: “Ave Maria”, “O Sole Mio”, “Back to Sorrento”, Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best”, Al Jolson, “My Mammy”, and “The Old at Home”.
Nancy said: Pearl said that Chasing Kangaroos was one that she enjoyed the most.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Australia, the Land of Oz (Nonfiction) (p 26).
Trollope, Anthony. Small House at Allington. Illustrated by John Everett Millais. Robert Hays, LTD Rosebury House, Breams Buildings, E.C.4. 1925.
Reason read: Trollope’s birthday is in April. Read in his honor.
Here is an ah-ha moment for you: you cannot have a small house without the presence of a big house. Here is another: croquet is best played by the light of the moon.
Trollope is a bit like my mother when she hasn’t talked to another living soul in over three months. Her main story takes forever to tell because she is sidetracked with subplots and tangled details. She goes down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, all the while getting more bogged down by superfluous minute he-said, she-said that have nothing to do with the point of the story. Trollope’s side stories in Small House at Allington have nothing to do with the main plot and are mostly ignored by reviewers. Some would argue Trollope is masterfully setting up his next series by introducing minor characters like Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glenora (Duke and Duchess of Omnium) as they will be focal to the Palliser Series. But I digress.
The basic plot of Small House at Allington is one of relationships and a society full of gossips. Lillian (Lily) and Isabella (Bell) Dale are sisters with different successes in romance. Bell marries the local doctor while Lily falls for Adolphus Crosbie. Crosbie only cares about social status and when a more prosperous match comes along he leaves Lily. Enter Johnny Eames, the childhood friend with a secret crush on Lily. His outrage over Lily’s abandonment prompts him to violently attack Crosbie when their paths cross. Despite this show of valiant devotion, Lily proclaims her everlasting love for Crosbie and cannot be swayed.
Here is a master description of someone’s face: “…face was destroyed by a mean mouth with thin lips” (p 4). Can’t you just see it?
Author fact: many people believe Trollope modeled Johnny Eames after himself.
Book trivia: Small House at Allington was originally published as a serial from September 1962 to April 1864.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 20).
Rogers, Douglas. The Last Resort: a Memoir of Zimbabwe. Harmony Books, 2009.
Reason read: Zimbabwe’s independence was won in April of 1980.
When President Robert Mugabe announced his plans reclaim Zimbabwe land from white farmers, it was not an idle threat. All across the landscape, white-owned properties and farms were first taken by decree then by force. People were arrested or even murdered and lives systematically destroyed, piece by piece and acre by acre. Douglas Rogers was born and raised in the Zimbabwe countryside with vibrant and industrious parents. His father had been a lawyer and his mother raised four children while writing a cookbook called “Recipes for Disaster.” Together they ran a game farm and tourist lodge called Drifters. By the time Mugabe was in office Ros and Lin’s children had grown and moved away. Douglas was a journalist in Europe. When Mugabe’s people threatened their property Douglas urged his parents to leave and when that didn’t work, he realized their struggle would make for a good memoir. By documenting the political strife on an extremely personal level, he would reach a wider audience and shed more light on the corrupt situation in his homeland. As the country slid into uncontrolled bankruptcy, Rogers’ parents struggle to keep their lives as normal as possible. Even when their resort was taken over as a brothel, their fields turned to pot (literally), and diamond dealers camped in their lodges. With shotgun in hand, they made light of the growing danger on their doorstep. How long can they keep their land?
As an aside, in my gluttonous life, I cannot imagine not being able to afford stamps and envelopes. I also couldn’t imagine bombs landing all around my house in the middle of the night and then to be expected to concentrate at school the next day.
As another aside, the resort Rogers’s family owned had a Friday night pizza bake. So did the show “Million Little Things.” So do I.
Playlist: 50 Cent’s “In Da Club”, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Eminem, “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”, Hanli Slabbert, Jay-Z, Kanye West’s “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”, Kris Kristofferson, Macy Gray, Mos Def, Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie”, Puff Daddy, R Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly”, Snoop Dogg, Supergrass, Thomas Mapfumo, and “Yellow Submarine”. As an aside, “Yellow Submarine” has come up in two different books this month. Cool.
Author fact: Rogers has his own website (mentioned at the end of The Last Resort). Unfortunately, it does not have the photographs or video promised. Even the links to the podcast and ethics of visiting Zimbabwe are no longer available. I would have at least liked to see the frog that lived in the coffee pot. There is one video that still works and of course it is a promotion for the book.
Book trivia: There are no photographs in The Last Resort. Not even one of the frog. I was disappointed because at the end of The Last Resort Rogers gives the url for his website and promises photographs, a short film, and an update on his parents’ farm. Yes, the information would be old (Rogers finished The Last Resort in May of 2009), but I was hoping for at least photos.
Nancy said: Pearl called The Last Resort engrossing.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the very last chapter called “Zipping Through Zimbabwe/Roaming Rhodesia” (p 268).
Yates, Richard. Easter Parade. Delacorte Press, 1976.
Reason read: Richard Yates was mentioned in More Book Lust in the siblings chapter for The Easter Parade and April is National Siblings Month. Also, Easter is traditionally in April. A couple of reasons for reading Easter Parade in April.
Easter Parade is an easy read about two sisters and their very different lives. Sarah Grimes marries quickly and has three children while Emily Grimes focuses on her career. Neither has a happy existence as each sister is deeply flawed. Easter Parade has been described as Yates’s most autobiographical novel. Many, if not all, of the characters are loosely based in real people in Yates’s lifetime. For some individuals, the veil that separates fiction from reality is spider web thin and they are easily identifiable. Many other details are just as transparent; right down to the name of the house on Long Island.
It has been determined through other documentation that Richard had based the character of Emily on himself. Interesting. I say interesting because I found Emily to be a sad and lonely woman. She bounced from one meaningless sexual encounter to another. Her relationships are shallow and fleeting because she is miserable at picking men or keeping friendships. At times I wanted her to find love while other times I was annoyed by her shrill personality.
As an aside, I want to know if Irving Berlin say his greatest fear is to reach for something and it isn’t going to be there? That is such a profound image. What do you take for granted? A favorite pen? An old lover? What will you reach for and discover its absence?
Favorite phrase, “…the room exploded into clarity” (p 150).
Author fact: Yates also wrote Revolutionary Road. I hope to be reading that in a few years.
Book trivia: Easter Parade addresses uncomfortable topics such as domestic violence, erectile dysfunction, alcoholism, and even hints at incest.
Setlist: “All the Things You Are”, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, “Bye Bye Love”, Chopin, Everly Brothers, “Look for the Silver Lining”, Sinatra, “Welcome, Sweet Springtime”, and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.
Nancy said: Pearl called Easter Parade “perfection” and a book to be read with Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson and Our Kind by Kate Walbert. Confessional: I have already read Simpson so I will have to go back and read the review.
BookLust Twist: only from More Book Lust but mentioned quite a few times. First, in the chapter called “Literary Lives: the Americans” (p 145), then in the chapter called “Men Channeling Women” (p 166). Also mentioned in the chapter simply called “Sibs” (p 199). Lastly, The Easter Parade is included in “Two, or Three, are Better Than One” (p 226). Four times in one book! I think Pearl liked this one.
Carolynn, Autumn. Traveling in Wonder: a Travel Photographer’s Tale of Wanderlust. Autumn Carolynn Photography, 2024.
Reason read: As a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program, I often get to read interesting new releases. Also, for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge, I needed a book in that fit into two genres. This fit the bill with being a memoir and a travelogue.
Traveling in Wonder presents itself as a memoir about a photographer traveling around the world. It is separated into four sections of Autumn Carolynn’s life: Study Abroad, Flight Attendant, Travel Agent, and Autumn Carolynn Photography. At the end of each chapter is a small selection of photographs from a particular trip. More on the photography later. Traveling in Wonder is an honest memoir, revealing situations of childhood bullying and adult mental health challenges. At times throughout Traveling in Wonder I found Carolynn immature (horsing around the Paris metro, sleeping in public places, drinking too much with strangers, leaving instead of clearing the air with travelmates, etc.), but then there are times her wise beyond her years travel savvy comes to the forefront and I am eager to know more. She was only twenty-two years old and brave enough to travel alone around Europe every weekend while in a study abroad program. I enjoyed her honesty and her writing showed signs of lyrical genius, but more often than not, I was suspicious that the whole thing had been written by AI or put through ChatGPT. Some phrasing just didn’t make sense. Here are a few examples: What exactly is a glorious satisfied defeat? Who has a personality like moonlight’s sparkling snow? How does hair become a heap of excitement? What does “bad times make up for the good” mean? How is a waterfall an eccentric beauty? How is rain designated? I just do not know many people who speak like this.
All in all, I enjoyed Traveling in Wonder although I would not recommend reading it on a phone. The photographs, a major draw of the book, were small and underwhelming when viewed on a phone. There weren’t that many of them to enjoy.
As an aside, how do you mistake a Jewish Synagogue for the Roman Colosseum?
Confessional: since she listed food and drink she wanted to try in each foreign country I wish she had written more about those experiences, especially when she decided to become vegetarian.
Contradiction: She claims to want to enjoy the silence in the new places she travels and yet, she listened to Bon Iver as she hiked around a lake.
Confessional: Caryolynn seems to get along better with guys than girls. I could relate. I was the same.
Setlist: Ann Wilson, Beatles, Blink-182, Bob Marley, Bon Iver, Death Cab for Cutie, Dropkick Murphys, Ellie Holcomb, Flogging Molly, George Harrison, Heart, Jack Johnson, John Lennon, John Mayer’s “Stop This Train”, “La Vie En Rose”, Mozart, Nancy Wilson, Paul McCartney, Police’s “Roxanne”, Ringo Starr, Shania Twain, “Strawberry Fields”, Sufjan Stevens, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “Yellow Submarine”
As another aside, I thought the same thing when she mentioned “Irish” music and mentioned The Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. As pointed out by another reviewer, they are bands from the United States. When Carolynn mentions the buskers in Dublin, I had to wonder if one of them could have been Dermot. That would have been cool.
De Bellaigue, Christopher. In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: a Memoir of Iran. Harper Collins, 2005.
Reason read: Iran celebrates its new year in March.
In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs made me want to travel through the Middle East if only to see the Rose Garden of the Martyrs, the seven thousand graves, each with a photograph of the dead man buried below. That must be an impressive sight.
Through riding in a taxi and listening to the radio De Bellaigue offers up a snapshot of current events: Saddam’s activities burning oil wells in Kuwait, Colin Powell’s outward facing response to send more troops in aground campaign without telling the public what that really means. And speaking of taxis, what is it about taxi drivers? They are by turns an opportunity for confession and a source of information. There are little Easter egg surprises within In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs. The mini explanation of Rumi’s birth into the world of poetry was one such treasure. The personal details of how De Bellaigue met and courted his wife, Bita. Speaking of De Bellaigue’s wife and in-laws, I had to wonder how his personal life with them altered his journalistic approach to writing In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs. The language was far more introspective and dare I say romantic?
As an aside, when De Bellaigue said some characters were a compilation of more than one person I instantly thought of Natalie Merchant’s Miss Tilly. Merchant created Miss Tilly from a variety of strong women she has known throughout her life.
As another aside, there is a point where De Bellaigue succinctly describes the premise of a show called “The Good Place.” Tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar, “At the end of our lives we must compile a log of our activities and present it to the authorities. Points are totted. Heaven, Purgatory, or hell; you go to one, and your performance on Earth determines which” (p 66).
Final aside, Here is the menu for a 1971 dinner in the ruins of Persepolis:
Author fact: Christopher De Bellaigue has his own website here.
Playlist: Led Zeppelin, Tarkan, Ibrahim, Shirley Bassey, and Googoosh.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Iran” (p 108).
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. Source Book Press, 1971.
Reason read: March is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day was last Marth 8th. Read in honor of all women everywhere.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was originally published in 1792. Nearly 180 years later when Source Book Press republished it, women were still clamoring for those rights. Title IX of the Education Amendments wasn’t even a thing until 1972. Think about that for just one second. In 1792 Wollstonecraft was demanding justice for her half of the human race as loudly as she could. Hers was a plea for all womenkind and not a singular selfish act of only thinking of herself. She argued that reason, virtue, and knowledge were the keys to a successful life regardless of your sex. However, the notion that physical strength promotes power indicates a man’s authority over a weaker woman exists even today. To put it crudely, inequality among the sexes is still a thing. To be sentimental is to be silly.
Wollstonecraft was not afraid to challenge her readers, asking us what does it mean to be respectable? To have virtue? To be a woman of quality? Are these traits euphemisms for weakness? She addresses the assumption that women are designed to feel before applying reason. Maybe that is why men are trained to never argue with a woman in public (she might become irrational) or allow a woman to exert physical strength (unseemly). Most of Wollstonecraft’s arguments are disguised as philosophical and moral conversations with Rousseau.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman introduced me to a seraglio. I had never heard the word before.
As an aside, when Wollstonecraft talked about the overgrown child I had an ah-ha moment. I know a man-child who refuses to grow up. It all makes sense now.
As another aside, back in the late 1970s or early 80s, my parents subscribed to a number of magazines. I clearly remember a cigarette advertisement picturing a woman laughing, mouth wide open and head thrown back with a cigarette in her hand. The caption read, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!” Even as a kid I remember questioning what it all meant. Were they proclaiming women now had the right to smoke? Smoke in public? Smoke that particular brand? And why the word baby?
Author fact: Everyone knows Mary Wollstonecraft is the Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein and in case you forgot, the Shelley is the last name of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Book trivia: Wollstonecraft had never written a dedication before. She decided to dedicate A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to the Bishop of Autun in response to a pamphlet he wrote.
Nancy said: Pearl calls Vindication an “influential feminine essay” (More Book Lust p 146).
BookLust Twist: I am reading the unabridged republication of the 1792 London edition. From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Literary Lives: the Brits” (p 146).
~*LunaSea*~ 