Connie ’s Comments (group member since Nov 11, 2013)

Connie ’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

I've had several friends recommend The Madonnas of Leningrad to me. It's set in 1941.

Ron Rash got writing credit for the movie "Serena".
"Serena" starred Jennifer Lawrence.
Jennifer Lawrence was in "X-Man: First Class" with Kevin Bacon.

20.7 Microhistory

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

Review:
If I was going to use one word to describe Margaret MacMillan's "Paris 1919" it would be "detailed". She includes a multitude of backstories about the delegates and the obstacles they must surmount at the Peace Conference after World War I. The three most important participants were Georges Clemenceau who wanted to protect France from future attacks from Germany, the idealistic Woodrow Wilson who pushed for his Fourteen Points including a League of Nations, and David Lloyd George who was concerned with the interests of the large British Empire and its naval power. Thousands more joined them in Paris to hammer out agreements, redraw national boundaries, and impose reparations.

Wilson's idea of self-determination raised the hopes of groups in many countries, but it was impossible to implement. The Ottoman Empire and the Balkans especially are composed of a mix of ethnic groups. Self-determination was ignored when dividing the spoils in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

MacMillan divides the book into chapters about individual countries, and wrote detailed accounts of the day-to-day decisions regarding them. While a casual reader would probably prefer a little less detail, a historian would value it. Her research is to be admired, and it gives a real understanding of the various perspectives and the compromises reached. Unfortunately, some compromises resulted in national borders that had no good ethnic or geographical reasons. MacMillan does point out artificial boundaries set up at the Peace Conference that led to more unrest in the future, such as the fighting that is still going on in the Middle East.

She does not blame the Treaty of Versailles for Hitler's rise to power, although she felt he used it as propaganda. She feels that the Treaty of Versailles was not responsible for Hitler's wish to expand the boundaries of Germany, and to destroy the Jews and the Bolsheviks. Overall, the book will give the reader a deeper understanding of the world in 1919. "Paris 1919" also showed the root of some of the animosities that exist today.

+20 task (approved)
+10 combo (10.4 Math, 10.9 Six Degrees post 275)
+ 5 jumbo (570 pages)
+ 5 not a novel (non fiction)
+10 review

Task total: 50
Grand total: 520

Bea wrote: "Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "Firefox stopped working for me. I really liked it though."

Well, as of yesterday, my whole computer has died. Finally got it to restart enough to try to back everyt..."

I think we all have a love/hate relationship with our computers. They are wonderful when they work. Good luck with your computer shopping, Bea.

20.2 Innocence

A Different Kind of Christmas by Alex Haley

Review:
"A Different Kind of Christmas" is a short novel about the Underground Railroad and the escape of some Southern slaves during the holiday festivities. Fletcher Randal, the son of a North Carolina plantation owner is attending college at Princeton in 1855. He meets three Quaker students who take him to their home in Philadelphia where he is exposed to their anti-slavery beliefs and the Underground Railroad. His conscience bothers him, and Fletcher vows to help their cause.

The book is written simply so it would be appropriate for middle school students as well as adults. There is quite a bit of important background about the Underground Railroad, the Quakers, and slavery in the first half of the story. Some of it is woven into the story, but Fletcher is shown researching at the college library to learn more about the subject. When Fletcher returns to North Carolina for the Christmas break, he meets the engaging character Harpin' John. Tension builds as they make their plans since there is great danger to both the escaping slaves and the "conductors" of the Underground Railroad.

The book works if the reader thinks of it as an instructive parable or fable, fine for older children. Since the book is marketed to adults, it seems like there should be a bit more soul-searching and character development as Fletcher reaches such a difficult, courageous decision. While Fletcher is following the morally right path, he is also betraying his loving parents, ruining his father's political career, probably losing his inheritance, and risking death. So I would give the book a high rating for the moral message, but a lower rating for the storytelling.

+20 task (published 1988, author died 1992)
+ 5 combo (10.9 post 406)
+10 review
+ 5 oldie

Task total: 40
Grand total: 470

Alex Haley has the writing credit for the "Roots" 1977 TV mini-series starring LeVar Burton.
LeVar Burton was in "Star Trek: First Contact" with James Cromwell.
James Cromwell was in "Beyond All Boundaries" with Kevin Bacon.

10.1 Author

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (new author for me)

Review:
"My Brilliant Friend" is the first book in the Neopolitan series about the friendship between the narrator Elena and her friend Lila. It is set in the 1950s in a working class neighborhood where violence is rampant. People fear the Camorra who had operated a black market during the war, and still wield power. Violence is used to defend the honor of family members and friends. In the patriarchal society of Naples, men beat their wives and children to settle domestic disputes. The mother-daughter relationships of both girls are strained.

The friendship between the two childhood friends is also competitive. They sometimes offer each other support and love, but each girl has moments of jealousy. Lila especially can be sharp and hurtful. The two girls are intelligent, but the wild, creative, brighter Lila is not allowed to attend middle school because her parents refuse to spend the money. Lila must spend her time working at her father's shoe repair shop, but she learns by borrowing books at the library.

Although a strong bond remains between them, their paths diverge in adolescence. Education may offer Elena a way out of the neighborhood. Will Lila--who is exceptionally beautiful as well as intelligent--be happy in a traditional life where the men are dominant? Ambition and early feminism run through the novel, suggesting that both young women want more from life than the roles of the neighborhood women.

The author, Elena Ferrante, writes in earthy, emotional prose. In addition to the coming-of-age and the neighborhood dramas, the book touches on social class and the patriarchal society in post-war Italy. The book ends with Elena and Lila as sixteen-year-olds with very different prospects ahead. There are three more books in Ferrante's Neopolitan quartet that I look forward to reading.

+10 task
+10 review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 430

Will wrote: "I doubt anyone missed me, but I am back from my travels (I was in Europe; Italy, Switzerland, Germany). I took 9 books with me, and returned with having read 40 pages in one of them...
See you around."

That sounds like a fabulous vacation. Nice to have you back.

Ann Patchett wrote Patron Saint of Liars and
received writing credit for the TV movie.
The movie "The Patron Saint of Liars" featured Dana Delany.
Dana Delany was in "Almost You" with Karen Young.
Karen Young was in "Criminal Law" with Kevin Bacon.

20.10 Interconnected

The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories by Anthony Marra

Review:
I love Anthony Marra's wonderful storytelling! His writing was beautiful in "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena", and he's impressed me again with this collection of interconnected short stories set in Russia from 1937 to the present. There is more character development than in most short stories since each story is fairly long, and characters tend to show up again in later stories.

The first story is set in Leningrad during the Stalin regime. Roman, a Russian artist turned censor, has the job of airbrushing dissidents out of photos to remove them from history. When his brother Vaska is executed, Roman draws small portraits of his brother into the altered photos, showing Vaska at all stages of his life so he will not be forgotten. These pictures of Vaska, as well as a photo of a ballerina, will pop up again in other stories.

Some of the stories are set near a nickel mine and refinery in the Siberian town of Kirovsk. Life is horrible, but absurbist humor can be found in the workings of the government agencies. The only way to survive in Kirovsk is to fly under the radar so you don't get noticed, and watch what you say so you won't be betrayed.

Another story is set in Chechnya after the 1999 bombing. The deputy director of the destroyed art museum is given a new job as the director of tourism. Although the situation in the bombed out city is tragic, there is a lot of dry humor as he tries to attract the tourists. A painting rescued from the museum shows a scene that figures into some other stories.

Marra shows us a wide range of human emotions and experiences. The stories are written from the heart, balancing the darkness with a seasoning of humor and love. I'll be following this talented young author to see what he publishes next.

+20 task
+10 not a novel (short stories)
+10 review

Task total: 40
Grand total: 410

15.4 TtUS Flight Seer

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts

+15 task (set in Oklahoma)

Task total: 15
Grand total: 370

10.9 Six Degrees

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Review:
Two sisters are transformed by the war as the Nazis occupy France. The older sister, Vianne Mauriac, tries to protect her child and help her Jewish best friend while their husbands are off fighting. While a German officer is billeted in her home, Vianne works to secretly save the children of her Jewish neighbors.

Her younger sister, Isabelle, flees from Paris to the Loire Valley where Vianne lives. Isabelle seemed unrealistic at first, acting so openly reckless. She becomes part of the Resistance, returning to Paris and helping downed Allied airmen. Fiery, young, and passionate, she directed her dislike of the Nazis into work to help her country. Both sisters put their lives in danger to save others while the important men in their lives also wondered if they would survive the war years.

"The Nightingale" is my favorite of all the Kristin Hannah books I have read. It shows a slice of history from the point of view of the women left back home. The emotional relationships between the sisters, with their father, between friends, and with daughters play an important part in the plot. The story tugs at the heart as a mother had to find a way to feed her child when the Nazis looted their food. Jewish friends are torn from their homes, and the Nazis are searching for Resistance workers. Who will survive the concentration camps? Although you would not pick up this book for great literary writing, it was a page turner that tears at the heart. 4 1/2 stars.

+10 task (post 107)
+10 review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 355

10.9 Six Degrees

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Review:
It's been one hundred years since the start of the Armenian genocide in the spring of 2015. Chris Bohjalian's Armenian heritage inspired him to write this book. The story has two threads--the first set in Syria in 1915, and the other in the northeastern United States in 2012.

Elizabeth Endicott came to Aleppo, Syria as a volunteer for the Friends of Armenia during World War I. She sees women and children coming to Aleppo from death marches across the desert. The men had already been killed by the Turks who feared that the Armenians would support the Russians in the war. Elizabeth and other humanitarian aid workers try to help the starving, exhausted survivors, but they had few resources for the masses of people. Elizabeth meets Armen Petrosian, an Armenian engineer who lost his family. Armen and Elizabeth are separated when he fights at Gallipoli, but they remain connected through their letters. Armen's friends, two German engineers, photograph the Armenian prisoners, hoping to smuggle out the evidence of the atrocities.

In the contemporary thread, a writer's interest in her Armenian heritage is sparked when her grandmother's picture is featured in an exhibit at the Armenian Museum. She reads her grandmother's letters and diary to find out the horrible events that her grandparents never discussed.

The characters in Aleppo were compelling and real. The romantic couple, the orphaned children, and the aid workers were all characters the reader could care about. The present day characters were not as well developed, but it's only right that the spotlight should be on the victims of the genocide and the humanitarian workers. Although a few parts of the book have graphic descriptions of the dead and dying, it's important that we know about the horrific events in history.

+10 task (post 106)
+10 review

Task total: 20
Grand total: 335

Thanks, Elizabeth.

I want to confirm that Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (about the peace treaties after WWI) would work. It's on the GR list, "Microhistory: Social History of Just One Thing".

Another one that looked interesting was The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change.

10.2 Agatha Christie

Addie Pray by Joe David Brown

Review:
After eleven-year-old Addie Pray's mother dies, she travels around the South with Moses "Long Boy" Pray, the man who might be her biological father. He's a con man who tricks widows into buying Bibles and photographs of their deceased husbands. The sassy, smart Addie proves to be a good accomplice. They soon move on to more sophisticated swindles as they travel from Alabama to Tennessee and Louisiana.

I soon found myself cheering on Addie and Long Boy even though they were cheating people out of money during the Depression of the 1930s. They never try to swindle the very poor. Addie needs to feel that she's part of a family, and she has a vulnerability that tugs at the heart. Long Boy takes good care of Addie in his own way, although he is introducing her to a life of crime. Both Addie and Long Boy have quick minds and are fast talkers so they make a good team. Several other people also act as substitute family members that show her a part of the world that she has not experienced.

The book is written in a conversational tone in a Southern voice with Addie looking back at her younger days. The first part of the story was made into the movie "Paper Moon". Joe David Brown is a great storyteller with a good sense of humor.

+10 task (author lived 1915-1976)
+10 review
+ 5 oldie (pub 1971)
+20 combo 20.9 (three names), 10.3 (dictionary), 10.9 (post 242), 20.2 (published 5 years before death)

Task total: 45
Grand total: 315

10.1 Authors

Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda

Review:
Michael Dirda wrote about his lifelong love of books in a weekly series of essays for "The American Scholar" website in 2012-2013. The essays about the joy of reading, literary conventions, favorite book titles, publishers, bookstores, his work in literary journalism, and the fun in collecting were gathered into this book. Dirda writes in a conversational style with a self-deprecating sense of humor. He's intelligent and enthusiastic, but occasionally redundant, especially when he writes about the thrill of finding bargains or rare books at thrift stores and used book sales.

Dirda favors older science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and adventure stories. Although they are not my favorite genres, I noted some titles that looked interesting. The books he mentions have a very high percentage of male authors, maybe a reflection of his favorite genres. He's a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and has written the book "On Conan Doyle". His next big project is a book about popular fiction from around 1860 to 1930.

Dirda is an avid collector of older books, as excited as a kid in a toy store whenever he hits a used book sale. He's had to rent a storage unit since his home is overflowing with books. But his collection of books gives him so much happiness! He writes about leaving a book store with a big box of books: "My wallet was certainly lighter than when I arrived, but then so was my heart." It's an attitude that any bibliophile will understand.

+10 task
+10 not a novel (non-fiction)
+10 review

Task total: 30
Grand total: 270

Ed wrote: "Connie wrote: "Michael Dirda wrote the book On Conan Doyle.
Arthur Conan Doyle got writing credit for the 1984-5 TV Series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" starrin..."

OK. Thanks, Ed. Hope you're still having a fabulous vacation.

Michael Dirda wrote the book On Conan Doyle.
Arthur Conan Doyle got writing credit for the 1984-5 TV Series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" starring Jeremy Brett.
Jeremy Brett was in "War and Peace" in 1956 with Vittorio Gassman.
Vittorio Gassman was in "Sleepers" with Kevin Bacon.

15.3 TtUS Flight-seer

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris

+15 task (Set in South Dakota)

Task total: 15
Grand total: 240