I'm so excited to present THE NIGHT FROLIC! I've loved every moment of this book's journey, from its earliest inspiration gleaned from the pages of JoI'm so excited to present THE NIGHT FROLIC! I've loved every moment of this book's journey, from its earliest inspiration gleaned from the pages of Joseph Campbell's HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES to seeing the brilliant Jaime Zollars bring it to life. I hope it will give kiddos at bedtime all the right stuff to dream about....more
I loved reading this. It felt like the literary equivalent of a walk in the woods -- peaceful, verdant, restorative. I look forward to reading it agaiI loved reading this. It felt like the literary equivalent of a walk in the woods -- peaceful, verdant, restorative. I look forward to reading it again, and reading more from Wohlleben. It makes me want to buy a plot of deforested land somewhere and let it return to wildness. ...more
This is a thick brick of a book, but it reads like a page-turning novel. Studying American racism from both its parallels to and its contrasts with BrThis is a thick brick of a book, but it reads like a page-turning novel. Studying American racism from both its parallels to and its contrasts with British racism is soberingly instructive. Olusoga charts the historical evolution of each. Whereas New World racism emerged as a means of creating and upholding laws that categorized people of African descent as property on American soil, British racism evolved largely to justify the fortunes this triangular trade brought into Britain through a practice kept mostly far removed from, and out of sight to, most Britons. Yet, as Olusoga meticulously documents, contrary to popular misconception, black Britons have always been there, from Roman times onward. Their story is permanently entwined in English/British history, and not a later injection into it.
It was fascinating as an American reader to observe the history of the Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans from a non-American perspective that could report on American involvement dispassionately. BLACK AND BRITISH feels no obligation to sanitize America's participation in the obscenely lucrative traffic in forced African labor, nor to mythologize America's origin story. Thus it shines a clear light on the role the trade in enslaved Africans played in America's break with Great Britain, especially in response to the colonial uproar over a 1772 British court ruling in the famous Somerset case which declared that slavery could not be recognized on English soil. This meant American or West Indian slaveholders who could not bring their domestic enslaved laborers with them to Britain as personal servants, because as soon as they set foot on British soil, they were legally free. It was against this despoiling of America's "property rights" that without Parliamentary representation that American patriots north and south of the Mason-Dixon line protested so vehemently, ultimately agitating for independence from such British tyranny. (Of course this wasn't the only point of protest.) Notable founding fathers weren't simply gentlemen of their historical moment who participated in a common labor practice, they were strident defenders of their "right" to profit thereby, who went to great pains to hunt down their escaped "property" that had fought for Britain during the Revolutionary War in (mostly betrayed) hopes of subsequent freedom.
The story of Britain's abolition movement includes inspiring accounts of resilience, courage, and remarkable moral resolve. No ground gained could be considered secure, however; the empire struck back, so to speak. The general mood on questions of race in Britain wobbled erratically between fervent abolitionism and open hostility toward black Britons, thanks to reactionary surges in virulent racist-rhetoric, intended to justify: first, British trade in enslaved people, then Britain's trade with the cotton-growing American South which fueled the cotton mills of Britain's industrial revolution, then Britain's involvement in 19th & 20th Century imperialism. None of the mega-fortunes these endeavors produced for white Britain could have been realized without a relentless and deliberate campaign of racial hostility propagandized for decades in Britain to drown out the abolitionist and moralist voices of Britain's better angels.
In some ways, it's historical and cultural gazing into a Union Jack-tinted mirror. Necessary reading; skillfully rendered; highly recommended. ...more
I guess it's no surprise that I love HAPPY RIGHT NOW, seeing as I wrote it, but it's been wonderful to watch it come to life with Holly Hatam's gorgeoI guess it's no surprise that I love HAPPY RIGHT NOW, seeing as I wrote it, but it's been wonderful to watch it come to life with Holly Hatam's gorgeous illustrations. I hope it can help young readers become more at ease expressing their emotions, feeling safe within them, and I hope it can begin to plant the seeds of what will grow into emotional resilience and, if not imperturbability, maybe ... less-perturbability. :) ...more
This book is so dear to my heart. I wrote it for my son, my own firstborn who helped me see the miracle of Christmas through new eyes when he made me This book is so dear to my heart. I wrote it for my son, my own firstborn who helped me see the miracle of Christmas through new eyes when he made me a new mother. Annie Won's illustrations are beyond sumptuous. I'm so excited to share it with the world. ...more
I enjoyed this. It was just the bowl of Victorian soup I was looking for.
I feel for Anne Bronte. Her sisters get all the fame, and admittedly their nI enjoyed this. It was just the bowl of Victorian soup I was looking for.
I feel for Anne Bronte. Her sisters get all the fame, and admittedly their novels are much more romantic and swoony. But Anne is determined feminist who keeps telling the grimmer story of the inequities women face, particularly in marriage, which bring them entirely under the thumb of their husbands, with him retaining all control over her body, her freedom, her money, her children, her reputation, and her happiness. Anne took pains to demonstrate how a woman's well-being is determined by the caliber of man she marries, which is a game of roulette at best, since many trusting and inexperienced young women easily fall prey to deceptive wooers.
Such is the tale of Helen Graham, the tenant of Wildfell Hall. The novel's chief concerns aren't romantic but moral, using subplot after subplot to underscore the wrestle at the center of the plot: What kind of man should a husband be? And what is a wife's proper response to her husband's vice?
Religion imbues the book, not with an intent to preach or to convert, but as the bulwark of Helen's moral strength and firmness of character, which is the one weapon of self-preservation available to her in the face of her husband's wild atrocities. At times, Helen's relentless piety might be a bit hard to take for modern readers, but I find it fascinating to consider how religion gave women power in the face of extreme patriarchy. While it's true that institutional religion did little to protect or uplift women, and in fact aided and abetted their "lords and masters" in asserting dominion over them, still, the principles of religion, and the example of Jesus, which Helen constantly refers to, and her iron determination to preserve her character at any cost, gives her a trump card against all the men who surround and torment her. This is no "Pamela: Virtue Rewarded" farce, but a sober look at a hard life. If your husband is your highest authority and only protector, no wonder you'd find comfort in God, the higher power and ultimate judge who sees your sufferings. It's the same dynamic that fascinated me in the medieval mystics I researched to write The Passion of Dolssa.
The novel takes a story-within-a-story form, with our outer narrator, Gilbert Markham, lending a romantic storyline and an excuse for the main novel, a diary, to be shared. Gilbert, as Helen's would-be suitor, not knowing her situation, is an endearing fellow who adds a certain humor to the narrative. (I'm not sure if the humor was Anne's intention.) He's pretty much a doofus, and a doofus with a temper, which manifested itself in stupid ruffianship which the Victorians seemed to think men were entitled to without it sullying their hands much. What he gets away with makes the eyes roll. All the same, he has a curious twist of flawed realness to him that makes him rather fun. One does wonder what a lioness like Helen Graham (well, not that name, in fact) sees in him. If she wants a tower of virtue, it's as well that some of Gilbert's blunders never reach her ears. Of course things wrap up rather too tidily. Of course coincidences and mysterious medical symptoms wield heavy hands in the plot. What else would we expect? True, the diary-as-novel motif wears a bit thin in spots, and we'd edit it down by 40% today. But then it wouldn't be Victorian, and it wouldn't be Anne. I'll take it, and her, just as they are. ...more
Giddy and hilarious. Great good fun, Pratchett-style, with a Gaiman twist. A slightly dizzying cast of characters, human, divine, and diabolical. OfteGiddy and hilarious. Great good fun, Pratchett-style, with a Gaiman twist. A slightly dizzying cast of characters, human, divine, and diabolical. Often hard to tell which was which. ...more
I found this fascinating. The way the author wove together labor and capital wars, bombing and domestic terrorism, detective work, courtroom drama, anI found this fascinating. The way the author wove together labor and capital wars, bombing and domestic terrorism, detective work, courtroom drama, and the rise of Hollywood as we know it today, with its artistic beauty and its dark power, made for a riveting read. ...more
I'm embarrassed that it's taken me this long to read this book. My youngest son has been after me for a long time to read it. It's been such a delightI'm embarrassed that it's taken me this long to read this book. My youngest son has been after me for a long time to read it. It's been such a delight to spend time with Holling Hoodhood (Hoodhood?) and his Long Island suburban friends during their 7th grade year, the year Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. (That part wasn't the delight...) Gary Schmidt's style wraps a tremendous amount of subtlety and skill in a cloak of seeming simplicity. There's nothing pretentious about his prose, and he doesn't need gimmicks or tricks to do his work. A gentle humor weaves throughout, even though his stories confront deep sorrow, too. His deep affection for all his characters shines through, and that's always something I admire. He's left me in very much of a Shakespeare mood. :)
This is a love story on many levels, without being a romance in the traditional sense of the word. The love (an entirely appropriate teacher-student bond, just to be clear) between Mrs. Baker and Holling made me cry. He became her son while her own son was lost in Vietnam, and she became his mother while his own parents were, for respective and convincing reasons, unable to be his parents. And yet it was never showy or sentimental. I completely adored this book. ...more
LOVED this. Hilariously goofy. The kind of nutty ingenuity and writing skill that leaves me happily jealous. A marvelous middle grade with a strong voLOVED this. Hilariously goofy. The kind of nutty ingenuity and writing skill that leaves me happily jealous. A marvelous middle grade with a strong voice (well, five, you might say), mixing entirely recognizable issues of friendship, fitting in, and dealing with parents into a sort of jumbled-body-parts-jambalaya of ludicrous insanity. Wacky characters you'll never forget. So much fun, and so punnable: I laughed my head off. It melted my heart. Etc. Buy it for yourself, for the middle graders you know, and for every doctor who has a) a kid and b) a sense of humor. ...more
I love this book desperately. I did write it, so the possibility of bias is real. :) I can't wait to share it with the world. The year-plus I spent reI love this book desperately. I did write it, so the possibility of bias is real. :) I can't wait to share it with the world. The year-plus I spent researching, writing, and revising it was intense, and harrowing at times, but I'm thrilled with where we landed. Here's hoping you enjoy it, too.
Hazel, a pianist, and James, a builder-turned-soldier, meet at a London dance in late 1917, on the eve of his departure for the trenches of World War I. Aubrey, a Harlem ragtime musician, and Colette, a Belgian refugee who has lost everything to the war, meet in a YMCA relief hut at the American training base at Saint-Nazaire, France.
Aphrodite and Ares meet for a secret tryst in a Manhattan hotel room, only to be caught and exposed by Hephaestus, the goddess of love's jealous husband. Aphrodite, as the defendant in a mock courtroom trial, spins the intertwined stories of both pairs of star-crossed lovers in a plea to soften her husband's anger. With additional testimony from Ares (war), and ultimately, Apollo (art) and Hades (death), the gods' stories explore how far hope can reach into the abyss of wartime destruction and despair, and whether, in a broken world, there's still a case to be made for love....more
A striking, masterfully-voiced debut with the haunting force of myth, AFTER ZERO offers an intimate picture of the healing power of writing, and owninA striking, masterfully-voiced debut with the haunting force of myth, AFTER ZERO offers an intimate picture of the healing power of writing, and owning one’s truth when grief and anxiety isolate us in a world too heavy to bear.
Strongly recommended. Christina Collins is one to watch. ...more
I listened to this on audio, which turned out to be an excellent choice, because the many accents used to portray characters from Ireland, various parI listened to this on audio, which turned out to be an excellent choice, because the many accents used to portray characters from Ireland, various parts of England, and various classes added a lot to my understanding of the story, and its humor in particular. The book is a remarkable achievement in its ability to sustain black humor throughout the bleakness of the war, without idealizing any aspect of it. The sardonic delivery, combined with the rolling bodycount, packs a great one-two punch.
One contribution of Goodbye to All That to my understanding of WWI, and I suppose, war in general, was its look at the irony and mockery of domestic war-mania and patriotic zeal as seen by those enduring the horrors of the war first-hand. The propaganda that justified the war, and the intense pressure upon men to enlist from those either fired with xenophobic anger or persuaded in the righteousness of the war, yet always comfortably safe from any of its dangers -- I had never before considered how galling these might be to active-duty soldiers. War, as Graves saw it, left soldiers fit for and content with little other than war, because the war-hungry Home Front became an unbearable place for them. The war, survival in it, and the comradeship soldiers shared, seemed all that was real to those at the front. I've listened to the novel at least three times. ...more
Agonizing. From the brutal, gray, blood-soaked devastation of trench warfare, Remarque's novel creates moments of beauty, all the more poignant and heAgonizing. From the brutal, gray, blood-soaked devastation of trench warfare, Remarque's novel creates moments of beauty, all the more poignant and heartbreaking for being the sacrificial offerings of lives wasted by a needless war. Many novels have depicted what the trenches did to bodies, to friendships, to love or self-respect or to sanity, but I wonder if any other has been as adept at showing what World War I did to souls. ...more
I got to blurb this book, and here's what I wrote:
A mystery, a thriller, and a prayer, gripping and anguished, told in the poignant weaving of voices I got to blurb this book, and here's what I wrote:
A mystery, a thriller, and a prayer, gripping and anguished, told in the poignant weaving of voices from beyond and voices left behind. – Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa
This debut novel is fantastic, doing all things well: setting (you can slice it), sexual tension (you won't want to slice it), vividly distinct characters, psychological tension (superbly thrillery), the whodunit (smart & tight), and most of all, heart. There were tears. A memorable and gripping read. ...more
Who killed the oppressively maternal, relentlessly do-gooding, money- and life-controlling matriarch of the Argyle clan? Who struck her on the head wiWho killed the oppressively maternal, relentlessly do-gooding, money- and life-controlling matriarch of the Argyle clan? Who struck her on the head with a poker between 6:55 and 7:30 pm? It had to have been Jacko, the miscreant child, the bad seed. He's convicted of the crime and dies in prison. But when, two years later, a man returns from a South Pole expedition with unassailable proof of Jacko's original alibi, the investigation reopens and the family's tranquility is shattered. One of them must've done it. But who?
This is said to be on Agatha Christie's short list of favorites among her own works, and I think I can see why. In addition to her trademark superb pacing and addictive whodunnit-ness, this book employs an interesting and sophisticated omniscient point of view that moves about among most of the important characters, leaving the reader ever unsure of whose perspective to trust. Not that this is rare in the Christie pantheon, but it's used adroitly here and with more freedom, since we aren't following Miss Marple, Poirot, or Tommy & Tuppence around. As with many of Christie's novels, the murder took place in large country house, where an extended family lived together with their servants. So the murder is a closed system, always important, and yet the possibility of outsiders slipping in to deliver the fatal stroke is not completely eliminated. She renders each of the family & staff's personalities distinctly, giving believability to the tangle of conflicting resentments, judgments, suspicions, and jealousies holding this group in a strangle-hold. My only disappointments were that the person I wanted to be guilty wasn't (but Ms. Christie, who died when I was two, didn't write to please me in all matters. Only in most.) and the obligatory second victim was someone I would've liked to see survive. Ah well; crime is brutal. A mystery so enjoyable, I committed the unpardonable sin of bringing it with me, as a library book, on a cross-country flight. May I not lose the copy in baggage claim and owe a lifetime of fines. ...more
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