September Books

Well, you can't say my reading has been anything less than diverse this month! Yes, there were mysteries (one a short story collection), novels, memoirs, and travel. Quite the combination!

There were some hits and misses here for me, but who knows? They might be your cuppa tea!  

"French Braid" by Anne Tyler

 

I've heard people sing Anne Tyler's praises for ages. Maybe this wasn't the best book to read as my first venture into her work. I kept thinking, "There isn't any 'there' there."

This is a novel with absolutely no plot. It is simply telling the story of a relatively ordinary or typical family over the course of about 50 years, from the time when the children ranged in age from eight to seventeen until they had grandchildren themselves. It could be any family. Dad goes to work in his father's store and later his daughter joins him. One child is rule follower, one a bit of a rebel, one a quieter rebel who more or less withdraws from the family to build his own life. The mom stays with the family till the kids are in college and gradually leaves her home, one suitcase at a time, to live in her art studio, but still goes home to tidy up and take care of her house. But of course, no one ever tells the dad she has moved for good. 

They're just kind of odd, yet kind of regular. Nothing really happens that doesn't or couldn't happen in any family, no huge climax, nothing. Their lives are typical, rather boring to anyone but themselves.

Tyler writes good, realistic dialogue and no one can fault her sentence structure or ability to tell of place and relationship. But that wasn't enough for me. Maybe it is for you.

"The Summer Guests" by Tess Gerritsen

 

This mystery finds Maggie Bird and her "book club" comprised of former CIA agentcolleagues, now retired and living in Purity, Maine, drawn into another case, when Maggie's neighbor Luther is arrested for the abduction of a young girl. While local police chief Jo Thibedeau is on the case, Maggie and her friends are quite sure Luther is innocent and set out to find the missing girl and clear his name. 

The summer guests refers to those summer residents who move into picturesque Maine villages, buying up lake property and more or less sticking amongst themselves. The Conover family includes widowed matriarch Elizabeth, son Gideon and his wife Brooke and teen child Kit, and Ethan, coming with his wife Susan and her daughter, Zoe, for the first time after a long estrangement . Also summering is Arthur Fox, the neighbor. Another lake resident, living on the "wrong side" of the lake, is Reuben Tarkin, whose father had decades before in a fit of madness, killed five townspeople in a traffic accident. Reuben and his terminally ill sister live a relatively reclusive life, but he has especially strong animosity to the Conovers.

It doesn't take Maggie and her friends long to dig up dirt on the situation and quietly join forces with Jo to find Zoe. As they do so, dredging the lake, they find the remains of a young woman. When the body turns out not to be that of the teen, the group is stumped again, but with Ben, Isobel and Declan working with Maggie, they uncover a motive for the abduction that may well be related to the body in the lake -- and to a dark past history for some of the Conover family.

This is the second book in Gerritsen's "Martini Club" series and I hope it isn't her last. The plot is tight, the characters strong and likeable, and the relationships leave plenty of room for future stories. The plot is self contained, but I'd recommend reading "The Spy Coast," the  previous book, first, simply to get a better understanding of Maggie and her friends, their backstory and skills.  

(A bonus -- the paperback version I read includes a short story featuring the character of Maggie --and some of her friends -- and Lee Childs' character, Jack Reacher. Pity it was just a short story -- they made a good team!)

"The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories" by P.D. James

 

I know. I should have waited till closer to the holidays to read this delightful collection but when it arrived in my box right after I finished another, I had to start. I'm glad I did because now I can tell you that if you are looking for a fun mystery (four, actually), all short stories so easy to read with a busy holiday schedule, then this might just fit the bill.

James is a wonderful writer whose many long-form mysteries have intrigued. In this collection she has two stories featuring her detective Adam Dalgliesh and two others. They strike me as quite "fair" in the telling but any luck I had guessing the end was merely a guess. The characters are well drawn and the settings beautifully described. 

One can imagine themselves in either of the manor houses that appear in two of the stories or in a dingy upper flat as a voyeur watches the flat across the street, and eventually experiences a dilemma of conscience.  My favorites were the Dalgliesh pieces, one of which finds him as a young and very bright sergeant, who is accidentally happens into a murder when he gives a fellow a lift home on Christmas Eve.

This is a fun one -- and perfect for the upcoming season!

"Bath" by John Curtis

 

I shouldn't even include this in books read because it was more like a "book looked at." "Bath" is a series of exquisite photographs highlighting various buildings and areas in and around Bath, UK.

Accompanying each photo is a relevant quote from any one of a number of writers and others with whom I wasn't familiar, dating back centuries. For example, in a photo spread of the elegant Theatre Royal, he quotes from the 1822 "Original Bath Guide." Jane Austen, Henry Fielding, Anthony Trollope and Charles Dickens are among the better known authors quoted with bits from their books or letters.

But it's the photos that make this short book special. I admit to a special fondness for the city of Bath and this one just made my heart sing.

"By Its Cover" by Donna Leon 

 

Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti returns with an interesting case that involves the theft of rare books from a Venetian library. When the librarian in charge of special collections contacts him with concerns about pages being sliced from antiquarian books -- along with some missing ones -- Brunetti, a lover of books, is fascinated. He knows little about the market for such things but discovers that the thefts could net the perpetrator a small fortune.

Unlike many cases, there is a clear suspect from the beginning, an American scholar who has repeatedly perused many of the books with missing pages. The only other people in the library, apart from the librarian and security guard are the young receptionist and another reader, nicknamed Turtullian, for reading the biblical writings of that long-dead scholar.

Once again, Brunetti's quest includes his  second, Ispettore Vianello, the computer-hacking executive secretary Signorina Elettra and another colleague, Claudia Griffoni, who has a similar passion for ancient texts. But when a murder takes place that is related to the thefts, some of the pieces begin to fall into place. 

As with all Leon's Brunetti books, his life with his family -- and in this book, in particular, his firebrand, aristocratic wife, Paola -- is a delightful break from the investigating. I really enjoyed this one, far more than my last Brunetti read. Onward to the next!

"Through the Banks of the Red Cedar" by Maya Washington 

I would be shocked if any book I read between now and the end of the year kicked this memoir off my top ten list. I'll be thinking about "Through the Banks of the Red Cedar" for many moons to come. And that shocks me.

I should start this by saying I am not particularly a football fan. Toward the end of the season I may pick a favorite but basically, I really don't care! But in my teens, I was more so -- a Michigan State Spartan fan who had regularly watched Coach Duffy Daughterty's weekly show with my dad since I was about eight  (to the degree that my mom chronicled it with a photo!). In the mid-1960s, thanks to a nextdoor neighbor with season tickets who would sometimes take Dad and me to the MSU games,  I knew the names of the players, many of whom became NFL players and one (Bubba Smith) who later made his mark in movies.

One of those players was Gene Washington, an Academic All-American and later, first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Vikings, who hailed from the Jim Crow South and the town of LaPorte, Texas. When daughter Maya accompanied him to Bubba's funeral, she realized how little she knew of her dad's football life, having retired before she was born due to injuries and working through his life (as he had throughout his career with the Minnesota Vikings) for 3M. She decided she wanted to learn more and went on a quest to learn about his life, including those formative years at Michigan State.

But should you think this is only a book about football, think again. It's much more. Yes, its a fascinating story for any fan of the game, familiar or not with Washington. She explains how Coach Daugherty was more or less responsible for the integration of college football during a period where (with a few single-player exceptions) it was still a segregated sport, even in the north. He brought Bubba and Gene from Texas (Washington with a track scholarship because the football scholarships were gone). Daugherty mined the south for black players, and Hawaii, too. Many of his team from that era went on to professional football careers.

You can't talk about the issue of being a leader in integrating a team without looking at the period in which it took place -- a time of riots, school segregation, the KKK and the deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi, as well as Emmet Till and so many other issues that resonate today. Washington does so from the perspective of a woman, the first of her family's generation to live in an integrated world. She also deals with the other issues that come with professional sports, including the impact of head injuries on players.

A friend of mine passed this onto me and I thought, "Well, I'll read it now because of the season and pass it on to someone else." Now I think I may be buying copies for Christmas or birthdays.  

"The Blood Card" by Elly Griffiths

This is the second book of Griffiths' in her "Magic Men" series that I have read. And while I don't like the series nearly so well as her "Ruth Galloway" series, this one was much better and more engaging than the first with a very surprising (and fair) reveal.

Set in 1953 as a young Elizabeth prepares for her coronation, the plot centers around Max Mephisto, a highly respected magician from the Music Hall days, now a dying performance mode, and Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens. The two served in the war in a division called "The Magic Men," with their task being to disguise trucks (for example) to convince the Germans that the battalions moving forward were larger than they were. (The Magic Men is based on the true military group The Magic Game, who did exactly this in World War II.)

Max and Edgar learn that their former commander has died, found in his bed with a music hall playbill and a playing card -- "The Blood Card" -- in his hand. They are asked by a General Petre to investigate. Meanwhile, also on Edgar's patch, is the death of the gypsy fortune teller, Madam Zabini. Despite an initial verdict of suicide, Stephens thinks her death was murder.

The investigation into General Cartwright's death takes Stephens to America and Max to London, where he is performing and launched into the exciting world of television. But will anarchists wanting to make a statement on Coronation Day make his television premiere his last performance? And does the death of Madam Zabini play into the plot? 

In addition to Max and Edgar, recurring characters from the series are Max's daughter Ruby (a magician herself and Edgar's fiancee), and Edgar's policing staff, Emma and Bob. As with her "Ruth" books, the supporting characters are strong and the plots neatly converge.  

"A House in the Country" by Ruth Adam 

 

Long ago, some friends and I said that when we retired, we should create a little compound with a small group of us, rather than deal with the dreaded "home." It would have a common activity room, and we would hire a cook and a caregiver who could tend to our aging and ailing needs. It was a silly dream and yet a fun one to consider -- retiring with friends you had long enjoyed.

After reading Ruth Adam's memoir "A House in the Country," I would rethink that! Adam, her husband, brother Bob, actress friend Diana, broadcaster Timmy and sailor Lefty, spent countless hours in bomb shelters during the Blitz together, all good friends, dreaming of the end of the war. They decided that when it was over, they would buy a manor house in the country and live together in it as a commune (along with the three Adam children). When they found their dream place in Kent after the war, all six were ready to commit.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The home had been relatively well maintained by its gardener and maintenance person, Howard (who came with the house). They hired a cook, found secondhand furniture to fix up their own rooms and the common rooms and embarked on their new lives.

It was working out well for those who took the train each day to their jobs in the city. But for Ruth -- who was not only tending her children but managing the estate -- the glow was beginning to wear off. Integrating into village life wasn't as easy as they expected and even a well-maintained manor house still has problems that in post-war England (or maybe anytime) would be a challenge. That included dealing with chickens and pigs and the kitchen garden. And, support of the house depended on all six having an equal financial responsibility. When one, then another leave, what are the remaining members to do?

This is a delightful book. But I have to say, I was furious at Ruth, who had to clean the rooms of all the other members of the commune as well as the entire house with no other help. Why the heck didn't she say "make your own beds, sweep your own floors?" Still, the characters are interesting -- especially the eccentric Howard -- and it is a good look at post-war life, when rationing still existed, gardens were essential if one was to eat well (and so was raising pigs and chickens.) It was a fun read -- and at 176 pages, a fast one.

"Lula Dean's Library of Little Banned Books" by Kirsten Miller

This is a lovely, topical cream puff of a book that looks at the timely subject of banning books (something many libraries and school systems in the U.S. are now doing for content some find objectionable.) With a deft hand for humor and character, Kirsten Miller looks at how banned books can sometimes change lives for the better, handling a topical issue in an entertaining and engaging (if somewhat predictable) manner.

Set in a small town in Georgia, Beverly Wainwright Underwood, third great granddaughter of the Confederate general honored with a statue in the town square and member of the school board, is up against a ferocious opponent. Lula Dean has gathered together a group of parents and others who want certain books taken off the shelves. You may know some of those books -- "Beloved," "Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl," "Gender Queer," and "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" -- among others.

Lula has a little free library in front of her house and one night the covers of "accepted books" she includes are swapped with the above and many others. As people stop by her library to borrow a book, they are startled to find another, but intrigued, they read on. And, by the magical nature of fiction, it just so happens that the right book gets into the hands of those who may need to read it. One by one, attitudes begin to change and the lives of the readers and those they love are affected.

There's more to it, of course -- Lula Dean decides to run for mayor and Beverly Underwood becomes her opponent in a grim campaign. The central issue is removal of the Wainwright statue, something that Beverly believes must come down and Lula sees as a beacon, a reminder of the way things were and should be again. That campaign involves a hometown movie star, a neo-Nazi or two, and a young black man who has done his family's genealogy.  

Yes, the book is predictable. But it's also rather fun and tackles an important issue in a way that is both light but effective. At a time when resistance to so many things is required and can often be a heavy topic that can drag us down, "Lula Dean" provides both hope, humor and optimism as it reminds us that we all have stories, and stories are best shared.

"Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson

  

I will say that I've read travel books by Bill Bryson in the past and I wasn't a fan. He was snarky and seemed to be having such a bad time, I wanted to yell at him, "Why don't you just go home! And stop complaining!"

So, I had some trepidation about this one, partly because the small island in the title is that of Great Britain. And I love Great Britain and I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to someone trash it as he had done for other places in other books.

I needn't have worried. Bryson, a American resident of many years in the UK, loves his adopted country, warts and all. In this book, as he and his family prepare after many years to return to America, he takes a long excursion around the island, beginning in Dover, traveling as far north as John O'Groats and visiting numerous places in-between. Oh, he's not without his usual snark, but it feels somewhat more justified in the context when given and with a bit of affection amidst the snark. 

Bryson visits cities and towns, villages and hamlets, often on foot and at other times by hopping a train -- any train -- that is ready to depart the station. He has a bit of a plan, a route, which he will change on a dime depending on the day, his mood or the quickest bit of transportation. There are places he loves and writes about euphorically (Durham, for one, with its magnificent cathedral) and others that disappoint. Guest houses with eccentric landladies, an unexpectedly fine meal, a conversation in a Glasgow pub that leaves him baffled, unable to interpret through the dialect, are just a few of the experiences he recounts. 

I am not a fan of audio books, through no fault of the medium itself. I have a very hard time concentrating on the book if I'm doing something else -- painting, typing, working around the house. But friend had passed on the audio version of this to me long ago and I finally plugged it into the car CD player on my last trip home from the lake. I've been listening in short bursts every time I get in the car. (Indeed, today I took a mini-road trip through country roads just to wrap it up and ended up sitting in the garage listening to the last 15 minutes when I got home!)

He is probably the best narrator for his own work and you get a sense of all his moods -- exhilaration, annoyance, curiosity, awe, delight, frustration. It was a good experience and I discovered a way to read an audio book -- go on a long, long drive! And this was a good introduction.

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