Nomadland

 I read Nomadland because I heard the film version won several Oscars. Jessica Bruder is the author and she immersed herself with the traveling nomads. These are people who don't have houses. They are homeless. They travel in vans or recreational vehicles or cars. One guy was a nomad in a Prius. We learn about the lives of a half dozen people. Some worked as campground hosts in National Forest campgrounds. Some worked at Amazon fulfillment centers. From what I read about that, I don't think I would physically be able to handle that job. Amazon actively recruits the nomads to work for them. Some worked in sugar beet harvests in the Red River Valley which also sounded too difficult for me. Some of the people in the book seemed to thrive on the nomad life. One thing all the nomads had in common is that they fell on tough times and are trying to get by cheaply by not having to pay a mortgage or rent. With an income gap that is widening every year, the story of the people in Nomadland might be a glimpse into the future for more people in our society.

Series Of Fortunate Events

 Today was a whole series of fortunate events. I brought my car to the dealer for service. The tire pressure monitoring light stays on all the time even though all the tires have full pressure. I am told the diagnostic cost will be $125. I agree to that and sit outside on the sidewalk to wait because it is a beautiful day. I don't even need to wear a coat. After twenty minutes my car is done. They washed it too. My computer needed to be reset to fix the problem. I asked him to show me how to do that in case I ever needed it again and he showed me. I go to pay the bill and learn there is no charge. No charge! Sweet. I go for a long walk along the shore. I get home right before supper time. In my mailbox I find a package and two letters. I open the package. A friend sent me a thank you note and a small gift; one of those Finnish kitchen cloths that are compostable when you are done with them. This one has a picture of a beautiful sunflower on it. That was nice and unexpected. The first letter is from some company I never heard of telling me my health insurance has a benefit I didn't know about. So that was good news. The second letter is from the IRS. I worry. Who gets good news from the IRS? Son-of-gun! I am getting another stimulus check. This is good news. This whole day has been one good thing happening after another. I am going to enjoy it while I can.

Prudence

 David Treuer is a Minnesotan and the author of Prudence. The story is set in northern Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River. Emma and Jonathan have purchased a resort. They travel from their home in Chicago every May. Emma stays the summer and runs the resort. Emma has hired Felix, a local man, to make repairs and to stay on the property all winter. Jonathan stays for shorter segments of time because he has a medical practice to run. Their son, Frankie, stays the summer. In 1942 Frankie is staying for a couple of weeks before he is leaving for the Air Force for boot camp. He will become a bombardier in England. He is bringing some friends from Princeton University with him. Frankie is happy to see Felix. Frankie and Felix are closer than Frankie is to his father. This year the state has built a German POW camp across the river from the resort. When Frankie arrives they learn that a German POW has escaped. Frankie, Felix, and the college boys head out into the woods to look for the German prisoner. A violent tragedy occurs. We learn the fall out of that tragedy over the next ten years. I thought the author did a great job describing the landscape and the seasons and the weather. His descriptions of the men are much better than his descriptions of the women in the story. Felix and the other employees of the resort are Native American, as is the author, so this story is also a story about race. I liked the story because it was unpredictable.

 

Talking To Strangers

 I listened to Malcolm Gladwell's book, Talking To Strangers, and I am glad I chose the audio version. The audio version has recording of interviews with the people mentioned in the book. In some cases he reenacted interviews with actors. This book meanders through a bunch of topics including how difficult it can be to spot a liar, the CIA, police practices, rape, and child abuse. He starts out talking about Sandra Bland, a woman who was stopped for a traffic violation in Texas and was arrested for felony assault and later hung herself to death in her jail cell. We actually hear her voice (she did podcasts) and the voice of the officer who arrested her. Some of the book talked about some dark stuff that was hard to hear. The author uses a lot of anecdotes to make his points. I was less than convinced. I enjoyed listening to his theories but he didn't change my mind about anything. I was disappointed that he never offered any solutions other than be kind when you listen to people and try to get a feel for the context they are in. I really disagreed with his thoughts on rape. He seems to think rape is about miscommunication and the use of alcohol. I think rape is about power. I also disagreed with his thoughts about the Penn State University officials who knew that Jerry Sandusky was being inappropriate and let the child abuse continue. This author says we shouldn't judge them harshly because it is human instinct to believe people when they say they are innocent. He says the same thing about the gymnastic coaches who covered up for Larry Nassar. I totally disagree and frankly angry that he would even suggest such a thing.

The Ox-Bow Incident

 The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tillburg Clark is a classic American novel out of the wild west. The book was published in 1941 but the story takes place in 1885. Two cowboys, Gil and Art, come into a town in Nevada and start drinking at the bar. The two cowboys have spent the winter together tending cattle and living in an isolated cabin. They are friends but a little tired of each other's company. In town they hear that a rancher has been killed and 50 head of cattle have been stolen. The sheriff is out of town. He appointed another person to act in his behalf during his absence. A group of men in the town want to find the men who killed the rancher and retrieve the cattle. Afraid the group intends to take justice into their own hands and lynch the culprits, several men inform the town judge and the acting sheriff. The judge warns the men to bring the culprits back alive for a trial. One member of the group, Major Tetley, manages to manipulate the reluctant into action. The group sets off to find the culprits. Once found, the group is divided on whether to lynch them or bring them to justice. The story isn't based on a true incident but is an examination of mob psychology and corrupt leadership. Three innocent men are lynched. When the mob returns to town they find the rancher wasn't killed after all. He is standing there with a bandage on his head. The cattle weren't stolen, they were purchased. Now the members have to live with their choices. This was a very interesting and high drama story.

An American Marriage

 Once I picked up An American Marriage by Tayari Jones I couldn't put it down. The book is over 650 pages but I read it in a single day. The story is about the marriage of Roy and Celestial. Roy and Celestial seem like the perfect couple. Living in Atlanta Roy is a successful salesperson and marketing expert. Celestial is an artist whose business, with Roy's help, is just taking off. The young couple has taken a trip to Louisiana to visit Roy's parents. They decide to stay at a hotel. During the night they are awakened by police who take Roy away because he has been accused of raping a woman staying at the hotel. He didn't do the crime. Celestial knows he didn't do the crime. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to twelve years of prison. Celestial's family has money. They hire a lawyer to overturn his conviction. Can any marriage survive something like this? I can't give away the answer. You will just have to read the book to find out.

 

The Water Dancer

 The Water Dancer is a novel written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is a novel set mostly in Virginia and Philadelphia before the Civil War. Once beautiful plantations in Virginia are going downhill because the soil has been worked to death. Hiram Walker was born on a plantation as a tasked (enslaved) person. His father is the owner of the plantation. His mother was sold when he was nine years old. His half brother, Maynard, will inherit the plantation when their father dies. Hiram and Maynard are opposites. Hiram is a tasked person, bright, eager to learn, and has an incredible memory. Maynard is a future plantation owner, slow to learn, crude, and brutal. Eventually Hiram tries to leave the plantation. Some parts of the novel have an element of fantasy. Hiram eventually meets Harriet Tubman. Harriet shows him something called conduction. Conduction happens when you have a strong memory and are near a body of water. When these two things come together, you can travel over the water as if the earth were made of fabric that has folded over. Legend has it that some people did this as the slave ships left Africa.  Some slaves managed to jump overboard, walk over the ocean and back to their homes. I enjoyed this book because it looks at slavery from a completely different angle.

The Book Of Lost Names

 Kristin Harmel wrote The Book Of Lost Names, a historical fiction novel about World War Two. In the beginning  the year is 2005 and Eva is in her 80's and working as a librarian in Florida. She is bothered by the condescending attitude she gets from both a coworker and her son about her age and the fact that she is still working. Eva loves books and she loves libraries. She sees a photograph in a newspaper about a rare book that was stolen from a church in France by the Nazi's. The book is now in a library in Berlin. In the book is a code which no one can figure out. Eva immediately buys an airline ticket for Berlin to see the book. In the 1940's Eva was a graduate student of literature in Paris. When her father is taken by the Nazi's she and her mother travel to a small town in the free part of France. Eva had forged some papers to create a new identity for herself and her mother. Many of the people in this town in France were helping Jewish children escape to Switzerland. Eva is recruited to work at a local church forging papers for the children. She worries though that some of the children are too young to remember their real names. With the help of her co-forger, Remy, they come up with a plan. Using the Fibonacci sequence the name of each child is entered in the book along with the new name starting from the back of the book. The story of Eva and her courageous decisions was very entertaining.

The Wintering

 Katherine May wrote The Wintering: The Power of Rest And Retreat In Difficult Times. In this book she writes of her own experiences at the time of her 40th  birthday. Her husband suffers with stomach pain. His appendix bursts before he gets into surgery. While he recovers from that she experiences her own digestive pains which is eventually diagnosed as Crohn's Disease. And her six year old refuses to go to school due to anxiety. Everyone is her family has to slow down and take time to recover. Her point is that being unproductive can be a good thing. She also writes about how some people get through the winter by sleeping more, taking saunas, and spending more time indoors cooking, repairing, and resting. She talks about the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. The intended moral of the fable is work hard. The ant works all summer getting ready for winter while the grasshopper dances and has fun singing. When winter comes the grasshopper asks the ant if there is any food to spare and the ant says no. The ant says that the grasshopper should have prepared for winter by storing his own food. According to the author the ant has the wrong attitude. Since grasshoppers don't overwinter and survive the season only as eggs, the ant is depriving a dying grasshopper of a tiny bit of sustenance. This author definitely looks at the world through a lens unlike my own. I don't agree with everything she wrote but I found it interesting.

Missing Bolts

 Today I took my car to Jiffy Lube to get an oil change. After the work was completed I was told that my skid plate bolts were missing and that the skid plate was held in place with zip ties. I was shocked. I asked if I had to buy some more skid plate bolts. The mechanic suggested I go back to the place where I got the previous oil change done (Jiffy Lube/Coon Rapids), explain the situation, and ask them to put on some skid plate bolts since they were the ones who were too lazy to tighten the bolts and used zip ties instead. I asked if this was common and he said it does happen sometimes when people are in a hurry. Dang it, people just throw away my bolts and use zip ties because it is faster and they know I can't see what they are doing? My car is so low to the ground it would be hard for me to see anything down there. I think I will have to find my receipt for that last oil change and go in there and complain. Somebody has some splaining to do.

The Giver Of Stars

 What is not to love about The Giver Of Stars, a historical novel about five strong female protagonists? Jojo Moyes, a British author, wrote this story set mostly in Eastern Kentucky during the great depression. Of one the five female heroines in Alive Van Cleeve. She married Bennett Van Cleeve to escape her disapproving family in England. Her father-in-law (a classic villain) owns the coal mine and is used to getting his way and micro-managing everyone around him including his son and new daughter-in-law. Alice can't stand the stuffy atmosphere in the Van Cleeve house. When an opportunity comes up to be a pack horse librarian courtesy of the WPA (works progress association), Alice signs up. She gives up her frilly dresses and manicures for breeches and work boots. She learns the route from Margery who grew up in this town. Margery is known for her tendency to say what ever is on her mind without a filter and her inability to care what other people think of her.  Izzy is another one of the five woman pack horse librarians. She joined because her mother made her join. She doesn't want to do this job. She has never ridden a horse before. She has a birth defect and has to wear a built up shoe in order to walk without crutches. Margery and Alice help her figure out how to ride a horse successfully. For the first time in her life, when she is on a horse, Izzy realizes her disability is  not visible and she comes to love her job. Beth is the fourth pack horse librarian. She tends to swear a lot and can sometimes make mean comments. With the long days riding horses over mountains delivering books, the library becomes a mess. Sophia is hired to organize the books and keep records and to repair the books as necessary. The people in rural Kentucky come to love getting new books every week. Then a flood threatens people who live near a creek, the pack horse librarians warn people to  move to higher ground. Some people in the town don't appreciate the work of these five women. When one of the five women is accused of a crime, politics work against them. I loved all five of the women and I loved the friendship they cultured together. I thought this was a great book.

The Rib King

 The first half of The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard is told from the perspective of August Sitwell. August is an employee of the Barker Family in New Orleans. The year is 1914. The Barkers usually take in three black orphans from the orphan home at a time. The orphans come when they are 13 and leave when they are 15. August was one of the orphans but he was the only one to stay with the family. Now he is 30 and employed as the groundskeeper of the Barker yard. The Barkers were once wealthy but are not wealthy anymore. The servants are paid but there is not enough money for groceries. The garden cannot provide all the food that is needed so the cook plants some things in the fields outside of town and also forages for greens and berries. Mr. Barker is negotiating to sell one of his factories to Mr. Pound. The lives of the family and all of the servants is riding on this deal. Mr. Pound, impressed by a sauce made by the cook, decides he will take the recipe and produce the sauce commercially using August's image on the label. The second half of the story is told by Jennie who was a maid at the Barker residence at the same time August was there. Now it is ten years later. Jennie owns her own hairdressing salon in town. She has developed a face cream that soothes the skin and can cure thrush. Jennie would really like to see her product on the shelves of stores. In her effort to get her product marketed, she is compelled to talk to August Sitwell again after ten years of no contact. The story is complicated. The themes are race and privilege and ambition. During these times in New Orleans there are labor strikes and riots going on. The book is part historical fiction and part crime story. The author is talented. When she writes about walking down the blocks in New Orleans or taking the bus to the other side of town, I can picture the scene exactly in my mind.

The End Of The Day

 In The End Of The Day by Bill Clegg, six people are described. Jackie, Dana, Alice, Lupita, Floyd and Hap tell their story. At the beginning of the book I had no idea that their lives intersected. By the end I learn that all of their stories were tied to each other. The end of the story takes place on one day when a few of the characters meet for the first time in over fifty years. I was very interested in the story of a taxi driver in Hawaii, a widow in Connecticut, a new father in Pennsylvania and a wealthy recluse in New York City had to do with each other. Sometimes we make choices in life that have long term consequences. Assumptions, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings can fester when people don't talk things out or when they hide the truth. This author is a masterful storyteller.

The Lost And Found Bookshop

 Susan Wiggs wrote The Lost and Found Bookshop. The story is set in California. Natalie Harper works for a wine company in Sonoma valley. She grew up in San Francisco. She lived with her mother and grandfather above a bookshop. When her mother unexpectantly dies, Natalie moves back to the bookshop to care for her grandfather who has dementia. She learns that the bookshop is in dire straits financially. Despite her grief at loosing her mother, Natalie manages the bookshop while helping her grandfather. Together Natalie and her grandfather dig into the history of the building. The history of the was very interesting to me. Although the story about Natalie's family was the focus of the book, the author brought in historical facts about San Francisco.  

The Henna Artist

 Alka Joshi wrote The Henna Artist, a novel that takes place in Jaipur. Jaipur is a city in northern India that is the capital of the region and has a royal palace. Lakshmi is the henna artist. She grew up in a poor family and was forced into marriage at age 15. She moved into her husband's house and lived with her mother-in-law who taught her how to use herbs to heal people. After a few years of being beaten by her husband she left her marriage and moved to Jaipur where she made a living giving henna tattoos and herbal concoctions. In her work she becomes a confidant to the wealthy and powerful women in town. She must be very careful to protect her reputation and livelihood. Lakshmi is an artist who makes beautiful artistic designs. She hires an 7 year old orphan, Malik, to help her in her work. Malik calls her "Auntie Boss" and is extremely helpful in making sure Lakshmi is safe in the streets. Malik has street smarts and he can wheel and deal like a pro. I loved being transported to India while reading this book. The struggles Lakshmi endures are many and her strength of character is inspiring. At the end of the book is a list of characters, a recipe for making henna, and recipes for other foods that are eaten in the story.

Glendalough

 For the past few days I have been on a mine road trip. I headed due west to stay at Glendalough State Park.  Light snow was falling (and continued to fall for the next two days) when I stopped to get gas in Staples. A group of eight Amish people disembarked two buggies to buy lunch at the Kwik stop. This unusual sight almost distracted me from noticing my front driver's side tire was nearly flat as I got gas. Lucky for me I could add enough air to get me to Scotty's Towing and Tires in Staples. I am an experienced tire changer. My father made me learn how to change a tire before I took my car out for the first time. In college I could not afford new tires so I bought retreads. Over the years I have changed many, many tires. This was the first, for me, to change a tire in the snow while parked on Highway 210. I rolled the tire into the shop and drove away on my doughnut to my destination. Our camper cabin was cozy with a propane Franklin stove. We saw some people bicycling through the campground but we appeared to be the only campers. A group of six deer observed my trek to the outhouse that night. The outhouse smelled strongly of Glade twist up cherry air freshener and although I don't like artificial scents, I also don't like some real scents, so I am not going to complain. In the morning we had coffee and breakfast and headed out to do some good deeds. We finished about 3 in the afternoon so we drove to Urbank to put flowers on the graves of some of our relatives. After that we drove by Phelps Mill to look around. We went back to our cozy cabin for dinner. We went out visiting and didn't get back until 11 p.m. I am not usually up that late and would have really liked to see some stars but it was still snowing so no luck there. Turkeys gobbled right outside our door to wake us up. In the morning I went back to the outhouse again. Just as I arrived a chubby chipmunk ducked under the door of the outhouse. I explained that I would like some privacy but the chipmunk would not listen. I held the door open. The chipmunk hid behind the toilet. I chased it out of there so it hid behind the stack next to the door. I held the door open. The chipmunk would approach the door and I thought it was on it's way out so I started to go in. Then the chipmunk would run back in and I ran out. We did this about six times before the chipmunk finally left for real. We packed up our vehicles and I drove slowly back to Staples to get my tire. Turns out I had picked up a screw and they were able to patch it. Plus they helped me put it back on so all was well. The weather was still snowy. Taking 210 East is a nice trip passing through Henning, Hewitt, Motley, Staples, Aitkin, Baxter, Brainerd, McGregor and Carlton before joining 35. Once I got to Cloquet the clouds parted and the sun shone for the first time in over a week. The weather warmed up to the 50's. Getting out of town was a welcome relief from staying home.

Marchers

 Today was another rainy day in Duluth. After running some errands I decided to exercise at the YMCA instead of walking in the rain. I have been going to the Y on poor weather days ever since I have been fully vaccinated. I used the weight machines. After a year of not using a fitness center, my arms lost quite a bit of strength. I worked my arms and legs on machines. For my cardio I chose a stair master that faced away from the room so I could look over First Street as I walked up the stairs. Across the street I look at the brick façade of the Board and Trade Building. In the street three City of Duluth vehicles go by. After seven or so minutes I see a group of twenty people walking east on the far side of First Street. They are holding home made signs but I can't really read the front of the signs. On one sign held by someone near the end of the group I see the words "white supremacy." I wonder if this is a white supremist group walking in the rain. I suspect they came from City Hall which is a few blocks west of here. Some of the people in the group are people of color so I doubt it is a white supremist gathering. Thoughts about this group distract me from the drudgery of walking up the steps while breathing hard and dripping sweat. Five minutes later the group comes walking back toward me. I see the signs better now. I see "Dante Wright" and "Black Lives Matter." Most of these marchers are young people but a few have gray hair. I consider waving or giving them the thumbs up but 1. none of them are looking at the second floor windows of the YMCA and 2. I would probably fall off this stair master which is so high I can reach the ceiling by raising my arm. Later, as I leave the YMCA for my car, I look up and down the street for any more marchers but none are in sight. Living in the city has been a change for me after decades of living in the suburbs but this is a change I think I like.

Wish Come True

This weekend I had a friend come and stay with me. We are both fully vaccinated and are taking baby steps on our way back to normal. Although I got used to social isolation easily (am I part hermit?) having a friend stay over so we could talk until 1 a.m. was great fun. She and I went for a walk on the lake walk. We parked at the Rose Garden and walked to the lift bridge. We walked over the bridge to the lighthouse. I told her I really wanted to be here when a lake went through. We were just about to walk back toward my car and were actually on the bridge past the safety arm when the alarm began to blow. A couple pushing a baby in a stroller were running towards us. They were eager to get off the bridge before it started lifting. They actually looked a little bit panicked. The bridge lifts up a good ten minutes before the laker arrives. But here it is coming out of the shipyards towards the lift bridge.

Here is the American Mariner going through the lift bridge at 4 pm on Saturday. The American Mariner is, by Sunday evening, already through Sault Ste. Marie and is headed to Buffalo, New York.

Bon Voyage!

Here you can see the bow of the American Mariner has almost reached the end of the shipping canal. Fair winds and following seas! What a cool experience to be there when a ship sailed under the bridge!

 

The Sun Collective

 Charles Baxter wrote The Sun Collective, a novel set in Minneapolis. I enjoyed reading about Minneapolis as the light rail goes past the football stadium shaped like a Viking ship and past a paint company building. In the story the Mall of America is called Utopia. The main characters are Harold and Alma. Harold goes to Utopia several times a week to get some exercise by walking with his retired friends around the mall. Harold and  Alma have two children. Their daughter lives in North  Carolina. Their son was an actor living in Chicago for a time but now they don't know where he lives. He isn't really missing because he keeps in touch with his sister. Harold and Alma suspect he is living in Minneapolis because they hear from friends who have spotted him from time to time. They suspect he may be homeless. Along with Harold and Alma's story, there is another story about young people in Minneapolis who belong to a group who want to better the world. They set up food banks and community gardens. They help the homeless and the protest the consumerism at Utopia. Harold and Alma approach this group hoping to find their son. The novel is basically a social satire. The relationship between Harold and Alma was entertaining. The social satire was less interesting.

The Best Early Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

 The Best Early Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald contains ten stories that he wrote in his 20's. Many of the stories involve young people gathering at dances feeling insecure and comparing themselves to others. Some of the young women are flappers with bobbed hair. Most of the stories involved a less wealthy young person visiting the home of a wealthier classmate for a weekend or a summer. Some of the stories involved people from the south visiting the north. In one a young woman from rural Georgia comes to Saint Paul and tours an ice palace right at closing. She is in the basement of the ice palace with her fiancée and others when the lights are turned off for the night. She slips on the ice and falls. No one comes to her aid. She tries to find her way for about 5 minutes but gives up and lies flat on her belly on the icy floor of the ice palace for two hours until a friend of her fiancée finds her. She gets really angry when he rubs snow on her face to help treat her frost bite. As expected, she dumps her fiancée and dumps the whole idea of moving to the north.  Could this story really be about his wife Zelda? My favorite story is about a young college man who agrees to spend the summer with the family of a college friend in Montana. They travel by train to their destination and then board a horse and buggy.  A few miles out of town they leave the horse and buggy and get into a most magnificent car. On the journey the friend says his family is the richest family on earth. At this point of the story things become magical. The young man is fascinated with his friend's family and their remote estate in the mountains. Things here seem too good to be true which is what he finds out in the fall when the time comes to return to college. This is the story that stayed the longest in my mind after I finished this book. This was a great book to go back in time 100 years ago and what it was like to be a college aged person in that era.

Anxious People

 I knew right away that Anxious People was going to be a good book when I saw it was written by Fredrik Backman who also wrote A Man Called Ove. The story is set is a small town in Sweden. There must be a river in the town because there is a bridge and the bridge is mentioned many times by most of the characters. The day is the day before New Year's Eve. Eight people are attending a real estate showing of an apartment. Suddenly a person wearing a ski mask over their face and holding a pistol comes into the apartment, essentially taking them hostage although that was not the intention. During the hostage session, the eight people get to know each other quickly. And when the person with the gun mutters, "Worst hostages ever," I agreed completely. During the story the town of Stockholm is mentioned. I guess if you say someone is "from Stockholm" you are implying they are a snob. But also, if you say someone is "from Stockholm" you could be implying the person is gay. This must be a Swedish thing. One of the hostages is unbelievably rude. There is also a bank teller in the story who is also rude but the teller is only 20 years old so I cut her more slack. The bank teller is the one who calls emergency services about the person in the ski mask with the gun. When the emergency person asks a question the teller mimics her and who does that? Who mimics a civil servant during an emergency. This book is very funny in spots but also poignant, sad, and heart warming. I loved reading this book very much.

 

First Daffodils

 

 

This weekend I saw my first daffodils of the season. These yellow beauties were located on the sunny side of the Fort Snelling chapel. From there we took a walk down the steep river bank and crossed a bridge over a fork of the Minnesota River to Pike Island. We walked the length of Pike Island down to the tip closest to Saint Paul and back again. Sunday was a beautiful day for a walk. I could have worn shorts and a short sleeved shirt but I didn't bring any. We saw some bald eagles and mallards and cardinals but not many other birds. I heard chorus frogs singing and that was a welcome sound to my ears. Spring is my favorite season. 

The Water Keeper

 Charles Martin wrote The Water Keeper. This story takes place in Florida. There is a guy named Murph who lives near an old slave church on an island in the Florida Intercoastal Waterway. He maintains the church and the citrus grove in exchange for free rent. A young girl named Angel comes to the church to use the bathroom. She had come off of a party boat. On this boat are young women, older men, loud music, and lots of drugs and alcohol. Angel talks to Murph and assumes he is the padre at the church. He offers her the chance to avoid going back on the boat but she doesn't want that. She does give him her phone number. As it turns out, Murph's purpose in life is to save girls and women from the slave trade. There are men who pick up girls and sell them to other men. Some girls are responding to ads for modeling contracts. Others are stolen from schools or dance lessons. Some are lured with parties and drugs. To find out if Murph saves Angel you will have to read this book for yourself. The story is good but the coincidences that happened are beyond belief. During the story Murph meets not only Angel but Summer, Elly, Clay, and a white lab named Gunner. I enjoyed the descriptions of the Florida coast. I would like to visit the coral reef near the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas National Park. The story had action. At times the book felt like an episode of Mission Impossible.

When This Is All Over . . .

 

Mrs. Hemingway

 Naomi Wood wrote Mrs. Hemingway, a book about the four women who married Ernest Hemingway. Ernest was a great writer and a charming man who thought he was sincere. He was also a cheating cad. He was as handsome as he was insecure. He married Hadley first. They had one son together. She tried hard to keep their marriage going. She went so far as to invite his mistress on vacation with them. After she granted him a divorce he married the mistress, Pauline. Ernest and Pauline had two sons together and were married the longest of his four marriages. Then he married another mistress, Martha, just two weeks after his divorce went through. When Martha learned he was unfaithful she divorced him and then he married Mary. The story is full of heartbreak and sadness as well as some wild parties, hunting, fishing, and travel. Ernest seemed to have a need to be married. I felt sorry for all the women who got caught up in the riptide that followed this brilliant, tortured, alcoholic, mentally ill man. Who, in their right mind, dedicates his book to his mistress knowing his wife will read it? Oddly enough, the four wives of Ernest Hemingway kept in touch with each other. I enjoyed this book. I know much of it is conjecture and some of it is based on facts.