Book Review: Queens of the Crusades by Alison Weir ***1/2

Queens of the Crusades: England's Medieval Queens by Alison Weir
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alison Weir has embarked on a project to write a series of collective biographies of England’s medieval queens, a wise idea since many of them do not have enough known about them for a full-length biography aimed at the interested layperson. Queens of the Crusades is the second volume, although she has noted that her biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Isabella of France should also be included in the sequence.

Although, as Weir acknowledges, these five queens did not all go on crusade themselves, this was the time when the idea of reconquering the Holy Land from Islam permeated the air, and it influenced the lives of all of them. The five women are Eleanor of Aquitaine (married to Henry II), Berengaria of Navarre (Richard I), Isabella of Angoulême (John), Eleanor of Provence (Henry III, and spelled Alienor to reduce the potential confusion at the plethora of Eleanors), and Eleanor of Castile (Edward I). Edward I also married Marguerite of France after his first wife’s death, so I hope that she hasn’t been left out and will be included in the next volume.

Queens of the Crusades paints what is probably as full a picture as possible of the lives of these five women for the non-historian (apart from Eleanor of Aquitaine, about whom there is an abundant amount known): their upbringing, personalities, triumphs and tragedies, relationships with their husbands and children, political influence, and often details of their daily lives drawn from accounts and other records. The account of Berengaria of Navarre is disappointingly slim, mainly due to her her husband’s inexplicable neglect of her while she was queen, but there was more than I have seen before about her life after Richard’s death. (I was glad to see the idea that he was gay firmly squashed, and anyway, as Edward II and James I show, even if his chief attraction had been to men, this would have been no bar to the fathering of children.) The lives of these women often overlapped, so it was also interesting to see their interactions with one another, which mainly seem to have been positive - surprising, since all of them - even Berengaria in her widowhood - seem to have been strong-willed women with differing priorities and personalities.

My main criticism of the book is something that probably won’t bother a lot of other people. Weir said in the introduction to the first book (Queens of the Conquest ) that she would be skipping Eleanor of Aquitaine and Isabella of France since she had written full-length biographies of both, but obviously, although she makes no reference to the factors behind it, she changed her mind, at least about Eleanor. I certainly don’t object to her inclusion in this book, since as noted, their lives do overlap, but I felt that her portion (probably a condensed version of the same information that is in the biography), took up too much of this book (I estimate almost 40% when the bibliography and other ending and beginning material weren’t included). She is such a towering figure that she overwhelms the others, and I feel that it would have been better to at least cut down her section somewhat - maybe to the time of her widowhood when her life overlaps with Berengaria’s.

Although Weir has never been one of my favorites, I feel that she did a creditable job with this book. On the whole, however, while there is a lot of information I didn’t know and they are put into the context of their times, her view of them is fairly conventional and I didn’t gain any new insights. 3.5 stars.

I received a copy of Queens of the Crusades for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: The Three Locks by Bonnie MacBird ****

The Three Locks by Bonnie MacBird
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first of the titular “three locks” in this book appears in the form of a mysterious box sent to Dr. John Watson by an aunt of whom he had previously been unaware. It had been his mother's and she had requested that it be given to him on his 21st birthday, now years in the past. The trick lock on the box, however, renders its secret inaccessible for the present. Secondly, his colleague and friend Sherlock Holmes is approached by the wife of an Italian escape artist, The Great Borelli, who begs him to discover the truth behind a feud between her husband and another magician. Borelli comes close to death that same night when Holmes and Watson attend his show and one of his acts goes horribly wrong.

Finally, Peregrine Buttons, a young Catholic deacon, asks Holmes to discover the whereabouts of a missing young woman, the strong-willed Odilie (Dillie) Wyndham, who has disappeared from her father’s home in Cambridge. The “lock” in this case is the Jesus Lock on the River Cam, which will play a crucial part in the story later on.

How are these mysteries connected, if indeed they are? Holmes skillfully juggles the two cases, in both of which lives are at stake and in both of which, if loss of life can be considered failure, he fails despite his best efforts, but, as in many of the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he succeeds to the extent that some justice is achieved. The final mystery, that of the locked box, is also solved at the end, giving us some knowledge of events in Watson’s past and how they have affected his subsequent life.

The Three Locks is the fourth in a series of Sherlock Holmes pastiches by Ms. MacBird, but the first I have read. However, I did not feel lost or confused in any way, which may be a benefit of reading a book, even out of order, that is set in a much larger fictional world. At first, I didn’t care for the somewhat testy - even rude - way in which the relationship between Holmes and Watson is presented, although there is some comedy in it, but eventually I felt that the author hit her stride. I will certainly seek out the other books in the series in the hope that they are as enjoyable as this one was.

I received a copy of The Three Locks for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Take It Back by Kia Abdullah ****

Take It Back by Kia Abdullah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Zara Kaleel, the protagonist of Take It Back, does not take the easy route. Not only did she leave the marriage arranged for her by her traditional Muslim family; a talented lawyer, she also abandoned a job at a top-flight London law firm to become a counselor at a rape crisis center.

Little does she imagine, however, the path that will open up before her when she meets with teenage Jodie Wolfe. Jodie, who has a medical condition that causes severe facial deformities, tells Zara that she was lured to an abandoned warehouse and sexually assaulted by four of her classmates, all Muslim boys from hardworking immigrant families. Taking the case will result in attacks on her, both in the form of protests and eventually physical assault, as a traitor to her “people,” and on the other hand, the risk of inflaming anti-Muslim feeling. Still, she feels strongly that she must continue to support Jodie through the charging and trial of her attackers.

Tackling the delicate subjects of sexual assault, disability, and religion, Take It Back walks a fine line, and largely does it successfully. I worried that this book would end up validating one of two stereotypes, either that of girls who lie about rape or Muslim teenagers fulfilling racist nightmares, but with a clever twist at the end, Ms. Abdullah managed to avoid doing either. The characters are complex, although the accused assailants themselves have less time devoted to them than Zara, Jodie, and her family and associates. Zara can be headstrong and stubborn, with a penchant for reckless behavior which causes near disaster to the case on at least two separate occasions, but hopefully, these issues will be dealt with in later books (this appears to be the first in a series) and will give her a chance to grow as a character.

Despite the painful subject matter, I enjoyed this book very much and will keep my eye out for the next book in the series.

I received a copy of Take It Back for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: The Haunting of Beatrix Greene by Rachel Hawkins, Ash Parsons, Vicky Alvear Schecter ****

In Victorian London, Beatrix Greene operates as a medium, and she is an unrepentant fraud. While she does not believe in ghosts or the supernatural, however, she sees herself as performing a service in providing the bereaved with comforting messages purporting to come from their deceased loved ones. When out of curiosity she attends a gathering where a scientist, James Walker, promises to reveal the methods used by spiritualists and mediums, she is challenged by Walker, for a handsome fee, to spend the night in an allegedly haunted house and prove to him the existence of the supernatural.

When Beatrix and her friend and “chaperone,” Harry, arrive at Ashbury Manor, they discover that it is the 20th anniversary of a tragic murder/suicide that had occurred there, and that “James Walker” is actually the owner of the house, hoping to discover what had caused his beloved mother to kill his brother and then herself, a crime which has haunted him for most of his life. When they sit down to a seance, Beatrix is shocked to discover that she actually does seem to be channeling the spirit of James Walker's mother. The house truly is haunted, and the family cursed, and Beatrix will have to reach deep into her own unacknowledged reserves of psychic talent to bring herself and James out of  Ashbury Manor alive.

I found The Haunting of Beatrix Greene to be an initially pleasant read that became gripping as it progressed to the heart of the mystery and the struggle to free James from his family's curse. The characters, including the secondary ones, particularly the eccentric Amanda Reynolds, are well-drawn. The telling of the story from the alternating perspectives of James and Beatrix was effective and gave it more depth than if it were experienced only from one point of view. My only issue was the part of the chapter headings that sounded as if it were supposed to be the recounting of a TV show (Season 1, Episode 1, etc.), although there may be a point behind it that I'm not aware of, which seemed pointless and in my opinion, added nothing to the story. On the whole, however, I enjoyed it very much.

I received a copy of The Haunting of Beatrix Greene for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish *****

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the mid-seventeenth century Jews were first allowed back into England after 350 years, the philosopher Spinoza was formulating daring new ideas in Amsterdam, and the false messiah Shabbetai Zvi was electrifying Jewish communities across Europe. Rachel Kadish explores this vital era in her National Jewish Book Award winner The Weight of Ink.

The novel begins in England in the year 2000, when Professor Helen Watts is asked to examine some papers found behind a hidden panel in an old manor house. Due to health issues, she reluctantly accepts the help of American graduate student Aaron Levy, and they embark on a journey of discovery. In alternating chapters, the story of a passionate, brilliant woman, fighting the suppression of her desire for knowledge, is told as it happens and as the researchers discover it. Ester Velasquez; the rabbi she for whom she acts as a scribe, blinded by the Inquisition in Portugal; their Polish servant; and the many people they encounter in 1660s London are brought vividly to life by Kadish’s writing.

In the present, as well, the crusty, aging professor and the brash, cocky student, antagonistic toward each other at first, gradually come to a deeper understanding of themselves and form a true friendship, and while the ending is sad to some extent, a sort of justice is done, both for Helen Watts and for Ester Velasquez.

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A version of this review was originally published in Chai Notes, the monthly newsletter of Congregation Shir Shalom in Amherst, NY.

Book Review: In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey ****

Charles Hayden and his wife Erin first met and bonded over the obscure Victorian fantasy novel In the Night Wood, by Erin’s distant relative Caedmon Hollow. After their daughter’s tragic death on her sixth birthday, however, the two are estranged, each trapped in his or her individual grief and, in his case, guilt, when they discover that Erin has inherited Hollow House, the ancestral manse where Hollow had lived and written the book, on the edge of one of the oldest forests in Britain. They cross the Atlantic in the hopes of escaping their own demons and, in Charles’ case, of finding material for a biography of the mysterious author. Instead, they find themselves drawn deeper into Caedmon Hollow’s world, where the forest is deep and dangerous, and little girls can get lost forever in the fulfillment of a dark bargain made long ago.

This is exactly the type of book I like—gothic; carefully structured, with people and events echoing and referring to one another; allusive; and deeply rooted in British folklore. I would love to give it 5 stars, and if half stars were allowed I might consider four and a half. Its biggest flaw, however, which I could not ignore, was its portrayal of Charles’ wife Erin, especially considering that she ends up playing a pivotal role at the climax. To me, Erin barely exists at all, as she is consumed by her grief for her daughter. There is reference to her having been an attorney, I believe, but the only time I can ever remember seeing her as a person is at the time of her meeting with Charles. Maybe it’s necessary for the plot and I’m suffering from a failure of empathy (I can’t even imagine how devastating it must be to lose a child), but her obsessive wallowing starts to seem self-indulgent, and it’s hard for me to believe she could rouse herself to the extent she does. Charles also comes off badly in his apparent willingness to allow her to essentially destroy herself, though again, it could be argued that this is necessary to the story. I also found the ending a bit abrupt. Some of the aforementioned problems I had might have been assuaged if we had seen something of what followed and—assuming that Erin might have begun to heal from her grief—a fuller, more rounded picture of her.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From October 29, 2018

Book Review: Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Unwanted Wife by Sarah-Beth Watkins ***

Anne of Cleves is one of the more intriguing of Henry VIII’s wives, if only because she is so routinely passed over and even denigrated, despite not only surviving him but living on - apparently happily - through the reign of Edward VI and into that of Mary I, so I was excited to get the opportunity to read this new biography of her by Sarah-Beth Watkins.

However, one problem with those in history, especially women, who were not at the center of affairs, is that there is generally very little material available that can be used to flesh them out and bring them to life. For Anne, this seems to consist mainly of mentions in letters and dispatches, some (relatively formal) letters of her own, and household records. This means that even a short biography such as this contains a lot of narration about what was going on at the time but not much about how many of these events would have affected her personally.

Watkins certainly does do her best with what is available, and I found new information (to me, at least) in her recounting of Anne’s early years and relationships, Henry’s search for his fourth wife, and her life after her brief tenure as queen. Since Watkins also seemed to try to avoid speculation about what Anne was thinking or feeling (except during her marriage and the process of its dissolution), which is understandable since it’s a pet peeve of mine with other authors, especially when it becomes excessive, I didn’t get a real feel for the type of person she was - except that she obviously was a warm person (making lasting friendships with people like the Duchess of Suffolk and the king’s daughters, particularly Mary) who did not hold grudges. I would also have liked to know how she went from being “one of the richest women in England” to someone who was continually having money troubles, though that may have been mainly due to Henry and his successors not honoring his financial commitments except for right after the annulment.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From October 6, 2018

Book Review: Domina by Guy de la Bédoyère *

The period of the end of the Roman Republic and the beginnings of the empire has always held great fascination for those of us in later generations, especially with its larger-than-life characters, originally portrayed with great gusto (and more than a little bias) by Suetonius and others and in the twentieth century by Robert Graves in his classic I, Claudius and Claudius the God.

In his book Domina, Guy de la Bédoyère gives us a look at the real people behind the myths and gossip. He also shows how, as the male line failed, descent through the female line became crucial to keeping the dynasty alive, as well as the methods by which these women, with varying degrees of success, circumvented the legal bar on their holding power to exercise influence through their husbands and sons. In fact, sometimes this could be an advantage, since a system that doesn't allow for female power also has very few ways to control it.

The book begins with a brief overview of the Roman view of women and their place, including what was seen as a “good”  woman (Lucretia, who killed herself after being raped, or Cornelia, the exemplary mother), as well as the “bad,” generally, as so often in later years, one who “usurped” the power of men or blatantly exercised power over them, notable examples being Marc Antony’s wife Fulvia and of course Cleopatra. De la Bédoyère then embarks on a comprehensive history of the women in the Julio-Claudian family (mainly descendants of Augustus, his sister Octavia and his wife Livia by her first husband, as well as Octavia and Livia themselves). Livia - almost certainly nothing like the Machiavellian schemer portrayed by Graves - was perhaps the most successful but was still cut loose by her son Tiberius at the end of her life. Agrippina the Elder (wife and later widow of Germanicus) and Claudius’ wife Messalina, completely different in their personalities and approaches, both failed - and paid for it with their lives - for widely varying reasons. Agrippina the Younger (mother of Nero), saw her son become emperor but in the end, lost her influence and was murdered by him. Many other women populate these pages, from Augustus’ tragic daughter Julia to others who are familiar to those of us who have read Graves’ work and still others who are more obscure but still played their part.

Finally, in an epilogue, de la Bédoyère spends time examining the second great flourishing of female power in the Severan dynasty, which includes Septimus Severus’ wife Julia Domna, her sister Julia Maesa and Julia Maesa's daughters, with a brief sketch of later empresses and their influence or (mostly) lack thereof.

I enjoyed this book very much; it was engrossing as well as careful history and, despite my prior knowledge, I don’t believe it would be excessively confusing even to those who are less familiar with the history, although some confusion is perhaps inevitable, with multiple Julias, Claudias, Octavias, and Agrippinas to keep track of. I believe it would be a rewarding read for anyone looking to learn more about this period in particular in general or specifically about the part women played.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From September 29, 2018

Book Review: Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians by Margaret C. Jones ***1/2

In Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen, Margaret C. Jones labors mightily to flesh out a life of Aethelflaed, eldest child of Alfred the Great, “Lady of the Mercians” after her husband Aethelred’s death, and most recently known to many as a character in The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell’s book and TV series about Anglo-Saxon England at and after the time of Alfred. She is successful only to a degree, mainly because there is so little known about even men of the period, let alone women, that gives a true sense of their personalities. (While I understand why she included them and they may help other readers, the author’s vignettes of various moments of Aethelflaed’s life, how she might have felt and experienced them, didn’t do much for me.)

Jones aims to present a balanced view of Aethelflaed, as opposed to others who she seems to feel have overemphasized one aspect of her personality at the expense of another (warrior over ruler or patron of the Church, for example), and in this, she is largely successful. She looks at the upbringing a young girl might have received at the time in conjunction with known events of Alfred’s life and how they (and her relationship with her father) might have affected her life, her marriage to and partnership with Aethelred, and her life after his death, including her efforts to ensure the succession of her daughter Aelfwynn, who was unfortunately deposed by her uncle Edward (Aethelflaed’s brother) and disappears from history at that point. This section was the part where I felt like I came closest to Aethelflaed as a person. Her patronage of churches, leading of her troops into battle and foundation of burhs (fortified towns to defend against the Vikings), both with her husband, during his long illness and after his death, are also examined.

Finally, after her death and a disappearance from history almost as complete as Aelfwynn’s, Jones examines how Aethelflaed has been brought forward once again and celebrated in various ways, culminating (although not ending) in the millenary celebrations of many of the towns and cities where she was instrumental in founding burhs in the early 1900s, as well as her portrayal in fiction, nonfiction, art and film/TV, including Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom.

This was overall a well-written and enjoyable book, and any flaws I found in it were more the fault of the time period and lack of sources than of the author.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From August 14, 2018

Book Review: Restricted Fantasies by Kevin Kneupper *****

At least since I saw the movie The Matrix, I, along with many others, have been fascinated by the idea that our reality is not reality, but a simulation, and of course virtual reality, where we enter into a simulation from the real world, has provided endless fodder for speculation as well. The well-written and thought-provoking stories in Kevin Kneupper’s Restricted Fantasies explore the possibilities from a wide variety of perspectives, virtually all of them disturbing.

It is impressive how Kneupper is able to inhabit the minds of a plethora of different characters, from a bereft Amish mother to a self-educated college janitor to a disreputable “info diver” in the distant future, and he brings the reader there with him, allowing us to feel their frustrations, regrets, and ambitions. His settings are as varied, from the near (and frighteningly) plausible future of “Seven Minutes in Heaven” to a simulated prison in which inmates can virtually experience a sentence of several lifetimes in seconds or minutes (“Panopticon” - a reference to a system of control proposed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the 19th century) to distant futures similar to The Matrix where humans (or non-humans) live entire lifetimes or longer in simulations as their bodies lie immobile in vats. Every one of these stories sucked me into its vividly imagined world, and not one of them disappointed. A very impressive collection.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From July 15, 2018

Book Review: How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization by Mary Beard ****1/2

How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization by Mary Beard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. An examination, as part of an updated version of Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation, of not only how people have appeared over the ages, and, in the second part, how they have imagined and attempted to depict the divine, but also, “how we look,” as viewers and consumers of art, at the same images. Unlike the original, which I have sadly never seen or have possibly only seen parts of, and to which Ms. Beard pays unabashed tribute, this survey does not concentrate only on Europe, but ranges from the Olmec heads of Mexico to Angkor Wat, in addition to art and architecture in England, Italy, Greece, and Egypt. Short - just a little over 200 pages - but very thought-provoking in its insights and reflection, and the photos are gorgeous.

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Book Review: A Flutter in the Dovecote by Jemima Norton ***1/2

A Flutter in the Dovecote is an entertaining introduction to a mystery series set in what I've always thought was a surprisingly neglected historical period - the Restoration. The English Civil War is over and the monarchy has been restored in the person of Charles II, but neighbors who were on different sides, as well as members of the same family who have been physically separated by the conflict, are still unsure of each other. Hal Westwood, whose father supported the Royalists with the result that he has been mostly raised in France, has just married the daughter of a wealthy family that stood with Cromwell and has brought her to his ancestral home. His uncle, who owns the property and intends to leave it to Hal, is missing, as is a tapestry that has been in the family for generations. The whereabouts of both are soon discovered, but this complicates the situation even more, as the crime is now not theft but murder.

This is a promising start to the series but it still has quite a few weaknesses. I saw the solution fairly early on and felt that it was pretty obvious. Also, I wasn't too sure how accurate the dialogue was, although the author did provide a glossary at the end and seems to have done a fair amount of research, However, most of the characters, with the exception of Hal's seductive French stepmother, who was a bit of a walking cliché, were well drawn and believable. I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.

Most beautiful words

http://worddreams.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/103-most-beautiful-words-you-decide/

Nice. L, S, M and R seem to predominate.

Book Review: Naomi and her Daughters by Walter Wangerin Jr. *****

In this powerful and original retelling of the story in the book of Ruth, National Book Award winner Wangerin gives Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi, portrayed in the biblical story as an unsympathetic character, embittered by tragedy and grief, a back story and a character that explains and justifies Ruth's devotion to her. The character of Boaz, the man who befriends Ruth and Naomi in their impoverished widowhoods, is also given motivation and a past.

Moving back and forth over some thirty years, Wangerin never loses control of his narrative and paints a vivid portrait of an entire society, effortlessly weaving in other biblical stories and poetry from the Psalms and the Song of Songs, particularly through the chants and musings of Naomi, who is portrayed as a hakamah, a wise woman, healer and storyteller in her native village of Bethlehem.

Naomi and her Daughters is sure to deepen any reader's appreciation of the book of Ruth and the world in which it is set.

Coming out of hibernation

Below are a couple of older reviews that I wrote for the temple newsletter last year, but I just posted them on Amazon and thought I would put them up here as well.

I've also been jolted out of my extended inactivity by the tragic shooting in Tucson last Saturday. Needless to say, my thoughts go out to the victims and their families.

However, I have found the reaction to it interesting and somewhat disturbing, particularly in the media. On the left there has been discussion of the part played by the violent rhetoric of the last election season and, while the feeling is obviously that most of that has taken place on the other side, there has also been introspection and self-examination, most notably by Keith Olbermann. (I personally, would like to apologize for any intemperate language on my part; I'm sure there has been some, although I can't think of specific instances.) In the so-called "mainstream media," there has been a false equivalency; if rhetoric played a part, well, everyone does it in equal measure. On the right, with a couple of exceptions, there has been little but finger pointing at the other side and a hysterical defensiveness.

I find it sad that we can't agree on one thing: painting one's opponent as evil and not just mistaken but malicious, using language such as "take him/her out," "Second Amendment remedies" (which by no stretch of my imagination, at least, can be construed as "metaphorical"), and shooting automatic weapons at campaign events, particularly at cutouts labeled with the opponent's initials, should be beyond the pale - at least as of now. I can only agree with Bill Clinton's remarks on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing:

"What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold - but that the words we use really do matter, because there's this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike [my emphasis]," he said.

"One of the things that the conservatives have always brought to the table in America is a reminder that no law can replace personal responsibility. And the more power you have and the more influence you have, the more responsibility you have."

Book Review: Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg *****

The starting point of Annie's Ghosts is when journalist Luxenberg hears that his elderly mother, who always claimed to be an only child, has mentioned in a talk with her doctor that she had a disabled sister, who was "sent away" as a young child. Several years after his mother's death he learns the sister's name, Annie, and that far than being a brief presence in his mother's young life, she was actually committed to a mental institution on the eve of her 21st birthday.

The remainder of the book is Luxenberg's account of his attempt to learn more about his aunt, who lived a further thirty-two years after her commitment, and to understand why his caring, loving mother had felt the need to hide the fact of her sister's existence from everyone in her life. Along the way, he interviews many of his parents' old friends and relatives, archivists and psychiatrists, as well as visiting the town in Russia where his family originated. He also weaves in information about the history of mental health care in twentieth-century America, the eugenics movement, and the lives of Jewish immigrants in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Annie's Ghosts is a moving meditation on family secrets; the stigma all too often attached to disability, both physical and mental; and a son's coming to terms with the fears and cultural attitudes that informed his mother's choices in life.

Book Review: The Prophet's Wife by Milton Steinberg ****

At the time of his premature death in 1950, Milton Steinberg, respected rabbi and author of the acclaimed As a Driven Leaf, left the unfinished manuscript of a second novel. After sixty years, The Prophet's Wife has finally been published.

Set in the days before the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom of Israel, The Prophet's Wife revolves around the life of Hosea, one of the earliest literary prophets and the one about whose personal life we know the most. Hosea talks in the book named for him about how he married a woman who betrayed him with other men, yet took her back as God would do with unfaithful Israel.

As in his other novel, Steinberg gives us a vivid re-imagining of ancient Israelite life and customs, as well as a very human portrait of Hosea, the scholarly yet unappreciated son of his pious father, and Hosea's erring wife Gomer. Steinberg's stately prose brings to mind the cadences of the Tanakh, yet is never inaccessible to the modern reader.

The editors of The Prophet's Wife have made the bold and unconventional decision to leave it in its unfinished state, ending at a pivotal point in its subject's life, adding two very different essays by modern scholars speculating on how Steinberg would have finished the book if he had lived. The reader, as well, can come up with his or her own ending for Hosea and Gomer's story.

Book Review: The Journal of Hélène Berr ****1/2

A graduate of the Sorbonne, student of English literature, and talented musician, Hélène Berr began her journal in April 1942 at the age of twenty-one. At that time it was still relatively easy to ignore the increasing restrictions being placed on the Jews by the Nazis, and the first part of the book is taken up with her own personal concerns, her studies, and her love life. Soon enough, however, she is directly touched by the decree that the yellow star must be worn by all Jews, and records her conflicted feelings, humiliation and determination to hold her head up high, as well as the small kindnesses she receives from strangers, which give her comfort and strength.

As things become worse for the city's Jews, deportations, suicides and arrests (including the temporary detention of her own father) become a litany interwoven with Hélène's determination to live as normal a life as she can while maintaining her own humanity and dignity. She becomes engaged but her fiancé flees to Free France to work against the Nazis from there, while she feels bound to remain with her family and continue her work saving Jewish children from deportation and resettling them when their parents have been arrested. After abandoning the journal for a year, she returns to it as a changed, more serious person. The entries become longer and more introspective as this courageous young woman is forced to face the likelihood of her early death and finds comfort in friends, family and the literature that she loves so much.

Hélène Berr was arrested in 1944 and died in Bergen-Belsen only a few days before its liberation, but her journal, which was kept by a friend and given to her fiancé after her death, ensures that her vital, intensely humane spirit lives on.

25 Favorite Books (for now)

(One has already changed.) We were coming up with lists of our favorites on one of the Amazon discussion boards. These are in no particular order except that mysteries are first, since it's a mystery group. Some are childhood favorites, some are just fun, and others, as Cathy says about her dreams in Wuthering Heights (on the list!) "have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind."

• Stone Angel by Carol O'Connell
• The Water Room by Christopher Fowler
• Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters
• Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters (or any of the Peabody/Emerson books where Ramses is young and obnoxious)
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
• Breakheart Hill by Thomas H. Cook
• Streets of Fire by Thomas H. Cook
• Past Caring by Robert Goddard
• As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok
• An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum
• The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (all of them, but if I had to pick one it would be Deathly Hallows)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
• The Ghosts by Antonia Barber
• Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Book Review: The Fate of Katherine Carr ****

The Fate of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook ****
George Gates is a former travel writer and investigator of historical mysteries who has retreated to safe, superficial newspaper writing after his young son was kidnaped and murdered. He then gets sucked into the mystery of what happened to a local writer (Katherine Carr) who walked out of her house one day in 1987 and vanished, leaving behind a mysterious story that seems to relate to her own life. He also becomes involved (both professionally and emotionally) with a 12-year-old girl dying of progeria (the "aging" disease), with whom he reads through the story, attempting to find clues to what happened to Katherine.

I think of this book as structured like a spiral, going from Gates' telling of the story to a man he meets on a cruise ship, to his investigation of Katherine's disappearance, to Katherine's story from 20 years before, and back. On the way it provides an interesting meditation on the effects of loss and of crime (especially unsolved crime) on its victims; not only has Gates lost his son, but Katherine had become a virtual recluse before her disappearance due to a vicious beating she had suffered a few years before. The ending is rather ambiguous, though, and the whole book seems unfocused - possibly a necessary effect of its structure and content, but that may account for the lack of complete satisfaction on my part.

P.S. As with other books I've seen or read lately, the cover bugs the hell out of me. It appears to be a young (pre-adolescent) girl, though it's hard to tell since the close-up cuts off most of the face. The only character who fits that description is dying of premature aging and wheelchair bound. Why is it considered so unacceptable in some circles to have a cover that bears some relation to the content of the book?