The Patron Saint Of Pregnant Girls

Saint Margaret is the patron saint of pregnant girls. The Saint Margaret Home for pregnant girls is located on an island in Germany in the North Sea. The home is run by nuns who also teach school to the children in the home. The head nun paints pictures of Saint Margaret on the walls of the church. The year is 1878. Every year there is a celebration of the oldest person in the town. That person gets to ride at the head of a parade. People get really competitive for the honor of being the oldest person in town. On the day celebrating the town's oldest person, three women are standing on the shore when a huge wave, a once in 100 years sized wave, comes up by surprise and carries three of one of the women's four children out to sea. Only her infant son survives. Another of the three women (actually a girl, she is only 11 years old) gives birth that day to a baby girl at the Saint Margaret Home and her baby is adopted. The third woman works to support the other two women as they cope with life in this small village. The Patron Saint Of Pregnant Girls by Ursula Hegi reads almost like a fairy tale. I was drawn to this book because I liked this author's other book, Stones From The River, which was also set in Germany. This was a charming story to read.

The Gifted School

The Gifted School, by Bruce Holsinger, is a novel set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado. Several school districts are banding together to build a school for gifted students in grades 5 through 12. The middle school and the high school for the gifted will be in Crystal. Crystal is a town of upper middle class families surrounded by other towns that provide the food for or clean the homes of the families in Crystal. The story revolves around four women who met when their babies were taking a swimming class. The four ladies, Rose, Lauren, Samantha and Azra, remain friends even now that their children are 12 years old. The unexplained mystery of this book is why the women remain friends. The way I read it, none of them really like each other with the exception of Azra who is definitely the sanest one of the group. All four women are sure their children are gifted and deserve to be admitted to the new school. Admittance to the school is highly competitive. In a fictional town of wealthy, liberal parents, there is bound to be trouble and unethical behavior when not all kids make the cut. I enjoyed reading this story about people who thought they were good people until they weren't.

At The Edge Of The Haight

 Katherine Seligman wrote At The Edge Of the Haight, a fiction novel about a 20 year old woman named Maddy Donaldo. Maddy is homeless. She lives with her friends in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with her dog, a pit-bull mix, named Root. The story of how Maddy became homeless is a sad one. One day Maddy's dog gets ahead of her and goes into some bushes in the park. Maddy follows her dog and sees a young man taking the last breaths of his life. Above him stands a menacing older man with blood on his face. He tells Maddy to go away or he will come and find her. Later the victim's parents and the police want to talk to Maddy about what she saw. The victim's parents reach out to Maddy. They try to get her to call her parents. They assume, because their son was homeless, that she has parents who would be delighted to get her call. I can't imagine being homeless, being outside all night in the rain or the fog. I can't imagine living in dirty clothes. I can't imagine going to soup kitchens for food or going hungry. The victim's parents want to adopt Maddy. Since it's too late to help their son, they want to give her money and food and a phone and a place to live. Maddy has her pride. The struggles of the homeless was brought vividly to life in this book.

Undaunted

 John O. Brennan was the director of the CIA until January of 2017 when Donald Trump took office. In his book Undaunted: My Fight Against America's Enemies, At Home and Abroad he writes about his 33 year career, most of which was with the CIA. I found his book to be easier to read and much more entertaining than I expected it to be. He has met some famous and interesting people in his life. As the grandson of Irish immigrants, he grew up in New Jersey. He had a kind and loving family who taught him to do the right thing. Brennan tried to do the right thing and in the book he is honest about a couple times where he fell short on doing the right thing and lived to regret it. He writes about working with senators and representatives. He does not appreciate the "gotcha" techniques that some politicians use. One whole chapter is devoted to the capture and death of Usama Bin Laden. He was there in the room with the President when the whole thing went down. Over his career he specialized in the Middle East. He had personal relationships with kings and princes in Saudi Arabia. This book was a pleasure to read; almost like having a conversation with him.

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant

 The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant takes place in 1950 and in 2018. The letters are written to Esther in 1950 but she doesn't get them until 2018. Kayte Nunn writes this novel that takes place on the Isles of Scilly, islands on the south west coast or England. A young mother with post partum depression (Esther) is dropped off there by her husband. He tells her they are taking a little vacation. When she gets there sedatives are put into her tea. While she is asleep she is placed in a straight jacket while her husband takes the boat back to the mainland and returns to his job in London. That sort of thing could happen to women in the 1950's. In 2018 a marine biologist arrives at the Isles of Scilly to study clams. She finds the letters in an old suitcase and gets them to Esther. The story is sad in parts but poignant and interesting with strong female characters.

Beverly Cleary

 Today I learned of the death of one of my favorite authors. Beverly Cleary died at the ripe age of 104. After working as a child librarian, she decided to write some books for children that were more entertaining. She wrote dozens of children's books including books about Beaver Cleaver that was made into a television series. My favorite characters of hers were Ramona and Beezus Quimby. I loved the adventures of Ramona and Beezus. Like Beezus, I knew what it was like to have a younger sister that sometimes got on my nerves. Rest in peace Beverly Cleary.

Bride Of The Sea

 Bride Of The Sea is a book set in exotic places. I like how a good book can take you traveling. In this book I went to Jiddah in Saudi Arabia located just west of Mecca and on the Red Sea coast. I also went to Cleveland and Toronto and California. The story takes place over 45 years. A girl is born in Cleveland to parents who immigrated from Jiddah to attend college. Hanadi is the girl. Her parents divorce soon after her birth. Her father returns to Jiddah. He comes to visit Hanadi as often as he can afford. In the culture of Hanadi's parents, a child of divorce spend the first 5 years with the mother and the subsequent years with the father. Before Hanadi turns 5 her mother runs away, changes their names, and tells Hanadi her father died. They travel and move frequently to avoid detection. Her father tries to find her. Her mother's parents hire a private detective to find her. They are almost caught several times. The disappearance of Hanadi and her mother has a ripple effect on the entire family. The story is heartbreaking and compelling. I ended up not really liking Hanadi nor her mother. Hanadi's father was the most likeable character in this book.

All Adults Here

 Emma Straub wrote All Adult Here. This is a family novel that starts when 68 year old Astrid Strick witnesses a horrible accident where a school bus strikes the car of an acquaintance. The woman in the accident is killed instantly. Astrid is affected by this incident and resolves to be a better and more honest person. Astrid has a  few things to set right with her three adult children. A memory is stirred and Astrid realizes she could have been a better mother. The change in Astrid has a ripple affect on her children and her grandchildren. I liked the family drama to some extent but I thought the author brought in too many issues. There was bullying, abuse, online pedophilia, adultery, trans-gender issues, and artificial insemination. For a small town family story this felt like too many issues. My other complaint is that the language was sexually graphic and unnecessary to the plot.

Owls Of The Eastern Ice

 Jonathan Slaght was in the Peace Corps in Russia close to where Russia, China, and North Korea meet. He was interested in birds and just, by pure luck, came upon a fish owl. He took a photograph and shared it with others. No one thought fish owls were in the area he was because they were endangered. That sighting sparked him to study fish owls for his Ph.D in conservation from the University of Minnesota. For six years he traveled to Russia and completed field studies. After spotting some owls after long winter nights slogging through the Russian forests and snowmobiling down frozen rivers, he and his assistants, caught some owls in traps and put transmitters on them. These are big owls with a wing span of six feet. He found that the male owls become docile once caught while the females never quit struggling. Owls really don't like to wear transmitters so they gradually pecked the antennae off the transmitters rendering them useless. He switched to smaller GPS receivers. He studied where the owls lived. All trapping was done in the winter because the owls are easier to catch. Any spot where the river ice is open is where he found his owls. In the summer the owls travel more miles. In the fall, the fish owls follow the spawning salmon up stream into the mountains. He put all of his observations and stories into a book called Owls Of The Eastern Ice: A Quest To Save the World's Largest Owl. His research showed that river valleys are vital to the survival of these very large owls. The area where the owls were studied is the same where Amur tigers live. The largest owl also needs a very large nest. Not many trees are large enough to support the owl and one or two fledglings.  He also found that if you cut a hole in a wooden barrel and attach it to a tree ten or so feet off the ground, the owl will nest there too. I enjoyed this book detailing his struggles and successes in researching the fish owls. He had some funny anecdotes about his quirky Russian companions too.

  

The Book Of Lost Friends

 The Book Of Lost Friends was inspired by a column in post Civil War magazines where readers could publish a letter asking about the whereabouts of their family members. Black ministers were asked to read the columns aloud at the weekly services. Lisa Wingate takes actual letters that were published and puts them in this book. Some letters mention what year their family members were sold at auction and to what state they ended up. This story takes place in southern Louisiana and Texas. The year is 1875 and three teenage girls from Louisiana travel to Texas. Two of the girls are trying to find their father, a plantation owner. The third girl is coming along to protect the other two but also to find her family, her mother, her sisters and brothers, who were sold away from the plantation where she lived. That story alternates in chapters with another one set at the same plantation in Georgia only now the year is 1987. A new school teacher has come to teach English at the high school. Her experiences at a high school with inadequate supplies and impoverished students challenges her. When there aren't enough copies of Animal Farm to go around, she has her students research their ancestry at the local library instead. Some of her students are descendants of the three girls who traveled to Texas. Why the author chose to include the story from 1987 is beyond me. I think a better story would have focused solely on the story from 1875.

The Silent Patient

 There is a Greek myth named Alcestis. In this story a man is sentenced to die unless someone else volunteers to die for him. Alcestis is married to this man and she volunteers to die for him. After she dies, the Gods decide to bring her back to life. Once back to life, she refuses to speak to anyone ever again. According to the interview with the author, Alex Michaelides, the myth of Alcestis was the impetus for his novel The Silent Patient. If you want to read a book with a masterful plot twist at the end, this is the book for you. Alicia Berenson is an artist. She is married to a famous photographer. On one hot August evening in London, Alicia shoots her husband in the face with a gun five times. After that day she refuses to talk. Before she is incarcerated in a mental institution she paints a portrait of Alcestis. After six years of incarceration, a new psychotherapist by the name of Theo is hired and he makes it his goal to get Alicia to talk. Like most psychotherapists, Theo has issues of his own. I loved the rich characters in the book and, most of all, the incredible ending.

Separation Anxiety

 Separation Anxiety was billed as a humorous book when I chose it. I think this family story by Laura Zigman was more sad than funny. Judy Power is 50 years old. Although she still lives with her husband, they are separated. They just can't afford to live separately yet. Her son, Teddy, is a teenager and he attends a Montessori school. Judy wrote three children's books. Her first book was well received but she hasn't written anything new for the past decade. To make ends meet she writes small articles about wellness for self-help websites. One day, as she is cleaning house, she finds a baby carrier she received as a gift when her son was born. Instead of getting rid of it, she puts it on and puts her 20 pound Sheltie dog in it. Having the dog on her hip helps her feel calmer so she starts wearing it frequently. I have to admit there was one chapter where Judy is at the dog park and the other people at the dog park give her a hard time for keeping her dog in a baby carrier that was very funny.

The Splendid And The Vile

 Right now I am watching "The Crown" on Netflix which is a series about Queen Elizabeth II. I am still in the first of five seasons. In it John Lithgow does a fascinating acting job as he plays Winston Churchill. That is why I chose to read an autobiography of Churchill by Erik Larson called The Splendid and the Vile; A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During The Blitz.  The autobiography goes from 1940 to 1941, the darkest days of World War Two before Pearl Harbor. So many bombs were dropped on London and Coventry and so many towns, the stories are just incredible. The book includes information from the German leadership who never expected Churchill to keep fighting. They were sure he would capitulate and surrender. I thought the day to day experiences of Winston, his wife and his children were fascinating. This book had more than 1700 pages of information about Churchill, his family, his friends and his enemies. He was a complex person; both splendid and vile.

Perfect Little Children

 Sophie Hannah wrote Perfect Little Children. In this book Beth drives by an old friend's house just to snoop. She and her husband, Dom, have not seen Flora and Lewis for a dozen years. So when Beth's son has a soccer game near her ex-friend's old house, she drives by. She spots Flora arriving home. Flora gets out of the car while talking on the phone. She gets her two children out of the car. Beth is astonished to see that Flora's children, Thomas and Emma, are 5 and 3 years old instead of 17 and 15. Beth is a very determined person so she doggedly investigates this mystery. I liked Beth as a character. I liked her relationship with her husband Dom, and with her own teenage children. But the way Beth mulls over every single conversation about the mystery of Flora and her kids drove me bonkers. Who spends that much time and energy thinking things through? I thought the story went by very slowly. Although glad no magic nor cloning was involved, this wasn't my favorite story. I am not a fan of mysteries.

The Wonder Boy Of Whistle-Stop

 Many years ago I read a book by Fannie Flagg called Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle-Stop Café. I loved that book. I loved it so much I even made fried green tomatoes for supper one night. The fried green tomatoes were okay as far a fried foods go but I would prefer my tomatoes red and ripe and raw. This book, The Wonder Boy of Whistle-Stop is a sequel. I loved it. Reading this book was as comforting as a lunch of grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for lunch. The wonder boy is Bud, the daughter of religious Ruth and nephew of crazy Aunt Idgie. Bud is a senior citizen now. He travels back to the  Whistle-Stop to have a look around for old times sake. This book was a cozy sequel to the first book; not as good as the first but not half bad.

The Pull Of The Stars

 In Medieval times people thought influenza came from the stars. Given that the disease came in the winter and spring, it must be related to the stars. Now we all know influenza comes from a virus. In The Pull of The Stars, Emma Donoghue writes about then 1918 influenza epidemic. She finished writing the book in March, 2020. With the pandemic starting right then her publishers put her book in front of others to get published first. The story is set is Dublin. The main character is Julia Power, a maternity nurse at a hospital. Julia lives with her brother, Tim, who has returned from the war in good physical condition but suffering from shell shock and unable to speak. She is sent to work in a special maternity ward set aside for mothers with influenza. In the course of three days Julia comes to meet Bridie and Doctor Kathleen Lynn. Bridie is an orphan at the Catholic orphanage and she is sent to work at the hospital because the hospital is so short of staff. Bridie has to work to pay for her care at the orphanage. Doctor Lynn is an actual historical figure; a doctor who set up clinic for the impoverished mothers of Dublin. Dr. Lynn took part in the Irish Uprising and was jailed by the British. This book was a great story about Dublin, impoverished women, a pandemic, and also about care givers during a pandemic.

Conjure Women

 Afia Atakora wrote the historical fiction Conjure Women. This story is written about three women. Miss May Belle is a midwife on the plantation of Master Charles. Her job, besides being a midwife, is to increase the population on the plantation. Rue is her observant daughter who reluctantly follows in her mother's footsteps. Varina is the daughter of Master Charles. This story brings the Civil War vividly to life in a way I haven't heard before. Based on interviews of slaves taken by the WPA agency during the Depression, Afia Atakora writes an epic story that spans generations. I enjoyed the story so much I didn't want it to end.

What Is The What

 I chose another book by Dave Eggers even though I didn't like the first one, The Captain And The Glory. What is the What; The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng is about a Sudanese child refugee, one of the "Lost Boys." Valentino tells his story in three parts. The first part is when he lived with his family in Marial Bai, Sudan. His father was a store keeper and his mother was a mid-wife. When he mentions his mother he always includes her yellow dress. When the Muslim militia wipes out his town, he becomes a refugee at age 6. He starts walking in the bush with other boys. Part two is his life at a camp in Ethiopia which isn't so bad until a new president is elected in Ethiopia and the soldiers start shooting at everyone in the camp forcing all of them to flee. Valentino flees to a camp in Kambura, Kenya. Part three describes his 9 years at that refugee camp. As Valentino and Dave Eggers write the book, Valentino is living in Atlanta, Georgia and attending a community college. The story is difficult to read. Terrible things happened in Somalia. Some of the lost boys were killed by lions and crocodiles. Some starved to death. Some were killed by militia. Valentino survived his ordeal, graduated from college, and went back to Somalia to help rebuild his country. He started the VAD Foundation to assist other Somalians. All proceeds from the autobiography go to the VAD Foundation. Although very sad and difficult to read, the story does offer hope.

The Captain And The Glory

 I was in the mood for a humorous book so I selected The Captain And The Glory by Dave Eggers. It is a short book and I thought it was about a ship called the Glory. The passengers choose a new captain after the old ones retires. They decide to choose a guy who volunteers even though he has no experience and no nautical training. The new guy wears a yellow feather in his hair and right away he fires the crew and throws the training manuals overboard. I soon realized this book is a satire about the Trump administration. I didn't like it. This book was too much and too soon.

The Engineer's Wife

 Did you know the Brooklyn bridge was constructed after the Civil War and completed in 1883? I didn't either but I learned a lot about that when I read Tracey Emerson Wood's historical fiction called The Engineer's Wife. The wife's name was Emily Warren Roebling. The bridge was designed by her father-in-law. When his foot was crushed early in the bridge construction process and he died of tetanus, her husband, Washington Roebling, took over. The footings for the bridge had to be constructed on bedrock below the East River. To get under the river they built huge metal floorless boxes into which they forced air so the construction workers could breathe. These boxes were called caissons. At that time they didn't know about decompression disease and how important it is to come up from the depths slowly so the body could gradually adjust to the change in pressure. Her husband stayed down too long and was overcome with caisson disease also known as the bends or decompression illness. The disease sapped his strength, his ability to walk upright, and made him irritable. Emily had always been interested in his work and she was a whiz at figures and engineering so it was only natural that she take over as engineer. This was a time of women's suffrage so both men and women did not appreciate her efforts. Emily was between a rock and a hard place. For some reason and not based on history, the author decided to include an emotional affair between Emily and P.T. Barnum which I thought detracted from the story. Other than that, I thought this was a fine story.

In Grateful Amazement

 

Today I decided to take my daily hike on the Lakewalk. I also had to get groceries so I parked at the Superone Grocery on East Superior Street and walked west for 3.4 miles and turned around and came back. People were gathered at this fence here between the Lakewalk and that railroad track. There was something dark by the culvert under the railroad tracks. At this point in my journey I was a few blocks uphill from the Glensheen mansion.

The dark spot was a bear! A city bear! Most of the people thought it was a female bear. No cub was sighted. She was moving pretty slowly and groggily. Sometimes she pawed at the grass but I never saw her eat anything. She must be hungry and thirsty. After a while she turned around and sat on that log. She scratched her belly which made her right foot move back and forth. She bent her head and I think she was licking her fur. Some bystanders said she slept in that culvert all winter. I stood there in grateful amazement for 15 minutes watching the bear sitting on a log.

The Lies That Bind

In The Lies That Bind, Emily Griffin writes a story about Cecily Gardner, a journalist from a small town in Wisconsin living in New York City. Cecily writes for a New York City tabloid newspaper. She has been dating a guy named Matthew. When she is ready to take their relationship further, he gets cold feet so she breaks off their relationship. One night she meets another man named Grant and she falls hard for him. Cecily is trusting and naïve. What bothers me the most about her is her inability to assert herself. If Cecily can tell what a person wants to hear, she tells them what they want to hear despite her own discomfort or inconvenience.  Not only is Cecily super annoying, the author uses the 9/11 event to tell the story in what I think was a gratuitous and disrespectful manner. By the end of the story Cecily does mature and become less annoying but I don't think it's worth reading this book to find that out.

Truths I Never Told You

 In Truths I Never Told You, Kelly Rimmer writes about a family of four adult children who are preparing for their father's death. Their father has congestive heart failure but also a brain disease. This brain disease is a form of dementia with aphasia (inability to speak) and obsessive behavior. According to some scientists Maurice Ravel, the famous composer, also had this brain disease when he wrote one of my favorite pieces of classical music, Bolero. Bolero is a 15 minute piece of music that basically repeats the same tune over and over again. The song starts out with a single flute and the slightest tapping of drum sticks on a drum. The next repetition of the tune has a clarinet followed by a trumpet with the violin players lightly plucking their strings and by the end of the song all the members of the orchestra are playing full blast including French horns, tuba, piano, and Chinese gong. I love that song. In any case, the father in this story is not a composer. He was a construction worker who eventually ran his own construction business. After turning over the reins of the company to his eldest daughter, he took up painting. He painted obsessively. After his death the children are cleaning out the house when they come upon a padlock on the attic door. Behind that door they find a huge mess that includes many paintings and some letters left behind by their mother who died when they were very young. Although they were told she died in a car accident, post-partum depression played a part in her death. They were never told about the post partum depression which is too bad because the youngest sibling is going through the same thing. In the case of this family the post partum depression seems to have a genetic component because three generations of woman in this fictional family experienced it. Being open about the problem would have been a huge help to the younger generations. The letters in the attic also reveal the fact that their father wasn't always the kind, loving man they knew. Early in his marriage he was selfish. When he didn't know how to handle his very sad wife, he chose to hang out with the construction guys after work at the bar. He spent his money on alcohol rather than providing for his family. After his wife died he felt remorse and turned his life around. This book was entertaining and thought provoking.

Celebration!

 

This morning I was in line at 9 a.m. at the Miller Hill Mall to get my second Pfizer vaccine. Now is the time to celebrate! Within a few weeks I should be fairly safe from catching Covid 19. I look forward to returning to the YMCA (last visit 11.5 months ago), Great Clips (last visit 15 months ago), the library (last visit 12 months ago), an indoor restaurant (last visit 13 months ago), a theater (can't remember the last visit), a museum (last visit 14 months ago), and an in-person class (last class 14 months ago).

The Lying Life Of Adults

 Elena Ferrante wrote The Lying Life Of Adults. The story, like nearly all her stories, is set is Naples, Italy. I know I have read something of hers before but I just can't recall which book it was. The main character in this one is Giovanna, the teenaged daughter of a pair of elite high school teachers. In the beginning of the story Giovanna tries hard to please her parents. At about age 15 her parents behave in ways she disapproves and she rebels. Even though her father and her Aunt Victoria have not spoken to each other for years, Giovanna decides to become acquainted with her prickly Aunt who lives in the warehouse district of Naples. Her Aunt blames Giovanna's father for every disappointment in her life. Without an honest adult role model in her life, Giovanna becomes involved in the romantic affairs of those around her. I listened to this audio book and the reader is Marisa Tomei who is of Italian heritage. As she reads the story I can really hear her roll her r's as she reads off the names of Italian churches, streets and piazzas. Her talent as a reader only added to my enjoyment of the story. 

Alice And Oliver

 Charles Bock wrote Alice and Oliver after being inspired by events in his life. Shortly after the birth of his first child his wife was diagnosed with leukemia. That is also what happened to Alice in Alice and Oliver. I could tell right away that this was based on a true story because of the medical insurance nightmare Oliver had to go through to make sure Alice could get the bone marrow transplant she needed. Alive and Oliver live in New York City. Alice is a fashion designer and is known for her great boots and quirky artistic outfits. Oliver is a coding expert and is trying to get his own company off the ground. The stress of having a baby, owning a company, helping his wife battle cancer and fighting with the insurance company take a terrible toll on him and he can't really vent his feelings with his wife anymore because she is too sick. The bureaucracy of the health care system is maddening. The story of Alice and Oliver is unforgettable.  

 

How Lulu Lost Her Mind

How Lulu Lost Her Mind is a silly, comedy book by Rachel Gibson. The story revolves around Lulu and her mother, Patricia. Lulu has a business as a columnist, author, and blogger known as the love guru. Based in Spokane, she gives advice to women about romance and relationships. Patricia, Lulu's mother, has always had a passionate nature. Married and divorced five times, Patricia has spent more time pursuing men than taking care of her daughter Lulu. Now she is a senior citizen and dealing with Alzheimer's.  After being discharged from three care facilities for spooning with other residents at night, Lulu decides to put her career on hiatus and take care of her mother herself. Patricia wants to return to the decrepit family home in Louisiana. Together they travel to the family home. The story is funny and also sad. As Patricia's health fails Lulu realizes she isn't ready to let go of her mother just yet. The story gave a true portrayal of the frustrations that come with caring for someone with dementia. I liked that the story was funny and yet not disrespectful. 

Northernmost

 Northernmost is a novel about people living in cold lands.  Peter Geye writes about a Norwegian man named Odd Einer Eide who returns from a harrowing adventure on the sea north of the Arctic Circle where he had a job clubbing seals. He and his companion are stranded on glacier when a polar bear grabs their boat full seals and cuts the line so the boat floats away down the fjord in between the ice floes. Later the polar bear kills his companion.  Miraculously Odd Einer is rescued and makes it home only to find his wife, Inga, is not home. Instead he finds her at the cemetery where she thinks she is burying him. She is stunned to see him alive and she is slow to return to their affectionate marital status. All this is happening in 1897. Another storyline takes place in 2017 in the town of Gunflint, MN. I imagine the author has renamed Grand Marais into Gunflint. Greta is a descendent of Odd Einer but she doesn't know that yet. Greta and Odd Einer, separated by five generations, make the best of harrowing circumstances. My favorite character is Odd Einer. His descriptions of his life with Inga and his work on the sea stay with me even when I'm not reading the book. Now that I am finished with it I come to realize that this is the third in a series of novels about the Einer family. I didn't realize I was reading the end of the story first!

 

The Best American Short Stories of 2020

 Normally I am a huge fan of short story collections. In the case of The Best American Short Stories of 2020, not so much. Each year a different author is allowed to make the selections so each year is a very different set of stories. Of the twenty stories I liked six. But those six were really great. There is one called "Kennedy" that was spellbinding. "The Apartment" was also good plus the added benefit where the old person triumphed over a younger one. I really enjoyed "The Hands of Dirty Children." "Howl Palace" was set in Alaska and that was good too. "Rubber Dust" was a story about schoolchildren that made me feel guilty even though I didn't do the things those kids did. "Octopus VII" was another interesting short story about an art student. The other stories I really didn't care for.