867-873 (2018 #80-86). The Rest of December 2018

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, read by him, David Sedaris, Nick Offerman, and 163 others - historical fantasy, audiobook, award.  I can see why this was named the 2018 Audie Audiobook of the Year, and was a finalist for Excellence in Production and Multi-Voiced Performance!  It was incredible.  At first, I wasn't quite sure what was going on, so I checked out a print copy from the library, and then it made more sense - and I actually preferred the audiobook format.  The confusing parts are the sections that take quotes from real historical sources (and make up quotes from fake ones, according to this NPR article, a practice I did NOT like), and cites them as one would in a formal research paper, to the point of using "ibid." and "op. cit."  Besides the fake citations, I was also bothered by the extensive profanity and references to sex - it felt historically inaccurate, just like it did in the TV show Deadwood.

The Weaker Vessel by Antonia Fraser - nonfiction.  A dear book club friend gave me this book because she thought I would like it - and she was right.  A well-researched documentation of the lives of women in 17th-century England, from the end of the reign of Elizabeth I in 1603 to the beginning of the reign of Anne in 1702 - in other words, most of the tumultuous Stuart period.  Antonia Fraser used many contemporary sources - letters, diaries, etc. - to document the lives of - as it says on the cover - "heiresses and dairymaids, holy women and prostitutes, criminals and educators, widows and witches, midwives and mothers, heroines, courtesans, prophetesses, businesswomen, ladies of the court, and...the actress."  She includes a helpful chronology at the beginning of the book, 470 pages of very-readable text, 24 pages of black-and-illustrations (mostly portraits of some of the book's subjects), 30 pages of end notes, 18 pages of the references cited, and a 26-page index.


The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace - nonfiction about a 1787 bottle of wine that supposedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson, and wine collecting.  31 pages of end notes.  More interesting than it sounds.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty - realistic? fiction.  Disappointing.  The premise of the story was too unbelievable.  Didn't really like any of the characters.

Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King - very interesting nonfiction about the painting of the Sistine Chapel, but also about the activities of Raphael and Pope Julius II during the same period.  Includes diagrams and illustrations, some of which are color plates in the center of the book (that I wish had been larger).  28 pages of end notes, 10-page bibliography, and 17-page index (would have been more if font was larger).

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, read by January Lavoy - biographical novel, historical fiction, audiobook, about journalist Martha Gellhorn, the third wife of Ernest Hemingway.

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel - fascinating biography of the scientist told partly through letters his illegitimate daughter, a nun, wrote to him.  black-and-white illustrations, six-page chronology, seven-page bibliography, eleven pages of endnotes, 2.5 pages of art credits, 22 page index, explanation of florentine weights and measures, all in small font.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

866 (2018 #79). Cowboy It's Cold Outside

Cowboy, It's Cold Outside is the 2017 addition to Lori Wilde's romance series set in Twilight, Texas (aka Granbury, my current home town), at Christmastime once again.

Romance tropes in the story are italicized: billionaire playboy cowboy performer [country musician] Cash Colton, jilted nearly a year ago and losing his inspiration, comes to Twilight to perform in a benefit for longtime friend Emma (subject of an earlier novel), who runs the local playhouse where ugly duckling tortured heroine Paige MacGregor deals with her psychological scars and works as an usher, one of the three jobs she holds down to make ends meet after her previous boyfriend stole her identity and spent all her savings. There's immediate sparks and they decide to have a fling.  But of course there's more than that.

Musical terms and their definitions begin each chapter, and provide a clue as to what will happen next.  However, musical similes and metaphors describe the sex, and get to be a little over the top.  I do like the cover of this book, though.  Snowy Christmas scenes aren't realistic for this part of Texas, but I've seen a lot of wreaths in this area similar to the one pictured.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

860-865 (2018 #73-78). The Rest of November 2018

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict - audiobook, historical fiction about Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein's first wife, a physicist in her own right, who made numerous sacrifices to further his career at the expense of her own, and was not credited for her collaborations with him.  After reading of his poor treatment of his wife, I lost a lot of respect for Albert Einstein.

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline - audiobook, biographical novel about the inspiration for the painting "Christina's World."

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs - biography, award, children's, Newbery, about Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women.

Varina by Charles Frazier - historical fiction about Varina Howell Davis, the second wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis.  She is a very interesting character.  One passage that caught my eye (on page 136):  "On the Senate side, Sam Houston roamed the halls flirting with every young woman he met.  He wore a cougar hide vest and left his coat open to display it, hoping to be asked what the material was.  He introduced himself to V[arina] the same as to all the young ladies, with a set of moves like a fencing exercise.  He lunged an aggressive step forward - pushing up much too close - then bowed low, and in a deep voice said, Lady, I salute you.  Then he stood and took a snakeskin pouch from the pocket of his cougar vest and plucked out a little carved wooden heart.  He spent his days on the Senate floor whittling dozens of them.  He reached it out and said, Let me give you my heart."  This passage is apparently based on Varina's memoir about her husband (referenced in a biography of her) and a 1921 newspaper article about Houston.

City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan - It would have helped this historical fiction audiobook (well-read by Edoardo Ballerini) to have the author's historical note (from the end of the print book) as I knew very little about post-WWII Jerusalem and the British occupation there, and had never heard of the Irgun or the King David Hotel bombing of 1946.

The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristen Harmel, read by Madeleine Maby and Jacques Roy - historical fiction, audiobook.  Supposedly based on the true story of Virginia d'Albert-Lake, it is set in occupied Paris just before and during World War II.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

859 (2018 #72). Maud

by Melanie J. Fishbane

Maud is a historical fiction / biographical novel about Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of the Anne of Green Gables series.  It focuses on her late teen years, 1889-1892, when Maud, as she was called, was 14 to17 years old.  The book is aimed at readers of about the same age.

Maud was mostly raised by her maternal grandparents, as her mother died when she was 21 months old, and her father later married a woman who didn't care for Maud.  Her grandparents were quite strict and not especially demonstrative.  One can see, from reading this novel, how Maud might have come up with the character of orphan Anne Shirley.  Author Melanie Fishbane includes an afterword, describing her sources and research, and changes she made to Maud's real story.  Her website includes an educator's guide and other support resources for the book.

This book started out rather slowly, and Maud was rather annoying as a 14-year-old.  She matures, though, and the book gets better.  I never read any of Montgomery's books as a child, but now I am inspired to do so.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This paperback book was sent to me by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.  It will be added to my university's curriculum collection, used by future teachers.]

854-858 (2018 #67-71). The Rest of October 2018

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, read by Ramon de Ocampo and Amielynn Abellera - audiobook, realistic fiction, 2018 Newbery Medalist.  Seriously?  The book was OK, but not great.  Rather tedious, and with some annoying characteristics like unsympathetic mothers (what is up with that?  Girl in Reverse had one too), including one who sneaks cigarettes, and kids using matches and candles out into the woods.  Abellera read the part of deaf character Valencia, the only one who told the story in first person; de Ocampo did the rest of the narration.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, read by Bahni Turpin - I can see why the book and the audio version won so many awards in 2018:  Michael L. Printz Honor award for young adult (age 12-18) literature, Coretta Scott King Author Honor award for "outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience," Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, and Audie Awards for Young Adult and for Best Female Narrator. Outstanding realistic fiction that will likely be a very good movie too.

American Spring: Lexington, Concord, and the Road to Revolution by Walter R. Borneman - nonfiction, advance reader edition.  Very readable account of the early period of the American Revolution, from Paul Revere's little-known ride of December 1774, through the conflicts at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, to the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland - audiobook, historical fiction.  Lisette and her husband Andre leave Paris in 1937 and go to the (real) village of Roussillon in Provence to care for his aging grandfather, Pascal.  Lisette is at first frustrated, because she hoped to work as an art museum curator in Paris, but she learns that Pascal met the artists Cezanne and Pissarro (through his work in the ochre mines, as a pigment salesman, and as a frame maker), and has some of their paintings, as well as a possible Picasso.  When Andre enlists to fight in World War II, he hides the paintings.  Much of the book is about what Lisette does to get through the war, and her quest to find the paintings afterward.  She meets Mark and Bella Chagall, and is gifted with one of his paintings as well.  The story moves slowly, but Vreeland does a wonderful job describing the Provençal countryside and way of life.  The audiobook is read by Kim Bubbs, who does a wonderful job with all the French words in the book.  The afterword identifies which paintings are real and which are not.

Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict - audiobook, historical fiction.  Speculative historical fiction on why the 19th century multimillionaire Andrew Carnegie may have become a philanthropist.  Author's Irish ancestors worked as domestics and used the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh.  Similar mistaken identity story supposedly happened to one of her ancestors.  In research, used newspaper ads of immigrants searching for lost family who came before them, and was able to access materials and see areas where domestics lived and worked in the Frick Pittsburgh, "a perfectly preserved late nineteenth-century house museum of Andrew Carnegie's colleague Henry Clay Frick." (p. 280) Book ranges from November 4, 1863 - the completely fictional Clara Kelley's arrival at the port in Philadelphia - to the prologue of December 23, 1868, when "at the age of thirty-three, he wrote a letter to himself pledging to focus on the education and 'improvement of the poorer classes'" (p. 273), which supposedly his love and interactions with Clara inspired, according to the story.  The epilogue takes place October 14, 1900, when Clara, who has become a nurse, takes a young relative to the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

853 (2018 #66). Dr. Jo

Dr. Jo is a picture book biography about someone I'd never heard of before - Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, one of America's earliest female physicians and a pioneer in public health, especially in urban immigrant communities in the early 1900s.  This book is similar to those in author Monica Kulling's Great Ideas series, which are picture book biographies of lessor-known inventors, such as Lillian Gilbreth and Frank Zamboni.  Most of those are written at about a fourth-grade reading level, and my guess is that this book falls there as well.  The watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations by Julianna Swaney are pretty; maybe too pretty when picturing gritty immigrant tenements.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[I received this hardbound book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.  It will be added to my university's curriculum collection for the use of future teachers.]

851 (2018 #65). Finding Dorothy

Finding Dorothy, by Elizabeth Letts, is mostly about Maud Gage Baum, wife of Oz creator L. Frank Baum.  The book alternates between tracing Maud's life, beginning in 1871 when she was ten years old and ending at Christmas 1899 (just before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published), and the 1938-1939 time period, during the making and premiere of  The Wizard of Oz movie.  In the latter sections, Maud is on the set, trying to make sure the movie stays true to her late husband's intentions, and meets Judy Garland, the actress playing Dorothy, befriending and becoming protective of her.

Learning about the life of Maud (and of Frank) gives some insights into the inspirations for characters and scenes from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Dorothy may have been inspired by the hard life of one of his and Maud's nieces (but not the one named Dorothy, who died as an infant a year before the book was published).

And, like all good historical fiction, this book inspired me to learn more - I went back to The Annotated Wizard of Oz, Centennial Edition, edited by noted scholar Michael Patrick Hearn, which I first read in December 2007.  After reading Finding Dorothy, the background material in the introduction to this annotated edition was even more meaningful.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This advance reader edition was sent to me by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]
© Amanda Pape - 2018

843 - 850 (2018 #57-64). The Rest of September 2018

Everything Beautiful Began After, by Simon Van Booy - unfinished advance reader edition.  When one (Rebecca) of the three main and unlikable characters died about halfway through the book, I decided I did not like the other two characters (George and Henry) enough to care what happened to them, even though the setting in archaeological digs in Greece was somewhat interesting.

The Kings and Queens of Roam, by Daniel Wallace - advanced reader edition - finished this one, but wondered why I did - it was so weird, and also had nothing but unlikable characters: sisters Helen and Rachel McAllister, descendants of the even more unlikable founder of the fictional remote silk manufacturing town of Roam, Elijah McAllister.  There's also a number of benign ghosts in this fantasy.

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay - audiobook, unfinished.  Boring.  Too many references to classics I have not read, like the tiresome Pride and Prejudice.  Main character Samantha Moore, who's lived in a group home since she was 15, gets a grant to attend journalism graduate school (at Northwestern University in my birthplace of Evanston, Illinois) at age 23 from a mysterious "Mr. Knightley" who only requests that she write letters to him that he won't answer.  I skipped ahead to the end and it was rather predictable.

Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Weaver - audiobook.  Looks like Dear Mr. Knightley was an updating of this 1912 book.  I did listen to all of it, but after reading the end of the Knightley book, I guessed pretty quickly where this one was heading.  The reader, Julia Whelan, sounded the right age (17-21), but read too fast, not pausing enough between the letters.  Couldn't view the downloadable material which supposedly includes some very childish stick-figure drawings (some referred to in the text) by Webster.  Sounds like it is no great loss.

Children of the Jacaranda Tree - advance reader edition, realistic fiction, historical fiction.  The story of various families in Iran during and after the revolution, with the stories moving back and forth in time (1983-2011) and location (Tehran, Iran, and Turin, Italy).  It does get a little confusing at times, but provides insights into what life was like for political activists against the Islamic revolution, and reflects the experiences of the author, Sajar Delijani, and her family.

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova - e-book, realistic fiction.  One of the main characters is a classical concert pianist who has ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease.  He is cared for by the other main character, his ex-wife (and mother of their college-age daughter) who was a pianist in her own right, although she preferred jazz.  Excellent book.  Lisa Genova has become a master at demonstrating the awful effects of some incurable conditions on the lives of the victim and their families.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan - audiobook, historical fiction set in World War II, mostly in the Brooklyn Naval Yard but also some in San Francisco and at sea.  Two readers, male and female.  SO good!

Girl in Reverse by Barbara Stuber - YA historical fiction - couldn't finish, it was moving so slowly.  I skipped ahead to the end.  A little of a surprise on who the real father was of adopted Chinese teen Lily Firestone.  Most interesting part of the story was its time setting in the Korean War era.  This was an ARC that came out in 2014 (been on the TBR pile a while) but it apparently didn't catch on, maybe for the same reasons I had problems with it.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

842 (2018 #56). Go Show the World

Go Show the World is picture book poetry - although the dust jacket blurb calls it a "rap song," I guess to make it cooler.  As the subtitle says, it does celebrate indigenous heroes, both well-known and lesser-known, from the past and the present.  The author, Native American Canadian Wab Kinew, includes brief biographies of each subject at the end, which is definitely helpful.  I found the poetry/rap song a little awkward, but Joe Morse's illustrations, in watercolor, digital color, and collage, are excellent, particularly the black-and-white portraits accompanying the mini-biographies.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This book was provided in exchange for a review by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be added to my university library's collection.]

838-841 (2018 #52-55). The Rest of August 2018

Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling - audiobook read by Marc Bramhall, historical fiction set in France just before and after World War II involving artwork stolen by the Nazis.  Good story, unlikeable characters.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - audiobook, narrators Emily Rankin and Catherine Taber, historical fiction, realistic fiction, hybrid.  SOO good.

American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus - ebook, memoir, about the author's ancestors who were early Jewish settlers in Santa Fe, New Mexico - one of whom supposedly still haunts a hotel there.  Interesting read.

The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley - historical fiction, audiobook - set in the 1500s around the time of Martin Luther, this romp of an adventure is a great satire of Catholic Church practices surrounding holy relics and the sale of indulgences in that period.  The main character, the relic master, is Dismas, who buys relics on behalf of two employers,  the good Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony (who shelters Luther from the wrath of the Pope) and the evil Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg. Elector and Archbishop of Mainz, an evil archbishop cardinal.  Even includes the real painter Albrecht Dürer as a major character.  Dismas is named for the Penitent Thief, the good thief who was crucified next to Jesus.  A fun book!  Actor James Langton is excellent as the reader.


© Amanda Pape - 2018

837 (2018 #51). Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein

A picture book biography by Linda Bailey of Mary Shelley, with publication timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of her classic, Frankenstein.  The book also helps answer the question - where do authors get their ideas?  There's a nice photograph of Mary Shelley along with a more detailed four-page author's note at the end, as well as a list of sources.  The book neatly avoids all the scandal associated with Mary, her family, and her compatriots.

The people in the illustrations look like a mix of the 1960s Munsters and Addams Family, only with a bit more color.  Readers who remember these series might appreciate that, and the relationship to Frankenstein.  Rendered digitally by Júlia Sardà, the illustrations are incredibly detailed.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[I received a hardbound copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be added to my university library.]

836 (2018 #50). Makerspaces in Schools

Lacy Brejcha is a 16-year-veteran of Texas public schools, serving as a gifted and talented elementary teacher and district coordinator, makerspace/innovation/enrichment teacher, and instructional technologist.  In Makerspaces in School, she outlines a ten-month (school-year) plan for creating a makerspace in a classroom or school.

I would have preferred that the space given over to the monthly "Planning Page and Reflections" be used instead to make the photographs in the book LARGER.  They are so small, you can't see what is going on in them.  Otherwise, this is a useful tool.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

831-835 (2018 #s 45-49). The Rest of July 2018

I, Juan de Pareja - The slave Juan de Pareja was the subject of a 1650 painting (below) by his master, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (who later freed him and made him his assistant). This book is based on their lives - which have little documentation.  This makes them great subjects for historical fiction.

Elizabeth Borton de Treviño studied Spanish and writing at Stanford, and later lived in Mexico. In her afterword, she alludes to the racial tension of the 1960s and states that she hopes it will appeal "to young people of both white and Negro races because the story...foreshadows, in the lifetime of the two men, what we hope to achieve a millionfold today.  Those two, who began in youth as master and slave, continued as companions in their maturity and ended as equals and friends."  I have to wonder if this statement contributed to the book receiving the 1966 Newbery Medal.

The audiobook narrator properly pronounces the Zs in Velázquez's name in the true Spanish style (like Th).

Other books read this month:

Helen of Sparta (e-book, historical fiction)

It's All Relative (audiobook)

The Grey King (audiobook, 1976 Newbery) - unfinished

Mozart's Last Aria (audiobook, historical fiction) - by Matt Rees, about the death of Mozart, investigated by his estranged sister Nannerl and involving other characters from history, such as Baron Gottfried van Swieten.  Read by Rula Lenska, it would have been nice if the audiobook could have included selections from the pieces of Mozart's music referenced in the novel.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

830 (2018 #44). Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen

The third of noted Tudor historian Alison Weir's fictional takes on the wives of Henry VIII, this one covers his little-known third queen, Jane Seymour, who died giving birth to the son Henry so desperately wanted.

Weir has some interesting theories about Seymour, and shares the basis for them in her author's note at the end.  However, I didn't care for the supernatural element (haunted by Anne Boleyn?), and the book, at 557 pages, could have been far shorter.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This advance reader edition was sent to me from the LibraryThing early reviewers program, in exchange for an review.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

829 (2018 #43). Catalina and the King's Wall

Carolina and the King's Wall made me laugh out loud, with author Patty Costello's not-so-subtle references to current politics:  a king who wants to build a wall to keep out people from a nearby kingdom, who "clearly had no plan of his own," and whose "face turned from orange to red" when he got angry.  Clever puns are a plus; the illustrations by Diane Cojocaru are colorful and cartoonish.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

824-828 (2018 #s 38-42). The Rest of June 2018

The Crossover - audiobook, 2015 Newbery Medal and 2015 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book

The Door in the Wall - audiobook, 1950 Newbery medal -
De Angeli doesn't ever say exactly what year this story takes place, but since it is during the reign of Edward III, during and after outbreaks of the plague, and at the end of the Scottish wars, I think it has to be between 1350-1365.

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew, by Annejet van der Zijl - e-book, biography

The Beekeeper's Lament - ARC.  Fascinating nonfiction about the honeybee industry in the United States.  I had no idea beehives were moved cross-country by large-scale beekeepers primarily for pollination, and that crops such as almonds depend upon that.  Very interesting and well-written by Hannah Nordhaus - need to read her American Ghost.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - I couldn't finish this audiobook.  An advice book on "tidying up," it was written by a then-single twenty-something with no kids.  I'm a married member of the sandwich generation.  Need I say more?

© Amanda Pape - 2018

823 (2018 #37). The Clown Egg Register

The Clown Egg Register consists of 169 clown egg portraits, photographed by Lane Stephenson - most (but not all) have accompanying biographies of varying lengths written by Helen Champion (herself a clown).

The Clown Egg Register (the real one) "acts as the record of copyright for the carefully designed faces of the members of Clowns International," a British-based clowning organization.  This particular organization and registry was started by Stan Bult in 1946, with the face paintings done on real blown eggshells - which of course turned out to be too fragile.  Ceramic eggs are now used, and include some details of the clown's costume on the stands they are put on.

Apparently there is a similar egg collection - for the United States, as there is an unwritten rule (not a true copyright) among clowns not to copy another's look.  I'd like to see photographs that collection.

All of the photographs are excellent, all done on the same background.  In most cases the eggs almost look like actual faces, although that may be due more to the skills of the original egg painter - the most lifelike seem to be done by Kate Stone.

The quality of Champion's biographies varies.  Somehow I felt that I (with my genealogical research skills) probably could have dug up a little more information on each clown, including the ones that have no attached paragraphs.

It's not clear how the book is organized.  I would have preferred those who had relationships mentioned in biographies (parent/child, siblings, married couples or partners) presented one after the other, but that was often not the case.  I did appreciate the section at the end explaining the different clown styles - Whiteface, Auguste, Character, and Tramp/Hobo.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be donated to my local public library.]

more info here:  http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171206-the-fascinating-reason-why-clowns-paint-their-faces-on-eggs

819-822 (2018 #33-36). The Rest of May 2018

I've decided, partly because of GDPR and partly because it was just getting to be too much work, to make this blog private (no one was reading it anyway) and to write much shorter reviews (really more like notes) about each book.  The exceptions will be books that I need to review for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program - they will likely get their own posts and be more complete reviews.  So, that being said, here are the rest of the books I read or listened to in May 2018:

Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough, read by Cat Gould - historical fiction set in 1920s and 1930s in Corunda, New South Wales, Australia.  Two sets of supposedly-identical twins born to the same minister father but different mothers.  Edda and Grace, Heather (called "Tufts") and Kitty.  All initially become nurses (under the "new style" training, where they actually learn some true nursing skills) to get out of the house and away from their overbearing stepmother/mother.  Interesting and unusual relationships with the men in their lives.  Tufts was the only one of the four I actually found likeable, and her story is covered less in the book.  Cat Gould was a good reader.

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan (advance reader edition, no cover photo) is young adult realistic fiction.  Well, sorta realistic - some of the things that happen are a little preposterous.  Nevertheless, the plot was exciting enough that it kept me reading.

Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life, written and read by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, with a forward written and read by their mother, Laura Bush.  Much better than I expected (and I greatly admire George H. W., Barbara Sr., and also thought W. was a good president).  The twins are great readers and storytellers, Jenna especially as she is rather droll and self-deprecating.  It was nice to learn more about Barbara as she is more reserved in real life.  A memoir with more-or-less alternating tales told by the sisters.  See this review for more:  https://www.librarything.com/work/19659003/reviews/147309502.  Decided to listen to it after Barbara Bush Sr.'s death in April 2018.  E-audiobook included a PDF with photos from the book of the twins throughout the years.

Spoken from the Heart, written and read by Laura Bush (actually finished in June, but swapped with a May book so I could put it right after the memoir by her daughters).  Especially poignant are her stories about her grandmother's and mother's difficulties having children, as well as her own (and it turns out daughter Jenna had some complications too, an ectopic pregnancy and a surprise early arrival).


© Amanda Pape - 2018

809 (2018 #32). One Hundred Names for Love

by Diane Ackerman

This book is another advance reader edition that has apparently been sitting on my TBR shelf since its publication year of 2011 - and was a rather timely read for me.

In 2003, author Diane Ackerman's husband, the author Paul West, suffered a stroke that left him with aphasia, which affects the ability to express and understand written and spoken language.  For a couple that made their livings writing and whose recreation included a lot of word play, this was especially devastating.

In lyrical prose, Ackerman writes about the next four years, Paul's rehabilitation and her feelings and concerns as a caregiver.  Remarkably, he even regains the ability to write and publish again, and lived to age 85, dying of pneumonia about 12 years after the stroke occurred.

Extremely valuable was a postscript with "Some Lessons Learned." As my elderly mother suffers from a form of neurological deterioration that makes it difficult for her to speak, I really appreciated this.  Ackerman had just finished writing An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain before the stroke, The knowledge she gained in her research for that nonfiction book helped her come up with some creative ways to help her husband. The tips she provides are the reason I will be hanging on to the advance reader edition for personal future use, rather than passing it on.

Ackerman also provides a long list of further reading, as well as the 100 nicknames for her that Paul came up with after his stroke, a word play they were able to resurrect.

This book was  a finalist for both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012.


© Amanda Pape - 2018

[I will be hanging on to this advance reader edition for a while.]

808 (2018 #31). Villa America

by Liza Klaussmann,
read by Jennifer Woodward

Liza Klaussmann's novel is about the real owners of the real Villa America in Antibes, a resort town between Cannes and Nice on the French Riviera (Côte d’Azur).  Gerald and Sara Wiborg Murphy were fabulously wealthy expatriates who hosted such well-knowns as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter and Pablo Picasso at the home they built there, Villa America (which sadly, no longer seems to exist), in the 1920s.

Gerald had a brief career as a painter (I rather like his stuff), and apparently had bisexual tendencies.  Klaussmann explores this with the one entirely fictional character in the book, another American ex-pat, a pilot she calls Owen Chambers.  According to the author's note at the end, a (real) champagne-and-caviar party at Villa America in Hemingway's honor required that the caviar be flown in from the Caspian Sea - and that was the inspiration for Owen.

Ultimately, none of the characters in the book are particularly sympathetic - it's hard to feel sorry for people so well-off, even when they hit some hard times from 1929 on.  The last part of the book zips through the years 1930 through 1937 almost entirely with letters between characters, as the dream world of Villa America is virtually gone.

However, it was nice to learn a little more about this couple who have appeared in other novels I've read in the past few years (such as The Paris Wife and Mrs. Hemingway).  Actress Jennifer Woodward gives a very precise reading as the audiobook narrator.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[The audiobook, and a print copy for reference, were borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]

807 (2018 #30). The Surrendered

by Chang-Rae Lee

I received an advance reader edition of this book way back in 2010, and finally got around to reading it.  I think the title, the cover, and the length (467 pages) intimidated me.  I'm sorry I waited so long.  The Surrendered was quite good.

The book takes place mostly in 1986 and 1953.  In 1986, June, a Korean-American, is trying to find Hector, the father of her son Nicholas.  She in turn wants him to help her find Nicholas in Europe, as June is dying of cancer.  In 1953, June is fourteen and an orphan at the Korean orphanage where Hector, an American Korean War vet, works.  The orphanage is run by a pastor named Ames Tanner and his wife Sylvie, a daughter of slain missionaries with a tragic past.  The story revolves around June, Hector, and Sylvie, with flashbacks to 1950 and 1934 to give their back stories.

Perhaps because of the post-Korean War setting, this book kept my interest and kept me engaged.  June left her home at age 11 when the Communists invaded Korea, losing her parents, brothers, and sisters along the way.  Hector grew up a brawler and served in the graves unit (collecting the dead) in the war, sticking around afterwards working odd jobs in the orphanage.  They both idolize Sylvie, who witnessed the brutal death of her parents in Manchuria and has not been quite the same since.

The story is bleak and depressing, but intriguing enough to keep my interest until the end.  The book was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This advance reader edition will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

806 (2018 #29). Hidden City

by Sarah Grace Tuttle,
illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford


Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife, is a collection of 28 short free-verse poems for children with gorgeous illustrations.  Each poem - many of which are spare like haiku or shaped like concrete poems - describes one animal or plant that lives in an urban area. 

The author, Sarah Grace Tuttle, has degrees in environmental studies and English as well as a master's in writing for children.  The vibrant artwork of Amy Schimler-Safford has a collage-like feel to it, but was all created digitally.

The book ends with brief fun facts about each of the poem's subjects, and a short reading list.  I had no idea dandelions make more flowers and healthier seeds when there is more carbon dioxide in the air, or that sunflowers remove toxic metals and radiation from the soil!

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This hardbound book was received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and will be added to my university library's collection.]

805 (2018 #28). Travel as a Political Act

by Rick Steves

Travel guru Rick Steves - who I've actually met (his offspring went to school with my offspring) - gave a keynote speech recently at the 2018 Texas Library Association conference in Dallas.  I wasn't able to attend the conference, but I saw some clips of his speech and read numerous tweets about it, so I decided to check out a book he referred to in that speech.

It should be noted that I am reviewing the first (2009) edition of Travel as a Political Act.  A revised edition came out in February 2018, and it's clear from its introduction (available on the Kindle preview on Amazon) that the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA inspired the update.  The chapter headings are the same in both books, with the exception that 2018 adds a chapter called "The Holy Land:  Israelis and Palestinians Today."

The first chapter discusses "How to Travel as a Political Act."  Tips include choose to travel on purpose, connect with people, take history seriously - don't be dumbed down, overcome fear, get beyond your comfort zone - choose to be challenged, and see the rich/poor gap for yourself.  All good advice to truly experience another country and culture.

The other chapters focus on the results of civil war in the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Montenegro), successes and struggles of the formation of the European Union, the aftermath in war-torn El Salvador, economic aspects of Denmark, sampling Islam in moderate Turkey and Moracco, drug policy in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and Iran.  The book winds up with a chapter on what one might do with new knowledge gained from travel after coming home.

Steves inserts his political views throughout the book, but is upfront about doing so.  I mostly agree with him, although not on everything, and I feel this is a worthwhile book to read regardless.  But then, I'm the kind of traveler that likes learn something about the people, history, and culture of places I visit.  I wouldn't take a cruise, for example, and just stay on the ship, or only go shopping in the port area.  I will note though that there is also value to traveling to various parts of our own country - there's a variety of people, history, culture, and viewpoints within the USA.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my university library.]

804 (2018 #27). Flat Broke With Two Goats

SKIP - THIS - BOOK.

I'm not even going to put a picture of it here, it was so bad.  As a librarian, I am embarrassed that OverDrive named Jennifer McGaha's memoir Flat Broke with Two Goats the 2018 "Big Library Read."  I'm disgusted that my library bought this drivel and contributed to the author's apparently continuing overspending by providing her with more income with which to do so.

I made it partly though chapter 3 when I decided my irritation with the author's antics was too great to continue.  Life is too short and there are far better books to read out there.

So why I am fed up with Jennifer McGaha?  She's clueless and entitled.  She's irresponsible and whiny.  She's completely out of touch with reality - and she expects the reader to sympathize with her.  She blames others for her stupidity.

Jennifer and her husband overspend and wind up owing over $100,000 to the IRS - because they just didn't pay their taxes.  And her husband is an accountant, for heaven's sake!  Jennifer tries to put all the blame on him, but she willfully ignores the signals that all is not well with their finances (flickering lights and outages?  repo man comes to take your car multiple times? HELL-O!).  Furthermore, she doesn't do anything to try to help, sticking to her 10K a year college adjunct job, not even applying for a second job at a local department store because she likes to dress funky.  AND they continue to send their kids to a distant private school (requiring a lengthy twice-a-day drive) even after the home they bought from friends (who provided them private financing for it) is foreclosed on.  And Jennifer wonders why said friends locked them out and don't want to be friends any more?  HELL-O again!

When I stopped listening to the audiobook (a wasted effort by an excellent reader, Pam Ward), I started reading reviews, and I was glad I quit reading this book.  Apparently Jennifer goes on to do stupid things like:

- move into a (three-story!) "cabin" (with a dishwasher!) on 50+ wooded acres -- but they BUY the wood to heat the place;

-  irresponsibly continues to own her FIVE dogs and eat out at restaurants, and drink merlot wine and craft beer;

- buys fancy chickens and goats, feeds them organic yogurt and sunflower seeds and goats milk (!) and hopes to someday use her goats' milk to make cream caramels and fancy soap (!);

- gets reconstructive bladder surgery for an impotent designer goat and wastes hours waiting for a female goat to give birth;

- apparently starts adding recipes, of all things, at the ends of later chapters (like people really struggling to pay their bills have time for fancy cooking???);

- leaves her husband for a temporary academic job in another state (yes, more pay, but twice the expenses) and a new male friend, but then goes back to her husband, apparently not learning anything; and

- takes out thousands of dollars of student loans to get an MFA - before paying off the IRS;

What's worse, by the end, the author is still acting the same.  She has not learned ANYTHING from her situation.

Yes, I am deliberately spoiling the book, because I don't think anyone should waste their time or money on this one.  Although I have never been flat broke, a diminished income post-divorce led to my children qualifying for free breakfast and lunch at school, and free clothing from the school district's clothing bank.  I worked three jobs at one time to make ends meet and get out of this hole. At least I did something - unlike the author.

I will save my sympathy for people in a financial bind for reasons truly out of their control - those devasted by illnesses or a natural disaster, for example.  Not whining idiots like this author.  This book is insulting to the truly poor.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library.

803 (2018 #26). The Second Empress

by Michelle Moran,

read by Adam Alexi-Malle, Emma Bering, and Tanya Franks

I'm classifying Michelle Moran's The Second Empress as a historical romance because it strays so far from the historical record as to be almost a fantasy.  This book is set during the latter years of Napoleon's reign, from late 1809, when he divorced Josephine, to his exile to Elba in 1814.  The second empress is Marie Louise of Austria, who is one of the three narrators of this tale.  The other two are Napoleon's rakish sister Pauline Bonaparte, and Paul Moreau, the (fictional) Haitian mulatto servant and chamberlain Pauline brings back from Saint-Domingue after her first husband LeClerc dies there.

All of the audiobook readers use heavy accents (German for Marie, French for Paul and Pauline) in their reading, which makes them difficult to understand at times.  The actress who reads Pauline additionally gives her a languid attitude, perhaps fitting to the character, but I felt it made her even more difficult to comprehend.

I think the fact that this book is mostly fiction is another reason I nearly forgot about it after listening to it.  One example early on that really bothered me was Pauline complaining that she and her sisters were "sent to be maids in the grand Clary house" in Marseille and used for "sexual favors."  There's no proof for this whatsoever, in fact, Julie Clary, daughter of a silk merchant (not a nobleman) married Napoleon's brother Joseph.  Marie Louise's supposed love affair with Neipperg before marrying Napoleon also raised red flags for me - that would NEVER have happened with an archduchess in Catholic Austria!

This book *is* a novel, so it's okay if the story is not the whole truth, but to misrepresent history in the author's note at the end and imply truth where it does not exist is definitely *not* okay.  Moran states that she used primary sources; she did not.  Another reviewer did an excellent job outlining all the problems with this book, so I won't go into them here.  Suffice to say I really can't recommend this book.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to a public library.]

802 (2018 #25). The Swans of Fifth Avenue

by Melanie Benjamin,
read by Cassandra Campbell and Paul Boehmer

The Swans of Fifth Avenue is about author and gadfly Truman Capote and his "swans," the wealthy socialites he surrounded himself with, in the 1950s and 1960s.  It starts with the aftermath of a short story he writes about some of them, then flashes back to when they originally meet.  None of the characters are particularly likeable.  Truman is self-centered and a gossip; the swans for the most part are shallow and superficial.  Their fascination with Capote is puzzling to me; perhaps he felt the insincerity of many of them, leading to his shocking short story.

And yet - I kept listening to this book, intrigued by them all, even looking everyone up, as I'd only heard of a few of them before and knew very little of those.  Melanie Benjamin's writing drew me in, as did the settings.  And while my attitude towards Truman and most of the women did not change, I did grow to like Barbara "Babe" Paley, the main female character, by the end - I found her to be surprisingly vulnerable.

This audiobook has multiple narrators - veteran Cassandra Campbell reads the female ones and Paul Boehmer reads the males.  Both give Capote a lisp (which he actually had) and an effeminate voice.


© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This e-audiobook was borrowed from and returned to a public library.]

801 (2018 #24). Boardwalk Summer

by Meredith Jaeger

Boardwalk Summer is set in Santa Cruz, California, in 1940 and 2007.  Violet Harcourt is the 1940 narrator.  She has dreams of being a movie star, but is trapped in an abusive marriage.  Marisol "Mari" Cruz is the 2007 narrator.  She's a single mom in a dead-end job, living with her parents.  She discovers that her grandfather was connected to Violet, who apparently committed suicide, and sets out to find out what really happened.

This is the setup for the novel, told in alternating chapters, Violet's in first person, Mari's in third.  This is Meredith Jaeger's second book, and the first, The Dressmaker's Dowry, appears to have a similar setup to this one.  I liked Boardwalk Summer well enough that I intend to read Jaeger's first book.  The plot kept me turning the pages.

Although the cover photo above indicates the book has end matter with interviews and [likely] book club questions, my advance reader edition did not contain these.

© Amanda Pape - 2018


[This advance reader edition was received from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.] 

800 (2018 #23). The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England

by Ian Mortimer

I picked up The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England at my local library after listening to author Ian Mortimer's The Outcasts of Time.  The latter book is fiction in which the protagonists travel forward in time in England, from the Middle Ages to the 1940s.  This book, by contrast, takes the reader back in time and explores what everyday life was like in England in the period in the title (1558-1603).

Much as with a modern travel guide, Mortimer covers the landscape and people, religion, character, basic essentials, what to wear, traveling, where to stay, and what to eat and drink, as well as hygiende, illness, medicine, law and disorder, and entertainment.  Chapters have many subheadings, which makes the book easier to read in smaller chunks.  There are extensive end notes, a bibliography, and a thorough index.  I do wish the book had some maps and illustrations, though.

Mortimer has written three books in this "Time Traveler's Guide" series, the other two addressing the Medieval period (14th century) and the Restoration era (late 17th century).  I'd be interested in reading the other two.  I can see historical fiction writers who want to set their stories in England in these periods using these books as sources for the details needed to create a realistic setting.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my local public library.]

799 (2018 #22). Lady Bird and Lyndon

by Betty Boyd Caroli,
read by Amanda Carlin

Despite its title, this book is more a biography of First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson than even a study of her marriage with President Lyndon Baines Johnson.  She comes off looking far better than he does.  Not the typical woman, wife and mother of that era (1930s through 1960s), Lady Bird was the perfect political spouse and a successful businesswoman in her own right.  I enjoyed learning more about her in Lady Bird and Lyndon, far more than I expected.

The print version (as viewed in excerpts on Amazon) has extensive end notes.  Author Betty Boyd Caroli used a number of primary sources in this work, including Lady Bird's White House diary (both the published version and the original stored at the LBJ Library), as well as other source material stored at the presidential library, including recordings and transcripts of meetings and conversations, home movies made by Lady Bird, and the couple's 1934 courtship letters.

Amanda Carlin was a good reader, using Southern accents when quoting Lady Bird or Lyndon, which helped to distinguish that what they were saying was within quotation marks.  However, she mispronounced Pedernales and Llano.  Ideally a top-notch narrator would research correct regional pronunciations of place names, and if not, the audiobook editors should have done it.  Fortunately these words were only used three to four times in the book, otherwise the mispronunciations would have driven me crazy.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This electronic audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library.]

797-798 (2018 #s 20-21). Two Blah Children's Picture Books

I recently received a couple children's picture books to review. I'm not particularly impressed by either.

I Like Bees, I Don't Like Honey, written by Sam Bishop and illustrated by Fiona Lumbers, starts out OK, with rhyming text and colorful full-page (or double-page spread) pictures describing one child and what s/he likes and (sometimes) dislikes.   But every four pages, there are the questions "What do you LIKE? What DON'T you like?"  with numerous kids on the page and speech balloons giving their likes and (often oddly-contrasting) dislikes.  It gets old fast, and I think hurts the message that everyone is different.  I think the book would have been better with only one of the questions spreads, near the very end.  The last page has mostly-empty speech bubbles with just "I like" or "I don't like" in them and plenty of room for kids who can write to add their own words.

The Marvelous Mustard Seed, written by Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenbert Sasso and illustrated by Margaux Meganck, is based on Jesus' parable, but isn't a retelling.  Instead, the message is that a small child, just like a tiny seed, has great potential.  The authors are a rabbi and a professor of Jewish studies and the New Testament.  There is a note for parents and teachers at the end of the book.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[These books, a paperback and an uncorrected proof respectively, were sent to me by the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.  They will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

796 (2018 #19). Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales

I purchased this audiobook for my university library's collection because it won Audie Awards in 2010 for Audiobook of the Year and for Multi-Voiced Performance.  I've grown to really like multi-voiced audiobooks, so I figured this audiobook would be a winner all the way around, especially since I was looking for something short before starting a longer book for an upcoming day with six hours of driving.

Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed in this book - mostly because of irritations in the audio quality.  The 22 folktales are read by various celebrities, and some readers are better than others.  A number of them have a very annoying quirk of letting their voices drop to a whisper in some parts and boom out in others, which doesn't always work well in an automobile when road noise competes.  I had the same issue with the musical interludes - while the songs are great for providing a taste of the different musical styles in Africa, some are played at ear-bursting volume. It's also difficult, with the package design, to read the names of some of the narrators and titles of some of the stories, because the listings are in small print and are placed BEHIND the plastic holders for the relevant CDs.

There is a PDF available on the third disc which has a map indicating where each tale originated.  There's also a brief description of each tale and its background, along with an illustration, followed by a section on the authors (which in the case of the traditional literature tales, would be retellers).  The PDF also has the website for the audiobook, which includes extensive biographies of each of the celebrity narrators, as well as some comprehension quizzes, discussion questions, and coloring pages that can be downloaded (since this is supposedly an audiobook for children, although I think it's more appropriate for older children and adults).  A second PDF has track listings, song lyrics (five of the interlude songs are played in full on the last CD), and a helpful glossary, while a third PDF has complete track information.

I was surprised to learn that five additional tales (which apparently are in the print version of this book) are available for download by separate purchase.  At $2.27 each at Audible, I passed.

My gripes aside -  there are some very good stories in this audiobook, and most of the celebrities read them with good emoting.  My favorite was "King Lion's Gifts," a pourquoi tale that explains why certain animals look or sound the way they do.  Never heard of the reader of this tale - Ricardo Chavira - but he was quite good, especially at expressing Lion's aggravation with the other animals.  There are also fables, myths, African versions of classic folktales, literary fairy tales, and a number of trickster stories on the three discs.

The celebrity narrators all donated their time, and the audiobook publisher (Hachette Audio) donated all its profits from its sales to ANSA (Artists for a New South Africa), which in turn donated 20% to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.  So, definitely worth a listen.


© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library.]

795 (2018 #18). The Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

by Meg Cabot

I got an advance reader edition (ARE) of this book when I went to the Texas Library Association annual conference - back in April 2008!  Since I didn't get the book with an obligation to review it, it sat in my TBR stash for almost ten years, until I was looking for some fluff to read before tackling the next ARE on my TBR shelf, which is much longer and looks way more intimidating.  After finishing it, I guess there was a good reason this book sat on my shelf for so long.

Another reviewer called this book "bubble gum chick lit" and "bubble bath for your brain," and I think those are perfect descriptions.  A silly romance.  It's the third (and thankfully last) book in a series, but you don't have to have read the other two first (although perhaps some of the characters and their behaviors would make more sense if I had).  At this point I would not want to go back and read those books, as reading this one first creates spoilers for those.  The characters are not particularly likable (some are downright annoying), so I don't feel like I've missed anything.  I found Lizzie's babbling to be annoying, frankly.

Not for me, but then, this really isn't my genre, and it is not well-written enough to compensate.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This advance reader edition will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.]

794 (2018 #17). NPR Favorite Driveway Moments

National Public Radio (NPR) describes a "driveway moment" as the unwillingness to stop listening to an unfinished story on your car radio once you've reached your destination - you are compelled to hear the end of the story.  I don't think many (if not most) of the stories in this "favorites" collection were of that type for me, however.  These favorites were chosen by NPR listeners and staff in 2009.

This anthology consists of 18 segments that first aired between January 15, 1977, and June 30, 2009, with all but three airing post-9/11.  The shortest segment was just over three minutes; the longest was over thirteen.

I don't listen to NPR, so perhaps I was not the best audience for this book.  I do listen to a LOT of audiobooks on my long commute, but I chose this set because I was looking for something short to listen to.

The funniest segment was one I'd actually heard on another NPR Driveway Moments collection, Love Stories, called "The Complexities of Modern Love in the Digital Age," on what might happen if two automated customer service voices, a male one and a female one, were to have a relationship.  I also got a kick out of a segment interviewing Cookie Monster (and his creators) of Sesame Street, and one from StoryCorps about a "wardrobe malfunction," called "Andes or Bust."  Most of the segments were more serious, addressing such topics as 9/11, Sarajevo, Afghanistan, and an earthquake in China.

All in all, this was an enjoyable collection, good for times you need something to listen to that is short and easy.

© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This audiobook was borrowed from and returned to my university library collection.]

793 (2018 #16). The Outcasts of Time

by Ian Mortimer,
read by James Cameron Stewart


The premise of this book was really interesting.  Stone mason John and his brother William, a cloth merchant, catch the plague in 1348 while on their way home in England.  A good deed John attempts goes awry, and they are given a choice by a mysterious voice (their consciences? the devil?).  They can either go home to spend their last six days before dying and going to hell, or to attempt to find salvation by living each one of their remaining six days 99 years after the last. And so they wake up each morning in the same place on earth where they went to sleep the night before - just 99 years later, in 1447, 1546, 1645, 1744, 1843, and 1942.  John, not wanting to chance infecting his wife and children back home, chooses the latter, and his single brother decides to go along with him.

Interestingly (to me), Ian Mortimer has written three books with titles beginning "The Time Traveller's Guide" - to Medieval England (14th century), Elizabethan England (1558-1603), and Restoration Britain (1660-1700).  I haven't read them, but from their descriptions, he concentrates not so much on historical events of the period, but rather what day-to-day life was like in those periods.  The same is true of The Outcasts of Time.  After listening to this audiobook, I've learned more about everyday life in those years, particularly for the poor.  As they move through time, John and William marvel at the changes and improvements, but also observe that some things, alas, don't change - and some even worsen.

There's a religious and philosophical aspect of this book that I could have done without, but all in all, I enjoyed this book.  John and William are very likeable characters.  I particularly like the way Mortimer worked in the Exeter Cathedral - as a stone mason, John worked on it, and he is able to see it at various times, both good and bad.  I knew very little about this and other places mentioned in the book, but (like good historical fiction) it made me want to learn more.

James Cameron Stewart was fine as a reader.  I had lots of problems with the MP3 discs on which the audiobook arrived.  They wouldn't play consistently on my car's CD player, so I transferred the files to a thumb drive and used an MP3 player.  They didn't play very well there either, perhaps because the player was rather inexpensive.  I wish the publishers (and LibraryThing) would specify the exact format in which their review copies are available.  I knew this would be an audiobook, but I was expecting regular CDs.  Had I known it would be MP3, I might not have requested a review copy.


© Amanda Pape - 2018

[This MP3 audiobook was obtained from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be donated to my local public library.]