Books Set in Europe: Germany, Bavaria

The Ludwig Conspiracy, by Oliver Pötzsch (2011).

I have enjoyed Oliver Pötzsch’s Hangman’s Daughter books, which are a historical mysteries that focus on Bavaria in the 1660s.  So, I though I would give The Ludwig Conspiracy a try.  It is a novel loosely based in King Ludwig II, the Mad King of Bavaria.  He’s the king who built the famous fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle.

Unlike the Hangman series, this book goes back and in the present and during the life of King Ludwig.  Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances on June 13, 1886.  His death was officially deemed to be a suicide by drowning, although there was no water in his lungs.  As a result, there have been lots of theories and conspiracies about whether or not he was actually murdered.  This novel delves into some of those conspiracies.

The novel opens when Steven Lukas, the owner of a bookstore that specialized in rare books finds that he has a journal, written in code, that explains how Ludwig actually died.  The journal was hidden in Lukas’ store by a professor, who, in the opening scene of the novel is killed by thugs after the book.

Lukas soon finds that these shady characters are after him for the journal.  Enter Sara Lengfeld, who claims to be the niece of the dead professor.  She, too, wants to find out the truth of King Ludwig’s death.  Together she and Lukas attempt to decipher the journal, all the while being chased by mysterious hooligans.

After Lukas’s bookstore is broken into and ransacked, he and Sara find themselves on the run from the police as well.  Unfortunately, there was too much in this novel that stretched the imagination.  There were car chases, shootings, murders, etc.  It read more like a thriller movie, than a good satisfying book.  The scenes narrated by Ludwig's physician, however, are more interesting.

I’ll stick with the author’s Hangman series.

Read:  Sept. 12, 2019

2 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States; North Carolina

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (2018)

The title of Where the Crawdads Sing refers to deep in the marsh of North Carolina, where there is only nature, untouched by human activity.  The novel mostly focuses on the life of Kya Clark, from a young child of 6 to adulthood.

Kya was the youngest child of a poor family that lived deep in the Marsh.  One hot August day, her mother just up and leaves.  Shod in her faux alligator heels, Ma walks away from the house, never to be seen again.  The older children had previously left, leaving only Kya and her brother Jodie to fend with their drunken father.  Soon Jodie departs, leaving Kya alone with her father.

She learned to avoid his violent temper, but one day, he, too, took off, leaving the young girl alone in the Marsh. Before her mother left, Kya would sometimes walk into to the nearby town for groceries.  Although she was unable to read or write, she managed to get by. On one of her first solo trips into town, she was nearly hit by Chase Andrews, who was riding his bicycle with his friends.  It was her first encounter with children her own age.

Soon thereafter, she encounters Tate, a young town boy, who fishes and spends time in the Marsh.  He realized that Kya cannot read, so teaches her.  He brings her books, which she scours.  They see each other nearly every day until he leaves for college.  Although he promises to return, Kya once again feels abandoned.

Chase chose not to pursue college, but instead remained in town to work in his father’s automotive store.  He is attracted to Kya and the two begin a tenuous relationship.  Kya begins to think of marriage and a family, even though she knows that the town folks think of her as trash.  She hears rumors that Chase is seeing other girls, but choses to believe this hints of marriage.

Early on in the novel, the reader learns that Chase is dead.  The circumstances of his death are somewhat mysterious.  Was it an accident, or was he murdered?  The novel slowly peels back the layers of life in the Marsh, how Kya learned to survive in the world, and the activities of Chase.

The book has come highly recommended.  It is a good book and will most certainly be made into a movie.

I enjoyed it, but it is probably not a story that I will remember for long.

Read: August 25, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in England; London

The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish (2017)

In late 2000, British academic Helen Watts come across a cache of Jewish papers written in the 1660s.  She quickly realized that they might be important and enlists the assistance of an American graduate student, Aaron Levy, to review the documents before turning them over to the university for preservation.  In their initial review, they realize that the documents contain scholarly writings between the Sephardic communities in London and Amsterdam. They soon discover, too, that the documents are written by a scribe who is a woman, very unusual for the 1660.

The novel goes back in time between the early 2000s and the 1660, where we are introduced to Ester Velesquez, the scribe.  The Jewish communities in the 1660s were still in the midst of the Inquisition.  The Amsterdam Jewish community had recently excommunicated Baruch Spinoza. Additionally, at this period in time the Jewish community was confronted by Sabbetai Zev, a Sephardic rabbi who claimed to be the Messiah.

Ester, being a woman, had been educated, hence her ability to serve as the scribe for the aged and blind rabbi.  The rabbi had Ester copy the letters he sent to Amsterdam, hence the newly found documents contain both the rabbi’s correspondence as well as the return replies. The letters seem to discuss arguments regarding the Sabbetai Zev’s influence throughout Europe, especially Florence.

A good portion of the beginning of this novel provides a concise history of Sephardic Jews.  This portion of the novel is very interesting and very readable.  Later portions of the novel, however, become bogged down with too many people and too many details that are seemingly irrelevant to the main ark of the story.  Ester becomes a companion to Mary, a spoiled rich young woman, who herself becomes involved with a rowdy cast of British actors.  This portion could have been trimmed down into another book, as I found this to be a distraction to the thesis of the novel.

Ultimately, we learn that Ester had taken the name of one of the British actors and written theological arguments to many Jewish thinkers, including Spinoza.  Her letters showed her intellectual curiosity and thirst for learning in her well-laid out arguments.  Some of the thinkers responded.  We also learn that her letters, written under the name of Thomas Fallow, presented Spinoza’s arguments.  The aged rabbi for who Ester was acting as scribe, would respond to Fallow’s letters with his own theological arguments.  Only as the old rabbi is dying does he confess to Ester that he knew she was Thomas Fallow.

I started reading this book several months ago, but had to put it down because it is so busy.  Then, one of my book groups selected this as a reading, so I picked it up again.   I liked it better on the second try, but it is still too busy.  There is simply too much going on in this novel.

Read: August 18, 2019

3.5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933 ~ 1934, by Bryan Burrough (2004)

In the late 1980s, the files on the activities of the early years of the FBI were released.  The author, while watching a documentary on the Barker Gang, became intrigued by the first spate of criminals deemed Public Enemies.  This book is the result of his interest.  He poured over FBI files and wrote this comprehensive look at the FBI’s pursuit of four groupings of criminal gangs that were active in the early 1930s ~ Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and the Barker Gang.

Although the FBI had been in existence since 1908 (as the Bureau of Investigation), in the early years, the agents were forbidden to carry weapons.  The philosophy was that they were an investigative branch ~ the arrests were to be accomplished by the local jurisdictions.

This changed in the 1930s.  The Great Depression brought with it a new kind of criminal ~ bank robbers.  It was the deadly Kansas City massacre of a number of law men that changed the face of the FBI.  In June 1933, a criminal gang led by Vernon Miller set out to free fellow criminal, Frank Nash, who was in Federal custody and was being transported in Missouri.  Miller’s gang ambushed and opened fire on law officers, killing four.  Nash was killed in the ensuing gunfire.  This massacre got the attention of the J. Edgar Hoover. It has been speculated that Pretty Boy Floyd was involved in the massacre, but this has not definitively been proven.

The FBI had few trained agents, and none with any really experience with weapons and very limited jurisdiction.  At the time, robbing banks was not under the jurisdiction of the Feds.  The FBI had to work with local law enforcement officers, some of which were also ill-equip to handle major crimes, or were not willing to work with the federal officers.

This book shows the growing pains of the early years of the FBI.  Homer Cummings, the United States Attorney General, had to convince Congress to expand the power and authority of the FBI.  Soon after the Kansas City massacre, the FBI was training its agents to use weapons.  Some of their interrogation procedures, however, left much to be desired.

The book delves into the activities of Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barker Gang.

Dillinger came from a middle-class background.  He was good looking and was known to jump over bank railings when he robbed banks.  He was exceedingly polite.  He captured the public’s attention and was seen as a Robin-Hood figure in robbing banks. It was not his aim to hurt anyone during his crime sprees.  When he was ultimately betrayed and killed outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, he had achieved near national folk hero status.

During this same period of history, Bonnie and Clyde were ruthlessly crossing the country, leaving a bloody path in their wake.  During their lifetime, they were largely unknown, except for the locales of their robbing and killing.  The FBI sought the couple, but bungled their investigative efforts.  In the end, it was a posse of local law officers who ambushed the two criminals.

The author also followed the exploits of the Barker Gang.  Although Hoover publicized that the “brains” behind the Barker Gang was the criminal’s mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, the FBI files showed that she was actually more concerned with jigsaw puzzles and had little before-the-fact knowledge of the gang’s criminal activity.

The FBI had a tip that Dillinger and his gang were holed up in an inn called Little Bohemia in northern Wisconsin.  The FBI agents, still without expertize in weaponry, badly misjudged the situation. In the dark of night, in a raid lead by Melvin Purvis, came upon the inn.  The FBI, mistaking local patrons leaving the inn for the Dillinger gang, began a shootout, killing the innocent patrons.  One federal agent was also killed, but Dillinger slipped through their fingers.

Baby Face Nelson was one of the most brutal criminals during this era.  He seemed to delight in terrorizing and killing victims during his robberies.  Agents trailed him all across the country before he was finally killed in another shoot-out in Illinois.

By the end of the 1934, the FBI had gained its footing and overcome the fumbles of its earlier year and was well on its way to the power and prestige is has today.

A fascinating and very readable book.

Read: August 2, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany, Bavaria

The Werewolf of Bamberg, by Oliver Pötzsch (2014)

This is the 5th novel in the Hangman's Daughter series.  The year is 1668, and the Kuisl family has traveled from Schongau to Bamberg to celebrate the marriage of Barthalomäus, the estranged brother of the Kuisl patriarch, Jakob.  Until recently, his children were unaware that their father even had a brother.  A misunderstanding years earlier had caused a split between the brothers.

When the family arrives in Bamberg, they learn that the city has been terrorized by a series of murders.  Several elders of the city have gone missing, only to have their mangled bodies appear scattered around the city.  Rumors spread that the deaths are caused by a werewolf.

What I like about this mystery series is the careful research the author does in his novels.  In the afterward, he explains the history behind this mystery.  While the events seem supernatural to the citizens of this German town in the late 1660s, they actually have a basis in science.

I have enjoyed the other books in the series, and this one was no exception.

Read: July 21, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe and South America

The Rhythm of Memory, by Alyson Richman (2004)

The Rhythm of Memory is about how the human is capable of overcoming tragedy even though it takes years to conquer the past. The novel follows two couples ~ Octavio and Salomé, and Samuel and Kaija, each with their own secrets of their respective pasts.

Octavio was an impoverished young student when he first met Salomé, a young girl from a wealth family.  They met in Santiago, Chile in the 1960s.  He sent her love poems by the famous Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.  They married and soon Octavio became a successful and well-known movie star.  Because he became famous, one day in 1973, Neruda approached Octavio and asked for his help in coaching Salvador Allende with his political campaign.  Octavio became involved in politics and felt he had come to real meaning in his life.

After Augusto Pinochet staged a coup and Allende was killed, Octavio continued to speak out against Pinochet, never realizing that it would be his wife who would ultimately pay for his political decision.  Salomé was abducted and tortured for several months before being released.  Octavio, to protect his family, sought political asylum and his family relocated to Sweden.

Meanwhile, Samuel, whose Jewish family fled Europe and bounced around in South America before settling in Sweden, experienced his own feelings of tragedy. He met the beautiful Kaija and fell in love with her.  Kaija was a Finnish war “orphan”.  Her family was extremely poor, and during the Finnish-Russian War, sent her to Sweden to be with a temporary family in order to give her a better life.

Some of the family members intersect in Sweden, but secrets are still kept, which threaten to tear families apart.

I enjoyed this novel, although I found the author sometimes repeated herself in several places once the action moved to Sweden.  Still, the characters were vivid and really came off the page.

Read: July 6, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfled (2008)

This novel is a not-so-thinly disguised fictional account of Laura Bush’s life before and after meeting George Bush, although in the book, they appear as Alice Lindgren and Charlie Blackwell. The novel is written in 4 parts. In the first part, we meet Alice Lindgren as a young girl who comes from a working-class background.  In Part 2, she meets and marries Charlie Blackwell. Charlie is the buffoon of his family and a drunkard.  In Part 3, Charlie is pushed into politics and Alice learns to be a politician’s wife. By Part 4, Charlie has been elected President of the United States and Alice must learn to navigate her political convictions and beliefs while not compromising her husband’s policy positions.

The first part was an interesting view into young Alice’s life.  She is a likable and moral character.  She has a crush on young Andrew Imhof.  Throughout high school, Alice has her eye on Andrew.  Later, when she is in high school, she is driving the car that causes an accident that kills Andrew.  This is a turning point in Alice’s life.  The decisions she makes within the next few months will impact her life and have repercussions years later.

Alice becomes a librarian and meets Charlie. He comes across as a jerk.  What the smart, articulate Alice sees in Charlie strains the imagination.  After having been together for a mere 6 weeks, they become engaged.  He is from a rich, privileged family from Wisconsin whose family is in the meat-packing business.  Charlie has no flair for business, so goes into politics.  Alice isn’t so enthused about this, but thinks that it will be a one-shot trial into that field.

When Charlie becomes President, Alice has learned to keep her political opinions to herself, although she is a Democrat and her husband has Republican values.  She keeps things to herself until forced to confront an important issue.  Will her actions, she wonders, jeopardize her husband’s career.

I found the first and fourth part of the novel to be interesting.  The middle sections were just plain frustrating.  Charlie was such an unlikable character.  What was the attraction between to two.  They seemed to have no intellectual common interests.

It was somewhat interesting to read this book in today’s political climate.  Although written in 2008, the issues raised in this novel are the same as what we are reading today.

Read:  June 28, 2019

2 Stars