April 30

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership
By James Comey

Former FBI Director James Comey has been a regular news and talk show feature during the 2 weeks since his memoir was published - so I thought I'd better get a copy of the book and read it for myself.

Fired Director Comey is the person both parties have lashed out against in the last couple of years.  Democrats resent him for reopening the Hillary Clinton email investigation days before the 2016 election (and, although finding no further evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, quite possibly causing the election to go against her).  Republicans, on the other hand, resent him because Pres Trump fired him (for reasons that remain conflicting and suspect), thus prompting the appointment of a Special Counsel to look into possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign.  Having read the memoir as an audiobook (narrated by the author) I have to conclude that he actually came across as an honest guy, one who is driven by a sincere, strict sense of duty.  That's not to say that another equally honest and dedicated person in his shoes would have made the same decisions.

The story opens like a detective novel.  Comey is a high school senior, at home with his younger brother on a Saturday night, when an armed intruder breaks into their house.  After the intruder (who turns out to be the infamous "Ramsay rapist") gets away with some cash, the boys think they are safe - until the man returns!  Fortunately, a neighbor hears the commotion, calls the police, and the man flees.  This harrowing night turns out to be a life-changing experience that starts the young James Comey on a path to a career in law.

Throughout the book the author refers to lessons learned along the way, especially from those with whom he worked. He is not afraid to admit some mistakes.  As a high school student, he held a part time job in a grocery store where his boss was Harry Howell, the store owner.  On one occasion, James thought he could load 6 cartons of milk (packaged in paper containers) on a hand cart; he over estimated his skill, and the cartons fell to the floor, breaking apart and spilling gallons of milk.  Another time, he threw a very expensive labeling tool to a fellow worker, only to have it land on the floor and shatter to bits.  On both occasions, Howell mercifully only asked James to clean up the mess, and never spoke again of the incident.  Lessons learned.

After graduating from the College of William and Mary and University of Chicago Law School, Comey held a number of positions, notably with the DA's Office for the Southern District of NY, where he helped prosecute the Gambino crime family, then as Deputy Attorney General in the G W Bush administration.  Notable cases were limiting the Terrorist Surveillance (citizen wiretapping) Program to make it consistent with US law (quite a story, involving a bedside foray to AG John Ashcroft, in intensive care at GWU Hospital) and reigning in enhanced interrogation (torture) techniques when interviewing suspects.

After a stint as a lawyer in the private sector, Comey was tapped by President Obama to head the FBI in 2013.  During this directorship, the FBI's most visible investigations have been Hillary Clinton's email while serving as Secretary of State and Russian interference in the US presidential election.  Ironically, both events were key in the outcome of the 2016 election.  Comey continues on (briefly) into the Trump White House, and is disturbed to discover that the new president operates much like the crime family dons whom he prosecuted, and who expected personal loyalty.  About four months into the Trump era, Comey is giving a talk at the FBI office in Los Angeles when a TV monitor catches his eye; much to his surprise, he learns that he has resigned as Director of the FBI!

The Clinton investigation is complete, with no evidence of wrongdoing.  The Russian interference investigation is ongoing.

This is a very readable, worthwhile story.  Both of the prior cases involved technology (email, internet, Facebook) that I don't believe we, as a nation, have quite come to grips with.  In any case, we still don't know how to protect our information.

April 29

A Joyful Noise
By Janet Gillespie

In this appropriately named memoir, the author recalls summers spent in Westport, MA with her family in the 1920s and 30s.  Janet's father, "Pop", is a clergyman (minister in Holyoke, MA, later Dean of the Chapel at Princeton).  Her mother's family owns a several-acre compound overlooking the ocean, brimming with flowers and wildlife.  Each summer, the family packs up the  "Artful Dodger" and makes the 8-hour trip from Holyoke (2 hours today), later aboard the ferry Commonwealth of the Old Fall River Line, to Westport Point.  Once at the point, they'd be greeted by Aunt K, (Uncle) Tink, and the matriarch Baba and - once again - the sky the sea, the trees.  Each day would have its rituals of breakfast, chores, swimming, exploring... "we peeped into birds' nests, picked flowers, examined mosses and lichens, collected shells, watched bees swarming, dammed brooks and climbed trees" (p 101).  She writes of different cooks and other servants who worked for the family, of graping, collecting beech plums, cooking chowder, sailing to Cuddyhunk.  Many familiar places (e.g., Horseneck Beach, Adamsville) are cited.  Janet and her older brothers convince their parents to rent a bathhouse at the beach so they can meet some of the other teenagers in the area.

If there is a hero in this story, it would be Pop, who was amateur naturalist, sailor, Mr Fix-it, often the butt of his children's jokes, but also the unapologetically sentimental heart of the family.  It's not clear how Pop arranged to take off two months every summer, although he is booked for pulpit supply most Sundays, and his religious convictions appear to consist mostly of the thou-shall-not variety (e.g., do not drink, do not smoke, etc), but he is a family man, through and through, and his affection and foibles really make this story sing.

The memoir ends with an epilogue, where Janet describes driving back to the Point with her children and mother in the late 1960s.  The hurricane of '38 knocked down many of the trees and, sadly, Baba, Tink, Pop, and even Janet's husband Ernie, have died.  But the point is full of grandchildren, summer is in the air, and Janet is about to move down to live in Westport full-time, with her new husband, Robert Grindley.

April 28

Simple Green Suppers: A Fresh Strategy for One-Dish Vegetarian Meals
By Susie Middleton

I will start out by saying I am not a vegetarian, but I do love just about any food that's green.  And since we do have friends and family who don't eat meats (or fish or poultry), it seems prudent to "beef up" my repertoire of vegetarian meals.  Susie Middleton has a good strategy in this cookbook.  To summarize:
1 - combine veggies with one of eight "major players" (e.g., grains, eggs, beans or other legumes, broth, etc) from the pantry,
2 - forget "3 things on a plate" and focus instead on 1-dish recipes that have it all.

Vegetables - whether green and leafy, red and oblong, or magenta and bulbous - certainly look a whole lot more appetizing than, say, a roasted pork chop or a burger patty.  However, cooking vegetables usually takes much longer than grilling a piece of meat, what with all the cutting, shredding, and dicing - so the prospect of making just one dish (with proteins as well vitamins) is appealing.  We have sampled a few recipes from this cookbook (Curried Basmati Rice with Peas, Shallots, Dates, Almonds and Coconut is a favorite, as well as Quinoa and Roasted Leek Stuffed Portobellos) and I might just get hooked on this technique of vegetarian cooking (as long as I can have a piece of grilled salmon every so often).

April 27

Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World
By Peter Chapman

Last week, a new president took the helm in Cuba.  Fidel Castro and, later, his brother Raul, had ruled Cuba for nearly 60 years, beginning in 1959.  Fidel plays a significant role in this story.

Chapman, a journalist, traces the history of the United Fruit Company to its origins in the 1870s, through its years of expansion (and near monopoly) in about ten central and South American countries, its struggles with disease, its powerful control of railroads and media, to its fairly recent rebranding as the much smaller Chiquita corp.  Pushing the growth of the banana business was the marketing of bananas here in the US, especially between and after the wars.  It was shocking to read, however, of the company's power in controlling governments (suggesting the term "Banana Republics"), in bringing in the US military to quell governments hostile to their purposes (e.g., when President Arbenz of Guatemala tried to break up the large plantations to return lands to the peasants in the 1950s - which was a successful effort by United Fruit - AND - when they partnered with the US government in 1961 to try to quell Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba - which was a dismal failure [and Castro's brother and political heir Raul is still the first secretary of the communist party in Cuba 48 years later!], and to read of the careless and cruel manner in which UF ended their work in some countries (tore up the railroads they'd built, destroyed bridges, left farms to rot).

The writing is often disjointed and the author writes from a somewhat "seat of God" perspective, but this is still a fascinating and important story, with important lessons about American military involvement in developing countries.

Readers may recognize that United Fruit, and especially a massacre of striking banana workers that took place in 1928, are central to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude.

April 26

The Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir
By Peter Balakian

I met Peter briefly in 1980, toward the end of his studies at Brown University.  Peter wrote his dissertation on the American poet Theodore Roethke and has published a number of volumes of his poems.  I was therefore interested to find this work of prose, which is part coming-of-age story, part documentary.  Peter has won numerous awards for his writing, most recently the Pulitzer Prize (2016 for Ozone Journal).

The author, son of a physician, was raised in a wealthy New Jersey suburb, surrounded by his close-knit extended Armenian family.
Most memorable among them is his grandmother, a first generation American who is a big sports fan and fantastic cook; she sometimes uses the old Armenian expression "black dog of fate".  Peter is only vaguely aware that his grandmother is the only survivor among a number of relatives who died in the old country.

One day he casts around for a research topic for a high school paper.  Knowing his family has come from the area, he opts to write a paper on the formation of the modern state of Turkey. When he discusses the topic with his father, he is shocked by his father's appalled reaction, and eventually comes to learn that most of his ancestors were victims of a mass murder of Armenians in what is today Turkey.  For Peter, this revelation spurs him to find out what happened to 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children from about 1915-20.  For a kid who grew up in a cushy community, it is hard to imagine a more contrasting experience.  But Peter does his research, and the reader can't help but feel outraged, along with Peter, as they learn of the horrors endured by his ancestors.  While this is a tragic story, the author writes beautifully - probably a result of his poetic instinct - and it provides a very accessible way to understand the genocide in human terms.

The Amazon.com entry indicates that a 10-year anniversary edition was published in 2009, which includes new chapters about the author's trip to Aleppo to learn more about his grandmother's early life.

April 25

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life
By Barbara Kingsolver

Well-known novelist Barbara Kingsolver and her family decided to take food sourcing into their own hands.  They moved from the desert of Tucson back to a family farm in Virginia and chronicled a year of growing their own food or buying from local sources.  What they couldn't produce or find, they'd do without.   This is not some radical new idea.   Think back not so long ago, when it was all done that way.  People had gardens, shared with neighbors, sold at markets.  You knew the source of just about everything you fed your family.

Kingsolver goes month by month, describing what they are planting and harvesting and what is available at farmers' markets. In March, they wait for the first asparagus, and they know when to seed pumpkins, so they'll be ready for Halloween.  They raise turkeys and chickens, for egg production and for main courses.  Their younger daughter starts an egg business and is very practical, cautious to not give each hen a name!  During tomato ripening season, they all can, make sauces, salsas, and more, to get them through the bleak winter season.  Instead of bananas or oranges, they eat local apples and rhubarb.

She's also done her research and tells us how things go the way they are.  For example, WW II bomb factories began producing fertilizer post war.  Same fertilizer was applied to crops, which grew more and more produce, creating large agriculture companies.  The produce was sent all over the USA, to help with "hunger concerns".  The large producers are given tax credits for the fuel and transportation.  Thus California onions at the Georgia grocery store may cost less than those actually grown at small local farms.

She tells the history of small farms and showcases many in her area, struggling to stay relevant.  The slow food movement is truly making a comeback, but it is still changing for farmers.  She gives excellent sources for more information, in addition to recipes.

It's a fascinating read and gave me a new approach to food.  I'll shop much more at farmers' markets and ask about food sources.

Guest review by Jean Warneke.  I'll be joining you at those farmers' markets, Jeannie!

April 24

How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and his Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate
By Wendy Moore

While the concept of "creating" a perfect wife and the bumbling ineptitude of the prospective husband are the stuff of comedy, Thomas Day is most young ladies' idea of a perfect monster of a mate.  Moore writes the fascinating true story of an 18th century gentleman who sought for himself the perfect spouse. Wealthy and well-connected, Thomas day nevertheless lacked good manners, taste, and outspokenly frowned on those who did.  After four marriage proposal rejections, he decides he will have to create his own perfect mate (a la Pygmalion or Eliza Doolittle).  He adopts and raises an orphan, educating her well, but subjecting her to crazy tests (like shooting holes in the hem of her skirt or pouring wax on her skin) to prove her hardiness and good sense.  Many brilliant minds (Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, J. J. Rousseau and Day himself [a well recognized author and abolitionist] for that matter) fill the story, which was a most fascinating window into the lives of the 18th century literati and progressives, and the intriguing story of the orphan Sabrine, who ultimately does not measure up to Day's standards.

April 23

My Antonia

By Willa Cather

This is a precious story, written a century ago, about rural immigrant families in Nebraska - told by one who knows the harsh reality of winter on the prairie and the challenges faced by newcomers.  After the death of his parents, young Jim has been sent to live with his grandparents in Nebraska.  Traveling there by train, he meets Antonia, whose family has come from Bohemia (Czechoslavakia) to start a new life.  They have rented a home, sight unseen, from a fellow Czech, and find it more like a cave than the kind of house they knew in the old country.  Jim's grandparents try to help with food and encouragement, and Jim and Antonia become close friends, but Antonia's father, a cultured man who plays the violin, especially suffers, and eventually takes his own life.  

Antonia eventually gets a chance to work as a cook for a family in the city, and several of her and Jim's friends move west and find success and wealth.  (These stories are almost written as tangential accounts, rather than continuing Antonia's story line.)  Jim heads east for college, marries a woman he meets there, and only years later returns to Nebraska.  He has a chance to visit his beloved Antonia - the woman with whom he probably would have found happiness - and discovers her married to a fellow Czech and the mother of 10 children.  He is delighted to meet her children and see that, while poor by his standards, they seem content.

April 22

Beauty Beyond the Ashes: Choosing Hope after Crisis
By Cheryl McGuiness

My friend Jean heard Cheryl speak at a women's retreat, and loaned me her book.  Although not available in any of the RI public libraries, the book could be obtained through a (free) interlibrary loan or for sale through Amazon.

Written by the wife of one of the 9/11 co-pilots, this book is part memoir/part self-help inspirational book.  Cheryl shares her warm personal story and the life she shared with husband Tom McGuiness, her high school sweetheart.  The McGuinesses were living in New Hampshire with their two teenage children, where they were active in their church and their community.  Cheryl writes of the September morning, sitting outside and marveling in the beautiful blue skies, when her life took a sudden and tragic turn as Tom's plane, American Airlines flight 11, was the first to hit the World Trade towers.  Cheryl writes about how her faith helped her gently and gradually to rebuild her life after such a devastating loss.

For those seeking to help the grieving, Cheryl shows how to reach out and understand those suffering loss, but she also provides advice for all growing believers (e.g. - What is my own personal statement?  You can't serve when you're exhausted or in pain, etc).  Very good messages.

April 21

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen

By Bob Greene

This heartwarming book tells the story of the North Platte canteen that opened to every single train that stopped at its railroad depot during the second world war.  North Platte was a frequent stop for American soldiers headed to the east coast and Europe or heading west to the Pacific.  Starting on Christmas day 1941, the women of this small town (about 12000 in the 1940s) transformed their train depot into a center of hospitality, meeting every train starting at 5 AM and continuing through till after midnight, when the last train steamed off.  They offered baskets of homemade food, coffee, magazines, music and friendly conversation to weary soldiers every single day until the end of the war, eventually serving over six million GIs.

The population of North Platte has about doubled in the last 75 years since this story ended and today it is served only by freight trains - but it is encouraging to hear of a group of women who rose to the occasion when they had the opportunity to serve.

April 20

A Thousand Splendid Suns

By Khalid Hosseini

Hosseini has written another painful but important novel about his native country; here we meet Afghan women before, during and after the Taliban's reign of horror.  Mariam is a teenager who is married to 40-year-old Rasheed.  Although Afghanistan is definitely a man's world in which women take on all household tasks while living in fear of the Taliban, she nevertheless feels hopeful when she finds she is expecting a child, and is pleased when her husband makes a little crib for the baby.  Alas, Mariam loses the child; when she continues to miscarry again and again, her husband abuses her, and eventually takes a 2nd teen wife when he is 60.  Initially Mariam resents the intruder, but she and Laila eventually provide support and encouragement to one another.  What Rasheed does not know is that Laila is carrying the child of her boyfriend at the time of her marriage.  But Rasheed is happy to have a daughter, and eventually, a son.

Hosseini does not sugarcoat life in a war zone, and for women, it is so much worse.  When Laila was about to give birth, for example, it was difficult to find a hospital.  There were plenty of well equipped hospitals to serve men, but women had only one option: a dirty, poorly stocked excuse for a hospital in a distant part of town.  While the presence of the children helps bring hope and even a measure of joy to the two women, they continue to suffer abuse from Rasheed, they live in constant fear of bombs and other attacks by the Taliban, and the reader can see a happy ending is unlikely.  Still, this book is highly recommended for its insight into life in Afghanistan, especially for women.  Kudos to Hosseini for writing such a poignant story from a women's perspective.

April 19

The Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation
By Catherine Allgor

Yesterday we heard the sad news that former First Lady Barbara Bush died of complications from congestive heart failure and COPD at age 92.  She was a popular first lady who came across as much more warm and approachable than her husband.  Asked why, her reply was something like, "Oh, I guess it's because I'm old, wrinkled, and not a threat to anyone".   With the exception of Abigail Adams, she was the only first lady who was also a "first mother".  Here's a biography of Dolley Madison, one of the first to live in the new capitol, Washington DC.

Dolley Payne grew up in comfort on her parents' plantation in North Carolina (still a colony in her childhood); her parents were Quakers who emancipated their slaves at the end of the Revolutionary War, then moved to Philadelphia, the early US capitol.  Dolley met and married John Todd, a Philadelphia lawyer in 1790.  But the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic hit Philadelphia in 1793, and both Dolly's husband and their young son William were among its thousands of victims.  Widowed at age 25, Dolley met and married James Madison, a bachelor US congressman from Virginia, the following year.  When Thomas Jefferson was elected in 1800, he appointed James Madison as Secretary of State.  During Jefferson's 2 terms, Dolley worked with architect Benjamin Latrobe to furnish the new White House, and served on occasion as hostess for the widowed Jefferson.  The author actually presents a rather unflattering description of Thomas Jefferson, and I'd have to do more research to determine whether this is revisionist history or if he really was as antisocial is he is portrayed.

Allgor credits Dolley Madison for being the role model for the President's wife.  In the early 19th century, when politics was still only the wealthy man's domain (and perhaps that has become the case once again), she brought grace and style to the new capitol, which was still fairly rustic.  Allgor describes Washington as a kind of outpost full of muddy roadways, far from the more civilized New York and Philadelphia.  One of the big events during the Madison presidency (1809-17) was the War of 1812, during which the British set fire to the White House and Dolley is credited (this may be just a legend) for saving the portrait of George Washington.

Each First Lady leaves her mark on her husband's legacy, and both Dolley and Barbara appear to have been more popular than their president husbands and made important and lasting contributions.

April 18

The Age of Innocence
By Edith Wharton

Told from the perspective of a young society man on the brink of marriage, this story is a window into the mores, hypocrisies and general social behaviors of upper crust gilded-age New York and Newport.  Chafing under society's restrictions, Newland Archer falls in love with a young cousin of his fiancee.  Ellen Olenska is the wife of a count (from an unnamed European country) who escapes her husband's abuse and seeks a more comfortable life back in the US.  New York society, however, bound by rules of what it considers decent, regards Countess Olenska as scandalous for having left her husband (despite his known peccadillos), and her family employs various tactics to make her to go back to him, including engaging a law firm to clarify to Ellen the financial and social consequences of her present position; as a partner in the law firm, it falls to Newland to clarify things.  Learning the extent of the count's mistreatment, Newland finds himself in a difficult position and it is during his meetings with Ellen that he is most drawn to the Bohemian countess.  He looks on his fiancee, May, though lovely, as bound by strict societal codes that dictate whom they must invite to dinner, where they must vacation, and what types of behavior may be condoned.  May comes across as naive and unaware of Newland's interest in Ellen, but May's words and actions suggest that she knows exactly where her husband's true feelings lie, and she acts cunningly to thwart them.  As a result, Newland ends up following the path of least resistance, settling for a boring life with May.  His yearning for Ellen never ends and the reader wonders if this story might have had a different ending, had it taken place in a different time and social class.

I enjoyed "walking" with Newland through 1870s Newport, as he rambled down Narragansett Avenue and past local landmarks. Edith Jones Wharton herself was a New Yorker who summered in Newport. She won the Pulitzer Prize for this compelling novel in 1921.

April 17

Jacob's Rescue: A Holocaust Story

By Malka Drucker and Michael Halperin

Following up on The Hiding Place, this is another true story of shelter and rescue, but for younger readers.

Jacob Gutgeld is an 8-year-old living in the Warsaw ghetto in 1939, living with an aunt.  When it appears that even children will not be safe in the ghetto, she finds a temporary home for Jacob.  Alex and Mela Roslan, a Christian couple with children of their own, shelter Jacob in their home, eventually taking in Jacob's younger brother David, and other children.  The fear and hunger are clearly presented; even non-Jews become targets of German aggression.  Finally, after 4 years of hiding, Jacob is relieved when Russian soldiers march into Poland and the remaining Jews are freed.  Jacob's story is one victory in a sea of enormous pain and suffering, but one that reminds the reader that there were still good people willing to risk their lives to save others.

April 16

The Hiding Place
By Corrie Ten Boom

A few days ago, I listened to an NPR interview on the 25th anniversary of the National Holocaust Museum.  The speaker lamented the diminishing number of Holocaust survivors and the concern that we must never forget what happened in Nazi Germany.  She also noted that 40% of millennials (those born from 1980-95) have no idea how many people were killed by the Nazis, 60% never heard of Auschwitz, and few know how Hitler came to power.  Really?  Aren't we teaching world history any more?  When I worked as a reference librarian in the 1980s and 90s, this book was on Barrington High School's summer reading list.

Corrie Ten Boom was an aging spinster living with her sister Betsie and widowed father Casper in Amsterdam as Hitler started consolidating his power within his far-right National Socialist (Nazi) party in Weimar Germany, making persecution of the Jews a platform of his reich.  Hitler started invading other nations (Czechoslovakia, Poland, France) and in May of 1940, German soldiers marched into Amsterdam.  The Netherlands surrendered within days.  Like Miep Gies who hid the Otto Frank family, the Ten Booms knew the lives of Jewish friends would be in danger and sheltered many refugees during the course of the war.  Their home was located above their watch shop, located on a corner of a busy shopping street and a quiet alleyway.  Casper lamented that the Nazis had targeted Jews, the "apple of God's eye", and knew they would one day pay the price.  In 1944, the Ten Booms were betrayed, and sent to concentration camps, where Casper and Betsie died.  Only Corrie survived the horrors of the camps, but even there, she testified to God's provision (a camp guard, for example, left her and a group of women to have a Bible study in peace because the guard was repelled by the lice that were a fact of life among the women prisoners).  After the war, Corrie returned to her home and work at the watch shop, eventually writing many books about her experiences and the power of God to provide a "hiding place" (Ps 32:7) for her.  She traveled to the US in 1972, and I will never forget hearing her speak at a church in Brewster, MA.

April 15

Sailing Acts: Following an Ancient Voyage
By Linford Stutzman

What could be a more dry subject than following the day-by-day activities of a professor on a fifteen-month sabbatical?  This book was recommended to me by a friend who is (1) a colleague of the author, (2) a professor, and (3) a sailing enthusiast, so the prospects were dim.  Was I ever wrong!  In this book Linford Stutzman and his wife spend their sabbatical buying and re-fitting a sailboat and then following the historical trails of Paul the Apostle from his three missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts.  Dr Stutzman is a professor of religion, culture and mission at Eastern Mennonite University. This adventure that he chronicles tells both about the world of Paul but also about our current world - a world where disasters happen, shipwrecks are not unheard of, and pirates exist in small Mediterranean seaports.  It also tells of a world where graciousness abounds, where God works out the details, and where miracles can be expected.   It also is a book for sailors (which I, sadly, am not) and all that can go wrong along with all that can go right when you are living on your boat in a part of the world where language can be a problem, money can be a problem, and the sea and sailing can be both a blessing and a curse.  And, of course, there is the recurring theme of the world and places visited by Paul, chronicled in a much early blog by Dr Luke.

Dr Stutzman's tale of his sabbatical draws you in, grabs your imagination, and makes you wish you could be a student in one of his courses where you explore the world of Asia Minor, Israel, and Greece, making Paul's history real in a very tangible way.

Guest review submitted by Dewey Christy, with thanks to Spencer Cowles.

April 14

Last night the US government, along with allies, struck research facilities associated with the manufacture of poison gas in Damascus, Syria.  Will this ancient city, where the apostle Paul was headed when he met Jesus (Acts 9:1-18), be the focus of a major war?  I hope and pray that will not happen.  But our hearts surely go out to the people of Syria who have suffered so much in recent years.   The following report appeared as a special section in last Sunday's (April 8th) New York Times, and examines the mechanics of the Islamic State though a series of documents.  While the author focused on Iraq, we realize both Iraq and Syria have been particularly targeted by ISIS.  I have not yet read the entire report, but listened to an interview with its author and my review below is based mostly on her interview.  The Times report can be accessed via the link below.

The ISIS Files
New York Times Special Report
By Rukmini Callimachi

As IS militants fled Mosul in recent years, they left behinds records documenting the setting up and carrying out of their caliphate.  Journalist Callimachi made 5 trips to Iraq over the last 4 years.  She unearthed thousands of documents covering a range of transactions.  Many Syrians and Iranians, especially Christians and Shia Muslims, had their homes and property confiscated; Callimachi tells of documents that record the confiscations and resale of these properties.  Other records relate to sanitary and civic issues.  She tells of an efficient garbage service during the caliphate; while the same garbagemen worked prior to the ISIS takeover, they were notably more efficient during the caliphate when their lives were on the line.  The document at right records the arrest of a 14-year-old boy on charges of "laughing during prayer."  Reason for arrest is "the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice."

The file also contains a link to Callimachi's podcast "Caliphate", which is currently available to NYT subscribers, but will be free to the public a week from today.

While this story is a departure from the usual more upbeat postings on this blog, it seemed like an important story to tell.

April 13

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

By Laurie R King

The "beekeeper" is a retired Sherlock Holmes and his apprentice an orphaned, very intelligent teen, Mary Russell.  Impressed by Mary's astuteness when he meets her on Sussex Downs, he invites her to tea.  Each fills a need in the other's life and together they work successfully on a number of increasingly more complex cases, and develop a close relationship.  Mrs Hudson, Dr Watson and Mycroft Holmes are among the familiar names in this story.

I loved this book uniting an aging Sherlock Holmes with a young American woman.  When Laurie R King started writing sequels, I read quite a few.  While they did not quite measure up to the first book (how can you top finding Sherlock Holmes among the beehives?) they were fun, and here are a few more mini reviews:


A Monstrous Regiment of Women

Here Mary is portrayed almost as a superwoman: all-knowing (in the areas of theology, human nature and crime detection) and physically invulnerable (sustains knife attacks, poisonings, and even a series of forced heroin injections with little ill effects).  The book deals with only one case which surrounds a religious sect involved with biblical theology, feminism, and women's suffrage and just wasn't as exciting as some of the cases in the first book.  The brilliant Holmes is only a background character, but even his skills are a bit too far fetched.

A Letter of Mary

Holmes and Russell, now wed, work at solving a mystery involving the murder of Mary's friend Dorothy, an archaeologist who has just given Mary an ancient letter, apparently from Mary Magdalene to her sister Judith.  Not quite as implausible as book 2, but not as well developed or restrained as book 1.

April 12

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

By Rachel Joyce

This sweet story follows the trail of a recently-retired, not-very-fit English gentleman who sets out on foot, on the spur of the moment, to visit a former colleague before she dies of cancer.  Harold's trip was so unplanned that he brings neither funds nor changes of clothing, and must depend on his wits - or the help of others - for his most basic needs.  The trek from a small village in the south of England to Berwick-on-Tweed near the Scottish border ends up garnering media attention but mostly makes many new friends for the quiet Harold - who learns and grows from this experience, as does his wife Maureen, whom he faithfully calls each night.  But mostly this is a tale of two people who (finally) learn to deal with an overwhelming grief.

April 11

Orphan Train
By Christina Baker Kline

From 1854-1929, over 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children were transported from crowded cities of the east Coast to the midwest for "adoption", which sometimes resulted in a child not necessarily being absorbed into a family but rather serving as an unpaid servant.  This novel tells the story of one little girl, a nine-year-old Irish immigrant, who was bounced to several homes before she finally found acceptance and security. Vivian's story becomes the research project of Molly, a modern day foster teen who has been bounced to even more families.   Though very sad, this is a good story of a little-known movement in US history.  Hopefully, there were more success stories but, as the author notes, each of these children had a back story, a story of loss or abandonment - so there would have been a lot of pain to overcome even before starting the long train ride west.

April 10

Outliers
By Malcolm Gladwell

What makes one person (e.g., Wayne Gretzky? Yo Yo Ma?) so wildly successful?  Is it simply genius and hard work?  Gladwell enumerates a long roster of factors - from birth date (born early in the school year, thus among the older, taller, more cognitively developed, etc students in the classroom) to cultural heritage (dedication to work ethic, etc), to number of practice hours (10,000 hours seems to be a minimum number for great success), - to show that no outlier achieved success on his own - that it was actually a combination of many factors, including in some cases, chance and timing.  Bill Gates, for example, came of age just as computers came into use by business and schools; he had opportunities to "practice" his new craft that were not available to many kids - his intellectual curiosity and his parents' support were also critical.  In another case, the Beatles got to hone their skills for years while on tour in Germany; few groups got to perform every night, but the Beatles took their show on the road early and when they were ready for prime time, back in the UK, they were ready.  Thus, while some of the brightest and best came by their success partly by chance and by the "accident" of where and to whom they were born, still practice and dedication were crucial in every case.  Very interesting!

April 9

The Fight to Survive

By Caroline Cox

Several years ago, I heard Caroline speak at Brown about one of her other books, but was more drawn to this title.  Today, thanks to insulin, diabetics can lead normal lives but, 100 years ago, the disease was considered a death sentence.

The discovery of insulin is juxtaposed with the story of a young girl with diabetes growing up in the early 20th century.  As the daughter of Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, Elizabeth has financial resources at her disposal but it is her inner self-discipline that is really key to maintaining the strict diet that kept her alive in the years of testing and development of a new drug.  Her parents hired a nurse to monitor Elizabeth's health.  Submitting to an 800-calorie-a-day diet known as "starvation therapy", there were so few foods she could eat.  The author writes of celery being boiled not once, not twice, but three times to rid it of as much sugar as possible.  Elizabeth's nurse takes her on a trip to Bermuda to expose her to a warmer climate, and Elizabeth writes of the ecstasy of eating a strawberry while there.  Although she rigidly follows her diet, the diet is not sufficient to sustain life, and she is racing against time as researchers work to develop a drug that will allow her body to process sugars.  In 1922 Canadian researchers Frederick Banting and John Macleod succeed in developing insulin (for which they would be awarded the Nobel prize in 1923), and by this time Elizabeth's weight is down to about 45 lbs. She is one of the early recipients of insulin, learns how to inject herself with the drug, and goes on to a full and normal life as a wife and mother.

April 8

The Scent of Water

By Elizabeth Goudge

When I first starting keeping a reading diary 25 years ago, this title (published in 1960) was its first entry.  Rereading the entry enticed me to pick up the book again and, while it feels a little dated in its post-war time frame, the story is beautifully written and heart-warming.

Fifty-year-old Mary Lindsay is retiring from a successful business career in London, somewhat abruptly, when she unexpectedly inherits the country home from a maiden aunt, her namesake, and a woman she'd met only once, at the age of eight.  Yet her memories are vivid of a visit to a gracious old cottage among apple trees, where her aunt had shown young Mary some beloved objects: her "little things" like a tiny child's tea set and a fairy coach.  Mary had hoped to experience rural England before it disappeared, and is disappointed in neither the house nor its setting.  She discovers, however, that the house needs not only major repairs but lacks electricity and indoor plumbing.  In securing the help she needs, Mary is introduced to many of the locals: Col and Mrs Adams who lost three sons in the war and whose 4th son Charles always has some new business venture to drain his parents' meagre savings, Mr and Mrs Hepplewhite of the beautiful manor house but harboring some secret, wounded vet Paul Randall and his wife Valerie who fancies herself a "martyr wife" and secretly meets ne'er-do-well Charles, Vicar James Anderson and his mousy sister Jean, and next-door neighbors Joanna and Roger Talbot and their three children Rose, Jeremy and Edith; the latter adopted after her birth parents' death.

The setting is lushly depicted: a country lane is "ancient and bird-haunted".  Of an old stone cottage, "moss and lichen patched the roof and where the walls were free of ivy, ferns grew in the crevices of the stones".

Where cousin Mary had alienated many neighbors by her "crazy" behavior (probably some kind of mental illness or maybe depression), Mary Lindsay reaches out to befriend and comfort.  She tutors young Edith, makes weekly "coffee dates" with the cowering Jean, and edits Paul's writings. As she hopelessly falls in love with Paul, she thinks back on her own relationship with a man who was killed in an accident, and sees in herself her failure to be the woman he needed; she rejoices with Paul when his first writings are published and his marriage is restored.  Along the way, she looks for the best in people; her faith (both in others and in God) grows richer.

April 7

Uncle Tom's Cabin

By Harriet Beecher Stowe

Although written before the emancipation proclamation, Uncle Tom's Cabin still has the power to warm in its loving evocation of family and friendships and to horrify in its depiction of the treatment of slaves.   President Abraham Lincoln referred to abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe  as "the little lady who started this war" not just by her depiction of the lives of slaves in the old South, but because of her readers' reaction.  The book became an international bestseller, and was responsible for exposing the inhumanity and injustice of slavery.  While not as graphic as the movie "Amistad" (which I saw just after reading this book), I'll never forget the faithfulness of Tom nor the loving example of little Eva, nor the image of Eliza escaping across the ice floes with her baby son.  While Stowe's depictions may seem a little outdated (colonization for blacks, assuming characteristics [e.g. domesticity] for a whole race), it is clear where her sympathies lie.

April 6

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black
By Gregory Williams

As a child, Gregory Williams lived in Virginia with his parents and three younger siblings.  At age 10 his family life is suddenly disrupted when his parents split up, and Greg and a brother move to Muncie, Indiana with their father.  Greg discovers that all of his father's relatives are African-American and that his own father, whom the family referred to as Italian, was actually mixed race.  Greg thus finds himself the object of prejudice from blacks who regard the white-skinned, straight-haired boy as white while whites regard Greg as a member of his father's African-American family.  If that weren't enough for an adolescent to deal with, Greg's father slips into alcoholism and leaves his two sons on their own.  Thankfully, a mother figure steps forward in the form of "Miss Dora".  An older black woman who is poor and widowed, she provides a home for the brothers and encourages them to do their schoolwork.  There are many struggles along the way, but Greg excels at school, eventually earns a law degree, and is serving as a law school dean at the time this book is published.

Greg grew up before the civil rights reforms of the 60's - but it's sad to realize we still have a long way to go towards equality in our country.  This story illustrates that it is society - not biology - that creates these racial distinctions, and that many people tend to accept you based on your appearance or, perhaps, where you live. Greg opted to embrace his African-American heritage and went on to a very successful career.

April 5

The Boston Girl
By Anita Diamant

This novel is the delightful first person narrative of a girl born in Boston of Russian Jewish immigrant parents ~1900.  Addie's family lives in the multicultural tenement neighborhood of Boston's north end.  Her family had to adjust to a new country, then a world war, the great depression, a second world war, and the changes that followed.  Addie talks of boyfriends, women's right to vote and women's education.  Through triumphs and sorrows, through nearly a century of memories, the narrator maintains a joie de vivre as Addie's audience is her young granddaughter, who has asked Addie to tell her about her life.

I read this story as an audiobook; Linda Lavin's inflection may sound a little more New York than Boston, but she maintains the warmth of a grandmother indulging a beloved granddaughter, inviting her into the secrets of her own long-ago youth.

April 4

The Friends
By Kazumi Yumoto (translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano)

I read this book while working as a young adult librarian in the 90s and found it touching and memorable.

The friends are three boys, Kiyama (narrator), Kawabe, and Yamashita.  The story is set in rural Japan, the summer the boys are in "cram school" preparing for their secondary school entrance exams.  Kiyama realizes he's suddenly growing taller, like a beanpole; he frequently refers to his mother's drinking problem.  Kawabe is the tough guy, but sensitive about the thick glasses he must wear and the father who left him years ago.  Yamashita is sensitive about his weight.

As the story opens, Kamashita has just returned from attending his grandmother's funeral.  The other boys ask about it and ponder what it means to die.  They are making the realization that all people die some day.  They determine to find out what happens when a person dies.  Kawabe knows of an old man who lives alone in an old bungalow near the bus stop.  The boys assume the old man will die soon, and determine to follow him so they can see when he dies.  The other boys reluctantly agree; they watch him through the windows of his house, they watch him when he walks to the store.  One day Yamashita brings a plate of sushi along to give to the old man.  Kawabe assumes he has poisoned the food to speed up the process and is surprised to learn that Yamashita just wants to give the man something good to eat.

The man eventually  realizes the boys are tailing him.  One day, as they're standing around his yard, he solicits their help in hanging his washing out to dry.  The next day he asks for help with his garbage.  Soon, they embark on an extensive weeding project. As a reward, the man invites them inside for watermelon.  The man begins to take better care of himself and his home.  One day a bad storm blows through the village, and all three boys flee to the man's home.  While they wait out the storm, the boys ask the old man about his experience in the war.  They hear of horrors and forced marches, in one village they are ordered to kill all the people.  He shoots a young woman.  As she falls down, the man realizes that she is with child. He is so horrified at his deed that he cannot return to his young wife, who assumes he has died a noble death in the war.

The boys go off to soccer camp.  A cemetery near the camp rekindles their interest in death.  Soon after their return, the old man dies.  They are sad to see his stiff body, but not scared and they realize he's moved on to a new stage - just as they have - as each leaves for a different school at the end of the summer.

April 3

My Life in France
By Julia Child with Paul Prud'homme

Julia writes of the years she and her husband Paul lived in Paris and Marseilles, where he was assigned to work for the US Information Service (a former branch of the State Dept) after the second world war.  Julia had spent her childhood in Pasadena, attended Smith College, and had had no experience in gourmet cooking.  Julia and Paul's first stop en route to Paris was Rouen, where they had a meal at the 14th century restaurant, La Couronne, an experience that changed Julia's life.  She ordered Sole Meuniere, was mesmerized, and vowed to learn how to prepare such a delectable feast.  Once in Paris, she found a cooking school where the methods and measurements, and even the cooking surfaces, were all new to her.  But she started with the basics - and the rest is history.  We meet her cookbook coauthors Simone Beck and Louiselle Bertholle, as well as celebrities like James Beard.  We walk with her through the streets of Paris and, later, drive to the south of France.  Besides chronicling Julia's cooking roots, the book also offers a sweet story of the early years of a long and loving marriage.

This very readable and enjoyable memoir was co-authored by Alex Prud'homme, who published the book shortly after Julia's death in 2004.  The book also inspired the movie "Julie and Julia".

April 2

The Music Room
By William Fiennes


Nine years ago, I had a chance to return to Wroxton Abbey in England, where I had spent the glorious spring semester of my junior year of college.  As part of the program of this "alumni getaway", we toured nearby Broughton Castle, a 13th century property and home of Lord and Lady Say and Sele.  Despite the stone walls and age of the house, it had such a homey feel, almost like a welcome. We were free to walk about the castle, including stepping out on the roof for a view of the distant hills and villages.  There is a beautiful knot garden enclosed within a wall, as well as well-tended flower beds all over the property.  An older woman was cheerfully gardening during our visit, answering questions about the flowers, and I think she was the lady of the manor.  The surname of the Lord and Lady is Fiennes, and the author is thus writing the story of his family, or at least writing a tribute to his brother Richard.

William Fiennes' memoir of growing up in an English manor house is also the story of living with a brother afflicted with severe epilepsy.  Rich's illness and the resulting unpredictable outbursts affect everyone in the home.  The author's affection for his brother, as well as their parents' love and patience, are a real tribute to what it means to be a family.  We see Rich cheering for his favorite football team and we sit in on conversations in the kitchen.

The book also takes a good look at life in a manor house today.  Like many manor house families, the Say and Seles must find a way to make ends meet in a world that no longer relies on tenant farmers to maintain and supply the family property.  A calendar of events featured school tours, plays and charity events - all the better for us to share a look at this beautiful home.

The actor Ralph Fiennes is a cousin, and the movie "Shakespeare in Love" was actually filmed here in the house and gardens.

April 1: Easter Sunday

The Gospel of John
By John, the "Beloved Disciple"

All of the four gospels contain narratives of the last supper, arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, but it is the Gospel of John that contains so many words of Jesus in the week leading up to his death.  In fact, about half the book of John is devoted to that final week.

Chapter 12 opens "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany."  The next day, Jesus would be honored by large crowds in Jerusalem, waving branches of palm trees and shouting, "Hosanna! [Save us!] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!", inciting the jealousy and wrath of the Pharisees, who sought a way to kill Jesus.

In Jesus's last days with his disciples, he comforts them,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (chapter 13: 34)

Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also. (14:1,2)

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me. (14:6)

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (14:13,14)

I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (15:5)

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world, you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world. (16:33)

Jesus would go on to be betrayed by one of his disciples, arrested and convicted in a sham trial (the Roman governor, Pilate, could find no charge against him - but feared the ire of the Jewish crowds if he let Jesus live).  The crowds who adored him the previous week appear to have turned on him.  But you know the ending to this story - three days after his burial, Mary Magdalene came to his tomb - to find it empty. Jesus was dead - but he was now alive!  Death could not hold him.  He appeared to Mary, then to his disciples, with whom he shared a meal of fish, leaving his disciple Peter with the charge to "feed my sheep".

John, chapters 12-21 provide a great lead-in and description of the Easter story.