1. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson
In 2016 I read The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It was so thorough and well done, but I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted to know more about Rosemary, the daughter who was labeled "retarded" by her many tutors and governesses. I was really hoping to learn about the developmental healthcare of the time because so much of it changed thanks to Rosemary's siblings later on. And I wanted to find out about that infamous lobotomy Joe Kennedy Sr arranged for Rosemary while his wife was out of town and couldn't object. There wasn't anything new here, though. The third of the book that I read was all the information Kearns Goodwin had already handled very ably. And I didn't care for Larson's style. So, that's done.
2. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
I should count this as being finished because I came so close. The first half of this book is FUNNY. It's about a newspaper magnate who needs to hire a good reporter to "report" (or make up) stories related to the latest war in Africa. (The setting is London in the early 20th century.) Taste-maker and eccentric housewife, Mrs. Algernon Smith, tries to do a young friend a favor by recommending him for the job. Unfortunately for the would-be reporter, he shares a name (William Boot) with an older gentleman who already writes a weekly nature column for the paper. The two William Boots get mixed up and the nature-writer William Boot gets sent to Africa to cover the war.
It's satire, it's hilarious, it's well-written. Once Boot gets to Africa, though, I got the impression Waugh was satirizing specific people and newspapers. This was more than 100 years ago and it was too specific (to me) to stand the test of time. Probably if I recognized these people and situations I would have thought it was deliciously wicked. Instead, I got bored and kinda just stopped reading.
Now for the ones I did finish!
3. The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
This might be my favorite book that I read this year. I love this style of historical fiction - when real people are interacting with fictional characters to tell the story. Moore does this so well! He shows us the legal tussle for the patent for the light bulb between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse told through Westinghouse's young lawyer, Paul Cravath (a real person).
There are so many great scenes in The Last Days of Night. Cravath wants to beat Thomas Edison so badly, but it seems like Edison can anticipate every move they make. Westinghouse enlists the help of the brilliant but odd Nikola Tesla (oh hey, Tesla - second time I've seen a fictional version of you this year). Edison wants his name to be at the top of the heap - he wants everyone to believe that he is THE inventor. Westinghouse wants to take Edison down. The two of them and Tesla all have a version of the light bulb, but the one who gets the credit is the one who handed in all his patent paperwork first. Kinda lame, right?
I loved imagining a world where electricity was a new and unknown thing. Only a few people understood how it worked, to everyone else it was dark magic. It reminded me how much we take for granted. In one of the first scenes, Paul witnesses a guy electrocuted right above the street. The guy was trying to untangle live electrical wires, not knowing he was essentially playing with a lightening bolt.
"Light bulbs. Electricity. It seems likely that ours will be the last generation to ever gaze, wide-eyed, at something truly novel. That our kind will be the last to ever stare in disbelief at a man-made thing that could not possibly exist."
The B and C plots are fun, too. An interesting love story between Paul and a beautiful singer/client and Tesla's craziness. Just a really great read.
4. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
While we were at Pearl Harbor, the kids got to see a really moving film about the attacks on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. It was so devastating to watch the real footage and then quietly walk over the USS Arizona at the memorial. There was an old Navy guy outside the store at Pearl Harbor with huge bunches of paper cranes telling stories about Sadako. I found a book in the store and thought it might be nice to balance our Pearl Harbor experience with a story about a Japanese girl who was born in Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped.
I read this to Emil and Colin (they were six at the time) and it was a huge bummer. But! We had great conversations about having hope when things are difficult and what life might have been like in Hiroshima and what it's like to have cancer. The book includes instructions on how to make a paper crane, too.
5. The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart
This Arthurian series has so many enthusiastic reviews I wanted to see what the fuss was about. There's a whole group of people who are obsessed with all things King Arthur. It's the classic story, right? Everyone knows it. I read The Sword and the Stone in 2013, so I must have a little obsession myself. The Crystal Cave is Merlin the Wizard's origin story.
There were times when I couldn't wait to see what happened and other times when I had no idea what was going on. Merlin is frightened by his visions and doesn't really understand his powers or how to use them. He has a mentor who teaches him medicine (on animals mostly) and how to meditate. Merlin's powers are secretly powers all of us have, it's just a matter of observing them. He tries to follow the inspiration he feels even when he doesn't see the purpose in his actions until much later.
"The gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage."
My favorite chapter was when Merlin is about to be sacrificed because a certain king believes that Merlin truly has no father, that he is the son of a devil (he's convinced a lot of people of that to spare his mother). My heart races just thinking about it! Merlin remembers a place he found in his childhood, he pretends to have a vision in front of the king and his men, then he really does have a vision. His reputation after that becomes legendary. The final scene is also very thrilling - Merlin orchestrates Arthur's parentage and it's very messy.
Other times, though, I was lost. Am I supposed to remember all the people and all the details in King Arthur's life? Because I don't. I was listening to this (superb narration), which probably didn't help me remembering names.
6. Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett
I've read and listened to Dickens's A Christmas Carol many times. I've never wondered why Jacob Marley came to visit Scrooge, other than he didn't want Scrooge to suffer the same fate Marley was experiencing. If I'd given it any thought at all, I probably would have wondered why a guy who was as bad as, even worse, than Scrooge would try so hard to save Scrooge.
R. William Bennett wondered, so he wrote a little story about it. We get to be inside Jacob T. Marley's head - how he came to be the miser mentor to Ebeneezer Scrooge. We see where Marley and Scrooge's paths crossed and how Marley could have been an example of love and forgiveness, but he collected money instead. (I was struck by the same thought I always have when I read A Christmas Carol - money is useless in the next life! Worse than useless!)
I liked this - it was old, but new. Like standing backstage instead of being in the audience.
7. Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
I got this for Emil for Christmas because he has shown an interest in the Founding Fathers and he likes science AND zombies. The illustrations and the variety in the font make this a really fun book to just look at, but it's also very interesting. A guy named Dr. Mesmer is hypnotizing people in France and making them believe they're cured of all their aches and illnesses. Ben Franklin shows up and uses the scientific method to test Mesmer's "powers." Franklin exposes Mesmer and Mesmer runs out of town.
But the placebo effect is a real and valuable thing. The power of the mind! Who knows what it's capable of.
8. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
This book has a great and intriguing beginning. A fancy lady, Katey Kontent, and her husband are at an art gallery in New York City in the late 1960s. They are looking at a collection of photos taken in the subway stations, unbeknownst to the subjects in the photos. Katey finds two photos of an old friend - in one he is dressed impeccably, not a hair out of place. In the other he is unshaven, worse for wear, but seems happier. Katey's husband makes a comment about rags to riches and she corrects him, the unshaven photo was taken a year after the polished one.
The fateful year was 1937 and the man was Tinker Grey. Rules of Civility describes the single life of two boarding house roommates, Katey and Evelyn. They are secretaries, they're young, and they're enjoying the underground jazz clubs, free drinks, and silly adventures of living in the city. The girls meet Tinker and the three of them have a great time together. Tinker's got money and Evelyn knows how and where to spend it and Katey is witty and fun.
There's an incident that changes everything. Unrequited love always leads to good story material. In the last third of the book the tone went from being very chaste to being dirty in an uncomfortable way. That made me mad - the story was fine without it. Better. Anyway. One of the characters looks back on the events of the year through different eyes and picks up on things that she and I both missed. Like looking back on a high school boyfriend-type relationship and seeing all the red flags in retrospect. That was cool. Almost made up for the icky turn Towles took.
9. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P.J. Lynch
I bought this a few years ago to add to my collection of read-aloud Christmas stories. I forgot about it until this year. I read it during the week before Christmas and really liked it. It's about a gruff, wood-carving widower who thinks Christmas is pish-posh. He lives alone after losing his wife and baby son. A widow and her son show up at his house one day asking if he can recreate a wooden nativity that is important to them and has been lost in their move. The boy wants to watch the woodcarver (Jonathan Toomey) work, so the widow and the boy end up spending many hours at his place.
It's very sweet. You can see it coming, but it's still sweet. Our kids really liked it, too.
2. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
I should count this as being finished because I came so close. The first half of this book is FUNNY. It's about a newspaper magnate who needs to hire a good reporter to "report" (or make up) stories related to the latest war in Africa. (The setting is London in the early 20th century.) Taste-maker and eccentric housewife, Mrs. Algernon Smith, tries to do a young friend a favor by recommending him for the job. Unfortunately for the would-be reporter, he shares a name (William Boot) with an older gentleman who already writes a weekly nature column for the paper. The two William Boots get mixed up and the nature-writer William Boot gets sent to Africa to cover the war.
It's satire, it's hilarious, it's well-written. Once Boot gets to Africa, though, I got the impression Waugh was satirizing specific people and newspapers. This was more than 100 years ago and it was too specific (to me) to stand the test of time. Probably if I recognized these people and situations I would have thought it was deliciously wicked. Instead, I got bored and kinda just stopped reading.
Now for the ones I did finish!
This might be my favorite book that I read this year. I love this style of historical fiction - when real people are interacting with fictional characters to tell the story. Moore does this so well! He shows us the legal tussle for the patent for the light bulb between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse told through Westinghouse's young lawyer, Paul Cravath (a real person).
There are so many great scenes in The Last Days of Night. Cravath wants to beat Thomas Edison so badly, but it seems like Edison can anticipate every move they make. Westinghouse enlists the help of the brilliant but odd Nikola Tesla (oh hey, Tesla - second time I've seen a fictional version of you this year). Edison wants his name to be at the top of the heap - he wants everyone to believe that he is THE inventor. Westinghouse wants to take Edison down. The two of them and Tesla all have a version of the light bulb, but the one who gets the credit is the one who handed in all his patent paperwork first. Kinda lame, right?
I loved imagining a world where electricity was a new and unknown thing. Only a few people understood how it worked, to everyone else it was dark magic. It reminded me how much we take for granted. In one of the first scenes, Paul witnesses a guy electrocuted right above the street. The guy was trying to untangle live electrical wires, not knowing he was essentially playing with a lightening bolt.
"Light bulbs. Electricity. It seems likely that ours will be the last generation to ever gaze, wide-eyed, at something truly novel. That our kind will be the last to ever stare in disbelief at a man-made thing that could not possibly exist."
The B and C plots are fun, too. An interesting love story between Paul and a beautiful singer/client and Tesla's craziness. Just a really great read.
While we were at Pearl Harbor, the kids got to see a really moving film about the attacks on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. It was so devastating to watch the real footage and then quietly walk over the USS Arizona at the memorial. There was an old Navy guy outside the store at Pearl Harbor with huge bunches of paper cranes telling stories about Sadako. I found a book in the store and thought it might be nice to balance our Pearl Harbor experience with a story about a Japanese girl who was born in Hiroshima after the atom bomb was dropped.
I read this to Emil and Colin (they were six at the time) and it was a huge bummer. But! We had great conversations about having hope when things are difficult and what life might have been like in Hiroshima and what it's like to have cancer. The book includes instructions on how to make a paper crane, too.
This Arthurian series has so many enthusiastic reviews I wanted to see what the fuss was about. There's a whole group of people who are obsessed with all things King Arthur. It's the classic story, right? Everyone knows it. I read The Sword and the Stone in 2013, so I must have a little obsession myself. The Crystal Cave is Merlin the Wizard's origin story.
There were times when I couldn't wait to see what happened and other times when I had no idea what was going on. Merlin is frightened by his visions and doesn't really understand his powers or how to use them. He has a mentor who teaches him medicine (on animals mostly) and how to meditate. Merlin's powers are secretly powers all of us have, it's just a matter of observing them. He tries to follow the inspiration he feels even when he doesn't see the purpose in his actions until much later.
"The gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage."
My favorite chapter was when Merlin is about to be sacrificed because a certain king believes that Merlin truly has no father, that he is the son of a devil (he's convinced a lot of people of that to spare his mother). My heart races just thinking about it! Merlin remembers a place he found in his childhood, he pretends to have a vision in front of the king and his men, then he really does have a vision. His reputation after that becomes legendary. The final scene is also very thrilling - Merlin orchestrates Arthur's parentage and it's very messy.
Other times, though, I was lost. Am I supposed to remember all the people and all the details in King Arthur's life? Because I don't. I was listening to this (superb narration), which probably didn't help me remembering names.
I've read and listened to Dickens's A Christmas Carol many times. I've never wondered why Jacob Marley came to visit Scrooge, other than he didn't want Scrooge to suffer the same fate Marley was experiencing. If I'd given it any thought at all, I probably would have wondered why a guy who was as bad as, even worse, than Scrooge would try so hard to save Scrooge.
R. William Bennett wondered, so he wrote a little story about it. We get to be inside Jacob T. Marley's head - how he came to be the miser mentor to Ebeneezer Scrooge. We see where Marley and Scrooge's paths crossed and how Marley could have been an example of love and forgiveness, but he collected money instead. (I was struck by the same thought I always have when I read A Christmas Carol - money is useless in the next life! Worse than useless!)
I liked this - it was old, but new. Like standing backstage instead of being in the audience.
I got this for Emil for Christmas because he has shown an interest in the Founding Fathers and he likes science AND zombies. The illustrations and the variety in the font make this a really fun book to just look at, but it's also very interesting. A guy named Dr. Mesmer is hypnotizing people in France and making them believe they're cured of all their aches and illnesses. Ben Franklin shows up and uses the scientific method to test Mesmer's "powers." Franklin exposes Mesmer and Mesmer runs out of town.
But the placebo effect is a real and valuable thing. The power of the mind! Who knows what it's capable of.
This book has a great and intriguing beginning. A fancy lady, Katey Kontent, and her husband are at an art gallery in New York City in the late 1960s. They are looking at a collection of photos taken in the subway stations, unbeknownst to the subjects in the photos. Katey finds two photos of an old friend - in one he is dressed impeccably, not a hair out of place. In the other he is unshaven, worse for wear, but seems happier. Katey's husband makes a comment about rags to riches and she corrects him, the unshaven photo was taken a year after the polished one.
The fateful year was 1937 and the man was Tinker Grey. Rules of Civility describes the single life of two boarding house roommates, Katey and Evelyn. They are secretaries, they're young, and they're enjoying the underground jazz clubs, free drinks, and silly adventures of living in the city. The girls meet Tinker and the three of them have a great time together. Tinker's got money and Evelyn knows how and where to spend it and Katey is witty and fun.
There's an incident that changes everything. Unrequited love always leads to good story material. In the last third of the book the tone went from being very chaste to being dirty in an uncomfortable way. That made me mad - the story was fine without it. Better. Anyway. One of the characters looks back on the events of the year through different eyes and picks up on things that she and I both missed. Like looking back on a high school boyfriend-type relationship and seeing all the red flags in retrospect. That was cool. Almost made up for the icky turn Towles took.
I bought this a few years ago to add to my collection of read-aloud Christmas stories. I forgot about it until this year. I read it during the week before Christmas and really liked it. It's about a gruff, wood-carving widower who thinks Christmas is pish-posh. He lives alone after losing his wife and baby son. A widow and her son show up at his house one day asking if he can recreate a wooden nativity that is important to them and has been lost in their move. The boy wants to watch the woodcarver (Jonathan Toomey) work, so the widow and the boy end up spending many hours at his place.
It's very sweet. You can see it coming, but it's still sweet. Our kids really liked it, too.
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