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. 

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.

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. 

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.