The Windsor Affair by Melanie Benjamin
I knew the basic story about King Edward VIII of England giving up his throne for "the woman I love," twice-divorced American Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson. And of course I knew of the "Queen Mum", Queen Elizabeth II's mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, although I didn't know much about her, other than she was married to George V, Edward's younger brother, who became king upon the elder's abdication - and I didn't know much about him, either. I haven't seen The Crown series nor The King's Speech movie. I had no idea there was such a rivalry between the two women.
This book revolves around those four main characters, much of it told from Wallis' and Elizabeth's alternating points of view. It covers their early years (they were all born between 1895 and 1900) up to 1976. I learned a lot about them (and about English history in the same time period), but I found all four characters to be either weak (the men) or extremely catty (the women). In other words, they were all pretty unlikeable. Nevertheless, I'm glad I read the book. I won a hardbound, dust-jacketed copy in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I'll pass the book on to a friend or donate it to a library.
The Odyssey by Homer, translation by Samuel Butler
After seeing the Christopher Nolan movie adaptation and reading Gareth Hinds' graphic novel version of this classic last month, I wanted to read a "complete" version. This was one of the translations recommended by Hinds. In this edition of Samuel Butler’s translation, the names of the gods and characters have been restored from Latin to the original Greek - which is appropriate. After reading it (there is LOTS of repetition), I decided to cancel all the other holds I had placed on this book. Twice is enough.
Good Families Don't by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Joy Ang
Most everyone is familiar with Robert Munsch, author of the classic picture book Love You Forever. This is a re-release of one of his titles originally published in 1990, with new artwork by Joy Ang. The title kind of reminds me of the saying about "horses sweat, men perspire, women glow," in that the premise of this book is that nice families don't fart (and stink). Given that I have great-grandsons who are ages two and four - I think they will love this funny book.
Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy L. Schmidt
As part of its fundraising, my local PBS station recently showed the 1998 PBS documentary "Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters" (and offered a set of their CDs and a DVD of their TV specials as thank-you gifts for certain donation levels). Their biggest hit, 1970's "Close to You," was the first record single I ever bought, at age 13. I was looking for a biography of Karen Carpenter and hit upon this one, published in 2010, by Randy L. Schmidt, an elementary school music teacher in Denton, Texas. The title comes from a 1935 Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart song Karen Carpenter recorded in 1978 and performed in a TV special that year that wasn't released until 1989.
In an interview, Schmidt noted that Karen's brother Richard "never tried to stop [the book], but he didn't want to contribute either." However, he feels this made others open up and talk more than they might have if Richard had been involved in the project. Schmidt interviewed nearly 100 people, including most of Karen's best friends.
I thought I already knew a lot about the Carpenters, but I learned even more from this book. At the end, it has extensive acknowledgments, a selected discography and list of television appearances, end notes, a bibliography, suggested reading, and an index, so it is a serious biography. There are even a number of photographs.
addresses to check
1317 Mulberry St, Baltimore
13024 Fidler Ave, Downey
9828 Newville Ave, Downey
8353 and 8356 East 5th St, Downey - apartment buildings they purchased and renamed Close to You and Only Just Begun
8341 Lubec St, Downey
The Age of Cures: How American Scientists Saved Your Life by Barry Werth
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