What are you reading the week of February 10, 2024?

I finished 1984 by George Orwell. "Who controls the present controls the future. Who controls the past controls the present." There are so many astute political observations in this novel. I hadn't read it since high school, and I didn't think that I remembered all that much of it. At the time, it seemed to be too over-the-top to me. Almost a straw man argument. Now I shudder at how terrifyingly real it is. *sigh*

Made an honest start on A Great and Terrible King. Still picking at Menewood (I have to admit that it really isn't engaging my imagination). Sometime this week I'll start On Savage Shores.

Now working on The Rise of Rome.

I'm currently reading This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein for my book club, and, because I needed a break, Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine by Mohammad Sabaaneh. Lots of feel good reading right now.

I'm most of the way through The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan. This is a psychologically dark dual-character study masquerading as a crime novel. It's very well written, with lots of insights into the dark side of human nature but also a lot of terrific descriptions of the Montana countryside.

Enjoying this audio via LIBBY ~

Mrs. Porter Calling: A Novel (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #3)
by AJ Pearce

I'm currently reading a bunch:

When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm
The Devastating Boys - short story collection by Elizabeth Taylor
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
and We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

And I just finished Beyond These Walls: Escaping the Warsaw Ghetto - A Young Girl's Story by Janina Bauman

I finished The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan, a very good but dark psychological study of a novel about a psychopathic murderer sitting in a jail cell and the policeman who's been assigned to sit up with him every night to try to befriend him and learn about old crimes. The two characters are both well drawn and memorable. The books's Montana setting is very vividly rendered. I've got a (much) longer review up on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next I'll be reading a novel of China and America, Lan Samantha Chang's Inheritance.

Just finished One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus and have started The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.

Still reading through Last Train from Atlanta and Pan: The Great God's Modern Return, and started some lighter reading with The Once and Future King.

The Little Italian Hotel – Phaedra Patrick
3***

A radio show host and “relationship expert” has planned a special Italian holiday to celebrate her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents her husband with the tickets she is not prepared for his response. He not only does NOT want to go to Italy, but he wants a divorce. The tickets are nonrefundable, but for a small fee she can change the name of the guest. So, Ginny changes to a budget hotel and invites four of her listeners with “broken hearts” to join her for a healing vacation. Her treat.

This was mostly predictable, but I didn’t care. It was exactly the kind of “coming of middle age” adventure I wanted to read as an escape. The characters are interesting and sometimes surprised me, and the setting was gloriously depicted. I felt as if I were in Venice or Florence. And I loved the food descriptions!

It’s not a uniformly feel-good story. These people have some serious issues to face, but they all come to realize that while each of us has to make our own decisions about our lives, opening up to others can help ease the burden.

A fun, fast, enjoyable read.

The War That Saved My Life – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Book on CD narrated by Jayne Entwistle
5*****

Ten-year-old Ada lives in a one-room apartment with her mother and younger brother. Ada, however, has never left the apartment. She has a club foot and her mother doesn’t want anyone to see Ada. So, she sits at her window and watches the neighbors. She has no friends. She’s never attended school. Still, she feels responsible for her brother Jamie, so when he reports that the children of London are to be sent to the country due to the war with Germany, Ada makes up her mind to go with him.

This is a marvelous story of courage and tenacity. Bradly doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties Ada faces, from her abusive mother, to her ignorance of things we take for granted, (she doesn’t know what soup is!), to the anger and fear that sometimes overwhelm her. But Ada is a very strong girl. And with perseverance, she will overcome the poor start she’s had in life.

The story is also about grief and tolerance. Susan Smith is the grieving woman who is coerced into taking Jamie and Ada in. She doesn’t want children; she doesn’t like children; she doesn’t know what to do with or for children. But over time she comes to understand their struggles and to care for them not just because they’ve been place in her charge, but because she genuinely loves them.

There is a sequel to this story and I can hardly wait to read it to find out what happens to Ada, Jamie and Susan.

The audiobook is masterfully performed by Jayne Entwistle. I have to admit that I initially kept thinking of Flavia deLuce because Entwistle narrated those books, but I quickly adjusted.

Gracie: A Love Story
George Burns
4/5 stars
Written by the actor George Burns, he talks about his life and his love for his wife and partner Gracie Burns. He talks about his adopted children since Gracie couldn't have children and he also goes over their roles in entertainment including films, radio and television. Very entertaining!

>12 JulieLill: I have this book on my bio shelf but haven't read it yet. I think Gracie is thought of as one of the great "straight-men" in comedy. I love her line, "My real name is Grace, but my friends call me Gracie for short."

Their TV show was a riot, and sometimes quite metafictional. There is one episode in which they are in their neighbors' house. Gracie gets into a conversation with one of the neighbors and George leaves. But we follow him into his own house where he turns on the TV to watch the conversation going on next door.

Weather Girl – Rachel Lynn Solomon
Digital audiobook read by Sarah Mollo-Christiansen
3***

Publisher’s book blurb A TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with unforecasted results in this charming romantic comedy.

My reactions
This was a cute rom-com with an underlying serious issue. Ari is a charming young woman who has achieved her dream of becoming a TV meteorologist. But she sometimes struggles to maintain her on-screen persona; she suffers chronic depression, although therapy and medication help her cope. Still, she IS coping, even thriving. And a scheme to get Torrence Hale (the station’s star meteorologist, and Ari’s hoped-for mentor) back together with her ex-husband Seth (who is also the station’s news director) brings Ari and Russell together in more ways than one.

I liked these characters. They seemed genuine, with real-world challenges, and recognizable coping mechanisms. I liked the way Ari and Russell interacted, though I did think they were a bit quick to jump into bed, but hey … consenting adults. The ups and downs of both their career paths and their romance kept me interested in how this would play out. Were some of the scenarios just a bit too outlandish to be real? Sure. But it’s a rom-com and it wouldn’t be fun without those scenes.

Sarah Mollo-Christiansen does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and has diction clear enough to easily understand even when listening at double speed.

A Lady Compromised: A Rosalind Thorne Mystery by Darcie Wilde
The 4th installment in this Regency-era series

I'm reading These Old Shades, my very first Georgette Heyer novel.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies – Alison Goodman
4****

From the book jacket: Lady Augusta Colebrook – “Gus” – is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend’s goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband. The sisters set out for Caroline’s country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots and injures the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago.

My reactions
What a delightful romp! These ladies are up to any task, it seems. They are intelligent, determined, resourceful and certain of their course. They move from crisis to crisis with a sense of purpose and quick-witted improvisations. Of course, Gus can’t stop thinking about Lord Evan, and she will prove he was wrongly convicted if it’s the last thing she does.

Gus and Julia are assisted in their efforts to right the various wrongs by their butler, Weatherly, footman Thomas, and stableman John Driver. And of course, Lord Evan, who seems to have recovered from having been shot by Gus, but not from being pierced by Cupid’s arrow.

I particularly appreciate that Goodman has given us women of a certain age, who would most often be ignored. That “invisibility” is a great asset to them. They adopt the mantel of doyennes of Regency society when it suits their purpose. But Gus, in particular, is just as comfortable donning a gentleman’s garb and going where no respectable lady would deign to visit.

The book ends on a bit of a cliff-hangar, and I hope Goodman is a fast writer, because I can hardly wait to find out what the sisters get up to in the next episode.

One final note -
“This book is dedicated to all the women out there who no longer have the patience or desire to put up with any nonsense.”
Amen to that!

I finished Confidence Man. it's a difficult book to read but does repeatedly present the absurdity of having unconditional trust in ones fellow man. It is sometimes labored, and other times humorously absurd.

The new thread is up over here.

>16 Copperskye: That was my very first Heyer too!