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Ann Skea's Bookshelf
Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars
A.C. Grayling
Oneworld Publications
https://oneworld-publications.com
9780861549962, $22.95 PB / $12.99 Kindle, 240pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Discriminations-Making-Peace-Culture-Wars/dp/0861549961
'Wokeism' and 'cancel culture' became terms of war - culture war - in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The war itself had already been long in progress, the issues at stake of universal significance; only the terms were new.
AC Grayling sets out to bring a philosophical perspective to the debate, because philosophy 'seeks to dig deeper and see further'; to look at 'ideas and viewpoints' and to discriminate (in the positive philosophical sense of discern and understand) 'between what is right and wrong in them'. At the core of this book is his call for convivencia: harmony 'achieved by mutual respect for rights', and he is committed 'without reservation to the principle that the concept of human rights is fundamental to solving the problems at issue'.
This, as he acknowledges, is a huge, idealistic aim, but
"[t]hat an aim is idealistic is no reason for not attempting it; the realistic part of idealism is that one gets closer to achieving its goal than by not trying at all."
Being a philosopher, he begins by defining his terms and by disclosing his own 'positionality'. He describes his background, highlighting those things he believes have shaped his views, and he concludes that his 'political sympathies are left-leaning' and that he is 'a committed supporter of human rights, civil liberties and social and economic justice', as his many books and articles prove. As a philosopher, he is also committed to 'respect evidence', to 'listen to the other side and try and comprehend its motives' but 'not necessarily, and certainly not always, to forgive them'.
Discriminations, therefore, examines the historical, biological and sociological background of wokeism and cancel culture, beginning with the human impulse to form communities - 'tribes' - which tend to organise themselves hierarchically and to set boundaries within and around the tribe.
Othering - the awareness of Them and Us - he regards as an instinct. And othering is fundamental to what is known in modern culture as 'wokeism', 'cancelling' and 'no-platforming'. But 'when and how in what ways is it justified?', Grayling asks.
He explores historical warfare, and the social and religious frameworks that have shaped history - the stipulations in various societies of what is 'right' and what is 'wrong', and the punishments imposed. Discussing the difference between a sin and a crime, he refers to the religious and judicial frameworks within which they are defined, and the belief, in many religions, that disobedience to a god or gods is a fundamental sin; and shaming, exclusion, exile, and sometimes even death, are the imposed punishments.
'Wokeism' Grayling defines as identity politics. Wokeist activists:
"variously promote their views by all or some of Critical Race Theory in history classes, campaigning for same-sex marriage, educating about diversity in sexuality, supporting medical gender transition, advocating changes in language... encouraging Me Too avowals. At the same time a significant number of them promote no-platforming and cancellation as weapons in this struggle."
In our own Western culture where social media now has so much influence on who, and for what reason, someone gets shamed, cancelled or no-platformed, the results can be devastating and can ruin careers and lives. How are we to ensure that quarrels are defused, 'due process' is undertaken, and action is deemed necessary before such punishment is imposed?
As examples of the way othering, exclusion and cancelling for the heresy of not conforming to current political, religious, and social dictates can radically affect the lives of individuals and groups, Grayling describes the downfall of Oscar Wilde, the Calvinist persecution of the Spanish theologian Michael Servetus, the horrors of Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and the ongoing effects of the Indian caste system.
He also turns to literature, using quotations from Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, The Scarlet Letter, to show the emotional and life-changing trauma suffered by Hester Prynne when she is punished for adultery by being publicly shamed, forced to wear an embroidered 'A' on her breast, and 'made to stand for three hours on the scaffold exposed to the condemnation of the crowd'. The novel, he notes, is as much about double standards and the men in her society as it is about
"questions of guilt, sin, reparation, and emblematically the allusion to the first-ever-recorded cancellation - the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden."
In trial by social media, judgment is too often based on feelings and emotion, and on the interests of the group doing the judging rather than empathy and consideration of the human rights of the individual being judged. In such cases, there is no recourse to 'due process', which, for Grayling, means all judgments are made on the basis of respect for human rights and civil liberties, as laid down in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In particular, if the distinction between interests and rights is clearly made, much of the heat dissipates. Rights are non-negotiable; interests can be rationally adjusted to maximise opportunities for them to coexist.
'Consider the concept of freedom of expression,' he writes, 'and note what it assumes.'
In most communities there will be a 'diversity of views' and 'people will not always agree about everything':
This is what underlies the requirement for mutual recognition of the right to free expression: the right to disagree, the right to have a view and to express it, the right to be heard, the right to a place in the debate (which is, in effect: the right to participation in society).
Only with these rights can society change and progress.
One must never forget that those who combat discrimination [in issues of religion, race, gender and sexuality, for example] once did not even have the right to demand their rights.
Grayling's examination of the historical and current demands for free speech and human rights, alongside the proscriptions imposed by political and legal processes, is thorough. He looks at arguments for and against activism, marches, strikes, demonstrations, revolution, exclusion and cancellation, and at the results, and the backlash some of these strategies provoke. And he acknowledges the instincts, tribalism and anger that are involved and shows how attitudes can, and have been, changed.
Overall, this is an impressive and thought-provoking book and Grayling's arguments for understanding, empathy, truth and justice are strongly presented and supported. He is, however, arguing from a Western democratic perspective and even within this particular demographic there are many different, and often conflicting, jurisdictions: as well as courts of law and laws enacted by elected governments, there are religions, universities, schools and clubs, for example, each with their own rules and proscriptions. This is not to say that human rights cannot be argued for in any of these jurisdictions, simply to note that there is huge complexity in trying to apply this ideal.
How, too, in this world of AI, deepfakes, algorithmic manipulation, image manipulation and unreliable facts, can we ever be sure of what can be relied on in order to discriminate truth from falsity?
And how, in a world where, as Grayling says, 'many if not most people wait to be told, or have suggested to them, what to think', can logical, thoughtful argument succeed?
Discriminations offers a detailed and thorough expression of an ideal which Grayling suggests could lead to Pax Humana. One can only hope that such idealism prevails.
The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck
Lynne Olson
Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com
9780593732304, $35.00 PB / $14.99 Kindle, 384pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Sisterhood-Ravensbr%C3%BCck-Frenchwomen-All-Female-Concentration/dp/0593732308
In Paris, the granddaughter of Jacqueline Pery d'Alincourt remembers her grandmother entertaining three old friends to afternoon tea. They 'looked like perfectly ordinary old women', but they were not ordinary at all. As they talked, the decades would fall away, and they became young women in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, no longer answering to their given names - Jacqueline, Germaine, Genevieve, Anise - but to aliases like Violaine, Danielle, Kouir...
Back then, one of them was helping to organize Paris's first resistance network. Another was spying on German military positions. Still another... was sending coded messages to London and bicycling around Paris carrying radio sets and secret reports, all the while dodging the Gestapo.
Lynne Olson has written before about 'history-making yet relatively unknown women in the French Resistance' during World War II. In The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck, she focuses on four women who were among the resistantes defying the Nazis. Using a wide range of documents, interviews and other resources, she tells of their early involvement, their arrests, their determination to continue their resistance while imprisoned in Ravensbruck, and their lives after the war as they struggled to overcome the trauma of that experience, to adapt to ordinary everyday life, and to fight for justice, recognition and reparation.
Ravensbruck was the only Nazi concentration camp designed specifically for women. 'An estimated 130,000 women from Nazi-occupied Europe' were imprisoned there and of these 'as many as forty thousand' died of 'starvation, disease, torture, shooting, lethal injections, medical experiments, and, beginning in December 1944, in a newly installed gas chamber'.
Inevitably, a large part of this book describes the horrors the four women saw and experienced, and it is grim reading. But the spirit of these women, their determination to resist the Nazis in every way possible, and the network of mutual support their actions fostered among the women prisoners, all make their stories remarkable and inspiring.
Germaine Tillon had just finished writing up her PhD research based on six years living in the remote mountainous territory of Aures in Algeria. Living in a cave 'a fourteen-hour horseback ride' from 'the closest town with the rudiments of civilization', she had been documenting the lives, history and beliefs of the Chaouai Berber tribe. When she returned to Paris in May 1940, she was stunned to learn that the Nazis had invaded France.
A few days after her return, they invaded Paris; and on June 17 she was invited into a house to listen to a broadcast in which the new French president, Marshal Petain, announced that he had asked Hitler for an armistice.
Germaine was so sickened by it that she ran out to the street and vomited. 'The shock, the disgust was brutal,' she later said. 'To ask for an armistice was to open one's door to the enemy; to submit to an enemy completely. That was completely unacceptable.'
Enraged, she decided 'something must be done'. She began 'challenging the Nazis at a time when virtually no one else in the country was doing so'; and she found allies at the Musee de l'Homme, most of whom were scholars who set out to encourage their countrymen 'not only to reject collaboration with the enemy but to actively defy them'. Together with other small groups they kick-started the French resistance movement.
Germaine's anger and her attitude of defiance, together with her training as an anthropologist, led her to form mutual support networks in Ravensbruck; to encourage the women to resist and/or secretly sabotage the work they were forced to do; and (importantly) to collect and record the atrocities they witnessed.
'My experience in Algeria had already taught me how to live in an environment that was completely foreign to me and figure out how that society was put together,' she wrote.
In the camp, Germaine made friends with Czech and Polish women who, because they spoke German, had been put to work in the administrative and medical positions. She gathered information from them, wrote lists and notes with a pen and scraps of paper they smuggled to her, and hid these in various places and with other people around the camp.
Each of the other three young women, Anise Girard, Genevieve de Gaulle, and Jacqueline d'Alincourt, was equally determined to resist the Nazis, and each worked in the Resistance.
All four women, along with many others in the Resistance, were betrayed by double agents, some of whom Olsen identifies.
Germaine and Anise met in a Paris prison, then on the transport to Ravensbruck 'formed an intense bond that would last the rest of their lives'. Anise, who had studied German at the Sorbonne and spoke the language fluently, used this skill for information gathering and networking.
Genevieve de Gaulle was the niece of General Charles de Gaulle, who led the Free French Forces against the Nazis and supported the French Resistance from his exile in England. Genevieve, who was passionate and outspoken in support of her uncle, spread copies of his speeches around Paris and helped distribute the Resistance movement's newspaper, Defence de la France. In particular, she fostered networks among the women in the camp to support those who were frail, sick, or had been brutally mistreated. She also formed a very close bond with Jacqueline d'Alincourt, and they helped each other cope with the daily struggle to stay alive.
Jacqueline's young husband had left to fight the Germans immediately after their hurried marriage. He was captured and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Nuremburg, where he died from meningitis. Jacqueline began to work for the National Council of Resistance, finding lodgings around Paris for agents, resistance workers and others who needed hiding places.
The strength of the bonds, not only between these four women but also between many other determined and defiant women prisoners in Ravensbruck, is an inspiring demonstration of the power of sisterhood, even in the face of the most terrible oppression. Among the women in the prison there grew 'a commitment to sharing and community'.
One amazing example of this was the formation of a committee of Polish prisoners to look after the needs of a group of young Polish women who had been subjected to medical experiments in which their legs had been sliced, mangled, infected and sometimes amputated in order to test the efficacy of Sulfa drugs. As the war was coming to an end, the Nazis, in an attempt to hide all incriminating evidence, moved these young women to a separate prison block in preparation for killing them. Other women in the camp organised their escape from the block, then found hiding places for them in the then-chaotic and overcrowded camp, and managed to give them the identities of dead inmates so that they would receive food.
For Germaine, Genevieve, Anise and Jacqueline, the trauma and the struggle to adjust to normal life after the war was not easy.
As soon as they returned to France, the women of Ravensbruck realized they couldn't rely on anything, or anyone else to help them put their lives back together. Once again they had to turn to each other.
In the last part of her book, Olsen describes their difficult postwar experiences but she also shows how, in many different and often difficult ways, each of these women continued to fight for the truth; for trial and justice for their captors; for recognition of their contribution to the Resistance; and for medical care and compensation for all the women who had been imprisoned by the Nazis. The evidence they had collected not only listed SS officers and guards and the perpetrators of atrocities, but also disproved claims that at Ravensbruck no gas chamber had ever existed and no genocide had taken place.
The work of one other French Resistance worker also contributed to the evidence. Violette Lecoq, a resistante who worked as a nurse in the camp, had made primitive sketches, a number of which are reproduced in this book.
Knowing she risked a brutal beating or even death if her drawings were found, Lecoq hid away in her barracks night after night, illustrating the barbarism she'd witnessed with pen and paper stolen from the camp's offices. Like her compatriots, Lecoq was determined to bring to justice those who'd committed these heinous crimes. In doing so, she and others were honouring the shouted command of a French comrade as she was trucked off to Ravensbruck's gas chamber: 'Tell it to the world.'
Olson's The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck continues this commitment, which has become increasingly important in recent times. As the women acknowledged in interviews with filmmaker Maia Wechsler for her documentary Sisters of the Resistance (2002), they were growing very concerned by 'the rise of right-wing populism... an unsavoury stew of authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, antisemitism, and intolerance towards groups like refugees and other immigrants'. It 'reminded them of the Nazis'.
Dr. Ann Skea, Reviewer
https://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
Carl Logan's Bookshelf
Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects
Andy McGrillen
Ivy Press
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
www.quartoknows.com
9781836006022, $28.00, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Unidentified-Flying-Objects-Unexpected/dp/1836006020
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/atlas-of-unidentified-flying-objects-andy-mcgrillen/1147317726
Synopsis: With the publication of "Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena", Written by Andy McGrillen (the host and creator of That UFO Podcast), investigates famous incidents and lesser-known sightings worldwide.
Arranged in 5 informative chapters: Crash Retrieval, Abduction, Military, Civilian and Close Encounter and with specially commissioned maps, detailed case studies, photographs and direct witness testimonies, "Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects" reveals the global scope of UFO and UAP sightings and encounters.
While iconic events like Roswell, the Phoenix Lights, and the Hills abduction have their place in UFO history, this book dives deeper, shedding light on lesser-known but equally significant cases. From the Varginha crash in Brazil to the Tic Tac encounters off California's coast, this book presents case details, and direct witness testimony, revealing the global scale of this extraordinary phenomenon.
Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, the "Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" will provid you with an informed perspective on these incidents and is an essential read for anyone looking to understand the full scope of UFO and UAP sightings worldwide.
Critique: A seminal and exhaustive study that is impressively 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, the "Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects: and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" by UFO expert Andy McGrillen is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended acquisition selection and resource for personal, professional, community, and college/university library UFO/UAP collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that this hardcover edition of the "Atlas of Unidentified Flying Objects: and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" from Ivy Press is also readily available for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $26.60).
Editorial Note: Andy McGrillen is the host and creator of That UFO Podcast. This podcast has an international reach, through Apple, Spotify, and YouTube reaching over 5 million audio downloads in only 2 years, with almost 2 million YouTube views. The podcast started off during lockdown in May 2020, but quickly rose up the podcasting charts to secure regular places in the top 10s in Science charts around the globe. In the Summer of 2022, the podcast was also recognised at the British Podcast Awards in the listeners choice top 20. It continues to grow in stature & reputation as the UFO subject explores its place in the mainstream news cycle. Its mix of highly credible guests, news conversations & discussions are produced on a regular basis to a loyal audience, which has grown into a community now via various social platforms.
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Clint Travis' Bookshelf
Is Superman Circumcised?
Roy Scwartz
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476662909, $39.95, PB, 374pp
https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Circumcised-Complete-History-Greatest/dp/1476662908
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/is-superman-circumcised-roy-schwartz/1138720826
Synopsis: Introduced in June 1938, the Man of Steel was created by two Jewish teens, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The sons of emigrants from Eastern Europe, they based their hero's origin story on Moses, his strength on Samson, his mission on the golem and his nebbish secret identity on themselves. They made him a refugee fleeing catastrophe on the eve of World War II and sent him to tear Nazi tanks apart nearly two years before the US joined the war.
In following decades Superman's mostly Jewish writers, artists and editors continued to borrow Jewish motifs for their stories, basing Krypton's past on Genesis and Exodus, its civilization on Jewish culture, the trial of Lex Luthor on Adolf Eichmann's and a holiday celebrating Superman on Passover.
Exploring these underlying themes of a beloved modern mythology, "Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero" by Roy Schwartz is a fascinating and entertaining journey through comic book lore, American history and Jewish tradition, sure to give readers a newfound appreciation for the Mensch of Steel!
Critique: A unique and very special approach to popular cultural phenomena of the Superhero that was originally launched as a comic book character, "Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero" is an inherently fascinating study with respect to the Judaic elements that were brought to bear in its creation. This is an extraordinary perspective that will be of particular interest to fans of the Superman character and his universe and is a highly recommended pick for both personal reading lists and community/academic library Comics/Graphic Novels Literary History/Criticism collections and supplemental American Popular Culture curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that this paperback edition of "Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero" from McFarland & Company is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $25.99).
Editorial Note: Roy Schwartz (royschwartz.com) has written for a wide range of publications, including New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post and Philosophy Now. He currently writes about pop culture for The Forward and CNN.com. Roy received his BA in English from the New School University and interdisciplinary MA in English and social thought from NYU. He has taught English and writing at the City University of New York and is a former writer-in-residence fellow at the New York Public Library. He can be followed on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as @RealRoySchwartz
From Paris to Zion
Louise Ashworth
Amordez Publishing
9781068641602, $15.99, PB, 280pp
https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Zion-survival-sanctuary-England/dp/1068641606
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-paris-to-zion-louise-ashworth/1144434322
Synopsis: A psychological thriller, "From Paris to Zion," Francois, a young boy caught in the whirlwind of life's uncertainties, finds himself entangled in a web of mystery and deceit. As he navigates the streets of Paris, a chance encounter leads him down a path he never imagined, where he must confront the monsters that lurk in the shadows.
Set against the canvas of historical Paris, this riveting tale explores themes of resilience, family bonds, and the quest for identity. From Francois's exhilarating bike rides through the bustling streets to his poignant bar mitzvah ceremony, each moment is filled with heart-pounding suspense and tender romance.
But as Francois grapples with the complexities of his own emotions and the turbulent relationships around him, he must summon the courage to confront his deepest fears and unravel the dark secrets that threaten to tear his world apart.
Critique: An original and deftly crafted novel about a man who survived growing up Jewish in the shadow of World War II, "From Paris to Zion" is a riveting read from start to finish, one that has novelist Louise Ashworth masterfully blending all the elements of high adventure, historical intrigue, and captivating romance, "From Paris to Zion" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists psychological thrillers, historical romances, and contemporary fiction fans that this paperback edition of "From Paris to Zion" from Amordez Publishing is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).
Editorial Note: Growing up near Bristol a city in the United Kingdom, as a child Louise Ashworth would spend hour upon hour drawing. In young adulthood this creativity then transformed in to writing music. After learning to play keyboards and piano and a little guitar Louise set up a home studio and began writing music and lyrics. In later adulthood Louise began writing and before long had written her first novel, "From Paris to Zion".
Clint Travis
Reviewer
Debra Gaynor's Bookshelf
Aqueous
Jade Shyback
Xeno Books
c/o Red Hen Press
https://redhen.org
9781939096104, $14.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Aqueous-Jade-Shyback/dp/193909609X
This is the debut novel written by author Jade Shyback. I believe this is the first book in the new young adult series. While the focus may be young adult, I am a senior fan and will definitely be watching for the next book in this series.
Earth is in trouble. It has become impossible for life to live on the surface of the planet. Marisol Blaise and her family were struggling to survive. One after the other of her family was succumbing to extreme conditions. Her mother begged a couple to take her with them to Aqueous, the underwater community. The couple had no children and treated her as their own.
Like all the children in the community, Marisol spent years training for the future. There are trials and tests to evaluate their capabilities, strengths and limitations of each candidate. Marisol dreams of joining the Cuviers, an all-male elite diving team. She works tirelessly in an effort to destroy the prejudice against women, so that she can prove she is worthy of joining the Cuvlers. At 16 Marisol and her fellow candidates begin their trials. While Marisol thought the Cuvlers were against her because she was female there was another standing in her way.
I could not turn off this audiobook. The author did the narration herself; she did an amazing job. Marisol is an incredible character; she is a strong female lead. There were 2 male characters that stand out. Both were fond of Marisol however, one seemed arrogant while the other seemed sincere. I did not want this book to end. Now I have to wait until the next book comes out.
The Other Year: A Novel
Rea Frey
Harper Muse
c/o HarperCollins Focus
https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/harpermuse
9781400243105, $17.99 / $8.99 Kindle / $32.99 large print library binding
https://www.amazon.com/Other-Year-Rea-Frey/dp/1400243106
Forty-year-old, Kate Baker is a single mother. Rarely does she take time for a vacation but this year she and her nine-year-old daughter, Olivia, is on a two-week vacation at the beach. It is the first day and Olivia can't wait to get in the water. They see the water hazard/riptide flag, but Kate allows Olivia in the water anyway. She is an excellent swimmer and knows when she is in trouble to swim parallel with the shore. Kate is watching from shore and talking to her best friend, Jason, on the phone. Jason and his daughter are planning to join them on vacation the next day. Kate looks away for a moment and that's all it takes; Olivia disappears in a wave.
This tale has two timelines that run parallel to each other. In timeline 1: Olivia's head pops back up and all is well. In timeline 2: Olivia is gone.
In timeline 1. Olivia is alive. Kate's ex-husband, who abandoned them years ago, now wants to get to know his daughter. He seems to feel remorse for the past and wants to draw closer to both Kate and Olivia. Jason, Kate's best friend, admits he has feelings for her, romantic feelings. Olivia throws tantrums and they are getting more frequent and worse.
In timeline 2: Kate is dealing with any parent's worst nightmare; her daughter is gone forever, never to grow any older, never to take another breath, never to graduate from school, never to walk down the aisle, never to hug her mother again; how does a parent survive such a loss. Olivia is gone. Kate's whole life has changed; she struggles to come to terms with her new life. She needs a change of scenery and signs up for an apprenticeship at a farm. Is it that easy to escape grief?
This tale is written from Kate's point of view. The author begins with a note to the readers. The most important thing she said, "Life isn't always about the good stuff." She's right, it isn't.
The characters in this tale are flawed, which makes them realistic. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. I call this book a "what if" book. What if your child dies? What if your child throws tantrums? What if your child turns to her father after years of absenteeism. Brittany Pressley did a fantastic job narrating this tale. Kudos to author Rea Frey.
Sploot: Two Squirrels, One Mission: Stay Cool!
SaDonna Heathman, author
Brooke Sperry, illustrator
Gallop Books, LLC
https://www.gallopbooks.com
9781966658009, $25.99 hc / $11.99 pbk / $6.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Sploot-Squirrels-Mission-Weather-Tails/dp/196665801X
It's a hot summer and two squirrels are looking for a place to sploot. Four legged animals, usually dogs or squirrels, sploot: they lay down on their tummy spread eagle to cool off.
The sun is shining down on the farm. Two squirrels are trying to find a way to cool off. They begin with a tree branch but its hard to properly sploot in a tree; one of the squirrels fell out. They tried lying in the chicken's food, but they didn't work well either. They even tried laying in the mud in the pig pen. The bird bath would have been a great place but there was no water. They tried near the dog and then the horses. The farmer was shearing the sheep; the fleece looked like a good place, but it didn't work. They needed a shady spot. They found it; they began arguing over the place until they decided to share.
What a delightful tale. I had never heard the word sploot and was eager to learn what it meant. The focus of this book is 1st and 2nd graders. The illustrations are outstanding. The colors are bold and bright. The squirrels are cute as are the other animals. This book opens the dialogue on sharing. There are not a lot of words, but they all compliment the illustrations. This tale is filled with fun. Your child will be laughing as they learn about splooting.
The Wonders of the First Christmas: Explore the Birth of Jesus through History, Archaeology, and Art
Andy McGuire
Zonderkidz
c/o Zondervan
https://www.zondervan.com
9780310170211, $18.48 hc / $12.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-First-Christmas-Explore-Archaeology/dp/0310170214
Author Andy McGuire offers children a look at the true reason for Christmas. The birth of Christ is told from the beginning when the angel appears to Mary. The story is told in a simple easy to understand manner. On several pages there is a box with more information.
This is a precious story for Christians. (I've never been able to understand why unbelievers celebrate Christmas, a celebration of the birth of Christ.) The story moves along at a nice pace from the angel's visit to Mary to the angel coming to Joseph in a dream. While we see Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem in the illustration, the information box reminds us that nowhere in the scriptures does it say Mary was on a donkey. But that would have been the most likely method of travel. The young couple stayed in a stable because there were no rooms left at the end.
The story continues with the shepherds and the Wisemen. Again, the box reminds us tht scripture says nothing about the Wisemen/Kings riding camels although it would have been an appropriate method of travel. The Illustrations are beautifully done; they are subdued, which is very appropriate for they compliment the story without overpowering in for the focus should be on the text in this tale.
This book can introduce scripture and can be used to assist parents by opening dialogue that will allow parents to openly discuss the story with their children.
The Heart of the Amish Cookbook: 200 Traditional Amish Recipes
Compiled by Barbour Staff
Barbour Publishing
https://www.barbourbooks.com
9798891512139, $21.99 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Amish-Cookbook-Traditional-Recipes/dp/B0DW72MLWV
This book would be worth purchasing for the photographs, with 200 recipes you are getting two books in one. The photographs are magnificent. The Amish do not allow their face to be photographed but the images of them from behind are powerful. Some of the photographs depict their farms; one picture shows a beautiful 3 story white home with snow covered fields, smoke coming out of the chimney and the sun peeking out of the clouds. There is a photograph of corn shocks in a field, in the background you can see a house, silo, barn and windmill; what a beautiful fall scene. There is a photo of the men cutting hay with a horse drawn mower, men in the field with pitchforks gathering the hay into small stacks; in the background you can see the tall stalks of corn as well as the house, barn and windmill. The Amish children work hard and play hard.
This book has 200 delicious recipes; this book is only a sample of what's actually inside the book. The Morning Glory Muffins sound delicious with cinnamon, grated carrots, raisins, nuts, coconut, apple and wheat flour. The homemade Granola sounds healthy. I definitely want a piece of Walnut Wonder Coffee Cake. The Breakfast Tarts sound delicious filled with potatoes, bacon, and cheese. There is a recipe for Pancake Pizza that has it all: eggs, cheese, sausage gravy, bacon, served on a pancake with Maple Syrup. The Wreck is a breakfast dish popular at a local Amish restaurant. It has a biscuit with ham, bacon, or sausage, hash browns, pepper and onions, shredded cheese topped by Sausage Gravy.
I plan to try the recipe for Melt-In-Your-Mouth Biscuits soon as well as the Butterhorns. This book has delicious recipes and photos that will have you dreaming of visiting an Amish farm.
Daughter of Egypt
Marie Benedict
St. Martin's Press
c/o Macmillan Publishers
https://us.macmillan.com/stmartinspress
Macmillan Audio
https://us.macmillan.com/audio
9781250330222, $29.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle / $39.99 Audio
https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Egypt-Novel-Marie-Benedict/dp/1250280737
I remember reading about Hatshepsut when I was about 13. It was fiction based on historical facts. I was fascinated by her life. Ancient Egypt is mesmerizing and mysterious. In this book by author Marie Benedict, we study the lives of two women: Hatshepsut and Lady Evelyn Hervert.
In 1922 archeologist Howard Carter with the financial assistance of Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle discovered the Tomb of King Tutankhamun. Inside they found priceless artifacts: statues, jewels and the mummy of Pharaoh. It was due to this discovery that interest in the ancient world transformed the world of archeology. While the credit of the discovery went to Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter there was another person that should have received much credit. Lady Evelyn Hervert was the daughter of Lord Carnarvon.
In that era women were not encouraged to encouraged to seek power during the time lines of either lady. Lady Evelyn was fascinated by the only woman that ever rose to Pharoah, Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was forced to dress like a man in order to rule as Pharoah of Egypt. Her reign brought peace and affluence to the land. Under Hatshepsut the kingdom grew. The male Pharaohs that ruled after Hatshepsut attempted to expunge her name from history.
Lady Evelyn's focus and mission in life was to discover the tomb of Hatshepsut; she wanted to find her tomb. Male archeologists had no faith in Evelyn; a woman was incapable of finding the tomb. Despite the naysayers she refused to give up the search. Her fascination with Hatshepsut allowed Lady Evelyn to assist in discovering King Tutankhamun's tomb.
I consider this fiction based on historical facts. We know little about Hatshepsut so much of this is speculation. There are many relevant facts in this tale concerning the political climate of Egypt. Lord Carnarvon and his daughter were part of the first group to set foot in the tomb; she was the first to step foot in the burial chamber.
Author Marie Benedict offers readers a look at the role of women during both eras. Reading this tale was like being transported back in time. Kudos to Marie Benedict.
I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes. My reviews are always my unbiased opinions.
Murder by the Book: A Novel
Amie Schaumberg
MIRA
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/mirabooks
9780778387503, $30.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Book-Novel-Amie-Schaumberg/dp/077838750X
The setting is a small college town. A serial killer is on the loose.
The police are frustrated; they know the killer is trying to tell them something, but they can't quite figure out his message. Detective Ian Carter is known to be a "do it by the book" cop. He was attracted to Professor Emma Reilly and invited her to his home for dinner. Ian accidentally leaves out some of the crime scene photographs and Emma sees them. She immediately recognized the killer had posed the victim to look like a painting of Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Emma is an expert in classic literature. She tries to tell Ian her theory but he doesn't want to listen. He thinks he doesn't need her help and helping the police with this case could put her life in danger. However, Emma is determined to find the killer. She and a group of friends dig deeper into literature and the murders.
The killer claims the life of a second victim; this one was posed as Lay of Shlott. The third victim is a student from Emma's class. Emma must face the killer who seems to be using her favorite quotes, stories and paintings to taunt her and the police.
Characters: Ian is a strong macho man. He is determined to find the killer but without an outsider's assistance. If he had been working with Emma rather than without her she wouldn't have been placed in as much danger. I liked Emma but she was a bit naive. I wanted to scream stay away from..? ...I figured out who was the killer about halfway through. But that did not ruin the book for me. I really enjoyed this book.
I received a digital copy of this book for review purposes. My reviews are my personal opinions.
My Brave Friend: Emma and Noah Face Cancer Together
Suzanne Stone and Brett Fox
https://livestrong.org
Mascot Kids
https://mascotbooks.com/genres/childrens-books
9798891383425, $22.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
https://livestrong.org/resources/my-brave-friend-childrens-book
https://www.amazon.com/My-Brave-Friend-Cancer-Together/dp/B0F4RTTRT8
Emma and Noah Face Cancer Together
Emma was Noah's best friend. They were in the first grade together and they played together during recess. Noah was excited to start second grade; he looked around for Emma, but she was there. Their teacher, Ms Perez gathered her students and explained that Emma was ill and in the hospital. She told the children Emma has cancer and explained about the cells and their purpose. She explained. "Sometimes when people get sick you can get sick too if you are around them, but Emma is sick with something you can't catch. It's called cancer." She explained that sometimes cells "misbehave." "Sometimes naughty cells grow too fast and too big, they damage healthy cells." Sometimes when a person has cancer they have to go to the hospital for treatment.
Noah talked to his parents about Emma. His mother suggested they go to the hospital to visit Emma. A few days later Noah and his parents went to see Emma. The walls of the hospital were decorated with animals, superheroes and magical creatures. The doctors and nurses had funny clothing, some of it looked like pajamas and some of the people had white coats. Noah gave Emma a teddy bear. Emma smiled when she saw Noah. She showed him how to make her bed go up and down. She shows him her medicine and a tablet that allows her to take part in class. All the kids cheered when Emma appeared on the screen.
Noah misses Emma, it takes time to get over cancer. The whole class makes cards for Emma. When Emma returned to school there were balloons and signs welcoming her back.
This book has a page on learning about cancer and what causes it. There is also a column on How To Talk To Kids About Cancer and Questions and Answers About Cancer.
I am very impressed with this book. This book can be used to open discussion between children and their parents. The character of Noah is well done. When someone has cancer they need to know they have the support of a friend like Noah.
Vanished: A Novel
Dr. David Jeremiah with Sam O'Neal
Thomas Nelson
https://www.thomasnelson.com
9781400350742 $29.99 hc / $11.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Vanished-Novel-Dr-David-Jeremiah/dp/1400350735
Dr. David Jeremiah with Same O'Neal
Covid wasn't the first pandemic. In the 1800s there was cholera, the flue, and the Russian flu. In the 1900s cholera once again raised its ugly head. Then came the Spanish flu (50-100 million deaths), Ebola (15,000 deaths), Asian flu (2 million deaths) and the Hong Kong flu (2 million deaths.) By 1961 the world was facing the seventh outbreak of cholera; (900,000 people have died from cholera). In the 2000s it was HIV/AIDS, (33 million died up to 2022), SARS (774 have died), Swine flu (0.1-1.9 million), MERS (935 deaths) and Covid-19 (27 million deaths,). In 2020 we faced a pandemic.
John "Haggs" Haggerty was a man known to take charge and get the job done. He was the leader of a special military unit whose focus was to stop possible threats before they spread out of control. He noticed the rise in natural disasters. Scripture says before the rapture there will be an increase in diseases, tremors, food shortages, hostilities, and reports of fighting. Each incident is escalating.
Hagg's was mourning the loss of his ex-wife. He knows he messed up but doesn't know what to do about it. His life as a military physician hasn't be healthy for his marriage or his children. His career has always been his priority. The death of his young son destroyed his marriage. He was at his wits end the pressure from work and his family life is destroying him. He was attempting to draw closer to his adult daughter. He need an interpreter for his assignment in Italy; he ask his daughter to take the position it was an opportunity to grow closer to him.
Haggs is a good man he cares about people and truly wants to help them, but does he know Jesus Christ as his personal savior.
Author Dr. David Jeremiah is a dynamic speaker and writer. I am eager to listen to him in September at the National Quartet Convention in Pigeon Forge. I hope to meet him, but I doubt I manage to get that close to him. While Dr. Jeremiah has written many books but this is his first attempt at fictional book. I enjoyed reading this tale. The characters are well done. It was interesting watching Haggs interact with his daughter. This book leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next book in this series. The reader should be aware this is Christian fiction. The focus is on the rapture/end times.
I received a digital copy for review from NetGalley. My reviews are always my unbiased opinions.
Second Chance at Sunshine Inn
Amy Clipston
Thomas Nelson
https://www.thomasnelson.com
9780840716354, $17.99 pbk / $7.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Second-Chance-Sunshine-Inn-Contemporary/dp/0840716354
I've always heard that opposites attract, Second Chance at Sunshine Inn proves it.
Everleigh Hartnett is a traveling nurse. She has a happy, cheerful personality. She's like sunshine. She returns to her hometown for her godmother's funeral. Everleigh inherits half of her godmother's beloved bed and breakfast. The other half belongs to Cade Witherspoon, whom she has never met. If you look in the dictionary for a definition of grumpy you would see Cade's picture. While Everleigh would like to sell the B&B Cade is determined to hang on to it. He doesn't want a partner; it would suit him well if Everleigh would do nothing, say nothing, just be a silent partner.
Everleigh wants to sell the inn she has plans to use the proceeds for the non-profit endeavor she has plans for. I enjoyed this tale. It was fun watching Cade and Everleigh as they slowly fell in love. Cade doesn't trust women because of his past.
When Everleigh and Cade truly get to know each other, they discover they have more in common than they realized. The outcome of this tale is rather predictable but that did not prevent me from enjoying it. This is a light read one great for laying on the beach.
After The Fallout: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (Survivors of the New Dawn Book 1)
Grace Hamilton
Independently Published
9798231232734, $29.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/After-Fallout-Post-Apocalyptic-Survival-Thriller/dp/B0FKMX8Y2W
There is danger everywhere it is hidden by the shadows. An EMP has taken down the grid on the West Coast. The attack has left the West Coast dark. Claire is determined to find her sister Lydia. She may not like him; she may detest him but working as a team with her ex-husband is the smart thing to do.
What Claire doesn't know is that Lydia was in a plan crash. She wakes up injured, pregnant and all alone. Lydia is pregnant with a child the father is a member of an influential, controlling and brutal family. They don't care whether she is dead or alive, but they want her back. Lydia was on the plane because she had been kidnapped by the family. Both Clair and Lydi were well trained by their father; if anyone is going to survive it is these two strong women.
Citizens are showing their true nature. They are frightened, leading to pandemonium once they realize how dire their situation really is. The electrical grid is damaged, there are limited resources, most vehicles are inoperable, communication is down, leading to panic and anarchy.
There is a group of survivors most searching for their families. Each person has their own story. Claire is focused on finding Lydia. She is so desperate she agrees to team up with her ex-husband.
This tale is told from the point of view of several of the survivors; they share their fears, feelings and emotions. Most of the survivors are likable. This is a great read. I like what my husband calls the end of the world genre; however it is actually dystopia and post-apocalyptic.
Briggs Dictionary of Fairies: Banshees, Boggarts & Other Folklore Creatures
Katharine Briggs, author
Fee Greening, artist
Monoray
c/o Octopus
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781800963504, $24.99 hc / $11.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Briggss-Dictionary-Fairies-Banshees-Creatures/dp/1800963505
This book was originally published in 1979 under the title of Abbey Lubbers, Banshees and Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies. There are minor changes.
Author Katharine Mary Briggs played an important role in British Folklorist. She wrote 14 books.
Apple-Tree Man is a sample of the many folk stories in this book.
There was a family with two brothers. The eldest brother was about 12 years old. He worked hard every day, but his father ignored him. The youngest brother was kept at home where his father babied, protected, and spoiled him. When the father died the youngest son inherited everything. He bestowed bits of the estate to other family members but to his eldest brother he gave his father's old weak oxen, an old skin and bones donkey, and allowed him to rent his father's old run-down cottage. The eldest cut good grass and fed it to the ass and he massaged the oxen with herbs. The donkey and oxen grew stronger; they grazed on the grass in the apple orchard; their manure fed the trees. The eldest brother helped the oxen, ass and trees but did not earn any money. The youngest brother reminded the eldest that Christmas Eve was the next evening and the animals would be talking. He wanted the eldest to ask the ass where the buried treasure was hidden. The next morning the eldest did his chores. The oldest tree in the orchard told him where the treasure was buried. He found a small chest filled with gold. The Apple-Tree Man told the eldest brother to take the gold and keep it but not to tell anyone. The youngest brother came looking for the treasure. He overheard the ox and ass talking but never found the treasure.
Among other stories there is AughSky an Irish water horse. Barguest a bogey-beast. Black Annis was a cannibal hag with a blue face and iron Claws that lived in a cave in the Dane Hills.
The illustrations would have been better with color. This is a dictionary and for the most part defines each creature. There are a few stories or partial stories that say just enough to explain the creature.
The Battle of the Bookshops
Poppy Alexander
Avon Books
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063436619, $18.99 pbk / $11.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Bookshops-Heartwarming-Enemies-Lovers/dp/0063340674
This book needs work. Early in the book the author refers her boss refusing her vacation request to genocide. This isn't funny. The author should be ashamed of her self by even considering using such a term. This is in more than bad taste this is atrocious; it is insulting. I will be surprised if this book receives more than 2 stars by any reviewers.
The 3-Minute Prayer Jar Devotional: Daily Inspiration for Women
Wanda E. Brunstetter, Janice Thompson, and Donna K. Maltese
Barbour Books
https://www.barbourbooks.com
9798891511743 $19.99 pbk / $37.99 Library Binding
https://www.amazon.com/3-Minute-Prayer-Jar-Devotional-Inspiration/dp/B0DQLTMYKG
If it has Wanda E. Brunstetter's name on it I know it is going to be good.
The first thing I noticed was that this book is created as a gift. There is a place to record who is To, From, and a Date. The devotions were written or women. It only takes one minute to read the Bible verse, one minute to read the devotional and think about it, and 1 minute to go to the Lord in Prayer.
A prayer jar reminds us to turn to our Lord and Savior in prayer. The idea is to place pieces of paper in the Prayer Jar with verses of scripture, prayer requests, or notes of thanks to God. A prayer jar can be decorated or not. You can use pieces of paper to record scripture, thanks to God or prayer requests on small strips of paper. After reflecting on them, fold them or roll them up and place them in the jar. Occasionally you may want to remove one of the papers and think about it; if it has been answered, you may want to thank the Lord and write down the date. If it has not been answered, return it to the jar.
This book will make a perfect gift for someone or for yourself.
I received a digital copy of this book for review purposes. My reviews are my unbiased opinions.
The Magical Wooden Chair
Judy Haveson, author
Natalia Larguier, illustrator
https://judyhaveson.com
J Press Books
9798998973505, $13.99 pbk
https://www.amazon.com/Magical-Wooden-Chair-Family-Collection/dp/B0FC55995B
Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy of this book for review purpose. My reviews are my honest opinion.
This is the story of a chair and people that loved it.
Bobbie and her grandmother, Hannah to buy a new pair of shoes. There were four chairs sitting in a row. Three chairs were identical, but the fourth chair was a similar but not quite the same.
Joe said the chair was magical. Bobbie asked if she could take the chair to Izzie's shoe repair shop. The chair stayed in the family but moved from shop to shop. Over the years the chair was a witness to the family's life. Eventually the chair ended up in Judy's home. When she looked at it she remembered all the special times when she sat on her grandfather's lap as he sat in the chair. "When Jack sat in the chair, he heard all the stories and tales from his great-great-grandfather to his great-great-grandmother to his mother and everyone else who sat upon the chair."
I have mixed feelings on this tale. I really expected a lot more. I understand the author's purpose. The chair was an heirloom, passed from generation to generation. The chair represents the history of the family. All families should be blessed with such an heirloom, unfortunately not all are.
The illustrations are beautiful and add much to the text.
Debra Gaynor, Reviewer
www.hancockclarion.com
Fred Siegmund's Bookshelf
White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy
Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman
Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com
9780593729144, $32.00, 249 pages
https://www.amazon.com/White-Rural-Rage-American-Democracy/dp/0593729145
White Rural Rage examines the white rural population as a minority block of angry, threatening, and violent voters ready to empower Donald Trump and the Republican Party to bring down democracy in exchange for arbitrary rule. Make note the book was published well before the November 2024 elections. The authors explain in their prologue they write as a warning to complacent members of the majority who might be discounting the threat.
The authors develop their arguments in eight chapters where the first chapter defines four compounding causes of our dangerous politics. They list and give brief descriptions of the four causes: 1. white despair, 2. outsize political power, 3. veneration of white culture and values, 4. media triggering of whites. Then they identify a "Fourfold Threat" from viewpoints common to rural whites: 1. Racism, xenophobia, anti-urban disdain, and anti-immigrant sentiment, 2. Acceptance of conspiracies as facts, 3. Undemocratic and anti-democratic beliefs, 4. Justification of violence.
Chapter 2 narrates the mostly economic problems generating white despair that include the loss of population, jobs, and the closing of basic services and essential health care. In chapter 3 the authors describe how and why rural America has political power much greater than its numbers should allow. Discussion of the gerrymandered House and malapportioned Senate provide much of the answer.
The next two chapters describe the ways and means Fox News and their political commentators work to generate resentment and hatred in the urban-rural divide, then on to Donald Trump as the unlikely leader of rural America. Chapter 6 returns to a more detailed discussions of the "Fourfold Threat" where the justification of violence holds most of the threat. Chapter 7 describes the rural population, currently at 76 percent white, but the 24 percent minority share is up in recent years, especially the Latino community. Discussion here describes the unique hardships of rural minorities as they provide cheap labor to a still depressed economy. The last chapter combines the cumulative evidence with an incredulous discussion of a divided America. Having assembled a well-documented book full of evidence of America's social and political decline the authors might be wondering how America could fall so far.
I found a broad theme of Republican Party division mentioned at various places through the book. For example, at page 147 I found Trump "exposed a profound division between the Republican Party and the base of voters upon whom it relied, making clear that the base and the elite are different people with different priorities." The Republican elite has worked relentlessly to convince white rural America they are an aggrieved minority justified in hating urban Democrats.
Republicans have succeeded in getting the white rural vote by wide margins while they ignore the rural population and do absolutely nothing for them. Shaller and Wardman document Republican party efforts to make rural life worse over time that include promoting private school vouchers, defunding public schools and public colleges. They have successfully run off OB-GYN physicians as part of attacks on abortion rights and birth control. State governments create the local governments with enabling legislation, but state legislatures have the sovereign power to eliminate local government authority at any time. They can cancel elections and appoint their Republican operatives or deny local governments from providing services such as broadband service, preserving it for corporate monopolists.
The white rural population consistently votes against their own economic interest but no one should think they do not understand what they are doing. The authors apparently agree as I quote them: "With wide eyes and full hearts, rural Whites recognized Trump's exclusionary, reality defying, undemocratic and violent tendencies- and rallied behind him because of, not despite, his repeated disregard for America's most sacred democratic traditions."
Remember that 18- and 19-year-old white boys of the south fought the Civil War and died by the tens of thousands to preserve slavery for rich plantation owners. In exchange the survivors got to claim to be in a class superior to the black freedmen. Before the Civil War southern white boys did not lynch blacks, they were a plantation investment. After the war Jim Crow and lynching made life quite dangerous for blacks, all to maintain class relations with the acceptance of the white elite that controlled the south. Never underestimate the power of class as a source for violence and political breakdown.
The rise of Trump has brought the country some unlikely sycophant followers. Senators Elise Stefanik and Ted Cruz, to wit, both graduates of Harvard College; maybe Harvard breeds more arrogance and egotism than knowledge and principle. Schaller and Wardman discussed politics with politicians that do not worry Trump misconduct will ever affect them. They express privilege as their just due with or without democracy. They pander to Trump violence toward objectors with no sign of reservation.
The authors of White Rural Rage did an impressive job organizing and documenting their varied assertions. There was a variety of economic data, polling and voting data, stories of Trump followers planning violence such as the plan to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchan Witmer. They also consulted a variety of non-profit funded research from places like the Brookings Institution and others. I for one would not challenge any conclusions they made, but I will suggest a return to America's recurring racism takes first place as the cause of this new round of America's disintegrating politics. Trump merely threw out all restraint with a more aggressive brand of vulgarity and overt threat of violence than George Wallace from the 1970's or any previous presidential candidate.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to end constitutional government which makes it impossible to believe he can take the presidential oath of office to protect and defend the constitution. He is not a legitimate candidate, but corporate America with their campaign money bags sits mum on the side lines, apparently in the belief Trump will not interfere with them or hurt their profits. The authors make an excellent case of the threat to democracy, but the threat of violence and civil warfare permeates the discussion. Readers can decide for themselves what they think are chances for widespread violence of Trump as president
Fred Siegmund, Reviewer
www.Americanjobmarket.blogspot.com
Gregory Stephenson's Bookshelf
A Curious Scrapbook
Norman Conquest, compiler
Angelo Pastormerlo, compiler
Book Whisperer Press
https: www.bookwhisperer.ink
9798992680850, $12.00, PB, 62 pp.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNLMCPL1
This is a wordless book that will leave you speechless. It consists of 62 vintage photographic images without accompanying text. A captivating carnival of the eye and mind, A Curious Scrapbook is comprised of images that would appear to have been drawn from long ago, forgotten worlds of film, dance, fashion, theatre, advertising, the military, magic, erotica, propaganda, sports and other obscure sources in the public domain. They are by turns or are in some instances simultaneously arresting, comic, grotesque, disturbing, delightful, and surpassingly mysterious.
Turning the pages of A Curious Scrapbook, we are shown - as in a dream - a cluster of nude women standing in a room, clasping skulls, bones and stuffed specimens of animals; a woman casually supporting three grown men on her arms; a well-dressed man with eyes closed cradling a large fish in his hands; an old man holding an enormous rifle; a man battering his head against a wooden wall while other men look on with admiration; solemn, young twin girls clutching skeletal dolls; elegant women undismayed by large insects and bats perched on their faces. And many more such photographs of a kindred kind, each suggesting a world, a story.
The beholder encounters in these images depictions of inexplicable situations and uncommon persons, hallucinatory incongruities inducing in the psyche a kind of metaphysical vertigo. What motives are operative in these pictures? What manner of mind conceived and executed them? What end or purpose could they have served? What inferences must be drawn from them? As viewers we are forced frantically to search for explanations and compelled to reconsider comfortable assumptions about the nature of the world. Page after page, a cascade of enigmas leaves us disoriented, awestruck, apprehensive, exalted and possessed by a giddy sense of the sheer, staggering strangeness of existence.
As a formidable, irrefutable refutation of all that is at odds with wonder, this singular collection succeeds brilliantly.
Gregory Stephenson
Reviewer
Israel Drazin's Bookshelf
Pirkei Hallel: A Shared Journey for Bat Mitzvah Girls and Their Mothers
Rena Ariel and Tziporah Poltz
Gefen Publishing House
https://www.gefenpublishing.com
9789657864241, $45.00
https://www.amazon.com/Pirkei-Hallel-Journey-Mitzvah-Mothers/dp/9657864240
This book can change lives
Eleven-year-old girls and their parents will enjoy Pirkei Hallel during the year the girls prepare for their Bat Mitzvah, which occurs when they are twelve. The book will make their experience more meaningful than it would be without it, and will create a lovely and pleasurable memory that will last a lifetime.
Two women, sisters, with interesting lives, Rena Ariel and Tziporah Piltz, created the book with the expert help of Orit Sisu, who wrote comics, as well as others who contributed stories, inserted fascinating, colorful illustrations and drawings, translated the book from Hebrew to English, and designed and edited it. The result is a book that the Bat Mitzvah girls will remember for the rest of their lives.
There is much in the book. The Bat Mitzvah girls and their parents will learn what prompted the two women to create the book and be inspired by their stories. They will enjoy the comics, illustrations, and games.
They will learn Jewish concepts in a fascinating, new, and enjoyable way that will affect their lives. The concepts include why mitzvot are essential, the importance of the four matriarchs, chesed, the roots of Judaism, speech, truth, gratitude, beauty, modesty, Shabbat, prayer, the Land of Israel, and the Bet Hamikdash.
The book contains study pages, activity pages, games, short stories, activities for the Bat Mitzvah girls, their mothers, their fathers, and spaces to write down the reader's thoughts.
The book is divided into twelve sections so that the Bat Mitsvah girls can spend twelve months enjoying what the book contains and learning from it. There is also a glossary of the many inspiring books that are mentioned and about their authors.
Divrei Halev: Thoughts of Rabbi Professor David Weiss Halivni on the Weekly Torah Portion
Rabbi Ronald D. Price
Gefen Publishing House
https://www.gefenpublishing.com
9789657801543, $29.95
https://www.amazon.com/Divrei-Thoughts-Professor-Halivni-Portion/dp/9657801540
This book can prompt people to think of ideas to improve themselves
Rabbi Professor David Weiss Halivni, born on September 27, 1927, and died on June 28, 2022, at age 94, was born in what is today called Ukraine. His parents separated when he was 4 years old, and he grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Isaiah Weiss, a Hasidic rabbi in Romania, who began teaching him when he was age 5. He was considered very smart, and he received rabbinic ordination at the early age of 15. The name Weiss means "white" in German. Weiss later began to use the Hebrew word "Halivni" for "white" together with his original name.
German troops arrived in his town in March 1944 when Weiss was age 16 and deported the town's Jewish population to concentration camps. His entire family was murdered by the Nazis, leaving him as its sole survivor.
When he was liberated and came to the United States, he was introduced to Rabbi Saul Lieberman of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, who recognized his mental skills. He studied with this Conservative Jewish leader for many years at the JTS. He secured his doctorate at JTS in Talmud.
He served as a Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America for many years and resigned in 1983. He later served as a professor of Talmud at Columbia University. He retired from Columbia University in 2005 and moved to Israel, where he taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar Ilan University until he died.
He made two significant contributions to Jewish thought, both controversial and not accepted by all scholars, one dealing with the Talmud and the other with the Torah.
His "source-critical approach" to Talmud study takes a radically different approach to how many others understand what the Talmud is saying. Many Orthodox Jews who read the Talmud reject his innovation. They insist that the Talmud is a single, unified document. In his book Mekorot u-Mesorot, Halivni sees it as a multi-layered work, parts of which were added to the original text by later writers.
In his Revelation Restored. Halivni developed his other idea, one that earned him the 1997 National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship.
Halivni insisted on the correctness of the traditional view that God interfered with natural law some three thousand years ago and revealed the Torah, the five books of Moses, to the Israelites after they escaped Egyptian bondage. This Torah, Halivni states, was perfect. God revealed it because he wanted to give humanity a gift of perfect knowledge that would teach them how to behave.
The problem arose following the revelation when God stopped interfering with the laws of nature that He created and ceased to involve Himself in human affairs. He gave the Torah to humanity to help them, but people, being human, ignored the Torah, and it fell into disuse.
Significantly, although readers may reject Halivni's two significant contributions and some of his other ideas, even consider them clever but not correct or even rational, they can still learn much by thinking about what he says, and thereby improve themselves and help improve the world. The same can be said about the recent book containing his thoughts on the Torah.
In 2025, Halivni's student, Rabbi Ronald D. Price, published a 426-page book called Divrei Halev, "words from the Heart." Halev is probably a play on the name Halivni, making the title mean the "Words of Halivni." He wrote and edited the book with Halivni. He gives his teacher's views on the 54 weekly biblical portions in the book. Each idea is stated briefly, often in only a page or two, with several discussions for each portion.
Israel Drazin, Reviewer
www.booksnthoughts.com
Jack Mason's Bookshelf
Sandhill Cities
J. Mark Souther, author
David Goldfield, series editor
Louisiana State University Press
https://lsupress.org
9780807184899, $45.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Sandhill-Cities-Metropolitan-Ambitions-Columbus/dp/0807184896
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sandhill-cities-j-mark-souther/1147269263
Synopsis: "Sandhill Cities: Metropolitan Ambitions in Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia" by Professor Mark Souther is a comparative history of Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia, in the twentieth century. Weaving together southern, urban, and environmental history, Professor Souther narrates urban boosters' hopes and actions in their pursuit of metropolitan stature in three mid-sized cities situated along the fall line running through the middle of the state.
Critique: Featuring occasional B/W historical photos, a sixteen page Introduction, fifty-two pages of Notes, an eighteen page Bibliography, and an eleven page Index, "Sandhill Cities: Metropolitan Ambitions in Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia" by Professor J. Mark Souther (and part of the 'Making the Modern South' series edited by Professor David Goldfield) is an original, meticulously researched, and deftly crafted study that is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Regional American History and Urban Planning/Development collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
It should be noted that this hardcover edition of "Sandhill Cities: Metropolitan Ambitions in Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia" from the Louisiana State University Press is also readily available for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.95).
Editorial Note #1: J. Mark Souther (https://marksouther.org) is Professor of History at Cleveland State University. He is also the author of "New Orleans on Parade: Tourism and the Transformation of the Crescent City".
Editorial Note #2: David Goldfield (https://davidgoldfield.us) is Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the author and editor of sixteen books on the American South, most recently America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation, and serves as editor of the LSU Press series Making the Modern South.
Jack Mason
Reviewer
John Burroughs' Bookshelf
Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel
John Darowski, editor
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476677255, $29.95, PB, 287pp
https://www.amazon.com/Adapting-Superman-Essays-Transmedia-Steel/dp/1476677255
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/adapting-superman-john-darowski/113789761
Synopsis: Almost immediately after his first appearance in comic books in June 1938, Superman began to be adapted to other media. The subsequent decades have brought even more adaptations of the Man of Steel, his friends, family, and enemies in film, television, comic strip, radio, novels, video games, and even a musical. The rapid adaptation of the Man of Steel occurred before the character and his world were fully developed on the comic book page, allowing the adaptations an unprecedented level of freedom and adaptability.
Compiled and edited by John Darowski, the seventeen essays comprising "Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel" provide specific insight into the practice of adapting Superman from comic books to other media and cultural contexts through a variety of methods, including social, economic, and political contexts.
The contributors touch on subjects such as the different international receptions to the characters, the evolution of both Clark Kent's character and Superman's powers, the importance of the radio, how the adaptations interact with issues such as racism and Cold War paranoia, and the role of fan fiction in the franchise.
By applying a wide range of critical approaches to adaption and Superman, "Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel" offers new insights into our popular entertainment and our cultural history.
Critique: Singularly informative, inherently fascinating, and presenting a body of truly impressive scholarship, "Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel" is an extraordinary and original contribution to the literary and media history of the character that essentially launched the Superhero comic book genre and continues it's popular culture impact today with a steady stream of comics and block buster movies. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library Comics/Graphic Novels History and Literary Criticism collections, it should be noted that this trade paperback edition of editor John Darowski's "Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel" from McFarland & Company is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
Editorial Note: John Darowski is a PhD candidate in comparative humanities at the University of Louisville. He is the author of several essays on the history of comic book superheroes. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20857037.John_Darowski)
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Julie Summers' Bookshelf
Superheroines and the Epic Journey
Valerie Estelle Frankel
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476668789, $19.99, PB, 296pp
https://www.amazon.com/Superheroines-Epic-Journey-Mythic-Television/dp/1476668787
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/superheroines-and-the-epic-journey-valerie-estelle-frankel/1124595742
Synopsis: The heroine's journey echoes throughout ancient legend. Each young woman combats her dark side and emerges stronger. This quest is also a staple of American comic books.
Wonder Woman with semi-divine powers gives us a new female-centered creation story. Batgirl, Batwoman and Black Widow discover their enemy is the dark mother or shadow twin, with the savagery they've rejected in themselves. Supergirl similarly struggles but keeps harmony with her sister.
From Jessica Jones and Catwoman to the new superwomen of cutting-edge webcomics, each heroine must go into the dark, to become not a warrior but a savior. Women like Captain Marvel and Storm sacrifice all to join the ranks of superheroes, while their feminine powers and dazzling costumes reflect the most ancient tales.
Critique: Original, exceptional, informed and informative, "Superheroines and the Epic Journey: Mythic Themes in Comics, Film and Television" by Valerie Estelle Frankel is a seminal and groundbreaking study that is a deftly crafted, meticulous researched, inherently fascinating, and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Graphic Novel/Comics History & Literary Criticism collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and graphic novel/comics fans of female superheroes and supervillains that this paperback edition of "Superheroines and the Epic Journey: Mythic Themes in Comics, Film and Television" from McFarland & Company is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Valerie Estelle Frankel (https://vefrankel.wordpress.com) teaches English at Mission College and San Jose City College. She is the author of more than 90 popular culture books and more than 100 stories and essays.
Simple Paper Flowers: 25 Beautiful Projects to Make
Paula Milner
The GMC Group
www.gmcbooks.com
9781784946883, $26.99, PB, 168pp
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Paper-Flowers-Beautiful-Projects/dp/1784946885
Synopsis: From festive holly to delicate primroses and golden marigolds, the paper flower projects comprising "Simple Paper Flowers: 25 Beautiful Projects to Make" by Paula Milner are astonishing in how realistic they look and how versatile they are.
Each individual project is broken down into simple, step-by-step instruction paired with detailed photography making each project approachable and easy to make
These beautiful paper flowers can be used in bouquets, buttonholes, garlands and many other ways. Mainly constructed from floristry wire, crepe paper and card stock, few materials are required. These DIY projects are ideal for the novice, but will also interest experienced crafters seeking to put their own imprint on the finished blooms.
Critique: A DIY compendium of 25 fun and lovely paper flower making projects that range from Poppy, Sunflower, Lily, Rose and Dandelion, to Wild Primrose, Japanese Anemone, and Persian Buttercup, this large format (8 x 0.75 x 9.75 inches, 1.35 pounds) paperback edition of "Simple Paper Flowers: 25 Beautiful Projects to Make" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, and community/public library Paper Crafts collections.
Editorial Note: Paula Milner (https://www.thecraftylass.com) is a crafter, tutor, sewist, author, illustrator and designer. In 2015, Paula established 'The Crafty Lass' with the aim to inspire adults to get creative in their busy lives.
Julie Summers
Reviewer
Margaret Lane's Bookshelf
The Fromagerie: Secrets and Recipes from a Swiss Cheesemaker
Claude Luisier
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Books
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781840919158, $39.99, HC, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Fromagerie-Secrets-Recipes-Swiss-Cheesemaker/dp/1840919159
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fromagerie-claude-luisier/1146814315
Synopsis: With the publication of "The Fromagerie: Secrets and Recipes from a Swiss Cheesemaker", expert cheesemaker Claude Luisier has gathered together a selection of more than 50 cheeses in a unique combination of cheese guide and recipe book.
Written for all those curious to learn more about the world of French and Swiss cheesemaking, Luisier takes his readers on a journey from the tip of Normandie to the peaks of the Alps, introducing them to the diverse cheeses of these regions, as well as the artisans who craft them with skill, determination and passion.
From buches cendrees to Roquefort, Camembert to Comte, "The Fromagerie" is a culinary volume that has something to tempt the tastebuds of every cheese lover with recipes that include:
Spinach, Bleu d'Auvergne and pine nut tartlets
Croque monsieur with Morbier and truffled ham
Beetroot carpaccio and fresh goat's cheese cream
Alpine raclette spring rolls with apricot chutney
Asparagus, cured ham and Arradoy sheep's cheese salad
and so much more!
Critique: Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to French and Swiss cheeses, expert cheesemaker Claude Luisier has compiled and presents a unique, informative, and exceptional showcasing of French and Swiss cheeses in the pages of "The Fromagerie: Secrets and Recipes from a Swiss Cheesemaker". A perfect and inspiring tutorial for the exploration, pairings, and enjoyment of cheese, this large format (9.25 x 0.85 x 11.25 inches, 2.8 pounds) hardcover edition of "The Fromagerie" from Mitchell Beazley is a high value and unreservedly recommended acquisition for personal, professional, community, culinary school, and college/university library French Cuisine and Cheese/Wine Pairing instructional reference collections and tutorials. Inherently fascinating to simply browse through, it should be noted that "The Fromagerie" is also readily available from Mitchell Beazley in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.99).
Editorial Note: Claude Luisier has been working as a cheesemaker for nearly three decades. Perched in the mountains of Valais in Switzerland, he has captured the hearts of millions on social media with his frankness, humor and encyclopedic knowledge of cheeses.
Plant Power
Wouter Bijdendijk, author
Chef Joris Bijdendijk, recipes
Findhorn Press
www.findhornpress.com
c/o Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
www.innertraditions.com
9798888502693, $35.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Power-Yourself-Medicinal-Mushrooms/dp/B0DH3M627G
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/plant-power-wouter-bijdendijk/1146298004
Synopsis: With the publication of "Plant Power: Heal Yourself with Medicinal Mushrooms, Roots, Flowers, and Herbs", author Wouter Bijdendijk highlights thirty mushrooms, herbs, flowers, fruits, nuts, bulbs, and roots that support the immune system, digestion, endurance, vitality, and the brain -- ranging from ginseng and turmeric to chaga and reishi to olive and chamomile.
"Plant Power" also explores several plants that have played a significant role in rituals and ceremonies, such as fly agaric, blue lotus, cannabis, and peyote cactus, enabling our ancestors to connect with deeper layers of themselves, the spiritual realms, and the Divine.
Michelin star chef Joris Bijdendijk provides two delicious vegetarian recipes for each major plant, offering culinary delights to help you easily incorporate the medicinal powers of these plants in your life.
A journey through the deep and ancient roots of plant knowledge, from folk uses to mystical properties to the vital role of plants in human evolution, "Plant Power" is a DIY guide showing how to harness the natural power of plants to revitalize your body, integrate your spirit, and empower your life.
Critique: This large format (8 x 0.9 x 10 inches, 2.25 pounds) hardcover edition of "Plant Power: Heal Yourself with Medicinal Mushrooms, Roots, Flowers, and Herbs" from Findhorn Press is a collaborative project that incorporates 60 thematically relevant recipes by Chef Joris Bijdendijk with the informative commentary of anthropologist Wouter Bijdendijk. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full color photos of finished dishes, "Plant Power" is a deftly crafted and exceptionally informative volume that will be of special appeal to readers with an interest in Herbal Remedies, Indigenous Medicine, and Elegant Plant-Based Cuisine. While a unique and unreserved recommended acquisition selection for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections, it should also be noted that "Plat Power" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.99).
Editorial Note #1: Wouter Bijdendijk is an anthropologist specializing in ethnobotany and pharmacognosy with a degree from Amsterdam University. In more than 20 years of touring the world as renowned mentalist and magician Ramana, Wouter has studied herbal medicine in different traditions from around the globe. An author, lecturer, and TEDx speaker, he lives in the Netherlands.
Editorial Note #2: Chef Joris Bijdendijk earned three Michelin stars within just eight years of beginning his career. As executive chef at RIJKS(R), the restaurant of the Rijksmuseum, and Wils as well as Wils Bakery Cafe in Amsterdam, Joris is one of the leading culinary figures in the Netherlands. Beyond the kitchen, he is a columnist for Dutch newspaper Het Parool, founder of the Low Food Foundation, and author of several cookbooks.
Margaret Lane
Reviewer
Mark Walker's Bookshelf
James: A Novel
Percival Everett
Doubleday
https://knopfdoubleday.com
9780385550369, $28.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/James-Novel-Percival-Everett/dp/0385550367
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Percival Everett's James (2024) are separated by a century and a half. Yet, both confront the legacy of American racism through the lens of a fugitive slave named Jim. Twain's novel, which is one of the most popular books in American literature, is simultaneously revered and reviled for its use of racial slurs and portrayal of antebellum attitudes. Everett's version reimagines the same narrative from Jim's perspective.
Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a satirical indictment of Southern society's racism, focusing on Huck's moral awakening and his decision not to expose Jim. Twain does a masterful job exposing the hypocrisy of a society claiming Christian virtue while upholding slavery. But Twain's use of the N-word and depiction of Jim as a superstitious and childlike character have raised the question of whether he truly transcends the racist tropes it portrays.
What makes Everitt's book unique is that he gives Jim a voice that Twain denied him. Jim is literate, philosophical, and acutely aware of the racial dynamics that shape his world. The novel deconstructs the original's paternalism and reframes Jim not as a victim but as a protagonist navigating the violence of white supremacy, making Everett's work more than a retelling but a reclamation, challenging readers to confront the false narrative of American literature and the erasure of a Black worldview.
Music and language play key roles in defining James' awareness of the injustices and absurdities around him. Jim manages to hide from the slavers who are in pursuit by becoming part of a blackface minstrel show, which contains a veiled reference to a slave's indifference. One song in particular, which I sang to my children and still sing to my grandchildren, "Jimmy Crack Corn," also known as "Blue Tail Fly," strips the song of its innocence and reframes it as a bitter echo of systemic violence and forced servitude. Ironically, the entertainers of the group were mostly white in blackface, offering the ideal cover for Jim's escape.
Jim is also aware of how language is used to control and dehumanize. It reflects how enslaved people were expected to perform joy or detach in the face of trauma. The author often depicts Jim saying what is expected of him by those around him. The exception of this form of linguistic gymnastics is abandoned towards the end of the book when Jim confronts a bastion of Southern society, Judge Thatcher, who knows the whereabouts of Jim's wife and daughter, whom their owner had resold to another plantation. Although Jim had a pistol, it was his direct and threatening speech that shocked the judge, who kept saying, "Are you crazy?" (to talk with him this way.)
Both books have faced censorship over the years, although for different reasons. Huckleberry Finn is banned for its offensive language and insensitivity. At the same time, James has already sparked controversy for his unflinching portrayal of racial violence and his challenge to racist, hierarchical authority.
PEN America includes Huckleberry Finn as one of the most frequently banned books in U.S. history. They do point out, "Forestalling academic engagement at this juncture - the point of outrage - is a mistake... Banning and censorship are forms of repression that only succeed in shoving racism deeper into the shadows of our nation's collective psyche."
Although PEN America hadn't issued a formal statement on Everett's book, the author did observe, "People who seek to ban that book, let's face it, haven't read it. If they have read it, they're not capable of understanding it."
Which might have been the case with Huckelberry Finn in the late 1800s. Yet the very discomfort these books provoke makes them essential as they force readers to grapple with the moral contradictions of their culture and the power of storytelling to either obscure or illuminate the truth.
About the Author
Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and the Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children
Mark D. Walker, Reviewer
http://www.MillionMileWalker.com
Matthew McCarty's Bookshelf
Lines of Flight: Capitalism and Mental Illness
Joseph Mendoza-Green, MA, LPC, LAC
Independently Published
9798343697834, $19.99 Paperback, 553 Pages
https://www.amazon.com/Lines-Flight-Capitalism-Mental-Illness/dp/B0DQLBPTKZ
Mental health is rapidly becoming an issue that most Americans deal with on a daily basis. Many Americans suffer from illnesses such as anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, and related afflictions. Author Joseph Mendoza-Green has written a very interesting book that sheds new light on possible reasons why mental illness has become such an important part of the American conversation. Lines of Flight: Capitalism and Mental Illness, A New Anatomy is a lengthy dive into the world of mental illness and the big business that it has become. Mendoza-Green incorporates everything from economic theory, history, psychology, and philosophy, to self-help, eastern religions, and commercialism into his look at how mental illness has changed in America.
Lines of Flight looks at how mental illness has evolved down through the centuries, and how it has become a major facet of life in modern America. Mental illness is a major cause of lost revenue for employers, hospital stays, and mass violence in America. Mendoza-Green suggests that this is because more Americans are aware of mental illness and more Americans are open to the causes and symptoms of mental illness. It is also because more Americans avoid really seeing themselves in mental illnesses. Mendoza-Green writes that mental illness is an ever-evolving and prevalent facet of how modern society understands our newly connected and convoluted world of relationships.
Lines of Flight incorporates a wealth of information and important knowledge. Mendoza-Green writes from a perspective of personal experience and a need to figure out what is going on in his personal world and the larger world in general. While the length of Lines of Flight is quite daunting, and takes some dedication to read through to the end, it is a much needed addition to the mental health conversation. Mendoza-Green uses his personal experience to support his writing. His is an excellent narrative and much needed contribution to the expert literature on a subject on the lips of many in America.
Matthew W. McCarty, EdD
Reviewer
Michael Carson's Bookshelf
The Unnatural History Museum
Viktor Wynd, author
Oskar Proctor, photographer
Prestel Publishing
www.prestel.com
9783791385198, $45.00, HC, 200pp
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-History-Museum-Viktor-Wynd/dp/3791385194
Synopsis: For over a decade, from a tiny storefront in east London, the artist Viktor Wynd has been reinventing the cabinet of curiosities for the 21st century. The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History is now one of the city's most tantalizing tourist destinations.
"The Unnatural History Museum" is new coffee-table style volume in which Wynd takes his readers on a tour inside his mildly-twisted mind, delving deeper into his philosophy of collecting, and describing personal connections to the objects he treasures.
Written in his trademark charismatic style, which blends whimsical stories with odd facts and obscure references, "The Unnatural History Museum" is filled with lavish and theatrical photographs and drawings. Loosely organized into thematic chapters, it ponders the beauty of skulls and masks; explores beasts, freaks, monsters, fairies, and mermaids; covers magical plants, hallucinogens, erotica, and dandies; and dips into the world of the occult.
Critique: This large format (9.81 x 0.89 x 11.31 inches, 2.31 pounds) hardcover edition of Vicktor Wynd's "The Unnatural History Museum" from Prestel Publishing will prove to be of immense appeal to readers with an interest in collections of unique curiosities, idiosyncratic art, bizarre antiques and unusual oddities. Featuring full page, full color photographs by Oskar Proctor and accompanied by Viktor Wynd's informative commentaries, "The Unnatural History Museum" is a unique and highly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections.
Editorial Note #1: Viktor Wynd (https://thelasttuesdaysociety.org/museum) is the proprietor of The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History in Hackney, east London and is chancellor of The Last Tuesday Society. He is also the author of Viktor Wynd's Cabinet of Wonders (Prestel).
Editorial Note #2: Oskar Proctor (http://oskarproctor.com) is a photographer specializing in interiors and still lifes.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Robin Friedman's Bookshelf
Alan Hovhaness: Concerto No. 2; Works for Violin and Piano
Alan Hovhaness, composer
Zina Schiff, performer
Valerie Stark performer
Salzburg Chamber Soloists, performer
Avlana Eisenbert, conductor
Naxos
https://www.naxos.com
B0F6LWN5HY, $19.99 cd
Hovhaness For Violin
The music of Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) combines Eastern and Western elements. It is a music of mystical spirituality and of nature, particularly of mountains, and includes both modern and archaic elements. The music is frequently modal in character and often contrapuntal. It also tends to be accessible to broad audiences, unlike some contemporary music.
Hovhaness composed prolifically, perhaps to a fault, over many musical genres. His works include, most notably, almost 70 symphonies. This new CD, part of the American Classics series on Naxos, features compositions of Hovhaness for the violin, most of which are little known. The works include a violin concerto, music for violin and piano in multiple and single movements, music for solo violin, and a work arranged from violin and piano to include a harp as well. Most of the music is from the early to the middle part of Hovhaness's long career.
It was moving to hear these infrequently performed works of Hovhaness, especially in the soulful, intense performances by violinist Zina Schiff, a student of Jascha Heifitz. Schiff plays with passion and brings out the lyricism of Hovhaness and his melodic gifts. I loved hearing her commitment to this music. Schiff also wrote the brief liner notes for the CD. The CD is a family product as Schiff's daughter, Aviana Eisenberg, conducts the Salzburg Chamber Soloists in the concerto and another daughter, Dana Paul Perna, arranged one of the selections, Hovhaness's early Opus 1 for violin and piano, "Oror" (Lulabye). Valerie Stark is the pianist.
The longest work on the program is the Concerto No. 2 for violin and strings, Op. 89a. As with many of Hovhaness's longer compositions, this work is not in traditional form but consists instead of seven short programatic movements. It is a free-flowing work without measures and with modernistic tonal clusters. The seven movements include an opening pastoral and two beautiful arias separated by an allegro movement and followed by a presto movement. The work concludes with an emotional recitative and lullaby followed, as in much of Hovhaness, with a hymn. I enjoyed hearing this piece.
I think Hovhaness may be more at home in short works, as the brief movements of the concerto suggest. The works I most enjoyed on this CD were three miniatures. The "Dream", op. 56 no. 2 for solo violin is a stunning piece bringing out the best in Zina Schiff. "Les baux", op. 261 for violin and piano is a tribute to the mountains Hovhaness loved, in this piece the mountains in Province, France. "Varak" op. 47a for violin and piano is inspired by mountains in Armenia and includes a meditative opening section followed by a folk dance.
The highlight of the multi-movement works on the CD is the "Visions of Saint Mesrob" op.198 which consists of three mystical movements picturing an Armenian saint. Hovhaness' "Violin Sonata" op. 11 is a rarity which was unearthed from the composer's papers by his late wife. It is an early work which features an expressive slow movement. The three-movement "Khrzig Suite" features Turkish themes with some unusual rhythmic features and long, flowing violin writing over the piano part.
The final work on the CD is Hovhaness's opus 1, "Lullaby", arranged by Dana Paul Perna. This is a lyrically impressive opus 1, and a delightful way to end the CD.
This CD makes an important contribution to the "American Classics" series. It is a good introduction to Hovhaness for those new to his music and will deepen appreciation of his music for those who already know it.
Total Time: One Hour and Ten Minutes
Alan Hovhaness: Complete Works for Solo Organ
Alan Hovhaness, composer
Tom Winpenny, performer
Peter Wright, performer
Tocatta
https://www.tocattaclassics.com
B0F5J8NWQP $20.99 CD
Hovhaness For Solo Organ
The American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) was so prolific that it is surprising that his works in an important genre fit comfortably on a single CD. Hovhaness supported himself as a church organist early in his career but by his own admission did not play well. He wrote seven works for organ solo over his career and they are all presented here -- including five solo organ works recorded for the first time. The CD also includes one of Hovhaness' best-known works, the "Prayer of St Gregory,'" Op. 62b in the version for trumpet and organ. with Peter Wright featured on the trumpet solo. British organist Tom Winpenny plays throughout on the organ of St Albans Cathedral. Winpenny has recorded a great deal, and he plays this rare Hovhaness music with conviction.
With "The Prayer of St. Gregory" the CD features seven unfamiliar works for solo organ by Hovhaness. They include three sonatas, a sonatina, and three short pieces ranging in date from the "Dawn Hymn", Op. 138 of 1953 through Hovhaness' final composition, "Habakkuk, Op. 434 of 1995. Hovhaness' music is highly expressive for the organ and shares many of the characteristics of his compositiional style. It includes many features of early Western music, such as fugues and combines them with Eastern elements and the use of modal scales. The music can be intimate with quiet, reflective melodies over a repeated bass figure, and also grand. A sense of spirituality pervades this music, as with much of Hovhaness.
Hovhaness' three sonatas for solo organ date from 1981, 1984, and 1990. As with his piano sonatas they tend to be in free form rather than in classic sonata form. The first sonata, Op. 352 is in five short movements in a variety of forms that appear frequently in Hovhaness. The second sonata, Op. 386 is in four movements and titled "Invisible Sun" after the eccentric American spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis (1826 -- 1910). Hovhaness' own program notes for this work are included in the liner notes. The third sonata, "Hermit Thrush" is in a single movement and celebrates the wildlife of New England.
The remaining works include Hovhaness' longest and most challenging work for solo organ, the "Sanahin", a partita in eight movements with a broad emotional range, including two sections titled "Whirling". It concludes with a majestic "Procession of Peace". Hovhaness' final composition "Habakkuk" with the Biblical reference of its title was my favorite on this CD as it seems in its brief compass to be a summation of much of Hovhaness. The "Dawn Hymn", as do the other works on the CD combines hymnal and more free-flowing textures. The three movement "Sonatina" Op. 382 (1983) was less interesting than the other music on this CD.
Carson Cooman's liner notes are unusually extensive and include a great deal of valuable discussion of Hovhaness' organ music and of his output in general. There also is a lengthy discussion by the organist, Tom Winpenny, of the organ of St Albans Cathedral. This CD is a release of Tocatta Classics which aims to present recordings of unjustly neglected classical music. I enjoyed getting to know Alan Hovhaness's music for solo organ.
Total Time: 81:21
New York City in the Civil War (Images of America)
Jonathan W. White, author
Timothy Justin Orr, author
Harold Holzer, foreword
Arcadia Publishing
https://www.arcadiapublishing.com
9781467161572, $24.99 pbk
https://www.amazon.com/York-City-Civil-Images-America/dp/1467161578
Civil War New York City In Images Of America
Both the Civil War and New York City have been written about extensively, but there is always more to learn. This short photographic history, "New York City in the Civil War" shows America's largest city during the Civil War from a variety of perspectives. It is a fascinating account with many images of Civil War era New York and an informative text. Historians Jonathan W. White and Timothy J. Orr wrote the book which also includes a short Foreword from the renowned historian and Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer.
The book shows many aspects of New York City life during the Civil War. Most of the fighting was far away, and the city proceeded with its business and life, from the glitz of the wealthy to life in notorious areas such as the Five Points. Broadway, finance, education, and street life carried on. But the War had a great impact. The book's twelve chapters, with images and text, offer a broad-ranging view of New York City's Civil War.
The first three chapters show the City on the verge of Civil War, with its liveliness in the late 1850s the Secession Crisis and the mobilization of troops from the City. New York was politically divided with many Southern sympathizers.
The fourth chapter offers images of some of the many soldiers, "The Boys in Blue" from the City. Chapter five offers a portrayal of what makes New York what it is, the "Street Scenes and Social Life" of the City in all its diversity. For me, this was the highlight of the book. The sixth chapter discusses the bosses and politicians of New York, then a motley group with a variety of views on the War. Tammany Hall and "Boss" Tweed played large roles at the time and afterwords.
Chapters 7-9 deal with African Americans and slavery with chapter 7 offering a history of the Atlantic Slave Trade. It discusses the hanging of the New York City slave trader Nathaniel Gordon when President Abraham Lincoln declined in spite of great public pressure to commute his sentence. Chapter 8 discusses the New York City draft riots, shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg, and their impact on the African American community. Chapter 9 discusses Black Civil War soldiers especially those from New York City.
The final three chapters begin with the Great Metropolitan Fair of 1864, designed to raise money for the hospitalized soldiers. The Fair was to be accessible to rich and poor with something for everyone, lowbrow or highbrow. I hadn't known of the fair before reading this book. The eleventh chapter shows voting in New York City in the momentous 1864 presidential election between Lincoln and General George B. McClellan. And the final chapter of the book discusses some of New York City's memories in the aftermath of the Civil War, including the City's response to the assassination of President Lincoln, Decoration Day (Memorial Day) observances, and the death of the controversial Union General and New York City politician, Daniel Sickles.
This is a great deal to be covered in a short book, and the work enhanced my understanding both of the Civil War and of New York City. The book is part of the Images of America series of local American histories from Arcadia Publishers.
Bewilderment: A Novel
Richard Powers, author
W.W. Norton & Company
https://wwnorton.com
9781324036142, $17.95 pbk / $8.70 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Bewilderment-Novel-Richard-Powers/dp/1324036141
The Robin Is My Favorite Bird
I found Richard Powers's novel "Bewilderment" (2021) immediately endearing. It has as a main character a 9-10 year old boy, Robin. Much is made of his name throughout the book as a source for the boy's teasing by his classmates and as a source for his love of birds and for all of nature. The book's first person narrator, Robin's father, the astrobiologist Theo Byrne, tells Robin how he was named. He is out on a first date with his soon to be wife Alyssa on a birding expedition. When Theo makes a fuss upon seeing a bird which proves to be the robin, Alyssa exclaims "the robin is my favorite bird" and the relationship proceeds from there. It was good to hear a little tale about my namesake.
Then too, much of the novel is set in Madison, Wisconsin where Theo is a professor. As a Wisconsin native who did graduate work in Madison, I enjoyed being reminded of this lovely city, its renowned university and the opportunity for learning it affords, and its beautiful lake environs.
I also loved some of the features of Alyssa, Robin's mother. Alyssa has died in an automobile accident before the story begins, leaving Theo to raise Robin alone. She had been a social and environmental activist in her career as a lawyer after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School. But what endeared her to me was the influence of Buddhism on her life. She had taught the family to say what Theo describes as a "secular prayer" every evening: "May all beings be free of unnecessary suffering" which is derived from the Buddhist Metta or lovingkindness meditation. Theo also discusses with Robin the "Four Immeasurables" of Buddhism he learned from Alyssa: "There are four good things worth practicing. Being kind toward everything alive. Staying level and steady. Feeling happy for any creature anywhere that is happy. And remembering that any suffering is also yours." There is also much in the latter part of the novel about the depth of the inner world in the form of the human that is even more mysterious and vast than the reaches of the universe. I was reminded of a famous saying of the Buddha in the Suttas: "For it is in this fathom-long body, with its perceptions and its mind that there is in the world the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world." These are wise lessons reminding me of my own experience with studying Buddhism.
These and other factors drew me into the book. Theo and Robin are close throughout the story as Theo struggles to be a good single parent and to deal with the many emotional issues of his troubled but gifted son. Theo conveys to Robin and to the reader a broad sense of the mystery of the universe in its unfathomable size and in its nature. He and Robin explore poetically many imagined planets in the universe and the possibility of life somewhere else in this vast cosmos. Theo and Robin also explore nature in this, our human world, and the possibility of its destruction through human neglect. Robin has artistic talent as well as a love of nature. He paints a remarkable series of paintings of endangered animals, again with a focus on birds.
Other parts of this novel were less successful. The novel turns on the use of an experimental non-chemical brain treatment called Decoded Neurofeedback, which is pioneered by one of Theo's UW colleagues. Robin receives the treatment to try to put himself in touch with the characteristics of his late mother to cure his emotional issues and his outbursts of anger and violence. Some of this treatment and its results, perhaps set in a slightly future time, were overdone and unconvincing.
There is also a lengthy political theme and polemic in this novel involving a Trump-like president and a criticism of the United States, primarily, and its people for their perceived philistinism, consumerism, and materialism and for their blithe unawareness of how their activities are endangering life and the planet. It is proper to be concerned with these considerations in writing a novel. They are conveyed here with too much of a sense of certitude, self-righteousness and rejection of the points of view of others to be effective. It distracted greatly from the many valuable features of the book and took away from the value of what it was trying to convey.
In short, this book pulled me two ways. There was the poetic, spritual meditation on the vastness of the universe, life, nature, and ties between father and son. And then there was the element of science fiction and of sharp social and political criticism. The two were not well joined. I loved the first theme of the book and disliked the second.
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
Solvej Balle, author
Barbara J. Haveland, translator
New Directions
https://ndbooks.com
9780811237253 $15.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Calculation-Book-I-Solvej-Balle/dp/0811237257
Tara Selter And November 18
Time has been a mystery over the ages for scientists, philosophers, poets, theologians -- for almost everyone. And time is at the heart of this book, "On the Calculation of Volume I" by the Danish novelist Solvej Balle (b. 1956) in the English translation by Barbara Haveland. The novel, shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, is the first of a seven-volume series.
This is a short, difficult book narrated by the primary character, Tara Selter, who lives in rural France with her companion, Thomas. Tara and Tom are in the business of selling antiquarian books. It appears, as the story begins, that their relationship has begun to fray and that they both, Tara in particular are unhappy and restless. Tara is in Paris to purchase some prized antiquarian books for resale. She travels on November 17 and is in Paris on November 18. And that day in Paris gives the story its impetus. Tara's life does not proceed in linear time, through November 19, November 20, etc. Rather her life becomes stuck on November 18. She lives that day over and over and over again. She keeps a journal reflecting on her experiences. And life on November 18 becomes the focus on the book.
The story begins with Tara's reflections on November 18 day #121 and Tara gradually works the reader back to the beginning. It concludes on November 18 day #366 in a year which, Tara observes, was not a leap year. Tara meditates on her plight. Often she is alone and isolated and speaks and writes to herself. For portions of the book, she shares her situation with Tom who tries to sympathize but also is living and functioning in standard linear time. The couple becomes increasingly alienated and Tara has further reflections and activities alone.
Tara has wide-ranging thoughts on her situation. Her thoughts, some of which she shares with Tom, include sophisticated philosophical or scientific reflection on the nature of time including reflections on what are sometimes called possible worlds. She reflects a great deal on loneliness and on the human place in the world. Her reflections become tied to nature as she thinks of the breadth and majesty of the sky and the cosmos as compared to the smallness of human life. She buys a telescope to assist her meditations. Then too, her reflections are minute and particular. She reflects on what she sees day after day on November 18 in the streets of Paris and at her home. She reflects on her hair and on a burn on her hand. These reflections are given in minutest detail. She reflects on her surroundings and on her relationship to Tom. Often the details are particularized, with several instances of both Tom and herself urinating. She describes her surroundings and she describes herself describing her surroundings. She thinks incessantly about the strange situation in which she finds herself and about what she might do about it. There are moments of beautiful writing and of insightful reflection in the course of the novel.
The book didn't succeed. Perhaps it was the timing, so to speak, as at the moment I was not looking for a book of this nature. But with some of its interesting themes, the novel was slow and dull. The book was solipsistic in tone. I didn't find Tara especially convincing and didn't feel the need to get to know her better. The long philosophical meditations on time and its nature did not tie in for me with the peculiar events of the story which is more about loneliness and lack of connection than about the mysteries of time. I could not visualize reading six further volumes of this. I struggled with the book, given the praise it has received and some of its themes, but concluded that it was not for me.
Robin Friedman
Reviewer
Roisin Smyth's Bookshelf
More Everything Forever
Adam Becker
Basic Books
c/o Hachette
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/basic-books
9781541619609, $18.99
https://www.amazon.com/More-Everything-Forever-Overlords-Humanity-ebook/dp/B0D3DV4PW2
Synopsis: This expose shows why Silicon Valley's heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions - with escaping death, building AI tyrants, and creating limitless growth - are about oligarchic power, not preparing for the future. Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by super-intelligent AIs.
In More Everything Forever, science journalist Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow - and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. Nevertheless, these obsessions fuel fears that overwhelm reason - for example, that a rogue AI will exterminate humanity - at the expense of essential work on solving crucial problems like climate change. What's more, these futuristic visions cloak a hunger for power under dreams of space colonies and digital immortality. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the reality is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience.
More Everything Forever exposes the powerful and sinister ideas that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are.
Critique: This is a very sobering look at how practical the proposals which the Silicon Valley "tech bros" champion really are. On the basis of our current science, Becker concludes that these are utopian and distract from dealing with more immediate issues such as climate change.
Becker's scientific background allows him to communicate why schemes such as AI governance, space colonies, nanotechnological ideas and the prospects of cheating death through technology are just not feasible. It helps that Becker writes in a very accessible way - you don't need a PhD in astrophysics to understand what Becker says in the book. Becker gives the impression that such schemes might never be plausible, and it can be argued that we can't foretell the future and so can't rule anything out, but his arguments are very thorough and grounded in evidence.
All of this makes More Everything Forever a very interesting book which will help you rethink a lot of what you hear in the papers about technology proposals, and will also make you question how clever the "tech bros" really are. It will also help you clarify what our priorities should be. It's a book which needs to be read.
Editorial Note: Adam Becker is a science writer with a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Michigan and a BA in philosophy and physics from Cornell. He has written for the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta, Undark, Aeon, and others. He has also recorded a video series with the BBC, and has appeared on numerous radio shows and podcasts, including Ologies, The Story Collider, and KQED Forum. He lives in California.
Roisin Smyth
Reviewer
S.K. Bane's Bookshelf
Lone Star Leaders: Power and Personality in the Texas Congressional Delegation
Dr. James W. Riddlesperger Jr. and Dr. Anthony Champagne
TCU Press
www.prs.tcu.edu
9780875654188, $35.00 hc
https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Leaders-Personality-Congressional/dp/0875654185
Today, hard-right politicians and Trump lackeys dominate Texas. But this was not always the case. The Lone Star State once produced such progressive-minded leaders as Lyndon Johnson, Ralph Yarborough, Henry B. Gonzalez, and Barbara Jordan. In this well-researched and engaging volume, political science professors Riddlesperger (TCU) and Champagne (University of Texas at Dallas) provide lively profiles of twenty-eight significant Texans, both conservative and liberal, who served in the United States Congress. In addition to the four aforementioned politicians, the authors examine Joseph Weldon Bailey, Morris Sheppard, John Nance Garner, Sam Rayburn, Hatton W. Sumners, Tom Connally, Wright Patman, Martin Dies Jr., George Mahon, Bob Poage, W. Lee O'Daniel, Lloyd Bentsen, Jack Brooks, Price Daniel, Bruce Alger, Jim Wright, John Tower, George H.W. Bush, Bill Archer, Charles Wilson, Phil Gramm, Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, and Kay Bailey Hutchison. What a diverse cast of characters!
Riddlesperger and Champagne express their opinions without reservation. In assessing Senator Bentsen, for instance, they assert: "It would be an understatement to say that Lloyd Bentsen served his country with distinction; he used his considerable skill to make the United States a better place for people from every walk of life. He was not typically a colorful politician...but Bentsen always seemed to get the job done. Bentsen's place in history is firmly secured and he will hold a position among the most highly respected of Texas political leaders." And Representative Alger, they contend, "left no real accomplishments. He was colorful...but so much of an ideologue that he had no real policy impact in spite of having a wonderful stage - membership on the Ways and Means Committee. He is best remembered as a right-wing extremist who used that extremism to mobilize voters unhappy with the big government of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the New Frontier."
Readers interested in American government and those fascinated by Texas history will enjoy this book. Professors Riddlesperger and Champagne have produced an admirable study.
S.K. Bane
Reviewer
Suanne Schafer's Bookshelf
A Spark of Light
Jodi Picoult
Ballantine Books
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780345544995, $8.99
https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Light-Novel-Jodi-Picoult-ebook/dp/B07B73H2BX
As usual, in A Spark of Light, Jodi Picoult tackles tough social problems and deftly presents both sides of the story, in this case the issue of abortion.
On a warm fall day, a women's reproductive health clinic is invaded by a gun-toting man who opens fire, killing some and taking the rest hostage. Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, races to the scene, sets up a perimeter, and initiates contact with the gunman. When Hugh finally has a chance to look at the multitude of texts on his phone, he's devastated to learn his teenaged daughter, Wren, is among the hostages. The situation pulls together an interesting cast of characters: the owner of the clinic; a flying doctor who comes into town to perform abortions; a nurse; a woman who just had an abortion performed; a pro-lifer who has infiltrated to get "evidence" that the clinic is misusing fetal remains; Wren's aunt who drove her to the clinic; and the gunman who's vowed to avenge his daughter.
Generally speaking, I enjoy Picoult's writing but found the structure of this one frustrating. It is told backwards, starting at 5 pm with a brief history of the abortion facility, known as the Center and Wren's position in it, seeing a dead person for the first time. The novel then moves backwards in time until the reader sees how each and every person arrived in the clinic. I enjoy books that flow backwards and forwards in time, but this flowing entirely backwards was rather unpleasant to read, although an epilogue timed 6 pm, pulls the entire narrative together.
Reflections in the Nile
J. Suzanne Frank
Grand Central Publishing
c/o Hachette
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com
9780446930130, $11.99
https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Nile-J-Suzanne-Frank-ebook/dp/B001INP74C
I generally enjoy fiction about Egypt such as Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mystery series, which I liked so much I read the entire series. Compared to that inimitable series, Reflections in the Nile falls flat. It is a retelling of the Biblical plagues of Egypt with a time-traveling heroine (Chloe) who trades places with an ancient priestess and moves from the 1990s back to ancient Egypt in the time of the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut. As the plagues mount, Chloe is so clueless she doesn't realize she's living through these monumental events.
A couple of things really tested my ability to suspend disbelief. (1) When Chloe trades places with the priestess, RaEmhetepet, the fetus the priestess is carrying is transferred to Chloe but not the priestess's eye coloring or body build. Chloe miscarries this fetus at sixteen weeks gestation. Despite this, when Chloe meets the court physician, Cheftu, falls in love with him. and has intercourse, she is (of course) a virgin. (2) For some reason, after millennia have passed, God has chosen Chloe to correct history and reveal that Hatshepsut, not Ramesses, was pharaoh during the plagues once Chloe returns to the modern world.
Overall, the book takes too long to get started and introduces a male character that one would assume would eventually be the male love interest, but no, he fades out of existence early on. There's a lot going on in this novel, but at 548 pages, it seemed endless. The story frequently drags especially through the middle. It is often over- or under-written with areas having either too much detail or too little detail to convey the story. The sexual encounters devolve into purple prose. The characters are for the most part one-dimensional. That said, the descriptions of ancient Egyptian life seem accurate and were interesting to read.
Pale Morning Light With Violet Swan: A Novel of a Life in Art
Deborah Reed
Mariner Books
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/marinerbooks
9780544817418, $17.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544817362
Having been raised in a family of artists, I've always been fascinated by how artists live and what drives them to create. In Pale Morning Light With Violet Swan, the reader gets a glimpse of the pain, shame, heartbreak, and all-abiding love that form the psyche of ninety-three-year-old Violet Swan.
Born in Georgia during the Depression, as a teenager, she treks alone across the United States to the Pacific Northwest where she settles into a quiet, peaceful life in Oregon with her beloved spouse, Richard, in a house built for her and her art. She becomes famous for her calm, quiet abstract paintings. After Richard dies, Francisco (their son), along with his wife, Penny, live in Violet's house and manage the financial aspects of her career. They don't much like each other any more and argue constantly, the noise traveling through the house's vents to Violet's ears. A grandson, Daniel, has moved away to pursue a career in filmmaking.
An earthquake jolts the house and the relationships of its inhabitants. Shortly after the tremor, Daniel returns home, bringing an unknown: a three-year-old grandchild. Daniel's arrival disrupts the old household dynamic as Violet, Penny, and Francisco fall in love with their new granddaughter and rethink their relationships.
The story is unequally split between Violet's past and her present as well as among multiple other points of view. Violet's are written in a splendidly painterly fashion with bits of her past sprinkled in to tantalize the reader. The remaining points of view are those of Francisco and Penny, and in less splendid prose, show their antipathy for each other. One of the loveliest parts of this book is the slow reveal of Violet's story to the reader to to her grandson as he films a documentary about her, showing how, even though we think we know someone we love, we often don't know them at all.
Shutter (A Rita Todacheene Novel Book 1)
Ramona Emerson
Soho Crime
c/o Soho Press
https://sohopress.com/soho-crime
9781641293341, $9.99
https://www.amazon.com/Shutter-Ramona-Emerson-ebook/dp/B09KWZG2XJ
As a former professional photographer, I chose to read Shutter because it involved photography. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. She is Navajo, but she's an anomaly. Despite her culture's teachings and taboos about death, she is able to see and communicate with ghosts, a talent that has tormented her since she was a baby. This ability is known only to her best friend Shanice; Rita's mother (now deceased) and grandmother; and Mr. Bitsilly, her grandmother's neighbor and a Navajo healer. Rita, for the most part, has kept her skills under wraps for years. After a particular gruesome night photographing the remains of a woman who either jumped or was pushed off an overpass, Rita is terrorized by the ghost of the woman who wants Rita to seek justice for her.
Shutter is told in Rita's point of view but alternates between her childhood and her professional days in with the Albuquerque police department where she is a crime scene photographer. Each chapter is labelled with the camera and lens involved, such as "Nikon D50 18-55mmDX". The novel shows her growth as a photographer, starting with a pinhole camera on the reservation and moving into Hasselblads and Nikons as an adult. The author skillfully blends mystery, suspense, police procedurals, and coming of age themes. I like it enough to immediately purchase the second in the series, Exposure.
Exposure (A Rita Todacheene Novel Book 2)
Ramona Emerson
Soho Crime
c/o Soho Press
https://sohopress.com/soho-crime
9781641294775, $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/Exposure-Rita-Todacheene-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B0CR9PJ48T
I liked Ramona Emerson's Shutter, a blend of police procedural, Native American culture, paranormal, and horror, that I didn't wait long to read the second installment, Exposure. The latter can be read as a stand-alone novel, but reading the first helps set up the dynamics better. It is set in Gallup, New Mexico, rather than Albuquerque, as Rita has returned to her grandmother's in nearby Tohatchi to heal from a gunshot wound and, more seriously, to recover from the daily emotional trauma of dealing with ghosts demanding her help in settling their affairs.
Unlike Shutter, which alternates between Rita's past and present, Exposure is told from the points of view of Rita and a psychotic serial killer who invokes St. Michael to justify his killings. In a cold Gallup winter, the serial killer disguises his deeds as deaths by exposure on the snowy streets. In real life, he is the outreach pastor thought by locals to be a saint slips due to his many good deeds. In contrast to these horrors, Rita's relationships with her grandmother, her elderly friend Mr. Bitsilly, and her best friend Shanice help anchor her, protect her, and give her hope and consolation through her ordeals.
Lady Macbeth
Ava Reed
Del Rey
c/o Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com/imprint/del-rey
9780593722572, $12.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPTDNMLZ
I had hopes of liking Lady Macbeth, purportedly a feminist retelling of the Shakespearean play. However, from the start, it seems doomed to failure. Rather than being a strong female, Lady Macbeth is a whiny seventeen-year-old French girl (Roscille) brought to Scotland to marry Macbeth. The beginning is slow, packing a lot of Roscille's backstory as she rides in a carriage toward her marriage, rather than diving straight into the story. Roscille has a reputation of being able to control men with her gaze and must wear a veil in the presence of men to keep from ensorcelling them.
Roscille fears her wedding night with her lord, so she concocts three favors he must fulfill before he can consummate the union. First, she wants a gold and ruby necklace. As he has no gold, Macbeth plots to take over the nearby Cawdor and take its gold. This conquering stimulates Macbeth's ambition. While he's conquering neighbors and plotting to become king, she convinces the guards of one of his guests to kill the guest and then kill each other.
The only man immune to her gaze is Lisander, a dragon shapeshifter who becomes her lover and eventually embodies the prophecy that Macbeth shall not be killed by any man of woman born or until the wood comes high upon the hill. At this point, I lost my ability to suspend disbelief.
Roscille and Macbeth don't work together at all. He remains brutal, eventually putting her in the bowels of the castle with the three witches (one of whom is his ex-wife) to join their ranks. Other than the witches, there are only two other women in the book, both servants, one the woman who accompanied Roscille in the carriage (sent away by Macbeth) and another she rescues from being sent to a convent because of her promiscuous behavior. The men are all caricatures, unstintingly barbarous and sadistic (except Lisander). The book seems poorly researched with errors such as confusing Gaelic and Scots, having Athelstan, the English king, appear, despite being dead for a hundred years, a poor sense of Scottish geography and topography. Overall, disappointing.
The Lost Masterpiece
B. A. Shapiro
Algonquin Books
c/o Hachette
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com
9781643756394, $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DL5HY5VQ
The Lost Masterpiece blends a contemporary story with a bit of history about the birth of French Impressionism. In the present, Tamara inherits a Manet painting Party on the Seine, featuring Berthe Morisot as the principal figure, a painting looted from its French owners by the Nazis. With this inheritance, Tamara discovers a family history she never knew - and is a direct descendant of painter Berthe Morisot. Tamara installs this multi-million dollar painting in her apartment and soon falls under its spell. She begins to doubt her sanity when Berthe's image in the painting begins to morph. Conflict arises at the Manet Foundation in Paris also claims the painting.
The novel is told in multiple points of view and timelines, Tamara in the present and her distant relatives in the past: Berthe Morisot, her daughter Aimee, and her granddaughter, Colette. Shapiro does a great job taking the reader into the Paris ateliers of the Impressionists, blending a transcendent love between Manet and Morisot, family secrets, and betrayal. Less successful are the chapters in the present with Tamara who is not a particularly likable heroine.
Give me a book about art in fiction, and I'm typically thrilled. I've read four of Shapiro's other books and enjoyed them a lot, but The Lost Masterpiece doesn't live up to earlier works. One of the major points I disliked was Shapiro's considerable fictionalization of Morisot's life. I understand someone writing historical fiction can take whatever liberties they chose, but women artists are already at a disadvantage and don't deserve what little claim to fame they have to be diluted and polluted. I also feel the magical realism aspects (the painting is haunted by the ghost of Morisot) detract from the story.
Woman on the Verge
Kim Hooper
https://kimhooperwrites.com
Lake Union Publishing
https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/lake-union-publishing.html
9781662526381, $16.99
https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Verge-Novel-Kim-Hooper/dp/1662526385
Woman on the Verge deals with maternal ambivalence, those emotions generated when women want to be mothers yet hate mothering itself. Hooper deftly captures the love/hate relationship: the adoring of those tiny bodies loving you while simultaneously being overwhelmed by the constant "me, me, me" needs of children. Couple that with a clueless spouse, little life outside of marriage and motherhood, and the loss of self, and you have a recipe for a disgruntled wife.
The story is told through the points of view of three women: Nicole, a former photographer turned mother who feels devoured by her life as wife and mother; Katrina, a woman in much the same boat, who finds relief in an affair with a handsome younger man; and back in the 1980s, Rose, who suffers from the same torments, but abandons her family for her career.
Nicole is a complicated, messy protagonist, who is trying to hold her life together while her father is dying. The unraveling of her marriage as her father dies feels real as do the descriptions of the expectations placed on women to be the perfect wife, perfect mother, to keep a perfect home, and to remain young and sexy. The lives of these three women intertwine in a very unusual fashion in the final fourth of the book which can't be revealed without spoilers, but I wasn't particularly wild about the ending; it seems to cheapen the character involved emotions. Readers should be aware that there are some fairly sexy parts which might turn off more conservative readers. There are also a lot of quotations from feminist authors which I felt were too obvious, too frequent, and too long.
Suanne Schafer, Reviewer
www.SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
Susan Bethany's Bookshelf
Georgetown University: An Architectural History
Stephanie J. Rufino
Georgetown University Press
www.press.georgetown.edu
9781647125547, $89.95, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Georgetown-University-Architectural-Stephanie-Rufino/dp/1647125545
Synopsis: "Georgetown University: An Architectural History" by Stephanie J. Rufino provides an examination of more than fifty Georgetown University campus buildings and their history from Georgetown's founding in 1789 down to the present today. Impressive illustrations accompanying the informatively descriptive text and includes historical images from the university archives. The vibrant full color current photographs, and multiple maps cover the complete campus.
Rufino describes the work of leading historical and contemporary architects. She depicts the history of buildings that exemplify a host of architectural styles, including Federal, Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, International Style, Brutalist, and Postmodern. She sets the evolution of the university's built environment against the backdrop of its social and cultural history - including its involvement with slavery, the ever changing makeup of its student body, and its development into a modern research university.
Critique: Students and enthusiasts of American architecture, as well as Georgetown University's students, parents, alumni, administrators, faculty, and staff members, will fully enjoy paging through this impressively informative and beautifully illustrated history and survey of familiar Georgetown University haunts from a variety of perspectives. Especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, and college/university library American Regional Architectural Studies collections, it should be noted that this hardcover edition of "Georgetown University: An Architectural History" from the Georgetown University Press is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781647125554, $29.95).
Editorial Note: Stephanie J. Rufino, PhD, received her doctorate from the University of Virginia and taught architectural history at Georgetown University for a decade.
Relax, You're Retired!
Jeny Quine
Walter Foster Publishing
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
www.quartoknows.com
9780760398418, $14.99, PB, 96pp
https://www.amazon.com/Relax-Youre-Retired-Activity-Retirement/dp/0760398410
Synopsis: With 96 pages of coloring scenes, word games, and witty advice, "Relax, You're Retired!: A Funny Activity Book for Retirement" by Jeny Quine offers a playful look at retirement, covering everything from the freedom of lazy mornings to the excitement of exploring new hobbies. Quine's approachable humor and real-life observations make this an ideal activity book for anyone ready to celebrate their post-career life with a laugh.
Packed from cover to cover with enjoyable activities, "Relax, You're Retired!" is more than just an adult coloring book -- it is also a way to simply enjoy and reflect on the unique aspects of retirement. Whether you are preparing to leave the workforce or are already adjusting to life after work, "Relax, You're Retired!" will provide hours of fun, relaxation, and carefree inspiration.
"Relax, You're Retired!" features:
Humorous coloring pages that celebrate the perks of retirement.
Engaging word games and puzzles to keep the mind active and entertained.
Funny and relatable advice for navigating life without the nine-to-five routine.
An ideal a retirement gift or a personal treat, "Relax, You're Retired!" will help soon-to-be retirees appreciate the journey ahead with a smile. This unique activity book is specifically designed to offer stress relief, enjoyment, and a sense of celebration as readers step into this exciting new phase.
Critique: Unique, fun, and a great way to spend some quality alone/recreation time, the trade paperback (8.5 x 0.5 x 9.5 inches, 13.6 ounces) edition of "Relax, You're Retired!: A Funny Activity Book for Retirement" from Walter Foster Publishing is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended pick for both the 'soon-to-be' and the 'already am' retired. It would make a great birthday or Christmas gift to give to senior citizen center patrons and retirement home residents.
Editorial Note: Jeny Quine (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1038093) is a television writer and producer who has worked on many beloved kids shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Austin & Ally (for which she won a coveted Nickelodeon Kids' Choice award -- it's an orange blimp!). She lives in Los Angeles with her teenage son and three cats and, in her free time, loves traveling, Irish dance, and learning new languages on Duolingo.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Willis Buhle's Bookshelf
Evergreen Review: Dispatches from the Literary Underground
Pat Thomas, editor
Fantagraphics Books
www.fantagraphics.com
9798875000676, $34.99, HC, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/Evergreen-Review-Dispatches-Underground-1957-1973/dp/B0DKB5GYSB
Synopsis: From the late 1950s to the mid-70s, work by contributors like Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Amiri Baraka, Eldridge Cleaver, Tim Leary, Dennis Hopper, Jean Genet, Jerry Rubin, Bernadette Devlin, and Germaine Greer regularly appeared in the countercultural magazine Evergreen Review. Their subversive work and radical politics defined outsider literature for an entire generation. Edited by Barney Rosset of Grove Press, Evergreen Review was a quarterly illustrated/photography driven reflection of that genre.
For the first time ever since their original print date, full color reproductions of all front covers of all 100 issues of the Evergreen Review from 1957 to 1973, plus hundreds of pages from many of the issues are reprinted in "Evergreen Review: Dispatches from the Literary Underground: Covers & Essays 1957-1973" exactly as they looked then -- with all illustrations, photography, even the ads for other books, albums, letters to the editor, subscription offers, etc. left intact!
Additionally, Pat Thomas interviewed original 1960s era Evergreen staffers to get the inside scoop on the day-to-day operation of the magazine, and those conversations join new essays looking back on this golden era by John Oakes, Loren Glass, Kasia Boddy, Dale Peck, Ethan Persoff, Ken Jordan and Stanley Gontarski.
Critique: Deftly compiled and edited by historian Pat Thomas, the large format (9.3 x 1.2 x 12.3 inches, 4.4 pounds) hardcover edition of "Evergreen Review: Dispatches from the Literary Underground: Covers & Essays 1957-1973" from Fantagraphics Books is an extraordinary, unique, inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library 20th Century American Political/Social/Cultural history collections and supplemental American Counter-Culture History curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Pat Thomas is the author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights & Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, Did It! Jerry Rubin: An American Revolutionary, and co-editor of Invitation to Openness: The Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann 1960-1980. In co-operation with the Estate of Allen Ginsberg, Thomas edited the visual tome Material Wealth: The Personal Archives of Allen Ginsberg, with a forward by poet Anne Waldman, which won a PEN award in 2024. Thomas was the co-editor of Ernie in Kovacsland: Drawings, and Photographs from Television's Original Genius and Grievous Angels, Trout Masks, and American Beauties: 1970s Rock & Roll Photography of Ginny Winn with an introduction by Maria Muldaur. He lives on America's left coast.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
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