Rabbit at Rest

By John Updike

In this, the fourth and last Rabbit story, Updike says goodbye to Rabbit. We get to experience the last few months of Rabbit's life until his untimely death in his mid 50s.
The novel starts out with Rabbit and his wife Jan at their condo in Florida. Rabbit and Jan are semi-retired and spending their winters in Deleon, Florida while their son Nelson runs the Toyota dealership back in Brewer, PA. Rabbit and Jan seem pretty contented and comfortable but it soon becomes clear that something is screwy back home. Nelson and his family come down to Florida for a brief visit and Nelson is jumpy and skinny and he admits to his mom that he has been using cocaine.
Rabbit takes his granddaughter out sailing and while out on the ocean he has a mild heart attack. He manages to get the boat back to shore where he then collapses.
After he is placed on medication and they get back to Brewer, Rabbit undergoes angioplasty but he can't seem to shake the bad habits that lead to the problem in the first place, not enough exercise and eating improperly.
On his first night home after the angioplasty, his daughter-in-law, angry at her drug-addicted husband, comes into Rabbit's bedroom and seduces him.
Rabbit's son is forced into rehab after a nasty scene when he accuses his family of stealing his cocaine stash. Nelson has also been stealing money from the dealership, almost $200,000 and Toyota pulls their franchise. This really upsets Rabbit and then Jan finds out about the one night stand with the daughter-in-law, and, rather than face her, Rabbit flees down to their condo in Florida. He feels like the whole family is ganging up on him. Jan wants to sell the condo to help cover Nelson's debts and Rabbit doesn't want to. She also wants to sell their little house that Rabbit loves which really upsets him more, plus losing the dealership. Throw in a foolish attempt to recapture his lost youth with a pick-up game of basketball and it all adds up to a major heart attack, one from which Rabbit will not recover.

Sad to read a book about a man who has finally reached a point in his life where things are pretty good only to see it all taken away within the course of a few months. In this last book Rabbit is less of a stinker than in the first two and it seems as if the deck is stacked against him this time. Feels just a little unfair to Rabbit but maybe not. Rabbit is still a pretty selfish guy but at least in one respect he has improved: in this book there are no fantasies of smashing his wife's head in. Rabbit has settled down, ready to moulder away into comfortable old age, but it is not to be. Technically, Rabbit has heart disease but it seems like that last heart attack was really his own heart breaking from seeing his world fall apart and dealing with it all on his own, having estranged himself from his wife and family. In the end, jerk though he was, I was sorry to see Rabbit go.

I really enjoyed Updike's descriptions of Florida, of Rabbit's last drive south, and of Rabbit's experience with heart disease. It just felt like the real deal, almost as good as being there. Updike really has an amazing eye for descriptive detail, he really captures it. Excellent novel.

New Words

Macoma tellin: a mollusk; in this case its shell. '"Oh," he says, enjoying posing as casually brave, shaping the ash of his cigarette on the edge of a lovely Macoma tellin he uses as an ashtray, "it's mostly talk."

Taborets: A taboret or tabouret refers to two different pieces of furniture, a cabinet or a stool in the shape of a drum. 'Stuffed flowered chairs with broad wooden arms, plush chocolate-brown sofa with needlepointed scatter pillows and yellowing lace antimacassars, varnished little knickknack stands and taborets, a footstool on which an old watermill is depicted, symmetrical lamps whose porcelain bases show English hunting dogs in gilded ovals, an oppressively patterned muddy neo-Colonial wallpaper, and on every flat surface, fringed runners and semi-precious glass and porcelain elves and parrots and framed photographs of babies and graduating sons and small plates and kettles of hammered copper and pewter, object to dust around but never to rearrange.'

Animals Make Us Human

By Temple Grandin

How do you make an animal happy? Turns out it is not that hard. According to scientists, all animals (humans too) have core emotions, such as seeking and playing and fear and rage. To keep animals happy, reduce fear and provide play and seeking. Seeking is the activity involved mainly in locating food but it can be anything that stimulates an animal to seek. Seek out good grazing, seek out rabbits to chase and eat, seek out a tossed ball. Give these things to an animal and for the most part it will be a lot happier. Herd animals are the easiest to please. Give them a manger full of yummy hay and a couple of buddies and they are fine. Some herd animals need a little more though, like pigs. Pigs love to eat, but they love even more to root around. Researchers have discovered that if pigs are given fresh straw to root around in every day, they are a lot happier. In commercially raised animals, a happy animal is a healthy, growing animal, which is what the producer wants.
The main thrust of this book is the livestock industry and the egg and chicken industry. As the author points out, simple, not very expensive changes improve the quality of life for these animals and these changes not only benefit the animal they benefit the producer. But a lot still needs to be done, especially in the way chickens are raised for meat and eggs. A lot of chickens have it unnecessarily bad, especially the layers, the chickens who supply our eggs. As the author points out, unnecessary cruelty is unreasonable and a lot of these plants simply needed to be better managed and more closely monitored.
Even though the main thrust of the book is geared to the producer, there is also valuable information for pet owners and also a very interesting section on zoos and zoo animals. Something for everyone who has animals or works with them. For pet owners, the author points out that pets left alone all day with no companionship or stimulation are really being abused. In her opinion, livestock raised for slaughter are better off than pets left alone all the time because their quality of life is better, more active, more stimulating. Hopefully books like Temple Grandin's will open all our eyes and inspire us to be more thoughtful and kinder in our dealings with the animals in our lives. This is an excellent and thought-provoking work.

For another review see The New York Times.

New Word

Ethologists: Ethology is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of animal behavior. Ethologists take a comparative approach, studying behaviors ranging from kinship, cooperation, and parental investment, to conflict, sexual selection, and aggression across a variety of species. 'There is such a thing as "human nature," and managers should think about stockpeople and about themselves the way animal ethologists think about animals: as conscious beings who predictably follow the rules of behavior for their species.'

A Good House

By Richard Manning

Manning is a reporter who lives in Montana. Shortly after he remarried, he and his wife decided they wanted to build themselves a new, environmentally-sound home on an large acreage near Missoula, his home town.
And he means literally build their own home. Most of the work was done by him with the help of professionals. The professionals provided the guiding hand and he did what he could to help, and not just a little. Manning has a background in construction and more than just a rudimentary knowledge of concrete work, wiring and carpentry. He taught himself plumbing and finish carpentry in the process of building the house.
During the book we follow the Mannings as the house moves from design to construction to finish work with Manning explaining his thinking in how the building of a home effects not only the local environment but the whole Earth. Towards the end of the book he admits his own selfishness in building a home in the wilderness, how crowded and noisy he found the city and just plain unbearable. This is his justification for what he did.

This is my dark little secret: that all of the good I have tried to build into this house is nothing more than a grand rationalization to hide my abhorrence of people. Not of individuals, but of the braying, collective mass. I can speak of energy consumption, fighting profligacy, even craft, but reduced to its simplest level, this house is about noise.
I could no longer stand the noise of the city, even a small city like Missoula -- the rush and the crush and rude violations of space.

This is probably the only part where his logic breaks down. Everyone finds cities noisy and crowded but most just have to make do. Which is a good thing. Because if we all streamed out of the city to find our 38 acres of wilderness then there wouldn't be any wilderness left.

This was a pretty good book. At times the technical aspects of the building were hard to follow, especially the description of putting up the house frame with its talk of joints and posts and studs. This part didn't really register with me but the part where he describes his travails with the composting toilet sure did. That part will stick with me forever. He has made his peace with that extremely fussy piece of plumbing but, if I have any say in the matter, I will never have a composting toilet, never! His description of what he had to go through! At one point, the composting unit overflowed and he had to shovel his own ... yuck!
Anyways, gross out part aside, this was a good read, informative and enlightening. And at the back of the book is a helpful list of the literature that helped Manning along in the process of building his dream home.

For another review see Peaceful Prairie.

New Words:

Spudded: a spud is a kind of spade. 'Michael, Tracy, and I had spudded in these trees just a day before, and we were worried about the deer.'

Soffitand fascia: Soffit is the under-surface of any part of a building such as the arch, eaves or cantilevered section and fascia is the vertical roof trim located along the perimeter of a building, usually below the roof level, to cover the rafter tails at the eaves. 'The wires were in, the windows hung, pipes placed and soldered, roof on, rafter ends blocked, exterior walls sheathed, internal walls framed, drains stubbed, soffit and fascia cut and nailed down.'

Kerf: the gap left when material is removed by a saw. The width of the kerf is equal to the set of the saw. 'I flip the board and cut the other end to length, allowing the saw's kerf to exactly halve a thin pencil line for a tight, butt joint.'

The Family Tree

By Sheri S. Tepper

The first sign that Dora has that life is headed in a new direction is that bold and fast growing weed that has popped up in a crack next to the stoop of her house. This is a yard where not even flowers are allowed to grow: too messy. Jared, Dora's husband, likes everything precise and neat and no weeds allowed.
But this new weed is just the beginning because before much longer, it seems like all the plant world has gone loop-da-loop. Not only are new, tough weeds sprouting everywhere, but the trees are growing and taking over, even: blocking traffic, devouring abandoned properties, even making off with babies in families that have more than three kids. Seems like nature has decided that mankind has had its own way for too long and that now the trees are in control.
On top of that, Dora, who is a police officer, is investigating the similar deaths of three local geneticists. Are these deaths related to the new, aggressive and self-aware forests?
Three thousand years into the future, the survivors of an disaster that wiped out most of Earth's people have not regained the technology of those who came before them. A few pockets of knowledge have survived, hidden libraries, but the knowledge contained in these libraries is flawed and incomplete. It is revealed to a few of these people that some new catastrophe is headed their way that could, again, destroy Earth's peoples. This small group heads out to gain the knowledge they need to ward off disaster. Little do they know how far they will have to travel ... 3000 years into the past, back to Dora's time and location. For their very survival is key to the events happening outside Dora's door.

The premise of this book is a little weird and a lot of fun. The suddenly sentient trees taking over the land and pushing people around was scary and fascinating. Isn't it something we would all like to see? Something greater than ourselves who has the wisdom to force us to behave and be decent to our fellows and treat the Earth with respect? Plus the people of the future are a hoot. Tepper gives little clues about these people as you read the book, still, it was so cool when their true natures are revealed. This is a really good and charming story, and even though it is a pretty long book, almost 500 pages, it is never boring and always interesting. I very much enjoyed it.

For another review, see Curled Up with a Good Book.

The Stepsister Scheme

By Jim C. Hines

We all know how fairy tales end ... "and they lived happily ever after." Well, not always. Cinderella had her happily-ever-after until her Prince Charming ran off with one of the wicked stepsisters. And with poor Cindy (whose real name, we are told, is Danielle) expecting her first baby, no less.
This isn't a case of wandering affections or of a husband frightened by the responsibility of impending parenthood. No, something more sinister is afoot. It's up to the intrepid Danielle (aka Cinderella) to track down her errant husband and detach him from whatever charm the nasty stepsister has placed on him. To do so, though, she is going to need some backup and that's where Snow White and Sleeping Beauty come in. No longer just fairy tale princesses, these two women are now in charge of their own destinies and armed to the teeth, to boot.
Off to fight the baddies (and fight they do, lots and lots of fighting), the princesses head off to Fairytown, where they believe the evil stepsisters have absconded with the besotted prince. With a little help from their friends, a magic sword, and some handy magic, the women are ready and able to take on all challengers. Those stepsisters are going to regret the day they ever fooled around with Cindy's guy!

Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Wrong. Unless you like written depictions of battles and tussles. I don't. I should have known what I was getting into when the first tussle occurred within the first ten pages of the story. To me, it seemed like one of those books where the story is merely a transitional device to the next fight. Beyond the constant fighting though, the book is just not interesting. I never really cared about any of the characters until nearly the end of the book. The only part that captured my attention is where Danielle (Cinderella) ends up captive and serving her stepsisters just like in the bad old days. That was the only part of the book that I felt was compelling and interesting. The rest was just blah.

The Official Preppy Handbook

Edited by Lisa Birnbach

Everything you could possibly need to know about the preppy lifestyle is contained in this book. Presented as a work of humor, still it reads like the real deal. It explores the preppy lifestyle from childhood to retirement, describing the right clothes, shoes, pets, schools, sports, clubs, interests, the right mates, it covers it all. Even though it was written it the late 1970s, I expect it is still relevant and true in its revelation of what it means to be preppy.

For another review see College Confidential.

New Words:

Parietals: in private school, these are the rules dealing with the proper procedures for having a visitor of the opposite sex in your dorm room. 'The process, like most moral indoctrinations, has its uncomfortable aspects: rules, parietals, demerits, and disciplinary action.'

Foulard: fabric pattern or weave typically printed made up of a small repeating geometric pattern. They are frequently used for ties and scarves. 'The small, repeating motif print. Possibly derived, at great distance, from men's foulard patterns.'

Adumbrates and malversation: To adumbrate is to foreshadow vaguely; to give a vague outline; to obscure or overshadow. Malversation is corrupt behaviour, illegitimate activity, especially by someone in authority; misconduct in public office. 'Use of SAT words is as casual as breathing. Example: "Ahhhhh ... but surely you don't mean to .... ahhh .... suggest that .... ahhh ... his behavior in any way adumbrates malversation .... because, ahhhh ... after all ... none of us is prepared to ... ahh ... to ahhh .... agree with you on that." For further instruction, listen to William F. Buckley, Jr.'

Vile Bodies

By Evelyn Waugh

Adam is an aspiring young writer hoping to marry Nina but since he has no money and Nina is not the kind of gal who can live without money, the engagement is on hold until Adam can generate some cash. He then becomes a gossip columnist, reporting on the doings of the "Bright Young Things" of London in Britain between the wars. Since Adam is a member of this set he has the inside track on all the hot news on their antics since he knows all the kids and goes to all the parties. In fact, he has to go to so many different parties that he becomes totally sick of it. Eventually he resorts to just making up stuff to fill his column which results in losing that job. His and Nina's marriage is looking less and less likely unless Adam can track down the drunken Major who placed £1000 of Adam's money on a long shot at the race track that actually came through. So this drunken Major owes Adam £35,000, which, if he can ever find him, will give Nina and Adam the funds they need to finally get married.
Complications ensue, parties occur, people get wasted, cars get wrecked, people die and still Adam can't get the money owed him. Nina's patience is running short and she finally marries another fellow, although this does not mean she is through with Adam, not at all. Freshly married and back from her honeymoon, Nina takes Adam home and introduces him to her senile father as her husband. Well, it's a lark but of course it can't last and Adam ends up alone on a battlefield when another war breaks out.

This novel has its moments of inspired lunacy, but it has another side that is not so amusing and jolly, as people die or kill themselves. The characters don't seem to take anything too seriously, not themselves, not society, not morality, nor responsibility. Actually, if you want to read a funny novel of the 1920s, read almost anything by P.G. Wodehouse. His novels are always lighthearted and a lot of fun and tragedy free and just a joy to read. Vile Bodies may be an accurate portrait of a particular time and place but its gloomy side is a bit of a downer.

For another review see Illiterarty.

New Words:

Tapette: homosexual [I think]. '"My dear, he looks terribly tapette."'

Cachet Faivre: a pain medication containing caffeine and quinine. '"Half the young fellows as come here now don't have anything except a cachet Faivre and some orange juice."'

Toper: a drunk. 'In a paragraph headed "Montparnasse in Belgravia," he announced that the buffet at Sloane Square tube station had become the haunt of the most modern artistic coterie (Mr. Benfleet hurried there on his first free evening, but saw no one but Mrs. Hoop and Lord Vanburgh and a plebian toper with a celluloid collar).'

Fillet: a narrow headband or strip of ribbon worn as a headband. 'Neither powder, rouge nor lipstick had played any part in her toilet and her colourless hair was worn long and bound across her forehead in a broad fillet.'

Flageolet: a small flute. '"Mr. 'Ginger' Littlejohn has the similar foible that he can only fish to the sound of the flageolet."'

Alex & Me

By Irene M. Pepperberg

Dr. Pepperberg and her parrot Alex became famous when Alex demonstrated that not only could he communicate clearly with people but that he understood complex concepts such as shape, amount and color. He could even count to six. Thus Dr. Pepperberg and Alex exploded the idea that animals can't think and for this Alex was justly famous.
This book looks at Dr. Pepperberg's life with Alex but sadly, it starts out with the bird's premature death at age thirty-one. Alex was a star during his lifetime and, like many stars, he burned out too soon. He was a bird of great personality who ruled the roost, literally, bossing and correcting the other parrots in the study. But the best thing about Alex was his ability to make intellectual leaps that not even his biggest fan, Dr. Pepperberg, expected. For example, Dr. Pepperberg was working with Alex on phonemes, the individual sounds that make up a word. She was demonstrating Alex's skills to a visitor and he was doing really well. Each time he succeeded she told him he was a good bird but Alex continually stated that he wanted a nut. But he didn't get a nut, just verbal praise. Finally Alex 'looked at me and said slowly, "Want a nut. Nnn ... uh ... tuh."' He actually spelled the word out using phonemes! Alex was truly a special parrot.

I really enjoyed this book, even with its very sad beginning. I have always been interested in Alex since I first saw him on TV and reading about this lively little character was fascinating and charming. Some people have called him a bird genius. But maybe Alex was just a typical parrot and a clear demonstration that animals have a lot more going on than we have given them credit for.

The Reincarnationist

By M.J. Rose

Josh Ryder has flashbacks, flashbacks to previous lives, one as a pagan priest in old Rome and one as a young man in 19th century New York. These flashbacks are disrupting his life and to get some control, he hooks up with the Phoenix Foundation that investigates past life memories in children. Although Josh is not a child, his flashbacks are so compelling that the Foundation takes on his case and gives him a job as their official photographer.
The Foundation sends Josh to Rome to check out an archaeological dig of an old tomb because they hope the tomb contains an ancient artifact, the memory stones. These stones are supposedly the key to unlocking past life memories and the Foundation and Josh are eager to get access to the stones. But it all goes terribly wrong when a security guard enters the tomb and steals the stones, fatally shooting the archaeologist in the process. Josh, who was nearby, saw the killer but was not able to prevent the theft or assault.
Being in Rome is a trying experience for Josh because it brings on his flashbacks of his life as a pagan priest. He fades in and out of reality as he remembers bits and pieces of his previous life and especially his intense love affair with a Vestal virgin, Sabine. It is her tomb that the archaeologist were excavating. Staying in Rome, Josh experiences again the terrifying events that lead to Sabine being buried alive as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity and bearing Josh's baby.
Another archaeologist on the tomb dig, Gabriella Chase, finds herself a target of whoever stole the stones. Her apartment is burgled and some of her papers on the dig are stolen. Gabriella becomes the focus of a ruthless person who will stop at nothing to gain and understand the memory stones, even to kidnapping Gabriella's baby daughter to force Gabriella to translate the ancient symbols etched on the stones. With Josh's help, she will uncover the secret that allows the user to access their past life memories and force the shadowy killer to reveal himself and save her baby in the process.

This novel just didn't do it for me. I found it to be pretty tedious. The flashbacks to old Rome were often gruesome and didn't really add much to the story beyond the idea that Josh loved this woman and she was buried alive. It took forever for them to finally get her in the ground. I never developed an interest in the characters, except for Rachel, who was Josh's sister in a past life. Josh is supposed to become Gabriella's love interest but they don't get together until nearly the end and it is not surprising that it takes so long because Josh is more interested in his dead lover, Sabine, than in living, breathing women. Also the kidnapping of the baby was easy to see coming as the baby is merely there in the story to be kidnapped. I got so bored with the whole story that towards the end I was just skimming the pages wanting it to be over. Also, the ending stinks, as we are left hanging when one of the main characters is shot and we are not told what happens next. I just didn't care for this book.

New Words

Loculi: plural form of loculus, which is a place for the deposit of valuables, especially a chamber in the podium of a temple; or a niche in a tomb or catacomb in which a sarcophagus was placed.'"You weren't ... supposed to come back," Drago said, dragging every syllable out as if it was stuck in his throat. "I sent him ... to look in the loculi ... for the treasures."'

Flamen: a name given to a priest assigned to a state-supported god or goddess in Roman religion. 'The danger to every priest, every cult, everyone who held fast to the old ways, increased daily. The priest he'd seen in the gutter that morning was yet another warning to the rest of the flamen.'

Peyos: the long, uncut sideburns worn by male members of most Hasidic groups. 'His long black coat, baggy black pants and white shirt were wrinkled and smelled stale. Being unkempt displeased him, and the way people stared at his clothes, beard and peyos was annoying to him.'

Iconoclast: a destroyer of images used in religious worship; someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions. 'She was certainly happy in Rome, and she had always been an iconoclast.'

Koans: a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning. '"You are a fucking living encyclopedia of reincarnation theory, but you sit there like some Buddha, not saying a word, offering cryptic koans about letting the water reveal its secrets in time."'

Ladies' Lending Library

By Janice Kulyk Keefer

Spend an August in 1963 with the kids and moms of Kalyna Beach, sharing their up and downs (mostly downs) and getting a glimpse of life in this imaginary Ukrainian immigrant community. The moms are mostly from the old world and the kids are up to date members of Canadian society trying to cope with two opposing points of view, their moms more restrictive old fashioned ways and the siren call of the modern world with its dating, cars, makeup and sex.
The moms try to be good moms, but their own unhappiness and frustrations get in the way, with kids ending up feeling estranged and lonely with moms that just don't get it and dads who are out of the picture except on weekends. The few times that the dads show up their time is mostly consumed by chores and repairs but the time they can spend with their children is highly valued by both the kids and the dads as they horse around on the beach playing with the kids and getting a little sun.
Stuck out in the country, pretty much on their own most of the time, coping with kids and all the endless tasks that make up their days, the moms blow off a little steam with their "Ladies Lending Library," a weekly get together where the moms drink a little gin, gossip and complain and occasionally actually talk about some book they are reading. It's a way for these immigrant women to discuss and understand their new lives in Canada and it's a way for them to cope with their children who, although of Ukrainian heritage, are Canadian and definitely not old world.

Although this book is set during summer vacation at the beach, it is not a book about people having fun on holiday. These mothers are not happy campers. Not only do they feel very isolated and trapped in this small vacation community, they also are dissatisfied with their marriages and their kids and just life in general. This is a downbeat look at summer at the cottage. However, if you don't mind wading through all the angst and let the story take you where it will, you might find this story well worth reading as it takes you into the lives of these miserable folks.

New Word

Lisle: a strong fine cotton thread or fabric, formerly used to make stockings. 'After lunch, Marta had gone off to her room as usual, taken off her dress, and lain down on the bed in her slip, with her lisle stockings rolled to her knees.'

Animals in Translation

By Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

This book looks at animal behavior from an autistic point of view, comparing similarities between autistic brains and behavior and animal brains and behavior. The author, Temple Grandin, who is autistic, believes that autism can shine a light on how animals view the world, because of those similarities. She shares her own discoveries and struggles and how they have led her to realize that she sees the world in many ways the same as animals do.
Her autistic view point has enabled her to design animal handling systems and equipment that reduce the stress on the animal. In this this book she shares her insights with the goal of improving the lot of animals who share their lives with humans, from chickens and pigs and cattle to our pet dogs and cats. Her insights can help every person who wants to improve the quality of life of the animals under their care. This isn't just a book for pet owners, it has lots of tips for farmers, ranchers and packing houses.
Temple points out that people need animals and the humane thing to do is to make their lives as stress free and easy as we can. She also addresses the strange personality defects that can arise in animals that are over-bred or bred with the emphasis on improving one particular trait. This kind of over-breeding can lead to rapist roosters, dogs with epilepsy who bite without warning or provocation and cows who are indifferent mothers. One of the things Temple would like to see happen is less emphasis on building a particular trait within a breed such as large, meaty breasts in chickens, a hyper alert posture in sporting dogs and huge milk production in cows and more emphasis on breeding for overall good health.

This sounds like it is a boring book but it really isn't. Temple gets her point across with many interesting examples from reality that gives her text life and poignancy. It's well worth reading for anyone who shares their life with animals and cares for and about them.

Last Night at the Lobster

By Stewart O'Nan

Manny is the manager of the Red Lobster and we get to know him on its closing day. Even though he has another job waiting for him at Olive Garden (owned by the same corporation that owns Red Lobster), the new job is a step down since he will only be the assistant manager there. So this will be Manny's last day as boss and he has decided he will carry through and do the best he can. But it isn't going to be easy. First of all, he is short staffed as some of his employees couldn't be bothered to show up for the last day. This means Manny has to take up the slack, helping out in the kitchen, helping set up tables out front, doing the routine maintenance like putting deicer on the snowy sidewalk. Secondly, a big snowstorm is bearing down on the community and Manny has to fight to keep the sidewalks cleared, make sure the snow plow does the parking lot and then have to cope with a power failure that shuts down the lights but not the kitchen. Complicating things even more are Manny's feelings for one of the servers, a woman Manny was involved with until she ended it. Even though he has a pregnant girlfriend, Manny is still enamored with this other woman. After this day he will never see her again and this is the last chance for Manny to reach out to her.
Manny wants this last night at the Red Lobster to be stellar even though every thing seems to be conspiring to spoil it for him, from selfish customers, vengeful employees, and foul weather to an indifferent ex-lover.

Manny is a real heart-breaker, yearning as he does what he can't have anymore, his old job and his old girlfriend. Even though his world is crashing down around his ears he still holds it together and runs the restaurant with grace and competence. Reading about his last day as manager makes one wish that it could all work out for him, that a last minute reprieve will be granted him and his restaurant. Following Manny as he overcomes the day's challenges and deals with his own lost expectations was a memorable and interesting experience.

Don't Know Much About the Civil War

By Kenneth C. Davis

From the cutesy title I thought this would be a more tongue in cheek or a more entertaining look at the Civil War. But it's not. It is pretty much just a history of the Civil War. So that was disappointing but even so it is a very clear and easy to understand explanation of the US Civil War. The book ranges from the causes of the Civil War, follows the course of the war and briefly examines the aftermath of the war. Need to know more about the Civil War? You can't go wrong with this book.

New Word

Catafalque: a decorated bier on which a coffin rests in state during a funeral. 'I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. "Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the soldiers. "The President," was the answer, "he was killed by an assassin!"' (From Lincoln's account of a dream he had.)

The Green Hat

By Michael Arlen

Iris Storm has a bad reputation. Her first husband committed suicide and when asked why he did it, Iris said he did it "for purity." Which society took to mean her lack of it. But does Iris deserve her bad reputation? Maybe not.
Pretty, captivating and enigmatic, Iris makes her own way through the world, snapping her fingers at those who dare to sneer at her. But when her path crosses that of a former lover who is about to be married, tears and blood will be shed. Will Iris fight for her own happiness and destroy a newly wed couple's bliss? Or will she bow out the only way she knows how?

This book was a big hit when it first came out in the 1920s. It still holds up although it might be considered a bit over-dramatic what with three suicides and an almost fatal illness.
Here are some quotes from the book that give a little of its flavor:

And one of the reasons why there can never be a Marxist revolution in England is that the rebels will be told they are sneering at the King. They will be abashed.

"Wait till you're so free that you just daren't do what you like. Wait till you're so free that you can be here one minute and there another. Wait till you're so free that you can see the four walls of your freedom and the iron-barred door that will let you out into the open air of slavery, if only there was some one to open it. Ah, yes, freedom...."

"I couldn't tell her," I said.
Guy smoked thoughtfully, looking over my head. "I'll tell her," he said, "in the morning. Had an idea he might blow his brains out."

"And I do so hope, Naps," she said with a fine large smile, "that your friend won't die, for then how will I manage a man who has nothing left to live for?"

New Words

Mulcted: To be punished for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine. 'When the law had gone he would come back wiping his mouth, and jokes were exchanged with the butcher and the fishmonger; but when the law really wanted him, say twice a year, a posse of policemen would simultaneously rush both ends of our lane, and the hearty-looking man was mulcted in a fine not exceeding so much and was back again the next morning within a yard of my door.'

Mondaine: disenchanted, blasé, cynical, disappointed, disillusioned, knowing, sophisticate, sophisticated, worldly. 'It was a sort of blasphemy in her to be so beautiful now, to stand in such ordered loveliness, to be neither shameful like a maiden nor shameless like a mondaine, nor show any fussy after-trill of womanhood, any dingy ember of desire.'

Caddish: offensive, discourteous; low-bred; mean, vulgar. 'I was startled at her eyes in the looking-glass. They were cold blue stones, expressionless, caddish as a beast's.'

Assoiled: assoil means to absolve or pardon; to atone for. '"And oh, if one could be assoiled in human understanding!"'

Declassée: having lost social standing or status. 'His sister was, as it's not impossible to have gathered, what is called declassée -- even for a March or a Portairley.'

Bye-election: a by-election or bye-election is a special election held between general elections to fill a vacancy. 'Hilary, Guy wrote from Mace, was helping a Liberal to fight a musty bye-election in some Staffordshire place.'

Cenotaphs: a cenotaph is a monument built to honor people whose remains are interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered. 'Yet they would verily seem, those few dead young men, to have a certain god-like quality of immortality denied to the multitude that died with them and for whom cenotaphs and obelisks and memorials must do duty for memory: that they should retain the regret of their many friends is not remarkable, but it is odd, and pleasant, how they will ever and again loiter, gay and handsome and "sound," in the imagination of those who never knew them.'

Puissant: powerful; forceful. 'But would I had the debonair truculence of that puissant nobleman, the Earl of Birkenhead, who has dared to say, in an age given over to the new-rich snobbery of exalting plain, normal men: "I do not like meek men."'

Shagreen: an untanned leather, often dyed green, sometimes made from the skin of a shark. 'Born of Machiavelli by Demoiselle Demi-monde, crafty, thin, pale, dry-shiny as shagreen, he walked to fortune about every great restaurant in Europe, adding always, but with discrimination, to his order of l'aristocracie internationale; and to bankruptcy twice, of truly patrician magnificence, about the baccara tables of his less inspired but more cautious colleague, M. Cornuché of Cannes and Deauville.'

Lysis: recuperation in which the symptoms of an acute disease gradually subside or in biochemistry, the dissolution or destruction of cells such as blood cells or bacteria. 'But in these things the patient just continues ill, two, three, four weeks, might live, might not. Lysis, not crisis.'

Aigrettes: an aigrette is a long plume (especially one of egret feathers) worn on a hat or a piece of jewelry in the shape of a plume. '"Dear, it takes a woman who once had a passion for aigrettes and who loves eating lobsters to be so sensitive."'

Drugget: an inexpensive coarse woolen cloth, used as a covering for finer carpets, as a layer between the carpet and the floor, or as a cheap floor covering. 'Beneath my careful feet was a narrow strip of drugget slanting from the door across to the bed, but on all sides of this strip the floor shone vast and brown in the dim light of a shaded lamp that stood on the heavy oak mantelpiece.'

Funked: to funk is to be afraid of, to shrink in fright. '"Here I am at thirty, a nothing without even the excuse of being a happy nothing, a nothing liked by other nothings and successful among other nothings, a nothing wrapped round by the putrefying little rules of the gentlemanly tradition. And, my God, they are putrefying, and I bless the England that has at last found us out. And if they hadn't been putrefying, sir, and if we hadn't been going rotten with them, you couldn't have taken advantage of the fact that Iris never funked anything in her life to bring her down here and drag her through the slime---"'

Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq

By Christopher Cerf and Victor S. Navasky

The authors review some of the many claims by Bush and his people and others who were in support of the Iraq war and points out how mistaken they often were in their claims and assumptions. For example, Major General Martin Dempsey, at a ceremony reopening a bridge in Baghdad said, "Safety and security have been achieved." Fifteen hours after this statement, quoting from the book, "insurgents drove across the newly reopened bridge and fired eight Katyusha rockets into the Al Rashid Hotel inside the Green Zone, killing a staffer of the Coalition Provisional Authority, wounding fifteen others, and narrowly missing U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who was staying at the hotel." The book is chock full of these priceless little gem facts and well worth reading for anyone, for or against the Iraq war. The book ends with a quote from Dick Cheney on the first Iraq war where he says what a horrible mistake it would have been to try and invade Iraq because taking over Iraq would destabilize what is a very volatile part of the world and he warned, "It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq." Too bad he didn't remember what he had previously said when Bush and company were planning their move against Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Review from the Huffington Post.

New Word:

Précis: an outline; a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory. 'Therefore, rather than provide an obfuscatory précis, we herewith present what nonscientists might think of as a preview of coming attractions.'

Beat the Reaper

By Josh Bazell

Dr. Peter Brown is on his way to work when a man tries to mug him, because he "can see the blue scrub pants under my overcoat, and the ventilated green plastic clogs, so he thinks I've got drugs and money on me." Huge mistake on the mugger's part as Peter proceeds to break the man's arm and smash his face in. Peter is not just a doctor, he is an ex-mafia hit man.
The novel proceeds as we follow Peter the doctor/killer on his rounds dealing with patients and popping various pills to keep himself going and as he slowly acquaints the reader with his past and how he became a hit man.
His past is very complicated, with roots in the old country and the murders of his grandparents, which sort of pushed him into a friendship with the son of a mob lawyer. The son, who has the unlikely nickname of Skinflick, introduces Peter, then known as Pietro Brnwa, to his dad and the dad sets Peter up to kill the men who killed his grandparents, launching Peter on his career as a hit man.
After years as a hit man and lots of complications which we read about as flashbacks through the story, Peter turns against Skinflick and his father and enters witness protection and thus starts on the road to his new career as doctor in a New York hospital, supposedly to make up for all the murders he committed by now saving lives. Too bad for Peter that one of his patients turns out to be an old Mafioso who recognizes Peter and rats him out before Peter can prevent him. The last part of the novel deals with Peter fighting for his life against the thugs sent to take him out.

This was a compelling read, especially the parts about Peter's time in the hospital dealing with the patients and medical staff; in fact that is the best part of the story. The part dealing with the mafia thugs and Peter's career as a killer were gross, disgusting and disturbing and were really too much for me. I didn't care for those parts at all, it was all just too horrible. Still the story was interesting even if too yucky for my taste and I read in just a few days.

For another review see the Houston Chronicle review by Barbara Liss.

New Words

Omertà: a code of silence practiced by the Mafia; a refusal to give evidence to the police about criminal activities. 'Mob omertà bullshit runs both ways --the old guys blackmail the new guys, and the new guys finger the old guys.'

Vuarnets: a brand of sunglasses. 'I cut down on the Old Europe mannerisms and started dressing shaggy-preppy, with Vuarnets and a coral necklace.'

Santa Clawed

By Rita Mae Brown

Another in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series, this one finds Harry and her pets getting ready for Christmas. As luck would have it, when Harry goes to buy a Christmas tree, her dog, Tucker, finds a dead body at the Christmas tree lot and once again Harry and the pets are in the thick of another murder investigation.
In this case, the dead man has had his throat cut and an obol, an old coin, inserted under his tongue. He is also a monk, from a local order that runs a hospice for the terminally ill, the Brothers of Love Hospice. Recognized in the community for their good works, the monks seem to be unlikely targets for murder and yet before much longer a second monk is found murdered in the same way, also with a coin under his tongue.
Turns out the saintly monks may not be so saintly. The two dead monks came to the order later in life after having messed up in the secular world. And they aren't the only monks in the Brothers of Love with checkered backgrounds.
Things go from bad to worse when Harry's pets lead her to a stash of cash hidden in an old wood lot, but someone catches Harry off guard and bashes her in the head, leaving her unconscious in a bad snowstorm with only her pets to stand by her.

Reading about Harry's life in the hills of Virginia is always entertaining. Rita Mae Brown paints Crozet as the very appealing kind of down home small town that many would like to escape to, if you can ignore all the dead bodies. Well, it's a mystery series and that means you have to have some dead bodies. The murder plot drives the story but the best part of the Mrs. Murphy series is Brown's portrait of small town life in rural Virginia.

For another review see Lady Rhian's blog at Blogspot.

Rabbit Is Rich

By John Updike

Pulitzer Prize winning novel in 1982.

Third in the series, this novel finds Rabbit in his 40's, enjoying a little prosperity, at a calmer point in his life. His son, Nelson, is grown and off at college. Rabbit and his wife, Janice, are living with his wife's mom and Rabbit is working at the car lot owned by his wife and her mom, which is now a Toyota dealership. Thanks to Janice and her family, Rabbit is living in security and comfort and a sort of contentment. He and his wife also enjoy a mild social life with their friends at the country club, Rabbit continuing to play the golf he was introduced to in the first novel.
The snake in this little paradise turns out to be Nelson, who comes home unexpectedly with a girl, Melanie, moving into the same home with Rabbit, his wife and his mother-in-law. Nelson is an unhappy boy, trying to be a man, and blaming Rabbit for his misery. Nelson is still angry at Rabbit for the death of Jill, a drifter girl from the second novel who died in a house fire. Somehow, Nelson thinks Rabbit abandoned Jill to her fate, blaming Rabbit for not being there when the house was torched.
So Nelson blames and resents his father and his father resents Nelson, especially when Nelson pushes his way onto the dealership, talking his mom and grandma into letting him try to sell cars. This means that Jan's old lover from the second novel, Charlie, has to be sent packing because the business can't support an extra salesman. Rabbit feels bad for Charlie, whom he has come to regard as a friend, but can't stop what is happening since Janice and her mom are the owners of the business.
Then Nelson reveals that he has a girlfriend he met at college who is now pregnant. This is not Melanie, the girl he brought home, but is another girl, called Pru. This girl soon arrives to move into the house too, Melanie having left by then. All in all, the big house is starting to feel a little crowded and Rabbit wants to move into a house of his own, against the objections of the wife's mom, who is afraid of being left alone in the big house.

This novel isn't exactly jammed pack with action. At least in this one Rabbit doesn't slap any women around which is an improvement. But he has frequent fantasies of bashing his wife's head in, so he hasn't changed that much, he's still a jerk: "Janice giggles. Some day what would give him great pleasure would be to take a large rock and crush her skull in with it." This skull crushing fantasy recurs at several points in the book. Of course he doesn't bash her in the head since she is his meal ticket and he owes all his new prosperity to her and her car dealership.
Nelson turns out to be a chip off the old block with similar murderous fantasies. "It would be nice, as long as he was standing, to take up one of the beer bottles and smash it down into the curly hair of Melanie's skull and then to take the broken half still in his hand and rotate it into the smiling plumpnesses of her face, the great brown eyes and the cherry lips, the mocking implacable Buddha calm." He even pushes his pregnant girl friend down a steep stair case because he is angry at her. Rabbit and Nelson are more alike than they realize.
The first novel had some understated sex scenes, the second had more explicit sex scenes and this one has very graphic sex scenes. Is it education or degradation? I don't know but if you don't enjoy reading such stuff then give this one a skip because the book is chock full of it. Other than that, it has been kind of fun watching Rabbit live his rather ordinary life, even though I find Rabbit rather repulsive. Next one in the series is Rabbit at Rest in which Rabbit ends up where we all do. Doesn't sound like it will be a lot of fun to read.

For another review see Fifty Books Project.

New Words

Stanchions: a stanchion is a prop or support, usually a piece of timber in the form of a stake or post, used for a support. 'Scrolling cast-iron light stanchions not lit since World War II.'

Redbellies: a form of bullying or hazing in which a person is held down and the stomach slapped until it is reddened. 'Rabbit has known Ronnie for thirty years and never liked him, one of those locker-room show-offs always soaping himself for everybody to see and giving the JVs redbellies and out on the basketball court barging around all sweat and elbows trying to make up in muscle what he lacked in style.'

Nassau: a popular competition among recreational golfers. Points are awarded to the winner of the front nine, back nine and overall 18. Each point usually represents a separate bet. 'Harry's team lost the Nassau, but he feels it was his partner's fault.'

Ferhuddled: confused, mixed up, fractured. 'The boy means well in his way but he's all ferhuddled for now, and the girl, I don't know.'

Soignée: polished and well-groomed; showing sophisticated elegance. 'She was less soignée than formerly; the tiny imperfection at one corner of her lips had bloomed into something that needed to be covered with a little circular Band-Aid.'

The Sand Castle

By Rita Mae Brown

A memoir of a day at the beach, set in the 1950s, with a little girl, Nickel, and her young cousin, Leroy, and his grandmother, Louise, and the little girl's mother, Julia, Louise's younger sister.
Louise's daughter, Leroy's mother, has passed away six months previously and little Leroy is still grieving for her. Leroy has become a little whinny and difficult as he continues to adjust to his loss. He refuses to get in the water because he is afraid of sharks. He and Nickel squabble and fuss at each other while the two sisters also squabble and fuss at each other. While the kids play the two adults build an elaborate sand castle. It's a typical day at the seashore, the worse thing that happens is one of the kids gets nipped by a crab.
Not much plot here, just a pleasant, enjoyable visit to a time when people didn't worry about skin cancer and coat their kids with sunscreen and didn't worry about lung cancer while blithely smoking cigarette after cigarette.

For another review see Epinions.

Medicine River

By Thomas King

Will is a photographer that lives in the town of Medicine River in Canada, his home town. Although he was raised there, when he grew up he moved to Toronto, but came back home to live after his mother died. Will's mom was a Blackfoot and his dad was an Anglo but his dad was not part of Will's life and Will's mom raised him and his brother on her own.
Anyway, Will moves back home and opens a photography studio and reestablishes himself in the Blackfoot community, with the help of Harlen Bigbear, a man who knows everybody and their business and loves to manage the lives of his friends, including Will and his girlfriend Louise and her baby daughter.

A sampling of tales from the life of Will and other members of the Blackfoot community in this northern Canada town, this story doesn't exactly have a happy ending but it doesn't have a bad ending either. Like real life, the folks of Medicine River muddle through. Sharing their trials and triumphs made for an enjoyable and entertaining and often amusing read.

For another review see Books & Quilts.

The Calling

By Inger Ash Wolfe

Simon is there to help you, to relieve your pain and suffering, to enable you to pass over painlessly when you are suffering from an incurable, painful, and fatal disease. He is an angel of mercy. Or is he?
Delia Chandler is dying of cancer. She has nothing to look forward to except more and increasing pain and death. She turned to Simon for release and he obliged her. But to the police this is murder and Hazel Micallef, the head of the local police department, is going to do her best to track down the man who came into her quiet Canadian town and committed this crime.
Simon is a man on a mission. He isn't out just to help the suffering, not at all. For he has a bizarre plan, a plan requiring the defilement of the bodies of his victims, a plan that has left a trail of bodies across the breadth of Canada. The only thing that will get in his way is Hazel Micallef and her detectives.
Hazel Micallef has troubles of her own, including unrest in her department, a sometime drinking problem, a failed marriage, an aching back, and a feisty mother who is trying to manage her daughter's life and who lives with her. Between trying to solve the most important case to ever come her way and juggle her own problems and insecurities and her increasing back pain, Hazel is tested to the limits.

This was a pretty good story, with a very disturbing and weird killer and a sympathetic and down to earth heroine in Hazel. Trying to figure out just exactly what Simon was really up to, beside being an angel of mercy, was intriguing right up the revelation of his motives, which turn out to be really offbeat, something I never would have guessed. Simon is probably one of the strangest killers in fiction to come along since that nut in Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill. Some of the things Simon does to his victims makes for pretty grim reading, but that is par for the course for thriller novels. But the gore is less important than the puzzle of Simon's true motives and I will remember Simon for a long time.

New Words

Damiana: an herb used for tea and for medicinal and recreational reasons. For more details see Wikipedia. 'He put a tiny amount of the damiana in it and covered it with hot water. "It tastes like chamomile," she said.'

Shibboleth: a slogan, motto, or saying, especially one distinctive of a particular group; a password, phrase, custom or usage that reliably distinguishes the members of one group or class from another. 'A framed sampler hung on the wall over the piano, a shibboleth.'

Mimosas: a mixed drink containing champagne and orange juice. 'Ray Greene had brunch with his mother every Sunday. Drove out to The Poplars to get her, and took her to Riverside House for mimosas and pancakes.'

Asclepias milkweed. 'The eastern provinces were a better source for some of the mosses and lichens he could not find in such abundance out west. Club moss and Asclepias. He scoured the forest floor for seedpods, herbs, and fungus.'

Titrated and chloroform water: to titrate is to determine the concentration of a substance in a solution and Chloroform water is an aqueous solution of chloroform containing approximately 1 part in 200; it tastes sweet and is used to make foul tasting drugs taste better. 'He made the tincture with chloroform water and sodium carbonate, then titrated it. The herb's bitter scent filled the inside of the tent.'

Secondment: the detachment of a person from their regular organization for temporary assignment elsewhere. '"We're a secondment factory now, Ray. If Ian Mason isn't going to send me what I need, I'll beg, borrow, and steal it.'"

Grave Peril

By Jim Butcher

Book 3 of the Dresden Files series, this one finds Harry Dresden battling the baddies once again. Set in Chicago filled with spooks, vampires, wizards, demons, faerie, and other assorted supernatural beings, Harry is a wizard with a mission: keeping Chicago safe from those things that go bump in the night. He is ably assisted by a Knight of the Cross, Michael Carpenter, who wields a big, consecrated sword named Amoracchius.
The book starts off with Harry and Michael taking on a ghost who is stealing the life from the newborn babies in a hospital nursery. After they take care of that nasty ghost, they figure out that something or someone is riling up the spirit world and causing ghosts to become more active and much more dangerous. This person or entity is attaching a cruel, painful spell to the ghosts that pretty much drives them insane. Before long, this unknown starts to target Harry's friends and it becomes clear that someone is gunning for Harry himself and that this unknown wants Harry dead.
Harry sets forth to do battle, helped by Michael, having to fight off crazed spirits, dead wizards, vampires and his evil fairy godmother who wants to possess Harry for her own purposes. In the process, Harry pretty much gets his ass kicked.

Harry is up to his neck in trouble in this story, with his girlfriend in the hands of the vampires, his powers depleted in his battles with the enemy and with Michael having lost his holy sword due to Harry's bumbling. There is practically a battle in every chapter, described in gruesome detail, with Harry usually getting the worst of it. There are lots of interesting characters, including a talking skull that lives in Harry's lab and vampires that are really ghoulish. This is an action packed story full of creepy characters and plenty of blood and guts in which the author lives up to his name. I found the many characters interesting and the story compelling but for me, there were just too many fights and battles. Reading about people constantly getting attacked and beaten to a pulp just doesn't appeal to me. This book is plenty exciting but a little over the top for my taste. Still, if you like that sort of thing, then this book will not disappoint.

For another review see Publishers Weekly.

New Words

Margravine: the wife of a margrave, or a woman with the rank and responsibilities of a margrave, which is a lord or military governor of a frontier province in medieval Germany or the title of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. '"The Vampire Court," Kyle said, a measured cadence to his words, "extends a formal invitation to Harry Dresden, Wizard, as the local representative of the White Council of Wizards, to attend the reception celebrating the elevation of Bianca St. Claire to the rank of Margravine of the Vampire Court, three nights hence, reception to begin at midnight."'

Sidhe: supernatural creatures of Irish and Scottish folklore, a powerful, supernatural race also called fairies. 'The sidhe lady was beautiful beyond the pale of mortals, her eyes bewitching, her mouth more tempting than the most luscious fruit.'

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

By Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Grace Makutsi are the two detectives of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency located in Gaborone, Botswana. The lady detectives are not in the business of tracking down dangerous people. That kind of work they are glad to leave to the police. No, their investigations are of the domestic type, like their current case of a woman trying to locate her family. Mma Sebina's mother died with a secret and Mma Sebina believes the secret was that her mother adopted her and now she wants to locate her relatives. So Mma Ramotswe has to discover first, if the woman was adopted and second, where her family might be.
Another mystery is more personal to Mma Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi. Someone has sent them an unsigned letter that says: "Fat lady: you watch out! And you too, the one with the big glasses. You watch out too!" Mma Ramotswe is not the kind of person to step on other people's toes so she is at a loss to understand who would send her a threatening letter. She even begins to fear she is being followed as she goes about her investigations.

So the story goes, composed of small yet fascinating situations and minor mysteries that Mma Ramotswe manages to handle with grace and composure, including her husband getting swindled by a crooked doctor making promises of a cure for their crippled child. Visiting with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is a sweet escape and makes for very pleasant, escapist reading. I enjoyed this novel a lot.

For another review see Mostly Fiction Book Reviews.

New Words

Vade mecum: a handbook; a concise reference book providing specific information about a subject or location. 'They had not invented the term, having found it in the pages of her vade mecum, Clovis Andersen's The Principles of Private Detection.'

Kudu: large African antelope. '"But her eyes are quite big, aren't they? Have you seen them, Mma Ramotswe? They are big, like the eyes of a kudu."'

A Kudu:

The Case of the Missing Books

By Ian Sansom

Israel Armstrong went to school to learn to be a librarian, his dream job. Working in a bookstore as he has done for years is not his vision for himself. He gets a position as librarian at a village library in Ireland. He knows this will be quite a change for him, a born and bred Londoner. But the new job turns out to be an even greater challenge than he ever thought.
First off, the library is closed. Instead it is a mobile library or bookmobile. It isn't even a nice bookmobile since it has been sitting neglected in a barn. It doesn't even have any shelves for the books. Next, it turns out all the books, some 15,000 volumes, have disappeared. Israel's boss expects him not only to get the bookmobile up and running, get shelves installed, locate all the overdue books but also expects him to track down all the thousands of missing books and since Israel has signed a contract he is pretty much stuck. Further, he is living in a converted chicken coop, the locals are hostile and smug, and Israel is a bit of a boob.
Israel's adventure goes bad from the start, with the ferry running late, his ride never showing up, the library closed down, his pushy boss who won't let Israel out of his contract and finally a hostile driver who bullies Israel into climbing in the skylight of the old bookmobile and in the process soiling his clothes and bumping his head. It just goes downhill from there as he gets bashed and pushed around and his wallet burned up and his glasses broken and various injuries to his person and the locals are all being a bunch of jerks.
In the end Israel is shown the solution of the mystery of the missing books and it turns out it really wasn't a mystery since every one but Israel already knew where the books were and I suppose were laughing their heads off at the poor fool's struggles to get their library up and running.

I didn't care for this novel. Israel lets himself be bullied by a bunch of heartless and unsympathetic local yokels. He is attacked, housed in a chicken coop with chickens in it, threatened by various people and generally treated really foully. Israel is a doormat who lets people run roughshod over him and jerk him around and generally make a complete ass of him. I kept waiting for him to stand up to the creeps surrounding him. It just seemed like people were being mean simply because he was a stranger in town. I got really tired of reading about Israel being abused. I guess the abuse is supposed to be funny but it wasn't funny to me. I didn't like the spineless Israel, I didn't like his hostile boss and his bully driver, I didn't like the hateful locals, I found none of it to be amusing, and I just didn't like this book.

For another review see The Guardian.

New Words

Craic: fun and enjoyment. "His new life in Ireland was supposed to be overflowing with blarney and craic."

Pantechnicon: a large moving van (especially one used for moving furniture. "When the ferry finally arrived in the grey-grim port of Larne, hours late, and disgorged its human, pantechnicon and white-van contents onto the stinking, oily, wholly indifferent harbourside, Israel had a bad feeling, and it wasn't just his headache and the sea-sickness."

Tardis: The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) is a time machine and spacecraft in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who.

Blaggarding giving someone a hard time. "The man coughed again, and spat on the pavement. 'They're blaggarding you, you know.'"

Ex-libris: Latin, literally "from the books." A bookplate printed with the owner's name or initials; a book that has been discarded from a library. "'Old librarians never die,' said Norman. 'They just become ex-libris.'"

Pavlova: this is a dessert that is made primarily of a baked meringue shell that is then filled with various fruit. "He may well have been a touring Romany musician; he was certainly enjoying his vast, Grauballe pavlova."

Theosophists Theosophy is a philosophy that holds that all religions have a portion of the truth. "Presbyterians might as well have been theosophists as far as Israel was aware, and they may have practised child sacrifice and believed in every kind of impossible thing, but he liked their style."

Furze: a prickly evergreen shrub. "Israel wasn't entirely sure he knew what a furze was but he started rootling around under a couple of likely looking bushes, ripping his hands on their yellowy spiny branches."

Geg: a funny person; a fun time. "'That's not funny at all. I'll tell you what that is: that is hilarious. You're a geg, d'you know that?'"

Bogeys and dote: Bogeys is snot; dote is a cute person, usually a baby. "'And Charlie with the bogeys - he's a wee dote, isn't he?'"

Waney-edge: An unsmoothed, natural wavy edge on a plank, which could be covered by tree bark. "'D'you have any waney-edge?' asked Ted, who was poking around in a pile of logs."

Rodden: a narrow, little road. "'And when you're done, look, it's back down here and left down the rodden there, and you'll be back at the farm in ten minutes.'"

Echt, pleached, espaliered, cordoned, and tanalised: Echt means genuine, not fake or counterfeit or a reproduction. To pleach is to unite by interweaving, as branches of trees. Espaliered is when a tree or shrub is trained to grow flat against a trellis or wall. To cordon a tree is to train and prune it to grow in a pattern or along a trellis or other support. Tanalised wood is wood that has been treated with preservatives. "The trees that flanked these curious, echt sculptures had been variously pleached, espaliered , and cordoned, giving them the appearance of having been shaped out of old scraps of tanalised timber rather than having actually grown up naturally from the earth."

Trilby hat and Boiler suit: A trilby hat or trilby, is a soft felt men's hat with a narrow brim and a deeply indented crown. Traditionally it was made from rabbit hair felt, but now it is sometimes made from other materials. A boiler suit is a coverall; a one-piece garment with full-length sleeves and legs like a jumpsuit, but usually less tight-fitting. "He was wearing a trilby hat, and a boiler suit over a three-piece suit, and he was working very slowly and with deep concentration with what looked like a cooking spatula, shaping and moulding a concrete bust, like one of the huge heads Israel had seen in the garden."

Shloer and Banoffee pies: Shloer is a line of non-alcoholic sparkling drinks, mostly grape juice available in the United Kingdom. Banoffee pie is a dessert made from bananas, cream and toffee served in a pastry or cookie crumble base. "Christmas was only a week away, and there was a tree, and decorations and much sipping of Shloer and wine and beer and at the point at which the desserts were being served -- a range of pavlovas and banoffee pies to rival those in any mid-range provincial pub or bistro -- Zelda swept out of the kitchens and through the room as if on the crest of a wave, hair high and erect, chatting to guests, laughing with them, dangling mistletoe as she went."

Rabbit Redux

By John Updike

Rabbit is up to his usual low standard in this, the second novel about Rabbit Angstrom. Not only does he slap his wife and his sometime girlfriend around, he brings a drug dealer into his home that he shares with his thirteen year old son, Nelson. Rabbit also lets a drug addict move into the house, a young teen girl, who becomes Rabbit's on again off again girlfriend. Influenced by the dealer and the addict, Rabbit begins smoking marijuana during their bull sessions in the evenings, all this in front of his son.
The novel starts out about ten years after the first novel, Rabbit, Run. Rabbit is now working at the same factory his father has worked at for decades. Jan, Rabbit's wife, is working at her father's car dealership and she has gotten involved with a fellow employee and has moved out of Rabbit's house and in with her lover, leaving Rabbit to care for their son.
A guy from work introduces Rabbit to a rich teenage girl who has run away from home and needs a place to stay. Rabbit is attracted to the girl and agrees to let her stay at his house. Somehow her drug dealer boyfriend Skeeter, who is running from the law, also ends up at the house. Rabbit, Skeeter, and the girl spend their evenings getting high and listening to Skeeter lecture Rabbit on the plight of the black man, all under the impressionable eyes of Rabbit's son.

I still hate Rabbit and I didn't like his house guests any better. Rabbit is a lousy husband and a lousy father and it was unsettling reading about Rabbit's willingness to expose his child to such unsavory behavior and characters. Rabbit and his friends and their antics were disgusting and I felt sorry for his kid being exposed to that filth. Unsurprisingly in the end it all goes up in smoke. I guess Rabbit had a good time and maybe that is all that matters to him. Still, as much as I despise Rabbit, Updike tells a pretty engrossing story, even if most of the characters in it are unsympathetic. I just hope Rabbit takes a turn for the better in the next novel, Rabbit Is Rich.

For another review see Kirkus Reviews.

New Words

Redux: Of a topic, redone, restored, brought back, or revisited.

Hectographed: a type of printing process. 'The menus are in hectographed handwriting. Nelson's face tightens, studying it.'

Ofays: a white person; white, white-skinned. 'He knows he can never make it intelligible to these three ofays that worlds do exist beyond these paper walls.'

Pawprints of Katrina

By Cathy Scott

This is the story of the pet rescue efforts following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. When people were evacuated after the city flooded, they were not allowed to bring their pets and were forced to leave them behind, abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Many of these animals drowned, starved or were injured and didn't survive. A fortunate few were rescued by animal shelter employees and volunteers who entered flooded and abandoned neighborhoods in search of pets. Thousands of pets were rescued due to the efforts of these dedicated people but only about 15% were reunited with their families. This is because the animals had no ID tags to help the shelters track down their people. Apparently, many of the dogs left behind were what are called "yard dogs," not really a part of the family, just left outside to bark at strangers and protect the house, so the people who owned these dogs didn't care if they got them back or not. And of course, there were many, many abandoned cats. According to this book, some 100,000 to 250,000 animals were left behind in the New Orleans area and only some 20,000 were rescued. The shelter people did the best they could working under difficult and dangerous conditions, often trying to rescue animals that had become wary and wild after weeks of being on their own.

It's a sad and harrowing story, reading about the struggles to save abandoned pets. Many were saved and many more weren't and because of that new laws have been enacted to provide protection and shelter for pets during an emergency. But, as the book points out, owners need to make provision for their animals and especially make sure the animal has some form of identification, whether it is tags or a ID chip placed under the animal's skin. If you are going to have pets, you need to be responsible and provide for your pet's safety, just like you would for your children. Pets are dependant upon their owners; even the toughest and meanest yard dog needs a responsible and caring owner.

I found this book to be informative and enlightening and made me realize I should get an ID chip for my cat. Although he is strictly an indoor cat, if we ever had to evacuate and he got lost in the melee, the only chance we would have of getting him back is if he has an ID chip. If you care about animals, then you will probably get a lot out of reading this book.

Child of a Dead God

By Barb & J.C. Hendee

Magiere is being plagued by dreams about a castle high in the mountains. Inside that castle is a mysterious and powerful orb. In the dreams, Magiere is commanded to go and get the orb, but for what purpose is not revealed. Unable to shake these dreams, Magiere feels compelled to hunt for that distant, high castle and its ancient orb.
Traveling with Magiere is her lover, Leesil and her friends Wynn, a sage and Chap, a big furry dog who isn't really a dog. Also coming on the trek is the elf Sgäile, who has sworn to protect Magiere. But Magiere and company aren't the only ones who want the orb. The elves want the orb too and, worse, Magiere's half brother, the vampire Welstiel, is desperate to obtain the orb. So, trailed by enemies, Magiere and friends set off on their journey to fulfill Magiere's obsession.

Billed as a "Novel of the Nobel Dead," Child of a Dead God is one in the series of the "Nobel Dead Saga." Reading the previous novels in the series would be helpful before reading this one. I was not familiar with the series before coming across this book. Based on this novel, I probably will not be looking for the other books in the series.
This is not to say that the book was a bad read. It wasn't. It just wasn't that interesting to me. Magiere's trek to the castle was rather boring. The only parts that I found interesting were those dealing with the vampire Welstiel and his unwilling sidekick Chane. After reading about them, going back to Magiere was a let down. Welstiel and Chane were so much more intriguing than the Magiere and friends.
Also, the fight scenes were rather gruesome and I mostly just skipped through the descriptions of battles as reading about people hacking at and maiming each other has never appealed to me. Also, I don't like elves and I especially didn't like their long, complicated names that I had no idea how to pronounce. I imagine, though, to those who are familiar with the characters and who have followed the story from the beginning, this book is a vital part of the whole story.

New Words

Hauberkand falchion: A hauberk is an armored vest, usually of chain-mail. A falchion is a short broad slightly convex medieval sword with a sharp point. "In black breeches and a white shirt recently tailored within the city, she had donned her studded leather hauberk and strapped on her falchion."

Mantic: relating to divination; prophetic. "Two seasons past, she had meddled with a mantic ritual to help Magiere track an undead."

Liberty

By Garrison Keillor

Clint Bunsen is the chairman of the Fourth of July committee which is in charge of all the festivities and the parade in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Last year's parade was a huge success, even getting airtime on CNN. Clint is determined to repeat last year's success but it ain't easy. The other committee members are fighting him every step of the way. They want to bring back the old boring stuff like the reading of the Declaration of Independence and fat old farmers driving their tractors in the parade. Also, Clint has hired professionals to handle the fireworks display instead of letting the volunteer fire fighters do it as in the past. But professionals cost money and the committee is kicking and Clint is getting fed up. He offers his resignation to the committee, not dreaming they will accept it, but they do. So this will be Clint's last year running the Fourth of July celebration.
Clint was surprised that the committee accepted his resignation but maybe it is not such a bad thing. Because Clint is feeling like life has passed him by and that he needs a change. Born and raised in Lake Wobegon and living most of his life there except for his stint in the military, Clint is stagnating. Tired of his job, tired of his wife, Irene, tired of Minnesota and Lake Wobegon, tired even of being of Norweigan heritage, Clint is easy pickings when a hot piece of tail comes sashaying his way, the beautiful young Angelica. She was Miss Liberty in last year's parade when she and Clint struck up an acquaintance that they maintained via the Internet and that eventually ended up in a motel room where Clint discovered he is not quite ready for the graveyard yet. Charmed by Angelica and mislead by a faulty DNA report that informed him he was not Norwegian but in fact Hispanic, Clint has set his sights on going back to California, where he lived when in the military, with Angelica on his arm. He always regretted leaving California and moving back to Lake Wobegon.
So the big day arrives with its various complications and Clint is still in charge and Angelica is in town to reprise her role as Miss Liberty and Clint's wife Irene has gotten hold of a hand gun and someone is going to pay for messing up her marriage.

It's always nice to visit Lake Wobegon whether on the radio or in one of Keillor's books. These small town folks have their biases and their moments like we all do but still, viewed through Keillor's eyes the humor comes through even with the whiny jerks on Clint's committee. Clint's problems are our problems, his disappointments our disappointments and his failures our failures too. Who hasn't thought "what if" or contemplated being in forbidden arms? Who hasn't thought that their life has become a prison they'd give almost anything to escape from? Rooting for Clint to find some happiness and watching him reach his decision was not only a lot of fun but touching too. Liberty was a delight to read and I hope Keillor continues to write books about Lake Wobegon.

For another review of the book see The New York Times.