The October Book Report

October was a surprisingly good reading month for me. Or maybe not all that surprising. About a week of that was spent up north with a foot that prevented a lot of things I would have otherwise done, so there was more time for reading. That continued, even when I got home.

 

The results? Three very different memoirs, four mysteries and another holiday selection, this time essays.  

"A Pig in Provence" by Georgeanne Brennan

 

Oh, to be young and brave, ready to set across the world, husband and daughter in tow, leave things behind, and settle in Provence, fulfilling the dream of learning to make and sell goat cheese. Learning (with minimal French) how to live and work with new neighbors, discover what it is like to raise and breed pigs, and most of all, learn French Provencale recipes, often bound in centuries of tradition and deeply ingrained family recipes.

That's what Georgeanne Brennan, best known for her cookbooks, did with her husband Donald and daughter Ethel, tackling a new country, language and lifestyle. It is one she recounts in "A Pig in Provence," a delightful collection of stories (with a recipe for each chapter) highlighting her experiences.

It was 1970. Perhaps we were all a little braver then, and definitely younger, ready to take on new challenges and live out our dreams. Brennan and her husband were nearly starting from square one, but they found a warm and welcoming group of people to help them. One of the first encounters is with an elderly woman who explained how to make fresh goat cheese. After several failures, the batch is a success and sold quickly to friends of friends, starting their new business. (A goat cheese salad recipe follows.)

We learn a great deal about foraging for mushrooms, the ceremonies around slaughtering and curing pigs, and what makes a marvelous bouillabaisse. (And if you have all day and a lot of fish at hand, you can try her recipe!). We learn that every bit of an animal is used -- from tongue to toe (or hoof), we visit festivals, join in large country dinners, and follow Georgeanne in the kitchen of her friends as they cook for a crowd, including a wedding (the tomato tart recipe looks like the only one I'd have the nerve to make and it looks delicious!).

Her writing style is engaging and interspersing personal stories among the more technical areas (which she does not present in a technical way but simply as if explaining to you how to do something or why). If you enjoy memoirs that deal with food, or books about France, this may well be one for you.  

"Falling in Love" by Donna Leon

 

In this the 24th  book in Leon's Guido Brunetti series, we revisit her first novel, "Death at La Fenice," where we first met opera star Flavia Petrelli. Flavia has returned to Venice in "Tosca" and when Guido and his wife Paola see her after the performance, they invite her to dinner at the villa of Paola's parents. It is there that Flavia reveals that she is being stalked by (presumably) a fan who sends her hundreds of roses at various performing sites in Europe, as well as expensive gifts. The stalker seems to have access to places one shouldn't -- including her locked apartment building and her dressing room. 

When an aspiring singer whom Flavia has complimented is pushed down the stairs on her way home one evening, it occurs to Guido that Flavia's stalker may well be trying to eliminate competition for the singer's favor. A second incident seems to reinforce that.

As always, with the help of Ispettore Vianello, secretary and hacker extraordinaire Signorina Elettra, along with his colleague Claudia Griffoni, Guido is determined to protect Flavia and find out who wants her so much that they might kill. And, just as concerning, will it happen again?

I've read all the Guido books up to this one and this was by far my favorite. Was it the theatrical environment? Perhaps. It also may have to do with the segments set with Guido's wife, Paola, and their children, which add to the richness of the character. In any event, it's a good mystery -- more suspense than murder. In fact, (spoiler alert) no one dies in this one. 

"The Corpse of St. James" by Jeanne M. Dams

 

I started reading books by Jeanne M. Dams a few years ago and I have to say I wasn't a huge fan for a bit. Her mystery plots were good but the main character, Dorothy Martin, an American ex-pat living in an English town, bugged the heck out of me. She seemed headstrong and foolish and -- well, pretty careless and dumb (despite an uncanny knack for sussing out the murderer). Yet, a mystery set in England? I kept at the series.

I'm pleased to say that changed with the more recent books I've read, and particularly this one, "The Corpse of St. James." Dorothy is less foolish, equally clever and now, working in tandem with her husband, Alan Nesbitt, a retired police officer, a far better character.

In this book, Dorothy and Alan are invited to Buckingham Palace as guests of their friend Jonathan, a retired officer receiving the George Cross. Only in his 30s, Jonathan was retired on medical grounds after receiving extreme injuries and burns rescuing a child from a fire. After the ceremony they walk in St. James Park and when Dorothy drops something that Alan retrieves, he discovers in the bushes, the body of a young woman. 

They contact the police, who take their statements and will handle the case. But the following day, Jonathan comes to see them, saying that he knew the victim -- the 14-year-old daughter of his "cousin" Jemima with whom he had been friends since childhood and the daughter of his honorary Aunt Lettie who helped raise him.

The trio decide to withhold the information from the police for a few days to do a bit of their own investigation (Alan is not a fan of this idea) but eventually relent, and when they do, it is Jonathan who is accused. Told not to interfere, Alan and Dorothy go solo to help clear his name.

These mysteries are about as cozy as they come and I've grown fond of these two main characters and especially Dorothy's love for all things England, much of which she includes in her narrative. It's not gory, it's not particularly violent, and this one includes art and history in its mix. It's a fun read. 

"Holidays on Ice" by David Sedaris

 

I like David Sedaris' snarky sense of exaggerated sarcasm -- sometimes. And this book is a series of several story/essays set during the Christmas season. Some I really enjoyed, others -- not so much. I suspect it's a matter of taste.

My favorite in this collection was the extended version of his Santaland Diaries. You may be familiar with this because each Christmas, NPR plays a shortened version of Sedaris reading from this. It recounts "his" (at written least in the first person) recollections of being a Christmas Elf at Santaland, Macy's big "meet Santa" display. As Crumpet the Elf, he must work the various areas of Santaland -- getting kids to pose for photos, staffing the line, and all the steps in-between to keep things moving well. This he does with various degrees of panache, sometimes less than appropriately. (I love it when Santa asks him to sing "Away in a Manger" to a little girl and he does it -- Billie Holliday style. Santa is not amused, but I am!) 

I also loved the story of Christmas Eve with his family as a youth when his sister receives a call from a woman she works with, taking David along to rescue her from her abusive husband. They bring the woman home for an unforgettable Christmas.

Sedaris is at his best when his stories include his family. There are several such stories here and they are great fun or have a degree of poignancy that is memorable. How much of this is true and how much is author exaggeration, who knows? But these work well for me. 

The story with the most potential and one that just was far too long and lost me was the take-off of the family Christmas letter where the writer -- the wife/mother of the family -- goes into detail about the Vietnamese woman who shows up at their house, the unknown daughter of her husband during the war. Let's just say that her arrival wasn't a good fit for the family -- but we heard about it for way too many pages that ceased to be funny.

Another, a minister at what I would probably call a prosperity gospel type of church, tries at his holiday sermon to get the parishioners to financially back his current scheme. A flop for me (and again, too long.)

So, for me, this was a mixed bag. Worth a read if you enjoy this kind of over the top humor and some of the stories really are quite wonderful. Others? I'd skip them, but you may like them, too. Your call.

"An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" by P.D. James

 

In a mystery where James' "usual" detective, Adam Dalgliesh, doesn't make an entrance until the final chapter, the plot revolves around Cordelia Gray, whose role as second detective in the Pryde detective agency is elevated when her boss, Bernie Pryde, dies in a suicide. Cordelia has barely had time to process the death when Eliza Leaming comes to the agency with a job request. Her boss, Sir Ronald Callender, has asked her to engage Cordelia to investigate the suicide of his son, Mark. He wants to learn why Mark may have killed himself by hanging in his cottage.

Cordelia agrees and is off to Cambridge to investigate, first meeting Sir Ronald, a renowned scientist, and then others of his entourage -- including his sister Miss Markland and researcher, Chris Lugg. Through them, Cordelia learns of some of Mark's associates and begins her investigation. Miss Markland allows Cordelia to live in the cottage Mark inhabited on the estate and as she explores the case and as she discovers his books, interests and friends, she becomes more emotionally involved in Mark's life.

It becomes clear to her that there was no known reason for his suicide and but also that many seem to want her to end her investigation. Cordelia decides that Mark may very well have been murdered and she wants justice for his death. When acts transpire to scare Cordelia off the case, she becomes more committed to finding the truth. It is the morality of the case that, in part, pushes her forward, along with her own identification with Mark.

And find the murderer, she does. But in the final chapters, a second murder takes place -- and it is one that has Cordelia assessing her own morality in the issue, especially when Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh, the man who once sacked Bernie Pryde, calls her to his office to discuss the case.

This is a good, tight mystery with an engaging and intriguing detective and well drawn characters. James later wrote another Cordelia Gray book, one that did not receive the glowing reviews this one did, and it was her last. It's a pity because there was great potential and this one shows it all. 

"Murder on the Serpentine" by Anne Perry

It has been a long while since I've read a Thomas and Charlotte  Pitt mystery by Anne Perry and I was delighted to renew the acquaintance. Set during the end of Victoria's reign, Thomas Pitt, now Commander of the Second Branch of Her Majesty's Government, is asked by the Queen to investigate the death of Sir John Halberd and also the relationship of the Prince of Wales to an Adam Kendrick, a man she does not trust. Pitt determines Halberd's death is murder but whether or not Kendrick is involved is a question hard to answer, the levels of Victorian society being what they are.

His wife, Charlotte, understands why he cannot reveal the nature of his quest but is eager to help and with her sister, Emily, begins to forge relationships in the society in which Kendrick and his wife, Delia, move. There are moments when the gossiping revelations of the ladies reveal information critical to the case. But when there is a second murder -- again, assumed at first to many to be a suicide, but not to the clever Pitt -- the stakes are higher. And they may even affect Britain's national security or lead the country into a second Boer War.

Perry spins a good story and her characters are well drawn and complex. There are many books in this series, but the mystery is self-contained and Perry provides enough back story that one needn't read them all to follow on the lives of the main players.  

"Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty" by Diane Keaton

 

I was looking on my shelves for Diane Keaton's first book, "Then Again," to reread, following news of her death. But I found this one first. I have no recollection of reading it before and the spine didn't even look open. It was a timely present!

And a good and very poignant one. In what have been one of the most honest and delightfully candid books I've ever read by someone in film, Keaton tackles a lot of her physical neuroses, the things that bother her the most. Ever wonder why she wore so many hats? She hated her thinning hair and was concerned she was losing it. Written ten years ago at age 67, she is joyfully envious at the full head of thick hair her daughter has, and that of her sisters. In fact, the book is filled with wonderful anecdotes about her son and daughter, along with her family. It's told with love and self deprecating humor.

Chapters deal with the importance of eyes and the smile and what they say about a person, why she tended to cover herself up with turtlenecks and large, baggy (often eccentric) clothing, a look that made her a style icon. She discusses  how humor heals, the importance of hearing and sound, the challenges of aging. She takes you into some of her relationships with Hollywood's leading men -- Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, and brings you to the make-up room as she is fitted with hair extensions.

Home and family was essential to the actor's life and Keaton dwells at great length on that topic -- her family (parents and children), the home she grew up in, those she lived in during her career, and her continual quest to buy and renovate, then flip, houses, finally ending up in a neighborhood she loved, where people knew each other, brought you cookies when you moved in. In many ways, it's like being in a conversation with her as she muddles through some of the mysteries of aging and life.

I don't usually use large quotes from books but this was one of many that hit me with great poignancy, considering her recent death. 

"A few weeks ago, Heidi, who lives on Muskingum Place, knocked on my door to tell me that fifty-seven-year-old Michael, with the two black dogs and the twelve-year-old adopted boy, had died. He collapsed in his home. That's it? You wake up one morning. Everything is normal. Everything is taken for granted. Your wife and son are in the kitchen eating breakfast while you're dying in the bedroom? The terms are incomprehensible. Enjoy the tragedy of your life, Joseph Campbell said. Do I have to? What if I die before the dream house is built? Will I regret the unbuilt dream I left behind? Or is death the end of regret? When my friend John Burnham was robbed at gunpoint in the carport of his home, one thought came to my mind: Why hadn't he spent all his money? Life is a risky business,  now-or-never situation."

Perhaps this book seems all the more timely to me, not only because of Keaton's death but because I my age is midpoint between the time she wrote it and the time she passed last month. The points she makes resonate in many ways with me, as I think they might with many  others. And yes, she's a darned funny writer, too!

"My Friend Anne Frank" by Hannah Pick-Goslar (with Dina Kraft)

 

Those who have followed the life of Anne Frank may well know of Hannah Gosler as Anne's childhood friend in Amsterdam, prior to the Frank family going into hiding during World War II. (In Anne's diary, she is referred to by one of her nicknames, Lies.) In a lovely memoir written by Goslar with Dina Kraft (who completed it after Goslar's death), Goslar recounts not only their friendship but her own story as a German refugee who came to Holland as a child and was swept up in the Nazi deportations of Jews in World War II.

The first third of the book deals with the childhood days, following the Goslar's move to Amsterdam and her meeting the neighbor child Anne, who lived just a couple of streets away. They were opposites in many ways, Anne outgoing, always chatting, laughing and Hanneli (as she was called) more reserved. The pair had a number of friends, boys and girls, from their school. But after the invasion, much of that group was torn apart. Jewish children had to attend different schools and, eventually, be denied the other pleasures of their age groups, with limited hours on the streets and things like movies and ice skating being forbidden. 

Hannah watched as her neighborhood, her friends, were taken away in deportations with her family -- her parents, grandparents and little sister Gabi -- being spared because of her father's work with the Jewish Council. But eventually, they, too, were deported, first to Westerbrook camp, then to Bergen-Belsen, where the childhood friends would eventually be briefly reunited. 

It is the stories of the camps that hold the most power here and they are devastating. Hannah was determined to keep her sister, Gabi, alive, finding a supportive "family" amongst other prisoners after being separated from her parents. She recounts the cruelty she witnessed and also the kindnesses, as she and Gabi struggled through the brutal winters and filthy conditions, holding in her thought one goal -- to get out of the camps and to live in Israel. Pick-Goslar does an excellent job of not sugar coating the treatment they were given but not being extremely graphic in her descriptions as well. It's a thin line to walk and it was well done.

To be honest, I wasn't sure about reading another Holocaust book right now. I feel like we're living in the beginning of one and maybe that's why I forced myself to pick it up. I'm glad I did. There is joy in this book; there is love; there is faith and there is hope. The power of the spirit is profoundly important, as is the importance of resistance, of helping those who so desperately need it. Ostensibly, this is a book about a friendship. But in truth, it is a book about survival and strength.

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