I know we are still a couple of weeks from the official autumnal equinox, but our incessant rain and gray days have me in an October mood. I've been pulling books off my TBR pile and brought home a stack of good-sized tomes from the library last Saturday morning. I am going through them at a nice clip: slow enough to enjoy but fast enough that I should get them back to the library on time.
If you'd like to find longer reviews than my brief descriptions, I suggest The New York Times book section. I did not include links to buy these books since most of them will be available at any good public library. Or you can order them from your favorite independent local bookseller.
“The Fall of Wisconsin” by Dan Kaufman. After I read the review of this in the NYTimes, I was so depressed I said I would not read it. But a friend said it was excellent and had an upbeat ending. The conclusions are not as positive as I hoped but the book is excellent. Historically, Wisconsin was “the laboratory of democracy” as well as a hotbed of both Progressive and Socialist politics. Our most forward-thinking state legislation — forerunners of national programs like Social Security and workers’ comp — were largely the work of those two political parties. So it is particularly depressing to see where the Koch brothers and ALEC and dark money have led our governor and GOP-controlled legislature.
“Dead Wake: The last Crossing of the Lusitania” by Erik Larson. Larson’s book, “In the Garden of Beasts,” about pre-WWII Germany is one of the most memorable and striking books I’ve ever read. Given my interest in WWI, reading this one was a given. This is fiction but packed full of information from letters, telegrams, official reports and assorted historical documents. One gets a strong sense of the crew and passengers but especially the back story: what governments and the Cunard ship line managed to keep quiet at the time and what we know now.
The ship did carry munitions which were legal under US neutrality law of the time, some bound for the British army. The ship did carry enough life boats (“Titanic” lesson learned) but they could only be launched from a ship that was not moving. A torpedo fatally injured Lusitania but she never became stationary. British intelligence had broken German codes and were closely following submarine travels and conversation and were well aware of the grave danger Lusitania was in.The ship could have had a military escort as it traveled through the most dangerous water but was not given one. And on and on. As an attempt to get the US into the war it failed. It took Wilson two more years to declare war. An enthralling and disturbing read.
"50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants" by Tracy Disabato-Aust. The woman knows everything there is to know about plants. Since I am trying to reduce maintenance levels in my garden, this was a very useful read. She rates every plant using 5 impact traits and 12 low-maintenance traits. Most of the plants included in the book have all the impact traits and they had to have at least 9 of the low-maintenance factors as well. These low-maintenance items are listed for each plant. The book is arranged alphabetically with good photos and includes grasses, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, ferns, you-name it. Though it was published by Timber Press ten years ago, it did not feel outdated or as if she would have 50 different plants today.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. Horowitz is a novelist as well as a screenwriter, having created both Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War. This is a very clever mystery story within a mystery story. It has a British setting and characters with a not too subtle nod to Agatha Christie and Poirot. But I found everyone and everything much more enjoyable than Christie, especially Horowitz’s use of one of my favorite rhymes, “One for sorrow, two for joy . . .”. A highly recommended read.
North of the Tension Line by J.F. Riordan. This is the first book in Riordan’s “tension line” series, set in Door County/Washington Island at the tip of Wisconsin’s “thumb.” It kept my interest to the point where I stayed up way too late reading it two nights running. Yet I ultimately felt let down that it had such a predictable end. I also think much of my quibble with the book is that I know the Door so well that I recognized Riordan’s inspiration for too many settings and I found that annoying. Perhaps that’s unfair but that was my reaction. Not exactly sure where she lives, but given she names a coffee shop that is almost a character in the book, “Ground Zero,” I’m guessing she knows Madison well.
Riordan’s website says: “Called a ‘modern-day Jane Austen,’ J.F. Riordan’s lyrical prose and rich characters are a tribute to small town life and the beauty of the ordinary.” I would not reference Jane Austen which I think takes aways from Riordan’s own novelistic skill. She does, in fact, beautifully describe small town life — as well as remind me why I don’t live in one. The book revolves around two main female friends and their circle and relationships, romantic or other. One goes off to live on the island and her story screams movie script. Alas Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are now too old for the parts because Riordan has managed to create not one but two “meet cutes,” as well as a happy and romantic ending.
For me, the best parts of the book were the quotes from Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations,” especially this one: “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
Next up: "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann and "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles. Both of these come highly recommended from a number of friends.
