Skios

 Skios is a humorous book about a conference in a posh hotel on a Greek island. Written in 2012 by Michael Frayn the book starts off with Doctor Norman Wilfred on a plane. Hired to give speeches all over the world, Norman has learned the hard way to keep a copy of the speech in his carry on bag. His talk is on scientometrics. He is known as a dry speaker with no humor and an unfriendly personality. Nikki is the organizer of the conference and she goes to pick him up at the airport. Once there a young blond man walks up to her. She asks if he is Dr. Norman Wilfred and he answers, "I cannot lie." So Nikki thinks it's him. This young guy is pretending to be Norman. Norman, whose luggage was taken by someone else ends up at the house the young guy is supposed to be. This part is somewhat unbelievable because in the day of google images, Nikki shouldn't have been fooled. Why the young guy wanted to pretend to be someone else is never explained. By the time Norman gets to the conference a full day has passed. His imitator has charmed everyone at the conference and no one believes Norman when he tells them who he is. I did enjoy the descriptions of the luxurious hotel and beautiful scenery.

 

 

Future Home Of The Living God

Times are strange. Today I read an article about a prosecutor in West Virginia advising women who have miscarriages to report the incident to the local police. He said he wouldn't prosecute a woman for having a miscarriage but other prosecutors said they would. Did you read and enjoy The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood? If so I think you would enjoy Future Home Of The Living God by Louise Erdrich. The book is similar to The Handmaid's Tale and set in Minnesota. A 26 year old woman named Cedar lives in south Minneapolis. She is Native American and w.as adopted by two white liberal parents and brought up in Minneapolis. She receives a letter from her birth mother on the reservation so she goes up there to visit and to learn more about her culture. She meets her mother, her mother's husband, her grandmother and her little sister. At the end of her visit she tells her native family that she is pregnant. She gets back to Minneapolis only to learn that authorities and asking pregnant women to turn themselves in. The government has turned totalitarian.  Evolution is reversing and births are going wrong. Cedar hides out in her home for a time but eventually gets picked up and taken to Fairview Hospital. Every day the pregnant women are given vitamins which are actually tranquilizers. No one knows what happens to the women or their children but they are never seen again. With the help of her mother and her roommate Cedar escapes the hospital and heads back up to the reservation to hide. Eventually Cedar gets picked up again and this time she is taken to Stillwater Prison where her future is even worse. The book is disturbing but beautifully written.

 

 

Eight Hundred Grapes

 Laura Dave is the author of a silly book called Eight Hundred Grapes. A 30 year old woman named Georgia finds out something shocking about her fiancee so she leaves town and drives to her family's vineyard in Sonoma. There she finds her twin brothers have changed, her mother has changed and her father has changed. Rather than focus on her own problem with her fiancee and the wedding is only ten days away, she focuses on her family. Georgia doesn't like the decisions they have made and she tries to change their minds. Actually her dithering about the fiancee annoyed me. Eight hundred grapes are how many in each bottle of wine her father makes.

 

 

The Second Life Of Mirielle West

 I knew there were leper colonies in Hawaii but I was unaware that there was one in Carville, Louisiana. In her historical fiction book Amanda Skenandore writes about a woman from Hollywood, California who is sent there after her doctor diagnoses her with leprosy. For an unusually long time she stays in denial about her condition. Mirielle is married to an actor. She is used to champagne, parties, and glamour. This diagnosis comes at her just a few months after her son drowned. She has two little girls at home. She is taken from the hospital to a empty train car with one nurse and two other patients. She is a prickly person in the first place and she does not adjust well. She comes off as rude and snotty.  The appearance of some of the patients horrifies her. There is no telephone at the facility. All mail has to be disinfected in the steamer and not all letters make it through that process. There is a ten year old girl her who pulls pranks on everyone frequently but she reminds Mirielle of her daughter so they end up bonding. Eventually Mirielle comes to accept her fate and goes about helping the other patients and joining in on the social activities. The Second Life Of Mirielle West is a great story. I also read another book by the same author called When We Were Yours and that was a good book too.

 

 

The Known World

 Published in 2003, The Known World is a book about a black man in Virginia who has slaves. Written by Edward P. Jones, the story is about Henry Townsend. Henry was a slave until his father purchased his freedom. He then went on to purchase 30 slaves to work on his tobacco plantation. The story starts out with Henry's death in 1885 and then weaves back and forth through time which makes the story a little difficult to follow. The basic lesson is that power corrupts people. The book has lots of characters and multiple story lines.  In the book slave sellers pick up freed black people and sell them in the south. Some parts of the book were sad to read but I think reading it was time well spent.

 

 

Y/N

Esther Yi is the author of Y/N, a novel about a Korean-American author who falls in love with  Korean pop star named Moon. Her name is Y/N and she works and lives in Germany where her job is to write sales articles about artichokes. A friend gives her a ticket to watch the Korean boy band. After the concert Moon retires. Y/N flies to Korea to find him. I know that K-Pop boy bands are popular so it makes sense that a novel should be written about them. This sure was an odd book to read though. Y/N's name isn't about yes/no. Her name is about "your name."

 

 

Unpacking

I unpacked a dozen boxes today including this one.

 

Sani-cloth is coming to town!