The Dinner

How far would you go to protect your children from legal consequences? In the book by Herman Koch, a Dutch writer, the parents go way farther than I ever would. The book is called The Dinner. The narrator of the story is Peter, a former history teacher. He and his wife are meeting his brother and his wife to discuss their two sons. They meet at an expensive restaurant. Peter's brother is up for election to be prime minister of the Netherlands. He has plenty of money and likes to flaunt it. Peter is irritated with his brother. Each chapter is named after a course in the dinner from aperitif to digestive. Both brothers and both wives love their sons. After reading this, I believe all four of them were psychopaths. This is a book with an ending you will not see coming.   

 

 

Partita

I was lucky enough to come up on the waiting list for Barbara Kingsolver's latest book called Partita. This story is about Livia Bohusz. Livia grew up on a dairy farm in Tennessee with her parents and older brother. She is talented at the piano. The local church allows her to practice on their piano and also play at services. Her father is busy with the farm. Her mother doesn't encourage her musical talent. Despite the lack of support she wins a state piano contest. She won a full ride to the University of Indiana University to study music. While there she has a torrid love affair with Sigurd who abruptly leaves her to work with the Marxists in Arizona. She returns to Tennessee a broken person. She gradually heals. Eventually she ends up falling in love with the farmer next door. He works the farm and she teaches piano lessons. One day she gets a call from Sigurd after 30 years of no contact. This visit causes Livia to dwell on her past the the choices she made. Although this is not my favorite book by this author, it was a good one. 

 

 

The Storm

Rachel Hawkins is the author of The Storm. The story is set in the fictional town of Saint Medard's Bay, Alabama, near Gulf Shores.  Geneva is the owner of The Rosealee Inn. When she hears that an author from California is coming to stay she has hope for her business. Saint Medard's Bay is famous for the number of hurricanes that come through. So far the Rosealee Inn has survived all the storms. The author is coming to investigate the murder of a politician's son. A local girl, Lo, was accused of the murder but was never found guilty in court. To Geneva's surprise the author brings Lo who is now 60 years old. As the book progresses we learn who was responsible for the death of the politician's son. Other surprises about parentage turn up too.

 

 

Shuggie Bain

 This is a novel that takes place in Glasgow, Scotland during the 1980's. Shuggie Bain was written by Douglas Stuart who also grew up in Scotland. The story is about Shuggie, the third and youngest child of Agnes Bain. Shuggie's older siblings have left home to avoid living with Agnes who is an alcoholic. They live in poverty. Agnes tries sobriety several times. She goes to AA meetings. One time she was sober for over a year and working nights at a gas station. Her boyfriend wants her to have one glass of wine with dinner and bingo, she is back to being an alcoholic again. Rather than playing with his friends of the neighborhood, Shuggie is making tea for his mother or cleaning her. This is a heart breaking story. Some of the Scottish slang was impossible for me to understand.

 

 

The River Is Waiting

Wally Lamb is the author of The River Is Waiting. This is an Oprah book club book and like all the books Oprah likes it is full of broken people and tragedy. Corby Ledbetter is the protagonist in this book. He is young, married, and the father of twins. He makes a huge mistake. Is his mistake unforgivable? Corby pays the price that it is unforgivable. In the meantime he tries to be a good person. He tries to help others who are in need. He tries to stay clean and sober. I liked the book but towards the end I was overwhelmed by tragedy piled upon tragedy. The author didn't have to make the story this tragic. It was over the top. 

 

 

Haralsons

I got lucky today. I already have 4 apples in the fridge. No matter, I found a bag of Haralson apples at the local supermarket and I bought it. These Haralson apples were local from the Eckart orchard in Trempeleau, Wisconsin. I like Haralson apples because we had some Haralson trees in my back yard when I was a kid. The Haralson apples are medium sized which I like a lot better than some of the giant apples I normally find in the stores. Haralson apples are not as sweet as many of the apples. Now, let me think. Should I make a pie? Apple crisp? Apple sauce?

 

 

1965

 Today I went to a lecture at the history center about the flood in 1965 that took place in Winona. The east side of town (where I live) was hit hard. My street was under water but two blocks away from the river from my house was not underwater. The flood crested at 20.77 feet on April 19th. Lake City and Wabasha also crested that day. People had to be evacuated. The mayor hired young men and high school boys to build dikes and fill sand bags for $1.50 per hour which was good pay in those days. The dikes were made of piles of dirt lined with plastic and covered with sand bags. People walked the top of the dikes to make sure they didn't fail. The mayor hired girls and older people to make sandwiches. Several people in the audience remember the flood and did help with the dikes and the sandwiches. The sandwiches were baloney or spam. The sewer system was so inundated with river water that manhole covers were flying into the air followed by a stream of water. They solved this problem in two ways. They build pipes in the road that went 12 feet into the air. The excess water could go up that pipe and stay contained until the river level decreased. The other way was to take large rubber bags, fill them with water, the plug the man holes from below. If the dikes had failed Winona would not continue to be an island city. Winona would have been a two island city. The lecture was interesting. Having audience members who were actually there share their memories was very nice.