The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
This is History ... (1/8/2023)
This is history as it should be taught in schools. Taking the dry bones of what we know happened and flushing out into full color had me all in. Reading about the humans behind the most important figures in turning a world war, with their preferences, egos, and courage brought to the forefront how decisions on a global level are not made instantly, or without argument and misunderstanding. While sometimes the writing was a bit flippant, it will certainly speak to new generations of leaders in a language they understand now - not from 80 years ago. It was easy to take the past and find so many instances where the world is now repeating the mistakes it made and that now, as ever, women and children bear the brunt of war.
This is deep, read it slow or you will missing something read. I wrote in the margins, underlined new insights and was constantly voicing exclamations at the audacity and often selfish reasons for why things happened the way they did. But also came away with a deep sense of respect for those leaders who, in spite of the hard road and the many blocks to successful communication and the risks in doing so, managed to sit down and work out the best path forward. Even the more minor characters in the war were given their time - both the good and the bad players. Their individual gamesmanship was highlighted well without romanticizing anything. I wished for more photos, though.
Morningside Heights: A Novel
by Joshua Henkin
Angst (4/16/2021)
Morningside Heights takes yet another look at a fractured family who cannot seem to make good decisions to save their lives. A typical young woman goes to college and leaves when she marries a man who is utterly self-involved then spends years being gaslighted. I failed to empathize as each character lived being conflicted ... with themselves and just never really learned. The highlight was watching the growth of the children and the way they eventually come to understand each other in spite of the circumstances. There is hope for their future families.
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
by Erik Larson
3D Snapshot (1/18/2020)
Simply put, The Splendid and the Vile brings Churchill to life in a way only those who surrounded him could have shown. Exposed to characters whose very human experience of him and the circumstances of that period in time took his biographical information and put in into 3D. I would love to see this made into a movie.
Erik Larson always delves into periods and events at a molecular level and he never fails to disappoint. Looking back at a time when information was not instant, it is fascinating to see world leaders and those who carried out the good and ugly tasks take calculated guesses at next steps almost blindly - and then go home and worry about their children. A look into the lives of those most loved by him and those who stood behind him reminded me that leaders do not stand, nor are they successful, in a vacuum.
I especially enjoyed the marvelous space given to the people of Britain. To stand up to each blow and truly "carry on" takes incredible strength, stubbornness and an extraordinary amount of trust in the leader of the country. Who heads to a dance/dinner in the middle of an air raid ... in a car dressed to the nines? They did.
The words flowed well and Erik drew me in, then let the story take it the rest of the way. Bless him for adding an epilogue.
The Seine: The River that Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino
Unless you are familiar ... (10/2/2019)
I really believe that if The Seine had been written as a coffee table or travel book with pictures on every page or so it would have been more enjoyable. As it was, I was crawling through the French Language, references to luminaries whose names I did not know and text that had almost a stage musical feel to it.
I am not saying at all that Ms. Sciolino's enthusiasm and obvious love of Paris and the river were a problem ... the setting needs to change. I think the right book format and loads of pictures in color will really capture her heart, the City and the River and the joy she is trying to convey.
Then, I'd be willing to give it another try.
Beirut Hellfire Society
by Rawi Hage
Blunt Force (5/15/2019)
My soul has been bludgeoned by the blunt force of a word hammer. Beirut Hellfire Society takes on all that is wrong with religion, gender bias, class, culture, vices, mental health, and more. It's a virtual spewing of ugliness, hate, and madness taken to the point of death over and over. Every time there is hope it gets ground up and spit out in long, rambling sentences resembling the conversation of the drunk on the stool next to you who keeps leaning in with his sad alcohol-sweet breath, sad eyes and soft hands ... and won't stop touching your knee, in a dive bar, at 4am.
There is no grace in the characters and absolutely no point of reference for empathy to smooth the rough pages. Beirut Hellfire Society is depressing in its insane self-righteous attempt to wax philosophical as an excuse for perpetuating never ending hell on a street in war torn Beirut watched by a crazy man in a half empty house and dominated by a cemetery. Not even the dogs survive. I need a shower.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil, Clemantine Wamariya
A Hammer (2/19/2018)
Searing. Unforgiving. Difficult. This story was like a javelin being thrown over and over ... striking the target without pause page after page. There are so many stories about war and its affects on the women and children - each with their own voice. Clementine's is pure righteous anger born out of terror. There was little room for me to react - I could only watch as she unfolded harsh realities and responded with pragmatic resilience without the requisite joy and hope so many others' stories have shared. That is real life. I can only hope that at some point she begins to feel safe and finds peace in the moment through her work.
Eternal Life
by Dara Horn
Left Wanting More (11/22/2017)
Eternal Life is a classic tale of love found, lost, and found. It's environment had good texture and layers of meaning. The theme has been done many times, but this one held a few twists. I think that this book would have gone deeper, if the intent had been to make it longer. I often found myself wishing for more from some of the characters, and while I understand that maybe it was focused in how Rachel could only really lead a life without firm roots, I wanted more. This story would make a powerful movie.
Rise: How a House Built a Family
by Cara Brookins
Slightly Askew (11/7/2016)
I couldn't like this story. Each chapter was a repetitive theme on the last chapter ... dealing with deeply disturbed ex-husbands, a crazy need to be out until all hours building a house, holding down three jobs, raising four children and dealing with men in the building business who were so obviously disrespectful of women over and over ... that it quickly became tiresome. Well, except for the three Hispanic fishermen - they rocked.
That said, I had to admire her stubbornness and complete inability to think logically in the middle of dire situations that she, herself created.
Her writing style is rapid and easy to read and this would make a great Oprah Book Club read.
The Devil in Jerusalem
by Naomi Ragen
When Your Savior Isn't Your Savior (7/13/2015)
This was a worst case scenario of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire - over and over again. It's incredibly hard to watch a smart, talented, loving woman get mowed down by countless bad decisions and by the men who manage to create hell on earth.
On the other hand, it was an interesting glimpse into a religious world that is rarely brought to light. Naomi Ragen does not hold back on the ugliness that occurs from the moment Daniella lands in Israel; however, she sensitively uses Daniella's counterpoint, Detective Tzedek, to highlight how hard it is to play by the rules and not loose your soul.
Some passages were difficult to swallow as they became laden with too much information, but were necessary in helping to understand a sub-culture fueled by ego and psychotic breaks.
Fishbowl: A Novel
by Bradley Somer
Could Not Put It Down (5/6/2015)
I loved this book. It's the best case of multiple story lines all running alongside each other I have read in a very long time. I became vested in every one of the characters, from the fish to the dance of two men and one amazing dress. Who would have thought that an empty-headed goldfish could have carried a story that was, at times, complex and murky and at other times golden? I will never look at a 27 story stairway in the same way again. Much of what would have been subject matter handled in a grossly base manner was often delicately delivered as in the case of a manly cross-dresser. Other stories could have been less base, as in the case with a man who somehow manages to find himself after years of narcissistic living.
The last chapter was not needed. It was like there was this perfect ending and then someone decided they needed to delve further into that which is existential. It took away any moment of pure satisfaction in the story itself.
Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age
by Greg King, Penny Wilson
Overloaded (1/22/2015)
While clearly heavily researched and informational, I found it impossible to find a good reading flow to this book. Details taken in snapshots and corroborated with copious notes were great in small doses. Characters were definitely brought to life and fleshed out and I often wondered at the way the authors got down to the very thought processes of people on board. If I was taking a college course on life outside the battlefields during the war, this would be the book.
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel
by Gabrielle Zevin
Sweet Read! (4/14/2014)
This book was, hands down, a gem. From page one Zevin had me involved in a whirlwind of full bodied characters and I couldn't put the book down until I finished. There were nice surprises along the way and I learned to look out of the small clues she left like bread crumbs. AJ was quite a sharp personality, but I found myself cheering him as he moved from utter desolation to opening himself to the possibility of a good life. The distinct personalities of the book company rep (bigger than life), the town cop (ever so subtle with AJ), the sister-in-law (harsh ... but really not in the end). I don't want to give even a little bit of this story away so I leave it at that. There's the heart of a small town here, but never in a way I would expect.
I Am Livia
by Phyllis T. Smith
Great Period Novel (1/22/2014)
I picked up this book fully expecting a story that would enter the world of ancient Italy. What I didn't expect was to be thrown into a story without major introduction. This tale doesn't need one. From page one the characters, especially Livia and her father, are fully fleshed out, three dimensional people. Livia is a very strong teen and woman and I was constantly awed by her steel reserve to do what needed to be done. Though pretty much given away by her father to an older man in a political agreement, she spends very little time whining and a substantial amount of time working with what she has to create a life within boundaries that would choke a modern teen/young woman. The environment was finely done and I was especially pleased that the author let me picture Livia's world rather then spending pages belaboring it. It took me about 4 hours to read and I found myself, because it was written in first person, truly inhabiting Livia's mind and understanding her spirit. The two characters not completely drawn are her mother and sister, and I have to say that it seemed to fit their actions very well. Neither seemed to touch either Livia's world in an earth shaking way ... almost like they were lying in the river of the life they'd been handed rather than standing up in the current.
The author at times took a little liberty with the golden boy, Caesar, and I was disappointed that he turned out to be no better than any other man, but forgave him much as Livia chose to. Had she chosen not to, I would have done the same thing as well.
As the novel moved from gritty street to palatial hill, and from the noisy city of intrigue and back-stabbing to the countryside, it was easy to hear the sounds in each. The tensions between the characters and the tensions of the time are what kept me up until 2 in the morning. Women and children as victims of war were a recurring theme and the helplessness they dealt with every day is still echoed today and I found myself wanting to rescue everyone. But Livia, strong (and flawed) woman that she was, wouldn't take pity from anyone. She had a will that brought her through. And, she was wily. I admired that!
The book finished beautifully not with happy ever after so much as the way life probably really is. This woman had lived a very full life, had been heard, had lead and been led. Honor killings, court intrigue, men raging and women being wicked, hard headed men and strong women ... who could not enjoy this?
The Drowning Guard: A Novel of the Ottoman Empire
by Linda Lafferty
Period Piece (8/26/2013)
The Drowning Guard is a nice period piece about the Ottoman Empire after Islam became the governing religion. The writing created a world filled with the sights, sounds, smells one would expect to find in a region that is the crossroads of trade. I could definitely see what was coming, but enjoyed the journey. The women in the book were smart, strong, wily and beautiful. The men were backward womanizers and that made me both mad and sad. The premise of this story - a man forced to murder night after night for a Sultane begins to fight back in his own way and wins her. On the way, however, he wages another battle with her brother, the Sultan. The court intrigue and the usual bad eunuch/good eunuch combination was predictable. I enjoyed the short interludes back in time - they were necessary to round out the characters. This is a light read, but enjoyable. The grammar and spelling errors were distracting; however, the story carried the day.
The House of Rumour: A Novel
by Jake Arnott
What? (5/8/2013)
I really tried to like this book. It was like a long, winding discourse on science, war, sex, drugs, authorship and people whose lives were just messed up .. by themselves.
I give the author points for never losing the somewhat ephemeral tone of the novel ... even when switching gears from one story line to the next.
The story is not quite one thing or enough of the another to place it firmly in any particular genre.
However, this would be a great book for either a college course or a bookclub that loves an intellectual challenge.
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
by Edward Kelsey Moore
Warm and Full (4/8/2013)
I put this book down with a smile on my face and the wish to visit this town and meet the characters. Each of the three women were fully formed and shine like stars. I spent time laughing at the everydayness of the personalities that weaved in and out and barely noticed that this story never leaves the town. The beauty of this book is that it never takes an African-american community down the path of the downtrodden. It gives dignity to everyone from Odette to the nutty psychic - from their diction to the way they work around the dark and the light. Eleanor Roosevelt took the cake. I can see a movie coming with this story.
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani
Never Ending (2/16/2013)
Reading Children of the Jacaranda Tree was what it must feel like to endlessly drown - in sorrow, fear, helplessness, similes and the over careful parceling out of emotions. It was like being tumbled over and under a roaring river of barely suppressed screams in a hurt-your-eyes hard light land. An overwhelming onslaught of terror, bitterness, loss, and confusion. The words wouldn't let up, wouldn't stop coming … even when I was begging them to stop.
How does one comfort children without mothers, and fathers staring into the face of death, but still surprised when it cuts them? How does one help women who sacrifice who they are for what someone else believes? The reader cannot and suffers for it.
While what this book brings to the table is real, reading page after page of beautifully written hell is very difficult to stick with. There is such a fierce push of adjectives and metaphors with no room to breathe. In reading there is no hope - except for that which is stingily and often painfully measured out by a people so suffocated, so cowed by their circumstances that I want to end their misery for them.
The stories draw everything out of the reader even when hearts glow and the human spirit attempts to rise. There is never triumph, never the knowledge that there will be healing and time for new, more gorgeous memories to be birthed in the lifetimes of the characters - even those who escape for a time. Lives either imploded or just expired and I had to live every one of them.
I am blessed to have the choice to close this book and be grateful for my mundane, even slightly boring life where I have the freedom to live where I do.
If this is the type of book a reader is drawn to, they will be in heaven.
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