Category Archives: Authors

Old and New

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I haven’t been reading very much:  sewing cushions for my rattan chairs, gardening, planning a couple of social activities, Zumba and dithering over which pictures to put where have been taking up most of my time.  My latest project is sewing a blouse, which is not going to turn out very well but is good practice for future sewing projects.

For preparing, planting and caring for our front flower bed and container plants, The Southern Living Garden Book (my book) is a detailed, helpful reference.  I bought this book almost ten years ago, the first time we lived in Charleston, and I’m glad I kept it all these years.

I finished Tinker,Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the end of the book is so perfect in an ambiguous sort of way that I got all cross again thinking about the butchered ending of this year’s movie.   I am tempted to start (re)reading The Honourable Schoolboy (my book, a UK edition), the next book in the Smiley/Karla trilogy, but I’m thinking I should try to read more books that are new to me.  After Tinker, Tailor, I re-read Enigma, by Robert Harris (my book).  This is a thriller about the British cryptologists at Bletchley Park who broke the German Enigma machine’s codes during World War 2.  Robert Harris is a terrific writer, so the book is much more gripping than it sounds.  Then I started The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (my book), another re-read.  I read this book not long after it was published in the late Eighties, and I remembered how much I liked it but not much of the novel’s details.  About halfway through, it is a wonderful story about Macon Leary, a stuffy isolated man who is mourning the murder of his son and subsequent breakup of his marriage, while trying to deal with his strange family, strange job and bad-tempered corgi Edward.  There is a nutty dog trainer named Muriel who helped Macon with Edward for a while, but, at this point in the novel, she has been banished for bad behavior of her own.  I’m enjoying the book, but it seems dated.  It’s strange to read what is essentially a contemporary popular novel without cell phones and the Internet.  This is when I started thinking that I should read more books that are not only new to me, but new in the sense of recently written.  I’m still going to finish Tourist, because it is a good book and Macon is a well-written character in spite of having no cell phone.

I have another book going which is (yes!) both new and by extension new to me:  The Bollywood Breakup Agency, by Naina Gupta.  I found this $0.99 Kindle book on Amazon yesterday while I was looking for another book and bought it through the magic of 1-click.  Amazon reviewers described it as a chick-lit book about a modern Indian girl trying to thwart her parents’ efforts to make an arranged marriage for her.  I’m about 5% into the book, just getting to the part of the story that will explain the title of the book, and so far it’s a light entertaining read.  The heroine is spoiled but cute, and her family life in the UK with her traditional family and Indian soap operas is interesting.  I think I’ll get my $0.99 worth out of this one. 

I did read and finish another book that was new to me:  The Man with a Load of Mischief, by Martha Grimes.  I bought this book after I read a positive review of Martha Grimes’ latest book in her Richard Jury mystery series.  I hadn’t read any books in this series, and decided to start with the first one, The Man with a Load of Mischief.  I found it very slow, with a lot of intricate detail about the detective, his eventual sidekick and all the murder suspects.  The motive for the murder was a very good twist, but the actual resolution of the mystery was bland.  I don’t plan to buy more of these, although I might try another one if I can find the series at the library.

In between these books, I read the anthology Malice Domestic 9, edited by Joan Hess (my book).  I thought all the stories were good and pleasant reading.  Not all the anthologies in this series are equally strong, but this is one of the better ones.  I also dipped into mysteries by one of my favorite need-to-read authors, Dick Francis.  I own a stack of his horse-racing mysteries, and I still get fun out of dipping into some of my favorites to take a break from books that need my full attention.  Dick Francis was a celebrated steeplechase jockey, so the racing details in the books are accurate and exciting, but it seems that his famous name and knowledge of racing are his main contributions to the books, with most of the writing actually done by his wife Mary, then by one of their sons after Mary’s death.  The family that wrote together made a lot of money and entertained a lot of people with the books, and it is good that Mary is getting some recognition now for her writing skill. 

Now before I pick up Robert Harris’ Fatherland to re-read it, I need to get to the library with my long booklist and find something new to read!  

 

Finished some books

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Since I wrote my first three posts on March 1, I have finished some books, bought some books, started some books AND managed to get my blog about reading books to display on the Interwebs.  (If you want to start a blog, I have some tips.)  This post is about the books I have finished:

I finished one book that was on hiatus:  We Meant Well: How I helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, by Peter van Buren (Kindle).  This book is a personal, heartfelt account of the author’s frustrations with the prescribed methods of nation-building in Iraq, where he had a Foreign Service assignment on a Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT).  Just after I finished the book, I read a news article saying that the State Department has taken action to fire Peter van Buren from the Foreign Service.  Nearly all of the reasons cited for firing him have to do with a blog he has kept since his book was published last fall.  My take as a retired Foreign Service Officer (FSO):  the things he did on his blog were stupid and ugly and wouldn’t be acceptable from any FSO.  However, his book is important and interesting; the things he writes about might be embarrassing to State and Defense, but the wacky processes he describes for spending appropriated funds (“the taxpayers money”) ring true.

I finished current book Underfoot in Show Business, by Helene Hanff (my book), an autobiography of the author’s experiences writing for the NYC theater in the 1940s, and writing for television in the 1950s.  Funny, sweet, realistic, great storytelling.  Helene Hanff’s most famous book is 84, Charing Cross Road, about the books she ordered from a used book shop in London after WW2.  The book is short, in the form of letters between Helene and the bookshop, and has cult status with many book lovers.  84, Charing Cross Road, and Q’s Legacy, another autobiographical book, are still in print.  Ms. Hanff’s other books are available through Amazon’s used book sellers.

I also finished Flashman on the March, by George MacDonald Fraser (library book), and actually returned the book to the library before it was due.  I had put Flashman aside for many years, because the bigoted bombast from him and his curmudgeonly creator Mr. MacDonald Fraser finally got to me, but really, given the obnoxious tone of current public discourse, I’ve toughened up a lot.  In their favor, the Flashman books are intelligent, historically accurate and funny, the exact opposite of the aforementioned obnoxious current public discourse.  I got so enthusiastic about my renewed interest in the irascible George MacDonald Fraser that I ordered his book The Hollywood History of the World (from an Amazon used book seller) and started reading a book of his short stories, The Sheikh and the Dustbin (my book), based on his experiences in the British Army.  These books are interesting and clever, but just don’t have the charisma and dash of awful Harry Flashman.  I think I’ll start with Flashman, the first book in the series, and read through them again.  Yes, I still have all of them. 

Away all Boats and Midnight Rising are still in hiatus.  Still reading Ireland in fits and starts.

Current books, March 1, 2012

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I only have three books going now, probably because my main book, Flashman on the March, George MacDonald Fraser’s final Flashman book, includes several of the characteristics I like: history, adventure, humor, great storytelling.  “Flashman on the March” is set during the British military expedition into Abyssinia in 1868 to rescue European hostages held by the mad emperor Theodore.  I haven’t read a Flashman book in quite a while, but I read that MacDonald Fraser published this one shortly before his death, and fortunately the library had a copy.  There is a formula to these books:  Flashman - cad, coward, womaniser, shameless self-promoter – finds himself thrown into a real 19th century historical event and experiences the utmost of intrigue, seduction, danger, torture and battle that the history will allow.   Flashman is a bigoted, foul-mouthed untrustworthy witness to history, so the author provides lengthy historical notes at the back of the book with accurate information on the real people and situations that appear in the story.  All very clever and entertaining, although the author sometimes lets Flashman run off at the mouth too long. 

  • MacDonald Fraser is one of the best swashbuckling adventure writers ever:  he wrote the scripts for the great 1973 “Three/Four Musketeers” movies with Michael York and Faye Dunaway.  
  • Theodore and the British rescue mission make up most of The Blue Nile by Alan Moorehead, a classic of history.  It, along with Moorehead’s The White Nile are coincidentally in the revolving bookcase, high on the reread roster. 

My other two books are Underfoot in Show Business, by Helene Hanff, a paperback ragged from repeated reading, and Horrible Histories Ireland by Terry Deary.  Horrible Histories is a British series of smartass, irreverent history books for children, usually pretty accurate, with lots of funny drawings, silly quizzes, disgusting historical recipes and suitable amounts of blood and gore.  I always pick some of these up when I’m in the UK, and have quite a collection.

Recently read books (March 1, 2012)

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In no particular order, here are some memorable books I’ve read recently:

The Little Women Letters, by Gabrielle Donnelly (library book).  A novel that imagines the lives of three sisters descended from Jo March, the main character in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”.  The sisters live in London near their American mother and English father, and have personalities and experiences similar to Jo, Meg and Amy from “Little Women”.  The modern day narrative is interspersed with letters from Jo that one of the sisters finds in the attic.  I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would.  I recognized Jo’s voice and many of my favorite “Little Women” memories in the letters, and the modern day sisters’ lives were interesting enough to keep my attention.

  • I need to watch “Little Women” (the one with Susan Sarandon, Winona Rider and Gabriel Byrne) again.

My Year with Eleanor:  A Memoir, by Noelle Hancock (library book).  A nonfiction book about a young journalist, floundering after she loses her cool social media job, who is inspired by a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.  Noelle follows Eleanor’s advice to “Do one thing every day that scares you”, starting with trapeze lessons and ending with a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.  She shares some good information about Eleanor Roosevelt’s life, as well as a lot of personal information about her own.  Surprisingly, I found Noelle’s life and her search for courage pretty interesting too. 

  • I liked the movie “Julie and Julia” (based on a book I haven’t read), and this book has a similar structure and theme.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Kindle).  A teenage girl living in a grim and dismal future North America must participate in a game of survival to the death.  This book passed my Kindle test:  it was engaging enough to keep me reading one page after another to the end.  This is against the grain for me, and the main reason I don’t really love my Kindle.  I am a confirmed forward and back page flipper even with books I’m enjoying, and will brazenly read the end and abandon a book if I get bored with it.  I bought the other two books in the trilogy for my Kindle, but so far the second book hasn’t drawn me in.

  • After I read this book, I became aware of all the excitement and anticipation for “The Hunger Games” movie.  I’m also looking forward to seeing it.

Boy and Going Solo, by Roald Dahl (my books).  Two autobiographical books about Roald Dahl’s childhood (Boy) and his first job, in Tanzania – Tanganyika at that time – and his World War 2 service in the British air force (Going Solo).  I started rereading “Boy” as we were getting ready for our post-retirement move from northern Virginia, and brought “Going Solo” to our new home, also a reread.  I’ve read these books several times, and always enjoy them.  Dahl’s real life – his family, friends and experiences – are more engaging to me than his fiction, which I find a little heavy on the snark.  I especially liked his account of living in pre-WW2 Tanganyika, and dealing with the German population as the war began.

  • Now I need to watch “Nowhere in Africa” again, an excellent movie about a girl whose German Jewish family seeks refuge from Hitler’s Germany in East Africa.

The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara (my book).  I’ve read this before, and agreed with the novel’s stellar reputation, but I’d forgotten what a great book it is.  Shaara selected the perfect Civil War characters from both Union and Confederate sides to tell the story of the battle of Gettysburg.  Just the right amount of detail, just the right amount of emotion. 

  • After I finished the book, I wanted to watch “Gettysburg” again, bought the blu-ray extended version and spent four-plus mesmerized hours watching it.
  • I’ve also read “Gods and Generals” by Michael Shaara’s son Jeff.  This prequel to “Angels” is good, I own a copy but it’s not high on my reread list.  The movie “Gods and Generals” is pretty bad, won’t watch it again. 

Three Day Town, by Margaret Maron (Kindle).  This is the most recent book in one of my favorite mystery series, Maron’s ‘Deborah Knott’ series.  Deborah is a judge in a rural county in North Carolina, I’ve read all the books, and always enjoy reading about her and her friends and relations.  This book is set in New York City, and combines the lead characters from Margaret Maron’s two series, Deborah Knott and Sigrid Harald, who is an NYC homicide detective.  Not one of Ms. Maron’s strongest books, but I love her mysteries so much I bought this for my Kindle the day it was published.