Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 57)

Posted on April 30, 2021 by bseat

The year is 2045. All the things that humanity worried about; climate change, eco destruction and gross inequalities between the haves and have nots, have come to fruition. Earth is a dying planet and the only escape is OASIS, a virtual world where most of life happens now.

For Wade Watts, who lives in a stacked container apartment with his abusive guardian, OASIS is where he goes to school and where he meets his friends and is the place where anything important happens. So he is shocked when the reclusive creator of OASIS dies and leaves his fortune to anyone who can solve the bewildering and confusing puzzles he left behind. Wade decides to enter the contest and is gratified to find that the puzzles are based on the OASIS creator’s love of classical pop culture. Since Wade is also interested in this arcane topic he feels he may have a leg up on his competition, that is until he finds out that some of his best virtual friends are also in the hunt.

This is a ridiculously fun and unexpectedly satisfying read. I was hesitant, since I am not all that into computer games, or virtual reality for the matter, but maybe having to be on Zoom all the time this past year has given me a much better appreciation for immersive virtual reality and, as I say this, I realize how completely fuddy duddy I sound!  Wade and his friends begin to emerge from behind their virtual personalities and are developed into interesting and defined characters. Cline keeps the suspense and adrenaline going with each new clue and does a great job in describing the various virtual worlds in which the answers are found. This is the first in a series of YA novels by Cline and if you have a tween in your family it might be fun to read this together or just go ahead and read it on your own!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Lauren, Marian, Keith and Ken.

Books study worthy? Sure, with kids included!

Read in e-library format.

 

Posted in Adventure, book to movie, Books to Read During a Pandemic, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Series, Uncategorized, YA | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

An Ode To My Parents

Posted on April 23, 2021 by bseat

My father passed away last Tuesday. He was 93. My mother passed away in 2007.  I know that my love of books, the joy I find in stories, the way my curiosity is fed by books is because my parents read to me from an early age, so this post is dedicated to my parents who taught me to love reading.

One of my very first memories is sitting in church. I was probably squirming as little kids do, and I remember my mom pulling out one of those small baby books and showing me the pictures. She had several books in her purse when I was younger and she continued to do so after my sister was born. We began appreciating books at an early age!

My mother was a high school English teacher and she was also on the debate team in college so her love of words ran pretty deep. She loved word puzzles and one of my favorite memories is her sitting in her chair, a puzzle book on her lap and a pencil in hand with a slight frown of concentration on her face. 

When I was little, Golden Books were a staple and of course various Bible story books, but as I grew older we switched to chapter books and my favorites were Heidi and The Little Prince. I looked forward to our nightly ritual of reading and sometimes I would beg my mom to read the next chapter to me when I crawled into bed with them early in the morning, impatient to hear what happened next. I don’t remember my mom falling for that very often, but when my dad was reading to me it often worked!

Dad read different kinds of books. He liked nature and adventure stories, so we read this fascinating book about a beaver of which I have vivid memories but cannot for the life of me remember the title. We also read a children’s version of Call of the Wild. I remember we both got choked up at various points of that story and cried together over what happened to Buck. Then there were the magazines that Dad got. He subscribed to Popular Mechanics and Popular Science and when one of them came in the mail he would sit in his big chair and I would sit on his lap and we would look through the magazine together while he explained what the various pictures showed and what new things were being invented. 

One of my dad’s favorite books to read to us was Dr. Goat, where a goat who is a doctor rides his bicycle, making his rounds caring for sick animals until he himself gets sick and then all the animals come and take care of him. 

Dad loved to mix up the words or make voices for the various animals when he read, which made both my sister and I laugh. He read that book so many times I memorized it and when I was too old, he read it to my sister. It was a bit tattered but very well loved.

Just recently, Dad asked us if we still had that book. One of the families in his church often came to visit him and they had small children and he wanted to read it to them. My sister found it and gave it to him. It was one of the first things we found in his apartment after he passed away and of course we kept it.

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The Lost And Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 56)

Posted on April 16, 2021 by bseat

It’s been a long slog through this pandemic. Slowly we are getting vaccinated, and things will start to open up, (although some are doing it too soon) and we will get back to “normal’ whatever that might look like. But in the meantime we still need to keep up whatever we were doing to keep ourselves and others safe. But sometimes I just want to escape from reality!

Romance as a genre has often been dismissed, but I think there is a real place for this genre, particularly during rough times. There is something comforting about knowing that everything will work out and that love wins in the end. Of course even romantic novels need to be well written and have characters who are interesting and not one dimensional. After all escapist literature needs standards too! Susana Kearsley, Julia Quinn, Karen Marie Morning, Katherine Howe, Elin Hilderbrand are some of the authors I turn to when I need a romantic escape. Now I can add Susan Wiggs to this list

Natalie Harper, was expecting her mother and her boyfriend to come to the special event where she was being honored by her company, but they never showed. Disappointed but not completely surprised, she heads home after work, only to learn that they had been planning to surprise her by flying in her boyfriend’s small plane, but during the flight the plane crashed and both of them had perished.

Although she is devastated by her loss, Natalie must begin to settle her mother’s business affairs and decide how to take care of her grandfather. Taking a leave of absence from her work, Natalie returns to San Francisco and to the bookshop her mother owned and where she and Natalie’s grandfather lived. To her surprise she learns that her grandfather still owns the building where he and her mother lived and housed the book shop her mother owned. Even though her grandfather is suffering from early signs of dementia, he is still unwilling to sell and move to a nursing facility. Faced with caring for her grandfather and running a bookstore, Natalie quits her job and moves back into the home where she had grown up to take care of her grandfather and run the bookshop until she can sort things out.

One of the first things she discovers is that there are many repairs that have been delayed and renovations that need to be done to make her grandfather’s rooms safe and more accessible for his wheel chair. Peach Gallagher, who had been hired by her mother right before she died shows up to begin the repairs, and Natalie, although aware that there is no money to pay for these renovations decides to go ahead, hoping that she can improve book sales to pay for the renovations. But as Peach begins to open walls and repair leaks, he and Natalie discover that within the walls and rooms of this old building are treasures of family and city history, stories of loss, loyalty and joy which offer the opportunity for unexpected connections tying yesterday and today together.

The theme of this book is: If you had to start over, what would you do and who would you be? An intriguing question for anyone to consider. Wiggs is good writer, takes care to develop her characters, and keeps just the right amount tension in the plot to keep you interested. I am glad to have found another good author to add to my escapist literature list!

Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out Of 5 Stars)

Recommend this Book to: Sharon, Marian and Lauren

Book Study Worthy? Just Enjoy!

Read in ebook format.

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Exhalation by Ted Chiang (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 55)

Posted on April 9, 2021 by bseat

I am not really a short story person. I like long novels where I can engage the characters and the end comes after a long circuitous path. Then I read an article where they interviewed famous people and asked about their favorite books and Barack Obama said “Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.”  I thought that was intriguing and so I investigated, and it turns out that Exhalation was considered one of the  “10 Best Books of the Year”(2019) by the New York Times and had gotten similar accolades from the Washington Post.  So I caved and bought the book, and then it sat on my Kindle shelf for a long time. In fact it got so lost in all my other books that when I Exhalationhad to get a new iPad this year, it got sucked into an “Uncategorized” file and would have languished there if I hadn’t done some digital spring cleaning. As you can see, I am sometimes pretty stubborn about what I like and don’t like, but reading this book taught me two lessons: Do not be afraid to go outside your comfort zone, and if Barack Obama recommends a book, read it!

Exhalation is a grouping of various stories that wrestle with the great existential question of what it means to be human; questions about what is memory, and if we could contact alternative selves who made different choices than we did how would that impact our lives?

In the story Exhalation, an alien scientist makes a life changing discovery, that affects their entire life form, but the discovery is also applicable to our current human condition. In The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, the ability to go back and undo past mistakes is examined with cautionary results. In The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling, the idea of how technology, in this case writing things down on paper, begins to change the way we think, feel, and understand the truth of things. Alternate realities and the the ability to see multiple alternative selves make different choices that than the ones we chose is the topic in Anxiety in the Dizziness of Freedom.

Chiang, is gifted writer, with profound things to say. He raises more questions that he answers, but I think that is what he is offering to us, the chance to engage in some of the hardest questions we face and to frame them in new and engaging ways, so that hopefully we can come to some new understandings. This was a delight to read!  Thoughtful, engaging, and it made me really wish some of these stories were full length novels!

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Everyone!

Book Study Worthy? YES!

Read in ebook format. 

 

 

Posted in Books to Read During a Pandemic, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Prize Winner, Science Fiction, Short Stories | Tagged | Leave a comment

Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 54

Posted on April 2, 2021 by bseat

If you are a fan of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, you will be intrigued by this riff on a theme by P. D. James. This is definitely “fan fiction”  and P. D. James’ homage to this literary gem contains many of the things we love about Austen and James’ predilection for murder and mayhem! What’s not to love?!

It is now 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy were married and settled at the estate at  Pemberly. They have settled into a comfortable, if somewhat boring life, with their two sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles and Elizabeth has grown into her role as chatelaine of this great house. In fact, the annual autumn ball that Elizabeth and Darcy host has become a very important social event.

Thus when, on the eve of the ball, a coach carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s sister, comes careening up the driveway with Lydia shrieking hysterically that her dissolute and dubious husband, Wickham, has been murdered, the whole household is in turmoil.

By rights, Lydia was not supposed to ever come to Pemberly as she had been banned after her shocking elopement to Wickham. However, now that she is here, Elizabeth and Darcy must get to the bottom of her allegations and somehow save the ball, and their reputations.As the mystery unfolds, secrets long kept are exposed, and love in all its complicated manifestations is revealed. 

James writes in the style of Jane Austin, and for some this might make it verbose and stilted, creating a barrier in understanding the characters, but I found it interesting and somewhat amusing. This is unlike any other James murder mystery as there is no forensics laboratories and no detectives, rather there is reliance on witness testimony and evidence being obtained by ordinary people which reminded me of the books by Wilkie Collins that I read many years ago!

Brenda’s Rating: ***1/2 (3 1/2 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes, but must have tea and scones!

Read in ebook format. it is also available on PBS Masterpiece Theatre!

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Posted in book to movie, Books to Read During a Pandemic, Detective novel, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Mystery/Detective, Romance, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs (Books To Read During a Pandemic, Part 53)

Posted on March 26, 2021 by bseat

Like many of you, as soon as Hamilton, The Musical, was available online, we signed up to see it. My husband and I have watched it numerous time since then. Powerful, full of energy and starring an amazing and diverse cast, it was a reminder of all the potential that is available if only there is freedom and opportunity to let it flow freely. 

What I realized after watching it, however, was that were so many pieces of Revolutionary American history that I did not know, so I was happy to find, The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs to help fill in the gaps. Although this is a novel, Cobbs, a well respected historian and professor of history approaches the The hamilton Affairlives of Alexander Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth from the perspective of a historian and backs it up with meticulous research of the revolutionary time period.

They were an unlikely couple. Elizabeth was the daughter of the wealthy respectable Schuyler clan. Beautiful and adventurous, she had strong beliefs in the rights of women and was against slavery. Alexander, on the other hand was a bastard and an orphan with no money and no prospects until he met George Washington, who saw something in him and took him under his wing. Unable to suffer fools silently, Alexander’s lack of tact created many enemies making him one of the most controversial figures of the time.  

I found Cobbs’ exploration of Alexander and Elizabeth’s relationship quite interesting, adding a deeper layer of understanding to what each found in each other. Undoubtedly their marriage was one of the most severely tested marriages of the time or since. Infidelity that is publicly acknowledged, and the terrible death of their son while dueling are just the highlights, but there was also financial insecurity, Alexander’s workaholism as well as life threatening illnesses that all caused stress on their relationship. 

Cobbs helps us see things from Elizabeth’s perspective; to understand her pain, her ability to keep her dignity in the face of scandal and her almost incomprehensible willingness to forgive Alexander. This is a love story, but it is not a fairy tale. Cobbs gives us a real look at two very different people who loved each other as best they could and were able to survive and still find the ability to love in the face of almost insurmountable pain.  

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian. Lauren, Sharon, Keith and Ken

Book Study Worthy? Yes!

Read in ebook format. 

 

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A Test Of Wills by Charles Todd (Books To Read During A Pandemic, Part 52)

Posted on March 19, 2021 by bseat

It has been one year, this week, since the beginning of the pandemic. As we look back on what our world was like before the pandemic and what it is now it is easy to focus on wearing masks, not eating at restaurants or gathering with friends and family as what we has changed, but there are more subtle changes that we haven’t even yet thought about that will soon become apparent as we begin to move out from under the restrictions of the pandemic and try to find a new normal. 

In Todd’s, A Test of Wills, the main character, Ian Rutledge, is also trying to negotiate a new world and a new normal after the end of WWI. Rutledge who fought in the war, suffers from shell-shock, (PTSD) which at the time was an under appreciated illness that was often mistaken for cowardice. Rutledge returns to his job at Scotland Yard, where he must not only try to hide his illness, but also negotiate the politics and rivalries that come with the job.

Rutledge is sent to investigate the murder of an army colonel, who was shot at such close range that his head was nearly blown off. The colonel who was well known and admired by his fellow soldiers, neighbors and the villagers who were under his care. He also had a beautiful ward who was engaged to be married to a decorated war hero who had connections to the Royal Family. Unfortunately, the servants and the villagers had observed the colonel arguing vehemently with his ward’s fiancée shortly before the murder and he is the prime suspect. Rutledge, however is not so sure, especially after talking with the town drunk, another shell shock victim, whose rambling and rather incoherent statement casts doubt on the evidence. As Rutledge sifts through the evidence, a lost doll, a little girl who suffers from hysterical muteness, a beautiful ward who seems to be hiding a painful secret, an insufferable vicar, an agitator who accused the colonel of exploiting the working class, and two sisters who recently moved to the village arousing the suspicions of the nosey villagers, he realizes that this case is much more complicated than he imagined. As pressure mounts from his spiteful supervisor in London to close the case, Rutledge must find a way to overcome the confusion and the noise and bring the the murderer to justice.

Charles Todd, is actually a mother and son writing team-Charles and Caroline Todd. This book was nominated for both an Edgar and an Anthony Award and is the first in the series of some 20 books following the career of the flawed but heroic, Ian Rutledge. I was especially intrigued by how much this book resonated with me as Rutledge returns from the war, still carrying the grief and woundedness of that experience, as he reenters a world that, although it looks the same, is very different from the one he left. I am also excited to find another author who like Ruth Rendell, Martha Grimes and Elizabeth George, who while providing wonderful entertainment also observes and celebrates the human condition in all its manifestations.

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Stars Out of 5 Stars) 

Recommend this book to: Sharon and Marian

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.

 

Posted in Books to Read During a Pandemic, Detective novel, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Series, Suspense | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang ( Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 51)

Posted on March 12, 2021 by bseat

First they lost the baby and then Ma, and then they lost Ba. Now it is just the two siblings, Lucy and Sam. Still children themselves, they leave the miners camp and try to find a place to bury their father’s body in a way that will honor the traditions of their family, for they are immigrants in this wild new land. The West is a hard and dangerous place, and they find evidence of that everywhere they turn, in the bones of the buffalo, in the paw print of a tiger and in the flat beds of lakes where now only salt remains. 

For Lucy and Sam, however it is not just the outer landscape that threatens, it is also the inner landscape; the story of how they came to be orphaned and the meaning of home to children who know nothing of the country from which their parents came and are not allowed to claim a home in the country in which they were born. For Lucy and Sam these memories are just as threatening as the weather, or losing the trail, as they struggle to find a place to claim for a burial. When they finally bury their father’s remains, Lucy and Sam realize they no longer share enough to keep them together and go their separate ways. Yet, the ties that bind them are stronger than what draws them apart.

Zhang’s infuses her story with a rich mix of Chinese symbolism and Western tall tales. It is both an intimate story of the struggle to belong and an epic tale about a journey to find a home. Zhang’s language is both beautiful and haunting as she explores the secrets that keep families together and drive them apart.  With this book, her first, being recognized as a notable book by both the Washington Post and the New York Times and a best book by NPR for 2020,  Zhang will be an author to watch in the future!

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Ken, Keith and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format. 

Posted in Adventure, Books to Read During a Pandemic, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 50)

Posted on March 5, 2021 by bseat

It is 1601, and Queen Elizabeth is dying. Childless, she has yet to designate an heir and King James VI of Scotland is the leading contender. However, there are suspicions that he is secretly a Catholic and might cause another round of religious wars. So the Queen’s spymasters decide that they must discern the true nature of King Jame’s soul in order to be certain that he will support and defend a Protestant England. 

Geoffrey Belloc, a veteran spy and warrior who went undercover amongst Catholics during the previous religious wars is tasked with coming up with a plan for finding out what James truly believes.  Belloc decides that the best man for the job is a physician from the Ottoman Empire, who was left behind from a diplomatic mission from the Ottoman Empire. As a last gesture of goodwill from the Sultan, Mahmoud Ezzedine was offered to Queen Elizabeth as a gift. Unable refuse the gift, the Queen offered Ezzedine a place at court as long s he converted and took a Christian name- Matthew Thatcher, as Muslims were not allowed at Court. There he might have remained but when one of the Queen’s least favorite barons suffered a seizure in the Queen’s presence, he was cared for by Thatcher, and Elizabeth seizing an opportunity gave Thatcher to her baron so he could continue the baron’s care when he was ordered to return to Cumberland to recuperate. 

Isolated and alone, missing his family and the warmth of his native land, Thatcher is bemused when he is approached by Belloc to become a spy in King James court. An unlikely spy, he does not really understand the differences or nuances between Catholicism or Protestantism, much less the ways that these differences might appear even if he heard or saw them. but he is motivated by Belloc’s promise to return him to his family if he will only do this one last thing.

What is the nature of faith? How can you tell what a person believes? These are the questions at the heart of this book. Phillips creates an unlikely protagonist in Ezzedine/Thatcher, a man unmoored from all he knows, loves and believes, yet he is the one who must judge and determine the faith and belief of another. Phillips is artful in his use of words as he develops his characters. Driven by character rather than plot, this book is a meditation on the what it means to have faith, and how faith reveals itself by our actions and in our conversation. Complicated and with an inevitable but disappointing ending, this was a fascinating novel of intrigue and faith.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Ken and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.

 

 

 

Posted in Books to Read During a Pandemic, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Spiritual, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 49)

Posted on February 26, 2021 by bseat

This was a hard book to read. It is one woman’s account of sexual assault and rape at an elite boarding school in New England. In it Crawford tries to answer the question, Why Now? which seems to be asked so often of women who come forward to reveal traumatic events that happened to them in the past. It is also an account of how the school systematically denied, covered up and repeatedly silenced her and her family and numerous others who were also assaulted, abused or raped, in order preserve the school’s reputation. Accounts like these should no longer be surprising since we they in the news over and over again, especially after the #MeToo movement, but I still found this account shocking and horrifying.

Lacy Crawford was lucky to get into St, Paul’s School. Her parents had pulled a few strings and she was admitted, even though her family were not from the elite or wealthy demographic from which the school mostly drew. It was a boarding school for the East Coast elite, the children of lawyers, politicians and the wealthy, so Lacy, who was from Chicago, was already a bit out of her element. But she managed to find a few other girls to hang out with, played sports and slowly settled in.

It is important to understand that it was the differential in status, and her relative naïveté which the young men who assaulted and raped her were counting on. It is also noteworthy that both young men had girlfreinds at the time they assaulted and raped Lacy, which gave them cover and swore her to secrecy, letting her know that no one would believe her over them. Yet through the school grapevine they let it be known that Lacy was a willing participant in the assault that occurred, damaging her reputation and alienating her from her friends and classmates.

Decades after her assault, the DA’s office handling an investigation into allegations of assault and sexual harassment at the school contacted Crawford to see if she would cooperate in its investigation. She agreed and in the the course of the investigation, she uncovers not only corroborative evidence of her assault and rape, but also facts showing that the school had known at the time that she had been assaulted and covered it up while hiding vital information from her and her parents.

Notes on a Silencing is a searing indictment of the school and those in authority who did nothing to protect her and chose instead to preserve their reputation above all else, even if it meant destroying a child. It is also a remarkable inquiry into the ways that gender, privilege and power are used to protect the guilty, while shame, guilt and threat of exposure are used to control and silence victims of sexual assault.

Crawford’s memoir is only one incident and yet we know there are many, many more. As I was reading this book I was reminded of the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. The allegations shared by Christine Blassey Ford are eerily similar to those enumerated in this book and the ways that Ford, was harrassed, shamed, and slandered even during those hearings was just another example of the many attempts to silence victims.

This is a hard book to read, but I think it may need to become mandatory reading if we truly want to begin to heal the past and change our culture to one that protects the vulnerable from those who prey on them.

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Everyone

Book Study worthy? YES!

Read in ebook format.

Posted in Books to Read During a Pandemic, memoir, Non Fiction | Tagged | Leave a comment