2014 in Review

I take pleasure in looking over what I have read at the end of the year and seeing what kind of reading year it has been. I have to say it has been a good one, once again. I continued to read mostly historical fiction, thrillers/mysteries, contemporary fiction, some young adult, some non-fiction, and much to my own chagrin, Nora Roberts.

Some of the best books of the year have been from favorite authors - Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings about the first women abolitionists, Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party about Renoir's painting, which I got to see weeks after finishing the book, and Elizabeth Gilbert's Signature of all Things about early botanists, especially a woman botonist. Jim Fergus had a great book about white women sent off to marry Cherokee men in One Thousand White Women. The funniest book I read was The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Diappeared by Swede Jonas Jonasson. I started handing that book out as soon as I had finished it. I also really liked autobiographical American Gypsy by Oksana Marafioti, a gypsy born in Latvia that I met at a conference.

I found a new author and series to like - Robert Galbraith's Cormarant Strike books Cuckoo's Calling and Silkworm. I read one more book from Baldacci, Flynn and Silva. I also finished off Deborah Harkness' trilogy with Book of Life, and though I don't usually like vampire stories, this one in combination with a smart witch who uses libraries a lot, had me hooked. I read all of the Inn Boonesboro trilogy from Nora Roberts, as well as some of her old stuff.

I seemed to go retro this year - partially because as I clean out parts of my house I am finding old books I liked, partially going back to reread books or picking up ones I meant to read. This ranged from erotica from Anias Nin and D.H. Lawrence (very mild) to various science fiction, especially enjoying Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land over a long drive to Texas.

I read some powerful non-fiction too, such as On Killing by Dave Grossman and Grace and Grit by Lilly Ledbetter, who's fight for equal pay resulted in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.

I am surrounded by books I "should read," but there is only so much time, and I feel I actually get through quite a bit with the help of audio books. I read and listen to books for my pleasure, and to learn about some part of the world, some historical period, some group of people, or even just to think about alternative possibilities in a good story. Thank you dear writers for teaching and entertaining me.

Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (2013)

Don't believe I didn't write this one up. This is the first Cormorant Strike mystery. He has recently broken up with his gorgeous girlfriend and his private investigator's business isn't doing very well. A temp agency sends him Robin to help out in the office. She has always dreamed of being an investigator herself, and for some reason she gets along with gruff, straight shooting, one-legged war hero Strike. A friend from childhood asks him to investigate his sister's death. Lula Landry is a well known supermodel and hear death has been ruled a suicide, but the brother doesn't believe it, as she had a lot to live for. Strike goes about investigating with intelligence and intuition, fighting his own demons in the process - and ending up leaning on Robin for help. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans (2014)

Continuing my streak of Christmas novels, this one intrigued me. A man walks up to a woman in a food court and asks if she could pretend to be his girlfriend for the couple of months before Christmas, so he would not have to attend holiday parties alone. She had seen him in the building, but had never talked to him, but she too is lonely and takes him up on it. The deal is he pays for meals, transportation and sends her a gift every weekday. She just has to be nice to him and maybe hold hands every once in a while in public to uphold the image. Of course they get to know each other, fall in love, etc., but quite a few other issues get resolved through the process. May be worth trying something else from this author.

Going Home by Nora Roberts (2005)

Not the best of Nora Roberts, but it has three short novels from the 80's and 90's. Read over a longer time, so don't remember details. But as I write these up, I realize all of them do tackle the mother (or father) - daughter relationship. Many of the other romances get written in a vacuum, where parents and even friends aren't part of the story, but in all three below, the relationship with the parent is important. The romantic relationships can't really happen until the parental one is resolved, as it has often left a lot or mistrust or other negative feelings.

Unfinished Business (1992)
This one was about Vanessa, a classical pianist, whose father dragged her around the world performing, away from her mother and any other life. After her father dies, she returns to her hometown, starts rebuilding her relationship to her mother and an old flame - Brady, now a local doctor.

Island of Flowers (1982)
Laine spends her last dollars to go to Hawaii to find her father, who left her and her mother when she was little. Now that her mother has died, she found an address and headed out. Turns out he is a wonderful man and has a good looking younger partner Dillon in running a small airport.

Mind Over Matter (1987)
This one was about David Brady, a documentary producer working on a program about paranormal occurances. He finds a special woman Clarissa that he wants to interview, but has to go through her agent A.J. Turns out Clarissa is A.J.'s mother, and though they love each other, A.J. doesn't want to accept that she may have some of the same powers as her mother.

Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (2014)

I really like Cormoron Strike and his secretary/helper Robin, so I thought I would try one more of these books and was not disappointed. The murder is utterly bizzare and gross - I could have used less details on that, but it fit into the strange character - a writer himself - that was murdered, and seemingly described his own death in his last manuscript. Strike systematically goes around meeting the people that were a part of the writer's life, and it seems that most of them would have some reason for offing him, as he was an unpleasant man. With the help of Robin, Strike again solves the case, but it is more than just a private investigator finding the real murderer. All the characters are richly drawn, including Strike himself - with his constantly sore leg stub, where he lost a leg in the Gulf War, and his gruff manner, which somehow still elicits loyalty from Robin, though she too is struggling with a fiance who does not understand her and her enjoyment of detective work. There are some misunderstandings between her and Strike too, and I keep hoping the two of them end up together, but we need that tension to keep going for a while, ala Castle and Beckett or Bones and Booth. Looking forward to the next one.

Important Contemporary Artists of Latvia by Mark Svede (2012)

My friend and art historian Mark sent me his latest work for Christmas. I don't know if I am allowed to call him the author, but all of the text except for the forward were written by him, so I will.  There are six pages of those responsible for the idea, the honorary committee, contributors, art selection committee, organizations that helped, and finally the 9 artists, and the normal attributions. The foreword by New York art critic Eleanor Heartney helps put Mark's essay in context of the never-ending cycle of death and resurrection of painting in the last 40 years in the art world. (Not sure why I didn't publish this months ago.)

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (2013)

This is an intense book telling many stories. I had not read anything about this book before I started, just chose it based on the fact that I like the author - Elizabeth Gilbert.

First of all, it is a history of the study of botany book. It starts with Kew gardens in England, reminding me of a Philippa Gregory's Earthly Joys. Henry Whittaker is the son of a gardner, who gets caught stealing rare plants and selling them to others, so instead of being hung, he gets sent around the world to collect specimens for Kew. He ends up starting his own business and settles in Philadelphia. He takes a Dutch wife and they have one daughter - Alma.

Some scribbled notes - the book takes us to Tahiti to collect specimens, where the Tahitians think that plants grow in shapes to help humans. They also mentioned that Eurpeans brought illnesses that decimated the population from 200,000 to 8,000. Wikipedia explains that the first number was an overestimation, but that the population did drop to 16,000 and even to a low point of 6,000.

One more unfinished review. It is the books I really loved and wanted to do them justice that I sometimes don't get around to finishing. This was from early in the year, so I don't remember details, just that I learned a lot about how early botanists worked and the main character, I believe, was a woman botanist, though I could find no historical character that she was based on.

Dance to the Piper by Nora Roberts (1988)

As soon as I heard the beginning, I was afraid it was one of the many Nora Roberts' books I had read, but then I realized it was just the story one of the other Hurley sisters, and I had read at least one of the others. Maddy, the youngest of the O'Hurley Triplets, is a dancer on Broadway. She meets Reed Valentine, the investor in the show and of course they have quite a bit to work through, but you know how it ends...

Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (2014)

Third in the All Souls Trilogy full of current day witches, vampires and demons, and I loved it again, could read more. The conflict comes to a head and of course our lovely couple - historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire Matthew Clairmont prevail. I am sorry I didn't have time to write this up when I finished reading it, but it is now the end of the year, and I just want to make sure I have it recorded. I do remember a very accurate description of the birthing process - a major event often glossed over in books. I am glad Harkness did it justice.  I also remember looking up the distance between the Bodleian Library in Oxford and London (about 60 miles) and the book seem to refer to it being in London. Ahh, small detail. I love that libraries and books play a major role in this story.

Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Numaweera (2012)

Learned about another corner of the world - Sri Lanka. I am sorry to say that though I believe I was aware of strife on this large island off the southeast coast of India at one point, if someone had asked me about Sri Lanka before I read this book, I couldn't have said anything about it. This covers the civil war between the Sinhalese and Tamils 1983-2009. The narrator tells of her family's life before the war, the hardships and terror during the war that made it impossible for her family to stay and ending up in the U.S. with all the difficulties of immigrant life. Other people's lives are shown in the book, including one woman who is forced to join the Tamil Tigers and is trained to be a suicide bomber.Wonderfully written.

Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah (2005)

A Christmas miracle novel. The novels I have read by Hannah so far have taken someone with a major life crisis and works them through to a level of healing. Here Joy is still reeling from a divorce and spontaneously gets on a plane to just get away for a while during the holidays, but the small plane crashes. She walks away from the wreck and walks into the life of 10 year old Bobby, who is suffering from the loss of his mother. His divorced father Daniel has returned to take care of him and get the bed and breakfast ready to sell, but they do not get along. Joy helps to heal the relationship, falling in love with both boy and father. But things are never what they seem to be...

Starry Night by Debbie Macomber (2013)

I was told this was "light" and so it was. Carrie works for a newspaper in Chicago, but dislikes her assignment as society reporter. She is given the opportunity to work on something more substantial, if she can get a an interview with the reclusive writer Finn Dalton from Alaska. She ends up finding him and spending a couple of days with him in his cabin, and of course they don't get along, but when they go outside to see the stars and northern lights, they fall in love. Of course it takes them the rest of the book to work it through. I liked the life in the cabin, the beauty of its nature, the need for family, especially around holidays, the difficulty of compromise in relationships, but I am not sure I will bother with any more of Macomber books. 

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (2004)

Subtitle: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror. I was looking for something light, and Moore has amused me before, though I don't think I can read his stuff too often. This is set in Pine Cove - a fictional California coastal town not far from Big Sur. It is town full of odd characters, some off their rocker more than others. Then we get a character I remember from his previous books - Tuck. There is a theme of not wanting to be alone at Christmas and I liked their lonely hearts Christmas party. There was a variation on the story where the woman cuts her hair to purchase a chain for her husband's watch and he sells his watch to buy her a hair comb. In this one she goes off her psychmeds so she can afford an expensive artsy bong for him, though he has gone off weed. He grows some weed again to buy her an expensive historical sword. Then there are the dead that hear what is going on and especially the hanky panky that goes on in graveyards. I used to sunbathe in graveyards in college and kept wondering what the dead thought about it, so Moore takes this a step further. It looks like there will be a movie of this book which I would enjoy watching.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1961)

Listened to this with a techie friend on a road trip. I read it a long time ago, but it seemed like it would be fun to reread it, since it gets listed in not only top science fiction book lists, but top book lists in general. I wonder when I read it, but I get a sense that Heinlein influenced some of my own attitudes about things. 

Valentine Michael Smith was raised by Martians and is brought to earth to be studied. Since he is unused to the earth's gravity, he is hospitalized, where nurse Gillian Boardman rescues him from basically imprisonment. He is a quick learner, but one of the hardest things for him to understand is the earth's religions. He has learned a lot of powerful mind and body skills from the Martian's which he starts teaching Gill and the group of friends that surround them. Jubal Hershaw has gathered beautiful and intelligent women around him, where they live in relative isolation, and Michael and Gill find a refuge. It is complicated, but I really enjoyed this story, that is still so relevant today, even if a few details are outdated. I could not get mad at Heinlein for having Jubal call the women his "girls", as that was the speech of the times and all his women are strong characters. I like the individualism and community, though no longer would want to live that closely with a group of people, as I once may have dreamed to do. 

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian (2014)

I think I picked up this book, because it said it was set partially in Burlington, VT, where I have good friends. I will have to ask them about some of the details here. I did look at a map of VT and found Lake Memphremagog on the border with Canada, and found that there is not a nuclear power plant there. The author is a journalist from Burlington who has over the years met a lot of "troubled teens" and finds that some manage to struggle through difficult circumstances, while others just get lost. The interview with him and his daughter, who narrates the book, helped put this work in perspective for me. He had turned to his daughter to get the slang right, and in turn she admired her dad for being able to get into the mind of a teen girl.

At one point Emily goes back to her highly contaminated home, she misses her dog, her family, her things. This reminded me of a novel I read by a Ukrainian-American about an elderly woman, who goes back to live out her life in Chernobyl - she did not care how sick she got, she wanted to spend the rest of it at home.

The title comes from the school shootings in CT, when the other children were told to close their eyes and hold hands, as they were led out of the school, so they would not see the bodies of their schoolmates. I am not quite sure how this applies to this book, except that the book gives you a very real sense of the homeless and runaway teen world and the author is leading you through this, though maybe not with totally closed eyes. You know this is a fictional story, but you know this is happening to thousands of people across the country.

Maybe I will have time to add more to this review, but it will have to do for now.

The Virgin and the Gipsy by D.H. Lawrence (1930)

I found a box of books I had labeled "Classics" which contained books I had read from middle school, through high school and college, maybe a bit after that. I was amazed at what I found there, and maybe that deserves a post in and of itself, I decided to keep some, reread a few of the books. I remember hearing about D.H. Lawrence, so of course I read Lady Chatterly's Lover, but I had also picked up this book. Since I just recently finished the American Gypsy and want to delve a bit more into the world of gypsies, I decide to reread this short book that was published posthumously. The cover is from the yellowed paperback copy I own. 

I am amazed that I used to read these types of books that I now consider moving very slowly. It is about a young woman Yvette in the 1920's England, who comes home to the rectory from her schooling with her sister. Her mother left the family years ago and her father, aunt and grandmother try to do everything to make sure the girls don't turn out like their mother. Yvette is bored, goes out with friends, sews dresses, befriends an unmarried couple, and is fascinated by a gypsy man she sees in the gypsy encampment outside her town. He notices her too. The story seems to move excruciatingly slowly and then ends with a roller-coaster ride, so worth it in the end. I need to remember that it was a book ahead of its time - "The last and most provocative novel from the genius of D.H. Lawrence" as is written on the book cover.

As often is the case when I read books, it is the side things that fascinate me. Again, I don't get the inactivity of Yvette and women of her class. She seems to be waiting around to get married - as the only option for a future, and the pickings are slim. She hates her life, the food, living with granny, a sour aunt, and a disillusioned father. Her sister at least has a job, that gets her our of the house, provides her with her own pocket money. If she hates the food, how about learning to cook and make it tastier? Find a hobby, a charity, anything. I keep thinking there is so much to do out in the world, I keep wishing I could clone myself to do all the things I would like to do.

Then there were the gypsies, which is one of the main reasons I picked up the book. I am sure this depicts the way gypsies lived in England and in many other places in Europe, including Latvia. They would travel in a caravan, find a place to settle down for the winter, make and sell things, read people's fortunes. They looked and dressed exotically, had a certain pride and fierce independence, but knew to be deferent when needed. I am sure some could have the sensuality that Yvette noticed. I still need to read more about them.

American Gypsy by Oksana Marafioti (2012)

I was probably supposed to read this book before I introduced Okasana Marafioti as a speaker on a panel I was moderating at the American Library Association, but I didn't. After meeting Oksana, I was fascinated by her story and bought the book, even dipped into it, but it somehow got lost in my piles of other things I had to do that month. Now I finished it and am so glad.

During her talk to us librarians, I realized I knew so little about the Romani or Gypsies. Latvians have plenty of tales of them, and I too had mostly a stereotypical view of them, knew nothing of their history, just knew they were throughout Europe, were prosecuted by the Nazi's, were settled around Sabile in Latvia. Oksana gave us a quick history and because they were accepted in very few places, they became traveling entertainers, with little time to write down their histories, their stories. Now, people like Oksana are writing about the Romani experience.

The other reason I felt connected with Oksana, was that she was born in Riga, Latvia, though her family mostly lived outside Moscow, while she was growing up. Her grandfather ran a traveling troupe of performers who sang and danced. Oksana learned to play the piano, performed and traveled with them, but when she went to school, she found that being a Gypsy made her unpopular. Then about a year before the Soviet Union fell apart, her immediate family - father, mother, sister and herself got a visa to America. They landed in Los Angeles where they thought it would be easy to earn good money like they had in the Soviet Union, but found it was much harder.

I am assuming that most of this is her personal story, though I also know Oksana spent some time at the Library of Congress researching the Gypsies of the Soviet Union for her book, so she probably didn't get all the stories from her relatives. I felt her immigrant experience deeply, as I come from immigrants who dodn't quite fit in, have their own culture, community, family expectations. Plus it is a growing up story, issues with parents, boyfriends, finding oneself - on the one hand universal, on the other hand unique. I am afraid I have missed my chance to get to know this woman personally, but maybe I will have another chance to meet her, even if she lives in Las Vegas, a city I hadn't planned to visit again.

If I Pay Thee Not in Gold by Piers Anthony & Mercedes Lackey (1993)

Cleaning out boxes in the garage and found a box of science fiction/fantasy. (Plenty more in the basement.) Thought I would pull out a few for some quick reads. This is a collaboration between two authors I really liked back when I was reading lots of these genre books. Turns out that it was Piers Anthony's idea, but he didn't have time to write it himself, so his publisher talked Mercedes Lackey into writing it, though he was the copy editor and added some writing. The idea came from Arabian nights, where a woman is indebted to a man and he offers other options for paying the debt, thus part of the storyline and the title.

This is one of those alternate magical worlds, where women rule, because they have the power of conjuring things (though they last only a day), and men are their slaves, though there is a separate quarter of freedmen. A girl becomes a full fledged citizen when she passes her woman-trial and defeats a man in combat in the arena. Xylina has put off this moment as she has struggled for survival under a curse, since her mother died in an earthquake. She ends up defeating Faro with cleverness and some powerful conjuring, but keeps him alive, so he is now her slave. Turns out he is an educated scribe, who also happens to be large and good at combat. They form a team of sorts as her trials are far from over as she has a powerful enemy that wants to destroy her, though there are others that would help her.

I know that these science fiction/fantasy books, especially when written by women, often looked at alternative social structures, and this one with women treating their men as slaves seemed like an over the top role reversal, though as I think about it, very close to many historical periods where women were basically slaves to men. I was getting disgusted with the constant mishaps encountered by Xylina, but then a new character appeared and she was sent on a seemingly impossible quest through three totally different worlds beyond the borders of her own, where she grows in maturity, magical power and finds love. I could quibble about some aspects of the book, but basically a fun read and obviously read long enough ago, that I did not remember it - or it could be a book I never got around to reading too.

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead (2014)

I think the Russian defector angle caused me to pick up this audio book. I don't really get ballet - the amount of training and constant practice seems insane to me, and this book did not change my mind on that, but did give me an even closer look into the development of top ballet dancers and their world. I remember my mother being thrilled by Rudolf Nureyev and later Baryshnikov. When I look at the Wikipedia bio of Baryshnikov, it seems like the male Russian ballet dancer in Astonish Me is based on him to some extent - defecting in Canada in the early 1970's with the help of an American dancer. And the ballet company's director Mr. K. might be partially based on George Balanchine - also of a Russian background.

In Astonish Me, Joan is a ballet dancer - good enough to dance in the corps of a major New York City ballet, but not good enough to ever become a lead dancer. She spends a season in Paris, where she briefly meets the famous Russian dancere Arsalan Ruskov and leaves him her address. He writes her and when the opportunity arises to defect in Canada, he asks that she be the one to drive the getaway car. They are together for a while, but he is already famous and his attention is pulled away from her, if it ever was with her. She marries a guy that she has known since they were children, they have a son Harry, move out to California, and she eventually starts a dance studio, where her prize students end up being her son and neighbor Chloe.

I guess it is the way of modern novels that they keep bouncing back and forth in time, luckily providing date and place each time, so the story gets moved along at different levels and slowly scatters the clues to the complex set of relationships we find at the end. All in all, well told, drew me in, astonished me at times, reminded me of times Mom took me to the Nutcracker at Rockefeller Center, to Swan Lake most likely at Lincoln Center, I think we actually did see Nureyev live when I was a kid. It is a highly precise skill, and I guess if football players can keep getting injured for our entertainment, why not ballet dancers. I like dance, like watching dance, but prefer more free form, styles that are not as rigid as ballet, but maybe if I understood it more, I would appreciate it more. I know this is supposed to be about the book, but as with many of my comments on books, I go where the book takes me, often reflecting on my own life.

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland (2007)

I have read Susan Vreeland before and like her well researched historical novels about art. This one was about Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting Luncheon of the Boating Party. The exciting thing was that I got to see the actual painting a couple of weeks after finishing this book.

I remember being fascinated by Impressionists back in high school, as I wandered the Museum of Modern Art in New York City with my friends. I especially loved VanGogh and sitting in front of Monet's huge Waterlilies. This was a fascinating look into the beginning of the impressionist movement and the artistic community of Paris of 1880. Renoir gets this idea for the painting as a result of a criticism of impressionists by Zola.

I have read of the lively world of artists and writers in Paris in the early 20th century, and am glad to see that this same energy was there 150 years earlier. Renoir has a passion for art, for beautiful women (he has to be in love with each female subject), never has enough money, but has supporters and friends. He turns to many of these to gather the 12 people he wants in this painting of a luncheon by the river, getting ready to go boating. Apparently there were specific clothing styles worn for boating. He gathers people of various classes, so a couple of guys are just in their undershirts, while others have on suits with hats. For a while he had 13 models, an unlucky number, and then squeezed in a 14th, the only one unidentified by art historians. Since Renoir insisted on painting only from actual models, he had to get these people to commit to come every Sunday for a couple of months. The story of getting the models, their complex lives, their interactions, were engaging. One of his former lovers could only come once, but he managed to finish her portrait in that time. The lady that was supposed to be most prominent was a woman of means, but could not follow his directions, so Renoir went looking for another model and ran into Aline, a cheerful young woman with a dog, that ended up in the painting too, and who he ended up marrying. My favorite was Alphonsine, the daughter of the restaurant owner. She was widowed and fell in love with Renoir and helped him complete this painting in practical ways and supporting him morally. Some of the story is told from her point of view. Renoir liked her, but did not fall in love as with some of the other women. It was also fascinating to listen to how he painted, dabbing colors here and there across the whole painting, and getting totally engrossed.

Since this was another book I listened to, I wish I had checked out the actual book earlier, as it had the kinds of things I crave - a color image of the painting (I did get it online and had it in the car as I listened), images of a couple of the other paintings mentioned, a map of Paris with the places mentioned marked off, including La Maison Fournaise, the restaurant at which he painted this work and which was west of Paris, reachable by train or boat along the Seine. There was also a sketch of La Maison Fournaise, which helps visualize the friends gathered to eat up on the balcony.

In the Author's Note at the end, Vreeland explains how she did her research and lists where she modified the facts a bit to serve her story. She also told the story of the painting itself - who owned it, sold it, bought it. In 1923 it was sold to Duncan Phillips for his Phillips Gallery in Washington, DC. I was just in Washington, and when I could not get into my hotel room, a friend suggested lunch around the corner in the Phillips Gallery. I had forgotten that is where the painting is located, but as I walked up to the building, there was a huge reproduction of part of the Luncheon on a pillar by the door. I was thrilled. To be able to actually see the real painting after reading how it was created was amazing. It was the most alive painting I have see in a long time. I will have to go back again sometime, plus I really should look at more Renoir paintings - he was amazing.

Locomotive by Brian Floca (2013)

Locomotive is about the importance of the railroad in the development of America - how crews from both coasts built the railroad to meet in the middle and how the steam engine powered the trains that rode cross-country on the rails. My friend in Montana lives close to a rail line, so I got a bit of sense what it entails to get a train across a mountain. The story-line is about a mother and two children taking the train from Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA to meet up with their husband/father.

This is the 2014 Caldecott winner. Now this one I can understand. Lots of good information, detailed illustrations, story-line woven in between facts, map, cross section of elevation, diagram of a steam engine and more. 

Going North by Janice Harrington (2004)

I heard about this author on NPR, ordered one of her poetry books and checked out a couple of her kid books in our library. Beautifully illustrated, this tells of a black family's journey from Alabama to Nebraska- leaving behind family and loved ones, leaving the cotton fields behind, to get to a place with more opportunity. The part I never realized about segregation, that it included places like gas stations. I travel a lot and know the feeling of anxiety, when you are getting low on gas, but to have to look for a black gas station... They considered themselves pioneers, coming to the north. I know it came out in one of the WWII historical novels, this migration to the north. Could use more reading on it.

Time and Again by Nora Roberts (2001)

Knew I had read this just a few pages in, and I had even checked my list, but must have read this before I started the blog, so I kept going. These are science fiction romances, where two brothers from another time and planet come to earth and find their soul mates in two sisters from today's world.

Time Was (1989)
Pilot Caleb Hornblower crashes on earth coming out of the 23rd century after skimming a black hole. He lands in rural Oregon, where he is found by Liberty Stone, an anthropologist raised by hippies who has moved to the old family homestead to get some writing done. They dance around each other for a while, she has never committed to anyone, he has never wanted to - plus he tries to keep it a secret that he is from another time for a while. The main disbelief I had about the story-line was that his language would still be similar enough that she wouldn't be immediately suspicious. And when he stays, I was wondering how he would establish an ID, without a birth certificate, SSN card, driver's licence and all that stuff that says who we are.

Times Change (1990)
Jacob Hornblower comes looking for his brother to take him home, after the brother sends the ship back with a message of what happened. Jacob has to figure out time travel first, but he manages. Once he arrives, he meets Liberty's wilder sister Sunny, who has not figured out what she wants to do with her life, though she is good at everything she tries. Of course they find each other. Another thing I liked in the story is that Liberty's and Sunny's parents supposedly become rich and famous into the future - one an artist, another a seller of teas. Maybe this was written when Celestial Seasonings became a big deal.

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen (2012)

Another Caldecott Medal winner. Another cutie, with a little fish stealing a hat from a big fish and he may get away with it. This one had some words for beginners. Lovely illustrations, amazing what expressions one can get from simple fish eyes and a few bubbles. Not sure how the artist got all the effects, but fun to look at.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (2011)

I try to look at all the Caldecott and Newberry winners every so often - I was three behind on the Caldecott's. This also got a New York Times best illustrated children's book award. OK, it is cute, telling a story without a word, mostly from the dog's perspective - almost all the images are from a dog's level, only the last few show the humans involved. Daisy loves her ball, plays with it, sleeps with it, and goes out to the park with it, where another dog bites and deflates it. I guess a young child could tell the story as they flipped through the pages, but I expected some words in an award winning book. Though come to think of it, there have been some other powerful books without words. Peter Spier comes to mind. I will have to go upstairs and see how many other winners are wordless. Towards the end I started focusing on the watercolors. I tried my hand at playing with watercolors one day this summer, and remembered how fascinating and, to me, uncontrollable they are.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina (2013)

One more freebie from ALA, this time in audio. This is an award winning young adult book about bullying, a bright Latina trying to make it at a new school. Piddy Sanchez and her Cuban mother move to a new apartment, which means moving to a new school, where she is told someone she doesn't even know wants to "kick her ass." We see Piddy start struggling in school under this pressure and her hard working mother, who wants her daughter to succeed and have a better life, but can't understand what is going on. I really like mom's best friend Lila, in whom Piddy can confide, who gets her a part time job at her hair salon, takes her shopping and teaches her to dance. The close knit Latino community helps Piddy work things out. There was also an interesting boy that she grew up with in her old apartment. They had asked each other which was worse, growing up without a father or one that was a drunk. Powerful teen book, deserving of the award.

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich (2014)

Thought it was time for another Stephanie Plum novel, just for light listening. At first I was groaning - not again, with the bumbling Stephanie still stringing along her two hunks - Morelli and Ranger, and her obnoxious side-kick Lula, with another obnoxious character thrown in - Briggs - a midget size guy who is looking for a place to stay, as someone is out to kill him, but he is connected to one of the people Stephanie needs.As all the Amazon reviews point out, it was repetitious, but the ridiculous story picked up and I found myself smiling quite often at the funny situations. Too bad the charcaters are not evolving, but Evanovich may be good for a laugh no more than once a year.

The Giver by Lois Lowery (1993)

Since I just saw Lois Lowery discuss her award winning book at the American Library Association conference, and a movie is coming out on the book, I thought it was time to reread it. It is as good as I remember it and even though I clearly remembered how it ends, I enjoyed watching Jonas becoming more aware how his very regulated and seemingly perfect life was not so perfect. At the beginning of the book he is waiting for his 12th birthday, when he will find out what job he will be assigned to. He gets assigned to train as the next receiver - the keeper of the community's memories.

The session with Lowery and Jeff Bridges, who plays in the movie, explained some things. Lowery grew up in a military family, where they moved a lot and the military was their community. At one point they lived in Japan, where they lived in an American compound that was a gated community. She used to ride her bike out the gate. More similarities with The Giver.

I know there is a sequel that I read when my kid was small, I will have to find it and read it. And see the movie.

Unstuff Your Life! by Andrew Mellen (2010)

OK, I really need to get rid of stuff in my life and Mellen had a lot of good suggestions. I don't think I buy too many unnecessary items (I waste money in other ways); it is very rare I can't find my keys - I do have a place for them; and a few other things that didn't quite fit my situation, but I am drowning in papers and books, and I need some guidance in organizing them all, and getting rid of most of them. Listening to this in the car was not the ideal way to work through the exercises and pieces Mellen suggests, so I just decided to listen all the way though and get the print book with all the lists, questions one has to ask about items, etc. He starts with keys, wallet, purse and mail, then moves on to the kitchen, office, clothes, then auxiliary spaces like basements and attics. He addresses the car, sentimenal objects, photos, email and computers, holidays and more. I am not sure how I am going to deal with it, as it is a long process, but I already find myself thinking a bit differently about certain things.

The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts (2012)

Had to finish up the Inn Boonesboro trilogy. Of course the last Montgomery brother Ryder falls for the classy innkeeper the family has hired - Hope. We still have the other two brothers and their brides/fiances Clare and Avery in the mix. This time they are finishing up with the new restaurant and fitness center in this book. Hope has to deal with some people from her past. They are  also working on the mystery of the ghost Lizzy at the inn and the identity of her true love. There is a lot of family, lots of loving couples of all ages and we still continue to get some of the great energy from Clare and Beckett's three boys. It is all about making choices to be part of a community, an extended family. Why do I keep reading things about these fanciful loves? Something I have missed out in life? Something I have chosen to not to strive for? I have chosen a certain type of community instead for myself.

Grace and Grit by Lilly Ledbetter (2012)

Found one I had not recorded. Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond by Lilly Ledbetter with Lanier Scott Isom was this year's book to be read and discussed by the Gender and Women's Studies department. Again, a very good choice, that opened my eyes to how hard many individuals have had to fight for equal rights, and that the fight is still not over. Lilly Ledbetter was one of the first women hired in as manager in Goodyear and many years later found out that she was being paid much less than her male counterparts. She filed a sex-descrimination suit which she initially won, but then had to take it all the say to the Supreme Court for the final ruling, which was against her. She continued to fight until Obama signed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act as his first official legislation.

Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (2014)

Another amazing book by Alice Hoffman. I couldn't place her until I realized that she had written The Dovekeepers, a very heavy book from Jewish history. This too was about Jewish history, but a bit more recent and on this continent. 

This is an interesting glimpse into early 20th century New York City - Manhattan and Coney Island. I knew Coney Island more as a place my parents use to go in the 50's. I think I took a train out there once with a friend, or maybe it was Rockaway Park, a bit further east. I knew there was an amusement park there, but never knew the history. In 1911, the Museum of Extraordinary Things was a small private museum providing entertainment next to Dreamland - the huge growing amusement park. The extraordinary things are anomalies of nature - animals with two heads or different coloring, skeletons, bodies of malformities in glass jars,  etc. And there are extraordinary humans - man with hair all over his body, a girl without arms, etc. I know I have read about these unfortunate people being able to make a living only by showing off their extraordinary features, but I hope that most can live more normal lives today, with the help of modern medicine and changing attitudes. At county fairs you can still see huge animals or maybe even some deformed animals, but I hope that humans are no longer showed off in that way. 

Coralee lives in this house/museum with her father, who is training her to use her anomaly of webbed fingers to pretend to be a mermaid of sorts. She is a good swimmer and learns to tolerate cold water. [Sorry I never finished the description, but I would rather have this up as is.]

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (2014)

Sue Monk Kidd is one of the authors who I try to read, whenever I see a new book by her, and she did not disappoint - another amazing book. I did not realize until I was at least half way through, that this was based on real historical figures - Sarah Grimke and her sister Angelina, the first women to speak on behalf of abolitionists. I have to admit I had never heard of them, or if I had seen them mentioned, their names did not stick in my mind. Now they have become part of my quilt of understanding the history of the U.S., blacks and women.

Kidd stitches together another rich tale of whites and blacks (remember she is the author of The Secret Life of Bees) and covers the time of the early 1800's to mid 1830's - a half century before the Civil War. The story begins in Charleston, SC, where the Grimke's are an upper class slave owning family. It later moves up north, mostly to Philadelphia.

Sarah Grimke is given a slave girl for her 11th birthday - Hetty or Handful, as she is know in her family. Sarah tries to refuse the gift, as even at that early age she abhors slavery, but is not allowed to refuse her, so she and Handful become friends of sorts and Sarah teaches her to read, for which they both get punished. Angelina is born when Sarah is 12. Sarah asks to be the godmother, which turns into raising Angelina, so she is able to impart her anti-slavery ideas to her younger sister.

Kidd explains at the end that most of the white characters are historical, and she has moslty tried to be true to the facts know about them, but the slaves were created from slave stories she read. There was a Hetty, but she died young. Both worlds are richly described - from the way each class spent their days to their inner thoughts. The thoughts are the invention of the author, though she tries to use the words and ideas she has found in letters and other writings.

One of the things I have never quite been able to understand, is what upper class women were supposed to do. It seems their main purpose was to attend social gatherings to get husbands and then run households and spend their husbands' money. They were taught things ladies should know, but to what purpose? If embroidering doilies or pillows or some such was supposed to be such a skill, the museums must be full of the highly established crafts, but I don't remember seeing them. I will have to ask my colleague who knows about textile art history. 

Handful and her mother Charlotte were good seamstresses. They made all the clothes for the household, including the fancy dresses for the white women. Charlotte also made quilts - with black triangles on red - symbolizing blackbird wings - as in the "wings" from the title of the book. She also tells her life story in quilt squares. I enjoyed this whole sub-story of quilting and sewing and it turns out Kidd researched African American quilting too for this book.

It was hard to listen to the parts where the slaves were punished, but I need to understand the reality, as I recently did with the Holocaust in Picault's The Storyteller. I did not know about the attempted slave uprising led by Denmark Vesey. The treatment of slaves and all blacks, including free ones, bothered Sarah and a few other whites in the south, and the Quakers and abolitionists in the north. Sarah and Angelina were able to bring stories of the true horrors of slavery to the northerners, having witnessed the cruel and inhuman treatment - and at the same time argue for the humanity and equality of the blacks, which spilled over into speaking and writing about equality and rights for women. I read in When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, that the women's movement rose up out of and learned from the civil rights movement. I did not realize the connection went back to the early 19th century.

I love Kidd's explanation at the end of the book - how she was inspired to write it, the research she did and where she tweaked facts and timelines to fit her story. I continue to love historical fiction, especially well researched stories. I won't remember the details anyway, but I do get a better sense of one period of time. Looking at Latvian history, the 19th century was a time of slavery for them too. German barons owned large estates that were worked by the Latvian peasants. They too had religious orders that spoke out against the conditions. Interesting parallels.

The Sweet Spot by Stephanie Evanovich (2014)

One of the free Advanced Reader Edition books I picked up at ALA. It was a mad rush when the exhibits opened up, so I didn't pay much attention. I occasionally like the humor of Janet Evanovich and didn't notice this was Stephanie not Janet. A lot edgier and with less humor.

Amanda Cole runs her own restaurant Cold Creek in I believe it was Hoboken, NJ - anyway, just across from NYC. Her mother is the Essex County DA - the county I grew up in, so I liked the few New Jersey references. Amanda enjoys being busy, a good manager, talking with her guests and she has loyal employees. All is well until a smarmy agent comes in to make dinner reservations for some big superstar. Turns out the superstar is Chase Walker, a famous baseball player. He is intrigued by Amanda, hangs out at her restaurant for weeks after his games until she says yes for a date. They hit it off, she is still a strong business owner, but then things get weird, and paparazzi get involved, but everyone lives happily ever after. Not quite my cup of tea.

Almost every book makes me think about something. Since I do not follow sports, I guess I don't see the allure of a sports star. I am trying to think of one baseball star I would recognize. I don't think I could recognize Derek Jeter in a line up, and he is from my area. I would recognize a few Olympic stars, but no one from football, basketball, hockey - the big sports.

A Plague of Unicorns by Jane Yolen (2014)

I picked up this advanced reading copy for free at the American Library Association conference exhibits, because I tend to like Jane Yolen books. Plus, I went through a phase of liking everything to do with unicorns, even used one as a symbol for my bookstore in Logan, Ohio many years ago.

An abbey's orchard is beset by a plague of unicorns, that eat up all the golden apples that make the best cider. The monks and heroes cannot get rid of them. James is a precocious boy who asks so many questions, that everyone around him get tired of them - except his sister. Finally he gets sent to the abbey where he learns Latin and writing and helps them solve their unicorn problem. Fine, simple young, young adult book. Interesting to read an advanced copy, with a few typos (thought those have been creeping into printed books too) and at least in one place a few paragraphs were repeated.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picault (2013)

I hope I remember that Picault's books are heavy ones and to not take one on lightly. I was almost ready to give up on the story, when it moved into the personal story of a Holocaust survivor. Though it was fictional, I felt it my duty to listen to this to the end out of respect for their story - being much harder to live through than read or listen to. It did take up at least half of the book.

There were actually three stories going on. The first, which I actually liked, was contemporary - Sage, has a lot of issues, not the least of which is that she suffered in a car crash that killed her mother and left her face scarred. She does not want to face people, so she works as a baker, a skill she seems to have inherited from her great grandfather. She bakes breads and pastries during the night, for an ex-nun boss. Sage has a lover Adam, but he is married, so unavailable ultimately. The fact that he is a funeral director adds an interesting twist. She befriends an elderly man, Joseph, who frequents the bakery. He starts telling her that he is really a former SS man, and he wants her to help him die. Though she does not follow the Jewish traditions, she is of Jewish descent and at some point she realizes her grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. Though she likes the old man, she feels she has to turn him in for war crimes and contacts the office in Washington that follows these things. Here it gets a bit personal, as I had an uncle who was pursued by the OSI, as the office was known back in the 1970’s or 80’s. He was not found to be responsible for any wrong doing, but they made his life hell for a while, and he spent a lot of money and energy defending himself. I get that unforgivable crimes were perpetrated against Jews, gays, gypsies and other minorities. It was interesting to hear Leo's arguments for continuing to follow up these stories, even when the person involved is in his 90’s. Leo is the guy in the Washington office. He has to follow leads that are called in, and almost always turn out to be false leads, but this one sounds legit. He is intrigued by Sage and travels up to New Hampshire to coach her to get Joseph to tell his story. They need some corroberation and so they turn to Grandma Minka for her story.

The second story is the one told by Minka, of her family in Poland, how they were moved to the Jewish ghetto, and from there to Ausschwitz. So many of her family and friends die, but she survives. It is a long, grueling story, but not without hope and not simply black and white. There are good Germans that she meets along the way, starting with her German language teacher, who perfects her language skills, which in a couple of cases save her. Then there is the accountant at Ausschwitz who takes her on as a secretary - because she speaks and writes German. He takes her on also because of her story - the third one in this book. 

The third story is a tale written by Minka as a girl about a Polish mythical being somewhat like a vampire who lives forever and feeds off live beings, including humans. Minka was a bright girl with an active imagination, so she started writing this story about Anya, the daughter of a baker, who learns to bake from her father and takes over when he is killed. Anya falls in love with Alex, and it is a complicated story that occurs during a war, when there are shortages. Minka has been writing this for a while. she brings her journal with her, but of course it is taken away at Ausschwitz. At the camp her first job is to sort through the belongings of people, looking for valuables, putting useful clothing aside, other things get thrown out - like photos. She starts collecting the photos. In her barrack, at one point she starts calming a hysterical woman by starting to tell her story of Anya. Then she starts writing it down on the backs of the photos. One day these are found on her, and she is to be punished, but the accountant starts reading the story and hires her. For some reason he is very intrigued by Minka's story. Minka later wrote it down again, when she got to America, so Sage has it. This story gets intertwined with the other two - as if myth, the world of today and the world of the past were all one story - as they are.

I have to admit, it was worth getting to the end. I did guess the final plot twist, as the clues were given, but still a good story. Though I know the story of the Holocaust, it does not hurt to be reminded of it again, and to look at the moral issues around it even this many years after the events. It also ties in with my attempts to  undestand the complexities of the Middle East. Plus, I just saw Cabaret on a local stage and forgotten that it is about Berlin right before the war breaks out, and also addresses the Jewish question.

The Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva (2012)

I have only read one other Daniel Silva book, but I really like the Gabriel Allon character, and I should try reading about him in the right order. At this point I am going backwards. I really like the combination of art restorer and high level spy from Israel. This story starts out at the Vatican,as he is restoring a Caravaggio, and of course there is a murder. Then it evolves into a major international crisis taking us to Israel, France, Switzerland, U.S., Germany, Denmark, Austria and back to Israel, mostly Jerusalem.

The plot is a complex one involving illegal antiquities, money movers, spies, terrorists, old affairs, the pope and his entourage,  and Gabriel, who just wants to restore art and live peacefully with his wife, but he keeps getting pulled into these major international affairs that he seems to be the best person to solve.

Silva explains in a note after the novel what is based on truth and where he stretches it. I got a sense of the conflicts between the three main religions in Jerusalem and feel I need to read up more on this historical city. It mus be a treasure trove for archeologists and I really don't know what has and has not been found. I feel like I am filling in little pieces of my understanding of the Middle East conflicts. I am just finishing another book about the Holocaust, reminding me why Israel was created. Plus the confusing and terrifying events occurring in Iraq right now make me want to understand this area better.

The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts (2012)

The second in the Inn Boonsboro trilogy was somehow one of the slowest moving Roberts' books. No surprise that Avery, one of the three women friends, who runs the Pizza joint across from the old inn that is being restored gets together with Owen, who is restoring the inn with his brothers. Maybe one needs a nice calm story every once in a while. The ghost in the inn pushes these two old friends together, and makes them realize they have been best friends forever and could take their relationship to a romantic level. There had to be some incident, some tragedy, some secret that would solidify the relationship or help them get over the last hurdle when they realize they really belong together. So Avery's mother, who had deserted her when she was little, comes back into the picture to fill this role.

I continued to enjoy the restoration process, but it sounded like a lot of money sunk into something that was going to take a lot of time to return the investment and pay a decent salary to Hope, the manager of the inn and the next one to fall in love with the third brother in this trilogy.

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (2010)

Subtitle: The Journals of May Dodd.

Fantastic book. I did not realize that this was going to be about exactly about the area I was going to visit.If I understood the premise correctly, this book was based on a small historical fact. I believe that the Cheyenne Chief might have really come to the US President with the proposal to send a thousand white women to get married to the Cheyenne and then the children would be US citizens and would help integrate the cultures. The author went on to imagine what it would have been like, if this really happened - at least with a few women.

May Dodd is the main character, who has been put in an insane asylum for being promiscuous, because she chose a man that was not in the same class as her family, though she had two kids with him and was monogamous. When the government offers her a way out by going out west to marry a savage and bring the white culture to the heathens, she takes it. There is a trainload of women, who are escaping something to take on this adventure - two Irish twin sisters who get an out of jail free card, an English bird watcher who has run out of money, a former slave, a southern belle who has been jilted by her fiance when her father loses everything after the Civil War. They volunteer to be wives to the Indians and to bear a child with them.

I wish I had more time to do this book justice. In a sense it was one of those white person gets raised by the Indians story and takes on their wisdom, but this was a whole group of women, who became part of the Cheyenne tribe and most integrated quite well. Though they were supposed to "civilize" the Indians, they learn that the Indian way of life makes a lot of sense. Of course this story doesn't end well, as the US government renigs on the promises it has made the Indians, and they are all forced to live on reservations. I saw the current reservation outlines in the map of Montana, when I visited last week, and some of the Crow and Cheyenne history at a museum in Billings, MT.

Very touching, a good sense of Indian daily life, the historical time period and the injustices of the white US government. It included the role religious teachers played and the difficulty of women to adjust to the wild west. Custer was the only historical figure who's name I recognized, though I later found out May's husband - Chief Little Wolf was also a historical figure.

Definitely a candidate for gifting to others.

Next Always by Nora Roberts (2011)

This is the first of the Inn BoonsBoro trilogy. I liked hearing the details of renovating an old inn, which Beckett is doing with his brothers and mother. The audio version was narrated by a man, so the story is told more from Beckett's point of view than Claire's, though we get her side too. Roberts seems to be capable of doing this, though this guy seemed to be too good to be true, as also happens with Roberts.

I always like the different professions Roberts chooses for her characters and I always feel like I learn something about the profession, though I am never sure how right she gets it. Well, this time I can critique Claire's profession - bookstore owner in a small town. I, of course, love books and bookstores, and am glad the author chose this setting and profession, but since I had a bookstore in a town of 7000, I know the reality of it. Books have a very low mark-up, so you have to sell a lot of them, like Barnes & Noble, to make any money. Small towns usually have a handful of avid readers, and it sounded like Boonsboro, MD was a small town. (I just looked it up - 2010 population 3336 - definitely not big enough to support a bookstore.) And I had my bookstore before Amazon and the big chain bookstores took over. All the independent bookstores in my area of 250,000 have folded except those dealing in used books. You can possibly make it, if you get a deal with the local school system or college to provide them with books, but from customers in town, and even tourists, it is hard. I related to Claire's joy the moment when a customer that usually buys books walks in. She had reading hours, author readings and also sold coffee - but again, you have to sell a lot of coffee to make a solid income. So I did not see how Claire could not only maintain a family of three boys, but also have two other employees. The story still worked, I just had this little quibble.

I liked that Claire already had three boys - always a game changer in romantic relationships, as the woman comes as a team with the kids. Beckett had grown up with two brothers, so he really got the three boys and knew how to play with them, how to talk to them. Roberts even gave us the personalities of the boys - as each child is different. Claire's husband had died in Iraq - good current reference. Most of us in America forget we are in a war, but for some families it is always on their minds. I am glad this was brought out. and is relevant as I write this on Memorial Day.

This was also a romance where there was a rich set of characters - the townspeople, old college friends, parents and grandparents. And the creepy Sam. Sometimes romances seem to be set in a vacuum, but this definitely was not. Of course it is obvious that the two brothers and Claire's girlfriends will get matched up in future books, but I like these trilogies.

Then there is the inn itself. I like the idea that they named each room for a historic couple. I used to fantasize about decorating rooms by themes, or I would drive by a broken down old house and think it would be fun to restore it - loved This Old House, but in reality, I can barely maintain my 60 year old house and I do not do decorating. But it was fun to read about it. I loved that the mother was responsible for ordering all the furniture, and that brother Owen was the organized one that kept everyone on track.

I don't care for the books where the story centers around some magical, mystical theme, but I like it when Roberts throws in just a bit of other worldly. So the inn has a ghost. They have named her Liz, but we don't know much about her yet, except she smells like honeysuckle when she is happy about something the live humans are doing.

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin (1977)

Anaïs Nin and her book Delta of Venus was know to me as a classic book of erotica, which turns out was written in the 1940's, but first published in 1977. Years ago I had ordered it through Books on Tape, when you had to send away for them and they came on numerous cassette tapes. I quickly found that this is not what I want to be listening to in the car, which is where I listen to books. Then a few years ago, as I was given some boxes of books to get rid of from an artist friend who had passed away, I found a yellowed copy of this, so I kept it. Again, I found it was not something I wanted to read cover to cover in one sitting, but just sample a bit now and then. So I finally finished reading it.

I guess what intrigued me the most was the back story that these were stories written by Nin in the 1940's for a commission for a private collector, who commissioned other well know authors of the time. These were meant just for his private consumption and were not to be full of poetry and philosophy or romance, but just about the acts themselves. Nin and her friends would sit around discussing possible situations and environments, which she then put to paper. It was partly a joke and her characters caricatures, but she found language for the sensual and gave it a feminine perspective, in what was before then just a male domain. I have read about Americans in Paris, and she was part of that exciting time. It looks like I will have to look into some of the other things she wrote, maybe read some of her journals. Interesting woman.