The Life of Birds by David Attenborough

The Life of Birds by David Attenborough 

What a gorgeous, delightful, educational book!  Every chapter in this book is a delight to the eye and to the mind.  From the first chapter chronicling the evolution of birds to the last chapter on environmental challenges facing birds, the book is informative with stunningly beautiful photographs.  The book is broken into chapters following the life cycles of birds in the myriad varieties.  I just can't begin to express how much I enjoyed this book and how much I learned. A really good read.  

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati

This is the best researched book of historical fiction that I have ever read. The story is set in New York in 1883 and everything about it is thoroughly researched and portrayed.  Whether describing the streets and buildings, the public institutions, or the practice of medicine and surgery at that time, the book is accurate to both the overall and the detail.  

The story and the characters are complex and quite believable.  It is a very long book and takes quite some time to get through it. But it is so well written that you just don't mind reading and reading and reading until you absolutely, positively must turn the light off and get some sleep because you have to get up and go to work the next day. 

I did not realize that this book is part of a series.  It reads completely well by itself.  I only mention this because there are several loose threads that are not tidied up by the end of the book and I was puzzled by this until I read on the back that this is the latest book in her Into the Wilderness series.  So I can look forward to seeing what happens to the characters in following books. 

A really good read. 

On My Own by Diane Rehm

On My Own by Diane Rehm

In 2014 Diane Rehm lost her husband John; they had been married 54 years. Although John had Parkinson's Disease, that was not the cause of his death. John was so debilitated by PD that he chose to take his own life in the only way left to him, he starved himself to death. Since he did not live in a state which permits physicist assisted suicide, and because he could not move, the only means at his disposal to end his own suffering was to refuse food, water, and medicine. He did this for 10 days until he died. It was excruciating for Diane to watch him but she knew that he desired to end his deepening helplessness and suffering. 

This book was written during the first year of her widowhood but it goes back in time to their life together. At times it is tender with love and grief; at other times it is brutal with honesty and anger.  Diane is open about the ups and downs of their marriage and she openly questions herself in decisions regarding John's care at home, in the nursing facility, and in his means of ending his life. 

She has entered a new chapter in her life and is simply putting one foot in front of the other to keep walking through the deep emotional valley of grief and change.  She lives alone but has many friends.  The friendships give her emotional support but I think her greatest support is her own ability to look at her changing life with realism. She plans to retire from her daily radio show at the end of 2016. She has plans to work with Compassion and Choices, an organization that works toward allowing those who are dying more choices in ending their suffering. And there are other projects that are in the works.  Diane has had a remarkable life and intends to continue that life as long as health and interest allow. I am looking forward to seeing what will come next from this remarkable woman. 

Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson

Few Oranges and No Eggs by Vere Hodgson

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this diary of Vere Hodgson who was a social worker living in the Notting Hill Gate area of London during WWII. Her account of the Blitz, and life in London during the War is a fascinating account of the everyday lives of ordinary people. The diary is full of detail about the lack of sleep, the difficulties of traveling, the lack of food (particularly fruit and eggs, hence the title), the responsibilities of being a fire-watcher during air-raids, and the toll that the uncertainties of life took on the population. Her circle of friends is wide, and includes her family in Birmingham (where she visits as often as she is able). The diary brings the experiences of Londoners in those uncertain times vividly to life. If you are interested in the British home front during WW II, this is a book not to be missed. 

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

OK, I am the only person in America who has never read a book by Anne Tyler.  But I happened to hear Diane Rehm interview Anne Tyler about her new book, The Blue Spool. Now I don't generally like multi-generational family sagas because they are usually too long and I get lost in the complicated genealogy. But I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. 

The book is about three generations of the Whitshank family of Baltimore.  The really strong point of the book is how well drawn each character is.  They are people you know or might meet at the grocery. The down side is that the story is not well defined. You sort of walk into the family, move backward and forward in time, and then just walk out. 

It was a good read and I will probably try another of her books. 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I have read several books by Kristin Hannah and on the whole they were pretty good. But, let me tell you, this one knocks it out of the ball park. There is bound to be a movie out of this one.  You may have guessed by now that I really liked this book. 

The story is built around how two sisters, Viann and Isabelle Rosingal, live through the Nazi occupied France.  The sisters have quite different dispositions, Isabelle who is younger is the rebel while the older Viann is more cautious.  They have been estranged from each other and from their emotionally distant father.  As the novel moves through the Vichy government and its demise, the young women each find ways to resist and subvert the Nazi occupation.  It was so interesting to see the character development as Isabelle becomes more reflective and Viann becomes bolder and more determined. 

The last quarter of the book is emotionally gripping. I could not put it down. The end is joyful, triumphant, and guaranteed to leave you with tears in your eyes.

A really good read. 

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 

I had a hard time getting started in this book. I listened to it on Audio CDs and had difficulty figuring out the way the story is arranged. I also didn't care for the reader's raspy voice at first but it really grew on me and by the end of the book, I couldn't imagine Madeline in any other voice.  

It is hard to believe that a book that deals with domestic violence could possibly have so much warmth and humor in it.  If nothing else came from it, I gained a new phrase for life's little moments: "Oh calamity!"

Jane and her son, Ziggy, move to the rather exclusive Pirriwee Peninsula where 5 year old starts kindergarten.  She meets other parents and becomes friends with Madeline and Celeste whose children are also starting kindergarten at Pirriwee Public.  While things on the surface are beautiful and perfect, there is the ugliness of violence under the surface affecting both children and adults.  But who and why?

Things come to a climax at the school's fund-raiser Trivia night. No spoilers but it is certainly a night to remember and a night best described by the phrase "Oh calamity!"

A very good read...or listen. 

My Gentle Barn by Ellie Laks

My Gentle Barn by Ellie Laks

It is hard to believe that someone who had been molested and neglected as a child could become such a caring and compassionate person. Perhaps, it is because as she says, the animals saved her. This book is about her healing neglected and abused animals as they heal her own neglected and abused spirit. 

The thought of animal abuse is so abhorrent to me that I almost didn't read this book. While there is no glossing over the neglect and abuse the animals came out of, Ellie's love and gentle respect for the animals is the major focus of the book. 

I had never heard of The Gentle Barn until I read this book. I knew of various rescue organizations but other than getting our cats from the local shelter, I really had no interaction with people whose lives are dedicated to animal rescue.  And frankly, it was easier just not to think about it. 

I read the book from start to finish almost without putting it down. It is interesting to see how Ellie grows and becomes the person that she was meant to be. And it is heartwarming to read about her patient, gentle nurturing of the animals that come into her life. And it is noteworthy that she uses the animals to help youth who have been injured by life to learn from the people and animals at the Gentle Barn how to heal and trust and be kind and gentle. 

You can learn more about the Gentle Barn at www.gentlebarn.org or on Facebook Gentle Barn. 

A very good read indeed. 

The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky

The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky

The first two-thirds of this book is excellent. He discusses in detail the most common causes of poverty--job loss, early childbearing, poor education, living in areas of economic depression, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse--and interviews in-depth people living in abject poverty from these causes. It is written with both wide-eyed clarity and compassion. 

Then we come to the last one-third of the book which deals with solutions.  There he loses me with the pie-in-the-sky, not a snowball's chance in Hades of happening solutions. I am not saying that implementation of any of them wouldn't help, just that they are not going to pass Congress to be implemented.  So it leaves me frustrated that all I can do is make a donation to my local food bank. 

The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

The Care and Management of Lies is a beautiful story of the love and friendship of three people and how those lives were forever altered by World War I.
Kezia and Thea met in school and became best friends. Kezia marries Thea's brother, Tom. Thea becomes active in the suffragette movement and is convinced that Kezia is going to have a difficult time being a farmer's wife.
As the war begins, Tom sees that many of the men who work on his farm are enlisting.  Thea volunteers as an ambulance driver to avoid being arrested for her war protesting activities. Kezia is left to keep the farm running, with an old man and a lame boy to help her with the work.
Kezia keeps the farm running and makes everyone around her feel loved and cared for. Her letters to Tom are filled with her cooking that she cooks for him at home. These letters are read by Tom to his men who feel her love for Tom and give them something to think about besides the mud and rats and death that actually surround them. 

There is no gratuitous violence and the characters are complex and well-drawn. 

I listened to this as an audio-book and the reader's voice was perfect for it.  

A really good read or listen. 

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit Banerjee

I found this book very frustrating. He discusses in detail several areas where global poverty workers have spent much time, effort, and money trying to aid the poor in bettering their lives-- health, education, insurance, and finance. He discusses how these areas affect the poor and outlines various programs that have promised to aid the poor.  Then he proceeds to discuss in detail why the program doesn't work.  He does this over and over. So I skipped to the last chapter to see if he has any suggestions for programs that do work. He doesn't. The best he can do is suggest a wide variety of programs and to keep on trying. Frustrating.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium by James Lacey

If you are looking for an in-depth history of England in the year 1000 with an emphasis on kings and battles, this is not your book. But if you are looking for an interesting read on everyday life in England around the year 1000, you might enjoy this book.  The book follows a calendar year.  (Determining just what would be the beginning of a calendar year was an interesting tale in itself.) It follows ordinary people, monks and shepherds and plowmen, through the year as they perform their tasks and have their feasts and lean times. The role  of the lords and the place of women, slavery, the treatment of disease, and the very real prospect of famine all are discussed in a very readable manner.  Good book. 

Galveston and the Civil War by James M. Schmidt

Galveston and the Civil War by James M. Schmidt 

I certainly learned a lot about the history of the city where I was born and grew up.  It is rather embarrassing that I had given virtually no thought to the fact that Galveston was a prominent slave market.  What little I thought about slavery, I thought that it was of little importance in Texas.  But that was far from the case. Slavery was a major factor in the economy of Texas, both as a market for the buying and selling of slaves and as the producers of the export products of Texas, namely cotton.  As the Civil War approached and began, much discussion was given to whether Texas should join the Confederacy or simply leave the Union and revert to its prior state as an independent republic. And slavery would continue on either path.  The citizens of Galveston voted in a referendum overwhelmingly to leave the Union and thereby assure themselves of the continuation of slavery. 

Galveston fell to the Union in 1862 but was recaptured by the Confederates on New Years Day, 1863 and remained so for the rest of the war. As the war progressed, first New Orleans fell to the Union and then Mobile, Alabama fell, leaving Galveston the only major port on the Gulf Coast remaining in Confederate hands.  Galveston was a major center of blockade running until the very end of the war.  

Food and medical supplies became more and more scarce for both soldiers and civilians as the war dragged on. To make matters infinitely worse in the summer and autumn of 1863, Galveston was hit by one of its periodic epidemics of yellow fever. 

The war finally ended and on June 19th the slaves were formally emancipated.  Juneteenth is still celebrated by African-Americans in Texas.  The re-building of Galveston began immediately. 

I enjoyed this book because it gave me information on a subject that I really had given very little thought to about my hometown.  

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

This is truly an unusual story told by a master story teller. Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in February, 1910. Not just once but over and over again as she dies time and again and is reborn, always on the same snowy night to the same loving family. She has an inkling, just a vague awareness that she has been at certain places and had certain experiences before.  Each time she lives a slightly different life. The characters are complex and completely drawn and each time we learn more about them. I listened to this on audio CDs while driving and when I got home, I just sat in the car to finish listening to the CD, other times I listened to it half the night because I just wanted to listen to just one more CD...you know how that goes... Anyway, don't miss this really excellent story. 

Fat Chance by Robert Lustig

Fat Chance by Robert Lustig

In all honesty, I skimmed parts of this book because the author gave more detailed information than I really was interested in.  That said, it was a really good book. 
Salient points made include:

1. Weight gain/loss is much more complicated than the usual gluttony/sloth blame game. 

2. Eat less sugar, especially HFCS, and more fiber. 

3. Eat real food.

4. Exercise. 

Nothing that we didn't already suspect. 

Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

Here in Houston, when there is a wreck on the freeway, traffic slows down on both sides as other drivers take a look at the wreckage, wreckers, police, and ambulances; this is commonly referred to as "rubber-necking."  While reading this book, that's what I felt like I was doing--getting a long look into a real wreck. 

To an average educated, professional person the wreck that is Detroit is just incomprehensible.   It is hard to comprehend the despair, hopelessness, and outright depravity of some of the people who survive in today's Detroit.  It is hard to grasp the degree of corruption in the city structure.  It is also hard to understand why the author chose to bring his wife and daughter back to live in his hometown, Detroit. 

It is a fascinating, horrifying study in urban collapse. If it had been written by a less brilliant writer, it wouldn't have been worth reading. But it was so well written that it pulls you into the place and you feel the hurt and the fear and the frustration.  A hard book to read, a hard book to put down.

I Shall not Hate by Izzeldin Abuelaish

This is a difficult book to read, to think about, and to write about.  I am a well-educated professional woman and it was like a bucket of cold water being poured over my head to realize how ignorant I was concerning the Palestinians, their history, and their living conditions. 

There are so many things about Dr. Abuelaish's life that are just inconceivable. He was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip into grinding poverty that to the average person is just inconceivable.  Through work, luck, and determination that the only way out of the poverty and the only way to help the Palestinian people was through education. He determined early on to study medicine. Encouragement from teachers and his mother helped fuel his determination. He graduated from the University of Cairo with a medical degree. 

The book presents the daily frustrations and humiliations encountered by every Palestinian every day.  I had no idea how incredibly difficult just daily survival is for the Palestinians. He explains the circumstances leading up to the first and second intifada. I could barely contain myself as he told of the terrible day when his 3 daughters were killed by an Israeli rocket. 

The most incredible thing is that he refuses to fall into the cycle of revenge. He still insists that the government of Israel is not representative of the Israeli people and that the two people can live together side by side. 

He is now living with his remaining children in Canada. I think I would have taken my family out of Gaza long before he did.  

A difficult book to read but well worth it. 

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith

 

I love this series and Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, Mr. J.L.B. Matokone, and even the rascal Charlie. It may not be great literature but the whole series portrays humanity with warmth and gentleness. I especially enjoy listening to Lisette Lecat's marvelous voice as she reads the books for audio and brings the characters to life. A very good read (or listen.)

Nightingales by Gillian Gill

This very well researched and documented biography of Florence Nightingale gives the reader an intimate look into the family, the culture, and the times that shaped the life and character of Florence Nightingale.  The author pulls extensively from the voluminous correspondence to and from Miss Nightingale to give a fuller, richer portrait of the "Lady with the Lamp."  The severe restrictions on Victorian women, the entail of the family estate, and a call from God to serve came to shape the brilliant mind and life of Florence Nightingale. 
It is an excellent book for anyone wishing to understand more deeply the influences on Miss Nightingale.  I have only two criticisms and these are perhaps more indicative of my own preferences. First, the author goes into excruciating detail about the extended family and not only the extended family but extensions of the extended family. This was very hard to follow for one not already well versed in the Nightingale family and served no useful purpose.  Second, the author presents long sections of letters and I found the intricate Victorian prose again very hard to follow. 
However, I don't want to take away from the fact that if you are looking for a solid biography of Florence Nightingale, you could do no better than this volume. 

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bojahlian

In 1915 Turkey embarked on the genocide of its Armenian citizens. This book chronicles two stories. One is set in Aleppo in 1915 where Armenian women and children were force marched on their way to the death camps in the desert. The other story is set in present time as Laura Petrosian (Chris Bojahlian) uncovers her Armenian family saga.

It is an intense story but well written, moving back and forth in time. I found the breaks from 1915 to the present to be much needed relief from the horrors of the treatment of the women and children.  The characters in the story are human and real and I really came to care about them. It is a book that I will not soon forget.