Book Reviews – Page 30

Bedelia by Vera Caspary

My January book ~~sorting~~ clean out, uncovered this gem, which from the scribbled pencil mark inside the front cover, I picked up for a dollar somewhere.

It was stacked behind some other books (oh, you don’t that too?) and was a tad dusty. So, I’ve had it for awhile. My hardback edition was published in 1945 and doesn’t look at all like the pretty cover to the left. My copy (lousy photo below) shows much wear and tear — and even sports a broken spine. It has been well read and most of its previous readers spilled food and drink upon its pages.

This poor volume almost went into the donation bag but, at the last minute, I rescued it to browse later. I had to see why it appealed to me in the first place…

While I was still in recovery from my recent malady, I picked up Bedelia, crawled under the duvet and read it practically cover to cover. This Goodreads blurb perfectly captures the appeal of this 1940 suspense novel:

Long before Desperate Housewives, there was Bedelia: pretty, ultra femme, and “adoring as a kitten.” A perfect housekeeper and lover, she wants nothing more than to please her insecure new husband, who can’t believe his luck. But is Bedelia too good to be true? A mysterious new neighbor turns out to be a detective on the trail of a “kitten with claws of steel”-a picture-perfect wife with a string of dead husbands in her wake.

Caspary builds this tale to a peak of psychological suspense as her characters are trapped together by a blizzard. The true Bedelia, the woman who chose murder over a life on the street, reveals how she turns male fantasies of superiority into a deadly con.

The story is simple but compelling. Architect, Charlie Horst falls for the beautiful widow Bedelia while on vacation. He quickly marries her and brings her back to his lovely home in Connecticut. He’s besotted (don’t you love that word?) with her, and as they entertain neighbors and friends – everyone else is entranced with Bedelia too. There is one sole exception to Bedelia’s charms — Ben the artist and temporary renter next door. Why is he so skeptical and interested in Bedelia’s past? (Cue suspenseful music…)

Bedelia is the perfect wife: She’s charming, bouncy, dresses to please her husband, she’s the perfect hostess. Other women are jealous – but even they can’t hate Bedelia. She’s too … well, perfect. But, something is surely awry. Then, her past starts surfacing…but that’s all I say. I don’t want to give away any more of the story.

Even though the story is set in 1913 (but written in the 40’s), Ms. Caspary casts the other female characters as career women who discuss men’s lack of respect for working women. They go on and lament that most men would prefer a submissive woman — just like Bedelia. I relished that the weaker woman is the one to be afraid of.

A modern reprint of Bedelia can be found via The Feminist Press through their series called Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp.

There was also a 1946 film adaption called Bedelia and starring Margaret Lockwood. Although they changed the setting to rural England.

Ms. Caspary also wrote Laura which was a major film success.

Much of the story is set during a blizzard – making it a great choice to read in a warm bed during a stormy day. Bedelia was fun, suspenseful, and certainly creepy.

Save

Reading in Bed by Sue Gee

I will spare you the details, but I’ve been unwell. The upside was permission to remain pajama clad and read in bed (in between some epic catatonic naps).

But what to read? I knew I wasn’t up for any Booker prize titles, and reading my Kindle gave me a headache. Then I remembered I had the perfect book for this predicament – Reading in Bed by Sue Gee.

After unearthing it from my shelves and with dutiful tea service provided by Husband, I snuggled in.

One of my favorite British book bloggers Cornflower Books has long recommended anything by Sue Gee. She had me with this statement:

All (her) books are of quality and integrity – they are not showy, not gimmicky, they are perfect examples, I think, of what it means for a writer to be artist and craftsman in equal measure. (The image above is from her blog post.)

The book opens with long time friends Dido and Georgia as they depart the infamous Hay-on Wye book festival (on my bucket list), and as they make their separate ways home their thoughts and frailties emerge and, in this way, Ms. Gee introduces her readers to her central characters.

Two upper middle class Oxford couples, share not only a life-long friendship but also a mutual appreciation of art, classical music, architecture, summer holidays together, – and especially literature:

“Dido and Jeffrey, Georgia and Henry… had reading at the heart of everything, touching and defining everything, a ceaseless inner life so rich it’s hard to say where life and literature begin and end.”

Then death took one half of a partnership. Georgia, widowed a year, is alone with daughter Chloe nearby. Dido, comfortably secure and settled, secretly revels in her seemingly perfect life and husband:

(Her new book) “Justin Cartwright, The Promise of Happiness, just what she needs. She slips off her dressing gown, pulls back the covers. She’s tucked up, her specs on her nose, the pillows just right. She settles into chapter one, is turning page six by the time Jeffrey joins her, fresh from a shower. ‘Hello, my darling.’ ‘Hi’, Jeffrey reaches for his own books, put on his specs. They settle down. Dido is restored. What sweet companionship is this, to read, to sleep, to lie night after night against the man you love – still love after all these years. Poor Georgia.”

I’ll admit Reading in Bed is formulaic, it doesn’t demand much from a reader, but the characters are multi-faceted, intelligent, well developed and flawed — and I cared desperately for each of them. There’s narrow expectations for their children, resulting in the inevitable problems, an eccentric cousin who is loosing her mind, infidelity, illness, and building new beginnings — in other words Ms. Gee has beautifully rendered a well-lived, and loved, set of lives filled with problems, sorrows and joy.

Because I’m an admitted Anglophile, what I (and probably only I) enjoyed most about this British book, was just that — its wonderful, unapologetic, not trying to be anything else — British-ness. The book captures drinking tea in rose filled gardens, shopping in the village, and posh N1 London drinks by a fireplace. There are references to BBC4 shows (the Archers), the Brits keen walking (hiking) outings, and Knickerbocker glories (ice cream sundaes).

Reading a book about women of my same age, with similar views, with my shared love of literature, and so British-ily described was just what the doctor ordered. I’m feeling much better and now I’ve got a new author to follow!

N.B. Ms. Gee’s book are published in the UK, and are only available to us Yanks in their British editions. You can order HERE.

Save

Agatha Raisin Series by M. C. Beaton

They say, the first step is admitting you have a problem ~~ deep breath… here goes…

I recently splurged on a book purchase (no surprise there) , but I should clarify it was a “books” splurge (emphasis on the plural) ~~ uh oh.

This artist’s humorous installation (which I don’t find that funny) actually used my house as inspiration. Come on by, if you’re in the neighborhood. I’ll pose for selfies.

As ~~rationalization~~ background, I’ve always preferred British literary editions, their books often are higher quality, lovely in the hand, and their covers are always beautifully designed. Years ago, I returned from Blackwell’s in Oxford with my luggage full of books, a whole other separate box they shipped, and a severely damaged credit card which took me weeks to resurrect.

HERE — just look, you’ll understand.

Just after Christmas, I was telling a British friend about my love for British volumes, and he pointed out an obvious fact (one which somehow eluded me) that I could order books via Amazon UK. They covert British pounds and happily take our American money … SAY WHAAT?

So I set up an Amazon UK account and did some browsing ~~

I know, I know – Danger Danger Will Robinson…

But look, just look what arrived from the UK yesterday – be still my heart.

Ta Da! It’s (almost) the entire series of Agatha Raisin mysteries – direct from the UK! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. And all of them, including shipping (again from the UK) for just a bit over $30 American.

I take no financial reimbursement for this, but I have to mention that Book People UK offered this deal — brand spanking new paperbacks – which arrived perfectly packed and cello-wrapped together – again for an absurdly good price.

(Okay, that’s my opinion – Husband has a different take, but then, he is not one of us – try and forgive him, he really is adorable in all other aspects.)

I have more than my share of guilty pleasures — but let’s stick to reading shall we? I am crazy for the Agatha Raisin mystery series by M. C. Beaton.

Now the more intellectual Book Barmy followers will likely scoff at this series — but as my favorite (British) blogger Simon says – “I care not”. He, too, devours Agatha Raisin mysteries — you see why I consider him a reading buddy.

Now, if you don’t know about Agatha Raisin, let me correct that for you.

Agatha Raisin retired from a successful career in public relations and decided to live her dream of leaving London for a picturesque cottage in the Cotswolds. Don’t worry, she is not a particularly likable character. Agatha is self centered, tends to over indulge, and blurts out whatever is on her mind– with many disastrous and funny results.

Turns out, her idyllic life does not always live up to her dreams — and maybe, just maybe, retirement does not suit Agatha Raisin. She has trouble being ever-so-polite, caring about village gossip, or the dramas. Bravely, Agatha grits her teeth and tries to fit in with the village life.

From a disastrous cooking competition (in which she enters a store bought quiche) to openly scoffing at Women’s Institute activities — Ms. Raisin tries her damnest. And she keeps trying and trying. But don’t count Ms. Raisin out – this is no shrinking violet. Agatha ends up solving the village infractions, serious murders, goes foul of the local constable and falls in (and out) of love. Slowly – ever so slowly, she becomes part of the community – simultaneously befriended, resented and hated.

The series is clever and quirky, filled with a wacky assortment of characters, and snort-out-loud-humor.

But my delight in my new acquisition knows no bounds – just take a look at these precious British covers…and did I mention, they are all brand spanking new?

Click to make larger…you know you want to…

I want to continue the series, (I think I’m at the 5th or 6th) but I’m afraid to crease the spines. But I’m sure to delve into them soon.

Don’t worry you, too, can enjoy the Agatha Raisin mysteries by M. C. Beaton. They are at your local library or can be picked up for a buck or two at any used bookstore.

Pay no attention to the fact that you are reading the tacky American paperbacks with sub-par covers…contents are the same.

As you read, just try not to think of me, as I happily pet and shelve my new British versions.

Okay, that was unseemly — pure gloating.

Best $30 I ever spent.

N.B. The Brits made a television series based on the books. It’s available on Youtube or Acorn TV if you’re interested Link: HERE. I will wait until I’ve finished reading the series (in order, if you please) or I’m drooling in a nursing home — whichever comes first.

Save

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I would never have expected this to be my first read of the new year. In truth, I never would have opened this sci-fi thriller, except for a favorite bookstore customer.

He’s an older gentleman (OK, not that much older) who brings in his once read, bestseller hardbacks to donate — we love patrons like this. Often, he’ll press one into my hands and recommend I read it before donating. His reading tastes run to spy thrillers and political intrigue, so I usually take a look but then put them in the donation box after he’s left.

This time, however, I opened Dark Matter and sat down at the register to give it a try — half an hour later, customers were clearing their throats and uttering plaintive “excuse me”s to get my attention.

I took it home, read very late into the night and then finished it the next (luckily, rainy) morning.

It’s going to be tough to tell you about Dark Matter without spoiling it.

Suffice it to say ….

This is the story of Jason who has a pretty great life, a wife, a son, a comfortable home. He has regrets, a lackluster career, missed opportunities, but overall, he’s content. Walking home, after meeting a friend at a bar, he is abducted and, just before he is injected with a serum, is asked; “Are you happy with your life?”.

He wakes to find his family gone. Not dead, not abducted, but gone — they never existed. His home isn’t where it should be, his life as he knew it, never was. Dark Matter is the tale of Jason trying to get back to the life he so loves.

Like most of us, only after this loss does Jason fully realize that he has (whoops had) everything he could ever want. The power of this love, the anguish of the loss, and his journey to find his (now) lost life is the premise of Dark Matter.

But, that makes the story sound simple and it’s anything but. There’s quantum physics (there’s even a reference to Schrödinger’s cat, which my scientist sister had to explain to me). There are parallel universes (yes that’s plural). And there’s dark matter:

Most astrophysicists believe that the force holding stars and galaxies together—the thing that makes our whole universe work—comes from a theoretical substance we can’t measure or observe directly. Something they call dark matter.

Mr. Crouch writes for television* and his style reflects that medium. The writing simple but powerful.

He also writes in very short sentences.

And fragments.

Like this.

So, you see.

Why it is a quick read.

The other reason Dark Matter is a quick read is that it is ruthlessly compelling. Just when you think you got it, and you know where the book is going – Mr. Crouch hurdles you in whole new direction. I found myself empathizing with poor Jason throughout his quest to get his life back, imagining his turmoil, his loss as my own.

No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting. No time to flinch or brace.

I’m sure you can tell that Dark Matter surprised me. At first appearance this is a sci-fi thriller — in the style of Patterson or Koonz. But the story line is insightful, human and will cause the reader to contemplate their own life and their choices. It’s the Road Not Taken – on a whole new level.

It’s terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, creates a new world.

Yes, Dark Matter is an adrenaline-fueled thriller, a keep you up all night page turner, but what keeps it from being a cliche is Jason — an authentic, faithful and heart-warming hero, or should I say heroes? – (whoops enough said).

Well, I didn’t see that coming, my first book of the new year – way — way outside of my reading comfort zone and, much to my surprise I fell hard for this book. It’s high entertainment with a heart.

*Mr. Crouch is the creator/writer behind one of my favorite TV series Good Behavior, as well as Wayward Pines (which I don’t know)

Save

The Day I Became an Autodidact by Kendall Hailey

It’s going to rain all weekend, so I just returned from the nutso grocery stores and I’m hunkering in to do some January clean outs. You know, that pile of old tee shirts that I imagine I’ll wear at the gym (if I ever went to the gym) or those stacks of CD’s I never play anymore.

But instead (you knew this was coming) I headed to a seldom used bookshelf in the guest room and searched for books to get rid of. Books are much more fun to sort through than tee shirts.

I came across this book which, from my notes inside, I read in 1990 – a year after it was published.

Should it stay or should it go? Let’s see, shall we?

The Day I Became an Autodidact,

and the Advice, Adventures, and Acrimonies That Befell Me Thereafter

by Kendall Hailey

First, because I had to look it up:

Autodidact: a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.

You may remember one of my favorite books A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. This autobiography, cum journal comes to us from her precocious daughter when she was just a teenager.

At age fifteen, Kendall decided to throw off the shackles of a formal education after receiving her high school summer reading list:

“Being told what to read by someone else is a violation of basic human rights. Or at least basic literary ones.”

So she graduates high school early, and pursues her own intellectual and artistic interests, at home with her fabulously oddball family – her novelist mother and her father, playwright Oliver Hailey. This is her account of the journey.

Each entry begins with (capitalization is all hers):

WHAT I HOPE TO DO: (Get a Head Start on Reading Everything Ever Published); and ends with WHAT I DID (Had a bumpy first date with Dostoevsky).

Kendall tears through Roman history and Greek plays. Upon reading Aristophanes, she writes:

“Plays about the gods are always fun. It is so comforting to think such cut-ups are running the universe.”

As I thumb through this book, I find my underlining throughout — who would not find an eclectic kindred spirit in a teen who reads and raves about Pride and Prejudice, Life With Father, Anna Karenina and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

She raves about Will and Ariel Durrant (whom I’ve never attempted) but I agree with her on Henry James:

“Several readers were reported lost for years in a Henry James sentence.”

The Hailey family is no doubt privileged — they jet off to England to purchase a third home and hobnob at Sardi’s after Broadway openings. Throughout it all, Kendall is a typical teenager, but with an old soul. She has a boyfriend, of sorts:

“We talked for an hour and a half until he had to leave for the orthodontist. It is hard to talk too seriously of love with someone who still has to go to the orthodontist.”

And, has normal teenage angst:

“I have discovered that it does not really matter if I write, read or am nice to people. All that matters is that I lose weight.”

Kendall’s view on nuclear war, while simplistic, struck a cord with me:

“I think everyone who has the power to start a nuclear war should be made to see Our Town at least once a day — until the last thing they want is the power to destroy life. If they could see how precious one life is, perhaps they would stop seeing nine hundred million lives as an endurable loss.”

At times, she is wise beyond her years:

“The world is much too random a place for any of us ever to end up with exactly what we want, but then very few of us are bright enough to know exactly what we want.”

I remember I found The Day I Became an Autodidact schizophrenic — at times irritating, entitled and narcissistic — but also funny, charming and whip smart – just like any normal teenager.

The book is staying for a re-read – now, back to my pile of tee shirts.

Save

After yesterday’s post…

A kind Book Barmy reader sent this to me after yesterday’s post…

Excuse me, but I think I’ll go fondle my books…

Save

Odd, Very Odd

2016 was a very odd year on many levels, and now we’re into 2017, which promises to be even odder.

While sipping New Years Eve champagne with friends, I realized 2016, for most everyone, was rubbish – absolute rubbish (I love the British term — rubbish — so much nicer than — garbage)

For me, odd 2016 was a year of being distracted and worried about so many things over which I had no control or influence and yet it affected everything in my life – especially my reading .

Even that normally quiet week between Christmas and New Years was a conga line of interruptions and mad activity. I finished only one (only one!) of my Christmas books. 2016 was very odd:

I lost my reading mojo.

I didn’t do as much reading as I’d planned or even hoped.

I have a toppling stack of books abandoned after reading a few chapters

I had the attention span of a gnat.

So, as I slowly put away the Christmas decorations for another year, it suddenly hit me. For most of the past year I’ve been freaking tired – not sleep deprived tired — but bone weary, beat with sticks, sick of it all tired…

My New Years resolution is to give myself permission to restore.

Restore my focus

Restore just being still

Restore also getting out and being more active

Restore my connection with things that fill me with quiet, simple happiness – a daily walk on the beach, my garden, going out with friends, trying new recipes, my new bicycle, writing a letter or two ~~ and yes reading, but not just reading – but focusing and falling into a book — hard.

A friend just posted this on their Facebook page (see, no attention span, I bounced over to Facebook, even as I write this blog post…)

Hello 2017, as odd as you may be, I’ll be ready for you — after I’ve had a rest.

Save

Hygge days

It’s my favorite part of the holiday season – that lovely week between Christmas and New Years. When I put on my music and snuggle up in my reading nook.

But I’ll take a short break to tell you about an article a friend mentioned from the Sunday New York Times.

It’s all about wintering the Danish way and the concept of Hygge (pronounced HOO-gah) ~~ the Danish word for cozy.

Hygee

(don’t you love saying it? Come on everyone, all together now, ~~ HOO-gah)

is the constant pursuit of homey pleasures involving candlelight, fires, fuzzy knitted socks, porridge, coffee, cake and other people. Yes, I mummered to myself that’s exactly what this week is all about, Hygge. (Except for the porridge bit, shudder.)

You can read the article HERE

I promise to report back soon with my reading adventures.

Happy Hygee everyone.

Save

And to all a good night…

A favorite post from last Christmas Eve.

In Iceland, it is a Christmas Eve tradition to give a book as a gift.

This is called Jólabókaflóð, or the Christmas Book Flood.

At Christmas the sun doesn’t rise until 11 am and it’s dark by 3 PM.

So after a brisk (and chilly!) afternoon walk around town with the rest of their neighbors, the whole family snuggles into their homes with a hot drink and to read their new books.

Wishing all my fellow book lovers a traditional Jólabókaflóð ~~

and to all a good night ~~

Save

Soon — Very Soon

I’m on the home stretch of Christmas preparations. Knitting projects whittled down to a final few. Presents wrapped, boxed and shipped – mostly. Christmas cards mailed (yes I still send some real cards). Cookies are made and boxed to distribute. The tree is up and decorated. Just a few last minute decorations and gifts to sort out.

So it’s beginning to look like ~~~ Ho Ho Ho ~~~ holiday reading time Soon — very soon I keep telling myself.

Here’s my pile of carefully chosen Christmas books, standing at the ready next to my reading chair.

************************************************************

Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in a strange, spidery handwriting and a hand-colored drawing. This book contains all the letters J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his children in the guise of Father Christmas from the first to his eldest son in 1920 right through to the last one he wrote to his only daughter in 1943. Each letter purports to be an account of various adventures that happen to Father Christmas and elves. I’ve briefly dipped into this lovely book. It’s filled with reproductions of the actual hand calligraphy and drawings Tolkien created –and I couldn’t resist — this beautiful book had to belong in my Christmas book collection. Here’s just a sample.

**************************************************************

This is the first in a mystery series featuring the Armenian dective Gregor Demarkian. I’ve never read any of these so grabbed this for $2 at the big book sale. Here’s the summary:

The Hannaford who made the family fortune called himself a tycoon. The newspapers called him a robber baron. Since the days of Robert Hannaford I, the family has infested Philadelphia society like a disease. The current Hannafords are a clan of embezzlers, gamblers, and fantasy novelists. This Christmas, they have money in their bank accounts, crime in their blood, and murder on their minds.

Gregor Demarkian is their reluctant guest. A former FBI agent who quit the agency after his wife’s death, he is invited by the Hannaford patriarch to come for dinner at the family mansion. Demarkain arrives just in time to find his host bludgeoned to death in his study and his investigation will lead him to the Hannafords, a family of cold-blooded killers.

*************************************************************

This book came into our young adult section at the bookstore. It’s part of a series called “Dear America” which tell historical events through fictional characters.

In April of 1917, Simone Spencer’s world changes. Her beloved brother Will goes off to war, and Simone seeks a way to help. The passionate daughter of a feisty French mother and a rebellious upper-class father, Simone is not cut out for the society life she is meant to lead.

So, when General Pershing calls for French-speaking American girls to operate the switchboards on the Western Front, Simone becomes one of the first to sign up and keeps a diary of her life as a brave “Hello Girl” whose courage helped lead the Allies to victory.

I borrowed this little book and after reading it will determine if it’s worthy of purchase for my collection.

************************************************************

This looks like fun. From the back: It’s three days until Christmas and Junior Bender, Hollywood’s fast-talking fixer for the felonious, is up to his ears in shopping mall Santas, Russian mobsters, desperate holiday shoppers, and (’tis the season) murder.
Junior Bender, divorced father of one and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper (though he is that too). Edgerton isn’t exactly the epicenter of holiday cheer, despite its two Santas, canned Christmas music, chintzy bows, and festive lights. The mall is a fossil of an industry in decline; many of its stores are closed, and to make matters worse, there is a rampant shoplifting problem.
The murderous Russian mobster who owns the place has decided it takes a thief to catch a thief and hires Junior—under threat—to solve the shoplifting problem for him. But Junior’s surveillance operation doesn’t go well: as Christmas Eve approaches, two people are dead and it’s obvious that shoplifting is the least of the mall’s problems. To prevent further deaths, possibly including his own, Junior must confront his dread of Christmas—both present and past.

***************************************************************

I’m on the looooong library wait list for this treat from the late P.D. James. Trust me, I can hardly wait, and will drop all the others when my turn comes.

Here’s the blurb from the library catalog:

Four previously unpublished stories from one of the great mystery writers of our time—swift, cunning murder mysteries (two of which feature a young Adam Dalgliesh) that together, to borrow the author’s own word, add up to a delightful “entertainment.”
The newly appointed Sgt. Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is “pure Agatha Christie.” . . . A “pedantic, respectable, censorious” clerk’s secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a murder . . . A best-selling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier . . . Dalgliesh’s godfather implores him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather’s mind about an inheritance, but which will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Adam Dalgliesh will keep to himself. Each of these stories is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author’s sly humor as evident as her hallmark narrative elegance and shrewd understanding of some of the most complex—not to say the most damning—aspects of human nature. A treat for P. D. James’s legions of fans and anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a masterfully wrought whodunit.

************************************************************

For now I have a few more Christmas preparations, there are some fun events to attend, and not forgetting our annual dinner downtown combined with visiting the holiday window light displays.

But soon I’ll be in my happy place, Christmas tea mug in hand, carols softly playing and reading ~~ there’s even more rain predicted in a few days. We need more rain and, as I’m sure you’ll agree — it’s the perfect reading weather.

Save