Everything I didn't review in 2020: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Orphan Monster Spy, Devil Darling Spy, and Fear

What? I only skipped reviewing 4 books in 2020? Wow, I did well. I'm impressed with me. 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard is a modern classic play based on Hamlet. And, here's where I stop being impressed with myself. I didn't review the play because I figured I should read its predecessor, Hamlet, and see how I felt about the original story before reviewing both, together. 

I didn't finish Hamlet. It made my head hurt. Plus, I had several other books going and it just fell by the wayside. At any rate, it took me some time to understand what was happening in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but once I got into it and realized what was happening, I thought it immensely clever and even before I "got it", I was entertained by the dialogue. 

I still need to read Hamlet. But, I'm definitely glad I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. 

Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen was a reread. Here's my original review: 

Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen

I reread Orphan Monster Spy because Killeen wrote a second spy novel starring Sarah, the young protagonist, a Jewish orphan who befriends a British spy and undertakes a dangerous mission to save the world from a deadly bomb being created in Germany. 

I enjoyed Orphan Monster Spy even more the second time. The first time I read it, I was uncomfortable with the place Sarah ended up going on her mission but this time I expected the level of harassment she endured and was able to concentrate on the more exciting, dangerous parts of the story. It was edge-of-your-seat the first time and doubly thrilling on the second reading. 

Unfortunately, I have talked to the author and I like him, so I felt awful when I didn't fall in love with Devil Darling Spy. In this follow-up to Orphan Monster Spy, Sarah and her spy friend go to Africa, where someone known as the White Devil is working on creating the ultimate biological weapon. People die painfully but quickly from the disease and the natives are being used as guinea pigs. 

They track down the area in which people are currently dying and masquerade as Germans who have been sent to check on the doctor's progress. 

My problem with Devil Darling Spy was that it tried to be about too many things at once: biological warfare, colonialism . . . I don't remember what else, now. I waited too long to review, not wanting to put anything bad out there. Sarah was not as strong a character in Devil Darling Spy as she was in Orphan Monster Spy, as well. And, I figured out the plot twist quite early in the book. 

Having said all that, if and when Matt Killeen writes another book starring Sarah, I will read it. I felt a little overwhelmed by the companion novel but I like Sarah and I am impressed with Killeen's writing. A lot of research must have gone into Devil Darling Spy. You can sense the effort put into it.

I wrote about Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward on Instagram or I would not have any idea what to say. I remember thinking much of it was not news to me because I've read so much about the president (I've been reading about him since the 80s), but Fear does add to the story. 

First things, first. Bob Woodward is apparently known for his meticulous research and impeccable sourcing but not for his writing. I agree with that. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was speaking. However, I got enough out of Fear that I bought its follow-up, Rage, and hope to get to that soon. 

Woodward talks about the president's unwillingness to listen and learn, his impulsiveness, his demands for loyalty and paranoia about anyone who doesn't pledge to be loyal to him, his refusal to look at anything in a way other than the transactional, the chaos in his administration, and his horrific temper tantrums, as well as how little time he actually spends working (he watches TV 6-8 hours a day; of course, now, he seems to do nothing but golf and tweet . . . and apparently make extortionate phone calls). These things were described in The Mueller Report, which I've read, and every other book I've read about the president except for Mary Trump's book. She's knowledgeable about the person but not the presidency. 

Fear was most interesting to me for the insights about the individuals who worked for the president early in the administration and how and why they ended up leaving. Those stories were quite detailed and interesting. I would not have known without reading Fear that the president was compelled to make a statement criticizing white nationalists after Heather Heyer's death in Charlottesville and then when he said there were "good people on both sides", that was his real thoughts spoken off-the-cuff. His clear dismissal of white nationalism as no big deal was too much for some of the people closest to the president. Several resigned immediately. He has, of course, done this repeatedly. First, people tell him he really has to condemn someone he doesn't want to because he thinks they'll vote for him; then he says what he wants to say and the people in charge of communication spin what he says as misunderstood or a joke, etc., or just give up and resign. Then, he's often forced to make a retraction or "clarifying" statement. The truth is always in the second statement, the one where he goes off-script. 

At any rate, all these books were worth reading and I'm glad I read them. 

That's it for 2020 reviewing! I will post my full list of books read with links to reviews or mini reviews and then I'll move on to 2021. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan and Xia Gordon

Gwen's South Side view is an urban suite. 

Pointed church steeples pierce the clouds. 

Poolroom chaps skip school and smoke. 

Four and five families live in one house. 

Men walk and run. 

Women sing and shout. 

63rd Street is a brown face muse. 

Gwen types her poems in a crowded corner.

~ from A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan and Xia Gordon is a children's biography of African American poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Written in a poetic style, it tells about Brooks' childhood and her early writings, how her parents supported her unconditionally, and how she wrote so beautifully even at a very young age that she was accused of plagiarism by an elementary school teacher. To prove her daughter wasn't a plagiarist, Brooks' mother had her write a poem on the spot to show her natural ability. A smattering of her poems, from juvenilia to a poem written as an adult, are included.

I like this description on the book flap:

Alice Faye Duncan has created her own song to celebrate Gwendolyn's life and work, illuminating the hope and promise of the blank page, the tireless struggle of revision, and the sweet reward of success. 

That success included, among other things, a Pulitzer Prize.

Highly recommended - A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks is a wonderful story about an inspiring woman. The two things that really jump out at you are the fact that she was determined (a natural talent, as well) and clearly her success was at least partly due to her parents' support. You really get a feel for the dedication required to be a successful poet. Because Gwendolyn was African American, A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks would make an excellent selection for Black History Month. The age range is 5 and up. Like a lot of Sterling Children's Books for the very young, there is a page that goes into further detail for a slightly older crowd, so it can grow with a child. A timeline of Brooks' life is included.

There is a limited color scheme to the illustrations -- not my favorite, since I like a children's book to fairly shout at me in rainbow colors -- but it just seems to fit, somehow, so I didn't deduct even a fraction of a point at Goodreads for that. An unusual book, stylistically, that really works for the subject matter, as well.

I received a copy of A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks from Sterling Children's Books for review. My copy will be passed on to a local teacher, since I think it will be a great addition to any elementary school library.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Gloria's Voice by Aura Lewis

Gloria's Voice by Aura Lewis is the story of Gloria Steinem: "Feminist, Activist, Leader," as the subtitle says. I read one of Gloria Steinem's many books, last year, for my feminist reading project and never got around to writing a post about it, but I was fascinated by Gloria and thrilled to see that someone has written a children's book about her.

Here, little ones can get an introduction to her life. Beginning with childhood, the book talks about her wishes and dreams, how she wanted to be famous and help others, and how she was sidelined by her need to take care of her mother when her parents separated and her mother's mental illness meant Gloria had to act as the adult. It then moves on to her trip to India, followed by her decision to become a journalist and the frustration about having to write about things she didn't consider serious, how she came to realize that women everywhere just wanted to be heard, and the creation of Ms. magazine.

Gloria's Voice is for ages 4 and up, so it's told in very simple terms with gorgeous illustrations that have "flower power" coloring similar to the stage prop in the Sixties show Laugh-In (we've recently started occasionally watching an old Laugh-In episode, now and then, or I might not have recogized the similar coloring). But, there's a  more in-depth one-page bio at the end of the book, followed by a page of references for further reading and page-by-page notes on the details of each spread. So, even after one has grown past the picture book phase, there's a lot more learning material and ideas to read further for young feminists.

Highly recommended - One of the things I love about Gloria's Voice is that there are almost no men illustrated in the pages of this book. It's about a woman trying to bring attention to women's voices and that's reflected in the illustrations, which are gorgeous, by the way. The exception is a single man standing in a line to get a copy of Ms. magazine. The page-by-page notes at the end of the book explain that the image is of Gloria's husband, to whom she was married for three years (till his death). Those details and their explanations take the book from a picture book about a feminist leader to an educational book that can long be used as a reference or a starting point to learning more. I love that.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark and Katy Wu

There's a little rhyme in the end papers of Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark and Katy Wu:

Software tester. Workplace jester.
Order seeker. Well-known speaker.
Gremlin finder. Software minder.
Clever thinker. Lifelong tinker. 
Cherished mentor. Ace inventor.
Avid reader. Naval leader.
Rule breaker. 
Chance taker. 
Troublemaker. 
AMAZING GRACE. 

It's just a hint at what a brilliant thinker and accomplished woman Grace Hopper was. A picture book for young readers, Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code is an easy but comprehensive biography of Grace Hopper's amazing life. A tinkerer at a young age, Grace's early years sound very much like the kind of story I've heard from the many engineers I've known throughout the years. Curious how her alarm clock worked, she took a look at the inside of her clock but accidentally dismantled it. And, when she couldn't figure out how to put the clock back together, she taught herself how by taking apart every other clock in her house. She moved on to building an elevator for her dollhouse.

Grace's insatiable curiosity continued throughout her life and she was a trailblazer. After earning bachelor's and graduate degrees, she taught for many years then went on to join the U. S. Navy, where she spent time writing early programs in machine language and then teaching computers how to understand words. She inadvertantly came up with the term "bug" - meaning a computer glitch - when a moth was discovered in a computer that wasn't working. She contributed to the development of early computer languages like COBOL. And, she was so important to the work of the Navy that after she was forced to retire, they brought her back and she continued to work for 20 more years.

All of this is covered in Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code. I don't know what age this book is geared to but my family has never felt constrained by age limit suggestions and I'd happily read this book to my 3-year-old granddaughter, although she probably will need another year or two to really start to grasp it. Peppered with wise quotes by Hopper, the book is a wonderfully succinct bio of a brilliant woman, the kind of book little girls need to read as early as possible.

Highly recommended - What a wonderful book! While I particularly think this easy bio is a great way to introduce little girls to a strong and brilliant woman's career, don't ignore the boys. They need to learn that women are every bit as intelligent and capable as men as early as girls need to start hearing about successful women. Lucid prose, stylish and cheerful illustrations, and a deeply respectful tone make for an excellent true story of an extraordinary woman.

Addendum: I'm adding on a note because I had a conversation with my youngest son (who has a degree in Management Information Systems) and discovered something I would not otherwise have known. When I asked him if he was familiar with Grace Hopper, he said, "Admiral Grace Hopper? She's one of my heroes." The book doesn't mention the fact that she rose to the level of admiral in the Navy but I think it's worth mentioning that her full title was Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Hopper.

Last post for today. There will be more children's book reviews coming up, tomorrow!

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

March, Books 1-3 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

I read two of the March graphic memoir series in January, took a break, and finished up the third in February, which feels like pretty nice timing because of Black History Month. I wasn't thinking about Black History Month when I bought them, though; the purchase was really a reaction to our current president's bizarre tweets about Lewis, a man of action who did not deserve the lack of respect shown to him. I knew about the March series, but had put off buying them until then.

I'm not going to go into the details of what each of the books covers individually because the truth is, I don't entirely remember and I don't think that the details are all that important. What's most important to know is that the three books, basically a biography and history set in graphic form, describe John Lewis's early years, why he was inspired to get involved in the dangerous fight for civil rights, the progress of the Civil Rights Movement over many years, how participants were trained in peaceful protest, and the final results.

When I read March, Book One, I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting but it begins with John Lewis as a child, the hardships he endured, his sheer determination to acquire an education, and his fiercely independent temperament. Even as a boy, he was courageous. A parallel story is shown, the story of John Lewis attending Barack Obama's inauguration. The final book ends with the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965 and a final scene in which, after President Obama's inauguration, Lewis says he's been thinking about that comic book idea . . . the book you hold in your hands, of course. Wonderful ending.

Highly recommended - I was surprised at how many times I got a little teary and had to set aside the books to take a break. The amount of violence peaceful protestors had to endure for years honestly shocked me -- and I lived through that time! Granted, I was quite young and there was no such thing as Black History Month when I was in school, but I've seen plenty of film clips, over the years. I don't think I'd ever mentally stitched them together and that's what this series is good for. Especially when read back-to-back, you get a genuine sense for the endurance and determination that was required as activists made baby steps toward their right to vote. The only problems I had at all with the books were that sometimes I couldn't follow what was going on in a particular frame or set of frames (a problem I always have with graphic novels) and some of the details about the various organizations that worked together or in opposition to each other (but for the same goal) got mixed up in my head. There were quite a few of them and the meetings they held could be kind of dull, yet they served a purpose as things were not static; they had to constantly adjust to the reactions of those around them. In general, I was impressed and I'm hoping to insert a bit more black history into my reading life because I clearly am lacking in that area.

Important addendum: A lot of people were talking about the March books when I bought the set (I got the slipcased set of all three) and a couple people I know mentioned having read the first book but not the rest, so I was a little surprised to find that the ending of the first March book is a bit of a cliffhanger. They are definitely not meant to stand alone. The series together tells a complete story and I recommend reading them close together, if you can.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Wonder Women by Sam Maggs

[Emma Edmonds] knew she deserved a military pension, but she also knew it would be difficult to convince the government she truly had fought in the war (even though it's probable that nearly four hundred women were active in the Civil War). So she did the most dramatic thing possible: at a reunion of her Michigan Infantry division, she showed up in full skirts and was like, "Hey guys, it's me, Franklin!" Everyone was utterly confused until her colonel admitted, "I recall many things which ought to have betrayed her, except that no one thought of finding a woman in a soldier's dress."

~ fr. p. 112 of Wonder Women, Advance Reader Copy (some changes may have been made to the final print version)


Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History by Sam Maggs is packed full of mini biographies of women for whom the term "kick-ass" is maybe a little mild. Going back as far as hundreds of years, author Sam Maggs tells stories of women with amazing skills and talents who refused to hide their abilities or let them die away for the sake of the menfolk.

Told in a breezy, modern style, Wonder Women describes the challenges each of these amazing women faced and how and why most of these historical powerhouses have fallen into obscurity. The short reason: men like taking credit, if not outright stealing, the work of people they consider inferior.

Each small chapter opens with an illustration and a quotation. The opening chapter, for example, describes Wang Zhenyi, a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, and poet who was active in the 18th century. Her quote:

"It's made to believe Women are same as Men; are you not convinced Daughters can also be heroic?"

The contents are divided into the following sections:

• Women of Science
• Women of Medicine
• Women of Espionage
• Women of Innovation
• Women of Adventure

At the end of each of these sections is a Q & A with a living woman who has experienced or is currently working in a male-dominated field:

• Dr. Lynn Conway - Computer Scientist, Electrical Engineer, and Science Educator
• Dr. Buddhini Samarasinghe - Molecular Biologist, Cancer Researcher and Founder of STEM Women
• Lindsay Moran - Author, Journalist, and Former CIA Operative (I reviewed her book: Blowing My Cover)
• Erica Baker - Engineer
• Mika McKinnon - Field Geophysicist, Disaster Researcher, and Science Writer

Highly recommended - Wonder Women is the kind of book that ought to be required reading for both sexes -- girls, so they know they can do whatever they choose if they're willing to put out the effort, boys so they don't go around thinking girls are inferior. I don't know the age range -- although, admittedly, I'm actually skeptical of age ranges, anyway, knowing that some children are into adult novels and nonfiction well before adulthood -- but I know I would have enjoyed it around the age of 10-12 and I wouldn't limit it to pre-high schoolers. The writing style is very modern. Sometimes that bothered me (particularly when the author said "skillz" rather than spelling the word "skills" properly) but I do think that style makes Wonder Women particularly accessible to the younger crowd and that is, of course, its intended audience.

Quirk Books is having a pre-order promotion. Included in the offer is a set of wallpapers for phone, tablet, and desktop (free with purchase) and a drawing for signed, framed prints. Click through this link to read about it and find the sign-up widget:

Pre-Order Offer: Wonder Women by Sam Maggs

The Quirk Books website is an awfully fun place to hang out, by the way. I highly recommend bookmarking it for future fun.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Love Letters from Mount Rushmore by Richard Cerasani

Love Letters from Mount Rushmore: The Story of a Marriage, a Monument, and a Moment in History by Richard Cerasani
Copyright 2015
South Dakota State Historical Society Press - Biography/History
195 pp., incl. Index and Sources

Richard Cerasani knew his mother kept the treasures from her many travels in her attic; but, it was dark, cold, and not easy to access, so he seldom bothered taking the time to look at them. It was the idea of finding and framing a particular piece of memorabilia that sent him on a search in the attic. But, an old steamer trunk surrounded by smaller items caught his eye and inside that trunk Cerasani found a surprise, a bundle of letters exchanged by his parents during the time his father was in South Dakota, working at the site of the giant carving of four American Presidents' heads, Mount Rushmore.

Love Letters from Mount Rushmore is the story of the romance of Arthur and Mary and the months when the author's father and mother were separated, reunited, and parted again while Arthur Cerasani, an artist, worked at Mount Rushmore.

Like peeking into the private letters and photo albums of a stranger, Love Letters from Mount Rushmore tells about a young couple very much in love and shows how difficult it was for them to live apart while also giving the reader a glimpse inside the experience of one man working on the creation of a national monument during the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce and the funds for the creation of the monument could fade away for a time, closing down work completely.

Recommended - An intriguing tale of romance and longing, Love Letters from Mount Rushmore is packed with family and historical society photos, making for a quick, fascinating, and very personal read. If there's anything at all that I didn't like about the book, it's the fact that it piqued my interest in the story of the monument to the point that I really want to read more about the creation of Mount Rushmore. Just watch; it will likely become a new obsession in the coming months.


©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg 
by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
Copyright 2015
Dey Street - Biography
227 pp., incl. Notes, Index, and Image Credits

I have long admired Ruth Bader Ginsburg without actually knowing all that much about her, beyond the fact that she's a Supreme Court justice who champions women's rights. In fact, she has worked for rights of both men and women, arguing (with her husband, as described on p. 52) that "the government couldn't discriminate between men and women 'when biological differences are not related to the activities in question.' " When reading about the slow progress that has been made against discrimination on both sides (and how it has been handled in other countries), it's all the more surprising that pay discrimination still exists.

But, let's back up a bit. Notorious RBG begins by describing Ruth Bader (then known as "Kiki") as a brilliant but quiet high school girl and goes on to follow her through her school years, marriage, motherhood, law school, various court jobs and cases, all the way through to the present. As you read about RBG, you get to know how and why she became the person she is today, how she was discriminated against by some and championed by others. Most importantly, you find out what a striking difference a flexible, supportive spouse can make to the career trajectory of an intelligent and driven woman.

A fabulous book for feminists, those interested in the law, or anyone who is simply curious about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the book describes her victories and losses, joys and challenges. But, of greatest interest should be the way certain rights have been chipped away, in recent years, thanks to an ultra-conservative Supreme Court majority. There is some important information that everyone should be aware of in Notorious RBG. I learned, for example, that the legalization of abortion was an issue of privacy as dictated by the Constitution -- that nobody has a right to interfere with a woman's private medical choices -- and that discrimination against pregnant women is still allowed because the majority of justices (in the most recent ruling) think of pregnancy as a choice. This, in spite of the fact that one can't discriminate against someone who plays for a company baseball team and breaks an arm, although playing on the team is clearly a "choice" but pregnancy is not always deliberate. Fascinating. There is still clearly much work to be done.

Highly recommended - I was fascinated with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and admired her, before. Notorious RBG made me love her even more and hope that she stays in the Supreme Court for as long as humanly possible. I also am now a huge admirer of her husband, Marty, who spent every bit as much time building up his wife and her career as he did his own, often letting her career take priority. When you read about Marty, you understand just how far a woman can go if she has a partner who believes in her.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton

Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton
Copyright 2015
St. Martin's Press - Photography/Brief bios
432 pp.

Humans of New York: Stories is a collection of photos and quotes or stories (some a single line, some a series of several photos and paragraphs) that are posted daily on the Humans of New York Facebook page. Some I recognized from that page but I've only recently begun following so most of the photos and their associated stories were new to me. The wonder of the project and the Humans of New York: Stories book is that it offers such a unique peek into everyday lives, for better or worse, a glimpse of what single event impacted someone or what was dominating their thoughts at that moment in time. And, sometimes they're just cute, whether quotes for kids or pictures of them with little or no commentary.

I asked my youngest son if he's familiar with Humans of New York, as I was reading, and he said yes, that he enjoyed it but he liked some of the stories better than others. He referred to a series of 4 photos that had just been posted, about a man whose wife was manipulative enough to fake abuse so that she could get access to free legal counseling and custody of the children when they divorced. The story ended happily; the truth eventually came out and he's now traveling the world when he has time off. But, there's no doubt that some of those stories are deeply unsettling, whether as examples of how people fall through the cracks or of how mental illness and abuse quietly destroy people.

I do love the inspiring stories the best. But, I think it's the stories of people who have challenges that break them which make the Humans of New York project so special. Everyone knows how easy it is to justify not giving a homeless person money or food, how simple it is to avert your gaze and pretend they don't exist. Reading their stories reminds you that they're human, too. They're not necessarily even uneducated or drug addicts, as most of us presume. Some have ended up on the street because some random domino effect caused their economic lives to come crashing down around them and there was nowhere to turn. Those are the stories we need to talk about, to ask ourselves what we can and must do to make changes to keep people from ending up alone and without a place to sleep.

Highly recommended - Great photos, fascinating stories. As a side note, since it just happens to be November and National Novel Writing Month is in progress, it occurred to me that Humans of New York: Stories might be an excellent story starters for writers. The stories are brief enough that it's easy to read a story and think, "I could expand on this, fictionalize it, make a novel or short story out of it."

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray by Robert Schnakenberg

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World's Finest Actor 
by Robert Schnakenberg
Copyright 2015 (This is an assumption; I don't see a copyright date in the book)
Quirk Books - Biography in encyclopedia format/nonfiction
Includes filmography, bibliography, quotes, and numerous photos
272 pp. 

Release Date: September 15, 2015

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray was my most-wanted fall release, so I was really excited to get the opportunity to review. I love Bill Murray. He's quirky and unpredictable; he becomes even more interesting with age. I can't say there are actually all that many of his movies that I'm in love with, but those that I do like are keepers that the entire family has watched over and over and over, again. Stripes, Ghostbusters and What About Bob? are some of our favorites. And, I learned enough about his movies (some of which I'd never heard about) that I have a list of unwatched Murray movies to seek.

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray is set up like an encyclopedia of Murray, with topics as diverse as the Chicago Cubs and Nudity, in addition to entries about movies in which he's starred, shrugged off, and even some he never heard about because he neglected to return phone calls. There are anecdotes interspersed, plenty of quotes, and tons of photos.

Things I learned about Bill Murray:

• Bill Murray has a more diverse interest in roles than I realized.
• There are quite a few Murray brothers in the acting business. I was familiar with all of them but didn't realize any were related to Bill.
• He probably wouldn't like me; I don't tolerate alcohol.
• If you run into Bill Murray in public, it's best to just smile at him and look away. He doesn't like being approached. But, he might crash your party if he happens to hear about it and be in the right mood. 
• This is a very quotable book. I kept my husband entertained with anecdotes and quotes from Murray as I was reading. He enjoyed it as much as I did. 

My only complaint about The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray is that the photos are not all labeled. I like a caption beneath every photo so that I know exactly who I'm looking at and what's going on, even if the subject matter is obvious. Some photos contained captions, many did not.

Highly recommended - Fans of Bill Murray will appreciate this book but beware! As in every case in which you learn about a beloved actor's personality, you may find your opinion of him slightly dimmed by reality (then again, he may become your hero . . . I guess it depends on the reader).  Regardless, it's a terrific, all-encompassing reference, especially if you want to, say, have a Weekend Murraython. Since many of his best and worst comedy skits are also mentioned, The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray is a terrific reference for looking up old Saturday Night Live material and other early Murray skits, as well.

Many thanks to Quirk Books for catching my tweet and kindly offering me a copy of The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray!

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder

Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953
by Elizabeth Winder
Copyright 2013
Harper - Nonfiction/Biography
262 pp.

Source:  ARC for review from HarperCollins

What's it about?

Pain, Parties, Work is about Sylvia Plath's month in New York, working as a "junior editor" at Mademoiselle magazine.  The author's objective is to attempt to "undo the cliché of Plath as the demon-plagued artist".  

What I liked about Pain, Parties, Work:

I haven't read anything at all by Sylvia Plath and I was curious about her, what she was like during her younger years, before she became depressed enough to take her own life.  In Pain, Parties, Work, I thought author Elizabeth Winder did an excellent job of describing the Sylvia that people who lived and worked with her knew during one stifling month living at the Barbizon Hotel in New York City (a place for women only, with tiny rooms and curfews) -- the clothes she wore, her daily activities, the men she dated, the authors she admired, her writing, her brief but memorable friendships. The author talks about Sylvia's love for the beach and tanning . . . her happy place, I guess you'd say . . . and how missing out on her usual summer beach time may have impacted her emotions. 

I think the author did an excellent job of describing Sylvia as a charming, brilliant, fashion-crazy artist and a flirtatious, happy young woman. The book contains plenty of recollections from people who were there during her month at Mademoiselle, the occasional quote from Sylvia's journals and a nice variety of photographs.  I found Pain, Parties, Work fascinating and very difficult to put down.

What I disliked:

I have mixed feelings about whether the author succeeded at unraveling the tortured artist cliché, simply because the end result was a breakdown that led to the horrors of electrical shock and insulin shock treatment, as well as Sylvia's first suicide attempt.  In the end, the book reveals that in spite of being a captivating and stunningly sharp individual, some very serious issues were brewing beneath young Sylvia's dazzling, visible personality.  From the cover blurb on the ARC of Pain, Parties, Work:

Winder traces the arc of Plath's month at Mademoiselle, showing how Manhattan's alien atmosphere unleashed an anxiety that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

There were broad hints, as that quote indicates, that Sylvia was already unbalanced.  I found it of particular concern that she was physically attacked more than once (not successfully -- she fought off predators well), yet she went out a second time with one of her attackers.

Recommendation:

Recommended particularly to readers who are curious about Sylvia Plath or enjoy biographies.  A surprisingly entertaining account that I found difficult to put down, Pain, Parties, Work has piqued my interest in Plath's writing and I hope to read some of her poetry and The Bell Jar, soon.  Yes, it does end on a sad note and I'm not entirely certain the author's goal was met.  But, Elizabeth Winder did an excellent job of gathering information, including personal accounts and photos, that formed a vivid image of Sylvia Plath as a sparkling young woman with a promising future. Pain, Parties, Work is yet another reminder of how poorly mental illness was treated, not so long ago, as Zelda Fitzgerald's story was in Z.

Since I skipped Fiona Friday, last week, a gratuitous cat photo:

That's all for now!  Happy Wednesday!


©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Two Mini Reviews - Johnson's Life of London by Boris Johnson and Truth Be Told by Larry King

Johnson's Life of London: The People Who Made the City That Made the World by Boris Johnson is a book of mini biographies about the people who shaped the city of London, from ancient times to modern. Author Boris Johnson is currently the mayor of London and was reelected to a firestorm of rather humorous tweets, like this one:

Mark ‏@shadowsans

London, the rest of the country is looking at you in the same quizzical way they looked at the US when they re-elected George W.

I really know very little about Boris Johnson, although since that tweet I've read a little bit about him and find him a rather fascinating man. I'm very impressed with Johnson's writing. It's a delightful blend of erudition and humor. Thanks to his rocking vocabulary, I have a boat-load of words to look up and will just leave the Post-its in place, for now, since I'll be shy on time for a while. Here's a random paragraph from the intro about London Bridge:

By the time I get to cycle home, most of the morning crowds have tramped the other way. Like some gigantic undersea coelenterate, London has completed its spectacular daily act of respiration--sucking in millions of commuters from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and then efficiently expelling them back to the suburbs and the Home Counties from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. But the rift home is more staggered. There are pubs, clubs and bars to be visited, and as I watch the crowds of drinkers on the pavements--knots of people dissolving and reforming in a slow minuet--I can see why the city beats the countryside hands down. It's the sheer range of opportunity.

-- from p. 3 of Advanced Reader's Copy, Johnson's Life of London (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

Johnson's bios cover the following characters and their impact on London: Boudica, Hadrian, Mellitus, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Geoffrey Chaucer, Richard Whittington, William Shakespeare, Robert Hooke, Samuel Johnson, John Wilkes, J. M. W. Turner, Lionel Rothschild, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole (a shared chapter), W. T. Stead, Winston Churchill, Keith Richards and . . . rather oddly . . . The Midland Grand Hotel.

Some of these characters appear to be surprising choices and several may only be known vaguely by Americans. When I saw the name "Richard Whittington," my first thought was the story of Dick Whittington's cat, which he happily debunks. Johnson chose a variety of characters from science and engineering, the arts, politics, royalty, industry and health care so that everything from invention, the English language, eradication of disease, musical trends and law to the funneling of huge numbers of people throughout the city is covered.

Highly recommended to lovers of history, biography and the city of London, as well as general Anglophiles and anyone who enjoys a solid work of nonfiction. Johnson's Life of London is impressive. I need to reread it after I've defined all those vocabulary words. Definitely a 5/5.

Truth Be Told by Larry King is subtitled "Off the Record about Favorite Guests, Memorable Moments, Funniest Jokes, and a Half Century of Asking Questions."

In general, I figured Truth Be Told would be a gossipy book full of fun anecdotes about the many people Larry King has met and interviewed, over the years, thus a name-dropping sort of memoir. I'm not really a big fan of "star" memoirs but I like Larry King and the idea of reading anecdotes that go as far back as the years of Sinatra and Jackie Gleason was just too intriguing to pass up.

Truth Be Told is an interesting blend of narrative with sections entirely devoted to categorized anecdotes, many from friendships rather than the show itself. I found that I enjoyed the anecdotes better than the narrative portions, although the narrative offered plenty of interesting information.

When the author discussed music, for example, he talked about how Natalie Cole's visit to the show led to the donation of a much-needed kidney to Cole, his surprise at how beloved John Lennon was when the phone lines were jammed with crying people upon the news of Lennon's murder, and a time when Elvis bought a limo driver the car as his tip. There are stories about Sinatra getting involved in a pie fight at a diner and how Mel Torme wrote his beloved Christmas song (the one with "chestnuts roasting on an open fire") because it was so fiercely hot that he wanted to come up with something that would make him think cool thoughts.

He talked about broadcasting and how it's changed over the years, how news has gone from informative to dramatic. King also wrote one of the best descriptions of President Obama's election versus his presidency that I've read:

Obama did stave off a Depression. He passed the first major health care bill in seventy-five years. He pulled our troops out of most of the principal cities in Iraq. He bailed out General Motors, settled the economy, and made money for the government in the process. Those were all winners.

He inherited Afghanistan. I don't know how you win there. . . .

Colin Powell told me that what Obama lacked was a main attack. He said Obama would have been better off if he'd focused on the economy and fixing unemployment to the exclusion of everything else. Not that the other issues weren't important. But it would have put a spotlight on this one area that was vital to every American and given him a clear way to communicate his victories. It could have been a Now we can! that opened the door to the other issues, like health care, that were deeply important to him.

--from p. 145 of Truth Be Told

Some of his thoughts about the presidential election are already outdated as the book was copyrighted in 2011, but many are still relevant.

The only thing I really disliked about Truth Be Told was the final chapter about Larry King's plans to become a comedian. "I am funny," he says. The occasional arrogant-sounding statement, like King's flat claim that he's funny, is undoubtedly to be expected. People who've achieved fame on a level of being a household name tend to be pretty pleased about it, so I expected a little bit of that. But, Truth Be Told is amusing, entertaining, juicy fun and King balances his occasional pride with plenty of humility. He really sounds like a very decent guy and there's no escaping the fact that he has plenty of interesting tales to tell.

Recommended to fans of Larry King, folks who enjoy memoirs by the famous and those who are curious about the wealthy and famous people King has interviewed, over the years. I particularly enjoyed anecdotes from the earlier years.

In other news:

We have closed on our house (on Tuesday -- I think I'm still recovering)!! Yesterday, we bought a scaffold for painting because the ceilings are high and we took some cleaning supplies and a few other essentials like water, hand soap and towels to the house. We'll start painting, this weekend. It'll be a while before we actually move in, but it's exciting to have the paperwork finished.

Also, today is a very special anniversary day for an object in my house. I'll do a separate post about that, in a while.

I miss visiting your blogs! With all the running back and forth and more packing, painting and then repair of our current home to get it ready to sell, I have a feeling it could be months before I regularly visit bloggers, again. When I have time, I do dip into a few blog posts but I'm usually so staggering tired that I can't even manage to say, "Nice review," or whatever happens to be relevant. Wish me strength in the coming months. I'm doing my best to avoid taking a complete break from blogging because it does provide me with a little personal time to sit and purge my thoughts about books.

Happy Thursday!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock

The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72 by Molly Peacock

Copyright 2010

Bloomsbury - History/Biography/Memoir/Art

397 pp., incl. extensive bibliography and index

The subtitle and the gorgeous cover of the hardback copy of The Paper Garden (a poppy) drew me to this book. An artist who began her life's work at 72? One can always stand to read about something as hopeful as a dramatically late start in life. The Paper Garden had already been on my wish list for a year when I was contacted by TLC Tours. Would I like to review it? Why, yes, I certainly would.

As it turns out, The Paper Garden is not just about the paper artist, Mary Delany, and the artist didn't begin crafting and art in general at 72, but created her own method of paper collage at that age. The Paper Garden tells Mary Delany's entire life story but focuses on Delany's early artwork, her gardening, her two marriages and the long stretch of independence between those marriages and how they the combination of creativity and experience led to the making of her collages. Mixed in with Mary's story is a bit of memoir about the author, a poet who has drawn some parallels with her own life.

What I loved about The Paper Garden:

I adored the detail of Mary's life. She was truly an amazing woman; full of life, a woman of many lasting friendships, creative and intelligent, always busy, curious, engaged and engaging. While a major part of her broad creative work involves the fact that she was well-placed and suitably comfortable in life to have plenty of leisure time, I think I can safely say that Mary Delany used her time better than most. I enjoyed reading about her because she was a fascinating person and her master work, the flowers, capped off a vigorous, creative life. She was truly an amazing woman.

I've borrowed an image of one of the flower collages (a passionflower, which just happens to be one of my favorites of those few images in The Paper Garden) from the British Museum's website:

The detail is astounding. She cut all the tiny petals and curlicues after dyeing her paper and dissecting the flowers for accuracy of representation. And, then she added painted touches to shade and sometimes a real leaf of other part from the actual flower. Not only that, but she managed to amass a whopping 985 of these works of art before loss of vision halted her.

Besides the fact that Delany's life and the historical context were engrossing, I loved the fact that the author was passionate about her interest in Delany's life and work. She did a tremendous job of research, including numerous interviews, and her eye for detail, while overwhelming at times, made for a well-rounded picture of a talented, strong, admirable woman of the 18th century.

What I disliked about The Paper Garden:

I was expecting a biography, not the memoir bits, and I can't say I loved reading about the author's life. There were some minor parallels, but for the most part I found Molly Peacock's life story interesting but less entertaining than that of Mary Delany and not particularly relevant.

But, what I really found appalling and the reason this book will come with a family warning was the sexualization of the flower descriptions -- as in "disgusting". I considered stopping at page 6, when I came to the first passage that I found offensive enough that you'll have to highlight to see two of the words:

They all come out of darkness, intense and vaginal, bright on their black backgrounds as if, had she possessed one, she had shined a flashlight on nine hundred and eighty-five flowers' c***s.

--from p. 6 of The Paper Garden

At one point, I was so irritated by the sexual references (flowers to body parts) that I handed the book to my husband and pointed out a passage to see if he felt the same. "You read vulgar stuff," he said. Exactly. I see flowers as objects of beauty for their color, delicacy and contrasts, not for their reproductive bits and pieces (I always felt that way about Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, as well -- they're gorgeous representations of life to me, nothing more). Fortunately, as the author and subject aged, the sexual references tapered off and the cringe moments ceased. The Paper Garden intrigued me enough that I've ordered a copy of Mrs. Delany, Her Life and Her Flowers by Ruth Hayden, a book that is frequently mentioned in The Paper Garden.

Recommendation:

4/5 - A thoroughly-researched, passionate account of the life and work of Mary Delany, sharply detailed and poetic but marred by the authors insistent sexuality (with special emphasis on female body parts). In spite of the bits I considered unnecessary and offensive, I found the book so engrossing that I just ignored the parts I disliked and plowed on. Still, the book deserves a family warning.

I do love flowers, don't you?

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Shaffer

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love

By Andrew Shaffer

Copyright 2011

HarperPerennial - history/biography/philosophy

208 pages

Andrew Shaffer's blog

Hume wrote that women want dominion over men and men want dominion over women. He found both sexes at fault in this eternal power struggle, but it was man who started it: "If we did not abuse our authority [over women], they would never think it worthwhile to dispute it."

--p. 99 from the chapter about David Hume in Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love

Philosophy has never been a topic that even remotely interested me . . . that is, till Simon Van Booy got his hands on it and wrote his own philosophy series, which I absolutely loved. So, it's entirely Simon's fault that I decided to read Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love.

Sadly, the book doesn't come close to measuring up to Simon's work. However, it's a nice diversion. Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love is introduced by the author, who explains that philosophers are naturally neurotic, overly critical, and condescending. The rest of the book contains short bios of 37 philosophers -- some of whom shared some natural crossover with others of their generation (Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre are among the most obviously connected). The bios are followed by a "timeline" that places them in historical order and a selected bibliography.

What I loved about Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love:

Very light, funny and entertaining, Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, is the perfect book for a brain break. It's neither taxing nor complex; and, it's packed with quotes that will make you shake your head in disbelief (or exclaim aloud . . . I probably uttered the words "good grief" a few times). Plus, the book is definitely a fun way to dip your toes in the waters of philosophy without feeling as if you're on the verge of drowning.

What I disliked about Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love:

The same characteristics that make the book entertaining also make it a likely candidate for the use of the word "fluff". And, "not deep" could also be equated to "shallow". In other words, Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love is entertaining, but you won't come out of the reading with any great new understanding and I wouldn't go around quoting the book in order to look smart in a room full of professors. The author makes liberal use of footnotes to insert his brand of humor. I found at least one of those footnotes offensive, but most were just silly.

Here's an example of a passage, followed by the related footnote (following the asterisk). The reference is to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Werther:

Copycat suicides racked up across the continent. "For as it requires but a little match to blow up an immense mine, so the explosion which followed my publication was mighty," Goethe wrote. Authorities in Italy, Germany and Denmark banned the book in an attempt to keep it from completely infecting a generation of disaffected youth. Eventually, the subculture of suffering that the book had spawned fell out of fashion, just like any other fad.*

* Only to be revived (minus the suicides) by the English rock group The Cure in the early 1980s.

--p. 88

The bottom line:

Entertaining, but not overly enlightening, a great book to grab if you're looking for a little lightweight reading that will make you feel like you have been blessed beyond belief in your love life -- even if your significant other is a fat slob, snoring in front of the television.

No, I'm not referring to my husband: He's at the grocery store. Just thought you ought to know. And, I do appreciate him.

In other news: Bookfool has been experiencing a bout of insomnia and hasn't felt much like blogging, although she (oh, no -- referring to yourself in 3rd person is a bad sign of something, isn't it?) did manage to finish three books, this weekend . . . which also means she didn't accomplish much else, but let's just not go there.

Today: Bookfool spent an hour or two loading shelves at the homeless shelter store with lovely donated books. They look terrific!! Almost all of the books we're currently displaying appear to be remainders and I'm a little concerned. The shelter is asking for donations (in other words, "set your own price") and they have received between 10 cents and $1.00 for purchases, thus far. Considering the fact that the books are mostly pristine -- some very nice hardbacks among them -- I think there needs to be a specific price attached to those books, don't you? What do you think is reasonable to ask for them? We'll also have used books and I think they can go for less but 10 cents to haul off a newish book that sat in the back of a warehouse for a while is just crazy. That's not going to benefit the shelter at all. They'll be lucky to pay the rent.

Things I forgot to remember: I keep forgetting to photograph "books in" and, well, this is weird . . . It's probably not going to happen, now, unless someone says, "Oh, please, please won't you take pictures of at least some of them, dear Bookfool?" Because I am unique in my personal style of organization. I bring in my books, log them in and then sort in a way that's much like sprinkling the entire earth with a few buckets of rainwater. Some, I'll put on my TBR shelf by release date, some end up beside the bed (if I look at a title and think, "Want to read NOW!", it goes straight to the bedside pile) and the rest -- swap books, books from friends and drawing wins -- just kind of wander around, settling where they will.

So, then Monday rolls around and it seems like everyone in the galaxy is posting about what arrived in the mailbox. And, mine are in 5 different rooms. Well, usually 3, but you never know. I could write you a list of everything that's arrived since before Christmas, but you have to promise not to gasp and tell me I'm the greediest and most evil book collector on the planet.

So far, this week, I've only received one book: The Butt Book by Artie Bennett, illustrated by Mike Lester. I expect my book intake will drop off severely, now that I've decided to take a break from ARCs, although I have a few swap books on the way.

At this very moment: My cats are eating out of the same bowl. I was running out of dry kitty food, so I poured all of it into the one bowl. I didn't know both kitties would show up as soon as the vittles hit plastic.

Apart from Isabel's sudden and inexplicable urge to climb the piano repeatedly, the cats seem to be behaving pretty well, this week. Wahoo for that.

There. I do believe I've covered every subject but the weather. It was sunny and lovely, today, at approximately 48 degrees. You're free to go, now. Congratulations for making it this far!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.