The Paris Novel

Ruth Reichl is the author of The Paris Novel. The main character in this historical fiction novel is Stella. Stella lives in New York City during the 1980's. She grew up without a father. Her mother was generally absent during her life. Her mother cared more for herself and her reputation than she did about Stella. Stella got a job in a publishing house as an editor. When her mother dies Stella inherits an envelope with some money, a plane ticket, and a note that tells her to go to Paris. Stella goes to Paris. She lives there with her old habits of living frugally and thoughtfully. She walks into a thrift shop. The owner of the thrift shop insists she buy a beautiful dress. Stella decides to make an impulsive decision which ultimately changes her life. Now Stella takes chances. She indulges in delicious meals. She meets people who knew her mother and her mother's ways. She finds her purpose in Paris. I enjoyed reading her descriptions of various Paris neighborhoods and museums since I went to Paris this year. I also enjoyed the meals and wine Stella enjoyed once her life opened up to appreciating food and wine.

 

 

The Wish

I listened to the audiobook called The Wish which was written by Heather Morris. The story is about a 15 year old girl names Jessie who has terminal cancer. She has a dying wish. She was always a big video gamer. She wants a video game that features her favorite spots, her family, and herself so that her friends and family can interact with her virtually once she is gone. The Make A Wish foundation contacts a gaming company. The best virtual reality game inventor is 29 year old Alex. Alex is an introvert and a little damaged. He grew up in the foster care system. He is lonely. Alex and Jessie don't hit it off right away. What Jessie wants is very ambitious and Alex isn't sure he can deliver. This nice story is all about relationships and emotions.

 

 

June Grass

I know it's July but today I picked seeds of June grass at the Nature Conservancy site of Weaver Dunes. I picked two half gallon empty milk jugs of June grass.

I was so glad the sky was overcast because we were very warm. By the time we finished at 1 p.m. the temperature was 85 degrees. We had a nice breeze. An Eastern towhee sang for us while we worked.

Our group included a dozen people. Some from Winona, some from Rochester, and some from Minneapolis. This is blazing star. We could have picked hoary puccoon seeds but those are hard to find without the flowers.

We found white and purple prairie clover.

These are partridge peas. I had a good day out on the prairie today!

 

All In Her Head

I read a book written by Elizabeth Comen. She works as a breast oncologist. Her book is called All In Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies And Why It Matters Today. This is a book that every woman should read although it will make you angry and frustrated. The author will go through eleven body systems and explain how women have been examined, judged, ignored, shamed, and gas lit. Women continue to be mistreated until this day. The mistreatment of women is woven into our culture and even enlightened female doctors will engage in the practice. In between the history of medicine the author includes snippets of experiences with her own patients which I found very interesting. 

 

 

The Jackal's Mistress

Chris Bohjalian is the author of the historical fiction novel called The Jackal's Mistress. During the civil war a commander of the Union Army was badly injured in a battle in Virginia. He had one leg amputated and lost three fingers. He was still alive but very weak when the Army had to pull out. Knowing he would die if moved, they left him in a bedroom on the second floor of a house. They left him with a flask of water, some pain pills, and some hardtack. After a week or so all of his provisions were gone. He yelled for help through the open window. A black woman heard him. She went home and told her husband and their employer, a young woman named Libby, about it. They decided to bring him to their house and nurse him back to health. There was one other person in the house. She was the niece of the young woman. Once the commander got well enough to speak the niece would talk to him. She, being a southener and having lost her father to the northern troops, did not like the commander so she called him a jackal. The commander taught college in Vermont so he was an interesting person to talk to. His presence put the entire family at risk. Libby's reasoning was that if her husband was in the same situation in the north, she would want the northern family to save him. The civil war was a violent time but not everyone involved took violent actions. 

 

 

All The Broken Places

All The Broken Places is a fiction novel written by John Boyne. The story starts out in London. In a second floor apartment lives a 91 year old woman named Gretel. She lives in a luxury apartment. She is friends with the woman across the hall. When the downstairs apartment gets new tenants Gretel is anxious about compatibility. A young woman with her 8 year old son, Henry, moves in. Later her arrogant film director husband moves in too. Gretel does not get along with the husband downstairs because he is abusive. He searches into Gretel's past. He finds out about her father who was a Nazi commander during world war two. The book is actually a sequel to The Boy In Striped Pajamas. Gretel was the boy in striped pajamas older sister. The abusive man downstairs threatens to expose Gretel's past if she exposes his domestic violence. This very entertaining book explores the complex personality of Gretel and the long lasting effects of culpability. 

 

 

May We Be Forgiven

This sad and comical novel takes place in one year. Beginning on Thanksgiving and ending on Thanksgiving, May We Be Forgiven is a tale about a family implosion. The author is A.M. Homes. The story is about two brothers and their families. George is the older, more charismatic, more successful brother with a forceful temper. Harry is younger. He teaches college and is writing a book about Richard Milhouse Nixon. He is a big Nixon fan. On Thanksgiving George murders his wife. This leaves Harry with the job of raising two teenagers, taking care of a dog and a cat, and living in George's home. Harry also has to take care of George's legal defense, his psychiatric treatment, and the care of their parents. By the next Thanksgiving, after many trials and tribulations, small mistakes and big mistakes, the family joins together again on Thanksgiving. They reunite as a family of choice instead of a family of blood. They are scarred, healed, and healthier now. I loved the story. My only complaint was the number of paragraphs describing sexual relations. What I mean to say there was too much sex.

 

  

What Happened To Security Questions

Last week my laptop fizzled out. I could not turn it on. So I bought another laptop. To sign in to my email I needed the password. I could not remember the password. I had it sent to my other email. I couldn't remember that password either. I tried and tried. I ended up contacting Yahoo mail. I answered all their questions. I sent a picture of the front and back of my driving license. I still could not get in. The woman suggested I wait 24 hours and try again. I tried again tonight and I got into both my emails. What happened to the security questions I answered? What street did you grow up on? What was the name of your first pet. In which hospital were you born? Why did we decide not to use security questions anymore. Anyway, I think I solved my problem. I forwarded one of my email passwords to my phone email so I should be good from here on out. What a hassle! 

Mansion Beach

Mansion Beach is a fiction novel set in current times on Block Island, Rhode Island. A young woman from Minnesota, her name is Nicola, goes there to work at a seal sanctuary. Her cousin from Minnesota, more like a brother than a cousin, David, lives during the summer on Block Island. His wife, Taylor, is wealthy. Taylor's family has a small cottage that they are letting Nicola stay at no charge. Nicola doesn't have much and gets around the island on her bicycle. Next door to Nicola's cabin lives Julianne George. She is a wealthy owner of a high tech fashion start-up. Her goal, in moving to Block Island, is a nefarious one. Nicola and Julianne become close friends. The book is basically about friendship; friendship between cousins and neighbors. 

 

 

Moths

 Today I attended a lecture about moths in Minnesota. Moths outnumber butterflies by a margin of 10 to 1 but butterflies get most of the attention. Most, but not all, moths fly only at night. Light can affect their travels. Like a moth to a flame, moths are attracted to out door lights that look yellow or orange. They are not attracted to the white light of a LED bulb. Male moths have fanned out antennae that are larger than the female antennae. That is because the males can smell or sense a female moth from seven miles away. The female moth's antennae are smaller and not fanned out. Females don't go looking for males. Instead, they just wait for the males to arrive. Female moths can carry one hundred eggs. When  laying eggs the female will lay all her eggs in one spot. After hatching from an egg, they will eat and grow. Moths will shed their exoskeleton 6 or 7 times until they are ready to form a cocoon. They eat so much as caterpillars that once they shed their cocoon they don't eat anymore. Moths don't have mouth parts. Moths live as moths for about a week. They live as caterpillars for two and a half months. Here in Winona County, in an effort to eradicate the spongy moth infestation, planes have been spraying pheromones that disrupt the males from finding the females. This pheromone affects all moths and butterflies and not just the spongy moth. So is it a good idea to spray the confusing pheromone? If we let spongy moths proliferate and there are no leaves on trees for the native moths to eat, well, that wouldn't be good either. Our speaker is an amateur entomologist and nature photographer. He spoke about three species of moths. One is the green luna moth which is my favorite because it is so pretty and green. I once saw one in the hull of a boat in the morning. The aluminum boat was pulled up on the shore of Rush Lake near New York Mills. Another moth he talked about is the crecopia moth which is beautiful with red spots. This last May I spotted a crecopia moth cocoon on a branch at the arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus in Saint Peter. The last moth he talked about is the polyphemus moth which is yellow in color. In closing he advised us not to rake up all our leaves in the fall. The crecopia moth will attach it's cocoon to a branch. The luna moth and the polyphemus moths attach their cocoons to leaves. If you rake and bag all your leaves you are harming the moth population. Now I feel bad about all those leaves I mulched with my mower and set in my compost piles.

 

 

Son Of Nobody

 Yann Martel is the author of  The Life of Pi which is a book I really loved. This time I borrowed an audio book called Son Of Nobody. I was disappointed. I couldn't even finish it. The story is about the Trojan War. One side of the story is told by a goat herder's son at the time of the war. The other is told by a scholar in current times as he reads manuscripts about the war. After listening to stories from The Iliad and The Odyssey for 5 hours, listening to people getting killed with swards and javelins, I just couldn't take it anymore.

 

 

The Patience Stone

Never in my life have I read a book like The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi (translated into English by Polly McLean. The story takes place during a week in Afghanistan. A woman is in her quarters with her husband who is in a coma and has a bullet in his brain.  He is part of the Taliban. She has sent her two daughters to her aunt's house in a safer part of the city. Every night there are gun shots and tanks traveling by. The woman takes care of her husband. She puts eye drops in his eyes so they don't dry out. She mixes a concoction of sugar, salt, and water and feeds her husband through a tube going down his nose. She washes his body and keeps him clean. She goes out only just before curfew to see her daughters. During this week she is finally able to talk freely to her husband. He cannot respond to her thoughts. Her husband, when he was around, mistreated her. During their ten years of marriage they have only been together for three. He was away at war for the other seven years. This is a short but extremely powerful book.

 

 

Happy 4th of July

I remember the 4th of July in 1976. I was living in Saint Cloud, going to school, and working at the Saint Cloud Manor home. The home was located just a short walk through the woods to the prison. This prison had high thick walls and is the largest wall after the great wall of China. One of my patients in this home was 104 years old. As I took care of her I asked if she remembered the Centennial in 1876. She nodded that she did remember it but she was unable to say much more about it. She was a nice lady and I was happy to work with her. Later that night the fireworks were set off. One lady with a German accent cried out from  her bed saying, "The bombs! The bombs!" I tried to comfort her. I tried to explain fireworks but she wasn't having any of it. She was so scared. The 4th of July isn't to everyone's taste.

 

  

Patient, Female

A few years ago I read a book by Julie Schumacher called Dear Committee Members. I thought the book was creative and hilarious while poking fun at college academics. This time I read Patient, Female. This book was good too. I like that it was published by Milkweed Press. The author is employed at the University of Minnesota in the creative writing department. She lives in Saint Paul. This book was a series of short stories about women. Some of the women were having good times and others were having bad times. The thirteen stories were very entertaining.

 

 

Wait For Me

 Amy Jo Burns is the author of Wait For Me, a fictional novel about the music scene in Nashville, Tennessee. The main character is Elle Harlow. Elle grew up in Appalachia. Her family was poor. Her brother died young because they could not afford a doctor. Her father went off to serve in Vietnam and Elle kept life together for herself and her mother. She was mentored by Merry, a silent local woman who healed other people with herbs. Elle was gifted a mandolin by Merry. Elle wrote songs from the area. She went to Nashville she gets an audition with a music producer. Arlo Watson is the music producer. He is the type of guy who is after money more than helping people or recognizing true talent. Elle spends a year or two in Nashville before disappearing for a decade. Arlo thinks he can decide what is in the future for Elle. Elle proves him wrong. The author modeled Arlo and his agency after the RCA studio in Nashville. The book contains many of the lyrics and chords. I enjoyed reading about Elle. The author has a writing style where conversations don't go the way they normally do in real life. One character might say something or ask a question and the response from the other person is usually proclaiming something significant about the personality of the first speaker. Once in awhile this would be okay but it was so used so frequently it got annoying. 

 

 

Silver Sparrow

 The first sentence in the historical fiction book called The Silver Sparrow reads as follows, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist." The author is Tayari Jones and the story is set in middle class Atlanta, Georgia in the 1980's. The story is told at first by his daughter, Dana. Dana knows her father is a bigamist. She knows about his legal family. The second half of the story is told by Chaurise. Chaurise doesn't know about Dana. The father goes to great lengths to keep his second family a secret. If Chaurise and Dana want to participate in a summer science camp, Dana must drop out and Chaurise gets to go. If both daughters want to work at a local amusement park and in totally different sections of the park, Dana must withdraw her application. Why Dana's mother agreed to this situation is never explained and I can't imagine why someone would go along with James' bigamy. Of course there is a dramatic scene when the truth finally comes out. In my opinion, the bigamist doesn't suffer as much as he should have.

 

 

Benediction

 Kent Haruf is the author of the fiction book called Benediction. This is the third book he has written about the town in Colorado called Holt. I know I have read one of his other books about Holt but it was so long ago I can't remember anything about it. In this story the owner of the hardware store in town is dying from cancer. His wife and daughter are taking care of him with the help of a hospice nurse. The dying man is no longer on speaking terms with his son, Frank. Frank left town when he graduated from high school and has never returned. A friendly grandmother lives next door to the dying man. She is raising her granddaughter after her mother died. People in this town help each other with meals and friendly chats. This is a lovely story about families and friends.

 

 

The Patriots

 The Patriots is a l o n g book written by Sana Krasikov. This historical fiction novel is a tale about a mother and a son. Florence grew up in New York City. She attends Brooklyn College during the great depression. Capitalism doesn't seem to be working and, to Florence, socialism seems like a better idea. She lands a plum assignment in Moscow translating American press stories into Russian. Later we learn about her son, Julian, and her grandson, Lenny. Lenny is named after Florence's husband who was killed in prison. Ironically Lenny is now living in Moscow and has no plans to return to New York. The story is bleak and long. Florence is idealistic to the end. Because of his upbringing Julian is not idealistic. He was brought up in an orphanage during the seven years his mother was imprisoned after the death of his father. Still, I am glad I spend 9.5 hours reading this book.

 

 

Circus

The other day I went to the Learning Club at the city historical building. The topic was a circus that started in Wisconsin. At one point the state of Wisconsin had over 100 active circuses. The lady who did the research on the Orton circus decided to do so because of a trip she took to Durand, Wisconsin. Inside the Corral Bar And Riverside Grill is a private event room called the Orton room. Inside the Orton room is a lithograph advertising a circus performance. The advertising is 9 feet tall and 55 feet wide. She told us all about the Orton family circus. The circus consisted of a professional clown, a ring-leader, the Orton parents and their seven children. Over the years changes were made. Circuses were combined. Entertainers came and went. She told a very interesting story.

 

 

The Girl With The Louding Voice

 Abi Dare is the author of The Girl With The Louding Voice. Set in Nigeria, the story is about Adunni, a 14 year old girl who grew up in poverty. Her mother made a promise that Adunni would go to school. Her mother died when she was 13. Her father sold her to an older man who already had two wives. Her worth? Four goats, some chickens, two bags of rice and a television set. Adunni has had a tough life but her struggle to get an education continues. She knows English but is not fluent. I listened to an audio book of this story and I recommend it because I think it would be easier to hear it than read it. For example, Adunni uses off and on as verbs. Instead of saying, "He turned on the light," or "She flipped off the light," Adunni says, "He oned the light," or "She offed the light." This story, set in a third world country, reminded me of a female version of Le Miserabe. Great story.