I had heard much about Bel Canto in the last few years and how it was a must read. It was not a book that I would have normally picked out as a must read for me, but it is included on my 2 book club reading lists this year and I will be hearing Ann Patchett lecture in November, so its time has come!
Katsumi Hosokawa has traveled from Japan to an unnamed South or Latin American country where his birthday will be celebrated at the home of the Vice President. He is being wooed by the country so that he will build a factory in the country, but he has come on the occasion of his birthday to hear Roxanne Coss, an operatic diva with whom he has been enamored. He is an operatic aficionado and the evening will be made special with her performance. However, immediately after her performance, the lights go out and the house is stormed by terrorists. The guests, including Hosokawa, Coss and the Vice-President are taken hostage by three generals and accompanying soldiers, most of whom are teens.
Throughout the course of the siege and novel that spans over four months, the reader sees a transformation in not only the hostages but also the captors. Since we know how the scenario will be played out, our attention is riveted to the changing relationship among the cast of characters. The lives of all are centered around music and the opera. Coss continues practicing, a new accompanist is found, and a prodigy is discovered. Love affairs are initiated even among the least likely of people. It is almost as if life inside the house has come to a sense of normalcy and comfort.
As much as music is a central theme in Bel Canto, so is language. Gen Watanabe, Hosokawa's interpreter, is a pivotal character. Through his translations from Russian to Spanish to Japanese to French, the the secondary characters become able to communicate in another way. Despite his facility with the language, Gen has a very difficult time expressing himself until he works with Carmen, a terrorist, in helping her learn Spanish. Realizing that language is devisive in this situation the characters become dependent upon the Gen's ability to bring them together.
Patchett's strength in Bel Canto is her ability to describe situations, characters, and setting in an almost poetic way. It mirrors the opera in its lyricism and rhythm. The reader sees in the following the metaphor for the captivity.
"The garua, the fog and mist, lifts after the hostages are in captivity for a number of weeks. "One would have thought that with so much rain and so little light the forward march of growth would have been suspended, when in fact everything had thrived"
I had expected to be blown away by this book considering all the press that has been devoted to it and its inclusion on the list of recommended reading for AP English, but I wasn't. Patchett's strength is in her mastery of words. Unfortunately, for me, at least, with the inclusion of the epilogue, she had too many. An interesting premise, to be sure, but not as gripping as I had wished.
In the Garden of Beasts was the October Selection for The Gables book group. Ironically, I had purchased this the day before I got the reading list for the year. I was excited that I was going to read a book that was actually on my "To Be Read" list. Larson has extensively researched (nearly 30 pages of references and citations) the tenure of William Dodd as U.S. ambassador to Germany during the rise of Hitler and Nazism.
This is the first Larson book that I have read and I found the writing to be interesting, engaging, and thought-provoking. William Dodd was a learned professor at the University of Chicago. His interest was southern history and he was in the midst of completing a major treatise on the south when tapped to be the U.S. ambassador. He had studied in Leipzig, was fluent in German, a liberal, and seemed to fit the bill when no one could be found to take the position. He was given two hours by President Roosevelt to accept or refuse the post after it was offered. Upon his acceptance he moved his family: wife Mattie, son Bill and daughter Martha to Berlin. He was an atypical ambassador in that he didn't have a lot of money and he lived and acted frugally. As such he did little to ingratiate himself into the German diplomatic circles and was often the brunt of their jokes.
Maybe naivete is too strong of a word, but Dodd really did not find the situation in Germany as alarming as it looks from the 21st century upon his arrival in Berlin. Despite the fact Jews and American Jews were being attacked and murdered, he seemed powerless to bring the urgency of the situation to Roosevelt or the German government. In reality, he believed as did most Americans that Hitler would lose his power base and fall from the leadership ranks. In the four years that the book covers the reader through Larson watches this belief change to one that reflects the urgency and abomination of the situation. He spoke out vehemently on one occasion, saying, “You cannot expect world opinion of your conduct to moderate so long as eminent leaders like Hitler and Goebbels announce from platforms, as in Nuremberg, that all Jews must be wiped off the earth.”
In the Garden of Beasts chronicles not only William Dodd's life and work, but also that of his daughter, Martha's. In fact, she is almost the focus of the book. Martha was, to say the least, socially motivated and promiscuous. As a literary agent in Chicago, she was a very close friend of Carl Sandburg and Thornton Wilder. Later she added Thomas Wolfe to her conquests. As a resident of Berlin, she was enamored of the Nazi movement and counted a number of them as suitors, including Rudolf Diels, the first head of the Gestapo. But it is with Boris Vinogradov, an NKVD (Russian Secret Police) agent that she continues a prolonged love affair. Could it be that he is interested in her for the access to information that she has? Martha's story is intriguing and disturbing. She returns with her family and without Boris to the U.S. when Dodd resigns his post, but continues her intelligence collecting and eventually flees the country with her husband, Andrew Stern, when they are investigated as moles and communists.
It is easy to see why In the Garden of Beasts rose quickly to the top of the NY Times best seller list. It is nonfiction, but reads like fiction. It gives insight, heretofore unchronicled, into the life of an ambassador in the most troubling time of a century. Larson investigates all the German hierarchy of the Third Reich and the reader can't help but be fascinated by some of their private lives. But more than that it is the life story of a down to earth family man who is trying to do what he can to preserve peace among nations and peoples. Don't miss this one.
I must admit that I am probably the last person on the planet to read Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The premise of a mystery set in Botswana was not anything that really appealed to me. However, it is the October selection for the Mars Public Library's Friday Book Club, and so I picked it up and accepted that I would have to plow through it. After all, isn't that what book clubs are for - to force you out of your reading comfort zone. Well, it wasn't a chore and I freely admit that I truly enjoyed the book.
After the death of her father and as a result of selling his cattle, Mma. Precious Ramotswe takes her inheritance and sets up the first detective agency run by a woman in Botswana. McCall Smith sets the scene through flashbacks and a very detailed narrative by Ramotswe 's father. By these words the reader has all the description necessary to picture the setting of the novels, the physical attributes of the characters, and the culture of the country. After the scene is set we are ready to accompany Ramotswe as she solves mysteries in her home town of Gaborone. She is hired to help find a missing husband, discover what a teen-age girl does after school, uncover insurance fraud, and rescue a young boy from kidnappers. She has a circle of friends on whom she can rely and in whom she can confide, but it's not an easy go for a woman in this field. One of the most memorable scenes finds MMaRamotswe driving down an isolated road when she encounters a cobra. Her tiny white van hits it and it becomes entangled with the motor. She contemplates the best way to rid herself of the snake and hopes that she will live to see her being able to continue on her journey.
Ramotswe is a bit reminiscent of Miss Marple, tho much more rotund. McCall Smith, originally from Zimbabwe and now living in Edinburgh, Scotland, is well steeped in the English mystery. However, what shines through in this novel is his sense of dry English humour. The reader does chuckle at his use of words and the situations in which Ramotswe finds herself. The novel is really a series of vignettes rather than a book in which a central plot is developed. This is the charm of this first book in the series and I would assume the hallmark of the next 12 in the series. The books ends with a twist and an incentive to read the next installment.
I definitely intend to read more of this series, but it is not at the top of the "To Be Read" list. Too many books and so little time.
A former internist, Tess Gerritsen, left the practice of medicine to be able to devote more time to writing and her family. She is most widely known for her medical thrillers, much along the same vein as Robin Cook. The Surgeon is billed as the first in the series of Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles books. She has just released the ninth in the series and has even spawned a television show on TNT featuring her two protagonists.
The Surgeon introduces us to Jane Rizzoli, a Boston policewoman, who is struggling to become accepted by the men in her division. This is a predicament that leaves her bitter and desperate to do anything to gain credibility. Maura Isles, a forensic examiner, never does appear in this book. However, having watched the second season of the TNT show, I gather she will be in future books, the antithesis of Rizzoli with whom she forms a bond and friendship.
Gerritsen has written a good solid story that could be a real page turner. I read this book at night over the course of a month on my Kindle app on my iPhone so, although it could be a quick read, it was more prolonged for me. A serial killer is on the loose in Boston. His prey are women who are vulnerable and who have suffered rape or an abusive act. He stealthily enters their homes at night, tortures them and surgically removes that which makes them a woman. For a reason that cannot be divulged in a review/recap of the novel, he is honing in on Dr. Catherine Cordell, a transplanted Atlanta doctor. Gerritsen does an excellent job of building suspense and tension as she relates how the killer stalks Cordell. It is up to Rizzoli, who puts her job on the line, and her immediate superior, Detective Thomas More, dubbed Saint Thomas, to intercede before the surgeon accomplishes his goal.
Gerritsen employs an interesting and effective writing technique as she prefaces chapters with the musings of The Surgeon. The reader is able to get into his mind, although for a long time we didn't know who he was. His thoughts are often related to classical myths and give very subtle clues as to his behaviour. This was a good read that instills enough interest in the characters to pick up additional books in the series. I will be anxious to read the next and, hopefully and finally, meet Maura Isles.
The first woman to hold the office of Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, has written, with Bob Woodward, a comprehensive and detailed personal account of her life and public service in Madam Secretary. The memoir is accessible, very readable, and thought provoking. I knew very little about Madeleine Albright before reading this book except for the facts that she was a Czech, graduate of Wellesley College, and Secretary of State. The Flower Library Book Club chose this as their first book of the year and my new book club at The Gables requested that the members read a biography of choice. And so it was that I picked up Madam Secretary.
Born in Prague in 1937, Albright was the daughter of Josef and Anna Korbel. Her father was a diplomat and supporter of democratic Czechs who with his family was forced to leave his native land during World War II and live in England. After the war and the liberation, the family returned to Czechoslovakia and Madeleine was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. In 1949 the family was granted political asylum and moved to Long Island. Eventually Josef Korbel moved to Denver and began teaching at the University of Colorado. He was well-known for his treatises on Communism in Eastern Europe and actually had another Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as a student. Albright graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 and immediately married Joe Albright, a well- connected journalist from Chicago. After a series of moves the couple settled in Washington where Joe became Newsday's Washington Bureau Chief and Madeleine continued to balance raising her family (3 daughters) and continuing her education - PH.D degree from Columbia University. She was married to Joe Albright for twenty-three years before he decided that it wasn't working for him.
Suffice it to say that no moss grew under Albright's feet. She is incredibly intelligent, driven, and committed to making the world a better place. Madam Secretary relates Albright's journey from a legislative assistant to Ed Muskie to the end of President Clinton's second term. She not only details the behind the scenes machinations of international diplomacy, but she also brings a personal side to the strategies involved. During her tenure as Ambassador to the U.N. and then as Secretary of State, global conflicts erupted with a vengeance. At times I felt that Albright was playing the arcade game of "Whack a Mole" as she tried to handle situations from Somalia to Bosnia to Iran, to Korea. Although the book at sometimes got bogged down in names and policy making, it served to illuminate all that is involved in trying to get nations to talk to one another instead of acting like kindergartners fighting over a cookie. Her description of an Israeli-Palestinian summit at Camp David was indicative of all that she was willing to do to affect a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Perhaps her greatest efforts were in the area of Kosovo, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Her dealings with Milošević were tough and unrelenting. This was an area of the world that meant so much to her and she was determined to make it safe for all people regardless of their ethnic or religious background. She likens her diplomacy to Bobby Fischer playing chess as a child prodigy when he would go from table to table and make his moves against opponents. Albright remarks, "I was no child prodigy and the faces I saw as I proceeded from one table to the next were those of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Quadhafi, Fidel Castro, and Ayatollah Khamenei. The games were complicated because a change in the momentum of one altered the dynamic of every other; our moves were decided by committee and leaked in advance by those who disagreed; new and contradictory strategies were being shouted out by a chorus from Capitol Hill, and the chessboard for the Middle East keep tipping over, requiring the contest to begin again. The game room was already crowded to overflowing early in 1998 when yet another familiar adversary—Slobodan Milosević—came crashing through the door." (p. 481.)
I was particularly interested in the personal side to all the strategies and inner workings of her office. She exuded confidence, but still had doubts as to how well suited she was for her job. She knew that she was a "skirt among 14 suits" but at the same time knew that her education had prepared her to be on an equal plane. She stressed over throwing the first ball out at a Nationals game, but did just fine. She was not afraid to accompany bodies back from Somalia, sleeping on a cot in the cargo bay. I am so impressed of all that she has accomplished and the means by which she influenced decisions and got HER point across. At the same time I empathize with her about her self-doubts, illustrated by the possibility of her marriage being salvaged if she had not pursued her career or if Joe had won the Pulitzer Prize. What kind of an ultimatum is that?
With a complete chronology of the major events in her life, an exhaustive list of her travels as Secretary of State and acknowledgments and index, Madam Secretary is an informative and inspiring read. I am looking forward to hearing her speak when she lectures in Pittsburgh in December.
I really enjoyed 13 Little Blue Envelopes and was excited to learn that Maureen Johnson had written a sequel. This was a fast and equally enjoyable read. At the end of the previous novel, Ginny Blackstone's backpack was stolen and with it the last little blue envelope in it. As The Last Little Blue Envelope opens, Ginny is struggling with writing the college admission essay that asks what is the turning point in your life. Of course it was the trip to England to follow her Aunt Peg's instructions. Then everything changes and she is contacted by Oliver, a mysterious young man, who has come into possession of the last little blue envelope. And so another adventure ensues.
Ginny contacts her Uncle Richard, OKs it with her parents, and takes off to find out Peg's last instructions. Although this adventure is not nearly as extensive as the last journey, there is still the excitement, twists, and a satisfying resolution. In addition to Oliver, Ginny's friend Keith and his new girlfriend, Ellis join her on a journey to Paris, Belgium, Amsterdam, and eventually Ireland. The foursome must try to evade the police, while finding themselves in the midst of a very strange hostel overrun by cats. The tension between Keith and Ginny heightens as the book progresses. Ellis is a very likable character who is a real friend to Ginny.
Although the book could stand on its own, the reader will enjoy it much more if she has read Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes. It is a great story and Johnson's attention to details of international travel is spot on. Dublin on New Year's Eve was enough for one to start packing a suitcase and boarding that plane to cross the pond- Guiness at Temple Bar, crossing the River Liffey, and the bells of Christchurch. Maybe that should be put on my bucket list. A good and satisfying read.
Jennifer Donnelly weaves a story with the best of authors. I have been waiting for the third part of the trilogy since June, 2008 when I finished The Winter Rose. Can I just say that it was so worth the wait?
The novel opens in 1914 with England and Europe on the verge of World War II and in the throes of the suffragette movement, economic distress, and espionage. The reader is reacquainted with Fiona and Joe Bristow and their children, Seamus Finnegan, Maud and India Selwyn Jones, Willa Alden, and Max van Brandt and the story ensues. Fiona and Joe have a feisty daughter, Kate, who carries on the family fight for rights and political equity. Seamus has returned from the expedition to the South Pole and Willa is attempting her climb of Mt. Everest. Their paths all cross and are intertwined in complex relationships and twists. It is very hard to relate or summarize such a novel because of the turns that the plot takes from beginning to end. Suffice it to say that the reader remains engaged, enthralled and on the edge of her seat as it progresses.
Donnelly is a master of setting her novels and characters in the midst of historical events. The Wild Rose is not an exception. Not only do we encounter the likes of Henry Asquith, liberal Prime Minister of England, Ernest Shackelton, Winston Churchill, and Lawrence of Arabia, but we are thrust into the dark days of the Spanish Flu epidemic and the bawdy days of Parisian bohemian life. I was glad that a good friend had made me watch Lawrence of Arabia. It made the scenes in the book much easier to comprehend. This volume of the trilogy centers around Seamus Finnegan, the third of the Finnegan children and his true love, Willa. At the end of The Winter Rose we are left with Seamie leaving Willa at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Willa heading for Mt. Everest. Of all the trilogy's characters, these two are the least likeable and one finds oneself wanting to shake them and awake them to the realities of life. Yes, Willa has lost a leg, but her whiny self deprecation and piteousness are way over the top. On the other hand, she has an incredible sense of adventure and, at least for some of the novel, a real desire to live life to its fullest. Seamie needs to understand that love is for life and women are not trophies to collect and count.
Not only does Donnelly craft characters, but she is a master of mood and setting. As the reader follows the action from Westminster to Wapping, from Cairo to Damascus, or from Nepal to Paris, the sounds, sights and even aromas spring to life. You know that the author has experienced the places about which she writes and that she can convey those pictures in an extremely graphic manner.
In the end, which by the way is a stellar shock and has a jaw-dropping effect, the book is the epitome of highly crafted writing and research. I reiterate: I aspire to be Jennifer Donnelly's research assistant. She addresses age-old problems of drug abuse, the mental effects of war, and the political machinations of those who aspire to leadership. I do hope that the characters will reappear, possible in a new series with Kate Bristow as the protagonist. I want to know more about her and her new-found career. But, for the moment, I will basque in the pleasure of having just read another marvelous tome by Jennifer Donnelly.
The move has been completed and most of the boxes have been unpacked and so it was a treat to sit down with a book and forget about the real world for a minute or two. I began reading Revolution during one of the car rides back and forth from Watertown to Mars. Jennifer Donnelly is one of my favorite authors with whom I have been acquainted since she was a guest at Sackets Harbor School. She is a North Country native and garnished awards and praise for her YA book, A Northern Light, an historical novel set in the Adirondack Mountains and based on a true story of murder and cover-up. Revolution is also historical fiction that is a bit edgier and is also grounded in the present.
Andi Alpers is a senior in high school and is on the verge of not graduating. She is suffers from depression and a tremendous guilt over the death of her ten year old brother, Truman. She lives with her mother who has had a nervous breakdown over this event and the divorce from Andi's father. Music has been the constant in Andi's life. She composes, takes lessons and has a most interesting play list on her iPod. She remarks, "…music lives. Forever. …it’s stronger than death. Stronger than time. And its strength holds you together when nothing else can.” And "boys let you down, music never does." Andi's father finds out the academic trouble she is in and intervenes. He has her mother committed to an institution and whisks Andi away to Paris with him where he is working on an genetic project and where, under his scrutiny, Andi will work on her senior thesis - a paper on how the French musician Amade Malherbeau has influenced musicians up to the present day.
Upon her arrival in Paris, Andi discovers the diary of Alexandre, a street performer who lived during the French Revolution. Through the pages of the diary, Andi begins an adventure of self-discovery as she reads of Alex's struggle in helping to protect the young dauphin, Louis-Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. Further adding to this connection is the project on which Andi's father is working - DNA analysis of a heart that is believed to be that of Louis-Charles. Numerous persons have claimed to be the tortured child who actually escaped the prison in which he was held. The novel is multi-layered and circular. It is divided into parts that mirror Dante's Divine Comedy. Andi's guide in Paris is a cab driver/musician whose name is Virgil, just as the guide was through the circles of Hell.
Andi is determined to leave Paris as soon as possible, but she must finish an outline and intro to her thesis before her father will allow her. She works toward a deadline by researching Malherbeau, his works, and his life. He is inextricably tied to Alex and the Revolution. The reader travels with Andi to libraries, historic homes, and the mysterious catacombs. It is there that the truth becomes clearer to her, but where, also, the reader must suspend a grasp on reality. Andi's epiphany - "Life’s all about the revolution, isn’t it? The one inside, I mean. You can’t change history. You can’t change the world. All you can ever change is yourself."
Andi was a tough character to like at first, but she grew on me and I began to empathize with her plight. Alexandre was a feisty young woman who knew what she wanted in life, but rather than pursue that dream, put it on hold to protect the person whom she loved and who depended upon her for his life. I wanted to know more about her and the situation into which she was thrown.
Jennifer Donnelly is an AMAZING writer. Her books are meticulously researched and written. ( I joked with her once that I would gladly be a research assistant for her.) Having just returned from Paris in April, I was immediately transported back there with Andi. I have walked through the catacombs and with Donnelly's descriptions I know readers will also have that same experience vicariously. In Revolution Jennifer Donnelly proves once again that her mastery of storytelling, research, and the writing craft combine to make one fantastic read.
I don't think that I have ever taken so long to read a book in my life. I actually started this book back in October, 2010. It wasn't that Fall of Giants wasn't good, it was life got in the way. Classes, book club books, and the Anglican Adventure trip were bumps in the road to finishing it. In fact, it really was just the opposite. The book was incredibly interesting and enjoyable. Follett has woven a story that just begins in this first installment of The Century Trilogy.
The novel opens in Wales in 1911 when the 13 year-old Billy Williams makes his first trip down into the coal mines. After a near brush with death, he asserts his leadership and becomes a force with which to be reckoned. Billy's sister, Ethel is a maid in the household of the Fitzherberts, a wealthy earl whose home is a mansion compared to the humble abode of the miners. She is a conscientious worker and moves up the ladder to become a head of the household staff. She also becomes the lover of the earl and when becoming pregnant is sent from the estate with hush money.
Intertwined with these characters are Russian peasant brothers, a Russian princess, a son of a U.S. Senator, Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, and diplomats from Germany. It is so very helpful that the author includes six pages of a listing of all the characters. The scene of actions is as diverse moving from Wales to Russia, London, and Buffalo. It is enlivened with descriptions and the actions of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Although Follett may take some liberty with historical accuracy, the book is so very informative and educational. I have never studied the Russian Revolution in such depth.
Concomitant with the war story is the crusade for women's suffrage in the U.K. The political activists present cogent arguments for the expansion of the franchise and the equalization of wages for women workers. In The Fall of Giants the theme of liberal activism and furthering the rights of all people is most evident. One needs to be broadminded and not provincial, forward thinking, and not beholden to the status quo.
To relate completely all the actions and intricacies of the plot would take more time and space than the 850 pages of the novel. With the end of the wars, the peace negotiations and signing of the Versailles treaty, the novel ends in 1924, leaving the reader anxious to have the second part the trilogy at hand. The characters have changed and are at pivotal places in their lives. It doesn't seem fair that we need to wait another year for the continuation of the story. A grand novel with some flaws, yes, but so intriguing and captivating.
Described by some as a noir novel, The Reserve is a relatively short read that takes place on the eve of World War II in the Adirondacks of New York State. It is part romance, part historical, and part murder mystery. Told in present (1936) and flash forwards, Banks relates a tale of intrigue and relationships.The novel opens as Vanessa Cole, a beautiful socialite and daughter of Dr. Carter Cole witnesses a sea plane landing on a lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. The pilot, Jordan Groves, is also an artist and is escorted to the doctor's home, "The Reserve," where he examines some works of art. The sensual tension between Vanessa and Jordan is felt immediately although the artist is happily married to Alicia Groves and the father of two sons. One of Cole's servants is Hubert St. Germain, an Adirondack guide, who must work for some of the wealthy who live in the area in order to make ends meet.Almost immediately in the course of the story a tragedy occurs at The Reserve that has implications for all four of the major characters. Each is affected differently, but in a way that has implications for each of the other protagonists. Groves, based on the artist Rockwell Kent who lived in Ausable, NY, is the pivotal person. His relationship to Vanessa and his wife turns on the task that he is asked to perform. St. Germain witnesses an event that causes him to reflect on his moral fortitude. The novel is also a study in the contrast of classes. Groves is a very left-thinking artist who must rely on the patronage of that wealthy class for his support. He needs to sell paintings to live and it is the wealthy who can afford to buy them. This dichotomy is also illustrated by the plight of Hubert. Another tragedy throws three of the characters into a climax that is as dark as almost any novel can set forth in its pages.Interspersed between the present day action are chapters printed in italics. In these chapters one gets a glimpse of the Spanish Civil War and a fighter pilot and also a beautiful socialite on a flight of the Hindenburg. For two of the characters, the strife in their life did not end on The Reserve.From a literary standpoint, The Reserve would not be considered award-worthy. However, it was an entertaining read and kept the reader's interest. There were enough twists and surprises that created an entertaining page-turner and would inspire one to read more of Russell Banks.
I had heard much about Bel Canto in the last few years and how it was a must read. It was not a book that I would have normally picked out as a must read for me, but it is included on my 2 book club reading lists this year and I will be hearing Ann Patchett lecture in November, so its time has come!
