An Alaskan Life and Lovin' It

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friends, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's not that death has no mysteries for someone who writes obituaries, it's that the writer has turned death' mystery into a way of meeting and celebrating life.
Lende survived a serious bike accident and went on to not just cope with life but to enjoy the good with the bad. Along the way she has written about her life in Haines, Alaska and her friends and neighbors--both the living and the dead. An Episcopalian, she draws on a great wealth of spiritual tradtion to tie life together.
I had enjoyed her first book If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name, which came out just before her accident, and I must say that I've enjoyed this one just as much.

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The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One year my daughter spent most of her summer vacation climbing in and hanging out in one of the ash trees on our lot. I thought of her as I read this book. Only the people in this book climb up and hang out, do research in and get married on the Giant Redwoods in the temperate rain forest of northern California.
Reading the second chapter, I had to close the book and take several deep breaths. Just reading about people swinging around at 150 feet in the air (in this case, without any climbing equipment at all) set off my acrophobia. But I had to keep reading to see what happened next.
What was next was and is a story of the the surprises that were found lurking in the crowns of the trees. There is an immense variety of life happening up there, both the same and very different from the canopy of a tropical rain forest.
They needn't worry about me disturbing the ecology of the Redwood; I'm not climbing anything that doesn't have a guard rail, but it was a great book.

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What's a body part or two

Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead by Peter Manseau


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Manseau writes about what seems to be the need and fascination among many peoples and religions for religious relics. Even those religions which deny relics officially have some item or other that is venerated.
From the first chapter about the Catholic St. Francis Xavier's uncorrupted body in Goa, India to the Muslim hair from the beard of the Prophet in Kashmir to the tooth of the Buddha in Sr Lanka, we are told some of the stories, the background, and attitudes toward these relic.
This is a fine line between adoration of the articles and scoffing at the people who believe in them.

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Biographical matters

I've got three interesting biographies this time, and one that should have been good if the writing hadn't been so wretched.

Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradis. 2005, Basic Books. 222 pp Non-fiction
Everyone knows Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wandered around Germany collecting fairy tales so they could be turned into Disney movies. Well, they did collect them, with the help of a group of women, who got very little credit for their efforts. The Tales were collected during the years of the Napoleonic Wars which did impact some of the lesser known stories. This background is about the Grimms, the women collectors, and the tales themselves.

Nothing to do but Stay: My Pioneer Mother by Carrie Young. 1991, Delta. 164 pp Biography
In 1904 Twenty-five year old CArrine Gafkjen moves from Minnesota to homestead in North Dakota. She buys a quarter section of land outright (and a few years later, another quarter section) and begins her life as a wheat farmer. Nine years later she marries a fellow Norwegian homesteader and together they raise six children during the dust bowl and depression years.

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant. 1885/1999, Penguin Books. 674 pp Biography
Written during the last year of Grant's life, this is military memoir at perhaps its best. Although written during an age of often overblown writing styles, Grant writes a clear and lucid story of his days in the army, including the Mexican War, but most of the action is the Civil War. It is a great book even if you don't like war stories, just to enjoy the direct writing style.

The Royal Recluse: Memories of Ludwig II of Bavaria by Werner Bertram, translated by Margaret McDonough. 1936, Martin Herpich & Son. 266 pp Biography
Ludwig II was often referred to as "The Mad" King Ludwig. He certainly had his issues, starting with what sounds like a very unhappy childhood. He is best remembered for his championship of Richard Wagner and for the fairy-tale like castles he built, which bankrupted his state and led to his death. I couldn't decide if this book was poorly written or poorly translated or both.

Misc

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. 2007, William Morrow. 466 pp Fiction

Jake Mishkin is an intellectual property lawyer, whose friendship with English professor Mickey Haas involves him in a literary puzzle featuring William Shakespeare, the rare book trade, and a cast of thousands. This thriller is a cross between The Da Vinci Code and a Garrison Keillor monologue. There is absolutely nothing straight-forward in the telling of this story, from the plot to the integrity of the characters.

Brave Men by Ernie Pyle. 1944/2001, University of Nebraska. 513 pp Non-fiction
Ernie Pyle recorded World War II on the day-to-day human level, from the standpoint of the citizen soldier. Brave Men is a collection of his columns for Scripps Howard Newspapers from the fighting in Europe during 1943-44. It gives an immediacy even now to the history of the war.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. 2006, Dutton. 352 pp Fiction
"I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waity for a bus. Just look at that sentence! That in itself is the first extraordinary thing, as I took the bus as rarely as once or twice a year, and even then it was only for the novelty value of not traveling in a car or train. It was mid-November 1954, and as cold as I had ever known London." And so Penelope meets Charlotte, and her aunt Clare and cousin Harry, and gets to kiss Johnny Ray, and a host of other events. This is sort of chick lit set in the 1950s, a kinder, gentler, chick lit.

Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine and Some Great Ways to Cook Them by Peter Kaminsky. 2005, Hyperion. Non-fiction
Kaminsky is off in search of the perfect ham. It takes him from Kentucky, to Burgundy; from North Carolina to Andalusia. He does barbecue and soul food and French cuisine (and shares a few of the recipes. He rails against the pork agri-business in the United States--and extols the wonders of what is often called heritage pork. Just reading this makes one hungry.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. 2008, Alfred A. Knopf. 333 pp Short Stories
This book of eight stories is just terrific. As in her book Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri's characters are often fish out of water, suspended between the familiar and the unknown or the uncomfortable. Even coping well with a new life doesn't always mean everything is well. There are many secrets here. I especially enjoyed the second story "Heaven-Hell".

There are some really good books out there.

Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx. 2004, Scribner. 219 pp Short stories
Annie Proulx's stories are about people whose lives aren't quite under control through no fault of their own. The bittersweet in life, mixed with the all to human foibles of her characters can add up to some painfully amusing stories. Her turn of phrase and her choice of scenes is spot on.

The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. 2008, Harcourt. 406 pp Fiction
Take a college football team, undefeated in 1941, and place ten of it's starting lineup into various parts of the action around the world in World War II. The eleventh man is assigned the job of observing and reporting on them, and on their lives and deaths. This is a very readable book, with characters you will care about.

I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass. 2008, Pantheon . 287 pp Fiction

The story of two sisters, twisted apart by men and temperament, twisted together by birth and family. Louisa and Clement are nothing alike, and yet they share so many of the same things. Add to that a back story of a great-great-aunt and her sisters and you will find more ssisterly living than you know what to do with. If you have a sister you love, read this book. If you have a sister you hate, read this book. Another excellent book by the author of The Three Junes.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. 2008, HarperCollins. 311 pp Fiction

Told in multiple voices, the old mystery of a North Dakota murder in a community with both whites and Ojibwe members. This book teases and pries at truths and injustices, leaving both in various states of exposure.

The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty. 1942/1998 Library of America 87 pp Fiction
Take the Grimm's fairy tale, cross it with American folk lore, add more than a dash of Southern Comfort and you have a wonderful time. There is the twist of the alligator's tail to this story and a charming cadence to the language. A Hoot and a Holler for this oldie.

Tying up the end of the year

Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment, by Bryan Talbot. 2007, Dark Horse. 319 pp Graphic Novel

A theatrical presentation of the history of the North and East of England, centering in Sunderland and its Empire Theatre. Sounds simple. Ha! Faces, places, dates, stories, stories of stories, all are thrown at the reader out of sequence, out of place, out of breath. Yes, think Alice in Wonderland, which has a very prominent place in this book from beginning to end. Also includes Harry Potter, William Shakespeare, Dracula, George Formby, cholera epidemics, several nasty murderers, and the Lambton Wyrm. This is the kind of thing that graphic novels do so well.

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles. 2008, Houghton, Mifflin. 180 pp Fiction

Bennie Ford is travelling across country to his daughter's wedding, when his flight is cancelled. So he whips out his computer and starts a whiny message to American Airlines that gets out of hand. There has been a certain amount of hype about this little book, so I checked it out. I'm sorry! It is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's an okay read if there is absolutely nothing else in the house to read and you don't want to start on the cereal boxes, but I don't advise going out and buying multiple copies to give to all your friends.

The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch. 2000, Doubleday. 440 pp Fiction

Inspired by the true story of the Oglala Sioux who travelled with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show when he became ill in France and was left behind. I will be frank here and tell you I didn't finish the book. The parts I read went on and on and on to the point I was forced to say "I can't take any more." The premise was great, the writing was boring.

Remarkable Reads, edited by J. Peder Zane. 2004, W, W. Norton 258 pp Nonfiction

Given the premise that they must each chose a book to write about--and pick one word to describe it, the thirty-four authors here have presented a remarkable variety of books. From Dr Seuss' Cat in the Hat to Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche, there are thoughtful essays on reading, on writing, on life, and on death. I picked up some good ideas for my own reading here, although I'll give some of these a pass. This is a good book for dipping into and savoring a little at a time.

A Time for Treason by Anne Newton Walther. 2000, Tapestries. 451 pp Historical fiction

The American colonies are on the brink of revolution and Eugenie de Beaumont is acting as an agent for the French to see what those colonists are up to. Not only do we get a lot of history thrown at us, but there's a lot of horse and ship stuff, too. Oh, and a little romance and politics. This is a nice, old fashioned (in a good way) straight forward historical fiction. There may be a few places where the historical elements are over explained, but it's a good read.

It's almost Christmas, so I need to get these out of my hair

Christmas is fast approaching and I need to return most of my library books so I have room for my company. Sunday I went down to my sister's house and returned with a bagful of paperbacks, most of them belonging to her, so between Christmas and New Year's I'm going to have to turn off the phone and do some serious reading (not reading serious books, by any means). In the meantime, this is what I've recently read. Sorry, no pictures of covers on this one.



Diamonds Are Trouble by Scott Corbett. 1967, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 96 pp Mystery

College student Jeff takes a last minute summer job at Ambrose Bunker's inn on Cape Cod, where he arrives late at night. He starts by tackling his new boss who is attempting to crawl into one of the windows of a guest cottage. The explanation leads to suspicion and distrust of guest Augustus V Wolfe who is possibly angling after the diamonds belonging to another guest, the wealthy Mrs. Walling. This is a short snappy mystery. I'm not sure exactly who the audience is here. Mr. Corbett is best known for his children's stories, but there's a lot of brandy floating around for that.





Family Linen by Lee Smith. 1985, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 272 pp. Fiction

I thought this looked like a Krantz book--with the glamour, sizzle, and sass. This particular copy has been rebound, so there was no blurb, but I took a chance after reading the first couple pages about Sybill and her trip to the hypnotist. Krantz it isn't, but it is a funny book about a family full of oddballs, pretentious idiots, and kooks. It reminded me in many ways of Lorna Ludvik's Patty Jane's House of Curl.



Firestorm at Peshtigo by Denise Gess and William Lutz. 2002, Henry Holt. 267 pp Nonfiction

Many people know that on October 8, 1871 a good share of Chicago burned down killing 300 people. Unless they live in Wisconsin, most people are not aware that on that same day more than 2,400 square miles of forest burned and between 1,500 and 2,500 people died. This book tells about the Wisconsin fire and its aftermath. In 1871 Peshtigo was a booming timber town with 100 or more people a week arriving to log or farm on the cheap land available. In fact, nobody knows exactly how many people were in the area, so nobody knows exactly how many people died.



A Gladiator Dies Only Once by Steven Saylor. 2005, St. Martin's Minotaur. 269 pp Mystery

Gordianus the Finder has been around since 1991. I'm just now discovering him. (Don't you just love browsing up and down the shelves of the library and finding "new" authors to read.) Set just a little earlier than my favorite Roman mysteries, Gordianus pulls in historical figures like Cicero, Lucullus, and Cato and makes them come alive, some of them more than others. This is a collection of short stories that cover some of the early years of Gordianus' cases, 77-64 BC. I'll be looking for the full length mysteries now.



What They Didn't Teach You About the Wild West by Mike Wright. 2000, Presido. 370 pp Nonfiction

Part of a series, this book loosely organizes topics of western lore (Cowboy, cattle barons, Native Americans, railroads, etc.) and presents items to amaze--sort of "And now, the rest of the story..." Many of the facts are pretty well known to people with even a minimal interest in history, but there is sure to be at least a nugget or two that you probably never knew.



Yarnplay at Home: Handknits for Colorful Living by Lisa Shobhana Mason. 2008, North Light. 127 pp Crafts

These attractive knitting projects are arranged in three levels of difficulty, from the easiest to more difficult (which would be suitable for most reasonably competent knitters). There is a nice range of projects from the simple knitted cotton dishcloth to a lacy mohair curtain, with suggestions for decorating ideas, alternate adaptations, or gift ideas in many cases. The directions are clear and easy to follow. The Serpentine dishcloth pattern is just difficult enough to keep me interested.

Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead by Livia J. Washburn. 2008, Kensington. 217 pp. Mystery

Delilah has just opened a literary tour business in Atlanta, using family members as staff. Her very first "Gone With The Wind" tour just about blows away the business when murder occurs at Tara during their visit. So Delilah (who can't even remember to call to connect her phone for the first day of business) investigates the murder. I am willing to suspend a lot of belief while reading books, but this one defied that ability. To heck with the ideals of steel magnolias, let's just go with the silly... never mind, I should have known from the cover that it was not going to be one of the Southern Sisters mysteries by the late Anne George. Maybe tomorrow is another day.

A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich. Translated by Caroline Mustill. 2005, Yale University Press. 284 pp. Nonfiction
This book was written for children in 1935-36 by a young German art historian. It became very popular and was translated into a number of other languages, but not English until it was recently translated and updated. Unlike many books of its kind, A Little History of the World does cover more than just Europe and North America. Of necessity, there is a lot of detail left out, but it does cover much. That said, I found it rather patronizing in the "Dear little Reader" head-patting way. Maybe kids won't notice, or mind. I did.

The Night Bird by Catherine Asaro. 2008, Luna. 571 pp Fantasy

Allegro is one of the young women of Arondale who has a certain amount of magic, linked to music and geometric shape. While on her way to receive training, she is kidnapped and sold into slavery to the Jazid prince regent Markus, whose country will soon be at war with hers. From the first there is a cultural barrier between them that only sex, erm, love can conquer. Soon Allegro will do anything to avert both the war between their countries and their personal war. This is the second book in the Lost Continent Series. As with most of Asaro's books, she has a lot of characters with a lot of genealogy between them. I like her sexy fantasies with lots of action going on.

Secrets in Satin by Haywood Smith. 1997, St. Martin;s. 344 pp. Romance
Amidst the turmoil of the end of the reign of Charles I of England the Countess of Ravenwold and the Viscount Creighton meet and share a destiny. He thinks she's frigid, she thinks he is rogue, the King thinks they should wed. This is an okay read. The author at least seems to have the history down well and the characters are interesting, even if the plot is stale, stale, stale. For lovers of formula historical romance only.

Not too many books this time around.

I;m sorry the photos of the book jackets went away. The technology curse has struck again and I'm just struggling today to get the typing in. I'll work on the picture angle for the next installment. But let's go on to the books...

A Book of Books, photographs by Abelardo Morell, preface by Nicholson Baker. 2002, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown. 106 pp. Non-fiction

This is a nice coffeetable-sized book filled with black and white pictures of books. The only commentaries, other than the preface, are quotes about books and writing by various authors. It is too large and hefty to be a good bathroom book, but it is the kind of book to sip and savor your way through. No need to hurry or even "read" in any particular order. Most of the pictures are ones you can look at several times and see something new each time.

The Dressmaker by Elizabeth Birklund Oberbeck. 2006, Henry Holt. 306 pp.
Fiction

Claude is a French dressmaker like his father and grandfather before him. He crafts the most exquisite wedding dresses which leads him to a new client, Valentine, who gives him free rein with her gown. He falls in love with his ideal woman and his life changes forever. The endless descriptions of Valentine remind me of Audrey Hepburn, but she comes across as a curiously shadowy character. Claude’s wife is very one dimensional (can you say "social climber"?), but then, so are most of the other characters. This was a first novel. I’d say Oberbeck should write some more—her writing is interesting, even if the characters are a little uneven.

The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin. 1958/1987, Academy Chicago Publishers. 190 pp.
Suspense/Fiction

Louise Henderson has a baby that cries ALL the time and it is driving her crazy. She can’t sleep, her husband can’t sleep, the doctor is surprisingly unsympathetic, and Louise can’t take it. Miss Brandon comes to stay and everything starts skidding out of control. (Cue the ominous music.) This is a really good suspense novel. It’s been around for awhile but is well worth reading.


Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland. 2008, Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. 382 pp. Historical Fiction

Louise de la Vallière became the mistress of the Sun King, Louis XIV, whose life outshone so many in seventeenth century France. She was born into a poor family, too poor for her to even join the convent as she wished to. She was horse crazy, slightly lame, and religious, unlikely royal mistress material. Then her widowed mother married a marquise and thus began Louise’s introduction to court and her rise to fame and love. This is the ideal historical fiction…the pace moves on a slower scale, much like the times. Gulland attempted to recreate the sights, sounds, and smells of the time period. For people who are somewhat historically challenged there is a good genealogy chart at the beginning and a nice glossary at the end. This is well worth reading if you like historical fiction. Gulland is the author of the trilogy Josephine B.

Oneskein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet by Leigh Radford. 2006, Interweave Press. 128 pp. Non-fiction

I’m always looking for projects to knit and preferrably ones that don’t take forever to do. There are several in here that I really want to try—after I finish knitting the second sock I just started. (Or maybe I should just find a one-legged friend to give the first sock to.)
Anyway, I like the looks of these projects. And no, the title is not a typo on my part, it’s all one word.

My friend RT reads a lot of political and current events nonfiction. He has offered this comment on a book he has been reading:

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston. 2007, Penguin. 323 pp. Non-fiction.

In exhaustively researched chapter after chapter, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Johnston explains how many of America’s wealthiest citizens have used tax laws and legislation to enlarge their bank accounts. Should taxpayers subsidize health care companies, golf courses, ballparks and sporting goods stores? This title offers a timely look at how we could reduce the federal budget and ensure that our taxes help every American live a better life, not just the wealthy.