Susan Branch and Martha's Vineyard: Isle of Dreams

Reading "Martha's Vineyard: Isle of Dreams" by Susan Branch was a real delight. Enchanting, to use her word. I thought I knew the story of her discovery of Martha's Vineyard at the time of her divorce, but there was so much more to the story. She goes through her old diaries and re-creates her landing on the island in 1982 with hand-written pages and her lovely watercolor paintings. She tells us all about her friends and her visit from her dad, and how she decides to live alone on the island and follow her dream of writing a cookbook. I love how she takes us through the painstaking process of stepping one foot in front of the other as she creates her first cookbook one page at a time, water coloring each page and her trip to New York and to Boston to get a publishing deal. It's all there, more exciting in her own words. I love how she writes about her walk that she goes on to the beach every day, knowing that she is still doing this today. I love her perseverance and audacity, just the whole believing in herself. I love how she has her own style of writing and painting, staying true to herself the whole time. Her paintings have only gotten better through the years, but she was an original talent from the beginning and Little, Brown and Company believed in her, too. Her many fans attest to her talent and charm.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

I have read 60 books in 36 weeks for 2016. I have gone over my goal of a book a week. This latest "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande is being considered by The Big Read Dayton as a book for 2017. It's a very good book. As I read it, it became easier to read. I hope that others who start reading it give it the chance that it needs. The book is about end of life care by doctors, and the ability to ask the questions of patients. I am going to quote from the Epilogue on questions that need to be asked of patients as they face the tough decisions of their care at the end. "What is your understanding of the situation and its potential outcome? What are your fears and your hopes? What are the trade-offs you are willing to make and not willing to make? And what is the course of action that best serves this understanding?" The author walks us through various people's last days and what their desires are. I only hope that when my time comes, that I can communicate to my family my end of life wishes beyond my 'do not resuscitate' DNR that I already have in place in my living will, that I don't want unnecessary efforts if I am dying. The author makes a good case for Hospice, for a variety of reasons, one being that most people want to die at home. It is a good book to start a conversation between relatives before the end is upon us.

Commonweath by Ann Patchett

Just finished reading Ann Patchett's latest, "Commonwealth." She is always a joy to read. I think I read that she based some of this on her own life experiences. From reading her other books, I know that her father was a policeman in LA. She had four step-siblings. Her mother and her step-father moved to the eastern part of the country from LA. Her mother and her step-father divorced after many years together and her mother remarried. I think the rest of the story is made-up. This was an excellent novel by one of the best writers around.
  The story begins with Fanny's christening in LA. Her future step-father is a DA, and he is at the party of an LA policeman. He falls in love with the policeman's wife and moves her and her small children to the commonwealth of Virginia. Fanny has an older sister, Caroline. Their father sends them the Kaplan LSAT to encourage them to study to become lawyers for Christmas while they are in high school. Their father is now in law school in LA. Every summer their step-siblings come to Virginia for the summer to live with them. Makes for interesting summers. This book is the story of the blended families, their parents and future generations.    

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is the story of two sisters, separated by years and responsibility, as they navigate through the German occupation of France and the steps they took to honor their long held beliefs and morals. One sister, Vianne, is a mother and a wife to a prisoner of war. She is best friends to her Jewish neighbor, and she tries to make decisions that honor that friendship. She loses her job as a teacher and faces depredation as the Germans take all the food that the French can provide. She is fighting for the life of her daughter and the young boy that she shelters from the Nazis. Her impulsive sister fights for a place in her family as she has been shunted off the boarding schools for years and has little in common with Vianne. She decides to fight for the Resistance and guide downed airmen over the French Pyrenees to Spain and back to Britain. She is young and in love and fighting with all abandon to help free France from the occupation of the Germans. The story is told from the women's point of view and the struggles they had during the occupation, and the lack of men in their country. Young men were rounded up and sent to Germans work concentration camps, and no one was sure of the future. It is a good story, based in part on actual documentation of a French woman's fight to save the downed airmen who ended up in France and fleeing from the Nazis by guiding them over the French Pyrenees, a mountain range between Spain and France. The plot and the characterizations are the driving force behind the novel. The bravery of the women tell the real story. 

"Love That Dog" by Sharon Creech is about a boy in school who doesn't think he likes poetry and even less doesn't believe he can write poetry. Through his journal entries we learn about the poems that he is introduced to in school. Slowly his writing takes on the appearance and tone of poetry. He is fascinated with a poet, Walter Dean Myers, whom his teacher is able to plan a visit to the school by this poet. That fascinates the boy and his poem about his dog Sky is influenced by Myers' poem, "Love That Boy." This is a book recommended for reluctant readers in the 4th to 6th grade level. I am glad I read this novel and was impressed by the method of introduction to poetry for the teacher's students.

Reading Agatha Christie

I keep telling myself that I am going to read all of Agatha Christie in order by publication date. I have made a start but haven't gotten that far. Here is an introduction list I should try to remember:
 The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Secret Adversary
Murder on the Links
Poirot Investigates (short stories)
Poirot's Early Cases (short stories)
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Secret of Chimneys
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
The Mystery of the Blue Train
Black Coffee (play novelization by Charles Osborne)
Partners in Crime (short stories)
The Seven Dials Mystery
The Murder at the Vicarage
The Mysterious Mr Quin (short stories)
The Sittaford Mystery
Some of these I read many years ago, but I think I should just start over and watch the progression of her work by reading them in order. From this list I don't think I've ever read " The Big Four." Once I tried to read "A Caribbean Mystery" but just couldn't get into it. "The Sittaford Mystery" always grabs me on the first page and draws me right into it. I do like a good mystery.

Too Bad To Die by Francine Mathews

Francine Mathews has written a spy novel in Too Bad To Die. She recreates the drama around the Cairo Conference with chief players Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In her fictionalized version she has Ian Fleming working as a Naval Intelligence officer becoming involved in the protection of the three players that are to meet in Tehran, Iran in the coming days of 1943. It is Franklin D. Roosevelt's first meeting with Joseph Stalin. Word is out that there is an assassination plot to kill all three in Tehran as Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin work out the details of the western invasion of Europe to conquer Htitler. The thriller suspense novel is excellent, the pacing is suburb and the details of the locale all standout to make an excellent novel. Many characters are drawn in the drama, some fictitious but many are drawn on real players at the time. Churchill is traveling with his daughter in-law, Pamela Churchill and his daughter Sarah Churchill Oliver. He also has his communication specialist who helps Ian Fleming send and receive messages to Alan Turing, who has broken the Enigma Code. Ian Fleming learns there is a spy among the American and British entourage and he goes undercover to learn the identity and protect Churchill. "Absolutely marvelous! This novel masterfully weaves fact and fiction into a high-pitched thriller that keeps us spellbound from the very first pages. Great plotting, exotic locales, and historical characters who positively come alive on the page, with some delightful sly winks along the way." Jeffrey Deaver, New York Times 

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

Stephanie Barron has written a series of Jane Austen mysteries and "Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor" is the first one. This is for Jane Austen fans and readers of historical fiction. Many footnotes explain the traditions of the times as the author unfolds her story. The pace is slow, the story is full of rich details, with a good description of the characters. There are many characters to keep up with, two brothers I kept getting confused, Tom and George Hearst, one a Lieutenant and one a man of the cloth. Intriguing court case toward the end of the book as Jane's friends are accused of murder and have to stand trial. A good mystery. Stephanie Barron also writes as Francine Mathews.  

Delicious by Ruth Reichl

Billie Breslin starts her new job as a assistant to the editor on the food magazine, "Delicious". She starts to work at Fontinelli's Italian cheese store in New York City. She has an extraordinary palate that recognizes flavors. The magazine closes and she is kept on to honor the guarantee, working in the building all by herself. She discovers the locked up library to do research for her clients. She and Sammy the traveling correspondent for Delicious discover a secret room in the library and make an amazing discovery. The story reveals that she has a secret about her sister and it hold clues why she doesn't cook any longer. A good fresh story about a cook and her past. Reichl was the editor of Gourmet magazine for ten years before they closed their doors and stopped publishing an old magazine due to the downturn in publishing in general. Writing is her forte and this is her first work of fiction. Well done

All Things Wise and Wonderful

In "All Things Wise and Wonderful" James Herriot tells about his time with the RAF during World War II, but mostly his memory goes back to his veterinary practice and his wife Helen. I usually like the stories about the Farnon brothers the best, although there is the tender tales of Helen which I also enjoy. His son is born while he is away. He doesn't share much of his RAF days, but he does tell of an operation that he had which made him unfit for flying after all his training. He sits out the war at various duties with the RAF, but not combat duty. He goes absent without leave when he worries about Helen and her pregnancy, but slipping away reassures him of her health and makes the trip home on the bus worth his risk. The continuation of the trials of a country vet are heartwarming. He is humble in the retelling of his early years as a country vet in the late 1930's. These books were bestsellers in the 1970's.    

All Things Bright and Beautiful

"The warm and joyful sequel to All Creatures Great and Small, by James Herriot, the Yorkshire Dales veterinary. This book takes place after his marriage to Helen and before he is posted to the Royal Air Force in World War II. He reminisces about his various cases, often sharing more about the farmers than about his patients. He shares about his courting of Helen and about his luck at finding the perfect wife. I especially like the part where he advises that one study the relationship between your choice of mate and her father. Helen dotes on her father after the death of her mother, and Herriot is the lucky recipient of a doting wife. Herriot makes all his characters come alive with his rich and homey descriptions. He writes more than once that he loves his work and despite the hardships he is a happy man with his choice of work. The world was lucky to have such a man write his memoirs for the vast audience that accepted and loved his books.  

All Creatures Great and Small

Sometimes I just want to read a sure bet, something good and wholesome. It has been a while since I've read some of James Herriot and decided to read the first of his series on veterinary practice in England in the 1930's. It was a best seller when it first came on the scene in America in the 70's, and for some reason or other I never got around to reading it until I became a librarian and I read it to my patrons at the nursing home. It's a perfect read aloud for that audience, short chapters with little connecting them so that if a patron would miss a week or so, he'd be able to pick up the story just fine. Also I live near the farms in Ohio and I think the elderly could relate to the stories, although I think James Herriot's stories can appeal to most. Just the other day my hairdresser said she read them in her youth while watching the television series with her mother. I tried to get my daughter to read the first in the 80's or early 90's but I can't remember if she made it through the book. I see that there is talk of another filming of the James Herriot stories, but I think they couldn't improve on the BBC series with Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy.

The Foreign Correspondent by Alan S. Cowell

This story begins as the narrator, Ed Clancy, tells about the Nonstop News Desk, NND, in Paris with his old friend and abettor, Joe Shelby, to post the Internet news in the wee hours of the morning, before New Yorks papers were up and running. Joe Shelby's job was to call the bureaus in foreign cities and verify the stories coming in over the wires, and then to write the copy and Ed is to post it on the Internet. Early in the story Shelby makes a mistake and covers it up and this comes to haunt them in the end. The beginning of the book lays down the character of Joe Shelby, a foreign correspondent, filling in the details of his past loves and past secrets. He is avoiding the women from his past, but they too are in Paris now. Ed Clancy has settled down in Paris with the love of his life, Marie-Claire Risen, and he doesn't want Shelbys interference. It is the story of the demise of print, "that great, gorgeous, messy alchemy of ink and hot type and whirring reels of paper and working stiffs in stained coveralls." This is an action adventure story, with the drama of love spicing things up a bit. It's a story of revenge, and justice, told with a literary bent. A good read if you hang in there through the set-up. "Alan S. Cowell is a senior correspondent for the New York Times based in Paris."

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Plainsong by Kent Haruf
This was such an excellent book. Amazed that it took me so long to find it. Literary, character driven, with a real sense of place. I savored the book as the prose was beautiful. I see that it was recommended for YA, but I would say the upper grades of high school would be better. Some serious issues were addressed. Basically it is the story of a father, his two sons, a teacher, a pregnant student, and two older bachelors whose lives intersect to create an extended family. They all grow up in the novel as they face new challenges and become much deeper for it. I especially liked the story of Victoria Roubideaux, the pregnant teenager dealing with the rejection of her mother. She has to sort out how she really feels about the father of her child and how she is going to care for this child that she anticipates with joy and fear. She is wise beyond her years. Tender is the adjective that I would use to describe the author's attitude toward his characters. A good story, with further stories in his later books about Holt, Colorado..

Here is a link to the greatest mysteries that need to be read:

Goodreads 2016

On Goodreads I posted that I want to read fifty books in 2016. Just what I did in 2015, but I am going to read from the Adult Reading Round Table suggestions in various genres in my study of Readers Advisory in the library setting. NovelistPlus ( a database found on most library websites) had a list in the Readers Advisory Toolbox called ARRT Popular Fiction List under especially for Readers Advisory that I am going to read from, to familiarize myself with new authors.  I think I will read a different genre pick from their list and then a book from my own bookshelf. I really do need to read the books that I own. From my shelf I am going to read "The Paris Correspondent: a novel of newspapers, then and now" by Alan S. Cowell. Sound like a literary novel of which I usually enjoy the most. I read that to help a reader interested in literary fiction go to the awards websites and their lists should satisfy most readers of literary fiction. I am going to post a few websites here:
The Man Booker Prize "The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and publishers."
National Book Awards "The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America."
Pulitzer Prize "Established in 1917 and endowed by Joseph Pulitzer, the noted Hungarian immigrant newspaper publisher, the Pulitzer Prize categories included here recognize distinguished works of fiction and nonfiction published in book form by an American author, preferably dealing with American life."

The Christie Caper by Carolyn Hart

The Christie Caper was a Death on Demand mystery featuring Annie and Max Darling. They have planned a conference to honor the 100th birthday of Agatha Christie, with a treasure hunt, a ball, and Christie trivia all through the story. The book was written in 1991 and is the seventh in the Death on Demand series. The conference attendees did not anticipate a murder to take place, but it did, getting Annie and Max and their friends in the sleuthing. A light-hearted cozy mystery that promises to keep you guessing till the end. I am always reading a Christie mystery and this only wanted me to read more of Agatha Christie. It helps to be a Christie fan when reading this novel.

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Philip Roth wrote " The Plot Against America: a Novel in 2004. The narrator is himself at the young age of seven, living in Newark, New Jersey, Roth's own childhood home. Many of Roth's books take place in Newark, but this is a novel of alternative history. Charles A. Lindbergh has been elected as the Republican President of the United States instead of Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term in October 1940. His platform is American First, promising to keep America out of the European War that started in 1939. Roth's premise is that Lindberg is Anti-Semitic and fears that the Jews that are in power in government and the media are pressuring the nation into World War II. Philip's family include his father, an insurance salesman, his mother, homemaker involved in the PTA, and his older brother Sandy, who has a talent for drawing. Young Philip is seen absorbing all the fears and terrors that result in the Jewish population of Newark becoming weakened by the displacement of their numbers. I liked the rich detail of the Jewish family in the 1940's located in a Jewish community in Newark, New Jersey. Rich characterization of Philip and his family add much to the story. I recommend this novel to those who like historical novels. In the back of the book Roth lists books that provided him with the history of the times, and also an accurate account of the real characters mentioned in the book such as Fiorello H. La Guardia and Walter Winchel, gossip columnist.