What’s on Your Must Read List for 2020?

Dear Book-lovers,

My Must Read list is getting longer. I am reading She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, winners of a Pulitzer Prize. This book is about how journalists got their stories on sexual harassment and assaults, mainly in the work place, and how it triggered the #MeToo movement. Most of the book was focused on the movie producer Harvey Weinstein (link to NPR article with caution, graphic details), whose court case is currently in process. This is a fascinating account of what goes on in journalism behind the scenes, before we get to read and watch it in real time.

After that I hope to move on to A. J. Finn’s book, The Woman in the Window, a psychological thriller about a woman suffering from agoraphobia who sees, through her window of course, a crime being committed. I discovered a movie trailer on YouTube for that book. Check it out yourself! The movie will be released in May. 

I read a review of The Eiffel Tower Prophecy by D.B. Gilles in FIRST magazine that caught my interest. It’s a time travel story that goes back to Paris in 1889.  The reviewer, Carlo DeCatlo, said the book was impossible to put down. That is my kind of book.

What’s on your Must Read List?

Our Book Club Selections October 2013 - October 2014

A year of reading with my Book Club. We do not meet in December. In January we usually meet and discuss books that we read and enjoyed during the Christmas break. This year we missed a meeting in July and discussed that book in August.  How many titles on our list have you read?

2013

October: Blood of the Prodigal; an Amish Mystery by P.L. Gaus.

November : Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt 

2014

February: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

March: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

April: Last Message by Shane Peacock

May: Sycamore Row by John Grisham

June:  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

July:  Fault in Our Stars by John Green

August: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

September: Tyrant’s Daughter by J. C. Carleson

October: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

The book selections that were my least favorite were Fault in Our Stars and Half Broke Horses. My favorite selections were Bel Canto , The Husband's Secret, and Gone Girl. 

 Next Month's Book Selection

November : Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Potzsch 

I'm Reading "Orange is the New Black"

I am reading Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman and she is giving me an inside look at life in a women's prison. Most people I have spoken to have heard of the made for TV version with the lesbian scenes and the overabundance of using-the-toilet scenes but they didn't know it was based on a book by Piper. The book is not exactly like the TV version. The characters are there Pop, Vanessa, Pennsatucky, "Crazy Eyes", Yoga Janet but not their back story as in the movie. The anecdotes in the book are not as dramatic and colorful or sexual as on TV.

I am on page 199 and the inmates are upset about this article written by Lynn Tuohy in 2004 that gives the impression that life in the Danbury Camp was like living in a big hotel. The informant gives the impression that the soon-to-be-imprisoned Martha Stewart would fit right in with all the classy inmates.  Piper, on the other hand, described the prison as a ghetto for the poor, uneducated and unskilled. In her opinion there was a revolving door between the ghetto where the poor, uneducated and unskilled lived on the outside and the ghetto in the prison system.  Turned out that the authorities really did not want Martha at Danbury anyway; there would be too much media focus on the conditions of the prison.

I am enjoying the book. Piper is great at expressing her emotions mainly her worry and humiliation but also her pleasure. She worried about her family and fiance and how her going to prison would affect them. She expressed her pleasure when receiving visitors in prison. She wrote of her pain and humiliation after seeing the prison gynecologist. Also, Piper has a lot of opinions about the prison system. I would rate this 4 out of 5.

Estela Carlota, Argentina and Philomena, Ireland

Came across this article on Argentine activist 83 year old  Estela Carlota whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered during a period of military dictatorship. Her new born grand-baby was abducted.  Thirty five years later there is a DNA match. She's been able to reunite with her grandson. The story reminded me of Philomena except Estela had a happier ending. Kudos to the two groups, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which continue to work on finding the missing "children" and reuniting families.

I finished reading Philomena yesterday. It was not as I expected. I thought the book was going to be more about the search to find Mike Hess born Anthony Lee by Philomena and the writer Martin Sixsmith . This was a story written from Mike Hess's point of view ; his feelings, his influences, his demons; and cleverly written from the stories told to Martin by those who knew him well.   The movie trailer looks like it will be more about the search conducted by Philomena and Martin. The weirdest thing is that Martin and Mike Hess met and briefly spoke to each other. As Martin wrote in Philomena,"Fate has a curious way of crossing or nearly crossing the paths of those whose lives it will one day bring together."

Philomena: Heartlessness, Hypocrisy, Shame

Before adoption of African children and Chinese children by American families, there was the adoption of Irish children. I'm reading Philomena by Martin Sixsmith, a journalist. It is based on the real life story of a pregnant Irish teen and her friend who were abandoned by their families, forced to work for free at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, then forced to sign away their rights to their children by giving them up for adoption to strangers from America. The time period is the 1950s when it was shameful to be an unmarried pregnant woman.

In Martin Sixsmith's own words, this is a story of heartlessness and hypocrisy.  I would say another theme in the story is shame. Anthony and Mary were adopted by an American couple but the Dad did not really want any more children. The couple already had three boys.  Adding two Irish children, one of whom spoke little English, to the family seemed to terrify the Dad and his boys, particularly the third boy. The presence of the children aged 2 and 3  threw the family off balance. While the children could not remember much about their real Moms, they felt incomplete, felt abandoned and were confused by the abandonment. Anthony in particular, renamed Mike, tried to get information about his biological Mom to no avail.

I am on page 243 and Mike is living with his partner Mark who was also of  Irish heritage.

The book has already been made into a movie starring Judi Dench as Philomena.  Audiences in Venice and Toronto gave this movie a standing ovation in the midst of their tears and laughter. I am requesting it through netflix.

Since the movie, there is an increase in the number of people putting their names on adoption registers to trace birth parents or trace children given up for adoption.

Book Club Pick: Fault in Our Stars

Our book club pick this month is the young adult novel,The Fault in Our Stars, about a teen girl fighting cancer.  There is also a movie out now based on this book.  I am at page 114 and Hazel, the teen battling cancer, wants to visit the reclusive writer of her favorite book, Peter Van Houten,  in Amsterdam with her new-found friend and love interest, Gus. Interestingly, Van Houten's book is about a girl who died of cancer and her story ends in the middle of a sentence to emphasize that the protagonist died or became too sick to complete her thought. Hazel wants to know "the rest of the story" such as what happened to the protagonist's Mom and her possibly con artist fiance.  It is odd that Hazel who is depressed about her own cancer diagnosis would choose Van Houten's book as her favorite.

This book is not as depressing as I thought it would be. It has a 4 1/2 star rating on amazon but I am not sure yet how I feel about it to give it my own rating.

Two coincidences occurred while reading this book.  One was that yesterday that Malaysian Airline that was shot out of the sky was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpar.  I pause to express condolences to the families of all the passengers on that flight. Second, just minutes ago today, in the middle of my reading and listening to the TV, comedian Tig Notaro, a cancer survivor walked on the set of a talk-show to talk about her life with cancer and comedy. What message is the universe giving me?

Dissecting a Marriage, Missing Wife, Clueless Husband = Gone Girl

Listen to Gillian Flynn writer of Gone Girl. The book was awesome.  I read until 4:00am this morning.  Dysfunctional families make great stories. This novel had some unexpected twists and turns and some will either love or hate the ending.   Language unnecessarily crude sometimes but this book is definitely  movie material. So what do you know, I searched the internet and discovered the movie will be released October this year starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike as the main characters and Tyler Perry as the lawyer, Tanner Bolt.

Another Made-For-TV Book

Remember the movie Time to Kill based off John Grisham's book and starring Matthew McConaughey  as Jake Brigance, a small town lawyer? Well I am now reading Sycamore Row, the follow up book to Time to Kill. I am on page 352 and I am loving all the drama in Sycamore Row.

I stayed up until late reading and trying to figure out why wealthy southern businessman Seth Hubbard left 90% of his estate to his African American caretaker/homekeeper, Lettie? His reason for doing so seems to have some connection to some property owned by Lettie's ancestor, Solomon Rinds, and sold to Seth's Dad, Cleon Hubbard? Whatever happened between them and why did the entire Rinds family move out of the area?

Seth was a horrible father and he created horrible adult children who are suing to get a hold of the estate but Seth was clear in his written instructions to Jake Brigance that he did not want his children or grandchildren to inherit anything. Not one cent. The children believe that Lettie used undue influence on Seth who was dying of lung cancer and ended up committing suicide.

There is a hint from early in the story that Seth and his brother, Ancil, witnessed something traumatic as children. What was it? I am anxious to find out. Did this "thing" that they witnessed affect their personality? Seth and his brother are portrayed as dysfunctional adults.

Race continues to be an issue in this small town and selecting people from the community for jury duty is a very delicate matter.

Book to Movie:Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Orange Prize-winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. has been made into a movie already with some top notch actors: Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Watch the trailer here.

Since my last blog, I have discovered the reason for the major conflict between  Richard and Odenigbo.  I should have guessed that Olanna, Odenigbo's girlfriend, was at the heart of the conflict.  

I am on page 357, the war is raging, the people have divided themselves into Nigerians/vandals and Biafrans/refugees, and the Biafrans, including the main characters, are living in unsanitary conditions.

The Best of 2012 in Books & Movies

I have been surfing twitter this morning to find the best books for 2012.   So far I have been directed to ten highly recommended Business Books for 2012.  I have also been directed to a  link to the Top Ten Films for 2012.  Les Miserables, based on our previous book club pick, and Lincoln are among the top ten.  I found a link to Brain Pickings and its 2012 Best-of Reading Lists covering different genres.

I searched the Goodreads website and found that Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling topped the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction for 2012 and Light Between Oceans, set in Australia, was the top pick for the Best Historical Fiction.

By the way, allow me to move away from books and movies for a second. I am sure you would not be surprised to see the top Ten Twitter Trends:  The Olympics, The Elections, Justin Bieber take the lead.

If you are looking forward to the new year, I found  a list of 13 Must Read Books to kick start 2013.  However, if you really think the world will end on December 21, 2012, feel free to  scan the heavens for any sign of the apocalypse. 

Let me lead briefly into the book I am now reading.  I am enjoying the historical fiction, Revelation by C. J. Sansom, which indicates that the fear of doomsday goes way back. It was an obsession in the sixteenth century. People so feared going to hell that it led to insanity.  The protagonist, Matthew Shardlake suspects that some bizarre murders taking place in London are linked to the Book of Revelation and possibly to a former monk who has knowledge of a drug called dwale.  I am on page 210 and there have been three murders so far.

Learning From Louis L'Amour

Our book club choice this month is Education of a Wandering Man by Louis l'Amour, writer of 84 novels  Many of his  novels have been transformed to the big screen.  Lots of lessons to be learned from this writer.

He believes in historical accuracy. He says we should not have to second guess history because the facts are fantastic enough.  Because he believes in historical accuracy,  he read books about other cultures and traveled to the places he wrote about.  He wrote without using any obscenities and without spicing it up with sex scenes.

He describes himself, in this book, as a writer of the frontier, not a western writer, and  says his stories are about passing through or settling wild country.  He obviously admired the western pioneers because they chose to leave everything behind, break  the mold and start afresh in a new country with new problems. They did what L'Amour did,  moved from home and faced one challenge after another.  Man, he says. seeks a means to exist and is always striving to improve his situation. At the time of writing this memoir, he had an interest in the frontiers of outer space. His novel Walking Drum, he says, was about the frontiers of knowledge. 

I like this quote on page 156, "Education is everywhere, prompting one to think, to consider, to remember."  Interestingly, L'Amour felt he had acquired a lot of knowledge about Indonesia, Malaysia and China  and wanted a job in Naval Intelligence, unfortunately, he was turned down because he had no college degree.

Japanese writer: Keigo Higashino

I stayed up all night to read the Japanese novel, Naoko by  Keigo Higashino.  It was quite fascinating; held my interest from beginning to end. I came across this writer because his other book, Devotion of Suspect X  was our book club pick last month.   This novel touched on the supernatural.  The protagonist's wife, Naoko, and daughter, Monami, were involved in a bus crash.  Heisuke thought he had lost his wife but found out that her spirit was occupying his daughter's body.  He then realized that in fact he had lost his only daughter.  Yes, a little confusing and a very creepy situation.  Interestingly, there is a name for  a situation like this  metempsychosis.  The whole story was about Naoko and Heisuke maneuvering through life; elementary school, puberty, junior high and high school; while keeping this huge secret.  There was a very unusual twist to the plot towards the end.  I have watched movies about people switching bodies but this concept of  occupying a dead person's body was different.  I understand there is actually a movie based on this book.

I did not like the reaction of Heisuke in the end. It was too similar to the reaction of one of the protagonist's at the end of Devotion to Suspect X.   I also didn't like that there was no resolution for Heisuke after so many years of living life with this secret.

Reading the Hunger Games

I just finished the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire, and started the third book, Mockingjay.  As anticipated, there is a spirit of rebellion in the Divisions because of Katniss' act of defiance at the Hunger Games that took place in book 1.  Even though there are unexpected twists and turns in books 2 and 3, they did not hold my interest as much as book 1.  Without giving away too much, I am going to just say that I did not like that the writer took us back into the arena for yet another Hunger Games in book 2.  In book 3, the Capitol strikes back at the revolutionaries and there is outright rebellion with Katniss as the symbolic Mockingjay.   The story is not exciting but I am sticking to it because of the love triangle: Gale, Katniss and Peeta.  Who will Katniss choose? Also, it is clear that Katniss is not comfortable with the leadership of the rebellion.  Will she have to defy the Capitol and the rebel government in Division 13?

What are you reading?

I am sharing two links with you dear readers. First, I read a very shocking book over the week-end. It was a story about a southern family, about lust and about fighting big industry, in this case the cotton mill industry. What was shocking was that the book, with its sexual overtones and religious undertones, was first published in the 1930s. The story had the innocent title of God's Little Acre by southern writer, Erskine Caldwell.  By checking Amazon, I found out that there is a movie version for this book.

I found this second link in my Inbox.  It's a link to books that will guide you if you are seeking a life of positivity.  Take advantage of the opportunity to buy any book from the list before June 29th  and you could get a free positivity plan by Jon Gordon

Hunger Games

I have dropped everything to read The Hunger Games.  It is the first book in a trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  The first few pages just pulled me in. I could not put it down.  It's a very exciting dystopic fiction even with the gore and the sadness we readers feel as we read about children being sent to kill other children as sport. Their communities watch and listen in on them on television as if they were watching the TV show Survivor.   The 24 young children are brainwashed to think this is a good thing to represent their district by murdering each other to win a life of comfort meaning a house and regular meals.

Killing as entertainment is not such a fictitious scenario.  Think of  Rome.  Think of the coliseum.  We know adults fought each other or fought animals to their death as others watched the "entertainment". 

I am on page 376 and I can't wait to see how this turns out for Katniss and Peeta.  How do they survive and keep their humanity?  Peeta, the baker's son, has never been brainwashed.  Before the Games begin, he is intent on maintaining his naturally kind and loving self and on keeping Katniss safe. 

I am looking forward to reading all three books.  How are the starving struggling people in the Districts going to defeat the governing fat cats in the Capitol?  I hope I will find out in the end. Also, I am now looking forward to seeing how Hollywood transformed this on the big screen.

Les Miserables - new movie

Well what do you know, there is a new movie coming out in December and it is based on our May book club selection ... Les Miserables!  

This is the movie trailer starring Hugh Jackman as Jean Vajean, the convict that became mayor, fugitive and devoted adopted Dad.  Also features Russell Crowe as Javert, a man following the law without any compassion.  

We did not enjoy the book at our book  club but the movie should be just as wonderful as the musical we saw in Jacksonville a few weeks ago.

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer on OWN

Link to Oprah.com to watch a brief clip of Ms. Davis and Ms. Spencer talking about their portrayal of characters in the movie, The Help, based on one of our favorite book club choices. Ms. Davis is rocking that hairdo and earrings with style. 

Book Club Selection 2012

I love this quote.  Wanted to share with you book lovers:

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one.”― George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Two days ago, I finished reading the classic historical fiction, Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini, set in the period of the French Revolution.  Interestingly, what led to the revolution was the situation where the poor was burdened with heavy taxation while the rich and nobility had numerous tax exemptions.

I loved the storyline divided into three parts: Andre-Louis the lawyer and cynic; Andre-Louis transforming into Scaramouche the improv actor, writer, and businessman;  then Andre-Louis the master swordsman and revolutionary.  In 1952, the movie version of Scaramouche starred Stewart Granger as Andre-Louis and Janet Leigh as Aline.

A book club member introduced me to the writings of Louise Penny, a Canadian murder mystery writer. Today, I will move on to Louise Penny's fifth book, The Brutal Telling.  After that, I will start our book club selection for March, The Paris Wife. 

More Louise Penny Books

I finished reading Canadian writer Louise Penny's book, A Rule Against Murder, this morning.   I was not disappointed; very good storyline with an unexpected twist.  I have three more in the Three Pines mystery series to check out: The Brutal Telling, Bury Your Dead, and A Trick of the Light.

Louise Penny is a four time winner of The Agatha Award for Best Mystery naturally named in honor of British writer, Agatha Christie.

While I am waiting for The Brutal Telling to arrive, I am going to start reading a recommendation from  a book club member Scaramouche, an old historical fiction that was made into a movie.

Wendi's Right Hook May Save Movie

Just  a day or so ago I read that the movie Snow flower and the Secret Fan co-produced by Wendi Murdoch would get a big blow at the box office because it debuted around the same time as the popular Harry Potter movie and in the midst of Rupert Murdoch's News Corps scandal.  Today I read that it is anticipated that Wendi's right hook thrown to protect her husband will probably save the movie.  Wow!