Louise Penny's Book #10: Cosmic Speculation, Cosmic Fact

I am on book #10 in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny titled The Long Way Home . Would you believe I started the first book, Still Life, in 2011 with Okefenokee Book Club? By the way,  I just watched the movie, Still Life, available on Netflix.

For me, Penny's books got better and better. I have been following Armand Gamache and the folks in Three Pines for three years so you know I am hooked.

This book is holding my interest. I still love the quirky characters in Three Pines, Canada. I love Penny's humor. I love how Penny weaves poetry and art in the story but I have to say the story is lacking something, je ne sais quoi. Perhaps I feel something is lacking because so far no murder has occurred. I am on page 197.

The focus in this book is on Peter Morrow, the artist who became jealous of his own wife's success as an artist. Peter is missing. There are hints that he may be dead. (Book 7, A Trick of the Light, is the one that featured Clara Morrow as a successful artist.) In this book, Armand Gamache is no longer Chief Inspector of the Surete, he retired and resides in Three Pines. He and Jean Guy are using their skills and resources to assist Clara in the search for Peter.

In the search for Peter, Louise Penny has taken readers on a journey that includes The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, created by Charles and Maggie Jencks in Dumfries, Scotland. The journey also takes us to a crater formed by a meteor 350 million years ago that has been transformed into Charlevoix in Quebec, Canada. On page 196, Peter's travel from Scotland to Quebec is represented as Peter's travel from cosmic speculation to cosmic fact.

Cosmic and magic are two words mentioned repeatedly.  

What Am I Reading This Morning?

So glad you asked me! I am reading Americanah by the fabulous Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is all about race and the immigrant experience. The setting is Nigeria, the USA (New Jersey, Philadelphia, Maryland) and England. The main characters are from Nigeria, Ifemelu and Obinze, and this is about their fascinating and terrifying experiences as immigrants to USA and England respectively. Ifemelu seems to be the kind of woman who sabotages herself in her romantic relationships by constantly searching for a love that is beyond her reach.  Obinze is also sabotaging himself romantically by holding on to his love for Ifemelu.  She dropped him without giving him any explanation.

There are several sub-themes in this novel. Black women's love/hate relationship with their hair is one  sub-theme. Interracial relationships is another. The effects of acculturation is yet another.  What I love about the book is how accurately the writer described the black immigrant trying to navigate different aspects of American and British life - the language, race issues, job market, food, dating/friendships. I also liked that the two Nigerian characters and their friends had different backgrounds. Obinze had a privileged upbringing as son of a university professor.  Ifemelu's family was struggling. She had never traveled like some of her classmates. Her father lost his job and had to borrow money to pay the bills. Also, I enjoyed reading the writer's description of corruption in Nigeria and the uncertainties of studying in a university in Nigeria where the professors were constantly on strike for improved wages.

I am on page 293 and I am wondering if Obinze and Ifemelu will find love in each other again.  I am also wondering if Ifemelu will be able to fit into Nigerian life when she returns.

Here is what the author had to say about her book on NPR.    She's correct for a black non-American, "you have to learn what it means to be black in America."

As I read about life in Nigeria, let me also bring awareness to twitter campaigns #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters on this Mother's Day.

Book Club Selection: Last Message.

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning reading Half of a Yellow Sun. It made me laugh, cry and feel disgust. The storyline in this book reminded me of Left to Tell, a past book club selection, about the genocide in Rwanda.  Here is a memorial that took place recently in Rwanda. War is a horrible beast. 

It was well worth staying up most of the night to complete the reading of Half of a Yellow Sun. When I thought the main characters were all safe, something else happened to shatter that view. It was a roller coaster ride with these characters.  I loved the messages about love, war, and family. Now on to the next book.

I am now reading Last Message, in my lunch break, by Shane Peacock. It is a Young Adult fiction and it is our book club selection for this month.  There are seven books in the series and each book is written by a different author.  Peacock's book is number 6. This is unusual for me. Adam is the narrator and he is being sent on an adventure in France by his deceased grandfather,  David McLean.

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.

I remember Biafra

I remember as a child, watching news-clips about the civil war in Nigeria and seeing starving children from the secessionist state, Biafra. Chimamanda in Half of a Yellow Sun is educating me on this aspect of Nigeria's history in the sixties. The horrors of the war is graphic.  The book is very well written.  I am totally absorbed in this historical fiction that is wrapped up in a love story and a story about social life and family life in Nigeria.  Something has happened to the main characters. I don't know what it is at this point and I am eager to find out.  Richard, a socially inept British expatriate, and Kainene are lovers and he has fallen out with a revolutionary professor who happens to be the lover of Olanna, Kainene's twin. Whatever the quarrel was about, Richard no longer visits the professor's home and when he sees Olanna, he tries to avoid contact. I am invested in these characters. Loving it.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series

Loved Miss Louise Penny's latest, How the Light Gets In, named one of the best mystery/thriller novels of 2013 by NPR. Absolutely loved it. All the pieces of the puzzle from past books in the series seemed to have been resolved at the end of this story.  It felt as if  this was the last of the Inspector Gamache series.  The series started in the small Canadian village of Three Pines and feels like it has ended in Three Pines. Even Yvette Nichol, the socially inept officer, turned up in this book. The last time this character was mentioned was in the sixth book in the series, Bury Your Dead.  I liked the back and forth conversation as Team Gamache tried to hack into the computer that held the secrets of Team Francoeur; it added excitement to the story.  I also enjoyed the humorous tone in the story.  I finished this book in two days could not bear to put this book down and I am glad I read the series in order.

What are you reading?

I just finished reading an interesting historical fiction. T.K. Welsh (pseudonym for J. G. Sandom) took me on a rough journey with young Victor from Modena, Italy in 1830 to a vastly different world in Surrey, England in 1852.  The title of the book is Resurrection Men, the name given to those who practiced body snatching and sold the bodies to Physicians. Twelve year old Victor went from orphan to cabin boy then later evolved from beggar to Physician's Assistant.  He went from one horror to another every step of the way. Victor's "rag to riches" story is narrated by a Dr. Lambro who is treating a young boy who reminds him of a boy he once knew.  This is worth reading for young adults but the horror is very graphic.

I have started the murder mystery,  How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny, the ninth book in the Inspector Gamache series. As I read, I feel as if I am reuniting with my old friends from Three Pines.   I am reuniting with the quirky residents in the town such as the book store owner, Myrna Landers;  the angry poet Ruth; the artist, Clara Morrow; and the Bistro owners, Oliver and Gabri. In this book Clara and her husband are separated and I can't remember the marital issues between them because the previous book in the series, Beautiful Mystery, was not set in Three Pines. I searched and found a post dating from March 2012 that should refresh my memory about this couple.

I am only on page 75 but I am expecting three things by the end of this story. I am expecting the work-related issues at the Surete that have divided Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his old friend Jean -Guy to be resolved. I am expecting to find out what is the connection between the suicide of Audrey Villeneuve and the murder of Myra's old friend, Constance Oeullet also known as Constance Pineault. I am expecting to find out  who murdered Constance and why.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

When a Mom says these words, it is usually a positive thing, an indicator that a Mom is expecting her child to be responsible and independent: "He doesn't have to wait for his Mom to tell him everything. He's old and wise enough to decide for himself."  However, in the story of  The Dinner by Herman Koch, those same words written on page 271 and spoken by a Mom named Claire indicate something ominous. Claire wants her only child, a teenager named Michel, to hide his wrong doings by any means necessary.

One steady theme in the story is sibling rivalry and this is the focus of the narrator who is also Claire's husband, Paul.  Paul, an unemployed teacher with a mystery illness resents his brother, Serge, a popular Dutch politician hoping to campaign for the post of Prime Minister.  The characters; Claire and Paul, and Serge and Babette; meet at an up-scale restaurant for dinner then there are flashbacks explaining why all the characters have come together and how each one is connected. The chapters in the story are divided into parts starting with Aperitif, Appetizer, Main Course, Dessert and ending with Digestif. This is a well written story even though it starts off slow in the Apertif section. The story is not for every reader; it is dark. All the characters in The Dinner set in Holland are horrid and the writer makes you dislike them all.

The story makes you think, What would I do in a situation like this?  Would I cover up my child's wrong doing by any means necessary?  Many people do just that.  I am thinking about a teenager in Brunswick, Georgia, De'Marquise Elkins, who tried to rob a mother and ended up murdering her baby. That teenager's Mom, Karimah Elkins, his sister and his Aunt tried to cover for him.  The story makes you think about genetics.  It is not clear if Paul's illness was a mental one but whatever it was, I believe readers are supposed to think the child is not totally responsible for his behavior, that Paul and his son Michel suffer from the same illness.

I have read some interesting books in October.  I finished reading Bel Canto and The Dinner. I have moved on to Open and Shut by  David Rosenfelt which is actually our book club selection for November.

Listen to the writer Herman Koch on NPR.

I Am Loving Bel Canto

I am still enjoying Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and am on page 202 of this 318 page book.  I  like the humor in the story and I am fascinated by the characters.  I am going to recommend this book to the book club. There is a mixed group of about 58 high level officials in a hostage situation. The women and children had been released except for an opera singer, Roxane Coss. The story revolves around her. The male hostages and the terrorists which include two girls are captivated by Roxane's voice; the pure sweetness of her upper register. Page 201 says of Roxane, "She sang as if she was saving the life of every person in the room."  She has become close to one female bandit, Carmen. They braid each other's hair as if they were BFFs.  According to Carmen, Roxane is in love with a Japanese businessman also in captivity, Mr. Hosokawa.

Mr. Hosokawa's personal Japanese interpreter, Gen, is a key character in the story because he speaks several languages and is needed to keep the communication going.  He is very busy in this hostage crisis interpreting Russian, French, English, Spanish, Japanese. Much of the communication is between various male hostages and Roxane and also between the Red Cross official Messner and the terrorists. Gen is in love with Carmen, the young female bandit who wants to improve her education in the midst of this hostage crisis.

Father Arguedas, a young priest and another major character, seems very happy to be a hostage. He loves opera and is grateful to be in the presence of Roxane.  He prays for love, protection, and safe delivery for all but not  for rescue.

The Vice President, Ruben, of this unnamed South American country is an interesting character in the story. The hostages and terrorists are in his home and he is busy cleaning, organizing the cooking, and generally playing host as if this were a normal situation. He's given Roxane some of his wife's clothing. It was funny when he approached Roxane to get guidance on how to prepare dinner. He assumed because she was a woman she would know about cooking.

I am hoping this has a satisfying resolution.

What are you reading this weekend?

I am reading the fourth book in the Hangman's Daughter series, Poisoned Pilgrim by Oliver Potzsch.  I am on page 264 and so far some relics and a monstrace are missing, monks have been murdered, the abbot's brother is missing, and there is talk of an automata running around as if it may be possessed.

Beggar King - Historical Fiction

I am on page 362 of The Beggar King, The Hangman's Daughter series by Oliver Potzsch, almost at the end, and I am still not sure I understand who the bad guys are in this story.  The setting is the 17th century Bavarian town of Regensberg. There is conspiracy after conspiracy, treachery after treachery in this story.  All the minor characters seem not to be who they say they are.  So far, they all seem very shady: the Beggar King, the Venice Ambassador; The Raftmaster; the patricians of the city; the dead bath house owners, Kuisl's sister and brother-in-law; and even Kuisl's wife seems to have some secret past. 

Hangman Jakob Kuisl has been targeted, tricked into leaving Schongau for Regensberg so that he could be accused of  murder in that town.  The leaders in the city seem to have conspired together to accuse him.  Kuisl got a taste of the brutal punishment that he himself has imposed on others in his role as Hangman.  His chief tormentor who wants the punishment to be more and more severe is a voice from his past, which he can not remember fully, and a leader in the city.  The feisty hangman's daughter, Magdalena, and her paramour, Simon, just happened to have run off to Regensberg to start a new life together when they find themselves having to find evidence that Kuisl is innocent.  Then they have to go into hiding after being accused of arson. In the meantime some prostitutes are disappearing and turning up dead. How their deaths connect with Kuisl, I do not know at this point.

I am not as excited about this story as I was with the other two in the series. Too many things are going on in this story.  Who committed the murders and why?  How do the politics and church issues relate to the murders? What is up with this great war in the past?  Who is killing the prostitutes and how does that connect to the main story? What was the mystery powder found at the scene of the murder? So many aspects to this one story.  I was the one who recommended the first book in the series to my book club and we loved it.

Pics For Fans of The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Sharing pics of the ruins in Masada, ancient mountaintop fortress in Israel, which is part of the setting for Dovekeepers  It was rebuilt and redecorated by King Herod the great.  Top picture is supposed to be the dovecot where the doves were kept.  I am also including a picture of the Rabbi of Masada who is writing the Torah by hand in the ancient synagogue.

Israeli Authors in the Spotlight

Book lovers, I have to introduce you to this article on Israeli Authors by Ellis Shuman. I just returned from Israel last Wednesday so I am still a little 'high' on Israel and reading everything I can.  I forgot my camera in Israel and waiting for the hotel security to mail it to me.  Big oops! When I get it, I will display some of my beautiful food and landscape pics for you my readers.  By the way, the book Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman really helped me to appreciate the fortress of Masada when I visited it last week on February 15th.  We were shown the area where the doves were kept.

Hangman's Daughter series

I have finished reading The Dark Monk.  This story reminded me of some of Dan Brown's thriller fictions with the Christian icons, the clues to be solved, a little history, a little mythology, and some crooked monks.   Just as Brown's readers actually visit the Italian sites mentioned in Angels and Demons, the writer seems to be expecting that his readers will be visiting some of  the Bavarian sites mentioned in the story and so he has provided a guide to the sites at the end of the novel.

Also, at the end of the story we get to know a more about the writer Oliver Potzsch and a little bit about the real Jakob Kuisl, the Schongau Hangman and also the writer's ancestor.   Interestingly, there are 14 executioners in Potzsch's family tree. 

There is also a preview of the third book in the series, The Beggar King.  The romance between Magdalena, the Hangman's daughter and Simon the Physician Assistant is moving right along in the first few pages.

I am moving on to another historical fiction, Dissolution by C.J. Samson, our book club pick for November, set in 16th century England.

I am reading Dark Monk

I am on page 179 of The Dark Monk: a Hangman's Daughter's Tale,  set in 17th century Bavaria. A Knight Templar Master, Friedrich Wildgraf, has hidden a great treasure, possibly large enough to finance wars in Europe.  The Templars wanted to ensure only Christians would find the treasure so there are riddles to be solved, with Biblical vocabulary, and they are planted in various locations.  One was found in a church crypt, another at a basilica, and one more at the ruins of a castle   One of the major characters, Physician Assistant Simon, says the riddle he found at the castle is a prayer and on page 179 it puzzles him that the word TREE, in the prayer/riddle, is capitalized.

In the meantime a priest has been murdered.  The hangman's daughter, Magdalena, has gone shopping for herbs in another town.  The hangman, Kuisl and a group of his fellow citizens have gone out to capture some bandits, The Scheller Gang, who have been ambushing and murdering traders and citizens traveling to and from their town.   The vigilante group led by the hangman seems to have gotten out of hand.  To the disgust of the hangman, women and children were killed.

The first book in the series, The Hangman's Daughter, is our book club pick this month.

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!

Book into Movie: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Oh oh, new movie based on the book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan has a connection to Rupert Murdoch.  Read this.  Will that link affect the success of the movie? I doubt that.


I found a preview of the movie on this link.  The book was written by Lisa See and the movie was released July 10.

Full Circle with Kei Miller

Finished The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller on Sunday.  Wonderful story ... 41/2 star rating in my opinion.  This was actually a story about several variations of the same story. It was a story about storytelling. Made me sad. Made me laugh.

Loved how the story came full circle.  Original Pearline Portious gave birth in a home for lepers.  Her daughter, Adamine,  in turn gave birth in a home for the mentally disturbed.  Loved the characters.  Mother Lazarus turned out not to be a composite of the nuns who cared for the lepers in the real life leprosarium in Jamaica. She was an atheist who ironically tried to pray life into Pearline.

There were so many themes in the story: time, truth, madness, power of the spoken word, physical abuse.  Loved the theme of "time"; that  everything had a season.  The sentence, "It is time" was repeated frequently. Loved the theme of truth telling. Liked that the writer made Adamine whisper her truth to the universe, the wind, and told the universe to hush; shhhhh. Everyone had a different version of the truth but readers finally get to it in the end.  As the writer says, "In the end every story is edited, brought down to some essence...."

Some readers won't like the repetition, the constant flashbacks with the different outcomes but I loved it.  Then again I liked those movies that have flash forwards with different outcomes such as Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. Something about the twists and turns of the story reminded me of the wonderful, mystical world portrayed in Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Movies Inspired by Books

Books that inspired Movies were featured on Oprah's website.

The Help we read for our book club discussion but I have not read the other books on the list, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan or One Day or the Harry Potter book.

Right now I am still reading and enjoying The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller.  I think this would make an interesting movie.  Instead of the flash forward genre of movies with different outcomes.  This would be a flash backward with different outcomes.  Adamine's story and Mr. Writer Man's story are two different versions of the same story.  Fascinating!

Leprosarium in Jamaica

I thought the setting of The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller was fictional.  A quick google search revealed that there really was a leprosarium in Jamaica. There is an autobiographical book on amazon called, Once Over and Lightly, and the co-writer was sister Mary Augustine who was stationed at the leprosarium in Spanish Town, Jamaica. "Two Hearts, One Fire", another book, is actually about Sister Mary Augustine's experience in Jamaica. I found a Sister Judith who was stationed in 1965 at the leprosarium in Jamaica called Hansen Home. Mother Lazarus could be based on a composite of the nuns who were assigned to the Home. Actually, now that I have written the name Hansen Home, I do have a vague recollection of its existence.  It closed in the 1980s since there was no more need for it.

FYI:  Hansen's disease is another name for leprosy.