Books Set in Europe: England: Bletchley Park

The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn (2021)

3 Stars

Read: December 28, 2022

Books Set in Europe: Paris France

City of Light, City of Poison: Murder Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris, by Holly Tucker (2017)

 

This book is a fascinating look of life in Paris the reign of Louis XIV, King of France.  The book opens in in 1665 with the murder of the city’s criminal lieutenant.  He had been stabbed to death in his home by burglars. Shortly thereafter, one of his colleagues was poisoned.  Nicholas de La Reynie was then appointed to clean up the streets of Paris – quite literally.  Paris, during this period, was quite filthy.  Streets were littered with garbage and the contents of chamber pots.  The dark streets were a haven for thieves.  La Reynie installed gaslights to illuminate the streets at night.  Homeowner were mandated to keep the lights burning at night. That was just one of the reforms brought about by La Reynie.

 

As La Reynie continued to stop criminal activities, he uncovered a series of crimes that involved members of France’s nobility.  No one was safe from these mysterious criminal activities and black magic, not even the King himself.  La Reynie uncovered nobles employing witches to cast spells and create poisons to destroy their enemies.  Priests were in the clutches of dark rituals.  Some of the practices and crimes La Reynie found had direct ties to the King.

 

This is a fascinating window into the history of France and the city of Paris in the late 1600s

 

Read:  December 2022

 

4 Stars

 

Books Set in North America: United States

Dava Shastri’s Last Day, by Kirthana Ramisetti (2021)

Dava Shastri is 70 years old and has a terminal illness.  She is an extremely wealthy businesswoman who had created a foundation to help kickstart careers for people less fortunate.  All her adult life, she has been very controlling, especially of her own children who are involved with her businesses.

The novel begins in 2044.  She has controlled every aspect of her life, including a doctor-assisted death.  Shortly before Christmas, she summoned her four children, their significant others, and her grandchildren to her estate on a private island.  They arrived just as a news leak reports Dava’s death.  Dava had assumed that reports of her death would also focus on her good works.  Instead, secrets of her past are brought forth.  Secrets that she must now confront, both to herself and her family.

Although the events surrounding Dava’s death take place in the future, much of the story recounts Dava’s life and her relationships with her family and friends.  Dribs and drabs of Dava’s past life are revealed, as well as the turbulent relationship of her family.

Sadly, for me, none of the characters were particularly likable.  Families squabble.  Sibling fight.

I was on a nine-hour plane flight, so this book was a distraction.

Read: November 27, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in North and South America: United States and Galapagos Islands

Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult (2021)

 

This novel focuses on the Covid-19 pandemic.  Diana O’Toole is a young art specialist on the verge of her 30^thbirthday.  She and her surgical resident boyfriend have plans to vacation on the Galápagos islands to celebrate her milestone birthday.  Days before they are to leave, Covid-19 shuts down the United States and her boyfriend must remain at the hospital to help with the influx of Covid patients.  He convinces Diana to still take the vacation as it is already paid for.

 

Diana arrives at the Galápagos, only to find that the island will be shut down for two weeks.  The hotel where she was to stay is closed down and the spotty internet connection is spotty.  Diana is isolated from the rest of the world and is unable to contact her boyfriend.  An old woman befriends her and provides her with food and a small apartment, the had formerly belonged to her adult son.

 

Being away from all this is familiar to her, Diana begins to re-evaluate her life and her relationship with her boyfriend.  Why doesn’t he try to contact her?  Why did he convince her to go on their trip alone?

 

The author also researched Covid-19, and the second half of the book explores how people who contracted the virus and survived coped.  [Spoiler Alert: Many patients who contracted Covid experienced hallucinations.  In this novel, Diana’s trip and lengthy stay in the Galápagos islands was a hallucination.  What seemed like a lengthy stay on the islands, was just a few days.  Days she spent in the hospital with a very serious case of Covid.  The author interviewed many patients who experienced such hallucinations while suffering from Covid and Diana’s story is based on these interviews.]

 

This was an easy and fun book.

 

Read:  November 8, 2022

 

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England

The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (2021)

 

This little mystery novel is written entirely in emails, letters, and messages.  It’s a clever gimmick.  We know from the beginning that someone was murdered and the accused is awaiting an appeal.  The title, The Appeal, has two meanings: (a) two young lawyers are tasked with reviewing the documents for the appeal; and (b) the family of a young child suffering from a rare form of cancer, is making an appeal for money for treatment.

 

As the reader goes through the documents the characters come to life.  The novel focuses on a small-town family-owned amateur theater group known as The Fairway Players.  They decide to put on Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons to raise money for Poppy, the 2-year-old with cancer.  Poppy is the granddaughter of Martin and Helen Hayward, the wealthy family and owner of the theater.  Helen is always the star of all the stage productions.  Since this is an amateur theater, the actors all have other jobs.  Most of the actors are in the medical field and work at one of the two near-by hospitals.

 

All is not as it seem, however, and each character has a secret.  As the young lawyers sift through the documentation, they come up with their own theories of who the killer or killers may be.

 

This was a fun and very quick read.  I had been in a reading dry-spell and this is just what I needed to get back into reading again.

 

Read:  November 7, 2022

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set in Asia: Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok Wakes to Rain, by Pitchaya Sudbanthad (2019)

 

Bangkok Wakes to Rain is a series of interconnected vignettes that take place mostly in Bangkok, Thailand.  The stories go back and forth in time from the late 1800s to the present day.  One story line follows Phineas Stevens, an American missionary doctor who initially feels lost in a culture he does not understand.  Then there is Sammy, son of a Thai mother and British father.  When his parents divorce, he goes to live with his father and new wife in England.  His mother retains the family estate in Bangkok.  When the house becomes too much for her to manage, she contemplates converting it into condos.

 

On one of his visits to see his mother in Bangkok, Sammy begins a relationship with Nee.  As a university student in the 1970s, she participated in the government protests.  She was traumatized by the military’s shooting of the student demonstrators.  Her sister, Nok, had left Thailand and became a restauranteur.  She served authentic Thai food.  One of her patrons was a Thai military officer who was actively behind some of the protests of the 1970s.  This puts her at odds with her sister.

 

There are many other quirky characters, each with his or her own views and experiences of living in Thailand’s bustling city of Bangkok.  The stories slowly weave together a picture of Thailand and Bangkok throughout the last century.

 

Read:  September 20, 2022

 

3.5 Stars

 

 

 

Books Set in Europe; Tuscany, Italy

The Light in the Ruins, by Chris Bohjalian (2013)

 

The action of the novel The Light in Ruins, takes place in the last years of World War II in Tuscany, Italy and again 10 years later.  The novel opens with the murder of Francesca Rosati in the 1950s.  She had formerly been the aristocratic wife of a wealthy family in Tuscany.  She was found with her throat cut and her heard removed.  Soon thereafter, another member of the family is murdered in a similar MO.

 

Detective Serafina Bettini was assigned to investigate Francesca’s murder.  When another member of the Rosati family is murdered in a similar manner to Francesca, Sarafina believes there is a link which is related to the family’s activity during the War.  The Rosati family had been coerced to host Nazi and Fascist forces during the final days of the War.

 

On the Rosati estate were underground ancient Etruscan ruins and tombs.  Filled with ancient artifact, the Nazi’s professed an interest in the relics, but had an ulterior motive of sending the valuables back to Nazi leaders.

 

Serafina, who had been a partisan during the War, suffered severe burns, the scars of which caused her to be self-conscious.  Her investigation brings her to the Rosati estate, which triggers vague memories of her participation during the War.

 

During the final days of the War, the Rosatis family was forced to host the Nazis and the Fascists.  Ancient Etruscan ruins and underground tombs were located on the grounds of their estate.  The Nazi’s profess an interest in the tombs but have an ulterior motive of sending valuable relics back to their leaders.

 

Meanwhile, Cristina Rosati, the 18-year-old daughter, fell in love with a Nazi soldier.  This did not endear her to her family or to the local villagers.

 

Serafina’s investigation of the murders forces her to face her own ghosts from the war.  I didn’t find the ending completely satisfying, but the novel held my interest.

 

Read:  September 14, 2022

 

3.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and North America: Germany and Alabama, United States

The German Wife, by Kelly Rimmer (2022)

Read:  August 28, 2022

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe; England

A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins (2021)

Read: August 25, 2022

4 Stars

Books Set in the North America, United States

Justice on the Brink, by Linda Greenhouse (2021)

Read: August 21, 2022

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York, New York

Snow in August, by Pete Hamill (1997)

Read: August 21, 2022

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: New York

The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (2021)

 

This novel is a fictional account of Belle da Costa Greene, born Belle Marion Greener.  She was born in 1879 in a Black family, although both parents were very light-skinned as was she and her siblings.  Her father, Richard T Greener, was the first Black graduate of Harvard University and spent his life advocating for racial equality.  Her mother, Genevieve Fleet, came from a prominent family, but didn’t want her children to suffer from racial discrimination.  She made the decision to raise her family as white.  Belle’s parents separated over this difference.

 

Genevieve changed their name from Greener to De Costa Greene, adding a fictional Portuguese grandmother to explain their olive-toned skin.  The family then moves into a white neighborhood and pass as white.

 

Through her friendship with a Morgan relative, Belle landed a job as J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian.  She quickly learned the ropes for acquiring rare books and artwork.  Morgan trusted her vision and she traveled to Europe to negotiate additions to Morgan’s extensive collection.  Along the way, she rubbed shoulders with New York’s elite.  To keep her job and her reputation in this life, however, Belle had to keep secret that she was passing for white.  This is the main theme of the novel.

 

On every page, Belle expresses her anxiety that she might be discovered, and her secret revealed.  For this reason she feels that she can never marry.  She fears that she may give birth to a dark child.  The book notes that her sibling marry and have children, so this fear she has seems a bit unfounded.  Instead, the novel notes that her love interest was the married Italian Renaissance art expert Bernard Berenson.  In the afterwards, the authors note that, while it is known that she did indeed have a relationship with Berenson, much of what they portray is speculation.  I think this does injustice to both Belle and Berenson.

 

I am probably one of the few people who didn’t particularly care for this book.  I didn’t find Belle that likeable.  She comes off as being too good, but is clearly conflicted by her passing as white, especially since her absent father was such an advocate for civil rights.

 

This book did, however, pique my interest in Belle da Costa Green née Belle Marion Greener and I will do some of my own research to learn more of this woman.

 

Read: August 9, 2022

2 Stars

 

Books Set in the Middle East

The English Teacher, by Yiftach Reicher Atir (2013)

Read: August 1, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in the Global Environment

Never, by Ken Follet (2011)

July 29, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in Africa: Congo

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hoschild (1998), with a 2005 update

Belgium was a relatively new monarchy when Leopold II became King.  He had an inferior complex as his country was so young and small.  He made the decision to conquer and colonize as much of Africa as possible.  In the mid-1800s, Africa had become one of the last land masses ripe for European colonization, and Leopold was ready.  He had his agents plunder a huge swath of territory surrounding the Congo River.  When rubber became an important product for the nascent automobile tire industry, Leopold had African slaves tap rubber plants.  His agents were brutal and would often kill or chop off the hands of slaves who didn't work quickly enough.

This was a fascinating story of a piece of history that I was unfamiliar with.

Read: June 20, 2022

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States

Bring Her Home, by David Bell (2017)

A forgettable thriller about mistaken identities.  

I read this on the flight to Budapest, so I was a captive audience.

Read: June 5, 2022

2 Stars

Books Set in North America; the United States

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad (2021)

 

This book is a memoir of a young woman who, at age 22, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.  It started with an uncontrollable and annoying itch.  Shortly after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad set off for Paris to begin a career as a journalist.  When she collapsed, she soon found herself on a flight back to New York where she was given a 35% chance of survival.

 

While isolated in the hospital, she began to document her treatments, first in a blog, and later in a regular column in the New York Times.  The response to her columns was phenomenal and soon she began receiving letters, emails and beginning correspondences with others who were similarly situated.

 

Shortly before being diagnosed, the author met “Will”.  They instantly fell for each other.  She feared that he would leave her when he learned she was so ill.  He didn’t.  He stuck by her throughout her treatments, stayed with her in the hospital, and ensured that she was getting proper care.  [Spoiler Alert:  When she is nearly in remission, their relationship began to faulter when he needed space for his well-being.  She gave him an ultimatum, and, to her surprise, he left.  Within months, she had found another lover, and when will wanted to reconcile, it was too late.]

 

Once Jaouad was deemed in remission, she learned how to drive and decided to set out on a 100-day solo road trip across the country to experience her new freedom and to meet some of her “pen-pals” who responded to her blog and newspaper columns.  The time alone on the drive allowed her to reflect on her life and her relationships formed during her illness.

 

The book’s title comes from a line in Susan Sontag’s memoir, Illness as a Metaphor, where Sontag noted that everyone is born with dual citizenship in the kingdom of wellness and the kingdom of sickness.  As Jaouad recounts her experience, she realized just how hard it was to adjust in moving from one “kingdom” to the other.

 

Read:  May 11, 2022

 

4 Stars

 

Books Set in Europe; Italy

Murder in Matera, by Helene Stapinski (2017)

 

Journalist Helene Stapinski grew up with the family lore of her great-great-grandmother Vita.  Vita had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s with her two teenage son, leaving her husband behind.  Vita was a murderess.  She had killed someone and left Italy to escape punishment.  She was also said to be a loose woman.  Why did she leave her husband behind?  She certainly paid the ultimate price for her crime when she, herself, was killed by a blow to the head at age 64.

 

Once in America, one of Vita’s sons went into a life of crime, as did the author’s grandfather.  Now the author ponders whether there really is a criminal gene, and would it be passed on to her children?

 

This thought haunts her, so she decides to venture back to the family’s ancestral home in Bernalda, Italy ~ the instep of Italy’s boot to learn her family’s history.  With little knowledge of her family background, with limited ability to speak Italian, and with two small children in tow, the author arrived in Bernalda and began asking questions.  She comes up empty.

 

Ten years later, the author ventured back to Italy, this time armed with two capable researchers who assist her as she pores over public birth, death, marriage records, and court murder transcripts.  What she finds astonishes her.

 

In the course of uncovering her family history, the author describes what life would have been like for the average peasant living hand-to-mouth in this rugged part of Italy.  The wealthy landowners were still expected to sleep with a young bride of his peasant worker.  The author envisions that this is what happened to Vita.  Her telling of Vita’s life is largely fiction, but is a plausible snapshot of how people lived in Bernalda in the latter half of the 1800s.

 

Spoiler Alert:  The trial transcript does, indeed, describe a murder.  The murderer is not, however, Vita, but instead, her husband Francesco.  The peasants are starving and do anything to get food for their families.  In the dead of night, Francesco and two of his friends were out taking pears from their landowner’s property.  They were confronted by whom they thought was the landowner.  The landowner had a shotgun and shot at the three men, slightly injuring one.  The other two men confronted the gunman, knocked him to the ground and badly beat him.  The injured man died a few days later.  Only later to they learn that the injured man was a young teenager, probably out to protect his family’s fruit orchard.  Francesco is found guilty of manslaughter and sent to prison.

 

A close look at the birth certificates of Vita’s children reveals that Vita is the wife of Francesco, but that he is “far from town” at the time of the births.  This leads the author to surmise that, with her husband in prison, Vita “gave” herself to the landowner in exchange for food.  The author also realized that if there is a murderous gene, it was not in Vita’s side of the family afterall.

 

This was a fast-paced read.  Much of what the author writes about her “murderous” great-great-grandmother is speculation, but does provide a glimpse of the harsh life of a peasant living in southern Italy in the later 1800s.

 

Read:  April 16, 2022

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set All Over the World

Exile: Portraits of the Jewish Diaspora, by Annika Hernroth-Rothstein (2020)

Journalist, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, grew up Jewish in Sweden where she encountered antisemitism at a young age.  Her family was not originally Swedish, and she looked different from blond-haired, blue-eyed classmates.  This later was the seed for her quest to explore how Jews managed to survive in other countries throughout the world.  In the course of a few years, the author traveled to several countries, including Cuba, Iran, Siberia, Venezuela and Morocco, to delve into the small Jewish communities.

The first stop in her book (although not necessarily her first stop chronologically) was the small island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia.  There she found the Jewish community was thriving, albeit in a self-imposed ghetto.  The community kept to itself, and its non-Jewish neighbors left them alone.  In Iran, the Jewish community emphasized that the country’s constitution provided them the freedom to practice their religion, subject, however, to Sharia law and refrain from showing support for Israel.  Synagogues in Iran were unguarded, unlike synagogues in Europe and the United States.

The author observed vibrant Jewish communities in places where one would not think such a community would be possible.  In each country and community, she visited, she observed how local practices impacted the community.  In some places, such as Venezuela, the community was deeply traditional, but not necessarily religious.  Despite the horrors and poverty of the country, the Venezuelan Jews were a tight-knit community protecting and looking out for each other.

In discussion each country, the author also provided a brief history of how the Jews came to be in that particular country.  It was interesting to read of the Jews of Cuba and Cuba’s interaction with the United States from a Swedish perspective.  American’s view the Cuban Revolution very differently.

I found this to be a very fascinating look at Jews throughout the world.

4.5 Stars

Read: March 29, 2022

Books Set in Australia; Melbourne

The Family Next Door, by Sally Hepworth (2018)

How well do you know the family next door?  That is the premise of this novel.  The novel focuses on a few neighbors in a quiet suburban neighborhood of Melbourne, Australia.  Essie and Ben seem to have the ideal life.  Angie and Lucas seem happy, as do Fran and Nigel.  All have young children.  When Isabelle moves into a house in the neighborhood, suddenly secrets come out.

Why is Isabelle, who is unmarried and has no children of her own, so interested in the children of her neighbors.  Does she really have a job?  Why is she so interested in Essie?

After the birth of her first child, Essie, suffering from post-partum depression left her newborn in a park for several hours.  After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, she returned to Ben, and they had a second child.  Essie’s mother moved nearby to help with the children.  Angie and Lucas appear to the outside world as a happy couple, despite Lucas’ past affairs.  Can Angie really put his past behind her?  Nigel is a loving father, but will his depression cause a rift in his marriage to Fran.  Do we really care?

As the novel moves forward, we learn the secrets of the neighbors, but ultimately, their lives are not really all that revealing or satisfying.  After having read Sally Hepworth’s novel, The Mother-in-Law, my expectations were high, and this book didn’t meet my expectations.

Read:  March 10, 2022

3 Stars

Books Set in Australia

The Mother-in-Law, by Sally Hepworth (2019)

 

The novel begins with the death of Diane Goodwin, the title’s mother-in-law.  She was mother to Ollie and Nettie and mother-in-law to Lucy.  Diana’s death appeared to be a suicide, but certain evidence caused the police to investigate.  Why was a suicide note left in a drawer, and not out where it would immediately be discovered?  Where did those mysterious gold threads come from, and why is there only one pillow in the sofa?  Diana was very rich, so there is motive and opportunity for foul play.

 

Lucy lost her mother when she was 13-years old, so she had hoped to be able to establish a warm and loving relationship with her mother-in-law.  Diana, however, does not have the warmest personality and keeps her thoughts and feelings to herself.  Even her friends do not really know Diana.  Thus, Lucy’s relationship with Diana is strained.

 

The novel goes back and forth in time and between Lucy and Diana.  Lucy and Ollie have what seems to be a perfect marriage.  They have three young children, Lucy is a stay-at-home mother who supports her husband’s business ventures.  Lucy is not keen on Ollie’s business partner, but believes in her husband.

 

Lucy and her mother-in-law have a strained relationship.  Lucy seemingly can do anything to please her mother-in-law.  From Diana’s voice, we learn that she had a very traumatic experience in her early years that shaped her ability to interact with others.  Diana worked hard to achieve her goals and believes that her children should do the same.

 

As we delve into the novel, we discover that each family member has secrets.  Nettie is desperate to have a child and is willing to do anything to have a baby.  All she needs is money.  Patrick, Nellie’s husband has secrets he is keeping from his wife.  Ollie’s business is not doing as well as he leads Lucy to believe.  All he needs is money.  Lucy has her own secrets.

 

This book has some wonderful twists and turns, that kept me guessing right to the end.  The conclusion of the novel did not disappoint.  I read it in one sitting.

 

5 Stars

 

Read:  February 27, 2022

 

 

Books Set in Europe; Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, by Rosemary Sullivan (2022)

 

In August 1944, a German SS officer received a telephone tip of Jews hiding in a building located at Prinsengracht 263.  The exact details of the raid on the address have been lost to history, but the raid resulted in the capture of the Frank family and 4 other individuals who had been in hiding in the Annex for the past 2 years.  Anne, her sister Margot, and her mother did not survive the concentration camp where they had been deported.  Anne’s father, Otto, did survive.  Anne’s diary also survived.  With the publication of her diary, Anne became a symbol of the millions who died at the hands of the Nazis.

 

This book attempts to answer the question of who betrayed the secret hiding place?  In 2016, a team of forensic scientists, a former FBI agent, historians, and others, was put together to comb through hundreds of documents, interviews, and other evidence to find the answer … or at least an answer.  This book is the story of the evidence compiled by the Cold Case Team.

 

The author notes that the Netherlands was responsible deporting more Jews to concentration camps than other European countries.  Near the beginning of German Occupation, a Jewish Council, made up of Jews, was formed, ostensibly to help the Jews of the Netherlands and fend off anti-Jewish actions.  Soon, however, the Council was ordered to help organize the selection of Jewish deportees to concentration camps.  The Cold Case team extensively examined the pasts of the members of the Council for clues to see if one could have betrayed the Franks.

 

Members of the Council would have had access to lists of addresses where Jews of the Netherlands might be.  Thus, Council members could have retained such lists as insurance to be used to save their lives, leading to the conclusion that another Jew betrayed the Franks.  The Cold Case Team seems to ignore the fact that whether or not a Council member was the betrayer of the Franks, the Council members certainly betrayed hundreds of other fellow Jews.

 

The book examined a number of possible betrayers and the Cold Case Team eliminated them one-by-one, until singling one out.  The suspect was a member of the Jewish Council, thus would have access to addresses of hiding places.  The Cold Case Team believed that Otto Frank knew his betrayer, but for reasons known only to himself, kept his identity to himself.

 

The Team concluded that a man named Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish notary, was the most likely betrayer.  He is believed to have had a list of at least 500 names, which he may have been holding as insurance to be used to save his life and that of his family.

 

I have mixed feelings about this book.  Clearly, a lot of time and money was spent searching for the betrayer of the Frank family.  There are many, many characters in this book, which makes it a bit confusing, especially since many names and titles are non-English.  But does find out out who actually betrayed one family, when so many families were betrayed really matter?  The take-away is that when faced with a life-or-death situation, one might easily betray another to save one’s self.

 

Read:  February 21, 2022

 

3 Stars

 

Books Set in Asia; China

The Moon in the Palace, by Weina Dai Randel (2016)

 

This novel takes place in China in the 7^th Century and follows palace intrigue in the court of Emperor Taisong.  The novel is the first in a series and follows young Mei as she enters the court.  As a naïve young girl, she must learn quickly who she can trust and who can help her achieve what she believes to be her destiny ~ to become a great leader.

 

I found the first part of the book to be interesting, but the novel took way too long before anything of any real important to happen.  I won’t be continuing in this series.

 

Read:  February 2022

 

2 Stars

 

Books Set in North America; United StatesNew York, New York;

Park Avenue Summer (2019), by Renée Rosen, is a fictional account of how Helen Gurley Brown got Cosmopolitan magazine up and running in the summer of 1965. The magazine had been a traditional woman's magazine with recipes and housekeeping tips. Brown, who had no prior magazine experience, was given the job of revitalizing it. The Hearst company, however, expected her to fail. The magazine had been failing when she was given the job. She was expected to continue running the magazine as status quo.

Did she have other ideas! This was the time when the women's movement was becoming more mainstream. Brown wanted her magazine to deal with women's sexuality. She got a lot of push-back from the publishers. Her husband, David Brown, had a lot of influence and backed Helen's decisions.

The novel is told from the perspective of her young secretary. It's a fun read.

4 Stars. 

Read: February 4, 2022

Books Set in North America; United States

The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles (2021)

 

The Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental highway routes in the United States.  It was formally dedicated in 1913 and ran from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

 

The novel, The Lincoln Highway, begins in June 1954 in Nebraska, roughly the half-way point of the Highway.  Beginning a story in the middle is a subtle theme of this novel, thus it is no coincidence that a trek along this transcontinental highway has its starting point in the middle of the country..

 

The novel follows four boys, three teenagers who met at a reform school and one of the boy’s 8-year-old brother.  The novel begins when the warden of the reform school brings Emmett Watson to his home following the death of his father.  Emmett is now responsible for his young brother, Billy.  He plans to depart for San Francisco to find his mother who had abandoned the family several years earlier.

 

His plans are derailed, however, when, Duchess and Woolly, his pals from the reform school appear.  They had escaped from the reformatory by hiding in the trunk of the warden’s car.  Woolly, who comes from a monied family in New York City, has a trust fund of $150,000 in New York.  Trouble-maker Duchess convinces Woolly and Emmett to travel to New York where they can get the money and divide it in thirds.  The night before Emmett and Billy are to leave for California, Duchess and Woolly “borrow” Emmett’s blue Studebaker and take off for New York.

 

So, instead of heading towards California, Emmett and Billy must get the car back.  They hop on a boxcar and travel to New York to find Duchess and the car.  The novel is told through the perspective of each of characters, thus giving the reader insight into the actions that take place in the novel.  We learn of the adventures that Emmett and Billy have on their train ride as well as the car travel of Duchess and Woolly.

 

I enjoyed the novel, but I found some parts to strain one’s credibility.  There is no denying, however, that the four boys are in for an adventure of a lifetime.

 

Read:  January 20, 2022

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set in North America; United States; Chicago, Illinois

White Collar Girl, by Renée Rosen (2015)

 

White Collar Girl is set in the late 1950s and focuses on budding journalist Jordan Walsh.  Jordan comes from a journalistic family – both her father and brother were journalists.  After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, Jordan lands a job with the Chicago Tribune.  She has dreams of landing an investigative position on the city desk, but women journalists were assigned to writing puff pieces.  She is assigned to cover society weddings, cooking and other light “women’s interest” pieces.

 

Jordan’s brother had been killed in what was ostensibly a hit-and-run accident and the driver was never caught.  His death plunges Jorden’s parents into a downward spiral.  Jordan thinks there might be something to her brother’s death.  She learns that he was investigating a horsemeat scandal when he was killed.  Was his death related to a coverup?

 

As a young, new reporter, Jordan realized that she must pursue stories.  She didn’t just settle for writing up the stories she was assigned but sought out stories.  She befriends a source in government who passes on leads. Initially, the stories she writes are credited to her male co-workers.

 

The author attempts to put as many of Chicago’s scandals into this novel with Jordan being the investigative reporter.  The stories that Jordan pursues are based on actual events that occurred in Chicago, but the time frames are not necessarily within the scope of this novel.  The author did accurately portray the trials that a young female reporter would have encountered in the 1950s (some of which are probably still encountered today).  Jordan being the reporter so single-minded just didn’t ring true.

 

In the 1960 Presidential election, President Kennedy narrowly won the election, and largely due to the results from Chicago.  This novel discussed how the election was rigged and that Nixon probably did have the election stolen from him.  Interestingly, White Collar Girl was published in 2015, before there was talk of the 2020 election being stolen.

 

I read Renée Rosen’s book The Social Graces and totally loved it, so wanted to read something else by this author.  While White Collar Girl was good, it wasn’t as good as the first book I read by Rosen.

 

Read:  January 17, 2022

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, by Adam Cohen (2020)

If anyone thought the United States Supreme Court was a neutral branch of government, this well-researched and through book will quickly dispel anyone of that notion.  The author argues that the Warren Court of the 1950s and ‘60s was an anomaly.  From the moment Chief Justice Earl Warren retired in 1969, the Court has been eroding the rights of individual Americans in favor of corporations.

The author cites case after case after case in which the High Court of the land ruled against individual Americans in favor of wealthy businesses and institutions.  The author analyzes how the Court eviscerated laws designed to protect the poor, how laws designed to end racial discrimination have been upended, how challenges to campaign spending have been upheld, and how the criminal system has been eroded.  Cohen argues, with the backing of Court decisions, that Supreme Court has become more and more political.  Occasionally, the Court decisions have been so egregious, that Congress has stepped in to make corrections, as in the Lilly Ledbetter Act, for instance.  More often than not, however, the Court decision stands (Citizens United, which held that corporations are “persons” and that campaign contributions are a form of Free Speech under the First Amendment.)

The book ends with the conclusion that the Supreme Court’s decisions are more than just legal statements – they are the blueprints for building American life.  Recent decisions are widening the gap between the “haves” and “have nots.”  The gap will continue to widen until, and unless, those who have recognize this and take action to be more compassionate towards their fellow citizens.

The book was well written, and the non-lawyer will easily understand the synopsis of the decisions sited.  The book will, however, make the reader angry.  It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the state of the Country.

Read: January 12, 2022

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York, New York

Vanderbilt, by Anderson Cooper (2021)

 

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is the great-great-great grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, known as Commodore, the shipping and railroad magnate who amassed the great Vanderbilt fortune.  His book recounts his family history from the Commodore’s meagre beginnings to his great fortune and how subsequent generations squandered that money.  While it may be true that Cooper didn’t inherit the mass fortune of his ancestors, he did live a life of privilege that most of us never experience.

 

The book begins with a prologue recounting how Gladys Vanderbilt, a great-great grandchild of the Commodore was forced out of The Breakers in 2018.  This was the home where she had been living in the third-floor apartment for years.  Soon after the opulent mansion was built, its maintenance and upkeep became oppressive, not to mention the passage of the 16^th Amendment that imposed income taxes on the wealthy.  The Vanderbilt’s found The Breakers too costly and slowly it was turnover to a Preservation Society.

 

Then, we turn to the Commodore.  He became obsessed with making money but wasn’t concerned with the finer aspects of society.  When he died, he was said to have been the richest man in America.  Although he had 12 children who survived to adulthood, only three were son.  He didn’t consider is daughters, as they would marry and cease to be known as Vanderbilts’.  His youngest surviving son died young, and his middle son, Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt had epilepsy, so the Commodore discounted him when it came to inheritance.  The bulk of the Commodore’s fortune was left to his eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt.

 

William Henry doubled his father’s fortune, allowing his children to grow up in great wealth and lots of leisure.  William Henry’s children grew up with great wealth and lots of leisure.  Cornelius II, William Henry’s son, built The Breakers.  No expense was spared.

 

William Henry’s elder son, William Kissam Vanderbilt, known as Willie, married Alva Erskine Smith, who was a social climber.  She forced her way into New York society by hosting lavish parties.  Again, she spared no expense, often spending tens of thousands of dollars of just flowers for her parties.

 

By the 1920s, times had changed, but the Vanderbilt reputation for having money lingered.  Family members spent like they still owned the fortune.  The family spent money on yachts (Harold Sterling Vanderbilt competed in the America’s Cup), and horses, hobbies that ate away at the family fortune.

 

Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt was the daughter of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and Gloria Morgan.  Reginald, who was 45 years old when she was born, and died before she was 2.  When he died, he was greatly in debt and most of his property was sold to pay off his debt.  A trust fund for Gloria was safe from her father’s creditors, but her 20-year-old mother was left virtually penniless.  A court decree granted her mother a large “allowance” from Gloria’s trust, ostensibly to be used for Gloria’s care.  Her mother, however, still wanted to live in her jet-setting style.  Ultimately, Gloria became the center of a “trial of the century” between Gloria’s mother and her aunt Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney over Gloria’s welfare and her money.

 

Gloria Vanderbilt, herself, grew up in wealth and continued spending money throughout her life, all the way up to the end.

 

This book was a very fast and fascinating read.  Having recently read The Social Graces (by Renée Rosen), which recounts Alva’s feud with Carolina Astor and her struggle to break into New York Society, it was interesting to read Cooper’s take on these events.  Cooper also discussed New York Society women in the 1950s and their relationship with Truman Capote.  These events were also depicted in Melanie Benjamin’s novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue (by Melanie Benjamin).

 

The rich are different.

 

Read:  January 8, 2022

 

5 Stars