The Cue Card

Hi all. Happy New Year. It seems crazy to be into 2025. It has a futuristic ring to it, eh? I finished out 2024 with three novels that I’ll review next time, but they included Somerset Maugham’s epic classic Of Human Bondage from 1915, which I had started in October as part of Ti’s read-along at Book Chatter. I read half of the book then, which is give-or-take 684 pages, then set it down and picked it up again in December and read the rest of it. Ha, that’s one way to do a big read. More on that novel next post, but now it’s time to wrap up my thoughts about my 2024 reading. Perhaps this comic strip by Mark Parisi says something about it — I had to laugh when I saw it. Did you ever finish all your summer reads?

I completed 61 books this year, which is more or less my usual. I’m a pretty ponderous reader, often I read or listen to parts of books twice before moving on — I like getting the full scoop out of it. I’ll finish a book and then check out the beginning again and sometimes keep going, lol. And often I take a bit of a breather between books, so I’m not the quickest. The good news is according to the stats my female to male author ratio was more equally distributed this year as was my print reads to audio listens, though my number of diversity reads and my nonfiction needs work. Still I enjoyed so many good books.

I had a very hard time picking my 12 Top favorites of the year. I decided they had to be both appealing and strongly written and put together. I still think my Honorable Mentions could be on the list too. This year debut novels were particular strong and three made my list. So without out further adieu below is my list of favorite fiction (in no particular order) and nonfiction (of which I only read 9, so they all made the list, lol.) Let me know what you think.

Stats: 61 books completed & reviewed
Fiction — 52
Nonfiction — 9
Female authors — 33
Male authors — 28
White authors — 49
Non-White authors — 12
Print books — 30
Audiobooks — 31
American authors — 37
British authors — 5
Canadian authors — 4
Irish authors — 4
Welsh authors — 1

French authors — 1
Australian authors — 1
Israeli authors — 1
Chinese authors — 1
Korean authors — 1
Japanese authors — 1
Malaysian authors — 1
India authors — 1
Norwegian authors — 1

Favorite Novels:

(1) Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (2024) – Strout delivers again with her charm of characters in Cosby, Maine. Writer Lucy Barton meets Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess figures prominently.
(2) James by Percival Everett (2024) – One of the most talked about novels of the year and the National Book Award winner lives up to the hype. My first Everett novel but surely not my last.
(3) Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (2023) – A chilling dystopian tale that won the Booker Prize in 2023 and swept me away on audio.
(4) Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (2023) – A debut novel about a young squash player and her internal family drama that caught me up in its telling.
(5) In Memoriam by Alice Winn (2024) – An epic World War I tale that put me on the battlefield and included a captivating love story.
(6) My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2012) – I was pleased to get to this modern classic about two childhood friends in 1950s Italy in a read-along discussion with Tina at Turn the Page.
(7) Long Island by Colm Toibin (2024) – The sequel to Brooklyn proved maybe Tony wasn’t the lifelong partner for Eilis. Perhaps more sequels will follow.
(8) The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (2023) – An atmospheric tale in which author Somerset Maugham comes to visit a couple in Penang, Malaysia and a murder trial unfolds kept me intrigued.
(9) River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (2024) – A debut coming-of-age tale set in Shanghai, China that had me rooting for mixed-race teenage Alva.
(10) Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (2023) – A well told story (winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize) that’s dark in its Civil War horrors and light with the refuge of an asylum that helps a girl and her mute mother.
(11) Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong (2024) – A new favorite Canadian author casts a spell with her lyrical writing about a girl growing up in a New Brunswick logging camp with a bear cub.
(12) Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash (2023) – An enjoyable read about two families that mix when a girl is sent abroad to the U.S. during the bombing of London in WWII.

Honorable Mention Novels

* The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring (2023) – a wonderful debut
* The Coast Road by Alan Murrin (2024) – another great debut
Absolution by Alice McDermott (2023) – a masterful writer
The Guest by Emma Cline (2023) – love her gritty tales

Favorite Nonfiction

(1) Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (1959) – This amazing survival tale never seems to lessen for me.
(2) Running With Sherman by Christopher McDougall (2019) – A wonderful account of an abused donkey that gets a second chance at life.
(3) I’ve Tried Being Nice (Essays) by Ann Leary (2024) – Much of this is funny and endearing about the author’s family life, her sobriety, and life as writer. The audio is entertainingly read by the author.
(4) Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl (2019) – A good intro into the beginnings of the author’s family life and awakenings of her joy of nature.
(5) The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (2024) – A pretty extensive account of Captain Cook’s last fateful voyage that kept me tuned in to figuring out what led to his demise.
(6) The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper (1947) – A chilling look at the Fuhrer and his evil regime and the final days in a Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
(7) My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar (2023) – A moving memoir of a classmate and friend of Anne’s in Amsterdam whose path crosses again with her later while at Bergen-Belsen. A glimpse into their friendship and story.
(8) Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (2024) – An inspiring and heroic look at the author’s life and thoughts after he was almost killed in 2022.
(9) Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (2024) – The lowdown from Al about his life and iconic theater and movie roles with a glimpse into his personal relationships.

Debut Novels

In Memoriam by Alice Winn (2024)
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (2024)
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin (2024)
Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Ash-Spence (2023)
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (2023)
Women’s Hotel by Daniel Lavery (2024)

Classics:

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham (1915)
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (1912)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1885)

Apocalyptic tales:

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (2018)
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (2024)
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (2023)

Translated Lit:

Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishoi (2024)
Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerin Perrin (2021)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2012)

Biographies & Memoirs:

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (2024)
Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (2024)

Historical Fiction:

The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian (2025)
The Women by Kristen Hannah (2024)
A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama (2012)
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (2023)
James by Percival Everett (2024)
Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery (2024)
Clear by Carys Davies (2024)
The General and Julia by Jon Clinch (2024)
Absolution by Alice McDermott (2023)
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (2023)
In Memoriam by Alice Winn (2024)

Coming of Age tales:

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham (1915)
Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong (2024)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2012)
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa (2023)
City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim (2024)
True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
The Guest by Emma Cline (2023)
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (2024)

Favorite Audios:

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout narrated by Kimberly Farr
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch narrated by Gerry O’Brien
The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring narrated by Patrica Shade
True Grit by Charles Portis narrated by Donna Tartt
The Women by Kristen Hannah narrated by Julia Whalen
Long Island by Colm Toibin narrated by Jessie Buckley

Crime /Mystery /or Intrigue

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024)
Twist by Colum McCann (2025)
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam (2024)
The Lost Americans by Christopher Bollen (2023)
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (2021)

Domestic family /or partner stories

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (2023)
Going Home by Tom Lamont (2024)
Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024)
Sweet Vidalia by Lisa Sandlin (2024)
A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (2024)
Long Island by Colm Toibin
Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024)
The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring
Welcome Home, Stranger by Kate Christensen (2023)
The Caretaker by Ron Rash (2023)
You Are Here by David Nicholls (2024)
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (2024)
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (2023)
Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash (2023)

Time Travel / or Magical elements

Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)
King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis (2024)
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino (2024)

Short Stories

Table for Two by Amor Towles (2024)

That’s all for now. What about you — what did you think about any of these?



Hi all, I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or holiday and end of year to all. It’s been a good year of reading, and I’m thankful to the blogging community and those who stopped by here during the year. You make it fun and worthwhile to discuss books, reading, and all things to watch and listen to. I love the tips I get about what to pick up or take in and to hear about all what you’re reading and doing. Many of you have become such good buddies and regulars here and I thank you for your visits and kind words. 

On Christmas, we will have a small group of four coming together (along with two lively Labradors) to enjoy the holiday with. See the tree we’ve managed to put up on the fly, though we’re still working on the lights’ missing plug. It’s been nice to be in California this holiday season to visit some with my brother and Dad and be with my adorable husband and also to enjoy things near the beach.

We have thawed out since coming south and plan to return back north in mid-January. In a week or so, I’ll be posting my January Preview and later my Book Favorites of 2024 list, so stay tuned. Until then wishing you all a very happy and peaceful holiday. And may you receive several new books to read. Cheers! —Susan from the Cue Card

Hi all, I hope you are well. We are staying near the beach and there have been some gorgeous sunsets. We have been enjoying family get-togethers with my Dad and brother (and hopefully soon with my niece and nephew-in-law too). We’ve done a bit of shopping, bike riding, reading, football watching, and of course dog walks. We still have to put up the tree! That’s what happens when you travel you do things on the fly. But we are gearing for the holiday and plan to see the boat parade here this week, which is always fun and colorful, and maybe take in a movie. I hope you are able to enjoy the holidays with friends and family.

Have you decided what your first book of 2025 will be? Okay, let’s hear what it is. I haven’t decided mine yet, but I plan to over the weekend. I think first reads of the year should be a bit special, so I will look for something. Isn’t it fun that soon we will have a clean slate and new year for reading. Perhaps many of us will have new reading challenges, or changes to our reading that we want to try. I sort of want to boost my nonfiction next year but don’t I always say that? And I’d like to have a few books always going at once instead of just one print and one audio at a time. I need to open it up a bit more. But first, I want to finish at least two more books by the end of the year and then turn my thoughts to next year. How about you?

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie / Random House / 224 pages / 2024

Much of this memoir seems brave. Not only for Rushdie’s stands past and current against terror and fatwas, but also for the health recovery he details and his openness on talking about things that are personal, the changes he faces, and his thoughts going forward. It’s a memoir that’s a bit here and there and I preferred some parts more than others, but still it gave an encompassing picture of the tumultuous life-altering event he and his family endured due to the brutal assassination attempt on his life in 2022 when he was horrifically stabbed at a public event numerous times.

The chapters on all his health recovery and rehab post-attack are daunting and tense, but I preferred the other chapters more about his thoughts about the world, where his life and work are, and how his loving family and wife poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths came to be his stalwarts. His personal life after several marriages seems to have settled with Eliza who appears to be his rock since their marriage in 2021. And he molds much of the memoir into a story about love conquering evil, which is pleasing. The book’s other part is his trying to understand what happened and why.

One segment goes into an imaginary interview Rushdie has with his assailant, which I thought was worth while … as well as his thoughts about religion. It seems frustrating trying to reason with people who don’t have much reason behind their acts to others, or who do things for incredibly absurd or incorrect assumptions. Rushdie has long been a beacon of freedom of thought, expression, and religion and that still burns brightly here. 

I listened to the audio version read by the author, which was insightful to hear him read it.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this one and what did you think?  Have a great week.

Hi all. We made it to California on our road trip and are enjoying some warmer temps. On the way south, we stopped at a donkey sanctuary in southern Utah. The owners were kind to meet with us and let us know about their interesting and adorable animals. They have about nine, and this one at left is named Homer. (He must like the Greeks.)

We are still considering whether we might get a couple donkeys in the future. Only trouble is most donkeys don’t like dogs so we would need to keep our Labradors away from them, so they don’t get trampled. Also our northern winters might be a bit harsh for donkeys, so we need to do more research and ask some neighbors who have them about how they manage. Getting donkeys remains a bit uncertain but Homer sure was cute.

Meanwhile in book news my Q & A with Irish author Colum McCann was recently published in Publishers Weekly here. I think they make you register to see the link, argh. Anyways we chatted about McCann’s new novel Twist coming in March … which is about a journalist who goes to cover the story of a crew on a cable repair ship off the coast of Africa. It’s a bit of a mysterious tale and illuminates how much of our internet communications runs in wires at the bottom of the oceans that are somewhat vulnerable to breakages. I don’t want to say too much about the story, but McCann, a National Book Award winner, is always one to watch. Look for the novel coming in March.

And now I’ll leave you with a few short reviews of what I finished lately.

Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong / Harper / 352 pages / 2024

4.5 stars. I pretty much loved this novel about a girl (Pearly) who grows up in a lumber camp in the woods of New Brunswick during the Depression-era … with her poor family and a small abandoned black bear that they take in as a cub. Pearly and Bruno (the bear) are raised together and the family is close as they endure the rigors of the camp and a new logging boss who is cruel and arrives during Pearly’s teenage years. Then something happens to Bruno and Pearly must journey away from the camp and all she’s known to find him. It turns out to be quite an adventurous trek and she winds up in a town that she must navigate.

Pearly Everlasting is a bit of a tomboy and a strong female protagonist who can hold her own. I hadn’t known of writer Tammy Armstrong before, but she’s an award-winning poet who casts a spell with her lyrical prose writing and her descriptions of the woods and the girl’s life. Apparently Armstrong grew up in New Brunswick and now lives in Nova Scotia. She’s a new favorite Canadian author to me and I will watch for whatever she puts out next.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout / Random House / 327 pgs / 2024

4.5 stars. This is the fifth book in Strout’s series that feature the same cast of her beloved characters and are mostly set in the small town of Cosby, Maine. This one, which I listened to on audio by the superb Kimberly Farr, grew on me as it went along and I especially liked the novel’s second half that features lawyer Bob Burgess taking on a case of a hapless man who is charged with the death of his elderly mother.

Much has been made in the novel of Strout’s major characters: writer Lucy Barton meeting Olive Kitteridge, now 90, at her senior community. Olive tells Lucy some interesting stories she thinks Lucy might be able to use as a writer. And those were fine, and Olive’s directness still makes me laugh, but it’s Bob Burgess who really steals the show in this novel. Bob undergoes a bit of a crisis when he begins to have feelings for Lucy Barton, despite his marriage to Margaret, the pastor. You have to see what happens at the end with that and his law case. Bob’s a caring and generous soul and the journey with him is something to eagerly take in.

Throughout there’s many details and sentiments in these characters’ lives that Strout seamlessly weaves in and out that makes her storytelling one of the best in the business. We know Olive, Lucy, the Burgess brothers, wives: Margaret, and ex-Pam, and some of the kids quite well now that they all feel very real. By the end, Strout cuts to the heart of the matter moving us with her poignant characters and their lives. Her storytelling of the town and its denizens still casts a touching spell.

Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino / Penguin / 384 pages / 2024

4 stars. We listened to the audio of this on our road trip south, read by the author in his raspy voice. It’s quite an epic telling of his poor childhood in the South Bronx of N.Y., his group of friends there, and how he got into acting in theater and later movies. It touches briefly on some of his personal relationships with Jill Clayburgh and Diane Keaton for example, but it doesn’t go into too many others.

What I liked hearing about were his roles in films such as The Godfather (trilogy), Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, Glengarry Glen Ross, and many other great films. And I guess I didn’t realize how much he was into theater, which seems his first true passion, and Shakespeare. He goes into his theater world quite a bit and the plays he did. It also touches on how he had to sober up and quit alcohol, or else he wouldn’t have lasted.

Towards the end, Pacino sort of meanders on and off with various topics, the people he grew up who died from drugs, and it could’ve been edited shorter. It seems he wasn’t good with money and he went broke at certain points. Some of his willingness to keep acting at times was for money as well as what he knew how to do. Acting runs strong in his DNA, which is quite apparent throughout this. I hardly ever check out actor memoirs, but this was a good exception, and it made me like him a bit more.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and if so, what did you think? Happy holiday season to you.

Hi all. Time has flown by this month. You might already be gearing up for Thanksgiving. It’s that time of year. Gobble, gobble. Winter hit us full on this past week! We were lulled into thinking fall would continue on, but no! All of sudden it was snow, snow, snow!

I can’t complain too much because the drought wasn’t good for a while. So it’s better to snow. And it’ll be good for the ski areas. We might have a foot of snow on the ground by Sunday, lol. I keep filling all the bird feeders around the house. The birds are very hungry these days and are emptying the feeders so quickly. Meanwhile I hope those who live along the northern West Coast weren’t too hard hit by the “cyclone bomb,” which brought a lot of rain and wind this past week. It was crazy in some areas apparently.

In book news this week, Percival Everett’s novel James, a retelling of Huck Finn, won the National Book Award for fiction. Yay. I think it was quite deserving of a big award. While the Booker Prize chose Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital recently, James took the NBA, which was hosted by comedian Kate McKinnon. Her speech was pretty amusing and can be heard here if you’re in need of some levity.

Also this past week author Anne Michaels won Canada’s Giller Prize for her novel Held, a multigenerational tale that looks at war and trauma and spans more than a century. While I have read James, I have not read Held yet. So I will give it a go sometime.

Also in book news, we had good news this week that the city’s library system here was coming back online after being down for a month. Around Oct. 18, they shut it down due to an apparent cyberattack. You couldn’t put books on hold, or return books. The whole library system was virtually shut down. And it went on for four weeks. Gosh we all learned how much we value the library after that. It is finally back open again and our flow of incoming and outgoing books can be restored, hooray. Both dogs are happy that their mother is happy about this, and Willow, at right, is celebrating her fourth birthday today. 🙂 But Stella doesn’t want her to get all the attention.

Also in good news, I had the great fortune to see Bruce Springsteen in concert last Saturday night. I’ve been a big fan of his ever since I was a teenager when I saw him in concert in 1981 at the L.A. Forum. News of the show came up quite suddenly. I found out about it late, the morning of the concert, but I knew I had to go. I worried it might be the last time I saw Bruce perform, so I went all out to see the Boss: driving an hour, parking in craziness, trying to get a ticket at the box office! Which I did somehow, someway.

And of course, I wasn’t disappointed. Bruce gave a 110 percent and rocked so many of his great songs throughout his career for nearly three hours. He and the E Street band brought the house down! I was moved beyond belief. He gave an amazing show! I never sat down. I know I won’t soon forget it. It was like a healing balm after the election. And at 75, Bruce is still more energetic than most of us combined. You might recall I wrote about the last time I saw him in 2012 here. But it seemed even more poignant this time. For his song setlist of the show you can look here. And yes, he did sing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” which is sort of silly and fun, even though I’m not even thinking about Christmas yet.

Lastly, I don’t have a book review to feature this week as life was busy. But I’ve been reading the novel Pearly Everlasting by the Canadian author Tammy Armstrong lately, and it seems good so far. I’ve also been working on a project for Publishers Weekly, which asked me to do an author Q&A. I can talk about it more next week once it’s published. But I was a bit nervous since I had to come up with questions about a new novel by a previous National Book Award-winning author and talk with the author on Zoom about it. I’m sort of an introvert so things like that don’t come too easily. Luckily the chat went well and I just need to pare the interview down now.

That’s all for this week. What about you — have you read anything good lately? Happy Thanksgiving to those in the States.

Hi all. I hope everyone is doing all right. I don’t know about you — but I’m still in a post-election news blackout and feel it suits me and my headspace nowadays. Who wants to witness whatever chaos lies ahead? It’s a new dawn here, see the sunrise from this week. Meanwhile I have more time to do other things, like read books, walk the dogs, do my part-time jobs, and take care of the homestead. And recently I received news that my next knee replacement is not going to be till February or March. I’ve been on a long surgery wait list.

There’s so many oldsters who are in need of joint replacements and only so many operating rooms in the city, so you must wait your turn. The replacements certainly work well (my first one went according to plan) and will allow me hopefully to keep active till late in life. I was able to bike this past Monday (see photo at left) since it’s been quite mild for this time of year.

Meanwhile my husband and I have made plans to spend much of December and the holidays in Southern California, visiting my father and brother and we’ll return in January. It’ll be a winter break, which is okay by me. So I need to gear up and get ready for the long road trip ahead.

In book news, I see that British author Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prizer this past week for her short 136-page novel Orbital, which is set aboard the International Space Station. Wow! It was quite a surprise since others expected Percival Everett’s novel James, or Yael van der Wouden’s novel The Safekeep to win.

But nope. Harvey’s book of astronauts in space, which apparently is filled with beauty and wonder, grabbed the attention of the judges who didn’t seem to mind that it’s “virtually plotless.” I have yet to read Harvey’s novel, but I intend to. I wonder if I will find the plotlessness a drawback, though it is quite short, so maybe I won’t. The cover is a bit fetching. Have you read this?

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante / Europa / 331 pages / 2011

4+ stars. First of all, thanks so much to Tina at the blog Turn the Page for doing a buddy read with me of this much-acclaimed novel. It had been on my shelves for many years and our read-along finally gave me the strong push to pick it up. It also had been named in the New York Times’ survey this past summer as the Best Book of the 21st Century. Whoa! I’m not sure why I had put it off so long, but after all the hoopla — it’s a pretty accessible story about the friendship of two girls from poor backgrounds who grow up in the same neighborhood in Naples, Italy, in the 1950s.

Elena Greco tells their story; she’s the studious good girl who despises her mother and gets high marks in school that allows her to continue on to attend high school. Whereas Lila is the adventurous one when they’re younger. She’s the bad girl in her antics who’s able to read and write brilliantly, but then is forced into working in her father’s shoe shop with her moody brother Rino instead of pursuing more school.

The story follows Elena and Lila’s close friendship and rivalry from ages 6 to 16 and their lives in the neighborhood, which is a pretty rough place … where people wind up dead, parents hit their kids, and bullying, backstabbing, and fighting are commonplace. The two girls inspire and rely on each other in ways to navigate and rise above the circumstances and patriarchal confinements of their lives.

At one point, they hope to write a novel as Louisa Alcott did with Little Women to become well off and independent. They each come to plot ways to transcend their neighborhood, Elena with school, and Lila by designing leather custom shoes to sell and by becoming engaged to a well off young man in the ‘hood. One summer Elena has the good fortune to go to an island to take care of a lady’s kids at the beach. While there, she falls for a boy, but a disturbing event transpires that makes her avoid him later.

After the novel’s accolades, I went into the book not knowing what to expect. But like others, I found it well written — in parts it’s a bit dense with a lot of exposition writing and not a lot of dialogue. Still it really takes you there, and I could picture Elena and Lila’s neighborhood and the people … and the poverty, violence, and the motivations behind the girls’ whims. From early on Elena felt school was the safest place to be.

Many characters from their area inhabit the novel and it was a bit hard to keep track of them all, but the key ones stood out. Their 1950’s setting is quite provincial, sexist, and hard, but I was lured in by the girls’ friendship and how they think highly of one another yet still compete a bit with each other and how they help each other to overcome situations. Lila is at first mean but later seems nicer to Elena than Elena is to her by the end. I’m not sure I preferred one girl over the other. They both seemed bright with potential to break out of their claustrophobic confines. Fingers crossed.

The novel is the first of four in a series. We plan to read Book 2 sometime next year. This novel was translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein, and was written under the pseudonym of Elena Ferrante. I tried to find the book cover I liked best. And so far, I have not watched the adapted TV series of it. Have you?

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this and if so what did you think? And are you reading anything great?

Hi all. I guess I will try to make this post short. For those who’ve followed this blog, which dates back to 2009, you know this isn’t a political blog and I try not to include my opinions about that here. But this past week with the election was truly shattering and deeply disappointing. It was not the outcome many — including me — were hoping for, and I think dark days and irreversible damage are ahead. It’s a very big downer and one that feels worse than in 2016. 

I feel a time of withdrawal is here … unplugging from news and social media and taking a step back. Who are we as a people? Where is the human race heading? Good grief, it doesn’t look anywhere good. I wish I could offer some solace, but there’s very little to say right now. I went back and read my post from November 2016, remembering those days and now this. Both are terrible. For those distressed perhaps one can find comfort in: reading and books; those we hold dear; and the outdoors, nature, sports, and chatting with other book enthusiasts. These are things I cling to, especially in troubled times. You can see from my photo I’m reading on our front stoop Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend.

Perhaps unsurprisingly over the past chaotic years “healing fiction” from Japanese and Korean authors has really taken off … like Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s series Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Hiro Arikawa’s The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Many of the novels are set in mundane locations and center on people struggling and overcoming everyday problems, and often feature cats with magical healing powers. You can read Alexandra Alter’s NYT article about the genre trend here. While I haven’t read these, I can see their cozy appeal. For me, books don’t have to be in this category to offer good escape and comfort. So many do that already, which is part of the magic of reading. 

And now I’ll leave you with a review of the book I finished lately. 

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing /357 pgs/1959

I think I reread this book every 20 years, my first time was probably in 1999 when I went to an exhibit of the expedition at the Natural History Museum in New York. In the book, Lansing wastes no time in his telling of one of the greatest survival stories of all time. It’s a roller coaster action-filled story. Caroline Alexander’s book The Endurance gives a bit more context, but Lansing was one of the first to give a full account of the Antarctic expedition of 28 men whose aim it was to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914 led by Irishman Ernest Shackleton. Apparently Lansing talked to 10 of the survivors and was granted access to the journals and diaries of those on the expedition in order to write this. 

As you probably know, they failed in their attempt to cross Antarctica because their ship the Endurance became trapped and crushed in the ice and they were left on the ice pack. But what they accomplished in their amazing survival turned out to be so much more. They drifted for a while on the ice pack until it melted and they launched three lifeboats into the Southern Ocean and managed to make it to Elephant Island where most stayed. Then Shackleton led a crew of five on a lifeboat trying to get help at the whaling station at South Georgia Island, which took 16 freezing days in an open boat. When they finally made land, they had to trek over icy mountains by foot to get help. 

It’s a rousing tale and I could almost feel the cold and salt-water wounds on their hands, their inadequate clothes and shivers, and the grossness of their rotting food rations. I don’t know how the 28 men survived the various legs of their scary predicament and the two years lost from the world, but their teamwork, fortitude, and how they rose to the occasion was incredible. A lot of credit goes to Shackleton’s leadership as “the boss” and keeping the men together and moving forward. To my knowledge, he’s one of the few polar explorers who brought his entire crew back alive after their ship was destroyed by ice and they were left abandoned. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read this and what did you think? Are you enjoying any good reads now?