August 31

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War (2006)
By Nathaniel Philbrick

Living in southern New England, one is aware of many references to American history going all the way back to the pilgrims.  Buried in the Little Neck cemetery in nearby Riverside, for example, are Elizabeth Howland, a Mayflower passenger, and Thomas Willett, the first mayor of New York City back in the 1660s.

Nathaniel Philbrick has written a very good historical documentary on the pilgrims.  Their initial voyage was delayed several months, causing them to cross the Atlantic into the late fall months, and as a result half of their small number died of illness.  Once in New England, the pilgrims owed much of their survival to Squanto, a native American of the Patuxet tribe, who had been kidnapped a few years earlier by an English explorer, and sold into slavery in Spain.   Squanto managed to escape and returned to his home, having learned some English in the process.  During Squanto's absence, nearly all of his tribe had succumbed to an epidemic, reducing the native American population in the area, and rendering Squanto's cooperation with the pilgrims helpful to both sides.

Initially, the pilgrims worked tirelessly to establish good relations with the local 'Indians' and their leader Massasoit, whose help they needed to survive in their new land.   The next generation of Europeans coming to the new world, however, had lived there long enough to have become self-sufficient and, as a result, were not as committed to good relations, alienating the Indians and resulting in a string of horrible wars and near annihilation.

While Mayflower is hardly the familiar story of the first Thanksgiving, it's an important lesson in our nation's history, and explains why there is a forever stain on the newcomers who stole the land from its original peoples.

August 30

The Spy Wore Red (1987)
By Aline, Countess of Romanones

This memoir had me looking over my shoulder as I read through Countess Aline's adventures as an undercover agent in wartime Spain.  Aline Griffith, born in New York, was just 21 and employed as a model, when she declared her desire to help the Allied cause during World War II.  She was recruited by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1943 and assigned to work in Spain.  Her mission was to infiltrate Madrid's society to try to discover who had links to the Nazi regime.  She leads a glamorous life, attending balls and dinners, mingling with the highest levels of Spanish society, all the while listening for incriminating gossip and looking for suspicious behavior among the other guests.  The important thing is that, as a spy, she can let herself trust no one.  Even those who purported to represent the Allies could be double agents.  It's a very dangerous assignment, and Aline survives some narrow escapes.  It's worth noting that some reviewers have suggested that she may have "embroidered her exploits as an American spy".  In any case, the book is suspenseful reading and provides a window into the dangerous but crucial work of secret agents.  Aline went on to write several more books, including two others about her work as a spy, an account of her work to restore her husband's ancestral home, and a novel.

After the war, Aline married Luis Figueroa de Perez y Guzman, Count of Quintanilla, later the Count of Ramanones upon the death of his grandfather.  Aline became famous as a socialite, entertaining the likes of Jackie Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor, Audrey Hepburn, and Salvador Dali, and garnered a place on the best-dressed list in 1962.  She died last December at age 94.

August 29

The Things They Carried (1990)
By Tim O'Brien

Most of us will never face being drafted to fight in a war in which we don't believe.  It's clear from this book that Tim O'Brien had a decision to make, and that he considered running away to Canada rather than face action in Vietnam.  This collection of short stories reads like fact, but is instead an exploration of some of the reactions to the fear and the violence of war, as well as ways people cope.  O'Brien lists the tools and weapons that are all part of a solider's basic equipment, but also cites personal items soldiers carry, tools that help them survive psychologically: e.g., one soldier carries his grandfather's hatchet, one carries a slingshot, another carries love letters.  O'Brien talks about how soldiers react to the loss of one of their men.  He also discusses how it feels to come back home and try to live a normal life after the trauma of war.

While the United States is not currently fighting a war as actively as during the Vietnam era, it's helpful to read O'Brien's stories to get a picture of the agony of war before, during, and after.  Soldiers who returned from Vietnam did not generally get the hero's welcome of earlier wars, and the US's objectives in Vietnam were not achieved; it was a lose-lose situation.  For those of us fortunate enough to avoid the agony of war, the least we can do is to try to understand the pain and recovery of those who go and fight.

August 28

Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era (2004)

By Nicole Etcheson

As the Kansas territory lurched toward statehood in the mid to late 1850s, pro-slavery and free-state forces fought each other to try to force the territory to enter the union as a slave or free sate.  While Missouri residents crossed the border to vote pro-slavery in territorial elections, northerners came from states far (e.g., Massachusetts) and near (e.g., Illinois) to impose their abolitionist views.  As the author shows, Kansas was the "concrete embodiment of the choice facing the nation's future" (p 187).

As the factions duked it out, the nation - and even the world - took note. Rev Henry Ward Beecher sent rifles, packed in a box marked "Bibles",  to the free-staters.  Lady Byron (Lord Byron's widow) even sent funds "to relieve the suffering in Kansas".

For John Brown and his ally James Montgomery and the young men who followed them, "the experiences in Kansas radicalized them to the point of realizing the link between enslaving blacks and undermining the liberty of whites" (p 190).  (And they would go on to wreak more havoc instigating an armed slave revolt in Harper's Ferry.)  As militant free-staters, they were the terrorists of the day, as were the "Bushwhackers", confederate guerrillas who were not in the military but instead went about attacking anyone against slavery - whether union soldiers, ordinary citizens, or even families.

In the beginning, there were few blacks and few slaveholders in Kansas but, in the end, Kansas suffered a higher mortality rate in the Civil War than any other Union state.

This is a highly academic study, and not one I would not have picked up to read, but I'm glad a friend from Kansas loaned it to me.  I had not been aware of the slave state/free state tug of war over Kansas, and it's easy to think that the interactions in Kansas were a major trigger leading to the US Civil War.

August 27

Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement and Political Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable Trust (2006)
By Samuel King and Randall Roth

Bernice Pauahi Bishop (b 1831) was the wealthiest woman in Hawaii, a princess by birth and married to an American banker.  Childness herself, she left her property to five trustees who would create and maintain schools for Hawaiian children.  This book chronicles the origin, growth and eventual gross mismanagement of the Bishop educational trust by its trustees.  It reads like a novel - shocking in the number and extent of abuses by the trustees.  Good reading for anyone interested in Hawaii, education or trust management.

Hawaii is such a beautiful place, a gem of God's creation - but it has suffered from a whole host of problems in addition to the broken trust: in the 1890s, its unlawful annexation by the USA; exploitation by many US and other nations' business interests over the years; recent continual volcanic eruptions, and currently, flooding on the big island.  God help the people of Hawaii...

August 26

First...a callout in honor of Senator John McCain, who left this world yesterday, August 25th.  Sen McCain was a true hero, having served 5 1/2 years in a Hanoi POW camp, then 6 terms as a US senator.  He was one of the few politicians who put his country ahead of his political party.
RIP John McCain.  We will miss you and your wisdom!

See a review of Sen McCain's recent book,  The Restless Wave.


Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)

By Mitch Albom

Sixteen years after graduating from Brandeis University, sportswriter Mitch Albom happened to see a TV interview with his professor, Morris Schwartz, and he learns Schwartz is dying of ALS.  Mitch decides to visit him, and they end up meeting every Tuesday, during which Morrie shares life lessons with his former student.  Morrie shares regrets, talks about expressing emotions, lessons learned, reconciliation, love, grief, and a whole host of life experiences.  Everyone needs a mentor, someone older and wiser to listen to and learn from; Morrie filled this need for Mitch.

August 25

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
By Oscar Wilde

The controversial poet and playwright Oscar Wilde published only one novel.  Dorian Gray is an unusually handsome youth, wealthy, orphaned and innocent.  One day he has his portrait painted and, upon viewing it, wishes he could always retain his youthful appearance.

Dorian comes under the influence of a corrupt friend, Lord Henry, who steers the malleable young man towards bad company, nasty literature, and opium.  It doesn't take long before Dorian loses his innocence.  Upon noticing his portrait, he sees that the mouth has an ugly grimace.  He offends a woman who has given her heart to him; he hurts the kindly family friend, Basil Hallward, who painted his portrait.  Both end up losing their lives, but Dorian is indifferent.  Through it all, his appearance never changes - but his portrait, now hidden in an attic room - grows ever more hideous.  His wish has come true.  Like the gilded age of the novel, Dorian looks respectable on the outside, while the hidden, inner man grows ever more selfish, malicious, and corrupt.

One message I take away is that's it's never wise to judge a book by its cover. It's what's inside a person that truly defines the person and, in Dorian's case, his heart turned from kindness to malice.

August 24

Night (1656)

By Elie Wiesel

This book is short, but powerful.  Wiesel tells of his experience in the camp, where food (and any provisions) were scarce.  Like Anne Frank, Elie was a teenager during the Jewish holocaust - but he lived to tell about it.  Wiesel's story is so tragic and personal that one asks how he ever survived.  Each Holocaust survivor's story is unique.  This tale should be read by all, along with Anne Frank's, Corrie Ten Boom's, and Viktor Frankl's.

Wiesel died in 2016.  As there are very few concentration camp survivors left, it's important that their stories by told.  Let us never again repeat history.

August 23

The Hate U Give (2017)
By Angie Thomas

It's hard to imagine a more relevant novel in light of ongoing incidents of police brutality against blacks, race relations, and drug dealers.

Starr Carter is a 16-year-old African-American living in the all-black neighborhood of Garden Heights, where violence between rival gangs threatens everyone's safety.   Her family is very much a part of the neighborhood's fabric, with her father running a convenience store and her mother employed as nurse at the local clinic. Starr and her two brothers, however, have been attending a private school in a tony suburb, where their parents ("Big Mav" [a former drug dealer] and Lisa) enrolled them after Starr witnessed the accidental shooting of her friend six years before the story opens.  At Williamson, the Carters are good students; Starr has 2 close friends, Hailey and Maya, as well as a white boyfriend, Chris (a fact she conceals from her father).

As this story opens, Starr and Kenya (a Garden Heights friend) are attending a party.  Shots are heard and Starr leaves the party with Kahlil, an old friend.  On their way home, a policeman pulls Kahlil's car over and ask for identification and for Kahlil to get out of the car.  As the officer checks the ID, Kahlil leans over to ask Starr, "Are you okay?"  The officer, presuming Kahlil is reaching for a weapon, shoots Kahlil in the back three times, and he dies on the street.  As the only witness, Starr's life is about to change.

Starr can no longer keep her two worlds separate as her prep school friends learn of her involvement in the case.  The media seems to suggest that Kahlil was a drug dealer, and offer little sympathy.  In addition, Starr's Uncle Carlos is a detective and colleague of the officer who shot Kahlil.

This is an important story - and a real eye-opener into the world of drugs, gangs, and police-community relations, especially from the perspective of the black community.  My only concern for young teen readers is that there are a lot of 4-letter words.

I read the audiobook; Bahni Turpin's narration is fabulous.  She brings all the characters to life: caring and sensitive Starr, strict Lisa, street-smart Maverick, barber Mr Lewis, and a cast of many more.

August 22

The Storyteller of Marrakech (2011)
By Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

Hassan, a Berber from the mountains, is the latest in his family of a long line of storytellers.  For a thousand years, storytellers have been found in the souks (market places), passing down oral  histories, telling stories of kings, love, and folk tales.

His story tonight is one that is as much myth as truth.  Some years back, a foreign couple visited the market.  The woman was beautiful and the man very attentive, and they made an impression on all who encountered them.  And then they disappeared.  What happened?

Several of Hassan's listeners were there that night.  Each contributed his experience with the couple: the waiter who served them dinner, a jeweler who sold her a necklace, the porter at the train station, and a palm reader.  The tales they told, rather than solve their disappearance, added to the mystery.  Hassan continues to seek out witnesses to that now mythical evening; he has an ulterior motive.

The author does a fabulous job of describing life in Marrakesh; you can see the old city square where he holds court, the tall minarets, the relentless vendors, the pounding of drummers, the ethereal music.  His depiction of his youth, being lost in a sandstorm, is particularly vivid.  Were those mirages he saw, or were they real?

To me, it was pure magical realism.  Hassan paused once in his story to look at the stars in the sky.  When he looked back at the listeners, he saw stars in each of their eyes.  At times you wonder if this event actually happened, or if the entire affair was imagined.  Did Hassan create the whole scenario and in re-telling, has it grown to have a life of its own?  Again, you'll see, he has an ulterior motive.

I was reminded of Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which started with the report of a death, the details of which are explained by several different people.  It's as if there is a point, and a dozen very different paths to reach it.

Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya is Indian and living in New York.  The is the first of three novels to be set in the Islamic world.  I certainly look forward to the next one.

Guest review by Jean Warneke.  Thanks, Jeannie!

August 21

Olive Kitteridge (2008)

By Elizabeth Strout

This novel, set in a small Maine city in the mid/late 1900s, follows the life of math teacher Olive Kitteridge from the age of 40 to 72.  A mean-spirited and bossy woman, she is nevertheless married to the kindly Henry, the town's beloved pharmacist whose customers can't figure out how he tolerates his unfriendly wife.  The Kitteridges live out of town in a quiet spot among the trees, which suites Olive.  Life goes on and the Kittridges only child gets married.  The joy of the wedding and the bride's "normal" parents sharply contrast with icy Olive.   Then Henry unexpectedly dies, and Olive is alone.  A loner by definition, she discovers she does not like the loneliness.  While on a morning walk, she comes across another walker who appears to have suffered a medical emergency.  She stops to help him and finds up an opportunity to change her ways and her life, and maybe open up her heart a little.

August 20

The Great Gatsby (1920)
By F Scott Fitzgerald

This story takes place early in the Prohibition era.  Several wealthy young socialites are spending their summer between visits to Manhattan and their summer homes in a Long Island resort community (The Hamptons?).  The story is narrated by Nick Carroway, a cousin of Daisy Buchanan.

As a young soldier headed off to serve in the first World War, Jay Gatsby is poor but ambitious, and he falls in love with beautiful, wealthy and spoiled Daisy Buchanan.  After the war, Jay is suddenly wealthy, and searches for his lost love.  When he learns she is married, Jay is sure he can convince her to leave her insensitive husband Tom.  Jay rents the mansion across the bay from Daisy and Tom, throwing lavish parties complete with flappers, jazz, and bathtub gin to impress his lady love.  Jay calls on Nick, who is renting a cottage adjacent to his mansion, to arrange a visit with Daisy.  Nick obliges, and Daisy happily reconnects with the smitten Jay while her husband Tom is off at work or romancing his secret girlfriend.

Commuting from his beautiful summer home and his Manhattan office, Tom makes regular stops at the filling station along the tracks, purportedly to get gas and talk cars with the owner, but really to connect with the owner's sexy wife Myrtle, who periodically meets up with Tom in a NY apartment he rents for her.  Just as Jay wants Daisy to run away with him, Myrtle dreams of running away from her own husband to be with Tom.

On one particularly hot summer afternoon, Daisy and Tom, their houseguest Jordan Baker, cousin Nick, and Jay Gatsby, who by now has ingratiated himself into the family circle, are bored and looking for some excitement.  They head into the city, where the boredom is only exacerbated, and it's clear that each character, despite their wealth, is rather a lost soul, with no real focus, nor ability to fill the emptiness.  To make it worse, it seems that Tom knows of Jay's intentions and that Daisy in turn suspects Tom of infidelity- making for an uncomfortable afternoon...  Returning home, Daisy and Jay take Tom's yellow convertible (with Daisy at the wheel) while Tom, Jordan and Nick drive home in Jay's car. A motorcar accident ensues, and then a double tragedy.

And then...  for selfish Daisy and Tom, life seems to not miss a beat.  They seem unconcerned about the needs of the others.  But for the others, their lives will never be the same.

Though this novel is short, F Scott Fitzgerald makes the most of each line through his judicious use of narrative.  Besides the story line, another tragedy is that the only person to have matured and changed through the story is Nick.


I'll never forget seeing the 1973 film "The Great Gatsby", filmed at Rosecliff.

August 19

Home to Holly Springs (2007)

By Jan Karon

This story takes place after the 7-book series about Father Tim Kavanagh and Mitford, NC, but it represents a return to his roots in Holly Springs, Mississippi.  When he receives a cryptic 2-word message "Come home", he decides to return to a home town he hasn't seen in 38 years.  With his dog Barnabas along, he thinks about many of the people from his past, including his unkind father, and his beloved babysitter Peggy who disappeared from his life (and broke his heart) when he was 11.  He encounters several old friends, but has the shock of his life when he discovers that Peggy was carrying his own father's child when she disappeared - and that he, Tim, will have to make a decision that can impact Peggy's son's life.

It's interesting to meet Father Tim away from his familiar Mitford setting, and he certainly faces struggles as he makes peace with a sometimes painful past, and examines the emergence of his religious convictions.  This was a wonderful story - in Father Tim's case, you can go home again!

August 18

The Last September
By Elizabeth Bowen

Lois Farquar is a young woman living with her wealthy aunt and uncle in Cork, Ireland ~1920.  While her days are full of the social life of the idle rich (tennis parties and dances), she yearns for freedom.  Meanwhile, Sir Richard Naylor and his wife Lady Myra seem oblivious to the political events going on around them, which will sound the death knell of a way of life the British have defended for years.  Elizabeth Bowen juxtaposes the tensions between the young who long for freedom, and the older who fear independence.

August 17

A Hope in the Unseen (1998)
By Ron Suskind

Suskind, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, follows the high school and college experience of Cedric Jennings, from Ballou High School in Washington DC to his unlikely acceptance at Brown University.  Even though Ballou HS is a low-performing school infested by crime, Cedric has stood out as an honor student, always supported by his mother.  He earned a spot at a summer program for minority students at MIT and decides he wants to try for admission at an Ivy League school.  When he is admitted to Brown, it is only half the battle.  At Brown, Cedric finds himself far behind his fellow freshmen, as he realizes his education lacks many of the basics that comprise a hs education.  Socially, he also feel like an outcast.  But he has come this far and, thanks to his faith, his determination, and his own intelligence, he struggles to succeed - and he does!

I learned that Cedric had a student employment position in my own department of Geological Sciences at Brown University. Although he graduated before I started working there in 2002, I heard good things about him - that he was a dependable worker and an overall nice person.

Besides Cedric's obvious motivation and intelligence, it's also interesting that writer Suskind picked a winner.  He could not have known, as he followed Cedric through high school, that he would go on to succeed as a college student, and eventually earn graduate degrees.  A follow-up report 10 years after Cedric leaves Brown follows his post-graduate school success.  He went on to earn graduate degrees at Harvard and Michigan; today he serves as a clinical social worker and youth pastor.

August 16

The Best of James Herriot (1982)
By James Herriot

This anthology is taken from Herriot's early books: All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All.  (All titles are derived from Cecil Alexander's iconic hymn "All Things Wise and Wonderful".)

Herriot (real name: James "Alf" Wight) was a vet from 1940-91, working in a country practice where the majority of his patients were farm animals.  The appeal of his stories is not just the animals but also the owners who cared for them.  These stories, selected by Herriot, give a well-rounded picture of his life as a country vet, and are interspersed with wonderful photos and sketches.  For anyone who is having a hard day, or just wants a story to take them back to a simpler time, James Herriot is heartily recommended!

August 15

The Outermost House (1928)

By Henry Beston

Back in the summer of 1926, writer Henry Beston planned to spend a couple of weeks in a small house, which he call The Fo'castle, on the beach in Eastham, Cape Cod.  Compelled by the beauty of the sea and the changing seasons, he ended up spending a year, journaling about the birds, the tides, the experience of solitude.  Like Henry Thoreau's Walden, The Outermost House has become a classic record of an individual's experience/observations of nature and it is a pleasure to read.

As the dunes supporting The Fo'castle started to erode in the 1940s,  Beston moved the house back, but it was eventually carried off to sea in the Blizzard of '78.

August 14

The Winds of Graystone Manor (1995)
By B J Hoff

In this "American gothic" novel set in 1867 Staten Island, a Civil War photographer has come to track down his wife's murderer.  But Roman St Clare is also attracted to his pretty and kindly landlady.  Amanda Fairchild, owner of Graystone Manor, a secluded resort hotel, tells him of bizarre events on the island.  Eventually, they discover what's going on and expose a grizzly plot.  I loved this old-fashioned story with its references to God's grace and love.  This is actually book 1 in the St Clare Trilogy, but is the only title in the library's collection.

August 13

The Good House (2013)
By Ann Leary

This is a well-written story about a woman's denial that she is an alcoholic.  Hildy is a successful realtor in a New England coastal town (not unlike Barrington).  The story is populated with realistic characters and many realistic scenarios.  It culminates in a tragic climax in which Hildy finally realizes her need - a need both for help and for human companionship.

How many alcoholics are out there who simply think they can manage their illness through "moderation"?  This novel was a reminder to reach out to those who struggle with alcohol addiction - and any other addictions.

August 12

When the Heart Cries (2006)
By Cindy Woodsmall

Hannah Lapp is a 17-year-old from an Old Order Amish family.  In the first few chapters, it's clear that she is happy and bright, and that family is very important.  She has just secretly accepted her boyfriend, Paul Waddell's, marriage proposal.  Then, while walking home, she is viciously raped by someone outside the community; the community, including her own family, shuns Hannah.  She flees to the home of an aunt in Ohio;  Zabeth had been shunned for her own interest in music.  Through her aunt's love and support, as well as the friendship of Martin Palmer, a young man who is like a son to Zabeth, Hanna finds healing and purpose for life, as she gets a GED and becomes a nurse in a birthing clinic.  The books introduce many of Hannah's friends and siblings and are quite well written.  I could hardly put them down!

When the Heart Cries was so compelling that I quickly read the two sequels, When the Morning Comes and When the Soul Mends.  The three books comprise the "Sisters of the Quilt" series.

August 11

The Winter Hare (1996)

By Joan Goodman

This young adult novel is set in 12th century England during that tumultuous period when Empress Matilda (King Henry's daughter) fought King Stephen for the throne.

Young Will Belet (nicknamed Rabbit for his small stature) dreams of becoming a knight.  He is sent to Orford Castle to train with the knights of Earl Aubrey de Vere, where his older brother John is already in training. Suspicious "accidents" take place at the castle.  While Earl Aubrey is cold and mean, Will finds encouragement and support in Lady Elaine, the earl's wife, and "Turtle", another page who really appears to be a Cornish noble sent to protect Will  Will's idealism ends when he engages in a real battle.  His skills as an herbalist (learned from his mother, from Lady Elaine, and from a friar) save many men.

He also develops a friendship with Edith Fitz Count.  Later, when King Stephen lays siege to Orford Castle when Empress Matilda is visiting,Will and Turtle help the empress escape to Margaret's family estate and they are promised land and titles.

This book is YA historic fiction, interesting and well-researched.  The author introduced many new (at least to me!) new words, i.e., demesne, quintain, argent, mangonel, jongleur.

August 10

Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (2001)
By Martin Dugard

For someone who only knew that Cook was a famous British sea captain, this relatively short and appealing biography provides a fairly thorough exploration of Cook's life and accomplishments.  "Farther than any man" describes Cook's travels, as he circumnavigated the gloves several times.  Born to a laborer in northern England, Cook joined the merchant navy as a teenager, and later the Royal Navy.  This experience gave him the chance to travel to Quebec during the Seven Years' War, where he created accurate maps (e.g., of Newfoundland and the St Lawrence River) that would be used by seafarers for centuries.  He rose through the ranks and in 1766 was asked to lead a voyage of scientific discovery.  He outfitted a former collier, naming it "Endeavor", and making sure to have sufficient supplies for his crew, e.g., each member would get a lemon per day to ward off scurvy.  Besides maintaining a healthy crew, Cook was a fair and effective leader of men, and his trip resulted in scientific discoveries, botanical samples and new species identified, and new lands mapped and illustrated.  Another voyage followed (these trips usually lasted about 3 years), with more discoveries, and Cook's fame only grew.  A third trip, however, ended in tragedy, as Cook was killed on the coast of Hawaii, in the midst of trying to arrange to repair a broken mast.  It is hard to overestimate the impact of all of the discoveries that resulted from Cook's three voyages.

This story opens with a Newport, RI connection.  Author Dugard opens each section of his account with a visit to a geographical area associated with Captain Cook.  Newport is featured because it is thought that one of Cook's two ships was later outfitted as a frigate, and eventually sunk by British trips occupying Newport during the War for Independence to create a naval blockade.  Maybe one day it will be found and hauled out of the harbor for all to see.

August 9

"Losing Earth: The decade we almost stopped climate change.  A tragedy in two acts."

By Nathaniel Rich

As I write this blog, a massive wildfire (the state's largest ever in recorded history) is devastating the state of California; red tide is killing manatees and sea turtles on California's gulf coast; arctic ice is melting at a rate of over 1% per year.  What's happening to our planet?

While I have not read this entire article (the article encompasses nearly the whole issue of the NYT magazine this week), it's clear that human-caused climate change is devastating our planet, and that we have probably passed the point of no return.  Is there anything we can do to at least slow the pace of earth damage?  So far, the article is discouraging, but it's worth reading.

August 8

Galileo's Daughter (2009)

By Dava Sobel

Sobel, who has already produced works on the planets and Copernicus, is the perfect author to write a biography of Suor Maria Galilei.  Virginia was the oldest child of Galileo's union with Maria di Gamba.  She entered a convent at age 13, and became Sr Maria Celeste, an apothecary at her convent of poor Clares in Tuscany.  Written mostly through the letters sent by Sr Maria to her father, it is clear that she shared his brilliance and that she provided support and encouragement to her father as he faced both acclaim and rejection for his stunning discoveries that will alter the traditional understanding of Earth's place in the cosmos.  Unfortunately, the letters from Galileo himself have been lost, so this book reflects only the perspective of Sr Maria Celeste.  But even though she was cloistered, the letters (translated from the Italian by the author) provide a good window into the era (plague, diet, religion, culture), but also into the warm relationship between a famous father and his accomplished daughter.

August 7

Good Harbor (2001)
By Anita Diamant

Many reviewers were unenthusiastic about this book, expecting another bestseller like Diamant's precious Red Tent.  But I really enjoyed this story of a friendship that develops between two women who meet at temple.  Kathleen is 59, a children's librarian and the mother of two grown sons.  Joyce is 42 and has just bought a summer home in Gloucester; she has also just published a romance novel.  Kathleen has just received a diagnosis of breast cancer.  Joyce, while pleased with her writing success, is struggling to keep her marriage together.  The two women, take walks along the beach and become good friends as Kathleen works through her cancer issues and Joyce (without discussing it openly) works through marital issues.  Questions of faith and faithfulness are discussed. Good writing.

August 6

Like Sisters on the Homefront (1995)
By Rita Garcia Williams

This young adult book begins with the abortion of 14-year-old Gayle Ann's second child.  As a young adult librarian at the time I picked up this book, I wasn't sure it would be one I'd want to recommend to 12-year-olds and almost didn't read it, but I'd have missed a really touching and realistic story.  Gayle's widowed mother takes the law into her own hands and sends her daughter from the streets of Brooklyn to her southern roots and her brother's straight-laced family.  Though Gayle dislikes her chores, her cousin Cookie's Christian gospel music, and almost everything else, she finally gives in to the love they give her and her baby boy.  The language and reactions are very realistic. Aside from the heartbreak of a teen undergoing an abortion, I highly recommend this story about the redeeming love of faith and family, because it was Jesus's love that motivates Cookie's family to reach out and care for Gayle.

Award winning author Williams continues to publish teen and children's literature, much of it set in the American south.

August 5

Acts of the Apostles
By Luke

The Book of Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles, is the only historical record of the birth and early days of the church.  I have read through and studied it many times, but with each reading, I find the story of the early church more exciting and more miraculous.  The book begins with the ascension of Jesus, then offers many accounts of the apostles' preaching to crowds in Jerusalem, which results in many people deciding to believe in this God of love who can take away their sin.  Through their witness, God performs miracles, including miracles of healing and escape from prison. However, jealous practitioners of rival religions (especially Judaism and the cult of Artemis) try to discredit the early Christians, and many leaders suffer.  One especially harsh persecutor is the Jewish Pharisee Paul.  He is bringing letters of accusation to use against the Christians in Damascus when, out of nowhere, he hears the voice of Jesus. He loses his vision and is taken to the home of a believer, where he eventually recovers, and turns from persecution to preaching the message of Jesus!  The book continues with many accounts of Paul's preaching to unbelievers and 3 missionary journeys, on foot and by boat.   Through it all, Paul experiences prison, shipwreck, and beatings.  But his faith only grows, and many people come to Christ as a result.

The book is written by Luke, the physician who also wrote a gospel account.   While Luke did not witness every act first-hand, he surely was aboard for much of the action that is related in this book.  One example would be in Acts 16, when he switches from "they" to "we": So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace," Acts 16:11.

August 4

Before We Were Yours (2017)
By Lisa Wingate

This is a good read on more than one level - it has two basic tracks.  One is a historically based track based around corruption in politics and human trafficking in children in the early 1900s, the other a track that explores today's politics and its biases regarding family and background.

One track tells the story of a family from the river community around Memphis - a family ripped apart by children-stealers.  The children are marketed to wealthy families with total disregard to their own tragedy.  Close family ties between the children are ignored, and the siblings involved are separated and disposed of for the profit of the organization doing the stealing, posing as a benevolent orphanage.  Political corruption protects the organization.

The other track tells the story of a political family in current America, centered around the main character, who is being groomed for political office, and her grandmother, whom she begins to realize is one of those stolen children.

Well developed and thought provoking, this story even has an ending where, despite all of the bad things seem to turn out for good.

Review submitted by Dewey Christy.  Thanks, Dewey!

August 3

Fascism: A Warning (2018)
By Madeline Albright with Bill Woodward


Former Secretary of State, US Ambassador to the UN, and current professor of Foreign Relations at Georgetown University, Madeline Albright defines a fascist as "someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary - including violence - to achieve his or her goals" (p 11).    As a native of Czechoslovakia, Prof Albright saw her own country fall to Hitler, then fall to communism.  She is well-equipped to speak out on Fascism.  Some practical advice, interesting facts and warnings from her new book follow:

Nations would do best by promoting shared security, prosperity, and freedom.  For example the 1947 Marshall Plan recognized that the US economy would stagnate without the European markets to buy their wheat and factory products; thus the US helped their European and Asian partners rebuild dynamic economies of their own following WW2.

She describes Mussolini and Hitler as examples of Fascists.  As of 3/23/33 Hitler was the new German chancellor and addressed the people at a rally; his goal was approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree.  His party, the Nazis, was elected, and all other political parties abolished, with the competing socialists being arrested.  Once his power was consolidated, the army was required not to swear allegiance to country or constitution but to Hitler.  Unlike Mussolini, Hiter did not acknowledge mistakes, regret decisions, or care that he was hated.  When FDR died, Hitler called him "the greatest war criminal of all times".

After WW2, the Marshall Plan put forward a generous loan program for the economic restoration of Europe, as cited above.  On 7/4/47, Czechoslovakia's govt voted unanimously to sign up.  But a week later, they were told by Moscow that the American offer was a trap to isolate Moscow, who alone could offer Czech protection.  Eventually "the whole constellation of Soviet satellites - Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavakia - had to reject the Marshall Plan because the Red Army was close and Western allies had put down their guns."  and thus the cold war began.

Meanwhile in the US, Sen McCarthy would not have become such a sensation nor ruined so many innocent people had he not received support from so many leading newspapers and financing from wealthy right wingers  He'd have been exposed much sooner had his wild accusations not been met with silence by so many mainstream leaders.  "Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it", declared Jonathan Swift.

Hugo Chavez was a popular Venezuelan president because he was able, with outs wealth, to help the poor get education and good housing.  But he controlled his government, squelched opposition, and he became president for life (until his death by cancer in 2013).  His ill-prepared successor, Niclas Maduro, was more authoritarian and his country now suffers from poverty, but he blames everyone else.  If the US president threatens Venezuela with military intervention, it is a gift to Maduro and reinforces his position throughout Latin America.

Prof Albright suggest we evaluate the US president on the world stage (p 220):  Is his plan working?  Are key foreign leaders seeking to mollify him by becoming more supportive of US goals, or are they tuning him out and negotiating their own agreements?  Is the president persuading others to follow him, or is he being manipulated into echoing the agendas of others, as for example, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East?  In a craft requiring experience, sound judgment, and the vision to understand the impact of today's decision on tomorrow's world, how well is he measuring up when compared to his peers?"

She notes that the US president pulled the US from the TPP just as Xi Jinping emerged as the powerful president for life of his country.  While his America First fixation is isolating our country, China "has been systematically expanding hits economic clout" not only in Asia, but also Europe,  the middle East, North Africa, and Latin America."  She predicts a world "more inclined to follow Beijing's lead not only on economic matters but also on lowering norms...on labor standards, media freedom, religious liberty, and human rights".

Holocaust survivor Primo Levi argued that the critical point of Fascism can be reached through "denying and distorting information, by undermining systems of justice and...by spreading in a myriad subtle ways nostalgia for a world where order reigned" (p 223).  In her chapter "Bad Dreams", Albright pictures 3 chilling scenarios that are not likely to happen to the US, but are certainly possible.

In summary, "what makes a movement fascist is not ideology but the willingness to do whatever is necessary - including the use of force and trampling on the right of others - to achieve victory and command obedience" and it may start very slowly, as a well-educated German who experienced the rises of the Third Reich recalled that  "each step is so small, so inconsequential...one no more saw it develop from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing...
And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying [racist word], collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything has changed and changed completely under your nose." (p 230)

After a brief discussion of Lincoln and Mandela, Albright invites us to ask questions of our leaders, for example:

• Do they cater to our prejudices by suggesting that we treat people outside our ethnicity, race, creed or party as unworthy of dignity and respect?
• Do they encourage us to have contempt for our governing institutions and the electoral process?
• Or do they invite us to join with them in building and maintaining ah healthy center for our societies, a place wiehre rights and duties are apportioned fairly, the social contract is honored, and all have room to dream and grow?

August 2

Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 (2013)
By Lynne Olson

This interesting account traces the evolution of America's eventual entry into WW2, basically developing the arguments of the isolationists (whose most colorful expounder was the popular Charles Lindbergh), and the interventionists (whose most prominent proponent was the unsuccessful presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie).  FDR is portrayed as non-committal, always waiting to see where popular opinion would sway, then being slow to act.  Some of the other prominent leaders are Robert Sherwood and White, both journalists - and a host of others, including other journalists, cabinet members and even students - not to mention Winston Churchill and members of the British secret service, especially William Stephenson.  Lindbergh's and his wife Anne's family background are covered extensively, and it's hard to overestimate the charisma of this attractive young couple.  A concluding chapter covers the aftermath of the lead-up to war, and what happened to the various prominent participants.  Very interesting story and good narration of the audiobook by Robert Fass.

No one really wants to be in a war; this story helped me understand why our leaders chose to (eventually) join the Allies.

August 1

August Folly (1936)

By Angela Thirkell

I read August Folly perhaps 20 years ago; while it felt outdated and nostalgic even then - it was still very humorous and charming.  Set in the fictitious Barsetshire, England of the 1930s, Richard Tebben is just home from Oxford for the summer.  Much to his horror, his family shows up at the train station not in an automobile, but in a donkey cart, to transport him home!  Once settled at home, he finds that Mrs Palmer is trying to stage her annual play, this year"Hippolytus", with her neighbors and family as cast and crew.  Everyones' foibles come to light and create some pretty amusing scenes.  Richard and his sister Margaret end up growing from their experience, especially as the Dean family, along with their nine children, are visiting Barsetshire.

Angela Thirkell published her first Barsetshire novel in 1933, and thereafter published about one title a year up until her death in 1961.  It looks like this series has recently been re-released by Virago.  I'm glad to know there are lots more titles out there to enjoy.

I recently learned that Thirkell was the granddaughter of the pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Byrne-Jones, a cousin of writer Rudyard Kipling and British PM Stanley Baldwin, and goddaughter of playwright J M Barrie.  What a gifted family!