Speaking of Chunksters...Some Great Historicals

 On Monday, I dove headlong into Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness, which is just a hair under 900 pages. Published in 1998, it's the first in a series of historical fiction set in a locale not far from my home, in the northern zone of what passes for the Mohawk Valley today (along the West Branch of the Sacandaga River). The novel begins in 1792, during George Washington's administration, as Elizabeth Middleton, recently transplanted from England, begins a new life with her father, a judge and patent landowner in the wilderness settlement of Paradise. She is a spinster at the age of 29, and is determined to open the first school in Paradise and to remain single. Until she meets Nathaniel Bonner, that is. Nathaniel is kin by marriage to the Mohican Native Americans. Lots of detail about Mohican culture and the clash of cultures in New York in this ear, but I won't elaborate, yet will suffice to say that this is an incomparable page-turner, very well-written, historically accurate, and think EPIC SAGA! If this book sounds familiar, I did mention the book in the tour of my bookshelves last winter. Finally, finally I'm reading it. I heartily recommend and am now 300 pages in.

In December, I was truly thrilled to read Ken Follett's new historical epic, The Evening and the Morning, published Fall 2020, and which is a prequel to his all-time best-selling book, The Pillars of the Earth. The 950 pages passed so quickly as I became wrapped up in this tale of 10th and 11th century-England, struggling to overcome and recover from Viking raids and former conquest. Really strong female and male characters were a great plus here. Also, just so you know, the hardcover was a joy to read, with extra leading between each line and a very readable font. 

Alas, I had to set aside Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light, the third book in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, a book of about 868 pages or so.  I loved the first two books!  I so badly want to read it, but in the first difficult! 80 pages, many, many male characters (nobility, mostly) are presented and are important, but, I'm sorry to say this, I felt there was no attempt to characterize this large group of men as individuals. I found it impossible to distinguish one noble from another. And they were, in historical reality, individuals. So why is that?? It drove me bonkers, especially so, because I wanted so badly to read the end of this trilogy. Sigh. I will try again, probably this summer. But Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies were top-flight!

 

A Day of Hope

 Sandy and I scurried through our woods hike in the snow early this morning. She would have liked to remain hiking, but I knew an hour was all we could spare if we were to be back in time to watch the very beginnings of all the inaugural activities. And we made it, and Ken and I watched enraptured for at least three hours. The first hour I could not stop my tears. I am and was so surprised by how overwhelmed with emotion I was to see such a man and such a woman rise up to govern our country. And it was so clear how humble they both were, how they only wish to do good for others, how it is so NOT about them personally. I could not stop the tears of gratitude and joy. What a day of boundless hope! May they stay safe and healthy and strong! Today everything buoyed me up, after so many days of waking in the morning filled with despair.

I retired in the late afternoon to continue reading my latest novel, Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton. Kinsey Milhone always sets me straight. I'm a third of the way through at this point, and am enjoying being back in Santa Teresa (really Santa Barbara, California), but even more so being back in Kinsey's company and in her struggles. 

I'm also listening to James Comey's new book: Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust, which details more cases from his past as a federal prosecutor and what it takes to get it right, and how so often it can go wrong. I'm onto this one because I thought his first book was stellar. I had to find out more about what he has to say.

2020 An All-Time Reading Record for Me: Whither 2021?a

 I was positively flabbergasted that I read 76 books in 2020. I know why it happened, of course. Because every day by 1:30 pm-2pm, I was in my reading nook knitting to an audiobook or reading a hardcover or e-book. I tended to listen to an audiobook for part of the afternoon and then I read a book for the other part. It was how I survived 2020. I read some great, unforgettable books, for which I am so grateful. 

I'd love to spend some time highlighting the titles that really stood out among all the rest. But I'm one of those people who is always looking forward and going forward onto the NEXT THING. 

So, I'm glad to report that I have thoroughly connected with the new 2021 novel The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly (Kelley?). This is a novel about an extraordinary garden: most particularly about a property in Warwickshire, from 1907 to the present, and its huge garden with many "rooms" and how it evolved, most especially through the lives and designs of many women! If you are crazy about English gardens and how they evolve through history, then I think you will love this novel. I am so thankful to have connected with it at a time when I have been having an impossible time connecting with any book whatsoever. I'm halfway through and am really enjoying it!

DISGUSTED: The Only Word for Today's Events

Note to Blog Readers: If you are angered by today's events, you may read on and feel in a like mind. If you are not. PLEASE TUNE IN ON ANOTHER DAY!!! I will welcome you later.

I'll keep this brief. Trump protesters have shouted for WEEKS that they would STORM the U.S. Capitol Building. Yet, lo and behold, no law enforcement agency was prepared AND most of them NOT under Trump's thumb!! This is the really scandalous part of this entire invasion. 

The U.S. Capitol Police were IMPOTENT against the onslaught of ultra-right wing protesters. Video shows them standing, jaws agape, watching as protestors broke through the doors into the Capitol. There had been talk about the need to lock the doors of the Capitol. Yet this was not done. WHAT???

I'm not going to belabor this. You've heard it all. What gets me: These Fascist protesters, The PROUD BOYS and others have DECLARED FOR WEEKS that they would breach the Capitol. So really, really, why were all federal policing units stupefied, with their mouths hanging open??? The U.S. Capitol Police, I believe, are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. 

Where was the FBI DIRECTOR?

Where was the Head of Homeland Security?? (Charged w. Domestic Terrorism)

BUT don't you wonder??? Why didn't the FBI, who has been following the activities of the Proud Boys and other militant, violent fascist groups, why didn't they coordinate with other groups of federal law enforcement?

I'm sorry if this offends: I am DISGUSTED by the federal government's inability to protect the Capitol when the WRITING HAS BEEN ON THE WALL FOR WEEKS!!! Heads will roll. I don't know when I have been more angry, I really don't. And I will not apologize for my anger, readers. I won't.

New Reads Off the Shelves for the New Year

 As I'd hoped, I browsed my bookshelves and book stacks and piles today. I'm so glad I picked up a book from one of my all-time favorite authors, Paul Auster. Somehow or other I purchased A Winter Journal back in 2012, but never read it. And what a wonder it is! Pieces of memoir, yes, and reflections on singular moments in his life, all through his life--though not linear. He makes his personal your personal. This afternoon I fell in love with his writing all over again...wondering how does he do it? How does he make the personal in his life speak directly to me in my life? WOW!! I have always considered Paul Auster one of my favorite authors of all time, but haven't read anything by him in the past 7 years. I'm fixing that! It's true he's only written one novel in this time, but I've ordered it from the library. Title:  4 3 2 1.