Readings

In not particular order, here are here are the books I've read in the last few weeks.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - One of the best books I've read in a while. Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island between Australia and Antarctica. Their mission: to care for and protect the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with climate change speeding up, sea levels rising, and the island sinking beneath the sea, the Salts are now its only inhabitants, preparing the seeds for a safe relocation. During the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore, and the plot thickens.

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths - Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen—or so their inside joke goes. Nobody knows that her team has a secret: they can travel back in time to look for evidence.The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before, to 1850s London to clear the name of Cain Templeton, an eccentric patron of the arts who is accused of murder. For some reason she doesn't understand, Elly gets stuck in the past. But while she trusts her team to sort things out and get her home, she continues to investigate the case for which she was sent to find evidence.

The Lost Apolthecary by Sarah Penner - Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst - In this true story, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey long for a different life, a life of travel and adventure. So in June 1972, the couple quits their jobs, sells their house, buys a boat, and sets sail.  For nearly a year all goes well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocks a hole in their boat and it sinks beneath the waves. What follows is a fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. If I ever had a desire to set sail in a small yacht in the open sea, which I don't remember ever having, this book cured that longing.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho -This story, filled with mysticism, wisdom, and wonder, tells of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels on a spiritual journey from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly treasure turns into a discovery of his Personal Legend and the truth that the most valuable treasures are those found within. Perhaps you have read this classic. I never had until my book club picked it for our April selection. I recommend it for anyone who likes a good and adventurous parable.

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman - Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage at gunpoint. Each of the captives carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. And I challenge you to think of a more irritating and whiney bunch of people held captive by a person with a gun in their faces. 

     This is an absolutely delightful book, which might be hard to believe based on the subject matter. But I promise it produces just as much, if not more, laughter as it does gasps. And not a bad ending, considering. 

Strangers by Belle Burden - I opened this book and started reading, thinking that it would be somewhat of a domestic thriller. I misunderstood. Instead it's a memoir written by the granddaughter of Babe Paley, the iconic New York City socialite and Vogue editor. It's about a bunch of rich people with too much money and too little good sense, in my opinion. But let's stick with Ms. Burden's story detailing her marriage. 

     Belle and James have been married for 20 years when the pandemic hits. As Belle is just getting used to lockdown with James and their three children in their house on Martha's Vineyard (they also have a luxury apartment in Manhattan), the phone rings. When Belle answers, a stranger states that Belle's husband James is having and affair with his wife. Belle immediately confronts James, who cries, apologizes, swears it meant nothing and that it's over, and that he loves her deeply. Shortly thereafter James tells his wife that he isn't happy and that he's leaving, which he does. The rest if the book tells of the heartaches and intricacies of dissolving a long-time marriage of two very wealthy folks. Very well written and heart rending, but really not my kind of story.

Raising Hare by Cloe Dalton - True story. In February 2021, political adviser and speechwriter Chloe Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how difficult it is to rear a wild hare. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret intending to return it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods of the English countryside at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, weasels, feral cats, raptors, or even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death. I worried constantly about the hare while reading this book, which was the only thing that kept me from enjoying the read fully.

Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra - Another one based on a true story. This book, and the subsequent movie, available on Amazon Prime, tore my heart out. It's about four young boys, Michael, John, Tommy, and Shakes (the book's author), growing up in New York's Hell's Kitchen. They're good, though spirited, boys. To escape their troubling home lives, the four spend their days with each other, unsupervised on the streets of the Kitchen, looking for new ways to entertain themselves. One stupid stunt is all it takes to alter their lives for the worst and cause them to be locked away for years in the nightmare of the Wilkinson Home for Boys. There they suffer beating, torture, starvation, sexual abuse, and loneliness. Actually just about every horror that could be bestowed upon them was.

     The last half of the book deals with what happens to them years later after they are released from the home. Two of them, Tommy and John, join a gang and get into even more severe trouble. When they are arrested for murder, The other two, one a lawyer and one a newspaper worker, join forces to help their friends, assisted by a local priest, Father Bobby, who has been friends of the four since their boyhood. 

     If you're one of those people I've encountered lately who don't believe people who mistreat and abuse children should pay for their deeds, read this book or watch the excellent movie. You might change your mind. You might not agree with the events in the last part of the story. Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about it, but I do recognize a certainly kind of long withheld justice at work.

Brother by Ania Alborn - Deep in the West Virginia wilderness stands a crooked old farmhouse miles from any road or town. The strange members of the family within keep to themselves. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t even visit them. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael craves a normal life. He  and his domineering brother Rebel meet two girls in the town 20 miles from their home and begin to visit them regularly. Here the story gets more and more horrible. I can't recommend this book; it's just too disturbing. Although I have always loved scary books and movies, the violence and depravity are too much for even me. I did finish it, however. I had to keep reading to find out what happened to this monstrous family.

And that's all, folks.