by Robert Jordan, Chuck Dixon, Chase Conley 

Fiction 2011, 237 pages

The Eye of the World is the first book in The Wheel of Time, an epic fantasy series, also known as “high fantasy”, that is quite famous, well-acclaimed, and well-loved.  I wasn’t certain I would be captivated by either the 16-book series or the Amazon Prime TV series of the same books, so I thought I would try my hand at the graphic novels.

I could not get through the first graphic novel.  This type of fantasy is simply not my cup of tea.

December 2021

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Madeline Miller

Fiction, 2012 |377 pages

The Song of Achilles inspires me to wonder ... "Why do I read fiction?"  At first blush: to learn something from a different perspective; to sink into characters and personalities that differ from my own; sometimes to activate my brain to solve a mystery; and finally, most important, to be entertained.  This book does none of these.  I suppose I am to care because it is a new, deeper telling of a part of the Greek Mythology that I read in high school.  But that simply isn't enough for me.

I gave my earlier Madeline Miller book, Circe, four hearts:  "This is a beautiful, intoxicating, and brilliant book, extremely well-written and a page-turner."  I am rather surprised that The Song of Achilles did not captivate me in the same way.

I enjoyed the first third or so, about the relationship between the son of the god Thetis, Achilles, and the pure mortal Patroclus, princes both, as they grow from children to young men.  Their love is solid and true, and yet saccharine and cliche.  There is no tension either in their love, or the world’s acceptance of their relationship. It is six (nine?) years before Patroclus feels any anger towards Achilles.  That is not quite like deep love to me.

Eventually they embark on a ship to fight against the city of Troy, and, along the way, we meet more famous gods, such as Apollo and Chiron, and mortals such as Agamemnon and Hector.  The war with Troy drags on for ten years.  Ten years of war?  Oh goodness, put me to sleep.  I found Miler’s writing to be rather bland and sometimes repetitive. This section is filled with pride, posturing, maiming, violent and bloody killing, and subjugation.  And an occasional very kind deed, such as the saving of the young woman Briseis from the brutal Agamemnon.

One of the discussion questions asks about The Song of Achilles as a myth .... a story that is timeless. I will be very interested to hear what others see as the meaning or message in this myth.

I do not gleefully recommend this January Casting Crew Book Club choice!

December 2021

Caroline Van Hemert

Nonfiction Memoir 2019 | 307 pages

What a truly remarkable story!  Caroline and Pat travel 4000 miles from Bellingham in Washington State to Kotzebue, Alaska, completely under their own power ... hiking, paddling, and rowing.  It takes them six months in 2012 as they chase Alaska's short summer weather.  The astounding journey is one of wilderness, personal growth, adventure, memoir, and the cementing of a married couple's love.  Of course, there are close calls and harrowing tales, but these are far surpassed by her exquisite descriptions of what they see and hear and acknowledge, often far, far from any civilization.  Caroline Van Hemert is an extraordinary writer, and the pages fly by.

Caroline is an ornithologist, so we track an inordinate number of bird species on both their migration north and as they leave again to go south.  The hard part about taking in her immeasurable knowledge is not being able to SEE the birds she describes so eloquently.  I wanted this book to be a picture book!  I was quite moved by their travels through one of my own favorite places on the planet, The Brooks Range.  Of course, my short view, mostly from a prop plane, does not hold the smidgen of a candle to their crossing by foot and water.  If you enjoy the outdoors, you will enjoy this book.  It is so different from many other real-life adventure stories because the route is completely new and made up by Caroline and Pat. This is not another ascent of Annapurna, nor a story about traversing The Appalachian Trail.  Not only is the writing unique, but so is the territory, their path, and their shared journey.  I definitely recommend!

Thank you, Rynda!!

December 2021

George Takei

Nonfiction Graphic Memoir 2019 | 204 pages

You know George Takei.  His popularity skyrocketed as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, and then as Commander Sulu, and finally Captain Sulu, on Star Trek.  He is an actor, an author, and an activist.  And he penned this graphic memoir.  He tells the story of being interred in American concentration camps, shortly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

George was four when he was first relocated to a concentration camp with his parents, brother, and sister, along with 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in America, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, like George.  Somehow, remarkably, even though he was very young, he remembers an extraordinary amount of the trauma he endured and manages to tell us his family’s story through the eyes of a naive, innocent, and confused young boy.  He also brings us up to today, with various political and government actions since 1942.

I loved this memoir on two counts.  First, it tells an intimate candid story of a big scar on our American identity that many of us only know in passing.  You may learn some history.  For example, I didn't know about the differing levels of cruelty among the ten camps, from Tule Lake in California to Camp Rohwer in Arkansas.  Second, Takei tells his story with such a strong sense of reality, of what it was truly like to live behind barbed wire for nearly five years as a child.  I really felt and saw and witnessed his tender heart.

This is a short read, and one I recommend to all people in America.

November 2021

Louise Penny

Fiction, 2020 |448 pages

It was a struggle to wend my way through this Louise Penny.  Armand Gamache and his crew are in Paris, France, instead of the usual Three Pines.  Armand’s elderly godfather, Stephen Horowitz, is run over by a van, as the extended Gamache family emerge from dinner at a restaurant.  Who ran him over, and why?  And who is the man found murdered a few hours later in Stephen’s lodging?  And is the local chief of police, a longtime friend and colleague of Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, really a partner in Armand’s investigation, or is he culpable in some way?

Sounds intriguing, no?  But I was never drawn in and fully engaged.  I was half-way through before I felt like I had a grasp on the cast of characters.  And Penny had an obnoxious habit of changing venues numerous times in a chapter, often without any more delineation than an empty line.  I do not recall this stylistic technique from the Three Pines novels I have read, but maybe I just didn’t notice.  As a highly visual person, it was disconcerting to see the characters sitting in the Gamache sitting room, and then suddenly to be in Jean-Guy and Annie’s apartment.

And the story?  Quite a surprise.  It is fiat.  No tension to draw me in.  There was mystery certainly, but it seemed Penny was writing “about” it, rather than taking us there live.  The denouement was unnecessarily complex,  though the last ten pages or so were sweet.  A disappointment overall.

November 2021

Casey McQuinston |  Fiction

2021, 422 pages

This is simply a weird experience.  I thought One Last Stop sounded like a fun book to read.  Time travel; two young women, Jane and August, who meet on the Q Train in New York and then both religiously keep the same commute so they might run into each other again; a budding lesbian romance; bizarre and interesting roommates for August (our main character).  The dialogue is delicious.  Actually, the delicious and witty conversations that occur among 20-somethings in NYC are rather unbelievable and stretch credibility.

Finally, after 100 pages, I decided to do a little research. Is this a YA book?  It just seems so shallow and targets an immature audience.  It is not Young Adult …. The target audience is 18-30.  If I were 18-30 I think I would be insulted by the grade level of this book, its lack of depth, its simplicity.  As someone who’s WAY older than 30, I have to shut it down now.  I don’t recommend One Last Stop at all. Though your teenage child or grandchild might enjoy it.

November, 2021

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Johanna Garton

Nonfiction 2020 | 238 pages

This is the true story of an amazing woman, Christine Feld Boskoff. Hailing from Appleton, Wisconsin, Chris became a legendary climber. She is still the only American woman to have summited six 8000-meter peaks, including Mount Everest, Shishapangma, Gasherbrum II, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Broad Peak.  Her love for climbing, her strength, and her leadership are astounding, while she eschewed publicity of any kind. The Edge of the Map is also a love story of Chris and her beloved climbing partners.  First we meet her husband Keith Boskoff; and then we witness her profound romance with her Coloradan climbing partner, Charlie Fowler.

Johanna Garton presents Chris’s life eloquently. It turns out her mother, a journalist, completed ten years of research before she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and passed on her extensive notes to Johanna to finish the writing. Johanna herself conducted 75 interviews plus travel to important venues.

I thought it bogged down just a bit in the middle, as Chris made so MANY interesting and dangerous climbs, but my dogs had to wait patiently for their walk as I rapidly page-turned the engrossing last 80 pages.

If you are, like I am, enthralled by real outdoor adventure, you will fall In love with Chris Boskoff and Edge of the Map.

November 2021

Mohsin Hamid

Fiction 2007 | 184 pages

I find The Reluctant Fundamentalist to be a beautifully written novel. Changez, a brilliant Pakistani from Lahore, is accepted Into Princeton, and later is recruited and works as a highly effective and interpersonally astute employee in an American corporation, headquartered in New York City.  Success seems to follow him whenever he goes, until his world changes on September 11, 2001.

The venue for this tale is quite interesting.  Changez is back home, living in Lahore, and he tells the story of his young adult life to an American whom he meets in a cafe, and who listens through a long afternoon and evening.  Interwoven in this story is Changez’s love for Erica.  Erica is an incredibly tragic figure, but their slowly building love relationship is fascinating.

I am quite enamored of this tragic story, which leaves threads unresolved.  It is called by many a “short novel” though, at 40,000 words it is technically a novella, which I found oddly paralleled by the novel that Erica writes, which, yes, turns out to be a novella.  The Reluctant Fundamentalist is thought-provoking and enlightening.  I recommend it.

This is another book the mother and son duo read in The End of Your Life Book Club and so I must credit Will Schwalbe again with inspiring me.

November 2021

Patricia Highsmith | Fiction, 1952

292 pages

Therese Belivet is a young woman, attempting to begin her career on or off Broadway as an apprentice set designer.  But for now, she is working the Christmas holidays in the toy department of the large department store, Frankenberg’s, when she meets Carol Aird, a slightly older woman seeking to buy a doll for her daughter.

The Price of Salt presents Therese’s story of her discovery of love, sensuality, and sexuality.  The joy of this book is in its publication date.  Surprisingly well-received, 1952 was a ground-breaking time to write about lesbian love.  Patricia Highsmith, writing then as Claire Morgan, does foray into this as-yet-unfictionalized world.  The tale may not resonate quite as much in 2021, as it is sexually tame and dated, but it is powerful and bold in its original publication period as well as today.  And therefore, quite fascinating to read.

The circumstances of this book might appeal to you or not.  Some say it is a lesbian cult classic (reminiscent, to me, of Thelma and Louise).  The Price of Salt is a book the mother and son duo read in The End of Your Life Book Club and so I must credit Will Schwalbe with inspiring me.  I truly enjoyed this novel.

November 2021

John J. Prendergast

Nonfiction, 2019 |189 pages

When someone I care about buys a book for me that they have read, I pay attention.  I figure they are either sending me a message (!) or sharing something that brought them joy.  So, I read The Deep Heart slowly and intentionally this weekend.

I found Prendergast to be a particularly poor writer.  He shares many random thoughts that never quite build to a conclusion.  His thoughts are based on his own ideas and experiences, with no research and little corroborating evidence from other professionals.  And his orientation is the medical model, that of a psychotherapist.  He assumes we need to be fixed, that we are broken, traumatized, unhealthy in some way.   He doesn’t leave much space for those who are not traumatized or have done significant personal work.  This may be a useful and helpful orientation for some readers.  However, I have been a coach for nearly 25 years.  Coaches start from a very different foundation.  We assume everyone is whole, complete, resourceful, creative, healthy, and simply want to add spice to their being, or plant new flowers to bloom, or enliven some aspect of their lives that may have deadened.

He claims most people don’t know if they have core limiting beliefs.  Seriously?  Have his clients been totally unaware of their hearts and emotions?  Have they never been introspective or done any work on themselves?  Yes, some of his perspectives made me stop and think.  I particularly enjoyed his embedded meditations.  I completed each one as I read.  I love the sense of being held by an awareness, a presence of heart (chapter nine).

Deep Heart?  It remains an elusive construct to me.

Thank you, Thom, for this gift.  I love the spirituality that you have brought to our relationship.  I suspect Prendergast offers insight and clarity.  I would love to hear.

October 2021