The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club

Finished September 7

The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas

This novel, set during the mid-1950s, revolves around a group of four girls, all freshman at Radcliffe, and a female bookstore owner who decides to start a reading club at her store. Alice Campbell left her home town of Chicago and opened a bookshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This store had been a dream of hers that she was only able to realize at this point in her life, with her backstory gradually coming out through the course of the novel. 

The four young women we come to know as well, both through the book club and through their activities at college. Tess comes from Ohio and is a serious student. She grew up with several brothers, a subdued mother, and a bully of a father. She comes to Radcliffe as a scholarship student, is an English major, and aims to excel in her studies and escape the life she grew up in. It is Tess who sees the flyer for the reading club at the bookstore and suggests it to her roommate and other friends she has made. 

Her roommate Caroline is quite different. Caroline comes from a wealthy family in Newport, Rhode Island, and is a beautiful young woman who uses her charm to keep young men clamoring for her time. On arrival Caroline takes over the room, but in a nice way. She provides a matching set of bedlinen to Tess, saying she likes things to match, and Tess falls for her charm. Caroline is studying art history and her travels have given her direct experience with art.

Evie grew up on a farm in upstate New York, and is studying economics

Evie's roommate Merritt is from San Francisco and is studying art. Merritt is an only child and her mother passed away when Merritt was still a young girl. 

The reading club starts with the classic Jane Eyre and over the course of the year, one can see how the books mirror certain aspects of the young women's lives. The discussions around each book are very interesting. Alice is good at asking questions that get the others talking, and one of the first things she says is that there is no right or wrong when discussing a book, but instead the club is about how the book affects you and how it makes you feel. She manages the discussions well, and while she doesn't become friends with the others, she does manage to gain the trust of some of them.

This was quite an interesting read, and I was interested in what happened to the characters and how their experiences changed them. I also found it interesting to think about the books chosen and about how I might respond to some of the questions Alice asked. 

Lublin

Finished September 4

Lublin by Manya Wilkinson

This short novel is the story of a journey and a coming-of-age in early 20th-century Poland. Three Jewish teenagers set off from their Polish village for the town of Lublin. They carry with them a case of brushes to sell. Elya is the instigator of the journey. He is fourteen, and his father Usher was a shoemaker. Elya knows that his mother depends on him now that his father has died, and he also has a betrothal commitment to Libka. He is the one with a hand-drawn map of their journey, which, instead of town names designates places by attributes, such as Village of Lakes, Village of No Lakes, Prune Town, and the to-be-avoided Russian Town. 

Accompanying Elya on his journey are Kiva and his cousin Ziv. Ziv would like to organize the workers for better conditions and pay, and Kiva spends a lot of time reading religious texts and worrying about his health. 

As they travel they tell stories, horse around, and play pranks on each other. Enya often tells jokes, but the other two never laugh at them. They fear Cossacks, and hide if they think they are coming. They refer to God as Adoshem. 

The case of brushes is heavy, about eight kilograms and they argue sometimes over who should carry it. Kiva has brought luxurious items along with him, such as a pillow, extra shoes, and his father's gold watch. 

The narrator often makes references to the future of the boys as well as others from their village, other things happening in the world at the same time, as well as references to things that would be useful to them, but haven't been invented yet, or have but haven't arrived in their country yet. For example, when they camp for the night, the narrator references the Boy Scouts which are just forming at the time. Examples of things not invented are zippers and ball point pens. 

There are also many references to getting lost, and often they find themselves further from their destination than they were when they set out. 

This is a story of youth out in the world for the first time, not understanding the real dangers or opportunities, hoping for a better future, but sometimes waylaid by unexpected events along the way. This was a very different read, sometimes reminding me of Waiting for Godot in the sense of them never getting anywhere. 

Miracle Country

Finished September 3

Miracle Country by Kendra Atleework

This memoir draws you in to the author's life in beautiful prose. She grew up in Swall Meadows, a small town north of Bishop, California, in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, which lies between the Sierra Nevadas on the west, and the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the east. This is an area where the average annual rainfall is about 5 inches. For decades most of the water from this region has been collected and diverted to Los Angeles, making agriculture in the area extremely difficult. 

The memoir is not told chronologically, but moves around in time. It is separated into five parts: Wind; Wildflowers; Rivers; Moonrise; and Summit. It starts in 2015 with a fire that happened in the fourth year of a bad drought. This choice of beginning gives us a real sense of the environment and what the people there face. They have droughts, blizzards, and fire to deal with every year. 

Kendra is the oldest of three children, with a sister Kaela, and a brother Anthony. Her mother, Jan, was a teacher, avid hiker, and played flute in a local orchestra. Her father, Robert, has done a lot of different things since moving to the area as a young man. He has dredged streams, pumped gas, run a Greyhound office, flown hot air balloons, and runs a map company that makes maps of the region. He also built his own airplane, played trombone in the local orchestra, and is very tall, 6'8". I was intrigued by the house she grew up in, which was built by a retired engineer from the L.A. Dept. of Water and Power from old growth redwood that had been salvaged from water tanks in L.A. 

Kendra and her siblings grew up without television and had only local radio. Instead, they had stories, legends, history, and poetry. Their mother created special places and characters for them and they played in this way as they explored the world around them. 

Kendra's mother died when Kendra was sixteen, and the family fell apart gradually despite her father's efforts. She takes us through what she herself went through, and more briefly what her siblings have experienced. 

She gives us a lot of information about the area she lives in, the Owens Valley, known to the indigenous and Payahuunadu. She also includes a lot of history of the area, and gives passages from other writers that lived or passed through the region. One of these is Mary Austin, who came there in 1892, and witnessed the changes that happened when John Mulholland came up with the plan to capture the water for the city of Los Angeles, 250 miles south. She also talks about the indigenous, the Paiute, who were driven out of the area, into the desert to the east, but returned and stayed. 

Kendra went to college in Los Angeles, and grad school in Minnesota. 

She made the whole area come alive for me, as well as making her own experiences relatable and vivid. A fascinating book. 

The Girl They Left Behind

Finished September 1

The Girl They Left Behind by Roxanne Veletzos

This book begins in Romania in 1941. When police come to his house, Iosef knows that it is time to flee. He and his wife Zora go out the back with their toddler daughter Natalia and what ready money Iosef has, hoping to bargain for their freedom. As they run, they realize that they must leave Natalia behind. 

Anton and Despina long for a child, but haven't been able to have one. When a relative lets them know of a young girl in need of a home, they readily adopt Natalia and raise her as their own. Anton runs a chain of stationery stores that he joined as an employee, and has been welcomed into Despina's wealthy family. As the years go by, they encourage Natalia's skills as a pianist and give her every opportunity they can. Anton also befriends a young man he meets near his store, and lets him live above the store as he struggles to survive. The young man, Victor is an avid communist, and once the war is over rises rapidly in the Soviet-controlled Romania. However, Anton and his family have their business, home, and possessions taken from them, and are forced into menial jobs to survive. 

When Victor and Natalia meet again years later, they find themselves attracted to each other, even as they know their relationship has little hope of surviving.

Over the years, there have been moments when a contact with Natalia's birth parents has been key in her life, and when faced with a sudden opportunity, she struggles with the decision to take it or not. 

The novel was inspired by the real family history of the author. 

A moving and engrossing read. 

The Garden of Eden

Finished August 31

The Garden of Eden by Sharon Butala

This book takes place mostly in 1993, with the character Lannie having experiences as early as 1984. This is when Lannie arrived as a volunteer in Ethiopia. She was deeply affected by the news of Ethiopian famine and was determined to find a way to help there. Without medical or other specialized training, she found a church willing to send her for her reporting on what was happening. Lannie makes herself useful in whatever way she can, picking up knowledge as she goes. 

When she was a young child, she was dumped on her uncle Barney and aunt Iris by her father, Howard, Barney's older half-brother following the death of her mother. Her younger siblings, Dillon and Misty, were left with another relative in Calgary.

Lannie had lived in Chinook, Saskatchewan, and her aunt and uncle had a farm just outside town. Despite the love they had for her, Lannie always felt out of place. 

In 1993 in Chinook, Iris is spurred to leave the town to search for Lannie who has been gone for a decade, with letters petering out soon after she left. The impetus to search for Lannie is a sudden, unexpected loss of her own. Iris thinks about her own ties to the land, living on the farm that her mother and grandmother lived on before her. She has often thought about the indigenous people who lived there before them, protecting the signs they left behind, and spending time in the remaining wild coulee that is part of her property.

The book is separated into three sections: Seeding, Growing, and Harvesting, and there are overarching themes of drought, and land use and conservation.

Both women are also searching for love and belonging, and both have dreams that take them into the past and the future. They also feel a sense of a woman guiding them in these dreams. 

I really enjoyed seeing their experiences, even the difficult ones, and seeing them grow as they realized that their strength was within them, and they needed to love themselves first. A moving story that shows the commonalities across cultures. 

Birnam Wood

Finished August 29

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

This was a very interesting read. As the book opens, a landslide on New Zealand's south island has caused a road blockage on Korowai Pass, resulting in a dead end at the north edge of Korowai National Park. The farm just north of the park is owned by Jill and Owen Darvish, Jill having grown up there on her family's farm near the small town of Thorndike. Owen has made a successful career in pest control, and the farm is not currently in use as a farm. Shortly after the landslide, Owen was awarded a knighthood. 

Mira Bunting, one of the founders of a guerrilla gardening group, Birnam Wood, has taken note of this and wonders if this is an opportunity to take their gardening to a new level by taking advantage of this unused land. She decides to go up there and scope things out. 

Mira's co-manager, Shelley Noakes has been growing discontented with the group and her role and is gearing herself up to tell Mira that she wants to leave. With the sudden reappearance of Tony Gallo, another founder of the group, things get more complicated. Tony had gone to Mexico to teach English years ago, but recently found himself dissatisfied there and returned home. Tony has journalist aspirations, and is trying to get his foot in as a freelancer. 

Mira's visit to the farm results in an unexpected meeting between her and Robert Lemoine, an American billionaire. Robert has recently approached Owen Darvish about purchasing the farm property, and offers Mira and her group a chance to prove themselves there. He also offers funding, and this drives Mira to offer the group this chance in a sudden meeting. The group agrees to move forward, but Tony is suspicious of the offer and decides to do some research into the situation. 

His approach to Owen Darvish results in Darvish having questions as well.

The reader is able to see Robert's viewpoint as well, giving us knowledge of his motives and actions that belie what he has professed publicly. 

As the pressure mounts, the situation gets out of control, and unexpected encounters create additional suspense for the reader. 

I found the novel hard to put down as I wanted to see how things turned out. The characters are complex and have motivations that are also complex. There is an obvious 'bad guy' from the outset, and I really wanted him to pay for his actions, and I wanted Tony to get the two things he wanted, love and a chance at journalism. 

Ten Thousand Saints

Finished August 25

Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

This engrossing novel is set in the 1980s around three young people. I would consider Jude Kerry-Horn, sixteen when the book begins, as the central character. Jude was adopted by Harriet and Les when he was a baby, and they subsequently had another child, Prudence. Harriet and Les are divorced. Harriet lives in small town Vermont and is a glass artist and has a studio in her yard where she blows glass, with a lot of her work comprised of bongs. Jude and Prudence live with her. Les now lives in New York City where he continues his business of growing and selling marijuana. He has a girlfriend who has a daughter similar in age to Jude, Eliza. Eliza's mom has money and they live in a nice apartment in New York City, with a maid. Eliza goes to private school, but has been kicked out of a few schools recently. 

Jude's best friend is Teddy, and the book opens as they are celebrating Teddy's sixteenth birthday. When they return to Teddy's house they find it nearly empty, and it seems that Teddy's mom, Queen Bea, has up and left. Teddy is naturally upset and decides to try to get enough money to get a train into New York City, where his older half-brother Johnny lives. Johnny had lived in Vermont until recently when he went to the city to live with his father. Johnny had been part of a band in Vermont, with two of his friends, Delph and Kram, who are still friendly with Jude and Teddy. 

The weekend of Teddy's birthday also has Eliza coming through their town, and Les has asked Jude to meet her at the train and spend some time with her. The three teens hang out and then crash a party at Tony Ventura's large house, where there is a lot of alcohol and drugs present. Some key things happen there, and after dropping Eliza back at her train, Teddy and Jude go to Jude's house. Harriet finds them outside the next morning, both suffering from hypothermia and the effects of the drugs they'd consumed. This is a turning point for Jude, and things go downhill for a while until he is sent to live with his father. He soon meets up with Johnny and begins hanging out with his group of friends who belong to a sect closely related to the Hare Krishnas, and advocate no drugs, no alcohol, and no sex. Eliza soon joins them, and the males form a new band that begins touring the East Coast. The band is a metal band and soon gains a loyal following. 

This book is a clash of generations, kids coming of age in a time of great change, and music being a force that drives them. The main characters, as well as others in their friend group, are searching for their identity, separate from their parents, but still connected to them in a search for belonging and love. This book took me a while to get into, but then I hard a hard time putting it down. Captivating and beautifully written, this book had me reflecting in new ways. 

The Blue Hour

Finished August 22

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

This novel is centered around Eris, a small island in Scotland, accessible only during low tide via a causeway. Vanessa Chapman, a famous artist known for her moods and innovative work, owned the island and lived there in a house she renovated after it being unoccupied for many years. She also transformed the barn into her studio, doing not only painting, but also pottery and multimedia work there. Despite her ownership, the island outside of the buildings is open to the public and does get some visitor traffic. 

When Vanessa's ex-husband Julian disappeared shortly after a visit with her, she became the prime suspect, but the police couldn't find any evidence to charge her of the crime. 

An exhibition that Vanessa was planning was inexplicably cancelled just after the disappearance, leading to a rift with her long-time agent, Douglas Fairburn, a man who was also a lover despite his married status. With Vanessa's recent death, her friend Grace, a local doctor, inherited the island and the task of sifting through her work and papers to transfer the artistic material to the Fairburn Foundation, a gallery owned by aforementioned Douglas. Douglas has also recently died in an accident and his son Sebastian is putting pressure on Grace to transfer the remaining artistic material to the foundation. 

When one of Chapman's multimedia pieces causes an investigation following an exhibition at the Tate, questions are raised about Julian's death again. 

Gallery curator Becker is tasked with meeting with Grace to convince her to finalize the transfer. Becker is a big fan of Vanessa Chapman and knows her work well. He wants to have a cordial meeting to convince Grace, but the meeting unveils other information that he and the gallery weren't aware of. There is an interesting plot element, that of Becker's wife, Helena, now pregnant, who was previously Sebastian's fiancée. 

There are many interesting facets to this story from the history of the island itself to many questions that become apparent over the course of the novel. Is Julian dead, and if so was he killed and where is his body? Was Douglas' death really an accident? What happened to the missing art pieces Vanessa had listed for the cancelled exhibit? Why did Vanessa leave her art legacy to the Fairburn Foundation despite her falling out with Douglas? What was the nature of the relationship between Vanessa and Grace? 

The two main narrators here are Becker and Grace, and each have their own secrets and motivations. Becker is a man who lacks confidence despite his knowledge and expertise, and Grace is a woman who has struggled with rejection and friendships. 

This is a slow-moving page-turner, with lots of suspense.  

Tapestries of Life

Finished August 20

Tapestries of Life: Uncovering the Lifesaving Secrets of the Natural World by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, translated by Lucy Moffat

This book, one I received as part of a book subscription from Mr. B's, is a fascinating look at all nature offers. I learned so many interesting things in the natural world, as well as how humans have taken from it. The author is a Norwegian conservation biologist who knows her subject very well. 

The book is organized with an introduction, ten chapters, and an afterword, and begins with a very personal preface that talks about her life and how she came to this work. She says "Curiosity and a capacity for wonderment are important to me as a scientist." Her aim for the book is to get people to appreciate the natural world enough to work to take care of it. 

In the introduction she talks about her encounter in a museum with a stuffed rhinoceros whose horns had been removed to avoid theft. This led her to think about the numerous smaller creatures that are disappearing. She also talks about the idea of nature as an ecosystem service that offers many benefits. Her third idea here is of the thin layer of earth where life exists, a mere 20 kilometres from the bottom of the Mariana Trench to the top of Mount Everest and the reality that we are only one species among ten million that exist. 

The chapters each discuss one area of 'service' that nature provides, giving examples and making connections to these ideas by relating them to different aspects of human use. 

The first is Water of Life, where she talks about the necessity of water, how much of the earth's water is freshwater and available for use, and species that clean the water such as moss and mussels. 

The second is Grocery Store, which refers to what we take from the earth for food. She talks about microbes and insects, how we use arable land, the role of megafauna in the environment, and the health of the oceans. She also introduces the idea of shifting baseline syndrome, a kind of collective amnesia where we don't see the changes that have happened over time. 

The third chapter is Biggest Buzz, where she begins with coffee, connecting that to pollination, and the interdependence of species in growth, survival of species, and renewal.

The fourth chapter iss Pharmacy, where she looks at the many plants that have been used in healthcare, from traditional medicine to synthetic versions of naturally existing remedies. She talks about the importance of safeguarding traditional knowledge, the long history of medicinal use of natural plants and fungi, and what we are still learning from other creatures and plants. 

The fifth is Fibre Factory, nature that provides us with cloth, building materials, and books. She also includes a discussion of energy from fires to biofuel here. The idea of cold light is one intriguing example. 

The sixth is Caretaking, how plants help to retain water and soil, prevent erosion, provide buffers against flooding, regulate temperature, and clean the air. Her description of the 'flying river' over the Amazon, bringing moisture back inland was one I hadn't known of before. She touches on the importance of old growth forests and how they are different from more managed forest area. One especially intriguing study to me was the reindeer on the Hardanger Plateau, where 323 reindeer died from a strike of lightning and scientist as studying what is happening to them as they decompose. 

Chapter seven is the Warp in the Tapestry of Life, which takes us deep into the world of micro organisms, as well as showing how creatures like whales transport nutrients and minerals, including carbon, from the surface to the ocean depths, and keep life going down there. She discusses the almost doubling change in CO² concentrations from the pre-Industrial world to today. This chapter also includes referent to the increased proximity of wild creatures to both us and domesticated animals as a key input to the rise of infectious diseases we are seeing move into humans, giving several examples. 

Chapter eight is Nature's Archives, a record over time of what has happened. She gives examples such as the samples that have been taken from Greenland in ice cores, comparing tree rings in standing dead trees and timber in old structures, and pollen levels in bogs. One study was able to use guano buildup in a disused chimney to see how the bird species' diet changed over time. 

The ninth chapter is An Ideas Bank for Every Occasion, which looks at how nature has given us inspiration for technological solutions to problems, She gives several fascinating examples here, showing us the inspirations for self-cleaning windows, bullet train design, colour in banknotes, and nanostructure films. She also talks about natures algorithms in efficiency, given movement of slime mould as an example. 

Chapter ten gives us Nature's Cathedral, a place where great thoughts take shape, and the feeling that we get when we spend time in nature, whether forest bathing or listening to birds in our own backyards. She shows research on the role of nature in mental health, robust immune systems, and the intrinsic value of nature itself. 

The afterword gives an element of hope to readers, and ideas of what we can do to keep what exists now from disappearing. 

A fantastic read. 

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The Romantic

Finished August 18

The Romantic: The Real Life of Cashel Greville Ross: a Novel by William Boyd

This historical fiction novel is based on a real person, Cashel Greville Ross. Boyd came into possession of Ross's papers which included an unfinished, and confusing, autobiography that was made up of a collection of handwritten memories. Also in the papers were collections of letters received and drafts of letters sent out, drawings, maps, plans, photographs, published books with notes in the margins, paintings, other small pieces of art, and some objects. Boyd found the collection intriguing and began to do research on the man and his times. He eventually decided to take the fragments he had and build it into a full life story by making it fiction. 

I liked the quotes that he included at the beginning of chapters, as well as the two that he began the book with: "A man's life of any worth is a continual allegory -- and very few eyes can see the mystery" by John Keats and "A novel is a mirror, taking a walk down a big road" by Stendal. These two together give a sense of Boyd's approach to this book. 

Ross was an interesting man who led an interesting life. His first memories were of early childhood in County Cork, Ireland, where he lived with his aunt Elspeth, a Scottish governess to the local gentry, the Stillwell family. The two then moved to Oxford and his adventures began from leaving home abruptly, to fighting at the Battle of Waterloo, going to East Asia as part of the army, socializing with Lord Byron and the Shelleys, falling in love in Italy, writing and publishing books, emigrating to America and becoming a farmer, and looking for the source of the Nile in Africa. 

As his life unfolds, we see clearly his motivations, his attachments, and his luck as they affect his life and the myriad places it takes him. This is a fascinating fictional biography and one that flows beautifully for the reader.