Category: Book Reviews

Sometimes, just sometimes, a book just grabs the reader by the lapels and never lets go. Such was the case for me with A Good American. I opened it on a rainy night in January and was immediately engrossed in this multi-generational story of an immigrant German family.

It’s 1904 Germany, and Jette Furst has fallen in love after hearing Frederick Meisenheimer’s wonderful singing through a garden hedge on one of her walks.

They meet face-to-face and fall in love, but Jette’s socially conscious mother disapproves of the poor young man with no real prospects and disowns her daughter because of the relationship. The young couple fall pregnant, and knowing that her mother will not accept this situation, Jette and Frederick decide to embark for a new life in a new land. Bound first for New York, they find themselves en route to New Orleans and then through a chance encounter, they end up in to the small town of Beatrice, Missouri – where there is a thriving German immigrant community. As with all unexpected changes in course, this move will create a new path for their lives, the lives of their children, and grandchildren.

Told through the voice of their Grandson, the family story is told of four generations of Meisenheimer’s with gentle humor and and heartbreak. I loved one of the early scenes where Fredrick hires a man in a bar to teach him English over the course of the few weeks they have left in New Orleans. Fredrick is a good student and soon is excitingly speaking his new language, only to discover when they arrive in Missouri, that no one will converse with him and they actually turn their backs in disdain. Finally someone explains that the rascal teacher taught Fredrick Polish as a prank – which was met with hostility given the beginnings of WWI in Europe.

Mr. George enthralls with his story of the Meisenheimer family; their struggles, successes, talents, love, sorrows, family secrets — at the same time he weaves in the major historic events of the 20th century which impact their new country. The family has musical talents throughout the generations, so even during the bleakest times, the family can fall back on the joys of their music.

The book does has it flaws so be prepared for an excessively (and in my opinion), unnecessarily violent lynching scene. And when the story draws to a close and we are reading the adolescent grandson’s own story there is an overabundance of masturbation scenes. I’m not a prude, and I understand puberty, but I found it excessive.

But in the end, I was able to put aside these flaws because Mr. George is a fine storyteller — and he tells his story – as all good storytellers do – with a gripping narrative, well developed characters, and a keep-turning-the- pages plot. It’s a rich and highly relatable story of an immigrant family — quite possibly a similar story for any our of families.

What was most compelling about A Good American is the depiction of the struggles to live the American dream and assimilate. This is a perfect time to read this story, when I fear we have forgotten that we are, and always will be — a nation of hard working immigrants with dreams of a better life all trying so hard to be good Americans.

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I also recommend Finding Your Roots on PBS. Took me awhile to warm up to the somewhat slow pacing, but now I find the show fascinating. Much like Antiques Roadshow, but then again, I’m an antique myself.

When I read this quote in the New York Times Book Review: Absorbing …exactly what’s wanted in these troubled and troubling times, I made a point to put a hold on The Midnight Library from the library. My turn came up in early January, and I thought great timing – the book got great reviews, is on the best seller list, and I decided a dose of fantasy was in order.

Trigger warning – this book deals with suicide, which Mr. Haig handles with hope, but a bit simplistically.

Similar (but yet different) to Life After Life (one of my favorite books of last year), The Midnight Library takes on the possibility of living a life over and over again – but with the twist of what if you could view every possible outcome of your life?

The book opens with Nora Seed, who finding her life sad and hopeless decides to end it all. However, life, and the universe, isn’t finished with her yet. Instead she finds herself in a vast library with endless books all of which contain different versions of the life she could have lived. The librarian is none other than her beloved librarian from high school — Mrs. Elm.

This “midnight library” is a place of infinite shelves where all the books are variations of your life. But it is best described by Mrs. Elm:

Between life and death there is a library, she said, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be different if you had made other choices.

Together they look at her ‘Book of Regrets’ and Nora agrees to choose various books, and finds herself inhabiting the bodies of a number of different versions of herself, all living lives that could potentially have been hers.

As Mrs. Elm goes on to explain,

Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations.

After each life lived, Nora returns to the library – not having found the right life and her Book of Regrets changing after each.

Like most humans, while I have loved and still love my life, I sometimes wonder if I had done things differently — what my life might be like. If I’d stuck with music or gone to a different college…the ‘what if’s’ kept me reading The Midnight Library.

Nora has fascinating, but unbelievable alternate lives to choose from — she was an Olympic swimmer, a glacierologist, a doctor, and a rock star. I found myself wondering where is the boring office job life?

Okay, by now, you can tell I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I hoped to. With the ‘trying on these lives in search of a better one’ concept — the ending was clear from the third life she inhabited. I also found it very unsettling that Nora has no idea who the people are in these alternative lives nor does she know her role. I found it annoying having to wade through how lost and confused Nora was every time she enters a new life.

Nora was an interesting character, tightly wound and intense which made some of her dialogue clever. As here:

You’re overthinking this Nora,” said Ravi, “I have no other type of thinking available”.

To be a human was to continually dumb the world down into an understandable story that keeps things simple.

Then the book just got plain old sappy. With such statements as: ‘Never underestimate the big importance of small things.’ And, this slap-in-the-face advice to someone contemplating suicide; ‘Now go on, live, while you still have the chance.’

I finished The Midnight Library only because I wanted to see if I had predicted the ending correctly (I had) and because my book was due to expire digitally in a few hours.

I came away with many unresolved issues, the most important of which was that the author entirely skipped over the consequences of inhabiting other lives. Nora’s actions while inhabiting her alternate lives would have real world consequences for another version of her life.

The concept of consequences is what makes time travel/parallel lives books so fascinating – as with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

Life After Life did an excellent job of consequences, as did Mr. Haig’s other book which I enjoyed much more How to Stop Time.

Read any of those books instead.

Back — way back – with a brand new MBA in Marketing and Advertising, I longed to work in New York City. Madison Avenue was the mecca for advertising agencies (no, not like Mad Men, in the 1960’s I’m not that old). But after taking a look at the salaries (pitiful) and the NYC rents (astronomical), Husband and I decided I should look at other advertising positions in more reasonable locations. Ended up here in San Francisco, which back then was still affordable. Now I’m happiest just visiting, but have never lost my love of New York City. Sssh – I used to watch Sex and The City just to see the New York scenes and locations.

Recently, a friend told me about a new Netflix documentary staring Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese.

Before I go on, in case you don’t know, Fran Lebowitz is a NYC icon. She moved from New Jersey to New York in her 20’s with jobs taxi driving, belt peddling, and apartment cleaning (“with a small specialty in Venetian blinds”). At twenty-one, she began a column called “I Cover the Waterfront,” for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Then she published two books of essays — Metropolitan Life and Social Studies – both wonderful. She never really wrote anything else and has since made her living on the social commentary speaking circuit.

I adore Fran (who has been compared to Dorthy Parker – another favorite of mine) she is snarky, complaining, smart and very funny. I always remember right after 9/11 Fran was interviewed and said she was on the phone with a friend after the first tower was hit and when the second tower was similarly struck, Fran said to her friend; “it’s a terrorist attract” and her friend replied, “oh Fran you are always so negative”.

But as usual, I digress – back to the show. First watch the trailer HERE and then come back. I wait right here…

Trust me, this is well worth your time. I watched all seven episodes over the last week or so and loved each and every moment. Martin and Fran are friends and their chemistry is delightful. He asks great questions and then stands back and lets her go. She does complain about her fellow New Yorkers, about the lack of good bookstores, New York real estate ~~ but she also loves music and good art. On music she says ” It’s like a drug that doesn’t kill you”.

But this documentary series stole my heart with her musings on reading (she’s a devoted reader), buying books (her library boasts 10,000 books) and the love of all things bookish. One of her famous quotes I had as a postcard on my bulletin board for years. “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” The last episode is all about libraries and her love of books. I may re-watch that one…or perhaps the whole series again.

Her books are hard to find and a quick look on-line shows ridiculous prices. I stupidly got rid of my original hard backs …

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…in favor of a paperback collection which includes both books and one of her other writings.

I highly recommend watching Pretend it’s a City and then on your next venture into a used bookstore (whenever that may be) try and locate her books. Or of course, you can always find them at your local library. You’re in for some chuckle out loud reading.

I’ll leave you with some of my favorite Fran Lebowitz quotes:

“When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough.”

“To lose yourself in a book is the desire of the bookworm. I mean to be taken. That is my desire.”

“Now, nature, as I am only too aware, has her enthusiasts, but on the whole, I am not to be counted among them. To put it bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.”

“As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.”

And a personal favorite:

“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra. ”

It’s been rainy and damp since New Year’s day. I know it’s nothing compared to living where it’s been snow, then rain, then ice – brrr

This is what I’ve been doing each morning ~~

Call me decadent, but I’ve been getting a cup of tea and going back to bed snuggled under the duvet, rain on the windows and reading my book.

I’m fortunate that I don’t have to attend any Zoom meetings or make any phone calls, so am taking advantage.

I could grow accustomed to this habit.

Here’s what I’m reading and I’m loving it.

2021 seems a great time to get into a multi-generational immigrate family tale. This one is about a German immigrant family and it’s at turn funny and heartbreaking.

I’ll tell you all about it…after my tea.

I did read two of my Christmas books after all. But the bulk of the Christmas mysteries will have go back on the shelf for next year. Like everyone else, now I’m ready for a new year and new reading.

A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton

M.C. Beaton wrote my favorite Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series, but I’d never read any of this series featuring Hamish MacBeth. M.C. Beaton (aka Marion Gibbons) died in 2019 and is most famously know for these two mystery series. In this short novel, Hamish’s family has abandoned him for Floridian warmth, so he is left alone for Christmas.

At first it felt a bit un-Christmassy with no-one but Hamish having any Christmas spirit and I was about to put it to one side. But I persevered & was so glad I did, because it turns into a enjoyable feel-good Christmas tale.

There are no murders in this one — there is a lost cat, stolen Christmas lights and figuring out what made the grumpy old women into the witch everyone thinks she is — not to mention putting on a Christmas concert for the local old people’s home all while trying to sort out his love life.

A simple story with good characters, lovely settings, and holiday atmosphere.

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron

I started this series when it first debuted back in 1996 (beginning with Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor). The series re-imagines Jane Austen as amateur detective. I read the first three and then decided I would rather read (and re-read) the actual Jane Austen novels.

This one being set at Christmas got saved for a rainy holiday season and we’ve had just that — so I dipped in.

The tale opens on Christmas Eve, 1814, as Jane Austen; her sister, Cassandra; and her mother are traveling to spend the Christmas season with her brother James and his family. James is now the rector of Steventon, where Jane grew up, so this is also a journey of return to her childhood home and neighborhood. As they gather to enjoy the twelve days of Christmas together, there is much to celebrate: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

It won’t spoil anything to tell you that Jane is involved in two somewhat convoluted murders and then searches down a spy who is attempting to aid Napoleon in his war against England. Also, fair warning, like Jane Austen’s books themselves, there are multiple characters, often with the same first names, and complicated familial relations. (I have a little book I found in a used bookstore called Who’s Who in Jane Austen and the Brontes which is invaluable when reading either Austen or Bronte, and now sadly out of print.)

The Austen’s and friends know how to celebrate the holiday season — there are lavish descriptions of food, festivities and dress. But also some bleak accounting of the cold, damp houses, as well as the varying impacts of societal class and wealth.

I had forgotten the delight in Ms. Barron’s writing which deftly captures the style and wit of Austen, as well Regency manners and a true ear for Austen’s dialect. The author painstakingly sifted through Austen’s letters and writings, as well as extensive biographical information, to create a finely detailed portrait of Austen’s life—with a dash of fictional murder.

Jane and the 12 Days of Christmas can be read as a standalone; but you do need to know that the gimmick of the series is a collection of Jane Austen’s personal journals have been discovered (imagined) which tell of her involvement in solving a number of murder mysteries.

As one reviewer said: this series imagines Jane Austen as she might have been in the world of death by murder and intrigue, as opposed to death by boredom.

A digital review copy was kindly provided by Soho Crime via NetGalley.

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Now it’s time for a brand new year – please, oh yes please?

I don’t know about any of you, but I’m planning to go to bed early tonight I’m tired – really tired of 2020.

Turns out I wasn’t in the mood for Christmas murder mysteries after all. So I pulled two slim volumes off my shelf and read them last evening in my cheery reading Christmas nook.

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Both books were discovered during a 2019 hot and humid summer trip to New England – when my mind was far away from Christmas.

I discovered the first book when I was accidentally left behind at our friend’s home in Maine. Everyone else had driven off in two cars to their nearby lake cottage and each car thought I was in the other one – I had just ducked into the powder room to change into a swim suit. I was not in the least dismayed. All alone, I happily browsed the bookshelves of a kindred spirit book lover. I discovered this little treasure – read it while in front of a fan — and made note of the title so I could get my very own copy – which I did this year.

Lanterns Across the Snow by Susan Hill

This is a gentle little book about an English country Christmas at the turn of the last century. Fanny reminiscences about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Stephen’s Day when she was nine years old.

A happy childhood is like a magic circle. Lit from within, it throws a beam forward into the present. Snow always fell on Christmas Eve, fat and soft as goose feathers, to lie like a quilt upon the ground all winter. That is what Fanny remembers, now that she is old, at another Christmas time.

This story brings back the magical of Christmas Eve and the expectation of luscious foods, that were not available every day of the year. The contrasts of cold and warmth, of hope and despair, of birth and death all wrapped up in a warm and nostalgic atmosphere. It even has some lovely woodcut illustrations.

It’s short but sweet, and would make great reading for Christmas Eve or a cold winter night by the fire.

Christmas at Eagle Pond by Donald Hall

When visiting New Hampshire, I always try to visit Toadstool Books and dip into one of their three independent bookstores, each of which are beautifully curated. This visit they had a special section dedicated to Donald Hall, the 14th US poet laureate who lived on a farm in New Hampshire. And, although it was July, I purchased this Christmas book to bring home to my collection.

In December of 1940, twelve-year-old Donnie Hall gets on a train from his comfortable Connecticut home to fulfill a dream: to spend Christmas with his grandparents on their farm on Eagle Pond in southern New Hampshire.

He tells of a Christmas in the country; family dinners, being snow-bound, horse-drawn buggies, wood-burning stoves, milking cows in a frigid barn before dawn, and making popcorn balls for the church Christmas party. A vivid portrait of a vanished New England

The illustrations by Mary Azarian are lovely and fit perfectly with the book’s tone.

I’m going to break my rule and give away this little book’s secret, which is revealed in Mr. Hall’s note at the book’s end — he never really got to spend Christmas at his grandparents’ farm when he was a boy. Instead, in his eighties, having inherited Eagle Pond Farm and done most of his greatest work as a poet there, he imagines what a Christmas at Eagle Pond would have been like for his twelve-year-old self. Based on the stories tole by his mother and his grandparents, he wanted to give himself “the thing I most wanted, a childhood Christmas at Eagle Pond.”

This is a beautifully spare and gorgeously written little Christmas tale.

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Unlike my intended holiday mystery reads — these slim volumes are quite simple, don’t have a complicated plot, there’s no mystery, and no conflict. That made them my perfect Christmas night’s reading. And, what so many of us want this Christmas to be.

Despite what you may believe, Book Barmy Christmas reading is not cancelled ~~ just delayed…

Can’t really say why, no excuses just been busy with other holiday stuff. Had a sewing project and knitted gifts — all finished and on their way to their new owners.

Christmas reads were chosen ages ago, but they are gathering dust in the reading nook. The week between Christmas and New Years will be my cozy reading time. Here’s what I’m planning – as is appropriate for 2020 – I’ve chosen holiday murder mysteries – albeit with wonderful covers. They certainty look nice out on top of the bookshelf.

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Never fear, Book Barmy will ride post again.

I’ll leave you with my favorite Christmas Eve tradition:

Merry Christmas everyone

It seems only a minute ago it was Halloween, and now it’s almost Thanksgiving — but then again, early November was gruelingly slow — 2020 is playing strange time games.

I always try and read a good, creepy book over Halloween and this year, my shelves paid off. I found Half Broken Things which I got back in 2004 after I read that P. D. James (one of my favorite mystery writers) had recommended Ms. Joss’s writing.

Sixty-four-year old Jean is one of the unnoticed, a plain woman, in her final year as a house sitter. Raised in emotional poverty, Jean has muddled through the years, her mind often her only companion, a condition that allows her fictional flights of fancy in her current situation as house sitter of Walden Manor. Jean is faced with an insecure future, uncertain finances and the looming years without a real home or family:

“The old Jean simply detached herself, rose up and disappeared into the steam, like a person dissolving into fog.”

Writing a journal at the start of the novel, Jean puts the facts to paper, how she came to her current dilemma in this large and welcoming home, which she has inexplicably taken as her own while the owners are traveling. Resentful of the restrictions put upon her owners during their year abroad, Jean finds many doors locked and her access limited to a cheerless sitting room and the kitchen. She takes this as judgment of her untrustworthiness and a rude reminder of her standing as mere caretaker of other people’s things.

Nursing this subtle rebellion, while dusting and cleaning the house she accidentally breaks a teapot containing the keys to the formerly unavailable rooms and private drawers. Jean now liberated from her restrictions, slowly starts to explore the forbidden rooms, and inhabit the home. Including wearing the wife’s clothing, sleeping in the master bedroom, and taking long baths in the luxurious bathroom.

“People should have what they need, especially if they have to go without most of their lives.”

As she goes about her days in the lovely home, she discovers an extensive wine cellar and fully stocked freezer. Now fully comfortable and at home, Jean uses her imagination to invent a long lost son and places an advertisement in the local paper – seeking this imaginary son

A broke and desperate Michael answers the ad pretending to be her son with his pregnant girlfriend Stephanie. Somewhat surprised at her imaginary son actually showing up at the door, Jean leaps to accept them with no questions asked. Formerly driven by lack, Jean’s life theme has been ~~

“that good things, opportunity, security, affection, should come to me, if at all, only second-hand, and in second-rate scraps.”

Now her days are filled with her second-hand family, and their convoluted reasoning allows them to pretend that they are of the manor born. Of course, this feeble plan will come tumbling down when reality intrudes, but Jean, Michael and Steph are prepared to go to any lengths to maintain their small slice of happiness.

It’s a fascinating but twisted fairy tale — three desperate people performing increasingly desperate acts, dedicated to the well-being of the family at all costs. By turns bizarre and Gothic, Ms. Joss’ unchecked imagination has created a poignant respite for three truly half-broken things who linger on the edge of reason, their need to belong so fierce they go on to justify thievery and even murder.

I found myself quickly racing through Half Broken Things seduced by the writing and mounting tension. On one hand, I was warmed by the isolated manor house and how it gave its new inhabitants comforts and possibilities previously unavailable to them — but then holding my breath and as reality slowly descends upon their contentment.

Ms. Joss delivers a creepy yet compelling tale of complicit falsehoods. The isolation at the manor is seductive, the self made family’s self-justification completely pervasive as the three characters place need above morality in an astonishing tale of belonging at any cost.

Highly recommended – please put Half Broken Things on your list for next Halloween.

This seems like the sort of day that needs some distraction — so, I’ll tell you about the newest Louise Penny — All the Devils are Here. I got my copy through a local independent bookstore who offered a live (albeit remote) talk by Ms. Penny that included a copy of the book with purchase of the ticket — how could I refuse? The talk was great fun, she’s holed up in her London flat – and the book arrived a few days later.

Please allow me to cheat and quote another reviewer – whose review captures the essence of this newest installment better than I ever could….

“Penny’s series has always been about the complexities and sustaining glories of family, and here she takes that theme even further, revealing fissures in the Gamache clan, but also showing the resilience and love at its root. Series devotees will revel in both Penny’s evocation of Paris―every bit as sumptuous as her rendering of Three Pines―and in the increased role she allots to librarian Reine-Marie, whose research skills are crucial to untying the Gordian knot at the mystery’s core.”
―Booklist (starred)

I’ve read some excellent books this year and All the Devils are Here is right up there as one of the best. Unlike the previous books in this series, it’s not set in the charming village of Three Pines, Quebec — but in Paris – que diable? I wondered if this would matter, but I’ve always found Ms. Penny’s books to be excellent and, as usual, from the very first page I was hooked. In fact, the Paris setting is beautifully rendered and almost as enthralling as being there. Ms. Penny has captured Paris and it’s environs — from the Musée Rodin and its gardens, to the Place de la Concorde.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Raine-Marie have come from Canada to Paris for the impending birth of a new grandchild. After a celebratory dinner with their two children, spouses, and Armand’s billionaire godfather, Stephen Horowitz, Stephen is deliberately struck by a vehicle and lies in a coma. A grim discovery at his apartment prompts an investigation and the uncovering of family secrets leaving Armand to determine just who can be trusted.

The Prefect of Paris police, an old friend, may be corrupt. Jean-Guy is insecure in his new job, does not know why he was hired or who to trust as a mystery unfolds at his engineering firm. Daniel and Ros may be living above their means. But, above all, Armand’s godfather Stephen is on life-support. And, he knows something.

From there the story unfolds and the tension mounts, as Gamache probes the unanswered questions — why Stephen has been in Paris longer than they knew, why he moved from his apartment to a hotel suite, and why he has kept a very important project a secret. It is a very complicated plot, and the reader needs to have his wits about him exceedingly complex tale of international finance and deals.

All the Devils are Here reveals additional insight into Gamache’s background, his family and, for the first time, his troubled relationship with his son Daniel. I was pleased that, in this installment, Reine Marie is even more of a presence and has a very significant role when her profession as a librarian researcher proves vital.

And, just in case you’re wondering about the title —

“When we first sat down, you said that Hell is empty and all the devils are here. What did you mean?” “It’s one of my favorite quotes, you know that,” said Stephen. And Armand did. Stephen loved to use the lines from The Tempest to unnerve business rivals, colleagues. Friends. Strangers on planes.”

The only part I had trouble with was with the character of Daniel, Gamache’s son, who has had a lifelong antipathy toward his father which strained credibility and had me muttering ‘oh grow up’ at his whining.

As is typical of a Louise Penny novel, there are revelations which are heart-breaking; and others, joyous. Throughout, she offers a solid story about honor, justice, love, family, and friendship. Oh, and of course, murder.

I learned many new things and feel richer for having read her words. I’m so glad Ms. Penny keeps writing this wonderful series. Keep ’em coming!

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Be sure to read the acknowledgements after finishing All the Devils are Here, here not only does Ms. Penny reveal background into her characters, but also opens her heart about her life and writing.