Two of my favorite umbrella pictures, one in France, the other in Spain.
Powell’s of Portland declared February 10th as umbrella day and recommended likely books to read to celebrate. Luckily, both were available from my local library: Weather by Jenny Offill, and Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman.
It’s sunny and very windy here – no day for an umbrella – but I’ve checked out the books to read. Have you read them?
When I wanted to turn real pages, I bought three hardbacks when they were first published. They have been stacked and acting as my stand to raise my laptop during zoom calls. Finally, I read them.
Mad Honey
Although this was a collaboration of two authors, the plot twist had Jodi Picoult’s fingerprints. If you are a fan, you will enjoy; if not, you will learn a lot about bees. Bees and honey are mixed with a murder trial and heavy notes on transgender issues. A happy ending with lessons learned and bias exposed.
Lady Clementine
Marie Benedict already has a new novel targeting the Mitford sisters, and as one of her fans, I’m not sure why it took me so long to read this one. Clementine Churchill is the focus of Lady Clementine, from her first meeting with Winston and his subsequent proposal at Blenheim Palace. Through two world wars, a changing Britain, and everything in between, Benedict reveals Clemmie’s feisty charm and intellect, as she navigates being Winston’s steadying influencer.
I always think of the British actress Dame Harriet Walter in her role as Lady Clementine in Downton Abbey, so an added perk of buying the hardback was the inside cover of Clemmie in her younger days.
The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham
Grisham delivers this legal thriller with a long- winded introduction in Part 1, with the two childhood buddies winding up on opposite sides of the law. If you have the patience to read on into Part 2, the pace quickens and you will be rewarded with Grisham’s tense courtroom dramas.
Finished them all in a week. Now I need to find something else to read between commercials.
Talk about scary! A woman in her sixties who can’t cope with her husband’s death, suddenly goes crazy. A little too close to home. I was prepared not to like this book, but I was quickly caught up in the drama.
Barr creates an adventure with murder and nefarious characters, and turns a feeble grandmother into a Ninja. In addition to her amazing skills I can only imagine are acquired through fear induced adrenaline, Rose solves the crimes, saves a fellow elder, and finds a new purpose in life.
Fun, inspiring, and not too formulaic.
A villa in Umbria with breathtaking views and the history of a murder could be the ideal setting for Hawkins to create a mind-numbing formula, but she cleverly transfers the jealousy, greed, and invincibility of youth from the group of spoiled yet talented artists from the seventies to a current day group of the temporary inhabitants in her Gothic tale of The Villa. Taking inspiration from the twenty something group of nineteenth century artists Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and their friends’ who famously spent a summer in Switzerland, writing and cavorting, Hawkins twists the themes of distrust, frenemies, and squandered talent as she flips her story back and forth between the times, carrying the angst, misery, and murder with them.
The plot centers on Emily Sheridan, author of the moderately successful “Petal Bloom” cozy mysteries, who has run out of ideas for her series. Her villainous ex-husband, Matt, is suing for a cut of her royalties, including any future books she may write. Emily’s best friend since childhood, Chess Chandler, a best-selling author of self-help books has rented the Villa Aestas in Umbria for six weeks, and invites Emily to spend the summer with her there. The Villa is the site of a nineteen seventies murder, involving rock musicians and writers. Cue Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, and all those wonderful Gothic mystery components – missing manuscripts, suspicious locals, rakes, and women who succumb.
Rivalry more than collaboration prevails among the musicians and the writers. The two friends find themselves mired in old family squabbles and present day expectations. As a writer, I could understand Emily’s fear of having her ideas stolen. Recently, two books with the same plot and characters were published; one by a well known author, the other by a good writer but without the backing of publishers and without a list of former books. Perhaps you read one or both – JoJo Moyes’ The Giver of Stars and The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson, both told the story of the Appalachian librarian on horseback. Both books were published around the same time; both authors claimed original research and inspiration. Accusations and lawsuits ensued but only the writers knows what really happened.
And would a writer really give up an original idea to collaborate and share credit with a friend? Unlikely – unless you are James Patterson, whose name alone might propel book sales. Hawkins concedes it is fear more than friendship ruling the decisions in her story.
Beware of quitting before the very end. Hawkins seems to wrap up the story, Agatha Christie style, explaining and connecting the various plot lines, but finally, Hawkins changes everything, flipping villain to victim in a surprise twist at the end..
A quick fun read.
If you need more murder, try The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes. My phone said I read this book in 5 hours – a definite page turner. If you are worried about memory loss and manipulation, this psychological thriller will scare you.
Lately, it seems it’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, week, month, and more, but as Judith Viorst would agree, sometimes it is just that way. Reading Peter Baker’s essay in the New Yorker (January 23, 2023) reminded me to look for the humor in those days, even if only looking back at them. The humor always escapes me, as it does Alexander, while in the middle of the muddle.
Judith Viorst’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is celebrating its fiftieth year in print, and it might be time to reread it, maybe before you go to bed tonight. The book is short; the plot is spare; Alexander starts his day with no prize in his cereal, no dessert in his lunchbox, falls in the mud, and is forced to eat lima beans at dinner. More horrors ensue, and in the end, the day ends and he goes to sleep, after the Mickey Mouse night light burns out. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Perhaps you’ve had a few of these lately. I have. You know; those days when you wish you had stayed in bed. But rereading Alexander’s trials made me smile. Not that there is hope that future days will be better; Viorst does not promise that. And, like Alexander, there is not much you can do about it.
Baker notes in his article that after writing about Alexander, “Viorst started a six year study of psychoanalysis, a discipline fundamentally concerned with stories we tell ourselves, and the possibility that revising them might make our terrible days a little less so.” Viorst offers no easy way to deal with such days, saying in the end: “Some days are like that…”
In the meantime, muddling through these days, it might be wise to avoid going to bed with gum in your mouth, a sure sign you will wake up with gum in your hair.
The No Charge Book Bunch 