August Reads

The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo

Synopsis: Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters, The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo is a beautifully crafted historical fantasy with elements of technology fueled by evil magic.

The Crescent Empire teeters on the edge of a revolution, and the Five Daughters of the Moon are the ones to determine its future.

My take:  I'm a sucker for the Russian Revolution even though I know it always ends badly. Take note: If you're looking for a literal retelling of the tale of the last Romanovs, this book will surely disappoint you. Some reviews crawl through the Romanov minutiae and enumerate the discrepancies, such as Daughters of the Moon makes no mention of the ailing son. There is an ailing youngest daughter. . . . so like I said, it's just not literal. If you want a good fantasy  that uses the Romanov story as a jumping off point, however, this novella will satisfy your longing.

As the description says, it is rather beautifully crafted, and the lore of both the Russian Revolution and the fantasy/magical elements  result in great world-building. Likalto does an excellent job of invoking Rasputin as an antagonist without making him a carbon copy of the mad monk. Each of the sisters have a couple of chapters that tell the story from their point of view, and the author does it nicely. I'm not so sure, however, that all five sisters were needed. The middle three sisters didn't seem unique enough, and I often confused them; that is often true of the historical Romanov sisters as well.

The novella has a rather nice steampunk ambiance with mechanical peacocks, lamps fueled by animal souls, and machines that require human souls to work. There is also magic, although that aspect is not a fleshed out as I might like it to be.

All in all, I liked this novella. It has a realistic ambivalence in which you can root both for those who need the revolution and those who suffer from its consequences. The elegiac tone reminded me of the non-fiction The Romanov Sisters, which I read a few years ago. I will definitely read the sequel.

Secondborn (Secondborn Series Book 1) by Amy A. Bartol

Synopsis: Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic.

On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode’s eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she’s to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

Televised since her early childhood, Roselle’s privileged upbringing has earned her the resentment of her secondborn peers. Now her decision to spare an enemy on the battlefield marks her as a traitor to the state.

My take: First off, let me say I loved this book. Some compared it to Hunger Games, and it's a fair comparison. Like Katniss, Roselle is a great kick-ass heroine in a genre where kick-ass heroines are becoming a dime a dozen. Like Katniss, we actually see what went into the making of the kick-ass part, whereas in many books we are just supposed to accept it when there is no reason to do so.  Unlike the tributes of the Hunger Games, however, these contestants aren't necessarily from the poor and downtrodden class, but often the ruling class itself, which causes its own set of problems. This book took what is becoming a rather tired trope and breathed some new life into it.

Clearly the book is dystopian, but in the vein of Red Rising instead of a completely shattered world. It certainly takes the whole idea of "the heir and the spare" to  new levels. It might even be an interesting treatise on what it's like psychologically to be the second born.

Above all, the story was engaging, well-paced, and had some good plot twists.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Synopsis:Raised among New York’s high society, Lily Bart is beautiful, charming, and entirely without means. Determined to maintain the extravagant lifestyle to which she is accustomed, Lily embarks on a mission to marry a wealthy man who can secure her station. However, the businesslike proposals from her many suitors remain fruitless, and her thoughts keep returning to the one man she truly loves. Bedeviled by debt, betrayal, and vicious gossip, she is forced to confront the tragic cruelty just beneath the surface of the Gilded Age.

My take: I sometimes think of Edith Wharton as America's dark Jane Austen. The storys often start at the same place: woman from "good" society doesn't have the means (aka money) to maintain her position in that society.  While neither author spares  society their castigation for creating the problem, Austen heroines usually turn out just fine. Wharton heroines (and heroes for that matter) rarely do. Lily Bart may be one of the saddest and silliest protagonists ever. I read this novel every few years as a cautionary tale.

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe Book 1) by Neal Shusterman

Synopsis:Two teens must learn the “art of killing” in this Printz Honor–winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the New York Times bestselling Unwind dystology.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

My take: So many books to love this month, and this one gets a big dose of love. The idea of this book made me shiver, and the execution (no pun intended) of the idea did as well.

I really admire the way Shusterman takes on social issues that no one wants to touch and makes a compelling story of them. Usually, such stories are fairly heavy-handed, but Shusterman has a light touch that  inspires a great deal of thought. I was a big fan of his Unwind series, and the Arc of a Scythe books promise to deliver as well.

The character development in this book is excellent; the idea is daring and original; and the pacing is right on point.

House of Names: A Novel by Colm Toibin

Synopsis:From the thrilling imagination of bestselling, award-winning Colm Tóibín comes a retelling of the story of Clytemnestra—spectacularly audacious, violent, vengeful, lustful, and instantly compelling—and her children.

“I have been acquainted with the smell of death.” So begins Clytemnestra’s tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband King Agamemnon left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.

My take: I like novels based on the classics, but told from a different point of view. With a minor in mythology, I read plays and sat through the lectures on the mythos behind this story.

To the Greeks, Clytemnestra was a horror. Women murdering husbands for a wrongdoing was bad for the business of patriarchy--a system to which they were firmly attached. In the Oresteia, Aeschylus's telling of events, Orestes reestablishes order (i.e., male authority) but a resolve to kill one's own mother is hardly endearing. He's a conundrum for the modern reader: Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, and I'm not sure Toibon changes our mind on that, although he spends a lot of time trying.  I could have done with a whole lot less Orestes and a whole lot more Clytemnestra.

The Last Boleyn: A Novel by Karen Harper

Synopsis: She survived her own innocence, and the treachery of Europe’s royal courts; The Last Boleyn is the story of the rise and fall of the Boleyns, one of England’s most powerful families, through the eyes of the eldest daughter, Mary.

My take: I always tell myself I will not buy another book on the Tudors, and then I remember Wolf Hall and relent. I'm not sure what the decision making process that went into this one was. Probably it went something like this: I'm going to the airport; I need an easy read; this book is on sale. Buy on impulse; regret at leisure.

The writing feels amateurish -- turgid and overblown with inappropriate adjectives, such as 'lumbering castle'. Research is shallow. I noted several inconsistencies from one page to the next in descriptions of the same scene, errors which would have been caught by careful editing. The writing style is  exhausting. Sentences are elongated with too many adverbs and adjectives to keep my attention.

A Rebellion In Heaven: A Novel of Ancient Egypt by John-Philip Penny

Synopsis: Will an immortal god sacrifice eternity to find true love, and the meaning of life?

This lyrical and poetic tale is set in ancient Egypt, when Pharaohs and strange but divine beings ruled over the fates of all.

Enter Anubis -- a young god, powerful, introspective, and heir to the throne of the Afterlife. Within himself he harbours a dark secret, one that throws his immortal soul
into chaos, and drives him to the edge of despair. . .

This poignant new novel from the author of Blood of a Barbarian, and Panzerfaust, is a clever blend of historical fiction, myth, spiritual adventure, and fantasy. It is,
above all, a meditation upon the eternal questions that we all ask ourselves: What is the meaning of life? How can one be happy? And how does one learn to give, and to receive, true love?

My take: Penny gets a few things wrong. For example, you simply cannot see the Pyramids from Thebes (Luxor), and the story of Anubis's birth doesn't jive with the most common myths. However, this book is a nice little read in the vein of American Gods. Anubis, more popular in artwork than in myth, deserves his own quest, and this novel does him proud. If you're an Egyptomaniac, as I clearly am, this is a must read.

His Wicked Wish: A Cinderella Sisterhood Novel (Cinderella Sisterhood Series) by Olivia Drake

Synopsis: MARRIAGE TO A NOBLEMAN? NOT IN HER WILDEST DREAMS. . .

The daughter of a disgraced woman and a common actor, Madelyn Swann has been shunned by the nobility. No proper lady would traipse about on a Covent Garden stage, let alone sell herself at auction to the highest bidder. So why in heaven’s name would Nathan Atwood, Viscount Rowley, make a generous offer for her hand?

Turns out Maddy is exactly the type of woman Nathan wants as his wife. Finally, he can embarrass his snobbish and cruel father, the Earl of Gilmore—and scandalize London society—with his beautiful, unsuitable bride. Then he’ll depart England forever and leave his wife behind. Having secret plans of her own, Maddy is happy to play the role … only to find that enjoying her husband’s seduction requires no acting whatsoever. But as she falls madly in love with Nathan, can she persuade him to stay with her for always?

My take: I received this book directly from the hands of the author at a Romance Writers of America 2017 Conference party. It was fun and predictable. I read it in an evening. Sometimes, that's just what I want to do.

July Reads

Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley

Synopsis: Take a trip back to Jane Austen's world and the many places she lived as historian Lucy Worsley visits Austen's childhood home, her schools, her holiday accommodations, the houses--both grand and small--of the relations upon whom she was dependent, and the home she shared with her mother and sister towards the end of her life. In places like Steventon Parsonage, Godmersham Park, Chawton House and a small rented house in Winchester, Worsley discovers a Jane Austen very different from the one who famously lived a 'life without incident'.

My take: Jane Austen at Home is a must read for all Austen fans, particularly since this is the 200th anniversary of her death. If you're not a Jane Austen fan because you think all her novels are about finding a rich husband,  read this book and learn about the role of women in Georgian society; maybe you'll get a notion of why her characters were so revolutionary.

To be honest, I never delved deeply into Austen's life; I cruised along on the snippets I learned in English classes. All I had was my love of her words. And what a love it is: I still read at least one Austen novel a year. I'm up to about 10 read-throughs of some of them. So, this book seemed an obligatory read.

Speaking of English classes, OMG, was I asleep when they were talking about how the sea was a symbol for sexual pleasure in Austen? I mean, I know it is in general, but sex and Austen? So, Louisa Musgrove's fall from the sea wall was a warning about what flirtation leads to? And, well, I certainly get what it means for Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth to sail off to sea.  But, I also clearly remember an English friend of mine turning up her nose at American Jane Austen films and announcing "There is NO snogging in Austen." Apparently, she was wrong.

OK. That's out of my system. Now, back to do you really need to read this book? Yes, if  you're either a reader or a writer.

If you're a reader,  you'll come away with a richer understanding of the world in which Austen novels are set.

If  you're a writer, Jane's trials and tribulations of getting published will be familiar to you. (Hint: a form of self-publishing was the key.) Also, her work habits and how she processes her daily life into a novel are sure to be of interest.

One always hears about the family influence on Austen. As you read about her tortured/lovely interactions with her family and friends, you'll probably have a piece of paper where you keep track of real people versus characters. Mr. Knightly, check; Jane Bennet, check; Lady Catherine, check. You come away with a great appreciation for Austen's insight and ability to snark.

For me, the most interesting part was how Jane moved down in class circles as she grew older. (Think of Miss Bates in Emma.) Choosing not to marry (which Jane knowingly did several times) in Georgian England was bold, and  it pretty much put an end to any notion of comfortable, stress-free living as soon as your father died, unless you had inherited a lot of money, or as Emma Woodhouse says: a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.  But without a good fortune, you were in trouble. The book certainly informs you of how "gentry" in Georgian England (and the Austen's were no exception) scrabbled and plotted to obtain and maintain a good fortune.

The Austen women's scrabbling for a place to call home is sobering, and it informs many of the characters that Austen wrote. As the author said many times, the goal of getting married in an Austen novel is not so much finding love and happily ever after-ing, but finding a home. Or as Charlotte Lucas said in Pride and Prejudice, I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins' character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.

After reading Jane Austen at home, I was once again putting her novels back on my to-be-read list, and I will look at them differently.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist


Synopsis: One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty–single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries–are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation.

THE UNIT is a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of an experiment, in which the “dispensable” ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the “necessary” ones. Ninni Holmqvist has created a debut novel of humor, sorrow, and rage about love, the close bonds of friendship, and about a cynical, utilitarian way of thinking disguised as care.

My take: THE UNIT is one of the best books I've read this year!

Part Handmaid's Tale and part Never Let Me Go, it grabs you by the throat and never lets you go. It was depressing, yes; but also beautifully written. I found myself underlining passage after passage. Some of the most beautiful passages were written about Dorrit and her dog, and tears came to my eyes. The dark tale of loss, love, loss, and love opens the door to many questions, not the least of which was  "What is the value of a life?"

The writing and the plotting was top notch. I was pleasantly (and emotionally) surprised by the ending, which I always count as a plus. I had predicted another ending entirely. I gobbled up this novel in one sitting at the airport and on the plane, but it haunts me. I will probably read it again to enjoy the deliciousness of the prose. And to contemplate the meaning of life.

The Family by Marissa Kennerson

Synopsis: Just like any average seventeen-year-old, Twig loves her family. She has a caring mother and a controlling father. Her brothers and sisters are committed to her family’s prosperity…

All one hundred eighty-three of them.

Twig lives in the Family, a collective society located in the rain forest of Costa Rica. Family members coexist with values of complete openness and honesty, and they share a fear of contagious infection in the outside world.

Adam—their Father, prophet, and savior—announces that Twig will be his new bride, and she is overjoyed and honored. But when an injury forces her to leave the Family compound, Twig finds that the world outside is not as toxic as she was made to believe. And then she meets Leo, an American boy with a killer smile, and begins to question everything about her life within the Family and the cult to which she belongs.

But when it comes to Family, you don’t get a choice.

My take: The Family is a good serviceable read for vacation. If you've read any novels about cults, you know from the get-go where this novel will end, and there are very few surprises along the way. Nonetheless, it is good journey, and you won't be disappointed. Kennerson is a competent writer, and she gives Twig an interesting character arc. The ending, although predictable, left a few hanging threads that should have been snipped.

Ramses: The Battle of Kadesh by Christian Jacq

Synopsis: The powerful Hittites have declared war on Egypt, and Ramses must do the impossible: seize their impregnable fortress at Kadesh with his ragged army, even as his powerful bodyguard and right-hand man has been arrested, suspected of treason.

My take: The series is finally moving into a phase of Ramses's life about which we know something. I am no scholar when it comes to this battle, out of which the first known peace treaty in history emerged, but Jacq hits a stride here. The battle to-and-froing is fairly compelling, and (at least) it feels like it could have happened. I'm still a little annoyed by the evil brother sub-plot and the fact that the love scenes between Ramses and Nefertari have the emotional depth and heat of a snow pea. For me, the real take-away from these books is getting a feel for the character of Ramses.

Do Not Become Alarmed: A Novel by Maile Meloy

Synopsis: The sun is shining, the sea is blue, the children have disappeared.

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The adults are lulled by the ship’s comfort and ease. The four children—ages six to eleven—love the nonstop buffet and their newfound independence. But when they all go ashore for an adventure in Central America, a series of minor misfortunes and miscalculations leads the families farther from the safety of the ship. One minute the children are there, and the next they’re gone.

The disintegration of the world the families knew—told from the perspectives of both the adults and the children—is both riveting and revealing. The parents, accustomed to security and control, turn on each other and blame themselves, while the seemingly helpless children discover resources they never knew they possessed.

Do Not Become Alarmed is a story about the protective force of innocence and the limits of parental power, and an insightful look at privileged illusions of safety. Celebrated for her spare and moving fiction, Maile Meloy has written a gripping novel about how quickly what we count on can fall away, and the way a crisis shifts our perceptions of what matters most.

My take: Right up front, I'll say I liked this book. It was both compelling and easy to read. I finished it in two nights.  I identified with the parental characters in the books and at various times with the different children. After reading some of the reviews, I came to the conclusion that I must be a privileged, first-world ninny to have that identification. So, be it. The book is still a good read. 

April Reads

For the Most Beautiful: A Novel of the Trojan War by Emily Hauser

Synopsis:  The hidden tale of the Trojan War: a novel full of passion and revenge, bravery and sacrifice, now is the time for the women of Troy to tell their story.

Three thousand years ago a war took place where legends were born: Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. Both men were made and destroyed by the war that shook the foundations of the ancient world.

But what if there was more to the tale of these heroes than we know? How would the Trojan War have looked as seen through the eyes of its women? Krisayis, the ambitious, determined daughter of the High Priest of Troy, and Briseis, loyal and passionate princess of Pedasus, interweave their tales alongside Homer’s classic story of the rage of Achilles and the gods of Olympus. What follows is a breathtaking tale of love and revenge, destiny and the determination, as these two brave women, the heroes of the Trojan War, and the gods themselves come face to face in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Troy.

A glorious debut full of passion and revenge, loyalty and betrayal, Emily Hauser breathes exhilarating new life into one of history's greatest legends.

My take: While I'm not sure this novel breathed new life into the legend as it claims, it was a fun read after I got over the anachronisms in writing style and a less than faithful interpretation of The Iliad.

I understand and admire the whole idea of giving voice to the Trojan women, particularly these two women upon whom many of the events of The Iliad turn, but about whom we have little insight in the original work. Hauser didn't need to do it, however, at the expense of changing things that didn't need to be changed to make the novel work. Like making Aeneas one of Priam's sons instead of the son of Aphrodite and Anchises, which sort of throws off the whole founding of Rome by escaping from Troy with his elderly father on his back. Nor were Patroclus and Paris the simpering fools she made them out to be, and Achilles was certainly not the sensitive new, age guy with a major character flaw. If you're not familiar with The Iliad, it might not bother you; if you are, it takes you out of the story as you scratch your head and wonder why. Taking the reader out of the story is never a good thing.

I thought Hauser did best when she stayed in Krisayis and Briseis's points of view. They lived and breathed .their world, and then they grew and moved beyond it. I also enjoyed how she slyly slipped Homer into the novel with the implication he might have changed the ending of the story to cover up his lover's escape from the doomed city.

I also liked the chapters told from the gods' point of view, because the Greek gods often were silly, vain, and petty. However as much as I liked those chapters, they didn't feel well-integrated into the book and I often interrupted the flow of the Krisayis/Briseis narrative.

Overall, it was a fun, fast read. It  prompted me to reread Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand, about Cassandra of Troy, which was not a bad thing.

Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life  by Sally Bedell Smith

Synopsis:  Prince Charles brings to life the real man, with all of his ambitions, insecurities, and convictions. It begins with his lonely childhood, in which he struggled to live up to his father’s expectations and sought companionship from the Queen Mother and his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten. It follows him through difficult years at school, his early love affairs, his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, and his intense search for spiritual meaning. It tells of the tragedy of his marriage to Diana; his eventual reunion with his true love, Camilla; and his relationships with William, Kate, Harry, and his grandchildren.

My take: Indulging myself with biographies of royals is a guilty pleasure. Moreover, I've always liked Prince Charles; probably because when I was a teenager, he was close enough to my age to be a poster boy. Later, I rather liked his devotion to Camilla, famously called the Rottweiler, even though he was married to a woman considered uber beautiful by the rest of the world. Yeah, he was a cheat, but you knew he couldn't be turned by a pretty face. So, I was pretty excited when this biography became available; because, admiration aside, most of my knowledge of PC came from reading biographies of other members of the royal family.

It says something that I ripped through the book in two days. Like it was interesting, maybe? I knew lots of bits and pieces, and this biography put them in a chronological order that provided a comprehensive and sympathetic portrayal of Prince Charles without trying to paper over his very obvious flaws.

Yes, Charles was the whinger everyone accused him of being.  Sometimes.  But by the end of the book, I found him to be an admirable person, someone I might want to know. He's pretty damn interesting, and he's accomplished a lot.  For example, 825,000 underprivileged students got their start in life via the Prince's Trust, including Idris Elba. Charles brought poetry and Shakespeare back into the English school system. He sounded the alarm on climate change before most people knew the word (and was considered a bit loony for doing so.) His organic gardens and farms are ahead of their time. Yes, he has had a fair number of losing projects as well. But you know, he could have just stayed in the palace eating bon-bons, so let's give the man a little credit. If that isn't enough, he looks down on Trump, and Trump doesn't want to meet with him when he goes to England to meet the Queen. So, two thumbs up for Prince Charles.

I recommend this book if you're looking for a biography of a complex man in a complex time.

The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Synopsis:  Blending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War-reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate seen through the eyes of Kassandra-priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the spirit of a warrior.

My take:  An Iliad for women! This novel does what For the Most Beautiful does, but with gravitas.

I read this book when it first appeared in the 1980s, and it was a pleasure to read it again. So often books that engaged my younger self no longer satisfy my older incarnations. (Lookin' at almost every D.H. Lawrence novel.) This one remained interesting and engaging. I liked and still like the idea of re-interpreting the story through the eyes of the priestess Kassandra (Cassandra),

The story was inspired by and deviated substantially from the Kassandra mythos of The Illiad.  Unlike  For the Most Beautiful, the deviations moved the story forward in a way that could not have happened by close adherence to the original. It  maintained a ring of "truth" that  brought a Greek fable to life  and dispelled some of misogyny that is characteristic of Greek epics. Moreover, Bradley's take on the Amazons, Centaurs, and Achilles go a long way toward making myth seem more like history. With Firebrand and Mists of Avalon, MZB created some of the first kick-ass heroines who now dominate fantasy and dystopian literature today.

Be forewarned, however, both books celebrate the worship of the Divine Mother and are not overly tolerant of male gods, whether they be pagan (Firebrand) or Christian (Mists).

Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess Sally Bedell Smith

Synopsis:  For all that has been written about Diana--the books, the commemorative magazines, the thousands of newspaper articles--we have lacked a sophisticated understanding of the woman, her motivations, and her extreme needs. Most books have been exercises in hagiography or character assassination, sometimes both in the same volume. Sally Bedell Smith, the acclaimed biographer, former New York Times reporter, and Vanity Fair contributing editor, has written the first truly balanced and nuanced portrait of the Princess of Wales, in all her emotional complexity.

My take:  The hard-core Diana fans will not like this book as it opens some rather ugly doors about their beloved Princess. I felt compelled to read this book after reading the Prince Charles biography. Unlike many reviewers, I don't think Smith hated Diana; I think she felt sorry for her.

Having read a number of biographies about the late princess, I've come away with the idea of a woman who DID do many admirable things, but was seriously troubled. The interesting thing about this book for me was that it put together, in a very orderly fashion, both sides of Diana.

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen

Synopsis:  It was never supposed to be this close. And of course she was supposed to win. How Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump is the tragic story of a sure thing gone off the rails. For every Comey revelation or hindsight acknowledgment about the electorate, no explanation of defeat can begin with anything other than the core problem of Hillary's campaign--the candidate herself. . .

Moving blow-by-blow from the campaign's difficult birth through the bewildering terror of election night, Shattered tells an unforgettable story with urgent lessons both political and personal, filled with revelations that will change the way readers understand just what happened to America on November 8, 2016.

My take:  I, for one, sure wanted to know what happened. Although not a huge Hillary fan, she was more acceptable to me than the alternatives (as in Trump, most of the Republican candidates, and Bernie). Acceptable, but not a great generator of enthusiasm in moi or, it appears, a great many other people.

First of all, it's a fascinating read, although it lacks the insight and drama of Game Change, the book about the 2008 campaign. Nonetheless, I read the entire book on two flights between St. Louis and New York City (and while hanging around the airports lounges in both places.) The reviews, much like Hillary herself, are almost entirely on either end of the spectrum. You either loved it (33%) or hated it (34%). All the other reviews were kind of MEH!

At some point, after repeated statements that her speech writers never knew Hillary well enough to put inspiring words in her mouth, I started looking at her as a character in a novel. A protagonist, if you will. And what do we expect of a protagonist?

A memorable protagonist must touch on something a reader can identify with or be transfixed by.  A reader doesn't have to necessarily want to meet your main character or even like them, but they must want to read about them.

So,  I hearkened back to a dialog between me and my writing coach that occurred after the first draft of almost every scene. If Hillary was my protagonist, the conversation might go like this.

Coach: What does your character want?
Me: Easy. To be President.
Coach: That's her external goal. What's the deeper goal? Why does she want/need to be president?
Me: She never says. In fact, she goes to great lengths to hide that from everybody, except maybe Huma Abedin and Bill.
Coach: Does her short term goals conflict with her long term goals?
Me. Definitely. Can you say email scandal, Clinton foundation, and Wall Street speeches?
Coach: So is there conflict between what your character needs and what your character wants?
Me: Oh, yes, see the above.
Coach: So what is the deeper goal that she can't reach because of that conflict? And what is she going to do to change that?
Me: I got nothin', man!

And there you have it, Hillary Clinton is a protagonist that we don't know anything about except that she wants to be president and has some conflicts. That appears to be the way the campaign went as well. And to paraphrase agents rejecting manuscripts with ciphers as main characters, "the country couldn't summon sufficient enthusiasm . . ."

We might have the makings of a tragedy here.

Ancient Egypt this Week: A little bit of everything

Unlocking the medical mysteries of King Tut’s tomb

Tutankhamun ruled ancient Egypt for a little more than a decade, from around 1333 B.C. (when he was only 9 years old) to about 1324 B.C., during the 18th dynasty (circa 1550-1295 B.C.) of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom (circa 1550-1070 B.C.). His brief reign, disabled left leg and foot, and premature death at 18 or 19 have long been sources of fascination.

Soon after Carter’s discovery came rumors of a death curse for anyone disturbing Tut’s deathly repose. Tales of the curse soon grew like a snowball rolling down a huge hill, gaining force and size with each turn.

An Anti-Indiana Jones is Solving the Pyramids’ Secrets
PHOTOGRAPH BY MOMEN BADR

When Yukinori Kawae explores the Great Pyramids at Giza, he isn’t after treasure or lost chambers—he’s looking for dimensions. For all that the pyramids have been dug, scanned, and photographed, the exact measurements of many are still unknown.

The American University in Cairo Press e-newsletter
Already November! For some, that may mean packing away Halloween costumes, bracing for the US elections, anticipating Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, and perhaps contemplating new resolutions.

November is also an ideal time to leave the rain and cold weather outside, plunge into drier universes and discover new authors.

Too Many People Have Stolen Egypt’s History; Here’s How It’s Getting It Back
COURTESY OF U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
en one asks Tarek Sayed Tawfik about the centuries of theft of Egypt’s historical treasures, he becomes visibly angry.

“We are not encouraging anybody to continue stealing Egyptian objects,” declares the general director of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is set to open at the beginning of 2018. “In spite of it being difficult and agony to retrieve objects, and it’s not cheap and it takes time. But … anybody who in an illicit way tries to take objects out of Egypt will be prosecuted.”

CT Scans of Mummy of an Ancient Priest Reveal He Was Stricken with Modern Diseases

The mummy of an ancient Egyptian man from 2,200 years ago was recently scanned by researchers. The results proved that the man, who lived during the reign of the Ptolemies, had weak bones and tooth decay – two issues that are generally associated with a more modern way of life.

Timelapse Animations Present The ‘Unexpected’ 3D Facial Reconstruction Of Cleopatra

Cleopatra – the very name brings forth reveries of beauty, sensuality and extravagance, all set amidst the political furor of the ancient world. But does historicity really comply with these popular notions about the famous female Egyptian pharaoh, who had her roots in a Greek dynasty? Well the answer to that is more complex, especially considering the various parameters of history, including cultural inclinations, political propaganda and downright misinterpretations.

Akhnaten as you've never seen him: How L.A. Opera delivers Philip Glass' Egyptian Pharaoh tale

Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten” is the un-“Aida.”

Verdi and Glass both re-imagined an ancient Egypt suited to the composers’ own times. But whereas Verdi relies on the great 19th century Italian opera themes of forbidden love and the like to make the exotic realm of Pharaohs and gods knowable, Glass operates on the late 20th century perspective of history as unknowable.

To see more amazing photos like the one in the title and the following one and other info from the LA production, click here:

Here is an interesting trailer from another production of the opera.


Akhnaten (Philip Glass) - trailer from Opera & Ballet Vlaanderen on Vimeo.

Ancient Egypt this week: Cats, Museums, and Masks

Egyptian Archaeologists Dig Up Mounds of Ancient Treasures

Egyptian Archeologists Dr. Mostafa Waziri and Salah Elmasekh will visit Southern California this month to reveal the latest important archaeological discoveries in a public forum to be held at the Bowers Museum on October 23, 2016. Included in the topics will be the recently-unearthed ancient Roman winery and baths, a new prayer Temple, the Avenue of Sphinxes, and current news about the search for Queen Nefertiti behind King Tut's tomb

Work on multi-million pound gallery to showcase Egyptian treasures to begin at Bolton Museum

THE transformation of Bolton Museum to showcase its Ancient Egyptian treasures in a new multi-million pound gallery will start in December.

Exhibitions and collections will be moved downstairs for visitors to enjoy while the upstairs is closed during the work.

The new gallery Eternal Egypt will be built in the museum's current art gallery, history centre and temporary exhibition gallery.

Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt' Exhibition at Dallas Museum of Art

Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt showcases the diverse representations of felines from the world-famous Egyptian holdings of the Brooklyn Museum. From domesticated cats to mythic symbols of divinities, felines played an important role in ancient Egyptian imagery for thousands of years. The exhibition, which explores the roles of cats, lions, and other feline creatures in Egyptian mythology, kingship, and everyday life, will be on view October 9, 2016, through January 8, 2017, at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Unlocking the spell of the pharaohs
Three recent books explore the abiding allure of Ancient Egypt — that has entranced millions, from Alexander the Great onwards.

Antiquities ministry receives golden mummy mask from French-Egyptian citizen

Due to his "sense of belonging and loyalty to his home country, Egypt," Shehab Al-Farouh Omar, a French-Egyptian citizen, handed over to the Ministry of Antiquities a golden mummy mask that was gifted to him by a friend on the birthday of his son.

Review: Fit for a Queen

Fit for a Queen is inspired by the life of Hatshepsut, the only woman who ruled as a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. The most dangerous opponent to Hatshepsut’s kingship turns out to be her own daughter. Full of intrigue, farce, and sexual politics, Fit for a Queen illuminates the largely unknown history of a compelling African woman who took power over the most advanced civilization the ancient world had yet known.

Picture of the week
Photo of Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell, T. E. Lawrence 1921

September Reads

Exhume (Dr. Schwartzman Series Book 1)  by Danielle Girard

Synopsis: Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman has finally found a place to belong. As the medical examiner for the San Francisco Police Department, working alongside homicide detective Hal Harris, she uncovers the tales the dead can’t tell about their final moments. It is a job that gives her purpose—and a safe haven from her former life at the hands of an abusive husband. Although it’s been seven years since she escaped that ordeal, she still checks over her shoulder to make sure no one is behind her.

My take:  This is an advanced preview novel. I receive one for free every month because I have a Kindle (or something like that).

Overall, Exhume is a serviceable mystery/suspense novel. It's not great, but it's not awful either. In the spirit of honesty, I probably won't be down for Book II.

The action and plot pull you along with a few hitches, but none that cause the plot to come to a screeching halt. Annabelle, the protagonist, is nicely conflicted. Her creepy ex-husband is annoyingly stereotyped. A LOT of plot questions remained unanswered, but not  knowing the answers isn't keeping me awake at night. There also came a point when Annabelle's actions seemed more about keeping the plot chugging along than how a scared woman might respond. Many reviewers took issue with the generic stalked wife story line, although I apparently didn't find it as heinous as they did.

If you read this novel with few expectations, you won't be disappointed.

Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb

Synopsis: Nature versus nurture...

The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor, and a teacher. As random as random can be.

Eve Dallas has seen a lot of killers during her time with the NYPSD but never one like this. A review of the security videos reveals that the victims were killed with a tactical laser rifle fired by a sniper, who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. And though the list of locations where the shooter could have set up seems endless, the number of people with that particular skill set is finite: police, military, professional killer.

Eve’s husband, Roarke, has unlimited resources—and genius—at his disposal. And when his computer program leads Eve to the location of the sniper, she learns a shocking fact: There were two—one older, one younger. Someone is being trained by an expert in the science of killing, and they have an agenda. Central Park was just a warm-up. And as another sniper attack shakes the city to its core, Eve realizes that though we’re all shaped by the people around us, there are those who are just born evil.

My take:  I am a J.D. Robb junkie. I'm not rational. I like the books in spite of myself, and I have no words to speak in my own defense.

The Forgotten: Aten's Last Queen by J. Lynn Else

Synopsis: "I am King Tut’s wife, but my name is barely a whisper in history’s memory. I was the last of my family to survive the Aten revolution. I had a child at age 12 and was forced to marry three times. But that didn’t mean my story ended badly. My name is Ankhesenamun, my loved ones called me An, and I will stop at nothing to save my family."

Despite the vast treasure found in Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb, there is little left over regarding his bride. From the turbulence of her father’s reign, Akhenaten, who forced monotheism on the country to the mending of these wounds by the now-famous Tutankhamun, her life saw more change than most ancient Egyptians dared even dream about. Evidence left to us about her is this: She was forced to marry her father, her brother, and her grandfather. She gave birth to one healthy baby girl and two stillborn girls. She was widowed at age 12 and 23. She saw four pharaohs crowned within 23 years. After her grandfather took the throne, she disappeared from history.

My take:  I tend to avoid books about the Armana period. One, because I'm just not that interested in that time period. Two, they're often mawkishly sentimental  or just flat out wrong historically. I rarely make it past the first paragraph, much less the first chapter. Some notable exceptions are Nick Drake's excellent Rhotep series (the English do Ancient Egypt well) and Michelle Moran's Nefertiti.

The hook for Aten's Last Queen was good enough, so I gave it a try.  It went downhill from there.

The author certainly did some research about ancient Egypt and the Armana period. However, she screws up a lot of stuff, which indicates she did just enough research to get by.  For example, a Royal Nurse in ancient Egypt is not the same as a downtrodden poor woman that you might find in medieval England. Another example of close but no cigar: Akhenaten is described as naming his city Akhenaten after himself. The city's name was Akhetaten meaning "City of the Horizon." Yep, those Egyptian names are tricky.

But what about the novel itself? The writing is prosaic, verging on banal; and grammar errors abound. Her and her sister do something or they came to Pharaoh and I are typical examples. I'm also pretty sure Egyptian children, even non-royals,  were never called kids.

An's voice, as a prepubescent princess, was unbelievable. Yes, children grew up faster in those days, but I can't suspend enough disbelief to accept a 9 year old  religious philosopher.  I have a particular peeve about childish voices that sound too adult, so this quirk alone could have ruined the book for me. . . if there weren't so many others.

In short, I gave up. If you want novels about the Armana period, read Nick Drake and Michelle Moran.

The Kingmaker's Daughter (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels) by Philippa Gregory

Synopsis: In this New York Times bestseller that inspired the critically acclaimed Starz miniseries The White Queen, Philippa Gregory tells the tale of Anne Neville, a beautiful young woman who must navigate the treachery of the English court as her father, known as the Kingmaker, uses her and her sister as pawns in his political game.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter—Philippa Gregory’s first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl—is the gripping tale of the daughters of the man known as the Kingmaker, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel, as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right.

My take:  The  White Queen was the first book I ever read  that made sense of the War of the Roses.  I loved the Starz mini-series, and the Neville sisters were some of the most interesting characters. However, I thoroughly disliked The Other Boleyn Girl for its rampant historical inaccuracies. So, I approached The Kingmaker's Daughter ready to either love or hate it.

Given my dislike of The Other Boleyn Girl inaccuracy, I did a bit of research. It appears that Gregory stays true the storyline of Anne, although there are gaping holes in the historical record.

Gregory's Anne is a wonderfully complex and conflicted character. Some reviewers complained she came across as spoiled. Well, maybe. I mean why wouldn't she be? She grew up in a world where her family was at the very top of the social pyramid. . . until they weren't. People expected great things of Anne and her sister, and sometimes they delivered and sometimes they didn't. And let's face it, Anne was a woman at a time when women were valued mostly for their ability to bear children, pass along their great fortunes to their husbands, and pray.

Anne's admiration/hatred of Elizabeth Woodville is the crux of the story in some ways, and it's a story most of us know. There's always this woman who seems to get everything we want without trying too hard. In some ways, Anne's story in this novel is more about her relationship with Elizabeth than with any of the men in her life with the possible exception of her father in whose shadow every other man in the novel must stand.

I enjoyed this book greatly, but a word of caution: If the logistics of the War of the Roses makes your head spin, I don't recommend it.

The Body Reader by Anne Frasier

Synopsis: For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

My take: This was a taut, well-written thriller told from the point-of-view of a damaged woman whose reliability is shaky at best. Being inside Jude Fontaine's head reminded me of lines from Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone:

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal

Then, we find out there's always something more to lose. As Jude puts the pieces of her life and the clues about the murder of young women together, every stop is logical and deadly. The denouement, therefore, is logical, but it was not predictable.

The best compliment I can give a novel like this is that it dragged me through the pages, and I never once wanted to put the book down. I started it Sunday morning and finished Monday afternoon.

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

Synopsis: New York City as you’ve never seen it before. A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible—if you want it enough.

Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will her new life cost Rylin her old one?

Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Debut author Katharine McGee has created a breathtakingly original series filled with high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, where the impossible feels just within reach. But in this world, the higher you go, the farther there is to fall.

My take:  A very readable book. It's a little predictable, and the characters are certainly not unique. In spite of that, I wanted to keep reading, and I did. Yes, the novel is set in the future, but the NYC we all know and love is very recognizable with the floors of the building becoming the various neighborhoods and social enclaves we've all experienced or read about. It is not strictly speaking dystopian, but it sometimes has a dystopian mood.  As the synopsis suggests, it's a novel about how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In many ways, this novel reminded me of The Summer Prince, described as a heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil. To be honest, The Summer Prince was a much richer novel, and it's one I find myself thinking about at odd times. . . long after I've forgotten most novels.

If you want future, not-so-dystopian YA, both of these books are good choices.

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood

Synopsis: To contemporaries, the Wars of the Roses were known collectively as a “cousins’ war.” The series of dynastic conflicts that tore apart the ruling Plantagenet family in fifteenth-century England was truly a domestic drama, as fraught and intimate as any family feud before or since.

As acclaimed historian Sarah Gristwood reveals in Blood Sisters, while the events of this turbulent time are usually described in terms of the male leads who fought and died seeking the throne, a handful of powerful women would prove just as decisive as their kinfolks’ clashing armies. These mothers, wives, and daughters were locked in a web of loyalty and betrayal that would ultimately change the course of English history. In a captivating, multigenerational narrative, Gristwood traces the rise and rule of the seven most critical women in the wars: from Marguerite of Anjou, wife of the Lancastrian Henry VI, who steered the kingdom in her insane husband’s stead; to Cecily Neville, matriarch of the rival Yorkist clan, whose son Edward IV murdered his own brother to maintain power; to Margaret Beaufort, who gave up her own claim to the throne in favor of her son, a man who would become the first of a new line of Tudor kings.

My take:  This is a nerd book. I've lately developed an interest in the "Cousin's War;" see The Kingmaker's Daughter. Blood Sisters delves into the sketchy historical record of the women caught in the middle of the conflict. Unless you have some understanding of this period and its various shifts of power, Blood Sisters won't make any sense. If you do, it's invaluable.

In an odd way, it reminded me of a far more contemporary work, The President's Club. Women who are politically on opposing teams often reach out and help each other because they understand what it's like to be in a position that few people on this earth are ever in. Which doesn't mean there isn't betrayal and backbiting.

Blood Sisters has inspired me to read more about Margaret Beaufort.

We are unprepared by Meg Little Reilly

Synopsis: Meg Little Reilly places a young couple in harm’s way—both literally and emotionally—as they face a cataclysmic storm that threatens to decimate their Vermont town, and the Eastern Seaboard in her penetrating debut novel, WE ARE UNPREPARED.

Ash and Pia move from hipster Brooklyn to rustic Vermont in search of a more authentic life. But just months after settling in, the forecast of a superstorm disrupts their dream. Fear of an impending disaster splits their tight-knit community and exposes the cracks in their marriage. Where Isole was once a place of old farm families, rednecks and transplants, it now divides into paranoid preppers, religious fanatics and government tools, each at odds about what course to take.

My take:  So, I've done some time in the prepper community, and I lived in Austin where hipster is the flavor du jour. This book does a pedestrian job of capturing those world views, although that world view is only an inch deep. WE ARE UNPREPARED offers a keyhole into what might happen during one of the increasingly common weather events that are the result of climate change. It makes all the important points and manages to work in compassion for children and a love interest. It's a laudable attempt.

In spite of all the aforementioned, however, the book is not particularly compelling and lacks passion. The characters are rather stereotypical, and no one seems very committed. . .  either to the status quo or to changing it. When the apocryphal storm arrives, it's more of a whimper than a bang and implies all is recoverable if we change a little bit. 

The Line (Witching Savannah Book 1) by J.D. Horn

Synopsis: Savannah is considered a Southern treasure, a city of beauty with a rich, colorful past. Some might even call it magical…

To the uninitiated, Savannah shows only her bright face and genteel manner. Those who know her well, though, can see beyond her colonial trappings and small-city charm to a world where witchcraft is respected, Hoodoo is feared, and spirits linger. Mercy Taylor is all too familiar with the supernatural side of Savannah, being a member of the most powerful family of witches in the South.

Despite being powerless herself, of course.

My take:  This book was fun in the way that the early Sookie Stackhouse books were fun. The characters were diverse and believable. (Yes, even fantasy series need believable characters...believable within the created world.) Like the Sookie novels, it explores the ever fascinating relationship between family members who just happen to belong to a magical system.

The magical system built by Horn works well and logically. It also had a nice plot twist.

 I bought the second book in the series.