January, 2018: Chipping away at the TBR pile

Working my way through a big, fat history book--John Erickson's THE ROAD TO BERLIN--and looking for some literary fiction to counterbalance the horrors of the Kursk salient.

I have my eye on a couple of titles...

Finished my first book of 2018, THE INFINITE by Nicholas Mainieri.

Well-blurbed but not as impressive as all that praise would indicate. A likable novel but the writing is clunky at times (first book), the pacing dragging, especially in the last quarter.

Still catching up on posting reviews of books I finished in December ...

Written in Stone – Ellery Adams
3***

From the book jacket: When Munin Cooper, known as the witch of Oyster Bay, warns Olivia Limoges that death is coming, neither of them realize that is the older woman herself who will soon be found dead. And Olivia’s instincts tell her that something – or someone – more sinister than a mystical force is at play. Olivia has a lot on her plate preparing for the Coastal Carolina Food Festival. When she hears the news of Munin’s untimely death, however, finding the murderer takes priority. The witch left behind a memory jug full of keepsakes that Olivia knows must point to the killer – but she’ got to figure out what they mean.

My reactions
This is book number four in the Books By the Bay Mysteries series. I like Olivia and her friends – the Bayside Book Writers. Of course the writers’ group includes the town Police Chief, handsome Sawyer Rawlings, which is convenient for the amateur sleuths. This book focuses attention on Millay, the Eurasian bartender who recognizes the pain of past bullying and really makes it her mission to get to the bottom of the murders.

Adams based some of the plot on actual historic events involving the Lumbee Tribe of Native Americans and the Ku Klux Klan, though she obviously took literary license in crafting this work of fiction.

There’s a little too much personal drama in this one for my taste, but all-in-all it’s a satisfying cozy mystery with a likeable amateur sleuth. I especially like that Olivia’s dog, Haviland, is just that, a dog. He might occasionally come to the rescue when a bad guy threatens Olivia, but he’s not a detective!

The Shape of Water – Andrea Camilleri
Digital audio book performed by Grover Gardner
3.5***

Book number one in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series, set in Sicily. The body of a local mover and shaker is found by two sanitation workers in “The Pasture” – an area that got its name from the time when goats grazed there, but which now is home to drug dealers and prostitutes. The coroner rules it a death by natural causes by Inspector Montalbano is not ready to close the case, despite pressure from his police chief, a judge, and the bishop.

What an absolute delight! Montalbano is a wonderful character – honest, intelligent and determined. He deals with the worst of human situations and yet still finds humor in his life, pleasure in food, and love with his wife. He does not suffer fools gladly, and can be scathing in his remarks. Yet he is not so jaded that he cannot also show compassion to the downtrodden.

Camilleri’s writing is very atmospheric. I almost felt as if I were visiting Sicily. The food descriptions took me back to my “adopted” Sicilian grandmother’s kitchen, where I spent many a Saturday afternoon visiting and crocheting and eating the treats she made for me.

I look forward to reading more from this series.

The audio book was performed by Grover Gardner, who did a marvelous job. He really brought Montalbano to life.

One final word on the text. Translator Stephen Sarterelli includes a few pages of notes at the end explaining the Italian police / military / political system as well as the exchange rate of lira to US dollars (at least at the time the novel is written).

Catch Me If You Can– Frank W Abagnale
Digital audio book narrated by Barrett Whitener.
4****

Subtitle depends on the edition: The Amazing True Story of the Most Extraordinary Liar in the History of Fun and Profit! -or- The True Story Of a Real Fake.

Frank Abagnale began his career as a forger, check-kiter and con-man when he was just sixteen years old. His first victim was his own father. By the time he was twenty-one he had passed himself off as a pilot, a pediatrician, a lawyer, and a professor of sociology, and he had cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks. He was known by the police forces of every state in the U.S. as well as those in more than twenty foreign countries. He was arrested more than once, and even served some time in European prisons, but more often he charmed his way out of the situation, or pulled off a daring escape.

Why did he do this? He blamed it on “the ladies.” He was enamored of women, and he wanted to show them a good time.

It’s a fascinating memoir of his years of crime, full of daring escapades, humorous situations, and outlandish lies. Abagnale’s audacity is matched only by his charm. He was eventually captured, and did serve time, but he went on to become a world-renowned authority on counterfeiting and document security, working with the FBI’s Financial Crimes Unit.

Barrett Whitener does a fine job narrating the audio book. Great pacing and Abagnale’s charming personality shines through.

The Turn of the Screw– Henry James
Audiobook performed by Simon Vance and Vanessa Benjamin
3.5***

A ghost story and psychological thriller. A young woman is hired to be governess to two young children, Miles and Flora. They are the wards of “the master,” their uncle, who has taken on their guardianship after their parents died in India. He is unmarried and really not interested in the children or the running of the household. In fact, after hiring the governess he tells her to simply deal with whatever comes up and not to bother him at all.

James begins the tale with a gathering of friends at Christmas. They begin telling ghost stories, and eventually one of them mentions the document he received from a young woman (she is never named). He then begins to read the tale. This opening puzzles me, because James never returns to this gathering of friends. The rest of the novel is devoted to the governess’s manuscript / notes on what happened.

Having arrived at the mansion, she is charmed by the angelic Flora, enjoying their lessons and spending time with her. She also befriends the housekeeper, Mrs Grose, who answers some of her questions about the previous governess, Miss Jessel. Things begin to go badly quickly however. A strange figure is seen in one of the mansion’s towers. Miles returns from school, presumably for holiday, but in reality has been expelled without explanation. The governess is certain that some malevolent entity is intent on capturing the children in her care, and she is determined to prevent it from doing so.

All the uncertainty and secrecy serve to increase the emotional tension in the story. It is dark, and puzzling, and disturbing. I am not a fan of the ending, which seems abrupt and unexplained. But then, a good ghost story SHOULD leave us wondering.

The audiobook is performed by Simon Vance, who voices the introduction, and Vanessa Benjamin who narrates the governess’s manuscript. They are both accomplished voice actors and do a marvelous job with James’ work.

>6 BookConcierge:, did you see the Jane Eyre parallels? I feel like he took that romance and turned it into a ghost story.

Wrapped up Philipp Meyer's AMERICAN RUST.

Not as compelling as his novel THE SON, but certainly a page turner. Back luck and tragedy afflict various residents of a dying Pennsylvania steel town. Interlocking stories told from multiple points of view.

>7 Cecrow: ... No, I didn't notice parallels with Jane Eyre, other than the main character being a governess.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky – Heidi W Durrow
Audiobook performed by Karen Murray, Emily Bauer, and Kathleen McInerney
4****

From the book jacket: Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on a Chicago rooftop. Forced to move to a new city with her African-American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, startling blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way.

My reactions
I found the book in turns horrifying, moving, disturbing, riveting, and confusing. The story moves back and forth in time, and with multiple narrators. The reader certainly gets the sense of Rachel’s confusion – about her identity, about her parentage, about what actually happened, about who and what she’s supposed to be now.

I was moved by Rachel’s predicament. And empathized with her struggles to come to terms with what had happened to her, and to those she loved. The ramifications of one desperate act rippled outward to affect not only Rachel, but her grandmother and the witnesses to the event. All of them were somehow traumatized by that one afternoon on the roof – whether directly involved or not.

While the attention is focused on Rachel, some of the supporting characters are equally moving; Rachel’s grandmother, Roger, and Brick are particularly important and I really appreciated the complexity of their characters as written. All told, this is a great debut, and I look forward to reading future works by Durrow.

The audio book was capably performed by a trio of talented artists: Karen Murray, Emily Bauer and Kathleen McInerney. The opening of the audio DID tell which of these artists voiced which sections, but I failed to write it down before returning it to the library. I can tell you that one voiced Rachel, one voiced her mother Nella, and the third covered the narration and all other characters. Given the structure of the novel, using different narrators was very effective in helping to keep this listener/reader on track.

Our House in the Last World – Oscar Hijuelos
3.5***

Hijuelos’ debut novel spans five decades, telling the story of the Santinio family from 1929 in Cuba to 1975 in New York. Alejo and Mercedes emigrate to New York City from Cuba in 1943, where he finds work as a cook in a fancy hotel and she tries to make a life in an apartment so far from her childhood estate. They have two sons, Horacio and Hector, who struggle with their own identities; are they Americans or Cubans? It is a love story, a family saga, a coming-of-age story, and a novel of the immigrant experience.

Alejo is a man who has never met a stranger. He is exuberant and generous, always the life of the party, a loyal friend and a ladies’ man. But he is consumed by want. His life is not what he envisioned and he cannot understand how things went so wrong. He drinks to drown his sorrows and descends into melancholy. He doesn’t recognize how his actions push his children away, when all he wants is to be recognized as THE MAN and a FATHER to be respected.

Mercedes is a woman who lives in the past. She cannot let go of past glories of life with her father when she was a young girl. She loves Alejo, but the man he has become is a stranger to her. She is alone because of her lack of English and her reliance on saints and signs and dreams and mysticism. Fiercely protective of her children she doesn’t recognize that her smothering is harming them rather than helping them.

Horacio grows as a nearly feral child. Clearly his parents’ violent arguments affect him and he turns to his friends and to the streets, finally escaping into the U.S. Air Force.

And baby Hector is trapped in his own skin and desperately seeking an escape. He is neither Cuban nor American. Neither a man nor a son. His father dotes on him, but he cannot return the affection of this man who is so unreliable and prone to drunken violence.

Hijuelos’s writing is vivid and passionate, with scenes that are ethereal and full of mysticism contrasted with scenes of brutal reality. People yell in anger, whoop in celebration, cry in despair and wallow in silence.

>6 BookConcierge:
Until about a year ago Vanessa Benjamin lived across the street from me...

I'm going to a staged reading of Brecht's THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI at a theater in Saskatoon this weekend.

I hadn't read the play in years so this past week I pulled it off the shelf and brushed up on it.

It still has an impact, the send-up of the various Nazi functionaries bang on.

The intention of this reading, I think, is to compare Trump to Ui/Hitler, which is something of a stretch. We'll see how it's handled...

>9 BookConcierge:, and .... a pleasant young girl as her charge, a housekeeper for her primary company, a love interest in the handsome but absent landowner, an isolated manor in the English countryside. Then the narrator begins to wonder whether there could be "an insane, an unmentionable relative kept in unsuspected confinement?" By sheer coincidence I read them back to back, so it stood out for me.

Finished THE KILLING OF OSAMA BIN LADEN, a collection of essays by the esteemed journalist Seymour Hersh.

For decades Hersh has debunked the myths constructed by military and political establishments.

This book, though quite short, is instructive, something to counter the "fake news" out there: a journalist who uses unimpeachable sources and who isn't afraid of questioning those who wield power in our name.

Currently reading Four Freedoms. Big fan of John Crowley's writing.

Crowley is too literate and "challenging" for most SF/F dweebs--like Trump supporters, they don't like to feel dumb.

>17 CliffBurns: I don't know. Little, Big is very popular.

You mean, compared to the endless DUNE novels, STAR WARS novelizations, crypto-fascist military SF, Tolkien knockoffs...

>90 I mean discounting the fact that 95% of popular culture is trash and has been since time immemorial.

Awhile ago I posted a roster of "neglected authors" on my blog.

Sadly, Crowley's name was on that list, along with many other fine writers whose work leaves lesser, more popular talents in the dust.

The lovely thing about this group is that we share the names of such unfairly neglected scribes and do what we can to help spread the word.

Coincidentally about a third of the way through "Little, Big" right now, so this is timely discussion.

Finished TO DIE IN SPRING, by Ralf Rothman.

Set in the final days of World War II, young men conscripted into the German army, untrained, hurled into battle. Some grim scenes, conflict believably portrayed.

Excellent translation by Shaun Whiteside.

Starry Night – Debbie Macomber
2.5**

Carrie Slayton is stuck covering society events, but longs to be a “real” journalist. Her editor tells her she can have any assignment she wants IF she can manage to track down and interview the notoriously reclusive author Finn Dalton, whose memoir of life in a remote Alaskan homestead has catapulted to the top of the best seller lists.

You know where this is headed, don’t you?

It’s a typical Macomber holiday schmaltz novel. Plucky girl with not enough sense to dress for the weather traipses off to the wilderness and charms the irascible bachelor. Of course, they cannot possibly stay together, so she returns to her big-city job in Chicago, only to pine miserably for her mountain man. If that sounds rather dreadful and cliched ... well, Macomber’s writing isn’t much better. The characters are straight out of central casting and the plot is predictable.

Oh, and with “friends” like Sophie, who needs enemies?!

Still, it’s a fast and entertaining holiday read.

Killers of the Flower Moon– David Grann
Book on CD narrated by Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee and Danny Campbell.
4****

Subtitle: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

From the book jacket: In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under suspicious circumstances.

My reactions
Wow. I am ashamed to say that I knew nothing of this shameful episode of American history. Grann did a marvelous job researching and reporting his findings. He brings these people to life and makes the reader care about each and every one of them. He did more than simply report what the FBI managed to uncover, and that only emphasizes how institutionalized the racist attitudes were.

He begins with the disappearance of one woman, and slowly uncovers the evidence of a vast conspiracy to eliminate the Osage and steal their riches. It is nothing short of appalling. Local officials were, at best, ill equipped to investigate. They lacked the forensic training of modern-day police forces, and more importantly, they lacked the will to really DO anything about “a bunch of Indians.” As the FBI began investigating, they were faced with uncooperative local leaders, and conflicting stories. Key witnesses were killed, or otherwise “convinced” to change their stories. Evidence went missing. That they were able to bring anyone to trial was a testament to their tenacity and insistence on pursuing the perpetrators.

And yet …. As the last section of the book shows, even the FBI failed to fully comprehend the extent of the problem. I found this section the most distressing.

The audio book is very well done, using three narrators: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee and Danny Campbell. They are talented voice artists and they keep the pace moving.

>24 BookConcierge: I could not enjoy Macomber's books, they were just too formulaic for me - and you're so right about the clunky writing style. I can't remember the couple that I read to make that determination, not this one evidently. I think the only way I can read something this silly is if there is a whole lot of sarcastic humor. This is why I liked the Evanovich books.

Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
Digital audiobook narrated by Hope Davis
4****

Two families – the Cousins and the Keatings – are intertwined after a chance encounter at the christening party for Franny Keating. The couples divorce, and intermarry. The novel follows the four parents and six children over five decades. The children form a bond over their shared summers in Virginia. But in her twenties, Franny meets a famous author and begins an affair with him. He uses the stories she tells of her siblings and their childhood as the basis for his best-selling novel. With all their secrets in plain view, the siblings have to come to terms with their family dynamic.

As children, the six kids are frequently left to their own devices, the adults in their lives too busy with their own drama to focus on the children. And what could possibly happen? How the adult siblings each interpret and remember what has happened, and how they manage the burden of guilt or shame is the main focus of the novel. Everyone self-medicates with alcohol – gin and orange juice being a particular favorite, a “cure” passed down from parents to their adult children.

If I’ve made this sound bleak, well, it isn’t. As in real life, there are scenes that humorous to balance those that are distressing.

Patchett really shines when exploring human relationships. She slowly reveals secrets, desires, hopes, and fears until the reader feels she truly knows these people. Little by little events are revealed, and characters are fully realized. Like her other works, this would be a great choice for a book club discussion!

Hope Davis does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She has great pacing and really brought the novel to life for me.

Cotton – Christopher Wilson
Originally published in the United Kingdom as The Ballad Of Lee Cotton
1.5*

Leifur Nils Kristjansson Saint Marie du Cotton (called Lee) is born to a mixed-race mother and an Icelandic fisherman father. From his father he gets his white complexion, blond-white hair and startling blue eyes. From his mother he gets his identity as black. Born in segregated Mississippi in 1950, it’s the “black” that counts, not his white skin. Lee also inherits a gift for “seeing” from his Grandmother Celeste. He can hear other people’s thoughts and while this sometimes helps him it mostly confuses him.

I was intrigued by this idea of a “white-skinned black boy” in the segregated South of the mid-20th century. I wanted to see how his special gifts would help him as he moved through life. But the novel took a decided turn for the weird.

After he is nearly beaten to death, Lee awakens in a Missouri hospital. He’s without identification and his head injury makes him rather incoherent. Going along with the assumptions of the hospital staff, Lee begins life as a white man. Until another accident …. Let’s just say that Lee changes skin color and/or gender like some women change hair color. Oh, wait ... he does that, too.

Wilson is a British man, living in London. I’m not sure how – or why – he chose to write about America’s segregated South. While the premise was intriguing, for me, the execution failed to deliver. I will say this about the writing. Wilson gives Lee a unique voice – with an odd mixture of local dialect and educated English. Lee’s a great reader and student of literature, sprinkling his observations of life with references to a variety of works from Huckleberry Finn to Madame Bovary.

On the whole, however, I found this just too fantastically absurd to be believed. I never warmed up to Lee or any of the other characters, and I found it a chore to finish.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Digital audiobook narrated by Kate Reading
4****

One of the best opening lines of literature: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

I thought it was okay when I read it in high school. I re-read it shortly after the BBC mini-series came out and really appreciated it. I’ve seen several film adaptations. And now I’ve listened to the audio version.

It's no wonder this is a classic. Austen is simply the master of dialogue. The way in which the characters interact brings them to life. From Mrs Bennet’s hysterics, to Lydia’s self-centered teen-aged giddiness, to Mr Collins’ simpering diatribes, to Jane’s cautious and measured observations, to Elizabeth’s outrage and clever responses to Darcy and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the dialogue simply sparkles.

Kate Reading does a marvelous job narrating the audio book. Her pacing is good, moving the action forward at a satisfactory clip. She gives each of the girls a sufficiently distinct voice that I was never lost in dialogue between sisters. Of course, she has the advantage of Austen’s skill with writing each of these characters with a unique speech pattern.

Finished Evelyn Waugh's VILE BODIES.

Wodehousian, with liberal splashes of vitriol.

Just as funny as DECLINE AND FALL, and that's saying something.

Wrapped up another Waugh, PUT OUT MORE FLAGS.

The final book of his trilogy on the "bright young people" who lived and thrived between the two world wars.

The conclusion isn't as funny or engaging as the first two novels.

Good, but not great.

Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly
Book on CD read by Robin Miles
3.5***

The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.

Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, and her father worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center. She met many women and men he worked with, knew them from their neighborhood, and from church. But as she grew older she came to realize how extraordinary their story was, and also how unknown their story was. She wrote this book to ensure that future generations would not forget these women.

I had seen the movie, and it was very well done. But the movie covers just a few years, and compresses the story of many women into three characters. Yes, much of what was depicted in the film was accurate, but not everything happened to just these three women. Shetterly’s book covers the time from the early years of WW2, when men were scarce, and women stepped up to fill jobs as part of their patriotic duty to help win the war, to the Moon Landing in August 1969.

I found it very interesting to read about the way in which these women, highly intelligent and well educated, finally found some measure of recognition for their contributions. I applaud Shetterly’s efforts to bring their story to the forefront of America’s consciousness, and I’m glad I read it. However, this is not a gripping tale; there is some repetition, because the stories of these women (and their families) was so similar. I’m glad she included an epilogue to give some information about how they fared through the rest of their lives.

Robin Miles does a fine job narrating the audio book. It was a little difficult to keep the characters straight at first (so many similar names), but full names are frequently used, which did help somewhat.

I had a copy of the text as well, and was surprised that there were no photos of the women included. I would have liked to put a face to the names.

Inside the O’Briens – Lisa Genova
Digital audiobook performed by Skipp Sudduth
5*****

Joe O’Brien is a Boston police officer, with a loving wife and four great kids, when he begins experiencing episodes of fidgeting, uncontrolled tics, and emotional outbursts. He dismisses these as the results of the stress of the job, but eventually he agrees to see a doctor. The stunning diagnosis of Huntington’s Disease makes Joe recall his mother’s last years and death and makes him fear for his children.

Genova writes so well about neurological disorders, making the story incredibly personal. She both entertains and informs in her novels. I really felt as if I knew Joe, Rosie (Joe’s wife), his daughter Katie and the rest of the characters. There were scenes that were very emotional and heart-wrenching, as well as scenes of humor and love and tenderness. I cried with them, I laughed with them, I was frustrated and even found some measure of hope along with them.

It certainly made me think: “What would I do?” How would I tell my family? Would I retreat into myself? Would I quit my job and head for Africa and /or Australia (two continents on my bucket list)? Would I consider suicide?

While it did not have the same emotional wallop as Still Alice for me, I still give it five stars.

Skipp Sudduth does a fine job performing the audiobook. He really brought these characters to life for me.

Finished BIOCENTRISM, by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman.

Two scientists collaborating on a book about consciousness--a wee bit over my head at times but undeniably a fascinating take on the whole "if a tree falls in the forest..." routine.

The questions of consciousness, the book argues, dwarf even the most important cosmological queries--who cares about measuring space and time if they are purely the constructs of consciousness and wouldn't exist otherwise?

I think I'll put an ice bag on my brain and lie down awhile...

Tonight I wrapped up WAIT UNTIL SPRING, BANDINI, by John Fante.

Not as brilliant as ASK THE DUST but convincing and engaging and terribly sad.

Fante is an authentic American genius.

The Midnight Watch – David Dyer
2.5**

Subtitle: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian

When the Titanic struck the ice berg in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, she was not the only ship in those waters. Crew and passengers noticed the lights of a ship on the horizon, and attempts were made to signal that ship for assistance. That ship was the Californian … and she arrived too late. This novel attempts to explain why.

Dyer chose to write the book from two perspectives: Californian’s Second Officer Herbert Stone, who was the officer in charge of the midnight watch and saw the rockets being fired; and John Steadman, a news reporter, noticing inconsistencies in the official statements given by Californian’s Captain Stanley Lord, believes that the truth is being hidden and takes extra efforts to unearth the story.

This is Dyer’s first novel, and he definitely chose a topic with which he was familiar. According to his bio, he spent many years as a lawyer at a London legal practice whose parent firm represented the Titanic’s owners in 1912. He had also worked as a cadet and ship’s officer and graduated from the Australian Maritime College. So he had his own experience as a seaman, and access to documents and artifacts regarding the disaster to help inspire this book.

Like many people, I am fascinated by the Titanic’s story. I was eager to read this novel and thought it would shed some light on the decisions made aboard the Californian that resulted in no action taken to assist the sinking liner. But Dyer’s narrative style failed to capture my attention. The moving back and forth in time and from one narrator to another broke up the story arc in a way that just didn’t work for me. I would get interested in one point of view only to yanked back (or forth) to another timeframe and another story line. Just as John Steadman struggles to find the hook that will give him the great story his editor demands, I struggled to find the hook that would bind me to this novel.

Finally, towards the end of the book (page 253 out of 319 pages), Dyer gives the reader his character’s report of the events of that fateful night: “Eight White Rockets” by John Steadman. THIS is what I was hoping for when I heard about the novel. Those last 60 pages of the novel were gripping.

>36 BookConcierge:, that one sounds interesting

>37 Cecrow: .... it IS interesting, but didn't quite capture my attention.

The Longest Night– Andria Williams
Digital audiobook performed by Rebecca Lowman, Hillary Huber and MacLeod Andrews
4****

In June 1959, a young military couple moves to Idaho Falls when the husband is assigned to work at one of the country’s first nuclear power plants. Natalie and Paul Collier have two girls, but Nat can’t seem to form any friendships among the other Army wives and she’s lonely and restless. Paul notices some issues with the reactor and feels that his superiors are doing nothing to correct the problems. Tensions build, and it’s a question of what will blow first – the reactor, Paul’s career, or Nat and Paul’s marriage.

I love character-based novels like this. The way in which Williams writes these characters gives great insight into what is going on. The reader is privy to their secret thoughts, their emotions, fears, disappointments, joys, and expectations. Williams gives us three narrators; in addition to Paul and Nat, we also have Jeannie, the wife of Paul’s supervisor, Master Sergeant Richards. Where Paul and Nat are young, in love, with their future ahead of them, Jeannie and her husband have settled into a sort of truce. She puts up with his womanizing and drinking, trying her best to ensure he doesn’t mess up enough to jeopardize his retirement pension. He closes his eyes to Jeannie’s mean-spiritedness, her gossiping and efforts to numb her disappointments with a drink – or a dalliance - of her own.

Add a handsome local cowboy into the mix and things get interesting quickly.

I was interested and engaged from beginning to end and could hardly put it down.

The audiobook is performed by three talented voice artists: Rebecca Lowman, Hillary Huber and MacLeod Andrews. They do a marvelous job. Each takes a different narrator, making it easy to follow the changes in point of view.

I'm halfway through Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.C. Gwynne, about Quanah Parker and the Comanches. Not a whole lot of empathy for this tribe here. Fascinating read though. (Do not dismount your horse when fighting the Comanches!)

Also nibbling on The Confessions of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc. Kind of silly short stories but fun. Reads like a comic book from the 40's.

#40--I know the Gwynne book, it is GRIM reading. Nausea-inducing torture, cannibalism...none of that watered down Old West. Good luck getting through that one...

>41 CliffBurns:
It really really is grim. Just read about the Martha Sherman episode. Uggh.

Packing For Mars – Mary Roach
Book on CD narrated by Sandra Burr.
3***

The Subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

Another entertaining and informative read from an author who has become a favorite “science” writer for me. As she has done for sex, our alimentary canal, and cadavers, Roach turns her curiosity, sense of adventure and wit to the topic of space travel. What I really enjoy about her books is how informative and approachable she makes these topics. We may not always want to talk about these things at the dinner table (or anywhere), but she satisfactorily answers all those questions we’ve been afraid to ask, but secretly wondered about.

Roach researched the topic of how to prepare for interplanetary travel not only in the USA, but around the world. She explored how astronauts are chosen in Japan, for example. She looked at studies using volunteers who stayed in bed for months at a time, or who agreed to try the sample space foods, or be filmed using a “waste disposal bag.” Her footnotes are sometimes funnier than the text and should definitely NOT be missed.

I have to admit that as I’ve gone about my business this last week since finishing the book, I seem acutely aware of the beneficial effects of gravity (especially in the bathroom).

I listened to the audio read by Sandra Burr. She has a wonderful delivery for this book. There were times I was listening as I drove and just laughing out loud; other drivers who may have looked at me must have thought I was deranged. (Burr also narrated BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.)