Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson

"James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War--the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry--and then moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. ...This authoritative volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty"  - Amazon 

Normally I wait until I finish a book before I post my thoughts.  But I am now on page 454 of Battle Cry of Freedom (1988) by James M McPherson and this book ends at page 868.  And since I didn't want to allow too much time between posts and decided to write my thoughts now.  

Battle Cty of Freedom is a masterpiece.  Winner of the 1989 Pulizer Prize for History this book covers the American Civil War Era from 1848 - 1865).  I am so glad that I chose to read it because if I had gone with a shorter history book about the Civil War era I know I would have always wondered should I have read Battle Cry of Freedom?  But now I don't have to wonder. I am reading what many critics regard as the greatest one volume history of the American Civil War era ever written and I agree.

At over 800 pages Battle Cry of Freedom is a long book.  You cannot zip throughit it but it's not a chore to read.  James McPherson has done an incredible job of research.   But like all great historians he knows what to include and what to leave out so that Battle Cry of Freedom doesn't get bogged down in statistics and troop movements etc.  McPherson is also an excellent writer who makes history come alive.

If you are curious about the Civil War era, which remains very relevant in today's divided America, Battle Cry Freedom is the best book out there on this subject.  5 stars 

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Moonflower Murders (2020) is the second book in Anthony Horowiz's Susan Ryeland mystery series.  Susan when we first met her in Magpie Murders was living in London and working as an editor at Cloverleaf Books.  Her main client was a bestselling mystery novelist, Alan Conway.  Alan was murdered in the first book and Susan almost died trying to figure out who killed him.  

Susan solved the case and at the end of Magpie Murders moved to Greece with her fiance Andreas to open a small hotel, the Polydorus.  But two years have passed and running a hotel even in a beautiful environment is not all its cracked up to be:

"I found myself starting a new life, and frankly too much of it was hard work. Inevitably, this had had an effect on my relationship with Andreas... In London, Andreas had always been my best friend. Perhaps it was because we weren’t living together that I had always looked forward to seeing him. ..But Crete had trapped us in an altogether different sort of arrangement ... I was already thinking about a way out, even if I wasn’t actively looking for one".

Susan loves Andreas but she misses London, editing and the world of publishing..  Plus the Polydorus is amassing debts.  And then a British couple, Lawrence and Pauline Treherne, arrive at the Polydorus looking for Susan.  Eight years ago a guest at their 5 star hotel was brutally murdered.  His name was frank Parris and he was murdered  on the same night the hotel was hosting the wedding reception for the Treherne's daughter Cecily.  

The police arrested one of the employees working at Branlaw Hall, Stefan Codrescu, for the murder.  Stefan confessed but Cecily Treherne has never believed Stefan was gulty.  And recently Cecily has read Alan Conway's third Atticus Finch novel "Atticus Takes The Case" which is based on the murder of Frank Parris at Branlaw Hall  Cynthia is sure based on Alan's novel that she knows the real killer.

Lawrence and Pauline Treherne have come to Susan Ryeland knowing she was Alan's editor.  They ask Susan to come to London they will pay her to interview people who knew Frank Parris, were at the wedding and the Treherne's hope Susan will be able to discover what Cynthia learned by rereading Atticus Pund Takes The Case.  But Susan tells the Treherne's why not just ask your daughter Cynthia?  Because Cynthia is now missing.

As  with Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders is a novel within a novel. The first part of the book involves Susan Ryeland travelling to Suffolk, interviewing potential suspects and Susan siting down and rereading Atticus Takes The Case.  What follows is the entire Atticus Pund novel.

And it's not an exhausting experience. The time period in which AtticuscPund lives is 1950's England.  Atticus has old world charm.  He struck me as a cross between.  Hercule Poirot and Louise Penny's Armand Gamache. Atticus Pund suffered during the war and he is a very smart, compassionate detective who is under no illusions about human cruelty. 

We read Atticus Takes The Case knowing that the fictional author Alan Conway dropped clues in his book as to who murdered Frank Parris, the case that Susan Ryeland is trying to solve.  I know it may sound a bit confusing but I had no trouble following Moonflower Murders.  The Atticus Pund section of the book was so well done and I liked Susan Ryeland Atticus' present day detective counterpart as well.  And Andreas, Susan's fiance, is a great guy, a partner in every sense of the word.  A four star read for me.

A Flicker In The Dark by Stacy Willingham

Dr. Chloe Davis the protagonist of A Flicker In The Dark has tried to rebuild her life after living in the shadow of the terrible crimes her father committed twenty years ago.  It has not been easy.  Twenty years ago six teenage girls went missing in Chloe's Louisiana small town.  The girls' bodies were found and Chloe's father was arrested and convicted for their murder.  Chloe was 12 at the time. 

The knowledge that their father was a serial killer has devastated the Davis family ever since.  Chloe's mother has been living in an assisted living facility since the murders, practically comatose.  Chloe's brother Cooper cannot form close relationships.  Chloe is doing somewhat better.  She is 32, a psychologist, and is getting ready for her wedding to Daniel, a great guy who cares about her. 

But not everything is wonderful.  Chloe has a pill dependency.  And then two months before her wedding a young girl in Baton Rouge where Chloe now lives goes missing and then another girl.  And the second girl Lacey was one of Chloe's patients.  History seems to be repeating itself and how will this all end?

My thoughts -  About 80 percent of the way through reading A Flicker In The Dark I was very impressed.  Stacey Willingham is a talented writer and she does a very good job in letting us know what Chloe, her brother Cooper and her mother have gone through these past twenty years trying to rebuild their lives.  And in the case of Chloe's mother never recovering.

Could A Flicker In The Dark be that rare psychological thriller that doesn't flood the zone with twists?   Granted, the backstory in which Chloe's father killed six teenage girls over one summer is over the top.  But I was hoping that the author knowing the dramatic way she began her novel would understand that more twists weren't needed. 

I had ideas about how A Flicker In The Dark would end.  One ending about who the present day killer would turn out to be I was more in favor of.  Another ending I felt would be heartbreaking but it would be plausible. But the rule now in psychological thrillers is why limit yourself to only one dramatic twist at the end when you can have three or four. 

A Flicker in the Dark has over 70,000  reviews on Amazon.com, most of them 4 and 5 stars. The book has received critical acclaim and the writing is very good..  I just think It could have been a much better novel if the author had been willing to dial it down at the end.   Sometimes less is more.  

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

"Now, if the letter was to be believed, Vida Winter wanted to tell the truth about herself. This was curious enough in itself, but curiouser still was my next thought: Why should she want to tell it to me?" - Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale 

What to say about The Thirteenth Tale (2006) by Diane Setterfield?  It's a novel about books specifically 19th century Victorian literature, family secrets, guilt and above all it's a novel about sisters, twin sisters.  

The Thirteenth Tale is a novel a novel set primarily in Yorkshire and when the novel begins we meet Margaret Lea.  She works at an antiquarian bookstore owned by her father. Margaret has published a few articles in academic journals.  And then one day she receives a letter from the famous and critically acclaimed author Vida Winter.   Vida is elderly and not in the best of health and is ready to tell her life story to Margaret.

In the early years they used to try to catch me out. They would do research, come along with a little piece of truth concealed in their pocket, draw it out at an opportune moment and hope to startle me into revealing more. I had to be careful. Inch them in the direction I wanted them to take ... A delicate operation. Their eyes would start to shine, and their grasp on the little chip of truth would loosen, until it dropped from their hand and fell, disregarded, by the wayside. It never failed"

Vida ends her letter by telling Margaret "It is time. Come on Monday. I will send a car to meet you from the half past four arrival at Harrogate Station".

Many biographers and journalists over the decades have tried to  get Vida to open up about her life story and she never has.  And so why choose Margaret.  Thectwo have never met and Margaret has never written a book or a biography.   That is the mystery at the center of the Thirteenth Tale. 

I won't go further because this is a gripping novel and it's best for readers to follow the story as it unfolds.  A gothic ambiance pervades this book which is perfect for this time of year. Diane Setterfield is a very talented writer and I want to read more from her.  By the final pages I had tears in my eyes.

Hester by Margaret Oliphant

“Catherine Vernon had come to see with her own eyes that her guests or tenants had arrived, and that they were comfortable. They were relations, which justified the want of ceremony; but perhaps, if they had not been poor, and she had not been their benefactor, she would scarcely, in so very easy a Catherineway, with a shawl over her cap, and at an hour not adapted for visits, have made the first call upon them. It is so much easier to be substantially kind than to show that tender regard for other people’s feelings which is the only thing that ever calls forth true gratitude; and perhaps Catherine had not altogether escaped the deteriorating influences of too much prosperitster begins in the fictional English village of Redborough.  It's the 19th century and the Vernon Bank is a well respected institution that has been owned by the Vernon family for generations.  When grandfather Vernon dies the management of the bank falls to his grandson John.

A few years back it was assumed that John Vernon would marry his cousin Catherine who was smart and dependable. But John married a sweet young woman from outside the family who knew nothing about business and didn't ask questions. 

Catherine was heartbroken since she cared for John but she stayed out of the management of the bank assuming as everyone else did that John was a capable manager.  He was not.  Rumors began to start about John's overspending, mismanagement and speculating.  And one night the head clerk Mr Rule unable to find John went to Catherine who was able to save the bank using her own money as collateral.  

Years later Catherine is the most revered member in Redborough. She is also very generous and decides to build a number of homes on her property inviting her poorer relations to move in rent-free.  Her relatives are grateful but also resentful. Catherine finds it amusing.. She never married and other people's opinions don't phase her.. Catherine is very strong in herself. 

But Catherine has one weakness,, Edward Vernon. Years ago when they were children Catberine rescued Edward, his cousin Harry and Harry's sister Ellen from poverty..They are all grown now. Edward lives with Catherine.  He manages the bank and Catherine considers him a son. But Edward though he disguises his feelings considers himself in prison. He resents Catherine which is unfair because she has denied him nothing.

But the book is titled Hester for a reason. Catherine decides to invite Mrs John Vernon and her fourteen year old daughter Hester back to Redborough after John Vernon dies. It's a very generous gesture on Catherine's part since John was the cause of the bank almost failing years ago. But Hester and Catherine do not get along. They are too much alike and as Hester grows into a young woman the dislike between the two women continues until a crisis arrives which will require them to end their coldness towards each other.

I have left out alot that takes place in this book. And as I was reading Hester the novel reminded me a bit of Middlemarch. Hester also has a narrator with a good deal to say about society, class, women's role, the dangers of speculating. But it never feels like preaching. The characters are so well drawn and the writing is top quality. So much so that I am surprised that Hester and it's author Margaret Oliphant aren't better known. I highly recommend Hester. A five star read for me.

Murder On Washington Square by Victoria Thompson

"Washington Square was quiet that evening as Sarah made her way through the Greenwich Village streets toward it. The nurses with their baby buggies were gone, the old men playing chess and checkers and the respectable ladies taking the air had all retired to their homes for supper. Soon night would fall, and the Square would fill again, but with an entirely different class of people. In the darkness, prostitutes would ply their trade, and pickpockets and other thieves would gather to prey on the customers the women would attract. This time was the twilight of the Square, between the respectable and the dissolute, when a gentleman and a lady could meet without attracting too much attention".- Victoria Thompson, Murder On Washington Square

Murder On Washinton Square (2002) is the fourth book in Victoria Thompson's gaslight series of mystery novels.  and thank you Lark for introducing me to this series.  I have read the first three novels and now the fourth and I haven't lost interest yet.   

These books are set in 1890's NYC and we learn a good deal about what it was like to live back then and the class divisions between high society and the poor.  It's fascinating.  But the reason I keep returning is the detective duo, Sarah Brandt, the nurse midwife and Frank Molloy, the NYC detective.  

When the series begins Sarah and Frank dislike each other and Frank is particularly upset that Sarah keeps interfering with his murder cases.  But Sarah and Frank have great chemistry and by book four they are grudging friends and maybe something more?

And so when Murder On Washington Square begins Nelson Elsworth is in a heap of trouble.  Nelson is a kindhearted young man.  He works in a bank and he is the son of  Mrs Ellsworth, Sarah's next door neighbor and friend.  Nelson has been accused of murdering Anna Blake a young woman who came to his bank looking for a loan so that her mother could have life saving surgery. 

Nelson can't give a loan from the bank but he is touched by Anna's story and gives her $100 out of his own pocket for her mother's surgery.  Weeks later Anna is back.  She tells Nelson she is being evicted from her boarding house and before you know it Nelson is loaning her money to pay her rent.

Nelson visits Anna at her boarding house, one thing leads to another, and a few weeks later Anna tells Nelson she is pregnant.  Nelson proposes marriage but Anna says no. She will go away and raise the baby herself but she would appreciate it if Nelson can give her $1,000 so she can get settled.  

And then Anna is found stabbed to death in Washington Square Park.  The police zero in on Nelson Ellsworth.  The tabloids label him a monster and a scoundrel who murdered his pregnant girlfriend.  Nelson and his mother are terrified and Sarah who knows Nelson could never have done such a thing offers to help and convinces Frank to assist with the investigation.

But who killed Anna Blake? Was she even pregnant?.  Frank and Sarah discover that Anna is not the sweet young thing she pretended to be and the list of suspects is long.  I figured out who the killer was but the ending was still a surprise that I did not see coming.

There are 27 novels in Thompson's gaslight series and in a few months I will be on to book five.  I would suggest people begin with the first novel Murder On Astor Place but Murder On Washington Squaare isn't a bad place to begin either. It can be read as a stand-alone.

Top Ten Tuesday

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt, hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl, is about the 2025 Fall Books I plan to read: 

15 Wild Decembers by Karen Powell

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

Cursed To Death by Bill Crider

Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dresier 

Harbour Lights Mystery by Emylia Hall

Destiny of The Republic by Candace Millard

Moonflower. Muders by Anthony Horowitz

Murder On Washington Square by Victoria Thompson

Finished A Place Of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel.  It was wonderful and the ending so moving.  It's the best reading experience I have had all year.

Dragonflight by Anne Mc Caffrey

Dragonflight (1968) by Anne McCaffrey is book six for my classics challenge, choose a science fiction classic, hosted by Ann at Search For Wonder.  Science Fiction/Fantasy is not a genre I normally read but I have been curious for a long time about Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Dragonflight is the first novel in this 24 book series.

Dragonflight is set way into the future on the planet of Pern. Pern was first colonized by humans from Earth. But no one from Earth came back to bring the colonists home. And so after thousands of years the people of Pern have built their own civilization and have forgotten all about their Earthly ancestors.

The people of Pern have created a world that is medieval, a feudal society consisting of three groups: The Holds, The Crafts, and the Weyrs.  The Holds are the townspeople. They farm, provide food and supplies to the Crafts and the Weyrs. The Crafts are skilled at particular trades: artists, doctors, teachers, musicians, etc.

And then we have the Weyr people. They are the dragonriders. Their sole job along with their dragons is to protect Pern. The people of Pern are in danger every 200 years when a wayward planet in their solar system nears them and the "threads" on that planet descend on Pern like a plague of locusts devouring everything in sight.

And as Dragonflight opens, danger is coming. But it’s been so long since the last thread attack that the Holds and the Crafts have decided that fear of the threads is a myth that people once believed in but no longer should. The Weyrs have gotten cavalier as well. The number of dragons has been allowed to run low and only the dragonrider F'lar and Lessa, a young woman from the Hold, understand the danger that Pern is facing. But will they be able to convince others and create a battle plan capable of vanquishing the threads?

A word of caution.  The dragons share a close bond with their riders and the dragons do not harm the people of Pern.  But they are predatory and hungry creatures and the livestock on Pern is not so lucky when the dragons are around. This can be somewhat off putting to readers new to science fiction.   But cuddly dragons would not have been believable and they certainly would be no match for the threads

Anne McCaffrey is an excellent writer and I can see why her Dragonriders series is such a classic in the world of science fiction and fantasy. She has created in Pern a world of wonder and imagination. And once I learned the history of Pern the novel opened up to me. I recommend Dragonflight to lovers of science fiction and fantasy, Game of Thrones fans, and those who enjoy medieval historical fiction. My genre continues to be mystery novels, true crime, and gothic suspense. But I am glad I moved out of my comfort zone and gave Dragonflight a read.

The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson

Hulda Hermannsdóttir has been a detective inspector with the Reykjavík Police Department for many years. But she is approaching 65 when The Darkness ( 2015) by Ragnar Jónasson begins and retirement is mandatory. Hulda, a widow who lives alone, is dreading retirement. And her only child, a daughter, died years ago at age 13 and she continues to feel grief to this day. 

But Hulda's job as a detective, solving crimes and seeking justice for the victims, has given her life a purpose. Hulda doesn't know what she will do once she retires although she has been getting close to her neighbor Petur who is kind, a great cook and a good listener. Maybe Petur is the future Hulda has been hoping for and deserves.

Before Hulda retires the head of her department informs her that she can choose whatever cold case she wants to investigate. Hilda chooses the case of a young Russian woman, Elena, who came to Iceland seeking asylum and wound up dead a year ago. The police ruled it a suicide but Hulda doesn't agree and so her investigation begins.

I loved so much about The Darkness.  Ragnar Jonasson is a wonderful writer and his mysteries are international bestsellers. The Icelandic setting is haunting and cold and adds so much to this novel. And Hulda is such a well drawn and relatable character that I pretty much forgot about Elena's murder.  It was Hulda's life story and my hopes for her future that gripped me. 

But should you read The Darkness? This novel is certainly a fair play mystery in that the clues will lead you to the killer. But if you are waiting for a satisfying ending like I was (SPOILER ALERT) it doesn't come for Hulda, the victims or justice. That came as a shock by the time I got to the end of the novel.  A believable shock probably closer to what happens in real life.  Justice doesn't always prevail and people don't always get a second chance at happiness. But do I really want to be reminded of this in my mystery novels? 

I do intend to try another book by Ragnar Jonasson but maybe something a little more conventional. 

Craven Manor by Darcy Coates

"Mr. Daniel Kane, I would like to offer you the job of groundskeeper for Craven Manor, starting immediately. Follow Tilbrook Street until it forks at the dead oak. Turn right and travel on for two miles to reach the property. I look forward to your direct response. Bran" -  Craven Manor by Darcy Coates

Daniel Kane is a recently homeless young man alone in the world with the exception of his cousin Kyle who is renting him a room.  When Kyle takes on a third roommate Daniel is consigned to the couch.  

Its not a good living arrangement and then a mysterious letter arrives offering Daniel a steady job as a groundskeeper at Craven Manor.  The job seems too good to pass up until Daniel visits Craven Manor and discovers a 200 year old desolate mansion with dust and decay everywhere.  And who is this mysterious Bran?  Still, Daniel  is desperate.  He accepts the job, moves into the groundskeskeeper's cottage next to Craven Manor and the novel proceeds from there.

Craven Manor (2017) is the second novel I have read by Darcy Coates.  The first novel was The Haunting of Ashburn House which I loved.  Both novels center around a young person without a family and badly needing a place to stay.  And so the abandoned estates they arrive at (Ashburn House and Craven Manor) represent shelter and maybe a new start until our protagonists realize these mansions are haunted and there is a mystery to uncover.

The Haunting of Ashburn House remains my favorite but Craven Manor is a good read as well. Daniel Kane is one of the nicest characters I have encountered in a novel in a long time.  Despite the bad luck life has thrown him he feels empathy for others even at his own expense.  

Darcy Coates writes horror novels but not extreme horror and the good guys and gals have happy endings in her books if Ashburn House and Craven Manor are any indication.  I recommend people give Darcy Coates a try beginning with The Haunting Of Ashburn House.

The Murder Of My Aunt by Richard Hull

"My father was unfortunate in his financial affairs … My aunt was made my sole guardian and trustee. Everything was to be hers for life, but out of it she was to make me an allowance, the size of which she was to determine, as long as I lived with her or in any place of which she approved. Should I leave her, she was under no moral obligation to assist me, and at no time was she under any legal obligation. … So then at Llwll I must live while my aunt lives and insists on my staying there. If only, if only my aunt— No, I’m not going to think about that possibility. It makes my pen tremble, it makes the most frightful thoughts rise to my mind." - Richard Hull, The Murder of My Aunt

The Murder of My Aunt (1934) by Richard Hull is a classic from the golden age of mystery novels. It's a different sort of mystery where the murderer or would be murderer is known to the reader right from the beginning. The mystery is not who did it but will they be caught.  

And so when the Murder of My Aunt begins we are introduced to Edward Powell. It is the early 1930's and Edward is living with his aunt in the fictional town of Llwll located in a rural part of Wales. Edward narrates the book through his diary and he is not happy to be living in Llwll which he regards as a place lacking in culture and refinement.  

Edward would love to leave Llwll for London or Paris but his Aunt Mildred controls the purse strings and due to a clause in her will she gets to decide where Edward will live. Granted, Edward could decide to defy his aunt and move out anyway but he would need to get a job. And every job according to Edward including office work is beneath him: "The idea of my solemnly expressing a preference as to which compartment of hell I preferred, was too comic". 

Most people are beneath Edward as he sees it. He regards his neighbors as fools and people of no class and they don't take kindly to him either. But Edward though he detests his aunt does have a real respect for her intelligence. It's very much a battle of wills between these two and the drama is in who will end up being victorious

I enjoyed The Murder of My Aunt.  Edward is not a likeable character but he is fascinating and also funny in a dark humor sort of way. And I finished the book wondering how much Edward is to blame for the way his life turned out?   His parents died when he was a baby nder mysterious circumstances and Aunt Mildred was not the best parenting figure.  

She puts Edward down referring to him in one climatic scene as “a sponger on my bounty who hasn’t even the decency to admit that he is sponging”.  And  more insults proceed from there. That would have been a hard woman to grow up with. And so Edward's sense of superiority and not trusting anyone is probably a defense mechanism. But the empathy ends when we learn about the violent ways Edward is planning to murder Mildred.

I recommend The Murder of My Aunt. You don' t always have to be in the dark with regard to who the culprit is for a mystery novel to keep your attention.

Autumn Day - A Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

  Autumn Day

Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.

Lay your shadow on the sundials

and let loose the wind in the fields.

Bid the last fruits to be full;

give them another two more southerly days,

press them to ripeness, and chase

the last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now will not build one

anymore.

Whoever is alone now will remain so for a long

time,

will stay up, read, write long letters,

and wander the avenues, up and down,

restlessly, while the leaves are blowing.                   

What I've Been Reading

What a great reading year I am having and Libby is a major reason why.  Here are two more books that kept me enthralled and it's going to be hard this year to compile my top ten list.  So many wonderful books to choose from:

"Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger,” left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the storylines of her favourite literature. To make matters worse, the police suspect the killer is someone Clare knows. Unsure whom to trust, she turns to her closest confidant, her diary, the only outlet she has for her darkest suspicions and fears about the case. - Goodreads. 

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths (2018) won the 2020 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel.  And an academic setting can be a great place for a mystery.  It's a tight knit community.  The teachers all know each other and there can be conflicts.  The Stranger Diaries is my first time reading Elly Griffiths and this novel held my interest all the way through.  

I would also describe The Stranger Diaries as a fair play mystery where the author leaves subtle clues throughout the book so that the reader has a chance to figure out who the murderer is before the novel comes to a close.  Agatha Christie is the gold standard for fair play mysteries and as with Anthony Horowitz, Elly Griffiths is a writer who is expertly following in that fine Christie tradition.

"The newly constituted United States actually emerged as a fragile, internally divided union of states contending still with European empires and other independent republics on the North American continent. Native peoples sought to defend their homelands from the flood of American settlers ... The system of American slavery grew increasingly powerful and expansive ... Bitter party divisions pitted elites favoring strong government against those, like Andrew Jackson, espousing a democratic populism for white men ... Taylor’s elegant history of this tumultuous period offers indelible miniatures of key characters from Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Margaret Fuller. It captures the high-stakes political drama as Jackson and Adams, Clay, Calhoun, and Webster contend over slavery, the economy, Indian removal, and national expansion" - Goodreads

America right now is a very divided country and to try and make sense of it all I have started an American History reading project.  My first book was American Revolution by Gordon S Wood which covered 1763 to 1789.  And for my next book I decided on American Republics: A Continental History of The United States (1783-1850) by the award winning historian Alan Taylor.  American Republics is a gripping, well written history book that will engage the reader.

And one theme that Alan Taylor brings home in American Republics is that America was a fragile union way before the Civil War era.  We were divided not only by north and south but by east and west.  We were also divided politically between those who wanted a strong central government and those that wanted more power to the states.

Alan Taylor details the violent early beginnings of the United States: slavery, Native American removal and the philosophy of Manifest Destiny.  It's not a pretty picture and Taylor tells it honestly.  But if we are to learn from history we cannot ignore the past.  On the plus side there are always people in every age who speak out and try to right the wrongs at often tremendous cost to themselves. American Republics tells theIr stories as well.  

Two very different books both I highly recommend

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

You suppose she has nearly forgotten me?" he said.  "Oh, Nelly! you know she has not! You know as well as I do, that for every thought she spends on Linton, she spends a thousand on me! At a most miserable period of my life, I had a notion of the kind: it haunted me on my return to the neighbourhood last summer; but only her own assurance could make me admit the horrible idea again. And then, Linton would be nothing, nor Hindley, nor all the dreams that ever I dreamt. Two words would comprehend my future – death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell. Yet I was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton’s attachment more than mine. If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day."

It was twenty, maybe twenty-five five years ago that I first read Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte.  I felt then that it was a brilliant, mesmerizing novel. I still feel that way.  And now, after a second reading, I think I understand it better in terms of what Emily Bronte was trying to say although there are many different interpretations among the critics.  The great classics defy a neat summing up.  One can only speculate and so here are my thoughts.

When I first read Wuthering Heights I wondered did Emily Bronte approve of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff's passionate all consuming and self destructive love?  And what to make of Heathliff's actions once his beloved Catherine dies?  Everyone around Heathcliff: his wife, his son, Catherine's husband and daughter and Hindley's son must be made to suffer and Heathcliff takes a sadistic pleasure and glee in causing their suffering. 

Are we to approve of Heathcliff's selfish and vengeful behavior because a cosmic love like his does not have to play by the rules of decency?  But now due to a second reading of Wuthering Heights I see the novel more clearly thanks in part to the character of Nellie Dean.  Nellie is the longtime housekeeper of the Earnshaws and Lintons.  Nellie narrates most of Wuthering Heights telling the story of these two families to a young traveller Mr Lockwood who is staying in the area and eager to learn the sad history of Wuthering Heights.  

Nellie begins her story 30 years prior when Heathliff a six year old orphan was found on the streets of Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw who brought him home and raised him as a son.  Mr Earnshaw's daughter Catherine formed a bond with Heathcliff but her brother Hindley saw Heathcliff as a threat.  After Mr. Earnshaw dies Hindley becomes the young master of Wuthering Height and Heathcliff reduced to a badly treated servant.  But Catherine tries to protect Heathcliff.  She remains his loyal friend and companion and Heathcliff never forgets her love and kindness.  

That is the genesis of what happens at Wuthering Heights and the ensuing heartache, tragedy and cruelty that will follows Catherine Earnshaw's death. Nellie Dean is the voice of reason in this novel.  She is clear headed, intelligent, kind and a sounding board for the other characters as they tell her their stories.  Nellie is not perfect.  She can meddle and withhold information out of a desire to help which can backfire. But she is the moral center of Wuthering Heights and I believe the voice of the author.

So how did Emily Bronte feel about Heathcliff and Catherine?  Like Nellie I don't believe she approved of alot of their behavior, particularly Heathcliff.  But as with Nellie I think Bronte had compassion for Heathcliff.  And there is something elemental and eternal about Heathcliff and Catherine. like the moors themselves which Emily loved and wrote about so  brilliantly.

I highly recommend Wuthering Heights, the 5th novel for my classics challenge, reread a favorite classic, hosted by Ann at In Search Of Wonder

The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Vivian Gornick

Vivian Gornick is one of my favorite writers.  She started out in the 1970's at the Village Voice writing about feminism and has gone on to write a critically acclaimed memoir (Fierce Attachments) and Vivian has written numerous essay collections particularly about writers and their novels. No one reviews a book quite like Vivian Gornick. In Oct 2020 for example she published an essay in the New Republic called "The Anti-Social Novelist in which she wrote about John Steinbeck and why his novels of the 1930's, particularly The Grapes of Wrath, made such an impact: 

"From the start, Steinbeck knew where his raw material was to be found and how he was to respond to it. As a boy, living in the Salinas Valley and working summers beside the migrants who performed the backbreaking labor of picking fruit and vegetables in season, he had seen firsthand the social and economic exploitation to which their lives were yoked ... Once the Great Depression overwhelmed the country, people of almost every stripe and condition began to feel haunted by the astonishing multiplication of the human sacrifice that Steinbeck had observed at home in ordinary times ... then came the Dust Bowl disaster, and the spectacle of thousands of dispossessed sharecroppers on the road, streaming west across Route 66 like refugees fleeing a foreign invasion. Steinbeck’s moment had come"

My plan is to eventually read, or reread, all of Vivian Gornick's books and one I have just finished is The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton (2005). Its a slim book about 130 page and its not so much a biography as a meditation on the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  Stanton, along with her colleague and friend Susan B Anthony, fought for women's suffrage starting in the 1840's and would not be deterred.  That meant travelling across the country for decades, organizing meetings and speaking to crowds ranging from thirty to thousands. It was not easy.  

Susan B Anthony did most of the traveling, organizing and speaking because Stanton had a large family and needed to be home more. But Stanton wrote many of the speeches that were delivered at women's rights conventions and published in newspapers. Stanton was a gifted writer and In 1892 she gave her most well known speech at the third annual meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton was 76 by that time and so The Solitude of Self has a summing up quality about why Stanton, Anthony and many 19th century suffragists fought so long and hard so that today women can exercise our right to vote:

"No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men desire to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone, and for safety in an emergency, they must know something of the laws of navigation." ... This is a solitude which each and every one of us has always carried with him, more inaccessible than the ice-cold mountains, more profound than the midnight sea; the solitude of self. Our inner being which we call ourself, no eye nor touch of man or angel has ever pierced … Such is individual life. Who, I ask you, can take, dare take on himself the rights, the duties, the responsibilities of another human soul?" - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1892 

Vivian Gornick's books and the history of the women' s Suffrage movement are worth checking out.

Beach Read by Emily Henry

As genres go, I am not a big romance reader, but Emily Henry is very popular right now. Reviewers have said that Henry does not write stereotypical romances. Her novels often poke fun at romantic tropes and are about more than just the romance. So I was curious.

Beach Read (2020) is set in the fictional town of North Bear Shores, Michigan. When the novel begins, we meet January Andrews, the heroine and narrator of the story.  January has moved to North Bear Shores because her father has passed away and left her his beach house.

January is a writer of romance novels. But life for the normally hopeful January has taken a depressing turn. She is grieving her father's death, but she was also stunned to discover at the funeral that he had a mistress throughout the years she was growing up. January believed in her parents' love for each other. Needless to say, she now has writer's block when it comes to her next romance novel, and her publisher is growing impatient.

Enter Augustus (Gus) Everett, who lives in the beach house next door to January. Gus is a successful writer of dark fiction. He too is dealing with writer's block. January and Gus knew each other from a creative writing class in college. They never dated and mostly avoided each other. But here they are ten years later as neighbors and neither is happy about it.

January and Gus are opposites. January's life has hit a rough patch, but she still believes in happy endings. Gus has never believed in happy endings. We find out why as the book progresses. January and Gus do not respect each other's choice of genre but they make a pact to get themselves out of their respective writer's blocks.  Gus will write a romance novel and January will write a book that doesn't end happily ever after. They have the whole summer to do it. I’ll leave it there.

For me, what worked in Beach Read was Gus Everett. Chemistry is so important in a romance novel. And though I wasn't smitten with January and Gus as a couple, I was smitten with Gus. He writes dark fiction for a reason tied to his childhood. I am drawn to this kind of backstory in a romantic hero, and Emily Henry has drawn him very well.
What worked less well for me was January. She is a sweet person, don’t get me wrong, but throughout much of the novel, she can’t seem to have a thought about Gus without rhapsodizing over what an Adonis he is, and that can get old.

That said, I’m rating Beach Read a four, because while romantic comedies are not for me, Emily Henry held my interest all the way through because of Gus.

The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

I loved Magpie Murders (2016) by Anthony Horowitz.  It's an international bestselling mystery novel that for me not only lived up to the hype but exceeded it.  This novel is definitely going on my end of year favorites list.  And actually Magpie Murders would make my favorites list every year since I began my blog back in 2015.  I had such a wonderful reading experience. Five stars.

But now I have a dilemma.  How much to reveal about the plot of Magpie Murders without spoiling the mystery?  And so I used the Publisher's Weekly starred review of this novel as my guide.  And here are my bullet points detailing what the this excellent mystery novel is about without revealing too many spoilers:

1.  Magpie Murders is set in the UK and it's a very original "dual-layered mystery". The protagonist Susan Ryeland is an editor at Cloverleaf Books.  And Susan when the novel begins is looking back on her experience editing Magpie Murders book 9 in Alan Conway's very successful Atticus Pund mystery series.  Susan tells us that she is a fan of Alan Conway's series. But Alan himself is very difficult to deal with and that's an opinion shared by everyone who knows him.  

2.  In the short intro Susan also tells us that being given Magpie Murders to edit changed her life and not in a good way.  She doesn't elaborate why.  

3.  The next part of the book is the novel Magpie Murders itself by the fictional Alan Conway.  The real author Anthony Horowitz does a masterful job.  He gives us about 200 pages of Alan Conway's novel set in Saxby-on-Avon 1955.  Atticus Pund is such a smart, decent private investigator who has experienced alot of tragedy in his life.  He is a Holocaust survivor who after the war turned to detective work and he is a great one. 

4.  Atticus arrives in Saxby-on-Avon to solve the death of Mary Blakiston, the housemaid, and her employer Sir Magnus Pye.  Both reside at Pye Hall and died about a day apart from each other.  Mary's death seems to be an accident.  She fell down the stairs.  Magnus'death is no accident. It's murder.  And Atticus's job is trying to figure out if the two deaths are related.  And for Magnus Pye who treated people poorly the list of suspects is considerable.

5.  So there I was with my journal noting clues about who could have murdered Mary and Magnus.  And then 200 pages into Alan's novel it comes to an abrupt halt and we here from Susan again:

"Annoying, isn’t it? I got to the end of the manuscript on Sunday afternoon and rang Charles Clover immediately. Charles is my boss, the CEO of Cloverleaf Books, publishers of the Atticus Pünd series. My call went straight to voicemail. ‘Charles?’ I said. ‘What happened to the last chapter? What exactly is the point of giving me a whodunnit to read when it doesn’t actually say who did it? Can you call me back?’ ... I wondered why the manuscript was incomplete and I was annoyed that Charles hadn’t called me back. Later that night I found out why. I’d treated myself to a taxi and the driver had the radio on. It was the fourth item on the evening news. Alan Conway was dead"

6.  Susan goes on a search to find the missing chapters of Magpie Murders so that Cloverleaf can publish Alan Conway's book.  But increasingly it's looking to Susan like Alan Conway's death was murder turning Susan into an amateur sleuth.  And are the clues embedded in Alan's novel.  

What makes this book so great is that the author Alan Horowitz has not only come up with a very unique plot for a mystery novel but he has the exceptiinal writing talent to pull it off and you can't ask for more than that.

Too Many Books?

We are halfway through the reading year and t the beginning of the year I posted on goodreads that I wanted to read 60 books in 2025.  But now I have already finished my 43rd book and decided to up the total of books I want to read this year to 70.  Am I reading too much?  Am I choosing too many books that are under 200 pages so I can improve my score?

I know I should be out in nature. There is no rule about this but sitting with a big book for a month might be a good idea.  Many of the historical biographies being written these days are 800 pages. It can be an investment in time that pays off rather than improving one's book total score.  No right or wrong way to do it of course.  What do you guys think?

The God of The Woods by Liz Moore

"Eight campers. Nine beds. She counts and counts again. At last, when she can no longer defer it, she lets one name bob to the surface of her mind: Barbara. The empty bed is Barbara’s. She closes her eyes. She imagines herself returning, for the rest of her life, to this place and this moment ... willing a body to appear where there is none. Willing the girl herself, Barbara, to walk through the door. To say she has been in the washroom, to say she forgot the rule about taking the flashlight ... But Louise knows that Barbara won’t do any of these things. She senses, for reasons she can’t quite articulate, that Barbara is gone" -The God Of The Woods

The God of The Woods (2024) by Liz Moore is very popular right now with readers and critics alike.  And so I had high hopes but my review is mixed.  The writing is first rate.  Liz Moore is a very talented writer and that means alot.

But The God of The Woods is also 490 pages and for the first 300 I found it to be a meandering read.  I had not expected this since the premise of the book, a young girl goes missing at the same summer camp where her brother Bear went missing 14 years ago, had page turner written all over it.  And The God Of The Woods does become gripping but you have to get through more than half the novel before what happened to Bear and his sister Barbara become front and center.  

What happens in the first half of The God of The Woods is flashback, time jumps and extensive character development.  We learn alot about Alice and Peter Van Laar, Barbara and Bear's wealthy parents who own the camp and pretty much the entire upstate NY town where the novel is set.  Alice is a drug addicted woman who has been almost comatose since Bear's death years ago.  Peter is a controlling and emotionally abusive husband.  They are a fascinating couple and so I didn't mind when the novel took a detour to focus on their history.  

But learning the backstory and present day difficulties of Louise the camp counselor and Tracy, Barbara's bunk mate I did not find that interesting. Other characters are thrown in as well and I felt it distracted from the story which is what happened to Barbara?  Finally a police officer Judy Luptak arrives in Part 3 and things pick up. But it takes a long while to get there..

Kirkus gave The God of The Woods a favorable review but also described the book as "A literary novel wearing mystery's clothes".  I think that puts it very well. Liz Moore tackles  important issues in The God of The Woods:- the lives of the working class, family secrets and how being born into wealth changes people and not always for the better. That's all well and good but more than once as I struggled through the first half of this novel I wondered "is anyone looking for Barbara?"

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

"So Far Gone came from a question I kept asking over the last few years of what to do with all this dread: political, social, ecological, existential dread. Could a person simply run away from it…? That urge came over me like a fever in 2023 and 2024, so I wrote feverishly over that period" Jess Walter

Thank you to Susan at thecuecard.com who gave me a heads up a few weeks ago regarding So Far Gone by Jess Walter.  This novel was released on June 10th.  I put in my order through Libby early which is fortunate because right now So Far Gone is a 16 week wait.

So Far Gone is a timely novel about present day America and the deep divide that has taken place in our country. The novel centers around Rhys Kinnock and his family.  They have been torn apart by politics and the trouble reaches a boiling point on Thanksgiving right after the 2016 Presidential election.  Rhys becomes furious when his son-law Shane starts reciting conspiracy theories and calls him a snowflake.  Rhy punches Shane and is shocked by what he has done.  Rhys is not a violent man but Shane would not agree to give politics a rest and Rhys lost it.

Rhys as he drives away from the family gathering feels ashamed at what he did.  And as he examines his current situation he is becoming more depressed at the current political climate, the newspaper he worked for closing down.  His ex-wife is remarried.  His daughter Bethany, Shane and their young children have their own lives.

And so Rhys decides to make a radical change.   He owns a cabin deep in the woods of Washington State and he could live there off the grid.  He could read to his heart's content, write that second book he has been planning. Rhys at his old newspaper was an environmental reporter and so living alone in the wilderness has alot of appeal.

But seven years later Rhys has become a hermit.  His cabin is falling apart, Rhys rarely shaves and he is still writing that book that even he knows he will never finish.  And then one day Rhys opens the door and two children accompanied by a woman are standing outside.  They are Rhys' grandchildren, Leah 13 and Asher 9.  Their mother Bethany has run off and Shane their father has gone looking for her.  But before Bethanny left she asked her neighbor Anna to bring the kids to their grandfather's house.

Rhys is stunned by this turn of events and by the fact that until he was told who they were he didn't recognize his own grandchildren.  And thus begins his journey back to civilization to find his daughter Bethany and rescue his grandchildren from the dangerous survivalist movement that Shane has gotten mixed up with. 

So Far Gone raises important questions about our current political climate but also about why shutting yourself off from others is a bad idea.  And once you reenter the world there can be danger and disappointment but there are also good people willing to help,  

Such is the case with Chuck an ex-cop with bipolar issues and Brian, Rhys' Native American neighbor who ends up saving the day.   Chuck and Brian are all in on helping Rhys locate his daughter and protect his grandchildren and they ask nothing in return. Such friends you don't meet if you stay holed up in your cabin.  I am rating So Far Gone 4 stars.