What are you reading the week of July 22, 2023?

I'm almost finished with Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman. It took a while for me to get into this book, but I eventually came to enjoy it. I'll probably continue with the series.

>1 fredbacon: I remember when those Kemelman "Rabbi" mysteries were all the rage with my parents and their friends. I think my father read several of them. I've read one and, like you, thought it was pretty good. I've never gotten around to reading any more of them, though.

I'm about two thirds of the way through Out of the Red, a collection of newspaper columns from the late 1940s by the great New York sportswriter, Red Smith. They are fun and provide an interesting bit of time travel back to that time and place.

I finished The Last Tycoon. It's a beautifully,, believably written book that sadly was not completed due to the author's death. The characters are fully formed and complex. The environments that scenes take place are carefully crafted to set the mood and echo the events taking place.

Having finished To Break Russia's Chains, I'm now working on The Fire Line. Sweep of Stars will come after that.

Have started The Exchange Artist.

I'm reading Quicksilver by Dean Koontz and it's been ok.

I listened to The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See this week, and really liked it. I'll be reading more of her works. I'm listening now to The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, which is top-notch.

Read Infinite Country by Patricia Engel this week, and was unimpressed.

started this audio via Libby ~

Yellowface
by R. F Kuang
(A Reese's Book Club Pick)

>6 ahef1963:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was my favorite Lisa See book. Janet Song's narration was excellent.

>6 ahef1963: >8 Molly3028: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was excellent. And some parts were very memorable.

I just finished Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. It was a lot of fun!

Still searching for what's next.

West With Giraffes – Lynda Rutledge
Book on CD performed by Danny Campbell
4****

As the world struggles to escape the Great Depression, and on the cusp of a new World War, orphan Woodrow Wilson Nickel finds himself cast adrift in the wake of the devastating Hurricane of 1938. Stumbling about hoping to find some shelter he comes across a scene that completely changes his life.

Rutledge based this work of historical fiction on an actual event: In 1938 two giraffes DID survive a hazardous ocean voyage and then an arduous cross-country road trip to finally arrive at the San Diego Zoo. Belle Benchley was the first woman to head the San Diego Zoo. But Woody, Red, and “the old man” are fictional characters, marvelous though they be.

I was completely captivated by this story. It helps that I am a big fan of road trips, especially getting off the major interstates and following the less-traveled “blue highways.” I’ve traveled through much of the landscape this group drove through. I recall those “wigwam” motor courts (never stayed in one, though). My family was helped by a local farm family when our car broke down in the middle of nowhere (on a Sunday, no less). I know what it’s like to drive the switchbacks of mountain roads, or a long empty drive across a desert plateau. This made the novel all the more real to me.

Woody is a wonderful character, and narrator, though I did get tired of the “breaks” that brought us back to the present when he is anxious to finish writing his memoir while in a nursing home, and away from the road trip itself.

Rutledge balances Woody’s naivete and basic good instincts, with the Old Man’s experience and compassion. I’m not sure we really needed Red’s storyline, other than as a reason for Woody to write his memoirs.

Danny Campbell does a superb job of performing the audiobook. The basic story is, after all, told by a very old man; Woody is 105 when he sets out to write his memories of that historic road trip. And Campbell give him an “old voice” throughout, which I found very effective for this work.

The Collector by Daniel Silva just out this week.

>2 rocketjk: As a kid growing up in Arkansas, I used to look at the bestseller list in the major state newspaper every week. I distinctly remember these books appearing on the list whenever a new one was released.

That bestseller list was a kind of lodestar for me. I read the brief summary for each book and made a mental note of which ones I wanted to read if I ever had the money and opportunity to buy "real" books. In Pine Bluff, AR during the sixties and seventies, the only books available were the paperbacks sold from wire racks in the discount stores.

Over the years, I've managed to read a lot of those books I learned about through the bestseller list. The World According to Garp, The Far Pavilions, The Exorcist, Shogun, The Day of the Jackal. Many of them turned out to be disappointments. There are still a few on my wish list. Kemelman's Rabbi Small series is on that list. Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror is another one.

Then there are a few, that I have definitely decided to never read, such as Come Nineveh, Come Tyre by Allen Drury. The title is evocative and still intrigues me, but after learning more about the book and its author, I believe that I'll pass. Thank you very much.

How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived
Leslie Jordan
4/5 stars
Leslie Jordan writes about his life and his career on TV, Instagram and films. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his life. A fast read, you'll get a kick out of this book!

>12 fredbacon: "Then there are a few, that I have definitely decided to never read, such as Come Nineveh, Come Tyre by Allen Drury."

Drury, right. I read Advise and Consent, which I thought was pretty good, but when I read the next, A Shade of Difference, I was appalled by the right wing politics and racism.

I don't know whether you're aware of and/or a member of the LT group, Bestsellers Over the Years (https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/2847/Bestsellers-over-the-Years) which has a thread for each year, providing bestseller lists for each. It's no longer a particularly active group, but whenever I start a new book, I peruse the book's "Mentions" link to see if it comes up on the appropriate year's thread in that group, and if it does I add a comment there when I've finished the book.

We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Film
Noah Isenberg
4/5 stars
This is the wonderfully interesting book about the film Casablanca. Isenberg discusses the origins of the film, the actors, parodies of the movie and discussions about a sequel. Definitely, for Casablanca fans!

>15 JulieLill: I have this book on my shelves awaiting my attention. You've encouraged me to move it up on the long TBR list. Thanks!

The Department of Sensitive Crimes – Alexander McCall Smith
Digital audiobook narrated by David Rintoul
3***

From the book jacket: In Malmo, Sweden, the dedicated detectives who investigate “special” cases are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division. The first case: a man stabbed in the back of the knee. Next: a young woman’s imaginary boyfriend goes missing. And in the final investigation: eerie secrets that are revealed under a full moon may not seem so supernatural in the light of day. No case is too unusual, too complicated, or too, well, insignificant for this squad to solve.

My reactions:
Gosh, but I enjoy visiting with Alexander McCall Smith’s characters! This is somewhat of a farce of police procedurals. Detective Ulf “the Wolf” Varg and his team certainly have “interesting” cases. He is the head of this unit but is ably assisted by Anna Bengtsdotter (who loves Varg’s car … and possibly Varg, himself), Carl Holgersson (who actually likes to complete paperwork … go figure), and Erik Nykvist (who seems more interested in fly fishing than detecting). There is no case too strange or confusing for this team. I particularly liked the case of the missing imaginary boyfriend!

David Rintoul does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. He brings these characters to life and strikes just the right balance between seriousness and tongue-in-cheek commentary.

I finished Out of the Red, a collection of columns published in the late 1940s by Red Smith, a very famous (Pulitzer Prize winning) American sportswriter over many years. The columns are often humorous and entertaining, although, providing as they do a snapshot of post-WW2 America, they sometimes often reflect that era's downsides, too, especially in the form of sexism and, occasionally, racism. My longer review can be found on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be Enigmas of Spring, a novel by Brazilian writer João Almino.

TUESDAY – 07 February 23

The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream – Jeannie Zusy
3.5***

This is a novel of family in which the key events are the kinds of everyday disasters many families must deal with: a hospitalization, a teenager learning to drive, an accident, a holiday dinner that goes awry.

The three Frederick sisters are: Betsy, a professional surfer; Virginia (Ginny), a mentally challenged diabetic; and Maggie, the youngest and most dependable. The book begins when Maggie gets a call from the ER in Maryland, informing her that Ginny has apparently overdosed on strawberry Jell-O. Rushing south from her New York home, Maggie quickly understands that Ginny can really no longer live alone, and brings both Maggie and her large, occasionally aggressive, dog back to the Hudson Valley town where Maggie lives with her teenaged sons.

The family dynamics in this book are spot on. Ginny may have some intellectual disabilities, but she is a master manipulator, quickly knowing her sisters’ weak spots and how best to get to them. She is stubborn and insistent on getting her own way. Maggie is dealing with a failing marriage and two sons she can’t quite control. And she has taken on the “parental” role in regard to Ginny. Who else will do it? Not Betsy, who took off for California and the life of a celebrity surfer just as soon as she could. But while Maggie is focusing her energies on how best to help her sister (who seems to not want any help), she is ignoring her own needs and issues.

The side characters, especially home health aides Philomena and Lika, are wonderfully drawn. They both observe and subtly (or not so subtly) change the family dynamic with a word or determined act. And Maggie’s sons, especially Leo, are real charmers.

It’s a lovely debut and I look forward to reading Zusy’s next novel.

The Final Solution: A Story of Detection
Michael Chabon
3/5 stars
In England, post WWII, Linus, a nine-year-old mute from Nazi Germany, whose only companion is a parrot meets a former detective. The parrot is very verbal and recites a string of German numbers. Not knowing what it means the detective looks into this very puzzling mystery to solve.

From the library: A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand
First installment in "The Middlemist" trilogy. This new fantasy novel by the author is her first for adults.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks. I have read People of the Book, Year of Wonders, and March. Liked them all but March

I'm reading Michael Gold: The People's Writer, by Patrick Chura. I began this book after reading Jews Without Money, by Michael Gold. I think highly of both fascination, well written books. I will review the current book once I finish it.

I finished and enjoyed Peter Heller's latest, The Last Ranger, and now I think I'll start Joe Ide's IQ, a book that's been languishing on my shelf for too long.

The new thread is up over here.

>24 Copperskye: I want to read Heller's book - I enjoy his work!