Phyllis
What a delightful book I might've otherwise missed but for the recommendation by Jennifer from the YouTube channel Jenn's Reading Life.
Dorothy Evelyn Smith was also known as Dodie Smith, under which pen name she wrote such famous titles as “The 101 Dalmatians” and “I Capture the Castle.” It's been a while since I read either of those two books, but what I do remember are bits of humor laced into observations about every day life. And ways of thinking about life now and how things used to be an appreciative way. And also mixed into both of those books and this one were a little bits of very relatable human cruelty, even if that cruelty only went so far as thoughts and not actions.
That's what's fun about this little gem of a book. It's one of the few books in which you're set up to believe that Miss Penny, the 40-year-old spinster we meet on the first page, has one or two or maybe even three men considering her as a marriage prospect. In 1959, that's quite a refreshing way to start off a book instead of the usual focus on teenagers or younger women in their 20s and the bloom of relatively young love.
That's not what Dorothy Evelyn Smith has in mind for us. First, she takes us on a proper circulation-inducing walk with Miss Penny (after she's subjected to one of the tight, interminable bed jackets of dear Ada). Alison detours to a small pond on the way to the movies and comes across a young woman who's crying. Although Alison had first resolved to leave and not bother the woman, Alison makes a mistake (or perhaps doesn't make a mistake) of turning around and seeing the woman walking into the water.
Miss Plum is saved. From there, twists and turns lead to a rather unexpected, but totally satisfying, ending. There were times I was sure the author was taking us one way, only to take us another.
This is a lovely character study, with each character well-drawn and full of graces and foibles. Switches in point of view work quite well (a sure sign of an author skilled at her craft) and let us see into the inner workings of the small village. There are a few phrases and words a modern reader might find appalling, even in a cosy book like this, but then “Miss Plum and Miss Penny” is of an earlier time (and seems more like England before the World Wars than just before the 60s).
I borrowed a first edition (!!) from another library; this and many other delightful titles written by women are available from Dean Street Press (https://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pages/author_page/49).
My Great Books book club read “Hiroshima“ for our August 2025 pick to reflect upon the 80th anniversary of the US dropping the atomic bomb on that city. John Hersey won a Pulitzer for that book and had previously won a Pulitzer for his fictional novel “A Bell for Adano” which was released in 1944.
It's interesting to time travel backwards through these two award-winning books. “Bell“ has a lot of the rah-rah patriotism so prevalent in movies of the time, in which is the good old US of A with sticktoitiveness, ingenuity, elbow grease, a heart of gold behind a gruff exterior, and having the right buddies gets the job done, and how! The book is also a strong commentary, on the red tape and bureaucracy of the military and a criticism of certain contemporary military figures (I.e. the general in this book modeled off of General Patton). Was “Catch-22” at all influenced by this book? If not, it's certainly an early stake in that ground.
It is in the depiction of the good people of Adano and in the bureaucratic nonsense that Hersey really shines. And perhaps that's because the book is a light fictional covering over a real town in Sicily use for disembarkation as the US took over Italy from Mussolini‘s forces. Hersey followed the Italian American major assigned to the real Sicilian town for five days and interviewed townsfolk and other military folks at the same time.
The prose is sort of spare and journalistic (no surprise given Hersey's background as a reporter on the ground in both US fronts of the war for TIME magazine), although quite a different thing than the style of “Hiroshima.” And maybe that's why it took me so long to read “Bell,” which moved along at a decent pace and is a fine book to read in the summer. I started it with the intention of reading the two Hersey books in chronological order and hoped to finish before the “Hiroshima” discussion, but found myself distracted by a family road trip, prepping discussion materials for the book club meeting, and flitting around outside in the end-of-summer weather.
I'm glad I read the book and plan to see the movie soon to see how they translated the story to the screen. It's a solid 3.45 book and worth a read.
The cover of “North Woods” has been calling to me from the new release and popular fiction shelf of the library for awhile. Yet, every time I would pick up the book and look at what it was about, back it would go. Maybe because it sounded like a multigenerational family saga. Or, perhaps that's because the blurb on the jacket doesn't look really explain what this book is about. Maybe that's for the best.
And what is it about?
Ghosts? Apples? Maybe the way the ghosts are created and linked with the land in such a way that future generations are still haunted (sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so much). Although the book isn't marketed as such, I classify it as a collection of short stories linked together by the land and the supernatural. There are some fun chapters in the latter third of the book that try to unravel historical mysteries that we know the answer to.
And in the final chapter, Succession, we learn about a researcher's project on spring ephemerals, which is part of her interest in succession: “the patterns by which one group of plant or animal species replace another.” If that isn't the central theme, I don't know what is! I will say that I was annoyed by the final chapter and would have left it out if I were the author.
Daniel Mason is certainly a talented writer. He is better than some contemporaries at capturing the cadences and rhythms (couched in more modern language and spelling for readers) for characters from the 1600s and 1700s. I have complained recently several books (I'm looking at you, “Frozen River”) that are set in similar historical times, yet everyone talks like they use TikTok and studied psychology.
“North Woods” also presents one of the more creative uses of poetry, art, and maps in an adult book, at least in recent memory (“Old School Indian” being the best use of poetry in a modern novel). After each chapter, there's a poem or song, a picture, or a map or a drawing relating to the preceding chapter.
Words new to me: cotyledon (first few leaves that sprout from a seed and often lol different than future leaves), operculum (organ that serves as lid, flap, or cover), cantherides (spanishfly), borborygmic (rumbling from gas in the intestines)
This book reminds me a lot of Richard Powers' “The Overstory” in that it is overwrought and tries way too hard to hammer a message home. And I'm ready to receive that message, but in a more subtle and better-written way. I was all excited to read the tree POV chapters, but I found they detracted from the story instead of adding.
Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this great work. A sadly now defunct YouTube channel, The Old Man and the Read, recommended this book as a favorite. I have found that Jerry from that channel has excellent taste even if the book might be quite challenging.
Perhaps my failing came from trying to read this book in the summer instead of the winter, less distracted by the out-of-doors, and better able to focus under a comfy blanket. Perhaps, this would be a good book to purchase with bigger font and maybe drawings or pictures.
There is a children's version of this book that I might check out in the future so that I can clean some of major links, genius even if I can't do it with the original work.
This book knocked my socks off. I read the first two pages three times in a row because the writing was sizzling, seething, hilarious, and full of pain. And Aaron John Curtis keeps rolling, pushing and pulling at you the rest of the book.
Dominick Deer Woods keeps you on your toes, too. And so do Abe, his Uncle Budge, cuzzins, and everyone else you meet in this book. Alex included, although I hated her from the beginning. Curtis has found a way to embed the people of Abe's world into the page from the smell of their hair to a wrinkle by the eye to the way an old concert that is worn.
But, yeah, back to Dominick. His poems appear every few chapters or so and rip your danged heart out.
So, read this book that is about so much more than coming-of-middle-age. You don't have to be the same age as Abe (which I am) to appreciate it.
Having read, and adored, Forster's “A Room With a View,” I have looked forward “Where Angels Fear to Tread” for decades at this point. Why did I not pick up this slim volume until now?
It is a wonderful summer book, taking the reader and several repressed English Victorians to the heat, beauty, and earthy sensuality of Italy.
Like “A Room With a View,”, Forster leans refreshingly feminist, depicting what seemingly demure females really think of the extremely constricted Victorian social mores and what they do when the societal chains are thrown off.
In this, Forster's first book, themes of culture clash and surprising internal growth are explored. I certainly did not expect Philip or Miss Abbott to be the two characters transformed by Italy or for Harriet to turn out to be such a monster. Forster also seemed to be making rather bold statement against the typical colonial attitude of the English at that time.
Although the book is only a bit over 140 pages, there's really quite a lot going on. I particularly enjoyed the Penguin Classic edition because it includes footnotes, letters about the book's writing process written by the author to a friend, and the introduction including biographical tie-ins and exploration of the books meaning.
The premise of “My Friends” hooked me, two coming of age tales decades apart and showing the magic of really good friends from the lens of then and now. With art thrown in as a bonus.
Instead, I found the book repetitious to the point of annoyance. Sometimes, it's exactly the use of repeated phrases or parts of a story, with layers pealed back from the onion one by one as the story progresses, that can reveal such beautiful characters and thoughts. In his book, the repetition was really just that. By the time some of the twists and the artist's name finally happen, I just didn't care. And the dialogue was a real slog. I would have given the book one star except that the first chapter is incredibly well-done and could have been rounded out to an excellent short story.
How many of us define ourselves by our work, what we do for a living? It is just that frame Jeff Chu hoped to adjust as he opens the door into his thoughts and feelings on his journey to life at the Farminary and beyond.
Normally, I don't read too many memoirs about a person's crisis of faith. Or examination of how faith fits in their life. And yet, Jeff Chu's very personal and meditative lens is very much worth reading. He weaves plants and animals, many seen at the Farminary, back to his grandmother's seemingly magical fried rice or to his mother's love for him or to the familial and cultural ties that bashed up against being accepted as gay.
What I really appreciate is Jeff Chu's openness and frank examination of friendship, family, love, loss, and so much more. Feeling like you don't belong at all the bring enfolded in loving arms.
Here's a nice companion interview with Kate Bowler: https://youtu.be/8fvk4cBR-DM?si=DckYyLxAZItpyElW
The first chapter, although horrific as the reader experiences the near destruction of the last of a tribe, had me hooked and I was eager to read more. You could feel your legs and lungs burning with the fastest possible pace of the Caldonnae tribe across the icy lake. Afterwards, the book takes place inside the magical domed world of Tiran and we follow the rise of Sciona, a female mage attempting to break the glass ceiling of all-male highmages.
The first half continued to be interesting, but got harder and harder to read as the brutal and evil treatment of all things not Tiran was exposed.
The second half was bogged down by Sciona exposing that she was just as thoughtless and cruel as the rest of her magefolk and used the handful of Kwen as cruelly to go out in a blaze of something.
Ultimately, the writing was a little simple, and suffered from what I've noticed in several modern fiction books lately; the author didn't establish a different voice for each character do that everyone spoke Nina similar rhythm and vocabulary. I'd still like to read the author's “Sword of Kaigen.” This is also a good escape from daily drudgery and has beautiful cover art and endpapers.
To accompany my book club's discussion of Willa Cather's “Song of the Lark,” I picked up this combination biography and analysis of Cather's works.
The biographical information is interesting and does add to reading her books, although most of the book is a book-by-book analysis. So, I didn't read the entire book to avoid spoilers and focused on the one I read a few years ago, “My Antonia,” and, of course, “Song of the Lark.” Of particular interest were the many real-life parallels, such as Cather's eye-opening trip to the same cliff-dwelling ruins in the American Southwest and the constant push of art against other day-to-day distractions.
This review is for me. So I can remember how sucked in I get to Fitz's world, so much so that I am sometimes downcast by what is happening, even after I've put the book down hours before. Or yell in jubilation when things go right. This is also a review of the trilogy in some ways.
Robin Hobb is incredibly talented at writing a living, breathing person and a true hero who struggles against himself and everyone else yet keeps picking himself up to help those he is closest to.
It's easy to forget that Fitz is in the midst of relearning every facet of daily life at the beginning of this third book of the first Realm of the Elderlings trilogy. He has forgotten even Burrich's name and refers to him as Heart of the Pack, which is how Nighteyes thinks of Burrich. It is a wonder that Fitz goes from barely being able to communicate and understand day-to-day activities to the man who embarks on ambitious quest to help Verity with what seems like an impossible task.
Can anyone be expected to go through what Fitz has including mental and physical torture by just about everyone he knows, training on how to kill and manage court intrigue (its own type of torture), actually dying and his soul living temporarily in his wolf brother's body until being resurrected, as well as managing both the Wit and the Skill with relatively little training (in fact, always working against the skill damage inflicted by Galen). COME ON. Give Fitz a break everyone! Sometimes I would forget about the incredibly horrible things that have happened to Fitz and expect him to see everything that we see while ensconced on a comfy couch with a cup of tea.
Is it any wonder that Fitz takes out his anger and frustration on Burrich and Chade, driving them away early on in this book? Fitz is still very young in this third book, probably 18 or 19, although his life experiences trick the reader into thinking he is much older. Is it also any wonder that Fitz makes so many foolish decisions on his initial quest to kill Regal? I had to keep reminding myself that he had just returned from death and was so blinded by vengeance, as well as an inability to think straight, that he kept getting lured into different traps.
Sure, I got pretty mad at Fitz for obsessing about Molly and constantly seeking after her when he knew he should let her be for her safety. Who has not obsessed about a first love or a major love, even after they are most certainly gone from your life?
Also, the sections of this book and its two predecessors that include voices of the Witted are magnificent. I loved the section of this book where Black Rolf and his family are introduced. I can only hope we will meet them again in future books.
There's also an interesting evolution of Nighteyes' ability to communicate. Robin Hobb tells us that a Witted pair grows more like each other over time, picking up characteristics from the other, and we do see this as Nighteyes becomes able to communicate much more intricately. He also is able to communicate on some level with Ketricken, which is delightful to watch.
“Why do you chop your life into bits and give the bits names? Hours, days. It is like a rabbit. If I kill a rabbit, I eat a rabbit. When you have a rabbit, you chop it up and call it bones and meat and fur and guts. And so you never have enough.“ “Stop whining about it and just do it. So I can sleep.” We would all be wise to take Nighteyes advice (p.72).
“Trap-trap for Fitz-Wolf. Old Blood knows, Big Ferret said, go with, go with, warn Fitz-Wolf. Rolf-Bear knew your smell. Trap-trap go away.” P. 308 “Snip-snip when he sleeps. Drink his blood like a coney. No more Big Ferret, no more holes, no more coneys. Only Old Blood Hater. Snip-snip.” P. 309. Hell, yeah Little Ferret.
There is indeed some fine satisfaction for Fitz in this book. Each time he kills one of the guards who inflicted so much misery on him in Buckkeep Dungeon and speaks his true name to them during their final breaths, I cheered out loud! Are these not the skills of an assassin?
Again, beyond Fitz, the characterization is excellent. Kettle is a delightful addition and I thoroughly enjoyed her story. The Fool returns, but without the mask of the court jester and a magnificent and true friend to Fitz. We also learn why the Fool traveled so far and sought Fitz out. Although I understand she has been through many horrible ordeals, I did feel that Ketricken could've shown Fitz a little more grace after learning what happened to him. Who else would have risen from the dead to come and help her beloved husband?
Some folks complain that nothing happens in this book. Are they sure they read it??There is an actual resurrection of life, a journey across the Six Duchies into the Mountain Kingdom where we meet a pack of minstrels, go through interesting small villages, meet Old Blood, travel as a shepherd, are captured & escape, eventually get to a rich inland palace, then into a port city and a winter journey with smugglers, jailed and broken out of jail, reunited with an old friend, then up a magical road through magical ghost cities to a garden of stone dragons. And nothing happens??
As I think back upon this book and the entire trilogy, I marvel at the intricate carpet of Robin Hobbs' imagination and what she has given us in these books representing a small percentage of the entire series yet to come!
Not even 50 pages into “The Assassin's Apprentice” and Robin Hobb has taken my heart and punctured it straight through. And again twice more later on, leading me to cry, lose my breath, and immediately vow to read more of this amazing 16-book series.
The characters live and breathe, whether people or animals. The court intrigue twisted and turned, made even more unpredictable by the two sets of magical abilities (the Wit and the Skill). On top of that, mysterious and menacing red ships lay waste to the coastlines Forging people into near zombies.
There are beautifully written passages, so well done that I can smell the salt spray of waves crashing against the cliffs outside Buckkeep or smell the herbs in the chandlery.
The 25th Anniversary illustrated edition is a real pleasure and I was lucky to get it from a local library. Even without the lovely illustrations, the book would be amazing.
A popular fiction book club at my local library chose this book for the March 2025 meeting. After reading the synopsis, it put me in mind of another book, “The Other Wes Moore.” While this book does follow a different path, there is the commonality of considering how different life is for someone who also shares some of your name.
I had not heard about this book before, which is sort of surprising because I would've thought I'd heard the related “This American Life” podcast (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/492/transcript). I certainly intend to listen to it now that I finished the book.
The first 40% or so of the book moved along a clip and was full of suspense. In fact, this book reads more like a suspense book then what one usually expects from nonfiction books. And it was relatively easy to read.
Once we learn that the other Dr. Gilmer (Vince) had Huntington's disease, the book ratcheted down to a much slower pace. To be fair, that could be because it took years and years for the author and a team of lawyers and medical experts to work on a clemency application to Virginia's governor for Dr. Vince Gilmore.
Huntington's disease is truly horrible. My Aunt's second husband's family has it: my uncle‘s first wife, one of his daughters, and one of his grandsons have/had Huntington's and it is a horrible thing to watch happen to somebody. At one point, Dr. Benjamin Gilmore describes Huntington‘s as Lou Gehrig's plus Parkinson's plus Alzheimer's. And that's a pretty accurate summation from my experience (my Gran had Lou Gehrig's).
It is the last third of the book that also includes more of Dr. Benjamin Gilmer's crises of conscience and disappointed expectations. Again, when you work and work then wait and wait and wait, your mind has nothing to do but spin. From a purely critical perspective, this section could have been tightened up a little. But, this Dr. Gilmer does seem to truly care about his patients, family, and particularly the other Dr. Gilmer who had an unfair trial.
Personal aside: It was l fun to hear Dr. Benjamin Gilmer mention wonderful Asheville gems I'd been to (before the horrific 2024 flood).
I went into this book expecting a relatively cozy, witchcenttic romantasy and I got none of those. Truly one of the most boring books I've read in awhile despite a really cute cover and oodles of rave reviews.
From the beginning, every character, from a 10 year old to folks in their 50s and 60s all speak with the same flat language. Norwich, where most of the book is set, has particular slang and speech patterns that don't show up at all. Shouldn't at least Lucie, a woman in her 50s, throw in a few colloquialisms (especially considering that the author lives in that area of England and surely talks to people on her area)? A precocious child is fine in a book, but children who sounds exactly like adults and asks questions that sheltered kids who've never left their compound certainly would not ask didn't ring true. And the psychopathic Terracotta? Was she supposed to be cute?
Stormy grey eyes are not a character trait. Scowling can only be read so many times before a reader starts ignoring the word. The “romance” did not hit at all and I think the book would have been better without it. Once in awhile, can we not disprove Harry (of “When Harry Met Sally”), that men and women can be friends?
This is yet another book where the found family trope is too forced. If the characters had been more fleshed out or differentiated, perhaps it could have worked. Lots of folks compare this book to TJ Klune's “The House on the Cerulean Sea.” And I can see why. The difference is that the characters in THOTCS were well-developed, the fantastical/magic elements were relatively unique, and the relationships between the characters evolved.
At the 40% mark, I realized the book wasn't going to improve, so I skimmed the rest and confirmed my opinion over and over. There was so much potential, but it was not to be.
I'm certain I would have enjoyed “The Partly-Cloudy Patriot” more if I'd read it when it came out 22 years ago. It is interesting to take a time machine of sorts to snarky, left-leaning commentaries about George W. Bush's first term when Bill Clinton's Presidency wasn't such a distant memory (Bill doesn't get an easy pass from Sarah either). The thing to know before diving in is that this is a collection of barely-related essays unlike the very cohesive “Assassination Vacation.”
What I always enjoy about Sarah Vowell's pieces are historical footnotes that she expands into observations about the quirks of the political system & figures, how odd the US really is, and human weirdsies. In fact, I have sought out historical sites based on a mention in other books of Sarah's.
I have a somewhat personal bone to pick with Ms. Vowell. There's an essay about the underground lunchroom at Carlsbad National Park, specifically the evils of such a thing. Although I could see discontinuing microwave use or certain types of foods, it was actually pretty cool. Plus, if you opt out of the elevator from the visitor center, having a place to take a break and have a snack is really nice. There also aren't that many places for groups to congregate if the Big Room group seating is in use. How much harm would smashing the cafeteria to bits cause?
The audiobook includes several guest readers in a definition to Sarah's characteristic voice, with music thrown in by They Might Be Giants.
According to my own review of Charles Portis' “Norwood,” I had already read “True Grit.” After receiving a copy from the library for an upcoming classics book club, I opened up the book to refresh myself and found that I had, indeed, not read this book!
And I'm super happy I finally have. Mattie Ross is one of the best characters I've read in a long time. It is something wonderful to follow a 14-year-old girls trail of revenge, and meet all the people she does in what was then the Wild West (Eastern Arkansas). And to hear it all recounted from her at least 25-year vantage point and in her often-deadpan voice, which is sometimes uproariously funny and sometimes utterly tragic.
Honestly, there's a lot to say about this rip-roaring book, but the best thing is just to read it yourself!
On an interesting personal note, I happened to be in Northeastern Arkansas for a family party, so it was interesting to try imagining 1870s Arkansas before Federal highways and modern conveniences.
https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/nea-big-read/true-grit
If you are a fan of mid-to-late-1930s screwball comedies like “My Man Godfrey,” early Ginger Roger's & Fred Astaire musicals, or even “The Thin Man” series, this book will be up your alley. People are constantly popping in, grabbing a drink, and popping out in an alcoholic haze after a few bon mots.
To our modern eyes, the casually racist remarks thrown about are hard to read. However, that is how people of both Miss Pettigrew's and Miss LaFosse's set spoke at the time. That doesn't mean that the book isn't worth reading, but it may completely turn off some readers.
Although Miss Pettigrew is 40, this is her coming-of-age/Cinderella story, where she realizes she's more than a stack of platitudes and mildly ineffectual skills as a governess enmeshed in the brown drab of a spinster. All of that wrapped in the confusion and excitement-filled life of Delysia LaFosse and her cavalcade of suitors. It's a fun ride!
Minutes ago, I finished Katherine Arden's “The warm Hands of Ghosts,” and I'm still trying to catch my breath. This book is not for the faint-of-heart or your typical beach read, but it is worth it, no matter how haunted it leaves you.
Having loved the author's previous “Bear and the Nightingale“ series, I was very intrigued that she had chosen a story during the last few years of World War I. I did not realize how raw and gritty the book would be, perhaps, because I had some expectations that the fantastical elements of the other series would reappear. That is not a criticism against this book, but against my expectations going in. What is common between this and her other books is her great skill in taking you to a place, where you can see, smell, hear, and touch.
At first, I had a hard time getting into the characters and I think it's because both Laura and her brother, Freddie, weren't always fully in the present moment, sometimes jarred back to horrific scenes of war or the aftermath in field hospitals in the middle of sentences or thoughts. Both of them, like so many other people returning from war, were shattered by what they experienced.
Unfortunately, I only met one of my Great Grandparents who had served as in World War I; the others had passed away before I was born. I would've been interested to hear my Moravian Great Grandfather‘s stories; he deserted and was imprisoned in a castle for a chunk of the war. I probably wouldn't be here if he hadn't done so. As I read this book, I pictured each of them and imagined what they may have went through.
And after reading this book, as well as Robert Graves' “Goodbye to All That” and some of Wilfred Owen's poems, the terrifically awful tragedy of the Great War was amplified. The descriptions of trench and hospital life seem like something out of a horror movie, not something that could possible happened to so many of our ancestors. But it did. Not to be outdone by the horrific actuality of that war, Katherine Arden wove in the sinister fiddler, one of the more evil and mysterious villains I've read in a long time. I won't say too much about that party if the story because it's better to read it yourself.
The Author's Note, as well as a post in Goodreads (wouldn't recommend reading those before reading the book) delve into Arden's struggle to write this book, as well as some of the inspirations. Her journey to complete. This book was almost heartbreaking. And now, I look forward to any further books she might be able to share with us.
This lovely middle grade graphic novel is excellent! Every page is a work of art (watercolor for sure, but maybe colored pencils, as well) and is a pleasure to flip through.
There's so many wonderful things to say about this book, from Jordan and her determination and kindness, to beautiful little Marshmallow, to all of other friends and family in the book. And especially showing that there's a place for everyone to shine.
And the book made me cry in public at the library!
My local public library plus two neighboring libraries selected “Bandit Queens” for the 2025 One Book, One Community selection. I even received a free physical copy as part of the program kick-off.
I absolutely loved this book! Parini Shroff takes us from the drudgery of day-to-day life to the humorous heckling between frenemies in a microphone group to the intricacies of the cast system in India to feckless husbands plus so many other places. At the beginning, we meet several of the main characters, who seemed like throwaways. But as the story develops, we really get to know them and they become much more fleshed out.
It's so hard to write a review and not give away the plot, some of which I wouldn't see coming before we took a left or right turn. Basically, buckle up! At some point, I plan to read this book again because it was that good.