Death at the Crossings by Jacquelyn Nowak

 

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Sergeant Mike Minor is called to the Art History building on a college campus after the decomposing body of student Colleen Blakely is discovered in a basement storage room. The school has been on break for a couple of weeks, making determination of time and manner of death more difficult.  But that's nothing compared to the people Mike meets in the department—temperamental professors, students with grudges, and everyone absolutely obsessed with their specialty, be it African Art or Medieval Cathedrals.  The one thing that is obvious is that a lot of people wanted Colleen Blakely dead.

Set in the 1970s, there’s a bit of historical flavor to the book—although it was written in 1985, just about a decade after the fact.  The story is populated with colorful and sometimes unexpected characters.  Mike is often befuddled by the seriousness with which the suspects take art, make that ART.  He doesn’t see it himself, and wonders if these people are so incredibly cocooned in their own world that they’ve lost all sense of reality or if they’re just extremely immature.

They also like to gossip.  It seems everyone has secrets, some big, some small, and they will all go to great lengths to keep those secrets hidden. 

This was a book I just came across while shelving and decided to give it a try.  It was a debut book, and when it comes to art it seems the author knows her stuff.  I was less certain about her knowledge of policing, because it seemed to me that Mike has a lot of beers while on duty. At one point, he admits that he probably drank too much and messed up an interview.  

There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and sometimes I did get a bit confused.  Of course, confused is my natural state.  I did end up enjoying the book and was surprised by some of the twists in the final pages.  I also a bit uncertain how to take some of the views about academia, given that the author is an art historian herself. I looked to see if there were other titles by this author, but the best I can see, this is the only novel she ever wrote, which is a shame. I would have liked to read more books by her.

Nevermore: Commonwealth, Lost for Words Bookshop, Shanghai Girls

Nevermore 8-11-26

Reported by Rita

 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

The characters from the two families were so believable, like people you know. Well developed characters over the decades.       -DC      5 stars

 

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding place - the bookstore where she works - come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

It's an interesting take on bookstore ownership and how children's backgrounds affect their life.      -MH      4 stars

 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Pearl and May are sisters, living carefree lives in Shanghai, the Paris of Asia. But when Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, they set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America.

It told a lot about the Chinese who came to the US in the 30's and 40's. I didn't like the ending, but was happy to hear there's a sequel.     -WJ       5 stars 

 

Other Books Mentioned

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derick Lugo

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Hamnet by Maggie O' Farrell

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

Independent People by Halldór Laxness

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

New Books

52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets

Obstinate Daughters by Denise Kiernan

Inharmonious by Tammye Huf

The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura; translated by Yuka Maeno

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

“The shop was tucked away in a place beyond anyone’s understanding.”

This is the first line of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop where under certain very specific conditions, a reader can find the bookshop and perhaps find closure or a new understanding on the past. The shop is a strange mixture of book and coffee shop, managed by a young woman wearing a burgundy pinafore and white blouse and her long-haired calico cat. The cat will select a book from the many in stock, and the young woman will start to read aloud from the book.

If someone else is reading the same passage from the book at the same time, and if that person is reading on a sunny day when cherry blossoms are in bloom, then just maybe the person will also find the bookshop.

As with many of the currently popular Japanese books, this one is a series of stories, linked by a person’s experience in the bookstore.  Each person is seeking something, but if you asked, they wouldn’t know exactly what they wanted; and yet, by the time they leave the bookstore, they feel more whole as if something missing has been restored.

There are four stories in this one.  In the first, a young woman named Mio is tasked with clearing out her deceased mother’s apartment. The two had not had a close relationship for many years; Mio remembers her mother as cold and strict, and always giving Mio chores to do in addition to her schoolwork.  As if coping with her mother’s death isn’t enough, Mio has also been accused of plagiarism in her manga books.

In the second tale, an elderly man dreams of his youth, when he was a train engineer. In his waking hours, he’s living in a retirement home with people he doesn’t know and staffed with impertinent young people who don’t show respect.  He does know that there’s something he needs to remember. . . but what?

Two sisters are at odds in the third story.  One is off to university to study medicine while her sister has no such ambitions.  The girls were once very close—they are twins—but now there seems to be a chasm between them. Kaho wants to make one last effort to try to understand her sister before they live apart for the first time in their lives.

Finally, a young woman is deeply worried about her father.  Since her mother’s disappearance some years before, her author father hasn’t been able to write.  It breaks her heart to see him struggle so.  And then the young woman picks up a book and begins to read. . . .

This is a wonderful book that really hits all the emotional high notes.  Each of the stories begins with the reading of a real book and there is some discussion of the plot. While two of the books were famous Japanese titles, the other two are Western classics:  The Little Prince by Saint Exupery and Peter Pan and Wendy by Barrie. You don’t have to have read any of them as the shopkeeper will discuss as much of the plot and themes as the reader needs to know. I love that shopkeeper explains that what the people are experiencing is a miracle: she says it’s like winning the lottery without buying a ticket.

The book was translated by Yuka Maeno, and it’s a very smooth translation. The translator is Japanese herself so that she understands the culture and idioms but because she lives in Ireland she can better explain the customs in a way that Westerners can understand.  Some translators try to hard to explain and the result is a clunky translation.

This book is really a love letter to books, reading, and authors which may be why I enjoyed it much.  I would certainly read another if the author decides to grace us with more stories of the Sakura book shop.

Zine Making and Book Binding: A Beginner’s Guide in 25 Projects by Lauren Simkin Berke

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Way back in the olden days, when mimeograph was the standard and off-set printing an expensive proposition, I discovered zines.  Short for “magazine,” these were largely fan-produced publications with assorted content, depending on the fandom: they could have stories, poems, reviews, news, etc.  Flash forward a few decades and all at once it seemed people were talking about zines again. This time many seemed to be the product of a single author/artist, but still a creative outlet.

When this book first came in, I didn’t examine it thoroughly because I am not the creative type and didn’t think it applied to me.  Some time later I picked it up and discovered that it’s actually more about the physical creation of a personal book and was intrigued.

I was very impressed with the first chapter, which went over the parts of the book, tools, needed, and some terms to know.  I had no idea what a “bone folder” was, so had to look that up. (It’s a tool used to score paper, and is indeed traditionally made of bone.) The book press was like the flower press that the Jones Center for Creative Arts, Technology, and Workforce Development helped folks make a year or so ago.  Some of the tools are ordinary things (a ruler, glue cup) while others are more specialized like, well, the bone folder.

Berke also talks about the different types of bindings, including perfect bound (glued) or other sewn bindings as well as coil binding and other methods.

All this is just to get one started in the process of making a book.  The rest of the chapters are devoted to step by step instructions on how to make your own sewn book, on how to do the paper folds, creative pop-ups, or expandable book forms.  The section on making accordion book forms includes how to make book ornaments.

In short, this is a very good resource for anyone interested in making their own books or zines.  There are also other resources listed, and the information is up to date. Alas, there is no index but there is a pretty thorough chapter list in the front of the book.

Nevermore: I See You've Called in Dead, Daughters of the Sun and Moon, The Creek, the Crone, and the Crow

 

Nevermore 8-4-26

Reported by Rita

 

I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living. As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.

This was funny, tragic, and thought-provoking. I loved it.      -NH     5 stars

 

 

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See

In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain – America – where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. Each woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined. Brought together by hardship and heartbreak, they must use their bravery, endurance and ability to ‘eat bitterness,’ discover their voices, find freedom and connect through solace and friendship. Together they are daughters of the sun and moon.

The situations were bad, but I really enjoyed this book and the author's writing.      -WJ       5 stars

 

 

The Creek, The Crone, and the Crow by Leah Weiss

Welcome to Baines Creek, a town hidden deep in Appalachia, where one of the last one-room schoolhouses in America is on the brink of closing. It's summer 1980, and Kate Shaw has lived in Baines Creek for ten years. A skeptic by heart, she rejects superstition and the belief in Appalachian folklore, much to the chagrin of local legend Birdie Rocas, a lively and reclusive witch with a trove of secrets. Yet when Birdie dies and leaves Kate her collection of handmade books and a trunk of illuminated manuscripts and journals, Kate is thrown into world of things she doesn't understand. Enter Lydia Brown, a psychic with a curious birthmark whose visions stopped the day her parents died. Grief-stricken, without her gift, and in need of spiritual guidance, she travels to Appalachia in search of Birdie and the answers she might provide.

I really liked this book and enjoyed the familiar setting.     -MH     5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned 

Disaster Prepping for Dummies by David E. Stevens

The Workhouse by Simon Fowler

While You Were Asleep by Ryan A. McPherson

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

The Mending of Broken Bones by Paul Lockhart

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Marion by Leah Rowan

Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow by Juliet Grey

Marie Antoinette: the Journey by Antonia Fraser

A Fabulous Thru-Hike by Derick Lugo

 

New Books

Cryptocurrency 101 by Joe Duarte, MD

Messenger Cat Cafe by Nagi Shimeno

A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys

Curious Cats and Fantastical Felines: Cats in Folklore, Myth and Legend by Willow Winsham

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

There are a lot of books out there about the folklore surrounding cats. I may even own one or ten myself. So I will confess I wasn’t too excited about seeing another one, but I thought I would give it a shot. At worst, it would be a rehash of things I’ve already read, but maybe there would be something new.

The book exceeded expectations.  Part of this is the tone, which is informative, friendly, entertaining, and seems authoritative. As expected, there were some things I knew already, but often with a fresh take. Puss in Boots is presented as Constantino and his Cat, with some slight changes in the story.  Most of the information took things I knew but gave more information or presented in a different light.  For example, the Yule Cat:  Winsham takes a deeper dive into the history, explaining that it may be of more recent vintage as the first printed reference was 1862 and may have arisen from a misunderstanding of a figure of speech.  Another example that hit home was the “patron saint of cats.” St. Gertrude is generally cited in that role, but again that may be a modern interpretation as the earliest found record linking her with cats only dates to the 1980s.

The book also mentions superstitions, sayings, and historical cats, such as Jenny the Titanic cat or Unsinkable Sam, the cat who is credited with surviving three different sinkings during World War II. Again, Winsham gently questions the veracity of the accounts but doesn’t spoil the story for those who want to believe.

There’s a whole section on cat gods and goddesses, again covering the familiar (Bast and Freya’s chariot cats) and the less familiar like the Aztec jaguar god Tezcatlipoca or the Hindu Narasimha.

One reason I like this book so much is that the author isn’t just regurgitating tales, but has put in research behind the reports.  I much prefer that to the simplistic retellings that sound as if they have just been gleaned from social media.  I like more substance to my tales.  Knowing that something isn’t an ancient tale but a modern take doesn’t ruin it for me in the slightest; in fact, it makes me feel much more informed. In several cases, I had already had some misgivings about the cat story, and it was nice to know my skepticism was valid. It’s handled in a low key way, so if you want to hang on to St. Gertrude you can—or you can substitute St. Jerome and his lion as the patron saint. (Note:  St. Jerome is also one of the patron saints of libraries and librarians!)

I did learn new things, such as that cats are a symbol of spring in Russia and that March is often referred to as Cat Month.  There’s a Day of the Hermitage Cat, celebrated since 1998, that honors the cats who live and guard the Hermitage Museum. 

I was also enticed by the illustrations. The book has some stunning colored woodcuts that absolutely delighted me.  The artist, Joanna Lisoweic, has produced some amazing work.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book to the point that I will buy my own copy. 

Dead Man Blues by S.D. House

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Dave Hendricks had it all: mayor of a small town on the Tennessee/Kentucky border, he was a big fish in a small pond.  He had a beautiful wife, Janet, nice house, and Victor, a best friend he loved like a brother. And then he found out Janet was cheating on him with, of all people, Victor, and the next thing he knows he’s drunkenly driven a car into the courthouse.

That pretty much ended the political career.  The friendship and the marriage were already toast.

Nowadays Dave lives on a houseboat with his dog Shorty and helps Ray out at the marina.  Then a man is murdered at a nearby fishing camp, and Victor asks Dave’s help.  Victor is the sheriff, but Dave had been sheriff previously and has had experience with homicides.  It’s an uneasy partnership, but Dave finds that the thrill of investigation gives him a purpose he’d lacked since, well, the incident.

The victim, Esau Campbell, is a local man who had been in trouble before, and there are many people who had reason to dislike him, and to dislike his family.  The Campbells are one of the wealthiest families in the area, and most feel they came by their money dishonestly—cheating people out of their property. This means there are suspects galore, and Dave has his work cut out for him finding the guilty party.

S.D. House is Silas House, an award-winning Appalachian author who has decided to try his hand at a mystery.  As expected, the book is well-written, with vivid characters and a good sense of place: a rural area where people tend to have long memories.  A dam was constructed a few years back, uprooting families and changing some ways of life, leaving a sense of loss among some residents. The 1950s setting means that a lot of investigating is done without modern technology like DNA analysis, which I find more interesting than the high tech method.

House is good at red herrings; I thought I had spotted the murderer early on and was a bit disappointed but I was pleased to be proven wrong.  I will say a couple of things troubled me as not being true to the era but again, I might be mistaken.  I did enjoy the book and I hope House will try his hand at a mystery again.