The Last Camellia

 The Last Camellia is a book written by Sarah Jio.  The story revolves around two women living in a manor house in England. The first woman is Flora. Flora lives with her parents and helps them run a bakery. Financially the bakery isn't doing well. Her father insists on giving bread away for free is people are impoverished. A man offers her a large sum of money if she will go to England and pose as a nanny at a manor house. This is before World War Two. She takes a boat to England and gets the job as a nanny to four young children who just lost their mother. She is being paid to find a rare camellia. There is no way to find it unless it blooms. The man who hired her is putting pressure on her to find it. Eventually she learns that her father is ill and she goes back to New York City. Fifty years later Addison comes to the manor which is now owned by her parents-in-law. She tries to figure out the history of the people in this house. She comes across Flora's artwork. But she is in danger from a boy she lived with in her childhood. He is a sociopath and he is bound and determined to hurt her. Eventually she finds a locket. Inside that locket is a seed for that rare camellia. The seed is still viable so now there is another camellia tree growing. This was a good mystery and historical fiction story.

 

 

The Fault In Our Stars

 John Green is the author of The Fault In Our Stars. This story revolves around a 16 year old girl named Hazel Grace. Hazel Grace is forced to attend a support for cancer patients. Hazel suffered from thyroid cancer and now she has lung issues. She has to have supplemental oxygen day and night. At the support group she has a friend named Issac who had cancer in his eye. Issac bring another friend, Augustus, who had osteosarcoma. He had a leg amputated. Hazel and Augustus fall in love. They give each other books. Augustus takes Hazel and her mother on his "Make A Wish" trip to Amsterdam so she can meet her favorite author. This was a very nice story to read.

 

 

The Paradise Problem

 Christina Lauren is the author of The Paradise Problem. This story is told by two characters, Anna Green and Liam (William) Weston. While attending college at UCLA, Anna agrees to a fake marriage with Liam so they can get into subsidized family housing. Once they graduate Anna expected they would divorce. Years later Liam comes back into her life asking for a favor. Liam is from a wealthy family. The only way he can get his grandfather's inheritance is by staying married for 5 years. Liam's sister is getting married in an expensive resort near Hong Kong. Liam asks Anna if she will go to the wedding with him and pretend to be his loving wife. Anna is living paycheck to paycheck because she has to pay for her father's chemotherapy. She doesn't know how the rich live. Liam will pay her a boatload of money to do this. Will she pull it off?

 

 

Circling The Sun

I have been to Kenya so naturally I like reading books about Kenya. Paula McLain is the author of Circling The Sun. The story is about Beryl. Beryl was born in England but her family moved to Kenya when she was a baby. At age 4 her mother left with her older brother to go back to England. Beryl grew up with her father who eventually remarried. Her father raised race horses and Beryl is good with horses too. Her father encouraged her to marry at age 16 which she did but the marriage didn't work out. Beryl becomes the country's first licensed horse trainer. Later in life she became the first female pilot. Beryl is quite the woman and this is quite the book.

 

 

Powerless

 Harry Turtledove is the author of the dystopian novel called Powerless. Charlie Simpkins lives in the San Fernando valley of Los Angeles, part of the west coast's People's Democratic Republic. In this country people must obey orders. One day Charlie gets a notice to hang up in the window of his produce store. He doesn't want to hang up the propaganda notice in the window. So he doesn't. At first things go badly for him. He looses his job. His wife thinks he should have hung up the notice. His son gets kicked off his sports team. His daughter looses the chance to be in a girls group. Charlie gets another job that takes a longer bus ride and pays less. Eventually the family is told they must move to another town 30 miles away. Suddenly things start going better for Charlie and his family all because he stood up for himself and didn't hang that notice.

 

 

Zeal

Morgan Jerkins is the author of Zeal, a novel about star crossed lovers.  In Natchez, Mississippi, Harrison returns a free man after fighting in the Civil War. He is looking for Tirzah, the love of his life. He goes to the plantation where they both were slaves but she is not there. He finds the wallet he gave her years ago. He writes to the Freedman's Bureau in search of information about her. He eventually marries a different woman. Tirzah, newly freed, is working at a school in Louisiana. She sees the add Harrison wrote but it is too difficult for her to get to Natchez. She eventually marries a man in Louisiana. Tirzah and her family move north to fight oppression. The lives of Harrison and Tirzah and their descendants continues until an engagement party in Harlem in 2019. This was an excellent story about the power of love.  

 

 

 

 

Remember

Lisa Genova is the author of Remember: The Science of Memory and Forgetting. I have loved other books by this author including Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O'Brians, and Every Note Played. This book is different from those. In those other books the story revolved around a patient with a brain disease. This book has no patient. The author talks about how memories are formed. Everyone has memory failures and that is no indication of dementia. She gives ideas on how to get a memory to stick such as keep repeating it or attach it to an emotion. Forgetting is just as important as remembering.

 

 

But Soft, What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks? It Is The East And Juliet Is The Sun

Yesterday I attended a matinee performance of Romeo And Juliet at the Winona State University Defresne Theater. Winona has a great river Shakespeare festival every year so I decided to go. When I was in the 9th grade our class put on a performance of Romeo and Juliet. I was cast in the role of Juliet's nurse. Looking at this play today I see I got a pretty good role. I think the teacher assigned the parts. My friend Renee got the role of Juliet which was okay with her until she learned that Gary F. got the role of Romeo. Renee and Gary did not like each other. The kiss between them was extremely awkward. I felt bad for her. I think that was the last time I saw a Shakespeare play. The language takes some getting used to. For 20 minutes before the performance the understudies acted out skits in the lobby so we could train our ears to get used to the language of Shakespeare. The picture above shows the stage before the performance started. We were told not to take pictures during the performance. I never realized four people die in this story Mercutsio gets stabbed by Tybalt Capulet. Then Tybalt gets stabbed by Romeo. Then Romeo dies by ingesting poison because he thinks Juliet is dead. But she wasn't dead and when she finds Romeo dead she stabs herself. Obviously there is a lot of bad blood between the Montagues and the Capulets but the older generation is more chill about the feud than the younger generation.

 

Lie For A Million

 Janet Daily is the author of Lie For A Million. This novel is set in horse country. Lila Culhane has just become a widow after her husband, Frank, was killed in the horse barn. She is trying to manage the farm on her own with the help of a cook/housekeeper and Roper, a cowhand. A FBI agent is there trying to solve the murder. Frank's first wife wants to take the farm away from Lila. Frank's son and his wife want to take the farm from Lila. Now Frank's young lover tells Lila that she is pregnant with Frank's child. Lila's life is a mess.

 

Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday I spent the day in Wisconsin at Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge.
 

Bay State Milling

Last night I walked to the Winona County Historical Building for a talk about Bay State Milling which is located a few blocks from my house. The plant manager talked about the history of Bay State Milling which started in Massachusetts. The company decided to expand to Winona, MN because there is an abundance of wheat grown around here. Now they have locations throughout the United States and one in Canada. Their goal was to sell the perfect product. They sell bleached and unbleached flour, high protein flour and six other kinds. They sell mixes such as for pizza dough or biscuit dough. They do not sell any retail. They do sell to local businesses such as Bloedow's Bakery here in Winona. They sell both regular and organic flour. They have 215 employees. Some times of the year they work 7 days a week. Their products are moved by train and trucks. The speaker did a good job answering all the questions.

 

Whitewater State Park

Yesterday I drove 25 minutes north and west to visit Whitewater State Park again. Many years have passed since my last visit. I walked the trails. I saw a guy fly fishing for trout. I saw an indigo bunting and a rose colored grosbeak. I visited all 5 camper cabins. I walked past many  camp sites. They have wild parsnip everywhere. This rogue vegetable plant has spread all over. If you touch it with bare skin and then are exposed to sunlight you can get a painful rash. I usually think of vegetables as innocent but not this one.

 

Stop Me If You Heard This One

In Stop Me If You Heard This One, a book written by Kristin Arnett, Cherry lives in Orlando and wants to make a living being a clown. Her mother does not approve. She finds some gigs as a clown but not enough to pay the bills. She also works at an aquarium store with a friend and a very lazy third employee. Her fortune looks up when she meets Margo the Magnificent who is a magician. Together with Margo's mentoring, Cherry hopes to make it as a clown. This is a wonderful comedic fiction story.

 

The Three Lives Of Cate Kay

In The Three Lives of Cate Kay, author Kate Fagan writes about the friendship of Amanda with another girl in 3rd grade. Both grew up in difficult households. Both dream of moving to California the day after they graduate from high school. Amanda and her friend starred in all the high school plays. Now they want to become stars in Hollywood. The day before they are due to leave a terrible accident befalls Amanda's friend so Amanda leaves without her. Amanda goes on to become a writer of books and screen plays. Amanda writes under a series of three pen names. Due to the machinations of a jealous girlfriend Amanda is told her friend died from the accident. That is not true. Her friend reads Amanda's books and knows it is her. Her friend writes letters to Amanda that never arrive, again due to the jealous friend. When the letters finally do arrive, Amanda changes course. She goes back to her home town and reunites with her friend. This was a good story. Kate Fagan is a talented writer. 

 

 

All Fours

All Fours is a book written by Miranda July. This writer also makes movies and music. The story starts out with a woman planning a cross country drive from California to New York City. She leaves her child with her husband and plans to be gone for 3 weeks. The woman is a well known artist. About an hour into the drive she pulls off the road and rents a hotel room. She stays there for the three weeks redecorating her hotel room. She doesn't plan ahead and is entirely spontaneous. The book was okay but there was too much sex for me.

 

 

Identity

 Nora Roberts is the author of Identity. The story starts out with Morgan and Nina living together in Morgan's house. Morgan works at a construction company during the day and tends bar in the evening. One evening Morgan and Nina hold a dinner party with Nina's boyfriend and a guy Morgan met at the bar. The next evening Morgan comes home to find her car stolen and Nina dead on the floor. All of Morgan's assets have been stolen from her bank. Credit cards are taken out in her name, used to buy things that Morgan is expected to pay for. The FBI tells Morgan that they are familiar with the murderer and that Nina is not his typical victim. Morgan is his typical victim which are blond women under 35 who own a house. The FBI inform Morgan that the murderer will likely come after her next. Morgan ends up selling her house and moving to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother. She gets a job managing a bar at a fancy resort. Will she be safe there? You had better read the book to find out.

 

 

Now Is Not The Time To Panic

 Now Is Not The Time To Panic was written by Kevin Wilson. The story starts off with Franky meeting a guy named Zeke when he asks her to help him catch the greased watermelon in the public swimming pool. Franky sends her 3 brothers to help by promising them twenty dollars. After that, Franky and Zeke, both 16 years old are friends. They hang out at Franky's house. They find an old copy machine in the garage. Zeke fixes it. They design a poster with an image of their two faces with an enigmatic phrase. They post 100 copies throughout their small town in Tennessee. The talk of the town is abuzz with speculation on who put out these posters. Some panic ensues. Neither Franky nor Zeke ever take credit for the posters. Now, twenty years later, a reporter calls Franky and starts asking questions. Franky decides to talk to Zeke after all these years of not speaking. I enjoyed this coming of age novel.

 

 

 

 

Leave The World Behind

 Rumaan Alam is the author of Leave The World Behind, a novel that has also been made into a movie. A loving couple and their two kids leave their home in the Bronx to rent an AirBnb on Long Island. On their 3rd night there someone knocks on the door at 9:30 at night. Turns out the owner of the AirBnb were attending an opera in New York City when the electricity went out everywhere. Their AirBnb still has electricity but the televisions don't work and the internet is down. The owners ask if they can move in with the family until things get figured out. The next day the daughter spots hundreds of deer in the backyard. The daughter and the son go running off into the woods. The son gets a tick bite. The next day the son falls ill. He is vomiting and his teeth start to fall out. The owners will lead the way to the hospital. And then the novel ends and I didn't know if the world had ended or what was going on.

 

 

By Any Other Name

 This is an unusual book for Jodi Picoult. By Any Other Name is a novel with two threads. In the 1500's Emilia Bassano is educated and witty. She writes plays. But women are not allowed to write plays. Instead, in order to support her family, she gives her plays to William Shakespeare and he prints them under his name. The performances are widely attended. In the current time, Melinda Green researches her ancestor Emilia Bassano. Melina is also a playwright. In college her work is disparaged. Ten years later, her play about Emilia, is turned into a contest with the name Mel Green. Melina has to get around the misogyny of the judges. Her play wins the award so the convinces her male roommate and friend to pose as Mel. I loved this story about how women can do beautiful work despite the prejudices of culture.

 

 

Full Moon Near Sugar Loaf Cove

 

Solito

 The author of Solito, Javier Zamora, was born in El Savador in 1990. His father fled to the United States when Javier was one year old. His mother left when he was five years old. He migrated to the United States, unaccompanied, when he was nine years old. This book is a memoir about his journey. The 3,000 mile journey was supposed to take two weeks. He was headed north through Guatemala and Mexico. His journey was much longer. Another man took Javier under his wing. Together with a mother and her daughter they pretended to be a family. When they finally made it into the USA they were caught by border agents and deported back into Mexico. This was a harrowing and emotional story to read. 

 

 

Fox Creek

The acclaimed author from Saint Paul, MN wrote Fox Creek. This is one of William Kent Kruger's series of tales about Cork O'Connor who lives near the Canadian border. Cork used to be a police officer but now he runs a burger joint. Less stress for him and his family selling burgers. One day a man comes in looking for help to find his wife. He knows Cork does some private investigation work. He claims his wife is having an affair with Henry. Cork knows Henry. Henry is 105 years old and a spiritual leader in the local tribe. Henry is also an uncle to Cork's wife. Cork goes to visit Henry where he also finds his wife and the missing wife.  When Cork shows the wife a picture of her husband on his phone she says that is not him. This starts an ordeal as 4 people come hunting for the wife. Henry leads the two women out into the wilderness for their own safety. Cork and other tribal police follow the hunters to assure the safety of Henry and the two women. This was a fascinating tale about survival in the wilderness.

 

 

Tom Lake

I listened to an audio version of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. As a special treat the book was read by Meryl Streep who is a very good reader. In 2020 the 3 daughters of Lara come home to the Michigan cherry orchard to help with cherry picking. The three daughters ask Lara to tell the story of dating a now famous actor. When Lara was in high school a talent scout flew her from her east coast home in Maine to Hollywood for an audition. Lara ended up getting the part. After a couple years in Hollywood she flew to northern Michigan to work in a summer theater. This is where she met the actor and his brother and also her husband. After the summer theater Lara married the cherry orchard keeper and settled down to lead a happy life. The actor always remembered the cherry farm. He actually tried to buy it on a few occasions. Eventually his brother settled his ashes on the cherry farm.  Ann Patchett is  fine writer.

 

 

Happy Independence Day

 

Turn Of Mind

Alice La Plante is the author of Turn Of Mind. The story  is told from the perspective of Doctor Jennifer White. Dr. White is a retired orthopedic hand surgeon who just retired because she has dementia. When her frenemy/neighbor is found dead from a head wound and with four fingers removed, Dr. White is a prime suspect. Dr. White can't remember if she murdered her neighbor or not. The police interview her multiple times despite her daughter, Fiona's, strong objections. By the end of the book we come to understand what happened. Sometimes listening to Dr. White's confusing thoughts, I became confused too. This was a really good book to read. 

 

 

Chimney Swift Neighbors

After I got home from the musical performance, I walked around my building to check my mail. The red brick building next to mine is a storage facility. They have a high chimney. I watched for 10 minutes as the chimney swifts flew inside. The chimney swifts looked like winged cigars. I saw close to 100 swifts enter the chimney

Last night I went to listen to the municipal band play patriotic songs.

 

 

 

 

 

The Children Act

In Ian McEwan's book, The Children Act, a judge in England is named Fiona. She presides over cases such as child custody, maltreatment, and family court. In one case she had to rule about two boys who were co-joined. Together they shared a bladder. One boy was stronger than the other. His heart was working for himself and his brother. He wasn't able to do the work of two boys for ever. If the boys were not separated, both would die. If the boys were separated, the weaker boy would die. People were impressed with her wise judgement. She gets a new case about a 17 year old boy who will die without a blood transfusion. His parents told the hospital they will not allow him to have a blood transfusion. Fiona hears the case in court and then travels to the hospital to meet the boy. Meanwhile, at home, Fiona's husband has told her he wants to have a sexual encounter with a younger woman before he settles into old age with her. He seems to think she would be okay with an open marriage. Fiona is not okay with this idea. This was a terribly interesting story. I hear it has been made into a film starring Emma Thompson as Fiona.