March 2019 books

I really enjoyed this book until I got about three quarters of the way in, when it completely went off the rails. A ghost story about family relationships, the writing is very good, but the plot deteriorated near the end. It could have been so much better.

This is a fascinating look at the microorganisms that live within and on us. Written for a popular audience, it's accessible to anyone.

This was a sad book about a young man who has been abandoned by his family and has entered the foster care system. It describes his tortured attempts to connect with others, but the plot meanders, ending with no resolution.

This was a fun read about the author's experiences working for The New Yorker magazine. Primarily for grammar nerds.

March 2019 Films and Series

The Handmaid's Tale (seasons 1 and 2).





















Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Sicario.

 Downsizing.

 Escape at Dannemore.

 Stop Making Sense.

 Game of Thrones (season 1).

 Ex Machina.

True Romance.

February 2019 Books

This is a mind-bending, time travel thriller. Completely ludicrous, but fun nevertheless. Coming out in June 2019.

Elsey is an alcoholic who has been broken by a recent bout with cancer and her memories of a sister who died from cancer as a child. She goes off to a yoga retreat, but it takes a real crisis with her own child that helps her get back on track with her life.

When a Nazi collaborator is shot near Anton's home, his neighbors move the body, placing it in front of Anton's house. When the Nazis show up, they kill Anton's parents and brother, and burn their house down. Many years later, Anton learns the details of what led to these events.

I really enjoyed this story about the intersection of two very different families. One is flamboyant, artistic, and seemingly free; the other is pinned down by society's expectations. When they clash, it's clear that they each want a little of what the other has.

January 2019 Films and Series

I loved Isle of Dogs. I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson, and this did not disappoint. I loved the animation and the dialog.

I enjoyed Bird Box, unlike so many whose reviews I've been reading. It was entertaining and very suspenseful, especially in the first half.
















I couldn't wait to watch the third season of Travelers, and after I was finished, I went back to re-watch the first two. This is just the right length for me to watch on the treadmill in the morning.










I saw this on a "Best of Netflix" list recently and decided to re-watch it, but I realized after a while that I had never seen it. I was sure that I'd seen it when it first came out, but nothing about it was familiar to me. It was just as good as I expected!

We're flying through this series, and fact checking as we go. It's particularly fun as we just vacationed in Scotland in 2016 and visited the Royal Yacht Britannia, on which a number of the scenes are set.

What a fascinating story. This research was done in the wake of backlash against the harm caused to people from their use as human subjects. No wonder it was never published.

January 2019 Books

This is a fun and touching exploration of the author's development as a publisher's sales representative from the 1970s to the present.

I enjoyed this spare novel that reveals the troubled marriage of the main character. This was our January book club pick.

This was a wonderful history of the author's work advocating for men, women, and children on death row. Through his work, laws have been changed to keep children off of death row and prohibit their detention in solitary confinement. He has advocated for people on death row; the major case followed in this book is the subject of an upcoming film starring Michael B. Jordan.

It's been a long time since I read A Streetcar Named Desire. I enjoyed it just as much this time around. I've never seen it performed live, although I have seen the movie.

This was the first time I'd ever read this science fiction classic. I enjoyed this short novel and Wells' writing style. The only film version I've seen is the 2005 Spielberg version (which I liked). I also remember watching The Night that Panicked America, a 1975 TV film about the radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds.

This is an intimate look at the relationships between three people after one has suffered an illness-related episode of amnesia.

















This was a fascinating story about how one doctor identified the cause of child bed fever, which caused a high mortality rate of women who had babies in hospital maternity wards. Doctors and medical students were in the habit of conducting autopsies in the morning, followed by rounds of the maternity wards, without washing their hands in between. It took decades to convince others and introduce accepted practices to avoid contaminating patients. Very well-written.

Two sisters come together to protect their son/stepson after their husband/ex husband was murdered. Fast-paced and riveting.

A detective is on the trail of a kidnapper and rapist, with help from a former victim. A page turner.

December 2018

Loved this intimate look at the author's parents and their relationship.

A fictional account of author Stephen Crane's last days as he died of tuberculosis in Europe.

Friendship between two young girls in poverty-stricken Naples post-WWII.

November 2018

A spectacular read, especially for these dark times. Well written and engaging.

A fascinating look at the foot in history, art, and science.

For all fans of Maureen Corrigan's book reviews on NPR's Fresh Air; this is an enjoyable journey through Ms. Corrigan's reading from childhood on.

An extremely dark and depressing serial killer mystery. Much too violent for my taste.

Fall non-fiction

A look at the latest technologies, their promises and perils. Very intense. One of the few books I wanted to start over as soon as I was finished so that I didn't miss anything.

















A plan for how we might fight climate change and its effects on civilization. Published in 2009, so it's more optimistic than it might be if it were published today. Hopefully we can get back on track in 2020.

This is an deep dive into how the brain handles distractions, with a specific focus on newer technologies and their impact. Very good.
















Everything you already knew about him, but more of it. 

A Collection of Novellas

I was in the mood for shorter works of fiction this past week or so, and I read a number of short novels and two children's books.

The Marriage of True Minds was one of my favorites. It's the story of Lena, a lawyer who is called on to defend her ex-husband, Nick, who has committed crimes to make a point about animal rights and environmentalism. She finds herself agreeing to supervise his counseling and community service, to the detriment of her current romantic interest. This short novel is heartwarming and funny, and will keep you guessing until the end.

Dear Committee Members is an academic satire. It consists of letters written by professor Jason Fitger, as he responds to requests from students, colleagues, and others as they try to get jobs, get into graduate school, get into writing programs, etc. All I can say about this one is that while it's amusing to a certain extent, satire just isn't my favorite genre, so I got tired of it about halfway through. I speed-read my way through the rest to get a sense of how the story developed, but I don't feel that I missed a lot. I picked this book out because it was recommended a number of times on academic blogs that I read on The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Education; many readers found it hilarious, so I suppose I'm an outlier!

According to the blurb on the back cover of this book (which I have in advanced reader's copy/uncorrected proof form), "Anna Enquist is one of Holland's best loved and celebrated writers." However, I found this grim novel hard to like. Louise is a teacher of classical languages and Nico is an administrator in a hospital. They are both suffering the pain of losing a daughter, not to death, but to the unknown: she ran away six months ago just after she turned 18. They go through their joyless days, pretending that it didn't happen and never talking about her. Nico is promoted to hospital director, then proceeds to deteriorate psychologically until he falls apart. This short novel packs a lot of sadness into its 105 pages.







The Dybbuk is a ghost story in the form of a play written by Shloyme Zanvl Rappaport, who published under the pseudonym S. Ansky. I read it first in a comparative literature class as an undergraduate, and decided to re-read it this week. The dybbuk in question is the ghost of a young man who was promised to wed the daughter of another man. When the young man's father died young, the other man reneged on his promise, setting the stage for the tragedy that follows. Ansky died before the play became a big success; it continues to be staged to this day. This edition is illustrated very nicely with black and white ink drawings or watercolors.








Flying to Nowhere is a short gothic mystery set in a monastery on a remote island. It begins with a grotesque scene of a priest insisting on taking a horse to the island on a boat; there isn't a good landing spot and the horse jumps out of the boat, breaking its legs on the rocks along the shore. That was enough to turn me off of this book (was that really necessary?), but I valiantly continued. Once on the island, the priest, Vane, interviews the Abbot and others, trying to find out what happened to the pilgrims who came to the island in recent months. The Abbot is clearly hiding something. I won't tell more about the plot, but it's not pleasant!

After reading The Dybbuk, I picked this book off of my shelves. Written for children, it's the story of a ventriloquist, Avrom Amos, who meets up with a dybbuk, who wants help getting revenge on those who were responsible for his death during the Holocaust. The dybbuk inhabits Avrom, and uses the dummy to draw attention to the war criminals still at large. I really enjoyed this book; it uses the repartee between Avrom and the dybbuk to draw attention to a very serious subject.

This is a cute graphic novel about Amelia, a girl who has had to move from the city to a small town. She hangs out with her friends, goes to a dance with a boy, finds out her mother is also going on a first date, and learns about her ancestors. The art work is very nicely done with great color. I think this would be appealing to most children; it's funny but also deals with issues that most would recognize from their own life.