It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I DNF'd The Misfortunates and started some new things.

I'm still enjoying Eventide, which honestly I could have finished last week but I was sick enough that even reading was too much during the day. So I'm still working on that.

And I've still got Calypso going in audioland; this will probably be my companion for the remainder of the summer. I love taking long walks around town with David Sedaris in my ear when the weather is nice.

At bedside I'm treating myself to an A.S. Byatt (she's my favorite author). I'm reading A Whistling Woman, the fourth and final book in the Frederica Potter series. I read book three, Babel Tower, earlier this year or late last year (I can't remember). Considering that about twenty years elapsed between me reading book two of the series (Still Life) and Babel and I was able to catch up easily, transitioning into book four has been nothing. That said, Whistling is written as a stand-alone and we get a nice little précis at the beginning, then a whole new slate of characters are introduced alongside the Potter clan. And Whistling is a long book that you have read slowly so it will be with me for a while. Maybe if I have nothing better to do for a year or so I'll re-read the whole series.

Finally I'm almost done with  The Day Will Pass Away, a year's worth of diaries from a man called Ivan Chistyakov who served as a prison guard in a Soviet forced labor camp. It is not light reading. I expect to finish in the next couple of days.

What are you reading?

Review: CODE GIRLS, by Liza Mundy

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, by Liza Mundy. Published 2017 by Hachette. Audiobook narrated by Erin Bennett.

I was attracted to Code Girls because I've been reading a lot of memoirs and history by and about women, and I've really been enjoying them. And at the outset I learned that many of these women came from the Seven Sisters including my own Wellesley College. Having this connection to the story really piqued my interest.

But the women who populated the code-breaking ranks didn't just come from elite east-coast schools. They came from all over the country, from community colleges and teachers' colleges and institutions of all kinds- although mostly from all-womens' institutions, since many four-year colleges didn't admit women in the first half of the 20th century (and some, well into the second half).

Mundy tells this fascinating story of women who broke codes, built encryption machines and worked in both military and civilian jobs to aide the war effort behind the scenes, in an energetic, page-turning fashion. She focuses on the lives and accomplishments of several women in particular who made important contributions, but I won't tell you too much about them here. You should read Mundy's thorough and engaging narrative which also covers their living conditions, personal lives and stories before and after the war.

Mundy's copious research including many hours of interviews with surviving codebreakers paid off in the form of an illuminating read. I had heard of the women codebreakers at Bletchley Park in England but had no idea that U.S. women made similar, and sometimes surpassing, contributions; I had heard of Alan Turing but not of Agnes Meyer Driscoll or Genevieve Grotjan. Mundy also lays bare the sexism that kept these women and their accomplishments from popular recognition. Even Driscoll, possibly the greatest of America's World War 2 cryptanalysts, never got the chance her male peers did to tell her own story via oral history. Mundy tells her story, and others, in this essential book, and Erin Bennett's lively narration made it all the more riveting.

So yes please read Code Girls if you're interested in World War 2 history or womens' history or any history. Many of the women key to the war effort went on to help guide agencies like the NSA after the war, shaping America's codebreaking and national-security efforts well into the 20th century, a subject I'd love to read more about. In the mean time I'm glad this book is out there.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received a promotional copy of the audio book via Libro.fm.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Last week I finished C, Code Girls and Breath, Eyes, Memory. I also read Reinaldo Arenas's Old Rosa, two novellas in one volume. I love his work so much. It was a very productive reading week! Onwards.

Yesterday I started reading Therese Bohman's latest, Eventide, about a middle-aged Swedish academic making bad choices in life and love. I always look forward to Bohman's books. She's just really solid. Her last two to come into English- Drowned and The Other Woman- were both psychologically astute winners. I have high hopes for Eventide.

In audioland, I started David Sedaris's latest collection, Calypso. So far it's bittersweet and moving. He tackles aging and changing in a wonderful way.

Finally I'll be starting a new bedside book, The Misfortunates, by Dimitri Verhulst, about a Dutch family and its struggles with alcoholism. It's a short book and I don't anticipate it taking too long. It might show up on next week's post but I will probably finish it quickly.

I'm still picking my way through that book about the San Francisco earthquake. What are you reading this week?

Review: WAITING FOR TOMORROW, by Nathacha Appanah

Waiting for Tomorrow, by Nathacha Appanah. Published 2018 by Graywolf Press. Translated from the French by Geoffrey Strachan.

Mauritian writer Nathacha Appanah first came to my attention with the release of 2011's The Last Brother, about a friendship between two boys on Mauritius during World War 2. That book was lyrical and haunting. Waiting for Tomorrow is set in present-day France and takes as its subject a tense marriage between a Frenchman and a Mauritian and an uneven friendship between two Mauritian women but lacks none of its predecessor's beauty.

Anita and Adam have been together for twenty years; they live together with their daughter Laura in the southwest of France though they met in Paris, a city where both felt like strangers. Anita came to France as an idealistic young woman dreaming of being a writer; Adèle also comes to France from Mauritius but she is older, jaded and has suffered a great tragedy. Adèle is undocumented and vulnerable. She works for a demanding French family as a nanny when she is hurt in a car accident and finds she can no longer tolerate the indignities of her life. She and Anita meet and forge a bond. Things go well until they don't.

When the story opens Adèle is dead and Adam is in jail. There is also something wrong with Laura. Appanah takes us back and forth through time, from when Adam and Anita meet to the series of events that change everyone's life forever. Since we know something terrible will happen, suspense drives the narrative and we long for that moment when it all goes wrong.

But in the mean time Appanah shows us transformations in all three main characters, their evolution and the changes that take place as they age and interact with each other and the French society in which they live. Through it all Appanah treats us to beautiful prose, lush descriptions of place and of the mindsets of her characters. The strength of the book for me is in these characters and the way Appanah shares their points of view with us one at a time. The only time I felt a little cheated was the act of betrayal that sets off the tragedy at the book's center. It seemed so trite. Or maybe it was meant to.

In any case I'm a fan for life of Appanah's if I wasn't already after the luminous Last Brother. Waiting for Tomorrow is a wonderful, unforgettable book, about the hearts of men and women and what it means to love someone, whether that person be a lover, friend or child. Even at the end, we know the story isn't really over, and these characters will exist in your mind long after you turn the final page.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I had a fun weekend watching France win the World Cup and seeing the new Marvel movie, "Ant-Man and the Wasp." I didn't read much except for dribs and drabs of my bedside reading but that's OK.

Today I'm starting the last chapter of Tom McCarthy's C, a Booker Prize nominee from several years back that's been sitting on my shelf forever. I've been reading it for about the past two weeks and I hope to finish it this week.  Then it's on to the next hardcover on the hardcover shelf.

Also on my nightstand is Ivan Chistyakov's The Day Will Pass Away:The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard 1935-1936.  It's a miracle it survived his own imprisonment and death not long after. I anticipate spending about two weeks reading it.

My carry-around book right now is Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat, a book I'm long overdue to read, about a Haitian girl who moves to New York- but that summary just barely scratches the surface of this luminous classic.

Plus I've still got Code Girls on audio but I'm down to less than 3 hours on it now. I could listen to it forever- it's so interesting and well done- but alas it will end at some point soon. But I have the new David Sedaris to look forward to afterwards.

What are you reading today?

Bastille Day Books

Here we are again, it's Bastille Day when we can all get the chance to be French for the day. Here are some of my favorite books to give you a little Gallic flair.

Henri de la Barbe, aka Henry Beard, penned this adorable and silly book to teach you how to speak French to your cat. It's indispensable. French for Cats: All the French Your Cat Will Ever Need truly lives up to its title.

Jean-Jacques Sempé is a wonderful artist and his book A Little Bit of Paris collects much of his charming, light-filled and evocative work focused on one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The Parisianer is a wordless, coffee-table-ready collection of illustrations by a variety of French artists, creating their own New Yorker-style "covers" highlighting different aspects of Parisian life. Arist Aurélie Pollet is the editor.

Antonia Fraser's accessible and lively biography of one of the most controversial figures of French history makes excellent reading. Marie Antoinette: The Journey attempts to rescue France's infamous queen and rehabilitate her image. Along the way it makes for fascinating look at French social and royal history. It's one of my favorites.

I'll finish off this year's quick list with a current novel, Nathacha Appanah's wonderful Waiting for Tomorrow, about contemporary French life, a friendship and a marriage all built on self-deception and denial. Appanah is one of the best people writing in French today.

Any of these books will give you a taste of France this Bastille Day weekend and beyond.

To Finish or Not to Finish

What makes it so hard for us bibliophiles to stop reading a book we're not enjoying? One article suggests optimism- "it'll get better!" I've been there. But usually all that leads to is disappointment because let's face it. If you don't enjoy it at the outset, and you have to keep telling yourself maybe it'll get better to push through, it probably won't and you'll be telling yourself that right to the bitter end. And it will be bitter, because you'll just want to quit even when you're like 10 pages from done and feel like a jerk anyway.

I've also heard guilt can play a part. "Well," you might tell yourself, "the author worked so hard and I should respect that by giving it a chance." Been there too. But the thing is, the author is never going to know, unless you write a blog post about it or go on social media and name names. You bought the book; that's all the author knows. And they might not know that you bought it, just that someone did. Or not even that, if you got it used or borrowed it from the library.

Some people feel honor-bound, like it's a mark of character to finish everything you start. "I'm not a quitter!" you might hear. As if that is the worst thing in the world to be. And when I was a kid I didn't like when a parent or teacher called me a name like that. But that's just a bully tactic designed to keep you in line, not a way to live your life. I've quit bad jobs, bad sandwiches and bad friends. Why not quit a bad book?

So you can probably tell how I feel about ditching a book. Just fine. Usually. Except when I don't.

Like right now I'm reading an award-winning book inscribed to me personally by an author I've met and follow on social media, though who would probably not recognize me on the street at this point. (Actually more than probably. I've passed them on the street and they did not recognize me.) And it's that inscription that's keeping me going, like I think this person actually likes me or something, which is ridiculous because see aforementioned remark about not recognizing me on the street.

So anyway. What to do? Put it aside and start a new book, I think. Right?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Today I get to start two new books and I don't know what they will be yet. I finished Marcus Sedgwick's Mister Memory, a book about a man with a perfect memory accused of a murder in late 19th century Paris, as well as Osamu Tezuka's epic manga series Buddha. Buddha was incredible, the kind of reading experience I will return to again and again. 

So that knocks off my novel-in-hand and my bedside graphica/nonfiction. Buddha was like part true story, part apocrypha and legend, part imagination.

I have a lot to choose from on my TBR shelves.

That said, I'm still working on listening to Liza Mundy's wonderful Code Girls, about women who broke codes for the US during World War 2. 

I'm also reading Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. It's my San Francisco-history selection for this year and it's fascinating and fun. There is some skimming involved- I'm not gonna lie- because the nuts-and-bolts rock stuff is not 100% my thing. I'm more in it for the California history than the plate tectonics. But it's accessible enough.

But I need some new fiction. I'm thinking I might reread Patrick Dewitt's wonderful The Sisters Brothers, since there is a movie coming out in the fall, or Nathacha Appanah's new book, Waiting for Tomorrow, or maybe Tommy Orange's well-received There There. Or, I did pick up Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata, which got a good write up in the Times.

What do you suggest? I probably already have it on my shelves lol. 

Some Favorite Books by Immigrants

Photo by Tony Webster. CC License

Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh, and the whole Ibis Trilogy including River of Smoke and Flood of Fire. The series, by Indian-born Ghosh, details the lives and fortunes of a panoply of characters during the first Opium Wars and takes place on the seas and shores of India and China. It's a breathtaking epic.

The Patriots, by Sana Krasikov. Ukrainian by birth, Krasikov has long been on my list of writers to watch. The Patriots is her first novel and covers the life of an American who travels to Russia only to get caught up in Stalinism and the shifting sands of the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

Hild, by Nicola Griffith. British Griffith was mainly known as a science fiction/fantasy writer before producing this vivid and engrossing historical fiction about a young woman in the England of swords and castles. It's an incredible coming of age story about an extraordinary person.

American Gypsy, by Oksana Marafioti. Russian-born and part Roma, Marafioti wrote this memoir about growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It's charming and bittersweet, full of detail and emotion. I enjoyed it on several levels and highly recommend it.

Before Night Falls, by Reinaldo Arenas. Cuban dissident Arenas wrote this memoir to document his life and the struggles he endured as his country changed around him. It's an incredibly moving and life-affirming work.

Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show, by Frank Delaney. Irish-born Delaney started a trilogy with this book, about a man's search for his lost love. It's funny and emotional and just plain delightful.

Pushkin Hills, by Sergei Dovlatov. Jewish/Armenian Russian-born Dovlatov eventually settled in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, but not before penning this absurdist and wonderful novel about a poet working at a tourist resort and all of his daily travails. I love this book so much.

A Mountain of Crumbs, by Elena Gorokhova. Russian-born Gorokhova wrote this book about her childhood and growing realization that she needed to leave her homeland for greater opportunities in America. She draws a detailed picture of the struggles and deprivations of 1970s Soviet life, and also some of its joys.

Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah. South African, biracial and a polyglot, comedian Noah wrote a moving, funny and insightful book about his family and his country. The more I learn about South Africa the less I feel like I know and Noah's book brought out more dimensions to explore.

A Quick Visit to Disney World

So last month I had the chance to visit Disney World for three days. I'll never be one to turn down a chance to hang out with Mickey at the Magic Kingdom, so even though it was short notice and a short trip, of course I jumped.

My husband and I had talked about doing a "seat of the pants" Disney trip with minimal work ahead of time and few frills- we wouldn't be staying on property,  leave the pin lanyards and autograph book at home, and we wouldn't be doing any fancy dining. I learned that while you can get away without the kind of big planning I did for our 2015 trip, at a minimum you need to pick a park to visit each day, book FastPasses at the 30 day mark and think about a meal or two you'd really like to have. Not too much to worry about.

This stuff saved my bacon for four days outside in the Orlando sun. No joke.

What that did mean was me waking up at 4am one day when I was in California because that was the 30 day mark for one of our park days.  FastPass reservations open at 7am and that means 7am Eastern Standard Time, or very very early California time. I can't say I was happy about the early reveille but what can you do. The Mouse requires some sacrifices.

That being said, this little bit of effort went a long way. We got FastPasses for our favorite rides and even got a breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe, one of my favorite places to eat at WDW, and a dinner there a couple of days later. A good breakfast is essential to take on the Magic Kingdom and the Poly starts any day off right. While we were in Florida we managed to book a nice dinner at Disney Springs for our last night as well.

Yes I drank this entire French Press of Kona coffee on my first day.

Speaking of the Polynesian resort, we used Lyft quite a bit to get around Orlando used the Polynesian resort as our base. This tactic worked well because it was much easier to find our pickup at the resort versus the Magic Kingdom, which is always swamped with ride sharers. I had mixed results with Lyft; some drivers were great and knew their way around while others- well, I think some folks maybe were just new to Orlando and concepts like Disney and SeaWorld proved challenging.  But everyone was courteous and friendly.

But I would definitely recommend Lyft to get around Orlando if you're not staying on property. Disney has its own Lyft-affiliated ride sharing service called Minnie Vans that while pricier than a regular Lyft, includes perks like insider Disney tips from the cast members who drive the vans. Anyone can use the Minnie Vans with the My Disney Experience app.

Please take that advice that has you baking in the sun all day so I can have the park to myself at night.

One big improvement in My Disney Experience over our last trip is that the app now lets you order food online for pickup at some quick-service dining locations. This functionality helped shorten line time and wait time during our visit to the land of Pandora at Animal Kingdom and I wished I'd known about it earlier in our trip. You can also split up Fast Pass parties now so you don't have to do everything with your group.

My overall takeaway from this trip can be summed up in five words: Visit the Parks at Night. I don't care what anyone says about rope drop and how it's essential you get to the parks when they open. But hey. If you listen to that advice and bake all day in sun, I can have short lines and more fun at night. Because OMG Disney is like a carnival at night. It's beautiful and lit up, you get fireworks, you get cooler temperatures and you get a full day's worth of fun if you get there around 3-4pm and go until it closes or you drop. Get your FastPasses for between 3-6pm, do indoor rides while it's still hot and sunny and then play outside until 11pm or later. Shop, get ice creams, go on rides and just generally rock the park at night. I will never go for rope drop again.

June Reading Wrap-Up

In the month of June I covered four states- Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida. Through Bread Loaf, a quilting retreat, Disney and a few days here and there at home I always brought my books along. Always the same books, because I was busy and didn't have a lot to read, but always with the books.

In May I was in California and picked up Her Mother's Mother's Mother & Her Daughters, by Maria José Silveira. It's a kind of history of Brazil told through a multigenerational story of the women of a family that starts with first contact between indigenous people and the Portuguese and continues to the modern era. It's a series of interrelated character sketches, heavy on exposition and light on an overall narrative apart from the narrative of Brazil and its growth and development. I started it in a hotel in SF and finished it at a hotel in Orlando about a month later. It was a wonderful travel companion. Translated from the Portuguese.

Hideo Yokoyama's crime drama Six Four was a long long book but ultimately rewarding. It's not so much a crime novel as a novel about crime if that makes sense. Mikami, a police press spokesman, tries to wrangle police department politics alongside an unofficial investigation into an unsolved killing while struggling to hold his marriage together after his own daughter disappears. I liked it but it was more character-driven than most crime novels. The characterizations were rich and what kept me reading was how involved I got with Mikami's point of view. Translated from the Japanese.

I finally read Niccolo Ammaniti's I'm Not Scared; he's one of my favorite writers; his books are just so uniformly good. He is particularly good at drawing young people and this book was as terrifying as it was mundane; a young boy out playing finds another boy, a kidnapped child being held prisoner by people who are closer to him than he thinks. Dealing with this secret occupies the majority of the book, which is slender and ends in tragedy. Translated from the Italian.

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens, is coming out in August and has the potential to be a big book. It's both a long book and a gripping murder mystery. The mystery at its core isn't so much about the killing as it is about the protagonist, Kya Clark, a young woman growing up in isolation and ostracism in 1960s North Carolina. The narrative shifts between Kya's childhood and adolescence and later, the death of a man she knows. Owens plays with the reader's expectations in different ways and delivers a crazy-good read. Look for it soon.

I didn't finish any audiobooks in June but I probably will finish my current read, Code Girls, before the next month is out. I'll keep you posted!