What are you reading the week of May 4, 2024?

I'm about three quarters of the way through Jacques Ellul's Propaganda:The Formation of Men's Attitudes. It's an interesting book, but he defines propaganda so broadly that it effectively encompasses all public discourse, from political campaigns to public school education. One can see his point, but for Ellul, all propaganda is destructive. I just worry that taking his argument too far will lead to intellectual and moral paralysis.

Having finished up The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, switching things up with The Science of Roman History. Jack Four and Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin will come after that.

I've just finished a fun baseball history, Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History by Cait Murphy. Murphy makes a pretty good case for the "greatest year in baseball history" hyperbole in the title for the action of the 1908 season, with 3-team races that came down to the final days in both leagues and featured many of the great names in early-20th century baseball. My somewhat longer review is up on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be Lady in Armor, a murder mystery first published in 1941 by the very prolific Octavus Roy Cohen.

It's been a busy week so I'm still reading Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. It's been amusing so far to say the least.

>4 PaperbackPirate: That one has been languishing on my shelf for a while. Let us know how it was!

I loved Amor Towles' latest Table for Two and I've started The Last Word by Elly Griffiths.

Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson
4/5 stars
Melinda is a freshman in high school and is now a pariah in her school. Turns out she called the cops and the kids at the unchaperoned party who are not too happy with her. What caused her to do it and how she is shunned at school will shock her school mates when the truth comes out. Banned Book

The Starlite Drive-In – Marjorie Reynolds
3.5***

From the book jacket: When land developers uncover human bones at the site of the old drive-in, Callie Anne Benton realizes that she alone knows the identity of the victim who mysteriously disappeared thirty-six years ago. She recalls the tumultuous summer of 1956, when, nearly thirteen, she’s stuck at home with her parents during a long, hot summer in rural Indiana.

My reactions
I was completely hooked on this story from beginning to end. Callie is a wonderful character / narrator. She’s smart and observant, but also naïve and prone to flights of fancy. Living on the grounds of the drive-in, where her father is the manager, she’s watched too many movies, and her imagination tends to run away with her. The summer of 1956 is one where she begins to feel the stirrings of first love, but also witnesses the complexity of adult love. She doesn’t always understand what she sees but tries her best to piece it together.

It's a great coming-of-age story and told well. Brought back many memories of my family outings to the drive-in when I was a kid.

I read The Good Soldier this week and it was great. Not at all what I was expecting - I see the word 'soldier' and think that it's a war story, which is why I've put it off for decades.

Listened to A Farmer's Diary: A Year at High House Farm, which is a memoir of a year of sheep farming. I have decided that neither now or in any of my future lives will I become a sheep farmer. It was quite good, the book.

Now reading Lady in Waiting about an aristocrat who grew up with the Royal Family and became one of Princess Margaret's ladies in waiting. Very interesting.

The Bear’s Embrace – Patricia Van Tighem
3.5***

While hiking in the Canadian wilderness, Patricia and her husband were attacked by a grizzly bear. Fortunately, other hikers came upon them shortly after the attack and helped get them to safety and summon help. They both survived, and spent months in hospital undergoing treatment of their injuries. Trevor’s primary wounds were to his leg and thigh. But Patricia suffered devastating wounds to her head and face. This is Patricia’s memoir of the years of reconstructive surgery and depression (PTSD) she suffered following that incident.

I found this gripping and interesting, truly a tale of survival, courage and triumph. But I was not prepared for the severity of mental health issues she would suffer as a result of the attack. Frankly, I was more interested in the physical aspects of her injuries; I wanted to know a bit more about the kind of reconstructive surgery she underwent. But then, she was not the surgeon, but the patient, and her experience was chiefly about the pain and suffering she endured for over fifteen years. (The attack happened in 1983; the book was published in 2001.)

Enjoying this audio novel via Libby ~

Becoming Madam Secretary
by Stephanie Dray

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega – Crystal Maldonado
Digital audiobook performed by Carla Vega
4****

From the book jacket: Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

My reactions
This is a wonderful coming-of-age story that deals with body image, friendship, parent/child relationships, and societal expectations. Charlie is a strong young woman, mostly sure of herself, though plagued with self-doubt (as are most teenagers). Her feelings of inadequacy are compounded by media messages that “thin is in.” Thank heavens she has a great best friend, Amelia. And now a cute guy, Brian, seems to be interested in her, so things are looking up. But first love is rarely ever a smooth road.

It's how Charlie deals with the bumps in the road that really endears her to me. She’s smart, funny, kind, loyal and determined. I liked how Maldonado treated this first romance, and how the teens dealt with expectations, whether those of friends, each other, parents, teachers, or their own. And I really liked how Charlie found a way to shine and show her considerable talent.

Carla Vega does a wonderful job of narrating the audiobook. She really brought Charlie to life for me.

I finished The English Teacher. Contrary to many reviewers on this site, I enjoyed the book. I read it as a metaphysical, metaphorical depiction of dealing with grief and how to come to terms with it.

Unbecoming a Lady: The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews Who Shaped America
Therese Oneill
4/5 stars
This is quite an interesting look at women who have influenced the nation. The book covers several women, including Carrie Nation, Hetty Green (the first self-made lady billionaire) and Aimee Semple McPherson, a preacher who also faked her kidnapping. It was a short read but so fascinating. Non-Fiction

I finished Lady in Armor, a 1940s crime novel by Octavus Roy Cohen about a woman who, after being elected sheriff, takes on the corrupt and deadly leadership of a small southern town. It's implausible but entertaining, or would be if not for the demeaning racial stereotypes of blacks common for the era. My longer review is posted on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be another baseball history, The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff by Thomas Kiernan about the 1951 National League pennant race between the Dodgers and Giants.

The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
Book on CD narrated by Robin Miles
3***

As she has done with other women “lost in history,” Benedict shines a light on a little-recognized woman who had enormous influence on American culture. Belle da Costa Greene was J P Morgan’s “personal librarian,” tasked with curating and expanding his collection of rare manuscripts, books and art works, especially those dating from the Renaissance. As his librarian, Greene was required to attend auctions and society balls as a means of becoming friendly and known in the rarified world of high-stakes art collecting. Her success at beating the “boys at their game” was celebrated in news articles on both sides of the Atlantic. So, she was hardly “lost in history.” But … what no one knew was that Greene was born Belle Marion Greener, the daughter of African American parents.

I found this a very interesting look at America in the Gilded Age. I was unaware of the early Equal Rights Act (enacted just at the end of the Civil War), and how it was defeated after offering such promise. It’s no wonder that Belle’s parents left the south for New York and greater opportunity for themselves and their children. The difference in approach between Mr and Mrs Greener was also interesting to me; while she made the decision to register the family as white in the census, her husband embraced his role as a leader in equal rights, fighting AS a black man and was incensed by her decision.

I did get pretty tired of the authors constantly reminding me of the high stakes for Belle and her family if her true identity as a black woman was discovered. I got the first time, or certainly by the third time. I didn’t really need a reminder in virtually every chapter!

I’m glad that Benedict partnered with Victoria Christopher Murray, an African American author, for this work. I wonder why Benedict’s name came first on the cover, though.

Robin Miles does a fine job of performing the audio version. She has clear diction and sufficiently differentiates the characters, so I wasn’t confused about who was speaking.

I reread Bobby Underwood's awesome story, "Ghosting: A Baseball Story".
At a compact 22 pages, it can be read in one sitting, yet it feels like something bigger because of the amount of love and detail Underwood displays throughout. It also has a supernatural element, which really blended perfectly and satisfyingly. The only other work I enjoyed so much that combined the two elements of baseball and the mystical is “Shoeless Joe”. If you loved that classic, you’ll love this one too.

The new thread is up over here.