I was inspired to read this book after my recent, and first, visit to the JFK Presidential Library in Boston, MA. This year was also the 60th anniversary of his tragic death. As the name not so subtly indicates, this is about the roughly three months leading up to his death; however, it is also deceptive as it also covers some of the major events and policies of his term in office and major events from his personal life.
Thurston Clarke meticulously researched this book - given the depth of what is covered and its detail, it must have taken quite some time - and yet, it wasn't terribly dry or boring. Clarke also doesn't shy away from the seamier and more...awkward...parts of JFK's personal life, such as his womanizing and his relationship with Jackie, including his cruelty to her after the death of a daughter in 1956 (when he was on a cruise that he nearly refused to cut short to return home to her - it still took him three days after their child's death to return). In the last three months of his life, Clarke recounts how his relationship with Jackie was transformed, in relation to the death of their son, Patrick (who is younger then John John and Caroline). Also, Clarke details his transformation in domestic and foreign policies, particularly with regards to Cuba/USSR and civil rights. Based upon this book, I often wonder if we would have been entangled in Vietnam for as long as we were, if at all, if JFK had not died and had won a second term.
The book was a good mix of anecdotes, which were the most interesting for me, and political discourse. It wasn't too heavy handed and didn't get bogged down in too much political maneuvering or chatter. I liked getting a peak into the personality of a man that is somewhat legend for that period of history. This was a compelling and digestible book about the man, that I would encourage all to add to their collection.
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I read this book because it was suggested by one of my favorite Podcasts: Women and Crime. I'm a Patreon member, and they do a book club, and this was the recent pick for it. It is right up my alley - I read and enjoyed Killers of the Flower Moon so this was right up my alley. In this book, a young white oil worker named Kristopher Clarke ("KC") goes missing from a reservation that is experiencing an oil boom. Lissa Yellow Bird, a Native woman with no connection to KC decides she's going to find out what happened to him. This book chronicles her search.
Murdoch, I don't think, had intended to write this book. She is a journalist who was traveling to the oil fields in North Dakota to chronicle the oil boom on the reservations there and just happened to stumble upon this. During the course of her impeccable, on site, research, she became friends with Lissa, her family and children and Lissa's friends. Lissa was a natural person to investigate - she is a member of the tribes that live on the reservation and she has a dogged mentality that led to her getting obsessed with this case and trying to follow it through to the end. Lissa herself is as complicated as the case was - she's an addict and that addiction impacted her parenting. Having said that, she was a very protective mother and she tried to do the best that she could under the circumstances. She often felt alone and alienated on the reservation, which contributed to the choices she made.
What I loved about this book was how it combined the search for answers related to a crime with the impact of the boom on the people that lived with it. Murdoch weaves these two stories together in a masterful way. Her research is very deep. We learned about the skyrocketing violence and crime that resulted from the boom due to Murdoch's research and about the pain that the people living with the oil experience. I also loved learning about some of the ancestry of the tribe that Lissa is a apart of. She often talks about the land, her connection to it and how that connection has been severed.
Definitely a must read.
I have heard that people like this novel, but having completed it, I'm not sure that I do. It seems to be a long, pointless novel that jumps from one scene to another in a very jerking manner. In this novel, we meet Selin, a freshman at Harvard. The year is 1995 - so the internet, email and the like are completely new. Selin begins corresponding via email with Ivan, a senior Mathematics major that is Hungarian and trying to decide where to go to graduate school. When Ivan goes home for the summer, Selin follows - as Ivan is the VERY bland love interest of the novel.
The characters are flat and lifeless - I could care less about all of them, including Selin and especially Ivan. I didn't have any connection with them. At all. Communication between the characters is very, very tense and anxious - meaning that it seems like all the characters have social anxiety of some degree as opposed to building the tension to lead up to a certain moment where it all comes together. In this novel, it never really comes together in that way. What I did appreciate is that the novel attempted to explore what teenagers seem to do - test opinions and actions to see what they and who they really are. THe novel did that very, very well through Selin, who in those moments was earnest and introspective. Through Selin, Batuman tries to offer us an exploration of the complexity of language and technology - sometimes it does that and sometimes it falls flat on its face. The most important lesson that I learned from reading this novel was that I prefer plot driven novels with well developed characters.
Hard pass.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope that everyone is having a good weekend!
It's wintertime weather wise here so I've updated the picture! Last weekend, my fiancée and I relayed the Manchester City Half. I'm starting to train for a spring half - probably this one but maybe this one.
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I got this book out of the library after things escalated majorly in the Middle East last month. This is a memoir by Sandy Tolan, a journalist who travelled to the Middle East at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Arab Israeli war. Through this memoir, Tolan follows two families - the Al-Khairis and the Eshkenazis - one Jewish and one Palestinian - on both sides of the conflict. Tolan starts the story masterfully with 25 year old Bashir meeting 25 year old Dalia at the home she lives in, and which once belonged to Bashir's family. Dalia surprises Bashir by inviting him in and entertaining him while he views the home that once belonged to his family. As a result, they begin an unlikely and open friendship.
In light of the escalation of war in the Middle East, I wanted to learn more about the history of the conflict. This book seemed to be very well researched and intertwined the history with the stories of these two families. The context that the history gave to the friendship was highly effective. It was incredible to watch the relationship develop between Dalia and Bashir and was remarkable to observe the level and depth of their respectful discussions. I enjoyed vicariously absorbing their debates and I really appreciated the history that was provided.
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I hope that everyone had a great Halloween!
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I thought that I would be reading another Secret History type mystery that is a coming of age at a college - this time Harvard. Maybe it would be historical too. But it wasn't really about any of those things.
Cady Archer is first met on her moving in day - she's a freshman at Harvard. Her brother, Eric, was also a student there but we learn right off the bat that he was a schizophrenic that committed suicide the academic year before Cady starts. Quite a legacy. So when Cady starts hearing voices on her first day of class - voices that belong to people that have an historical connection to the university - Cady learns not only about the university, but about the voices themselves and they seem to guide her too. THey also lead Cady to question whether she really belongs at the university and make her scared that she is suffering from the onset of the same mental health issues that beset her brother. Cady travels around Harvard, and the area of Cambridge around it, in the hopes of figuring out what happened to her brother.
This novel blends together a number of different genres: coming of age, drama, mystery, thriller. It dealt with issues related to suicide and mental health: treatment, what happens when a person doesn't want treatment, the impact of suicide on families, survivor guilt. It also deals with history: who gets to tell the story, and why is the story being told the way it is? One of the ghosts, for instance, was a slave named Bilhah, who was a real person that was owned by one of the first Presidents of the university. We learn about the horror of her story during her interactions with Cady, and we learn about how Harvard has seemingly glossed over that portion of its history.
I generally enjoyed the portrayals of the history of the university and I definitely appreciated the way that Ms. Serritella (who is the daughter of author Lisa Scottoline) dealt with the issues related to mental health. It was not overbearing at all and, at times, was heartbreaking but realistic. It was a quick and easy read, although it could have been about 50-75 pages shorter.
Definitely worth the read, but one to get from your library and not your local bookstore.
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This past weekend was very, very busy with my son rowing and I felt like all I did was drive around with my kids. Anyways, hopefully this weekend will be better for relaxing!
This book was a re-read for me - I read it years ago and thought it was worth a re-read. I love reading books about schools in the fall. This book was, in part, inspired by Greek mythology, the Greek language, and New England colleges - it takes place in Vermont. And it's no secret - right in the prologue we know that the narrator (Richard) and his classmates have committed a murder and the novel traces both the lead up to the murder, as well as what happens afterwards.
Richard has fled an unfulfilling existence in California and enrolls in Hampden College in Vermont, where he starts taking classes with an elusive professor and his equally elusive small (like a group of 5) group of students. Richard always never quite become an insider in the group, in spite of the steps that he takes to help the group. In part, it is because of his background - which is not affluent when compared to the group that he has gained entry to. Bunny, the victim of the homicide, not only shows apathy in needling Richard but also shows an astounding deafness to the seriousness of subjects to the other members of the group, which causes strain and ultimately his death.
I loved the plot - it is almost Greek Tragedy-esque - and the location. A New England campus in late winter/spring and summer is beautiful and melancholy. But what also drew me in was how Tartt seemed to expose things like loneliness, depression and isolation as well as mental health struggles and alcoholism in an environment where one is supposedly surrounded by like minded people and friends. The pacing of the novel was really good too and even at 500+ pages, it went quickly.
So good and worth the read or re-read.
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For a really long time - about ten years or so - people in California were terrorized by a man that broke into their homes, bound them and committed other acts of violence against them. The geographic breadth of these crimes was tremendous - this person was active in both Northern California and also Southern California and this person was known by a number of names - the Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker (not to be confused with Richard Ramirez) and, ultimately, the Golden State Killer. This book was Michelle McNamara's posthumous chronicle of her attempts to identify the killer. She became obsessed with the case and, at the time of her death at 46, had amassed boxes and boxes of materials on the case.
This book is, in part, a memoir as it is a chronicle of police procedure. McNamara talks about her obsession, the rabbit holes and her relationship with her mother. I enjoyed the balance that she brought to this aspect of the book, and I enjoyed the humor that she also brought to it. Perhaps that is because humor is how I deal with particularly stressful or upsetting topics myself, but I found it humanizing of the author and a nice touch. THere were parts of the story that I had never known before - police investigated 8000 (yes, eight thousand) suspects for this case and only recently (as in during Covid) were able to arrest the person that they knew was the GSK. The breadth of this man's crimes was absolutely breathtaking. He was averaging two sexual assaults per month and the amount of work that went into scoping out victims was mindboggling.
Not only were the crimes tragic, but the backstory of this book is also tragic. McNamara died at 46, before completing the book and before learning that the GSK had been identified, arrested and convicted. The book was completed in a somewhat piecemeal fashion with others piecing together chapters as best they could - there are parts of the book that clearly identify what parts were pieced together. Those parts were definitely not as smoothly written, thought that isn't anyone's fault certainly. I still really enjoyed this book and find that it's a worthwhile read. There is also an HBO series that I intend to watch.
Highly recommended.
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Last weekend, we went to Sawyer Pond. We were also dealing with some sickness - I'm not sure what it was but my son had it and then I had it. I think we're on the mend a bit but I need one more day to rest and another good night of sleep. These electrolytes, which I just started drinking, helped me to stay hydrated. I love the watermelon flavor. Today I'm looking forward to watching football (perhaps unsurprisingly, nmy nearly 13 year old wants to watch the KC Chiefs play the Jets...Swiftie much?) and making stew in the crockpot and resting.
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Up until the age of 8, Rachel Snyder was living a typical and somewhat happy life. She grew up in a warm home, with a Jewish mother and Christian father eating brie and hummus. But then her mother died of cancer, pretty much in front of her. Rachel was there the day her mother drew her last breath and the EMT's took her away. That's when Rachel's life was turned upside down and her father transported her to an evangelical lifestyle, a new mother, and casseroles with mini hotdogs in it for food. It also included beatings with a paddle (one of which was so hard the paddle broke), a new "mom," and no life outside of the Church, such that no music but Christian music was allowed type of no life. The author is kicked out of her home at 16 and forced to support herself. Snyder eventually gets her GED and a college education, during which time she does a Semester at Sea, paid in part by her mother's brother.
Snyder's descriptions are harrowing to be sure and I would not recommend reading this if that triggers you, even though Snyder's way of describing her abuse has a degree of serenity and tranquility that implies much therapeutic work on her part. She has obviously achieved a deep sense of peace with her past. I did wish that she confronted and pushed her father more and held him more accountable for the absolutely horrific way that he treated her and the other children in the family. Somehow, though, she's gracious while at the same time being angry. It's as if she's sad for him while also being mad as hell.
The one complaint that I had about the book was that it seemed to end too neatly. Lives are messy, even when they're not as complicated as Snyder's. I wonder if she truly felt that way or if she was just struggling to end the book and couldn't figure out how. Having said that though, if that's my only complaint, then it was still a pretty damn good book! Highly recommended.
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This was the first Whitehead novel I read, but it's the fourth that he had published. School is out and 15 year old Benji spends the summer of 1985 in Sag Harbor, a hamlet in the Hamptons, for the entire summer with his brother, Reggie. This novel chronicles the summer months of 1985. Benji and Reggie essentially escape their all white prep school in Manhattan for the SANS part of Sag Harbor.
This is not really a coming of age novel, but more of an identity growth novel. What does it mean, to Benji, to be black and wealthy in the mid-80's? What does it mean to go to the Hamptons? He is often seemingly torn by the white culture and his identity as a Black Man. He finds himself encountering aspects of Black History - WEB Dubois and other aspects - finding that he does not know all about them and being afraid to ask for fear of not Black enough or proud enough of his Black heritage. The Black kids that work with Benji at the local ice cream shop debate whether Martine (their boss, who is from the Dominican) is Black or White or something else.
I loved reading about the experiences that Benji had growing up in the same places that I did and I found myself laughing at a few of the things that the boys did - one of which involved a BB gun and nearly shooting ones eyes out. Well worth the read!
For the first week in August, I was in Cape Cod! WE found Tim's Books - the place pictured above - in Provincetown.
Here are some of my links:
Hello! Yay - we made it! Next Sunday I likely won't have a links because my family and I will be on vacation in Cape Cod. Hopefully this means more reading and more reviews when I get back! Last weekend, I hiked Mt. Osceola and am nearly halfway done in bagging my 48 4000 footers in NH!
Until then, enjoy! Next Sunday, I probably won't have a links page since we'll be on vacation.
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When talking to my fiancée about this doorstop of a novel, I usually begin by calling it a "kind of sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula." In this novel, we follow the stories of an Oxford Professor, the Professor's student and the student's daughter as they all attempt to find Dracula's tomb. The story begins in 1972 when the daughter finds letters that the Professor wrote in the 1930's. The Professor is convinced that Vlad the Impaler - AKA Dracula - is undead and is still wandering around, and he wants to hunt him down. During the course of his search, the Professor disappears, prompting a decades long pursuit of him and research on Dracula, including where is tomb might be.
What I appreciated was that, even at 700 pages, the books is pretty well paced. It doesn't drag and it doesn't move too fast. Kostova's alternating between viewpoints is very effective as well. Even though the novel seemed to focus more on the history of Vlad the Impaler , she didn't make the story full of gore - it was pretty tense at points. Not quite scary but neck pricks for sure. It was definitely an ambitious novel but I enjoyed the writing style and it wasn't typical for a vampire novel. Very plot driven. I would definitely read her next novel.
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I was about a chapter in when I realized that this was the second book in a series but oh well - I was able to read it as a stand alone, which was reassuring! I picked it up because I'm very familiar with the area having spent most summers there since I was three (I'm 44 now). It's written by Sunny Hostin, a familiar face for those of you who watch ABC.
Sag Harbor is an actual place on the East End of Long Island and within that village, there's a enclave known as SANS - Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest and Ninevah - an historically Black community. It was the part of the village where the free Native American and Black people lived in colonial times and in modern times, many Black families have purchased homes in that enclave. It's very close knit and beautiful. In this book, Olivia inherits a home in SANS. At the same time, developers discovered SANS and are moving to "gentrify" the area (also a very current and important real life event). When Olivia gets there, she's mourning the loss of her Godfather, a man that she loved but who she also realized kept a lot of information about her own family from her (causing her to grieve that relationship as well). As the result, she's motivated to find out what happened to her family, including the death of her father as a police officer and she does it from SANS. During her time there, she also meets a number of people and reevaluates her purpose in life.
I very much enjoyed this quick read. I enjoyed being able to see the places that Olivia went to in my head because I knew exactly where she was. I could hear the sounds and smell the smells and see what she was seeing. I read this book in one weekend. While it's not complex insofar as the messages it was sending regarding preservation of community, relationships and definitions of family it was effective. Anyone could pick it up and receive the messages.
I don't know that I would read Ms. Hostin's first book, but this one was definitely enjoyable.
We meet Iris Chase Griffen when she is 82 and she is reflecting on the death of her sister, Laura, which occurred approximately 50 years earlier. Initially, it appears that the novel is a memoir, in which Iris is simply writing down her memory of what happened in the hopes that it might be explained to her granddaughter. However, also merged with Iris' narrative is Laura's fiction - a tale of The Blind Assassin which is a science fiction tale. It is deliberately trashy and pulpy - appropriate given that it was the thirties (and this sort of fiction was popular then) and given the contrast with Iris' tale which is very, very proper.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel - I'm not particularly neutral because Atwood is admittedly one of my most favorite authors but this was good. The blending of the stories was very smooth - seamless even - and they provide clues about what is going on insofar as the characters in the story. I loved the themes - which relate to a person's desire to be seen and memorialized, what is the truth and who decides what the truth really is? I enjoyed how Atwood used historical events - such as WW1 and WW2 - as well as the seasons and weather as a backdrop. This allowed me as the reader to fully immerse myself in the lives of the characters and provided me with invaluable context. The layers are complex and interesting.
Definitely worth a read - or two - I intend to re read it again!
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Another few weeks done. I'm way behind on reviews - I have at least two to do. Sorry! I was away during the week of July 4 - we were hiking in the White Mountains. I took the below picture from partway up Zealand Falls. It's my new happy spot.
Have a great upcoming week.
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This was perfect for the Southern Literature Challenge as it takes place in Alabama, mostly. I had sadly never read a book by Ms. Perkins-Valdez even though she has two prior novels that came out in 2010 and 2015. This book was reportedly inspired by the prosecution of the former US Department of Health, Education and Welfare after it failed to protect young Black girls from involuntary sterilization in the wake of Tuskegee. In this novel, Civil Townsend is a 23 year old nurse in Montgomery, Alabama and she has two patients that she sees regularly - India and Erica who are 11 and 13. They live in rural Alabama and are from a poor sharecropping family that lives in a one room shack with a dirt floor in the wake of their mother's death. The two girls are secretly sterilized under Civil's watch.
The novel is deceptive in its simplicity. Ms. Perkins-Valdez has researched the history of the area and the actual acts that form the center of the novel. I loved how Ms. Perkins-Valdez finally brings us the message that Black girls bodies have never been protected by the American experiment (honestly, it's shameful that it has taken so long even though this book is an absolute gem). I loved how the themes of justice, shame, redemption and racism are explored thoroughly. The characters themselves are amazingly developed as well. I enjoyed getting to know them and accompany them on their journeys, difficult as they might be.
Definitely a must read.
I was in The Bookery not too long ago - I love that I work in Manchester now and can go back there more regularly - and I saw this book in the markdown pile and saw that it had gotten some good reviews so I was interested. And it was pretty decent - kept me on my toes that's for sure!
Trust is literally about that and money. It is about how money and it's ability to force things into a narrative that conforms to the narrative that whoever has the money wants it to be. The first section is a novel within a way - the novel within is called Bonds, a novel about a Wall Street tycoon named Benjamin Rask and his wife, Helen. During the twenties, Rask gathers money and Helen becomes a patron of the arts. Then the Crash of 1929 occurs and Rask is demonized and ostracized as is Helen (she's more ostracized then demonized). The last chapters of the novel within the novel are about Helen's time in a sanitorium in Switzerland where she's dealing with mania and eczema so bad that her skin bleeds. The next section is in kind of a direct contrast - we learn about Ida Partenza, her job as the secretary for another Wall Street mogul named Andrew Bevel and her ghostwriting of his memoir. Bevel's life forms the basis of the novel Bonds, which infuriates him because, in large part, he's not controlling the narrative. He's so infuriated he's used his money to have all the copies removed from NY's Public Libraries.
It was an interesting and creative but at the end of the day it was not the best novel that I have ever read. I found the sections of ghostwritten notes very hard to read and tough to slog through, although I loved Partenza's part. I haven't discounted reading Diaz's other novel, however, as by all accounts that one is better.
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This is the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, and is set 15 or 16 years after the end of the Handmaid's Tale. We meet three narrators - two young girls and one old and familiar woman - Aunt Lydia. Aunt Lydia is, as one would know if you had read the book or seen the show, the head "gender norm" enforcer who, behind her demeanor of anything for Gilead, actually is pretty pissed at the country. We learn about her backstory and how she became an aunt - a truly horrifying story of murder and torture.
This novel, like The Handmaid's Tale, styles itself as a primary source - with chapters alternating between a written manifesto of sorts and witness testimony. There are three people involved - Aunt Lydia and two young women (one who grew up in Gilead and the other in Canada). Unlike The Handmaid's Tale, which chronicles a life of horrifically enforced passivity, The Testaments is about action. It's less speculative and dystopian and more of a mystery/action story. I actually preferred Handmaid's Tale because I liked the depth of the character of Offred and wondering what motivated people fascinated me. I think that Atwood wrote this book to actually dovetail with the series and intended it to be read in conjunction with watching the Hulu TV series. What I did appreciate was learning more about Aunt Lydia - but it was because I learned about her motivations and reasons for her collaboration and about her backstory. I enjoyed learning about her immensely because I had so reviled her in the first installment.
Having said that, I'm still glad that I read this novel but I wouldn't run to get it again.
Happy holidays! This week is a big one and I hope that everyone enjoys! I've been slogging through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...
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