Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer (2006)

This is the first book of The Time Traveler's trilogy. Peter Schock lives in current day London, and has a busy father who never has time for him, his mother is working on a film in Hollywood. He goes off to the the country with his nanny where he meets Kate Dyer, who's father is a scientist and they both get accidentally transported to 1763 by an anti-gravity machine. There they meet the nasty Tar Man, who takes off with their machine. Luckily Gideon Seymour sees them appear and takes care of them, taking them to a well of family - the Byngs. Gideon is an interesting character, having been saved from hanging for stealing some food by Lord Luxon, for whom he becomes a trusting servant and cutpurse for a while. He is escaping from Luxon by taking a position with the Byngs, when he runs into Peter and Kate. He tries to help them to get back their machine and get back to their own century, encountering highway men and all sorts of obstacles on the way.

So it is basically an adventure story where two current day kids get thrown into the 18th century and get the history lesson of their lives. I always like historical details of everyday life - the sights, sounds and smells, such as the fact that no one, including the rich, bathed much back then, so everybody had an odor about them. A fun read to counteract a heavy book I am reading. Maybe I will read the rest of the trilogy, maybe not.

2013 Review

It is worth doing this analysis of the previous year’s reading. The blog itself is useful and I use it to see which books I have read by an author or to choose Christmas gits, but only upon reflection do I realize all the fascinating worlds that opened up to me through my readings.  I did not read any classics and still like historical fiction, contemporary fiction, thrillers, some romance and children’s and young adult books, very little non-fiction. I continued reading Baldacci and Nora Roberts, this year read three Vince Flynn books as he passed away, and have an intention of reading through most of his Mitch Rapp books. Of my favorite authors, I read Tracy Chevalier’s The Last Runaway, one of my favorite books of the year; Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed; Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland, and Audrey Niffenegger’s Raven Girl (met the author at a library conference.) My other favorite fiction books were: The Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, Love Anthony by Lisa Genova, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (maybe my favorite book of the year),and  Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. I also discovered Maeve Binchy, a popular Irish writer. In non-fiction I was fascinated by Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, MSNBC reporter Rachael Maddow’s analysis of our military in Drift, and Will Schwalbe’s End of Your Life Book Club – the ultimate book lover’s book, as well as a look into ending your life gracefully and helping others do so. I also tried to do a bit of regional reading. When heading out to Montana and Wyoming, I tried reading something about the area, and asked people out there what to read that was typical of the area. Ivan Doig and CJ Box were suggested authors. I also tried to read up on the Middle East a bit – both fiction and non-fiction, and am still in the middle of that.

Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn (1999)

I wanted to read the early Mitch Rapp books, so I would understand the later ones, especially why President Hayes trusts Rapp and how the relationship started with Anna Rielly. Though this was the first Rapp book written by Flynn, it is the third book chronologically. He later went back and wrote Mitch Rapp's back story.

Since I am just reading On Killing, a non-fiction book about the difficulty of soldiers to actually kill another human being, especially when looking them in the eye, I am reminded of the uniqueness of Rapp being able to kill so efficiently and wonder about myself for liking this character so much. I was planning to reread the first book to remind myself how Rapp became what he was, because there was a very good reason, if I recall correctly.

My other caveat is about the whole Middle East terrorist scenario. I just had dinner with some Arab students and find I am still so ignorant of their culture, their thinking, and can easily understand that they could dislike us Americans, after all we have done to their countries. I could understand the anger of the terrorists in this book - though I do not condone their actions at all. I am wondering if it is PC to even be reading this book, but since the old commie enemies are no longer around, unfortunately these are the new enemies of choice in thrillers.

Rafique Aziz is the ultimate bad-ass terrorist, who has planned for years a way to take over the White House and hold the President of the US hostage to his demands for his people. Most of his plan works out well, but he has not factored in Mitch Rapp, who not only captured Aziz's mentor that provided information in the nick of time to get the President in the safe bunker, but Rapp is able to infiltrate the locked down, explosive rigged White House to get intel out and with the help of various special forces, bring the plan to a halt. So yes, another riveting thriller from Vince Flynn.

There are many aspects of this book that make it fascinating to me, besides just being an exciting story. There was the nuanced Rapp himself, who can come to the rescue of a damsel in distress, though that is against his orders, and the conflicts within him - to be focused, use his anger to react quickly, but reign in with thought when necessary. Then there was the look into all the folks making decisions in our government. There are a lot of chiefs (including my favorite Irene Kennedy and her mentor Thomas Stansfield), so I am no longer surprised that we don't always make the best decisions as a country and I am glad I don't have anything to do with those kinds of decisions, except as far as I can help elect the president that I think will try to make the best choices in my opinion. The scariest part is when a political way of thinking takes precedence over what is best for the nation and the world. The special forces like the SEALS are always an interesting group, and though I still don't have them straight, three different special forces were described and the differences in their responsibilities explained. I am glad they all worked together on this one. I also liked that the White House is full of secret tunnels, elevators, etc. I don't know how much of that is true, but I would like to think of the White House as our castle with its secrets. 

One last comment. Since this was not available in audio, I checked it out from the library in hardcover. I found it languished on my nightstand and book table for quite a while. I can't say that a large hardcover is my favorite format anymore. I think for reading I like the medium sized paperbacks the best. I did like the map of the area from the Pentagon to the Capital, so I could visualize the movements of the action. One thing I miss highly in audio books.

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber (2011)

I was looking for something light and Christmassy to balance out a heavier book I have started to read. This was a bit too light for me, and it looks like I have read only one other Macomber book, so it is hard to say if I need to stay away from this author.

Cassie has a good job, friends, but not the perfect husband and family she imagined she would have to make Christmas perfect, even though she has even tried online dating. So she lets her friend talk her into going to a matchmaker for an exhorbitant fee (money she has saved for the „perfect” wedding.) The matchmaker is a gruff, critical man named Simon. For some unexplicable reason there is chemistry between them, though of course it takes a while for both to realize that.

I remember as a kid fantasizing about getting married – as in having a dreamy guy and beautiful wedding, but somehow the difficulty of working out a relationship never entered those dreams. Cassie too seems to have an unrealistic view of what family life would be like and thinks a friends photo of her family is „perfect.” Who knows how they really get along.

I can’t say I didn’t like the book at all, as it had some colorful characters. The part that I really enjoyed was that Simon gave Cassie three tasks to do, to see her mettle – ringing Salvation Army bells in freezing weather, helping a Santa with kids, and giving a dinner for her neighbors, with whom she does not really get along. That was the most touching and Christmassy moment for me, when lonely people get together and start warming up to each other. So, I will give it that – I did get some Christmas spirit out of the book.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (2013)

This is the third book I have read by Lahiri, and probably the best. She tells another in depth story of her people, but this one spans about 50 years and starts in India in a suburb of Calcutta. The boys play in the field across the lowland (of the title), an area that floods during the rainy season. We get a sense of life there, the boys go to school, eventually attend local colleges. Udayan sees the inequities of the world and becomes a revolutionary. Subhash becomes an environmental chemist and goes to America for grad school. Udayan marries Gauri, a philosophy major. Udayan dies early in the book and Subhash comes back to India and rescues pregnant Gauri from his parents by marrying her and bringing her back to Rhode Island.

There are many layers to this book that I enjoyed. As usual, I enjoyed learning about another culture, another historical period. I knew nothing of the student uprisings in India and may want to look into these more. The emigrant experience is always dear to me - the not quite fitting, the accent, the food, but also the wish to stay in America. Then the complexity of families - both what is expected of Indian families and then what happens to the family in the U.S. I also liked the act that libraries and academia played an important role in this story. 

The tale was told by the various characters of different generations, not necessarily chronologically, as memories brought us back to the past, filling in gaps of our understanding. Even Udayan has a voice at the very end.


I have a new state to explore. The only thing I remember about Rhode Island is visiting my freshman roommate's family in Newport and driving through it to Boston. It is a very New Englandish state and I forgot how much it is exposed to the ocean. I may take a loop around it when I attend a conference in CT next year.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler (2004)

I was looking for a young adult book to send to a relative in overseas and came across this in the best sellers for younger readers. Felt I had to read it before I sent it. I like books that combine today's world with magic or fantasy, and this one combines it with the mythical world of mermaids and mermen. I got a bit critical in my mind about the way some practicalities were treated, like writing and speaking under water, but if I let that go, it was a pretty good story of a girl looking for answers and finding herself. I am wondering if there are too many America focused references, but that may be OK too.

Emily lives with her mother on a houseboat. She doesn't have too many friends and has never learned to swim, but now wants to take swimming lessons. I don't think I will be giving too much away, when I say that once she hits water, she becomes a mermaid and she of course has to explore this new ability. She makes friends with a mermaid her own age - Shona. Besides a doting mother, who doesn't want to talk about her father, we also have the mystic Millie and the sinister lighthouse keeper Mr. Beeston.  I love water myself, so I liked all the images of underwater. Hope my relative likes this.

Saudi Arabia by Hunt Janin and Margaret Besheer (2003)

Cultures of the World series. I had our children's book specialist order various children's books on

countries around the world, as our ESL students sometimes have to write about their own cultures for their classes, and we had very little in simple language. I am having some Saudi students over for a dinner during the holidays, and when I saw that this book had come in, I decided to read it, so I do not make some great mistakes while hosting them.

It is embarrassing to say how little I knew about Saudi Arabia. I knew where it was and that much of it was desert, but there is much more variety in this large country. There is dessert, mountains, the big port city Jeddah on the Red Sea, and then the oil is on the east side and gets distributed to the world through the Persian Gulf. Of course the sacred Islamic cities of Mecca and Median are also there, in the western part.

I got a sense of their history and am now curious about Laurence of Arabia. (Let's see if I actually read the books I checked out by him and about him.) I did not realize that present day Saudi Arabia was only established in 1932. I had heard about the royal family, but it is now all in context, in a framework. Women did not get mentioned much and appeared in very few of the photographs. I have read about them elsewhere and am concerned about their status, but I will respect that this book for children was written to not be controversial and not confront Saudi beliefs. It looks like they have been amazingly successful at keeping Western influence to a minimum. The riches they have received from oil go towards the betterment of their society, building, modernizing, without allowing alcohol, immodesty and other things restricted by their religion to enter their social structure. Since women are not to talk to men not in their family, there is no socializing outside of the family, so no restaurants, movie theaters, art galleries. I would definitely like to hear more about this from the students when I next meet them. I also got a sense of their relationship with the U.S. (Yes it is about the oil, but not just.) Only through understanding will I be able to make a difference in this world.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)

This may be one of the best books I have read this year. I just finished Looking for Alaska and then had dinner with a bunch of librarians and one said this was even better. I agree.

Hazel is sixteen and has cancer and has to carry around an oxygen tank everywhere. Life is pretty depressing until she meets Augustus at a support group. He has lost his leg to cancer, but is otherwise healthy. He appreciates her irreverent humor, and understands what it means to be sick. They share books and he uses his Make a Wish to get them both to Amsterdam.

Incredible insight into terminally ill teenagers touched me deeply. Since I listened to the audio version, there was an interview with the author at the end. Green was going to be a chaplain at one time and spent some time in a hospital with very ill children. He promised himself that he would write a book for them at some time, but it took a long time to come together. It was worth the wait.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (2010)

I know this was a bestseller, but where sometimes books start slow and they pull me in, that I am sorry to see them end, this one started out with an interesting premise and then seemed to drag on and I could not wait for it to end.

Ralph Truitt is wealthy, keeps most of his small Wisconsin town employed, but is terribly lonely and unhappy in the winter of 1908. His first wife and daughter died and his son ran away from home years ago. So he places an ad for a "reliable wife" in a paper and Catherine Land shows up in the train car he sends for her. She throws her fancy clothes out the window and steps off the train in a simple black dress. Both of their pasts are full of secrets, though Ralph shares most of his with her, she does not reciprocate, but slowly starts liking and appreciating the man. He asks her to go after his son in St. Louis that some investigators have found for him. This is where it gets all complicated.

One of the parts of the book I liked was that Catherine learned most of what she knew from libraries. She never got to attend school, but her younger sister taught her to read and she just found libraries a good, safe place to be and worked her way through many books. At one point she starts fantasizing about a garden and reads a ton of gardening and botanical books.

I don't know why it felt like the book dragged and the winter seemed endless. For all of the story to evolve it seemed like many more months would have passed, but who am I to say. It was about grief, forgiveness, family, the possibility of change, so I can't say I didn't like the book.

The Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (2010)

I don't think I have ever really understood what happened in World War I. Ken Follett actually tries to explain it in an interesting novel format. He is only able to give us a glimpse into what the thinking was in England, Germany, Russia and the United States, but it points out the absurd reasons that brought much of the planet into this disasterous war.

We see a Downton Abbey type English family with a suffragette sister who falls in love with a German. They have a servant who is one of my favorite characters in the book. We see the trenches, the futility and huge loos of lives in trench warfare. It helped to see some similar scenes in Downton Abbey and then I felt I needed some more visual understanding, which is why I found the Eyewitness book on WWI in our children's book section.

Part of the action is in Russia, where we see the hard life of factory workers in St. Petersburg. I can't say I still understand all the events that led up to the Revolution, but I could see how in all that chaos the Baltic countries got their independence. The Western front was pretty set in a stretch between Belgium to Switzerland on the French-German border, but the Eastern front seemed to move all over the place.