DorisWaggoner
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DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 13, 2019
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely FineEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Large Print
by Honeyman, GailLarge Print - 2017Large Print, 2017
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 13, 2019
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In her late 20s, Eleanor Oliphant is definitely not fine. Her classics degree fits her for an office job, where she's a lonely outsider. She feels superior because her grammar and vocabulary are better than anybody else's. The women she works with are interested only in gossip, clothes, and men. Eleanor reads serious literature, and on weekends buys 2 bottles of vodka to get her through until she can get back to her desk and accounts receivable She speaks impeccable proper English, dresses in comfortable if not fashionable clothing in a dirty apartment she's lived in for decades, since she'd graduated from state care. She tries not to think about the scars on her face from arson when she was 10. She has no friends, but one day she and a co-worker, Raymond, who she'd learned to know when she had to call on him for his assistance in his specialty—computers. He's sloppy, always late, and pays no attention to her suggestions that his chain smoking's bad for his health—and hers. One day they see an elderly man across the street fall, and by the time they get to him, he's unconscious. Raymond tries to get her to call 999 for help, but she had no cell phone, so he tells her to talk to Sammy while he calls the authorities. Raymond goes with Sammy in the ambulance, and she calls the old man's family. This is the beginning of a new life for all 3, as they become friends. Friends! Eventually she realizes she's depressed, and get sinto therapy, thanks to Raymond, when Sammy dies. Mostly she's silent, but eventually begins to cry, then to talk. Finally she tells Maria that she fells guilty because she couldn't save Marianne, who was her sister, age 4, locked in a wardrobe by their mother. Maria reminded her she couldn't save both children, given their ages. Raymond and she both looked up online to find out what had really happened. Two people died—their mother, and Marianne. Eleanor was the only survivor, and felt very guilty. And every Wed. night her mother called her, telling her how worthless and useless and clumsy she was. This was the only part I didn't understand. If her mother died, who was calling Eleanor weekly? Was it one of the bad foster mothers? If not, who? Even Maria, let alone Raymond, agreed she was right to tell her Mummy to buzz off, and that she wouldn't answer the phone ever again. But that bit still bothers me. Otherwise, a lovely book showing growth and development, and a probable heading toward Raymond and Eleanor moving in together eventually and being able to be happy together. But who was her “Mummy?” Her sense of guilt? Her need to forgive herself for not saving Marianne?In her late 20s, Eleanor Oliphant is definitely not fine. Her classics degree fits her for an office job, where she's a lonely outsider. She feels superior because her grammar and vocabulary are better than anybody else's. The women she works…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 13, 2019
Comment:
Joy Harjo, named American Poet Laureate in 2019, has been an enrolled Creek Indian, living in Oklahoma. The tribe's oral and written history goes back to the Trail of Tears, when Pres. Andrew Jackson unconstitutionally expelled the civilized tribes from their native lands, sending them to Oklahoma and giving their land to, mostly, uncivilized whites. Ironically, the native civilized Civilized Tribes were literate, early users of the printing press, which probably had to do with why Jackson wanted them gone. The whites who replaced them were primarily illiterate, and also not particularly good farmers. Many of the Native peoples died on the forced march to OK, where the land was poor. but they made good lives for themselves. Until, that is, the whites tried to forcefully separate the children from their culture by sending them to boarding school and keeping them from speaking their native languages. Some had hidden in the lush wilderness of Georgia and Alabama where they tried to keep their culture and language intact. In Harjo's day, some, including herself, went back for a family reunion. It was "coming home," and she knew where she belonged. Beautifully written. 9-20-2019 117 pgs 2019Joy Harjo, named American Poet Laureate in 2019, has been an enrolled Creek Indian, living in Oklahoma. The tribe's oral and written history goes back to the Trail of Tears, when Pres. Andrew Jackson unconstitutionally expelled the civilized…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 13, 2019
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I confused this author with Daniel Silva. Both write thrillers, violent page turners, but the resemblance more or less ends there. Both are good writers, if you can stand the gore. And both do their research so that the historical background is solid and respectable. I checked out the first half dozen of Steve Berry's thrillers, after thoroughly enjoying one from the middle of the pack. They turned out to be not worth the bother, even in cases where I actually knew some of that history. Daniel Silva, on the other hand, does his research, and both his heroes and his villains have redeeming features, even if you have to dig to find them sometimes. Now that I've got holds on some of Silva's earliest books, I think I may enjoy some of them.I confused this author with Daniel Silva. Both write thrillers, violent page turners, but the resemblance more or less ends there. Both are good writers, if you can stand the gore. And both do their research so that the historical background is…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 02, 2019
Comment:
My first Silva thriller. Not sure if I'll read any more. It is indeed a page turner, well written, with some of the characters engaging, others not so much. Silva knows his stuff, including current events in the Middle East. But make no mistake, this is a very violent book. Are they all like this? This one runs the gamut from replays of the recent murder of a Saudi journalist for the Washington Post (somewhat disguised) in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, to a lovely family dinner in Jerusalem between the head of the Israeli Intelligence and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This is the first time the Crown Prince has been in Israel, and he's being given the grand tour by the man who's trying to him find the perpetrator of the kidnapping and mistreatment of his only child, a beautiful 12 year old who's attending an elite school in Geneva. Interesting premise.My first Silva thriller. Not sure if I'll read any more. It is indeed a page turner, well written, with some of the characters engaging, others not so much. Silva knows his stuff, including current events in the Middle East. But make no mistake,…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 01, 2019
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I took off half a star from this wonderful book because sometimes the timeline gets a bit confusing. But the story itself is clear, and beautifully written. Fereiba grows up in the "old" Afghanistan, the beloved daughter of a sad man whose wife died bearing Fefeiba. The story begins in her childhood, with details of what that "old" time was like for a girl. Her father remarried, and they had one son and several daughters. Fereiba is at the bottom of the heap. She is, however, very smart, but not allowed to go to school with her brother and sisters because her stepmother keeps insisting she's needed at home to help. Eventually, her oldest stepsister is married off to a boy Fereiba thinks she wants to marry. She's afraid she'll never marry. Eventually, a marriage is arranged with a relative, whom she grows to love. They have three children, a girl, a boy, and then is pregnant when the Taliban come to power and arrest her husband. Some months later, she must accept that he's been murdered. By now, her second son's been born. Friends help her leave, which has gotten harder and harder. Most of her family has gone, and she plans to go to her sister, living in London. This is a terrible journey, which they almost don't survive. The baby becomes ill, and a doctor in Turkey tries to tell her he needs a hospital. She finds kind people to stay with; her older son, Saleem, finds work in the fields that pays almost nothing. By the time they get to Athens, they get to a doctor who tells them the Turkish doctor was right, but there is no hospital they can afford that will or can do the surgery the baby needs. The Turkish doctor had given him some medication which helps, and he's given some in Athens. An aid worker helps the family get train tickets to Paris, with help waiting for them there. But Saleem doesn't show up. What's the mother to do? The rest of the family makes it to London, where they apply for asylum and the baby gets the surgery he needs.I took off half a star from this wonderful book because sometimes the timeline gets a bit confusing. But the story itself is clear, and beautifully written. Fereiba grows up in the "old" Afghanistan, the beloved daughter of a sad man whose wife…
BarracoonBarracoon, BookThe Story of the Last "black Cargo"
by Hurston, Zora NealeBook - 2018Book, 2018
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Oct 01, 2019
Comment:
Zora Neale Hurston was both an anthropologist and a fiction writer of short stories at the time she wrote "Barracoon," her first book length nonfiction work. No publisher would touch it in her lifetime, mostly because she wrote it in dialect. In the 1920s, Kussola, to use the African name she calls him, was the last person to remember his life in Africa, what it was like to be captured by another tribe for the purposes of being sold as a slave, the Middle Passage, slavery, and "freedom." Hurston spent three months interviewing him, getting to know him as a person, helping him when he asked for help, leaving him alone when he told her to leave him with his pain. However painful his life, this is a story all Americans of all races need to read. While I've read her famous "Their Eyes were Watching God" more than once, I had no idea this book existed until I came across it in the bibliography for another book and knew I needed to read it. He was one of the last group stolen long after the slave trade was declared illegal in the US. Recently I read in an archaeology magazine about the boat that brought him having been found burned and scuttled in a river near Mobile. This book personalizes everything that was terrible about the slave trade, and helps explain why race is still a problem in the US today.Zora Neale Hurston was both an anthropologist and a fiction writer of short stories at the time she wrote "Barracoon," her first book length nonfiction work. No publisher would touch it in her lifetime, mostly because she wrote it in dialect. In…
The Girl Who Takes An Eye for An EyeThe Girl Who Takes An Eye for An Eye, Large Print
by Lagercrantz, DavidLarge Print - 2017Large Print, 2017
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 28, 2019
Comment:
Salander's serving a term for murder in Sweden's highest-security women's prison, because she refused to defend herself in court. That doesn't keep her safe, nor a young Arab woman who's at risk from an Islamist family. Salander is under a death threat from a prison gang. But she sees a chance to learn more about her cloudy childhood, and puts Blomqvist at work researching the clues she uncovers. They stumble on a brutal pseudoscientific experiment called The Registry. This is the first of David Lagercrantz's continuation of the Millennium series that I've read, with many of the same characters. Salander and Blomqvist haven't changed much. The action is fast and often violent. If you liked the original series, this is worth reading.Salander's serving a term for murder in Sweden's highest-security women's prison, because she refused to defend herself in court. That doesn't keep her safe, nor a young Arab woman who's at risk from an Islamist family. Salander is under a death…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 28, 2019
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The author of this memoir was born in the US of Eritrean refugee parents. While she could see and hear some as a young child, both senses fade as she grows up; by middle school she has great trouble in school because she's almost completely Deafblind. One of her older brothers has the same disability. While she often feels very down about this, and gets almost no help from her school, her parents push her to make the best use of the senses she does have. She's clearly very bright, and one of her middle school teachers pushes her very hard, and gives her lots of help. Other teachers want to put her in Special Ed. As her sight and hearing lessen, she becomes more determined not to let her disabilities get in the way. She also develops a sense of humor, and learns to make friends in spite of her disability. A class in salsa is a real breakthrough, as it helps her learn to add body language to her senses. Her loving parents are overprotective, but in high school she joins a school club that requires volunteer work. She chooses to go to Mali for 3 weeks to help build a house in the Sahara. Finally Haben convinces them to sign the permission slip--she's only 15. While some of the trip's scary, she has a wonderful time, convinces herself that she can be safe, competent, and make friends. That's the beginning of her self-confidence. While her parents want her to go to college in CA, near them, she resists, and goes to Lewis and Clark, near Portland. First, she goes to a program in Louisiana for disabled people to learn to become more independent. She's the youngest one there; it stretches her. Deciding to go to law school, so she could help other disabled people, she applied to all the best schools, and ends up at Harvard Law. By now, she's worked with tech people to have equipment so she can bypass the problems of not being able to hear or see profs. She really pushes the systems. She also gets a seeing-eye dog, who becomes a friend as well as being more helpful than a cane. After graduation, she joins a law firm and takes on a disability case--which they win. Still in her early 20's, she's chosen as one of the 30 most important Americans under 30. And is invited to introduce Pres. Obama at the White House celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Who knows where this amazing, beautiful young woman will go from here? She's also a wonderful writer.The author of this memoir was born in the US of Eritrean refugee parents. While she could see and hear some as a young child, both senses fade as she grows up; by middle school she has great trouble in school because she's almost completely…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 23, 2019
Comment:
My first Steve Berry book, and it will definitely not be my last. I normally prefer to begin a series with the first one. Yet this was not a terrible place to start, as it's the beginning of a new "career" for Cotton Malone, and the first one Berry writes all in the first person. I'm old enough to remember King's assassination, but I'm very grateful for the long note Berry appends at the end, giving his reasons for writing the book, for waiting 50 years to do so, and sorting what's "provable" about King's life and death, and what still remains a mystery. I would have given it more stars, I think, had I read it in order and known more about some of the characters that appear in other earlier Cotton Malone books. So that's me, not Berry. A warning--it's very violent. Now I'll go back and put holds on the other Cotton Malone books from the beginning. I love mysteries, but I don't have room to store them, and tend not to reread them.My first Steve Berry book, and it will definitely not be my last. I normally prefer to begin a series with the first one. Yet this was not a terrible place to start, as it's the beginning of a new "career" for Cotton Malone, and the first one…
The Shakespeare RequirementThe Shakespeare Requirement, Book
by Schumacher, JulieBook - 2018Book, 2018
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 23, 2019
Comment:
Fitger, the very reluctant new appointee as head of the English Dept. at Payne (Pain, get the joke, ha ha) Univ. has lots of problems, which he's absolutely not up to dealing with. I've never been a college faculty member, though I've been a university staff member and high school teacher. But this book, a sequel to which I haven't read the first book, was a slow start. Many of the characters were cardboard. Some, like freshman Angela (her name's too obvious) are a delight. She's introduced, to no apparent purpose, only to disappear for many chapters. When she does reappear, she enlivens the novel. It's funny in many places, sad in others. Maybe I'd have liked it better if I'd read the first in the series first. This is a satire, as it says in the book's blurb, but it's a bit of overkill.Fitger, the very reluctant new appointee as head of the English Dept. at Payne (Pain, get the joke, ha ha) Univ. has lots of problems, which he's absolutely not up to dealing with. I've never been a college faculty member, though I've been a…
West of Kabul, East of New YorkWest of Kabul, East of New York, Downloadable AudiobookAn Afghan American Story
by Ansary, Mir TamimDownloadable Audiobook - 2006Downloadable Audiobook, 2006
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 16, 2019
Comment:
Ansary is an Afghan American, with an Afghan father and an American mother. The Afghan government sends his father to the US to study, expecting him to return to use his Western skills for the benefit of his country. They don't expect him to marry an American woman, and recall him when he does. Most of his colleagues also marry Americans, but seeing what happens to Ansary, they wait to marry until after they have their degrees. They all rise faster in the government or industry than Tamim Ansary's father, but all the mixed families remain close. Until the Taliban comes to power. Then the mixed families leave, quietly. Tamim's father stays, though the parents talk about leaving. But the mother is pregnant, and they plan to wait until the baby's born. Before that can happen, though, men come and take the father away, and he's never heard from again. When the baby's a few months old, and Tamim is about 12, his sister about 14, their mother decides that they will starve if they don't leave. She plans to go to her sister in London. Their suffering on the journey is intense. Eventually they realize the baby is sick, and in Turkey they're able to find a doctor who finally tells them he has heart problems and needs a hospital. Tamim finds farm jobs; they find helpful people, but they can only help so much. In Athens, mother is able to get medical help, but it's just information--the baby needs surgery, which must wait until London. She and Tamim get train tickets to Paris, but somehow they get separated, and she must decide what to do. She, the daughter Rebecca, and the baby go on the train and end up in London where the surgery helps Aziz. But where is Tamim? We follow his story until just before he gets to London, and hope that he makes it. We know that he did, because the memoir begins with an email he sends to about 20 of his friends the day after 9-11, about his feelings about what happened. The email goes viral, somehow, and then we go back and learn about the rest of his life, including his wonderful childhood in Afghanistan. One of the fascinating parts of the book is how the three children are affected by their journey to the West. Rebecca, the oldest, is a pediatrician, the most westernized. Tamim is the most ambivalent about his two countries. And Aziz, who has no memory of Afghanistan at all, becomes an Islamist. Their father is murdered by the Taliban; their mother stays in the US. A very affecting memoir.Ansary is an Afghan American, with an Afghan father and an American mother. The Afghan government sends his father to the US to study, expecting him to return to use his Western skills for the benefit of his country. They don't expect him to marry…
How to Survive A PlagueHow to Survive A Plague, BookThe Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
by France, DavidBook - 2016Book, 2016
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Sep 06, 2019
Comment:
David France was a gay journalist who made a career of documenting the plague of HIV and AIDS, especially in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s. He stresses how the plague affected those most affected by AIDS, especially as the death tolls rose past 100,000 just in the city itself, where Mayor Ed Koch did his best to keep resources from those affected. As time went on, organizations arose to help themselves--since nobody else was going to help them--began out of sheer fear and desperation, and then to fight among themselves. The scientists, especially in the drug companies, worked hard behind closed doors to develop drugs that would "cure" AIDS, or at least add weeks to the lifespan of its victims. PWA, or People With Aids, as one brave man who ended up dying of the disease phrased it, worked equally hard to have input into the process. It did, after all, affect their lives. When, a dozen years into the epidemic, the drug companies let PWA into the scientific process, progress began to be made. Yet, the survivors, many of them, couldn't celebrate. They'd lost too many friends and lovers; many suffered PTSD from what they'd been through; others sunk into drug addiction; suicide claimed others. France was lucky; he found friendship in the family of a man who he had nursed through his gruesome death. And he found, in the end, love that made it all worthwhile. I withheld 1/2 a star because there were so incredibly many characters that it was very hard to keep track of them all, and so many potential treatments discussed that it was hard to keep track of them too. The book helped me understand the single AIDS patient I helped care for as a hospice employee, and his AIDS blindness and AIDS dementia. Anyone who wants to understand, in the particular or the general, what the AIDS plague was about, must read this book. Long, but well worth the effort.David France was a gay journalist who made a career of documenting the plague of HIV and AIDS, especially in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s. He stresses how the plague affected those most affected by AIDS, especially as the death tolls rose past…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 30, 2019
Comment:
I've never read a historical fantasy before. This one takes place in 1491, the year Ferdinand and Isabel take over the last Muslim territory in the Iberian Peninsula. Fatima, 16, is the favorite concubine (part of the fantasy) to the elderly sultan of the Alhambra. For several years, they've been under siege by the Spanish forces. The only one who's getting enough to eat is Fatima, because, well, she's the sultan's favorite concubine. Her best friend is Hassan, the royal mapmaker, who has a secret. I'm not giving much away about his secret, because it's mentioned on pg. 1. He can make maps of places he's never been, or seen, and thus change reality. He doesn't talk about it much, which is a good thing when the Spanish invade the castle, and somehow make their way to Hassan's workroom. Suddenly there's a trapdoor in the floor, through which Fatima and Hassan escape to a dusty tunnel and out toward the coast. Hassan has a map of the Bird King's island, and that's where they're headed. Unfortunately for them, the Inquisitor Luz has seen the map too, and follows them. What comes before the escape is a bit slow. What follows is high adventure, fast paced, full of fantasy and wonders. And pain and sorrows. Terrible decisions must be made, and are. This is a lovely book. Apparently it's not at all like her first novel, "Alf the Unseen," nor any of her graphic novels. But she's a powerful writer, and I highly recommend this one.I've never read a historical fantasy before. This one takes place in 1491, the year Ferdinand and Isabel take over the last Muslim territory in the Iberian Peninsula. Fatima, 16, is the favorite concubine (part of the fantasy) to the elderly sultan…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 21, 2019
Comment:
This is the last and least of the three books in this trilogy. The characters are mostly well rounded. It's the plot that's not up to snuff. Morrie and his new wife Grace return to Butte from a very long and happy honeymoon. Again, neither of their trunks arrives. He's handed a legal paper, a bequest. It turns the home of his former boss, Sandy, owner of the city library, over to Morrie and Grace--along with Sandy, who will continue to live there. Morrie and Grace will be responsible for upkeep. That means, of course, that he will still need a job. Grace still owns her boarding house, and since she's aware of how money can slip through Morrie's fingers, she's going to hang on to it and continue to take in boarders. Hoop and Griff, the retired miners who've grown to look alike, will stay with her, paying her their rent. But the retired miners spend most of their time at the "manse," taking care of the creaking stairs and plumbing problems that have developed over the three years since Sandy's wife died. Another thread of plot is what Morrie finds as a new job. The union is forming a newspaper to counter the pro-Anaconda mine newspaper. His job is as the editorial writer, and he loves it. There's even a spot for Famine, the skinny orphan, who's now in Rab's class for juvenile delinquents. Given his size, he gets beat up on a lot, even though Morrie tries to teach him to box. Jared's in the state legislature, and Famine lives with the two of them. Sandy spends most of his days at the Public Library. Eventually, the mining company rag seems to be winning over that of the union, and Morrie comes to believe that somebody's leaking his editorials. Sad as it makes him, he thinks it's Famine. One morning he follows the boy; sure enough it's him. The boy sees him in a window reflection, gets frightened, and takes off running. Morrie knows where he's headed. The boy is very fast, and Morrie is afraid he knows what Famine will do. He's right. He finds the boy at the top of the now-closed mine where his father and uncle both died. The climax of the book is whether or not Morrie can talk the boy out of his avowed intent to jump into the mine.This is the last and least of the three books in this trilogy. The characters are mostly well rounded. It's the plot that's not up to snuff. Morrie and his new wife Grace return to Butte from a very long and happy honeymoon. Again, neither of…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 21, 2019
Comment:
10 years after "The Whistling Season," Morrie Morgan left the prairies of Western Montana in a hurry so his wife Rose could marry, he returns to the Treasure State in 1919, this time to Butte, the copper mining capital of the world. Somewhere along the way, his trunk has been lost, and all he has to his name is his valise. It's not full of money, so he needs a cheap place to stay until he can find a job. Lucky for him, he finds a boarding house run by Grace Faraday, a young widow who'd lost her husband to a mining accident. The other two occupants are Griff and Hoop, two elderly retired miners who look alike. Now all he needs is a job. His first attempt is as a "cryer" as a funeral home. He's a failure at wailing at Irish wakes, though he has a good singing voice. He's not about to become a miner. He finds a job at the city library, where he gets along, some of the time, with Sandy, a great reader, who can't budget worth anything. Morrie finds a familiar character in Rabrab, who had been a student in his class on the prairies. He has to clue her in not to refer to those days. She's now a teacher herself, and a good one. Butte is torn apart between the miners and the anti-miners, and even the miners are divided by nation of origin. A bit of a rolicking story, when it's not being tragic. The title refers to the union trying to devise a union song that will compete with the song the newspaper put out by the Anaconda Mines uses to oppose the union. The source of the Work Song is a bit surprising, but interesting.10 years after "The Whistling Season," Morrie Morgan left the prairies of Western Montana in a hurry so his wife Rose could marry, he returns to the Treasure State in 1919, this time to Butte, the copper mining capital of the world. Somewhere along…
Out HereOut Here, BookPoems and Images From Steens Mountain Country
by Le Guin, Ursula K.Book - 2010Book, 2010
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 14, 2019
Comment:
A stunningly beautiful, if too brief, book with color photographs by Roger Dorband and poetry and line drawings by Ursula K. LeGuin, the same pair who brought an earlier book "The Blue Moon on Thurman Street." Dorband's photographs there were in b & w, here the photographs are in absolutely vivid color. The subject is also very different. Instead of being about an urban street in Portland, OR, this one is about the high desert country of Steen Mountain in southeast Oregon, between 5,000 feet and 10,000 feet. The descriptions are mostly in her poems, including a long, descriptive, almost mystic poem about the interior of Malheur Cave. This cave includes a "lake" which she traverses by kayak. The only photographs of the cave are of the entrance, one from the outside, and one from the inside. The variety of the photographs is incredible, from two white egrets facing the same direction in a very blue pond, the sky the same shade, among very green reeds. Not what we usually think of as desert. One of her poems describes an old woman in a whirlwind, and how she reacts as it passes overhead. Lichens of many colors on rocks make wonderful photos as well. Very few people, except the last one in which two cowboys herd a flock of cattle down a winding road. This is a wonderful coffee table book, but with the poems, it's wonderful reading as well.A stunningly beautiful, if too brief, book with color photographs by Roger Dorband and poetry and line drawings by Ursula K. LeGuin, the same pair who brought an earlier book "The Blue Moon on Thurman Street." Dorband's photographs there were in b…
The Summer Before the WarThe Summer Before the War, BookA Novel
by Simonson, HelenBook - 2016Book, 2016
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 14, 2019
Comment:
I didn't find this historical novel of the same caliber as "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand." WW I soon breaks breaks out, making a mockery of the title. Many of the characters are also made mockery of as well. Some are tedious, smarmy, or too good to be true. A few are very well drawn, like the Gypsy boy "Snout," enthusiastic about Latin, but who comes to believe, with the residents of Rye, England, that his background will force him to follow the life of his illiterate blacksmith father. Beatrice, who lost her father a year before, is the naive young heroine. She comes to Rye to teach her beloved Latin in the local school, with great hopes for training scholars. She's unaware that her late father put his fortune in trust for her, leaving her only 10 pounds per week to live on. The poor local solicitor overseeing her money proposes, saying that will solve both their problems. Beatrice may be naive, but she's independent and learns fast, turning down him and all other such propositions. Hugh, to whom Beatrice is attracted, is all but engaged, as a condition of inheriting the surgical practice of his mentor, is not the only young man she meets who is all but forced into the Army when war breaks out. The town's women, who logically want to be involved in the War effort, sign on to help Belgian refugees, then fight over who get the "good ones," and who has to take the leftovers. While the petty infighting doesn't stop here, when the scene shifts to France where the men of the community meet each other, the quality of the writing and the pace of the book pick up for me. Who ends up marrying whom isn't a surprise, and the impact of the war isn't either. The ending is more satisfying than the beginning implies.I didn't find this historical novel of the same caliber as "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand." WW I soon breaks breaks out, making a mockery of the title. Many of the characters are also made mockery of as well. Some are tedious, smarmy, or too good to…
Blue Moon Over Thurman StreetBlue Moon Over Thurman Street, Book
by Le Guin, Ursula K.Book - 1993Book, 1993
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 10, 2019
Comment:
This very sweet book, unlike any other LeGuin I've ever read, tells the story of a single street in Portland, OR. She and her family lived on Thurman St. for more than 30 years. At first she was a young mother of toddlers, so she experienced the street through the walks she took with them, as well as the errands she took. The street runs parallel to the Willamette River, through multiple neighborhoods but not downtown or in sight of high rises. There are many kinds of residential neighborhoods, buildings which went through many phases during her years of walking past them, and industrial areas, mostly light industry. At the upper end is the largest city park in the US. It's not at all like Central Park in NYC, or Lincoln or Volunteer Park in Seattle, but most like Seattle's Schmitz Park, a wilderness with ravines, creeks, and some old growth forest. While Dorland, the photographer, was most intrigued by buildings at first, LeGuin was always most interested in people, and their relationship to the buildings. She usually carried her b & w camera too, and they ended up taking mostly pictures with people in them, even when a focus was on the buildings and the changes they went through. Do not miss the notes at the end, which she doesn't mention in her introduction. They're very important in explaining why a particular photograph was important enough to make it into the book.This very sweet book, unlike any other LeGuin I've ever read, tells the story of a single street in Portland, OR. She and her family lived on Thurman St. for more than 30 years. At first she was a young mother of toddlers, so she experienced the…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 09, 2019
Baghdad Without A Map, and Other Misadventures in ArabiaBaghdad Without A Map, and Other Misadventures in Arabia, Book
by Horwitz, TonyBook - 1992Book, 1992
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 07, 2019
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The late Tony Horwitz was a winsome, infinitely curious, writer with many interests. This book reads like a series of travel essays from the early part of his newspaper career. His interest in the Middle East, broadly defined, went back to the beginning of his career. At that stage, he wasn't yet attached to just one newspaper, but was a "stringer." This meant newspapers would agree to take articles he wrote, advance him just enough in expenses to get him to whatever place the action seemed to currently be going on, in hopes that he'd be able to write an article they'd later deem worthy of printing. Sometimes being a stringer panned out, sometimes not. Even if it didn't, this book appears to be strung together from many of his articles, whether they were published in newspapers or magazines or not. The places and wars he covers here are from the 1990s for the most part, yet they're as fresh and timely as today's news. Horwitz was in his 20s to about 40 when he wrote these, and many of them are incredibly witty, as well as terrifying. Going ashore on the coast of Lebanon in a small boat while being shot at from shore is as terrifying as not being able to get visas because he's so obviously Jewish. Yet he makes these incidents as light hearted as he can. And as revealing. Taking the plane into Iran for Khomeini's funeral, the announcement comes saying women must now cover. His wife, the novelist Geraldine Brooks, pulls out her chador. He goes to the restroom, and when he returns, he can't find her. Likewise, at the funeral itself, they get separated, and he can't find her among the millions of chador-clad women. She finds him, however, as he's one of only a few blond men there. Even though life has changed in the years since he wrote this book, it is still a useful primer. And each country is different. What holds them together is the degree of corruption in almost all. And the fear of the citizens in almost all. Getting a visa to leave is almost impossible for those who wish to leave most countries.The late Tony Horwitz was a winsome, infinitely curious, writer with many interests. This book reads like a series of travel essays from the early part of his newspaper career. His interest in the Middle East, broadly defined, went back to the…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Aug 07, 2019
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This historical novel from 17th c Japan is the first in a mystery series. The writer has certainly done her research, and is a good writer. I felt like I was in Edo now Tokyo. Sano Ichiro had happily been a philosopher and historian, only son of an impoverished samurai. When his ailing father finds a position for him in the state bureaucracy, Sano has no choice but obedience. His first case seems at first very clear cut. A couple is found drowned in the river, tied together, in "Shinju," or ritual mutual suicide. Since the woman is upper class, and the man a peasant, they could not possibly marry. Sano's boss wants him to declare the case solved without any investigation, but his curiosity forces him to look deeper. Sano nearly gets himself murdered for his pains, but he manages to prove his case. He even gets himself a promotion to personal investigator to the Shogun. The investigation is beautifully detailed, down to how people of the time and place lived depending on class--how they ate, drank, what they were allowed to wear. Fascinating beginning to a series.This historical novel from 17th c Japan is the first in a mystery series. The writer has certainly done her research, and is a good writer. I felt like I was in Edo now Tokyo. Sano Ichiro had happily been a philosopher and historian, only son of…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Jul 30, 2019
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This wonderful, wide ranging book tells the story of the Vikings from what others say about them, from what their sagas say hundreds of years after the fact, and from archaeology. To some degree it's redundant, in that the Vikings operated a bit the same in one place and another. Yet one of the fascinating things is how much they were able to assimilate to their new surroundings. Or, put another way, control the new peoples they found. Or the empty new places they found, like Iceland. Very clear that Oliver's been fascinated by the Vikings since he was a kid. I do wish he'd been able to find cover art that didn't have a horned helmet, since no archeology find included that--I suspect Wagner invented that myth. Interesting to me that the image that sticks in Oliver's mind is of a little Rus (in what's now Russia) girl in a red dress. A good read. Not a quick or easy read, and I appreciated the list of people, and the chronology.This wonderful, wide ranging book tells the story of the Vikings from what others say about them, from what their sagas say hundreds of years after the fact, and from archaeology. To some degree it's redundant, in that the Vikings operated a bit the…
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Jul 30, 2019
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During London's terrifying Blitz, Maisie Dobbs and her best friend, Pris, both nurses since WW I, share an ambulance ferrying the injured to hospitals. One night, they're joined by an American correspondent reporting on the war to her country. They're impressed by her enthusiasm and willingness to dig in and help. Almost before Maisie can get to bed, she's called by MacFarlane, her long-time government contact, who tells her the woman has been murdered in her apartment. He wants her on the case, along with Mark, an American who got Maisie out of Hitler's Munich in 1938. The details of the murder are kept from the press, as Catherine Saxon was the daughter of a ranking senator who wants the US to keep out of the war. Maisie's frustrated, as MacFarlane and Mark seem to be keeping information from her. She's also in a stressful situation personally because of the upcoming adoption hearing for Anna, 5, a refugee who she's come to love. Anna's as safe as anybody can be in England these days, living with Maisie's father and stepmother in the country. Still, they live on the route some bombers take leaving London, and they often drop “leftover” bombs, hoping to do some damage. One of these falls in Anna's school grounds, but doesn't explode. The children think this is exciting, but it's very dangerous until the authorities can defuse it. When finally Maisie learns who killed Saxon, and why, Mark can tell her why he's been involved. Some Americans, like Miss Saxon's father, want to keep the US out of the war. Further, some, even at the highest level, are pro Nazi. It was part of Mark's job to keep an eye on one of those in the American Embassy in London.During London's terrifying Blitz, Maisie Dobbs and her best friend, Pris, both nurses since WW I, share an ambulance ferrying the injured to hospitals. One night, they're joined by an American correspondent reporting on the war to her country. …
This House of SkyThis House of Sky, BookLandscapes of A Western Mind
by Doig, IvanBook - 1992Book, 1992
DorisWaggoner's rating:
Added Jul 24, 2019
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Doig's mother Bernetta dies on his sixth birthday, so his memories of her are minimal. He remembers his father waking him up to tell him between sobs that she died so fast from her severe asthma that he couldn't come get Ivan in time to say goodbye to her. Charlie Doig and his son form a deep, strong bond. They mostly live alone as hired hands on isolated ranches herding sheep or cattle. Bernetta's mother, Bessie, disapproved of Charlie for marrying her daughter, given her feeble health and his inability to keep a good job for long. Besides, Charlie has a temper to match Bessie's. After a six year courtship, the couple married, and were totally happy together, avoiding living near Bessie. Charlie remarries; making Ivan unhappy caught between them. It takes 3 years before the two stubborn people admit to their mistake and divorce. In the meantime, in order for Ivan to go to school, he often boards in town during the week with his father's best friend, or others. Sometimes Montana winter weather keeps him apart from his father for weeks on end. When Ivan's 11, Bessie moves to town to keep house for herself and Ivan, and and Charlie on the weekends when he can find help on the ranch. Ivan and his grandmother learn to love each other. Charlie and Bessie are another story, though when Ivan is an adult, he begins to realize that the two have grown into a love of some kind, dependent on each other. They need Montana and Ivan. When Ivan grows up, marries, and moves to Seattle, for a time the older couple need to come to live with him and his wife and children. They love the family togetherness, but miss their home in Montana and the ties they have through their memories of Bernetta. A strong, affecting story. I rated it down because part of the story's missing--Bernetta and Charlie's story. That is told in a "prequel" that can only come when Ivan inherits letters his mother wrote to her favorite brother during WW II. I also got confused sometimes with the chronology in this story. But it's still a wonderful book, and he makes more sense of it for me in the introduction to the second edition, written a decade and a half after the first edition.Doig's mother Bernetta dies on his sixth birthday, so his memories of her are minimal. He remembers his father waking him up to tell him between sobs that she died so fast from her severe asthma that he couldn't come get Ivan in time to say…
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