Stardust by Neil Gaiman (1999)

I read this book 10 years ago and enjoyed it as much the second time around. I remembered some of the main elements, but was still captivated. I was going to just edit the old entry, but felt I still needed to recall what I am reading now, so I am leaving the description of Stardust to the old entry. Over these years I have more an more respect for Gaiman, a great supporter of libraries. I also loved the recent Good Omens series - just a delightful good vs. evil over the centuries tale. This book too is so full of good vs. evil and adventure. I can so relate to the main character Tristran Thorn, who would rather continue on adventures than settle down to ruling a state. I also liked that Gaiman went a bit beyond the "living happily ever after" as he gave what happened decades into the future.

In the talk with the author after the book, he says that readers will sometimes point something out that really needs fixing and that he will then fix it future editions of a book. I have now lost the details in my mind, but I thought I had found an inconsistency. There is a character that is supposedly kidnapped as a baby and then enslaved for many years. But then she remembers things from her birth country, and that she was treated like royalty. How did she even know who she really was? No, I will not write Gaiman about this.

Days of Gold by Jude Deveraux (2009)

I have now gotten hooked on Deveraux's Edilean series and chronologically, this is the first one. It really does set the scene for all the other books as the current day characters mostly come from these Scottish and English ancestors. I learned in the previous books that the town was named after the wife of the founder, so we get to meet Edilean and Angus.

We start in Scotland around 1770. Angus McTern is trying to hold his clan together, after his father lost the castle (more like just a tower) and the lands in a card game to a nasty Englishman. The Englishman realizes Angus works hard and maintains the place, so he leaves him alone. Angus is too busy to have a personal life until the Englishman's niece Edilean shows up and he is struck dumb. He avoids her, but then finds out that she is to be married off to one of her uncle's buddies, and he will get all the gold she has inherited from her father. Then we start the wild ride of Angus helping her out inadvertently, though she loves James, but James is just using her, and one way or another, Angus and Edilean end up on a ship to America, though Angus is now wanted for kidnapping. You know the story - they try to stay away from each other, but fall in love.

They land in Boston, she sets up house with James' sister Harriet. Through misunderstandings and Angus not wanting to ruin her life, they mostly do their own thing in the New World. Angus works an an inn for while, later with the army and learns the ways of the woods and natives. He dreams of getting land outside Williamsburg, VA and building a town with Edilean. She in frustration wants to prove she is not a helpless and useless woman, starts a company Bond Girls, where she buys farms of widows and provides them with help. She gets the bonds of women brought over from England for various crimes, usually out of desperation - and gives them jobs working on the farms and producing high quality fruits and vegetables.

I always like historic context. I guess I have seen some of the desolate castles of Scotland in films, and have read some novels set in current day Scotland, but this helps round out the picture in my mind. This book shows a few other routes that immigrants to America have taken. I somehow did not realize criminals were exiled here. Just started reading a bio of Hamilton and in the first few paragraphs learned that the Caribbean was another place to send criminals. Maybe a topic to research - cheaper to exile than keep in prisons? And many made a good life - or at least their children did. Again, early America - Boston (that I've learned about from the Jackie Faber series) and Virginia.

My other joy is learning about a rich set of characters. I will have to go back to the book and pull out the names I know appear in other books.

A House on the Heights by Truman Capote (2002)

With an introduction by George Plimpton. Originally published in 1959 as "Brooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir."

After reading Swans of Fifth Avenue, I felt I needed to read something by Truman Capote. This was a nice short book, actually one of his short stories and it gave me enough of a flavor of Capote's writing. He was very observant and he did love gossip, and you can see this in this rambling essay on Brooklyn Heights. I actaully have a new found interest in Brooklyn, as a few good friends live there and tell me something about their neighborhoods. While I was growing up in New Jersey, we too went to events at some hall off of Flatbush Avenue, and some of my parents' friends lived there. The density of life in New York City has never appealed to me, but I am fascinated by this concept of neighborhoods, and Capote nicely describes his neighborhood, its history, its people, its architecture, parks, and the energy of the place that enticed Capote to make it his home for a while. If I have time in my travels, I would like to drive around Brooklyn Heights, where Brooklyn Bridge forms the northern border of the neighborhood, and look over to Manhattan, just across the river. 

George Plimpton's introduction continues giving me a sense of Capote and his ability to draw people within his magical circle, including Plimpton.

Scarlet Nights by Jude Deveraux (2010)

Just a fun read. Mike is a super duper undercover detective, who often has to go undercover for long periods of time while he gets close to the women involved with the criminals, to get them arrested. This time he gets an assignment in the small town of Edilean where his grandmother used to live and his sister still lives. Since dangerous and unscrupulous criminals are involved, he has her go out of the country on a honeymoon, while he gets close to Sara, who is engaged to Greg, one of the criminals. The other criminal lives in the area, but no one knows what she looks like. They lure Greg out of town, and Mike shows up as the brother that has to stay in his sister's apartment, while on a case.

The town is full of delightful characters, but the plot gets a bit overwhelming in the end. The town liked Brian, Sara's first boyfriend, but he dumped her. They are not fond of Greg. Mike seems to fit in. There is a historical large house involved, that Mike inherits through his grandmother some way. There is a crazy old coot that lives out in the large house and has set traps all around it. There is the Frazier family of large brothers that are the town's royalty. Sara's mother is the mayor. the plot all comes together at an annual fair, for which Sara has sewn many of the costumes. There are tarot cards involved - painted by a local artist, an impromptu wedding that borrows flowers from a wedding the next day, and Scarlet Nights refers to a perfume Sara's mother has concocted for special occasions.

I knew I had read something by Deveraux, as when I chose this from the library shelf, my hand first went to Heartwishes, and starting to read the cover I knew I had read it. Thank goodness for this blog, as I did not realize that that book was part of the Edilean series, where Collin Frazier is involved. The second book about this small town that I read was Lavender Morning, which I had totally forgotten about. That was about Joce and Luke, who are landlords to Sara and are expecting a baby.

Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2018)

What a great book to read in these crazy times. Historian Goodwin takes a look at Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson. She looks at how each of them grew up, what their influences were, how they were educated, then she takes us through some of their early ventures into politics and leadership roles. Each of them faces some personal tragedy that he has to overcome. Lincoln lost an election and went back to practice law. Teddy Roosevelt lost both his mother and wife at the same time. We all know how Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with Polio, but I did not know how he formed a community with other polio patients and created a rehabilitation center in Georgia that not only looked for ways to improve physical health, but also mental and social health. LBJ had a heart attack. Each took time off and learned from their losses, gained skills in working with people.

Goodwin takes us through the rest of their political careers, culminating in them becoming president. Teddy and LBJ became unexpected presidents from a vice-president's role, when their presidents get assassinated. Both of them had their own agendas that they could now put into place. All four took the country through some very difficult times. Lincoln managed to hold the country together through the Civil War. I did not realize that the Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential executive order changing the legal status of millions of slaves to be free. Wow! And then to come out of it with one country. Not an easy task. I probably should read up on the South and why they continued being part of the union. Teddy Roosevelt faced a major coal miner strike and though the president was not supposed to interfere in conflicts between labor and business owners, he did step in to negotiate an end to the strike, as people around the country were beginning to freeze without the coal supplies. Franklin Roosevelt took over as the country fell into the greatest depression in its history. He had to come up with the "New Deal" to get people working (and develop our national parks in the process) and prepared for war. LBJ is best know for his ability to pass major legislation insuring civil rights, voting rights and much more in his plan for a "Great Society." Unfortunately he did not understand foreign policy as well as he did domestic policies, and was responsible for getting us deeply involved in Vietnam. I was in 4th grade when Kennedy was shot, so I am sure I was mostly oblivious to Johnson's reign, but I have a much higher respect for him. He got amazing amounts of legislation passed in the first year and a half of his presidency, because he knew how to work with congress. It just makes me sad to see how dysfunctional our congress is today. People with different opinions were able to work out practical legislation for the good of the country. And it took strong leadership, that took into account everyone's needs.