Last year, I spent my gardening budget on installing the native garden, the plants and all the fixin's, such as mulch and paving stones. This year's budget went mostly towards acquiring Fiona, our newly installed sentry guard dragon. It took three men at the garden store to wrestle her into our SUV, but my engineer husband and I were able to get her out of the car and into the garden on our own. We devised a ramp using a step ladder and plywood and utilized a dolly and voila, she is now on guard duty.
One of my Australian cousins informed me that dragons in gardens bring luck, so I did a bit of searching and found some interesting tidbits (from the Magic Bricks blog) that are relevant to our dragon and that make me happy:
Dragons hold a special significance in Chinese tradition. It is a mythical creature known to bring good luck and fortune. Feng Shui dragon statues are placed in houses, shops and offices to attract success, abundance and prosperity.
A dragon statue holding a crystal is quite popular. The crystal is referred to as the wish fulfilment jewel. This type of dragon helps build hope.
You can place a dragon statue in the east direction of your house to invite success and abundance. The east direction of your house also governs health. Placing a Feng Shui dragon in this direction promotes good health.
I'm not sure whether this means the dragon should be facing east or should be on the eastern side of the house. Our dragon is to the south of the house, but we're also in good shape as the blog says this direction maintains peace and harmony at home.
Enough About Dragons...On to Books
Be Ready When the Luck Happens, by Ina Garten - I seem to be on a celebrity memoir kick lately, but I just finished listening to another one and really enjoyed it. Our repertoire of dinners includes several of Ina's, and hers is one of the cooking shows I fondly remember because I learned something about cooking by watching it. I really enjoyed hearing about her life with Jeffrey, how she jumped from working in the White House to owning The Barefoot Contessa, and how she built her business (from the shop to cookbooks to TV). I loved hearing about her time in France, both as a newlywed and later when she bought an apartment there. It was tough to read about her childhood and her cold, demanding, and (at times) abusive parents, but this was obviously a huge part of making her who she became.
I especially like the title of the memoir, which Ina explains at the end of the book. For most of her life, she attributed her success to being lucky when in actuality she worked hard, was true to herself and her values, had fun, and was ready to take advantage of opportunities when they came her way.
I just started watching her latest TV show, Be My Guest, and guess what, I learned something. I think this weekend I might make the Halibut with Herbed Butter from episode 1.
Hope you're having a wonderful summer (or winter for those down under).
This week's star native is evening primrose. The particular species I planted last year is Oenothera howardii (Howard's evening primrose), which is a Colorado native. It didn't bloom at all last year, but it started last week and is stealing the spotlight with its vibrant trumpet-shaped flowers.
One of the things I love about it is that it requires very little water but looks lush and tropical. All of the descriptions in books and online say that it blooms in the evening and overnight (good for nighttime pollinators), but mine bloom all day long!
Apparently, the entire plant is edible and has played an important part in indigenous medicine. I found some online instructions that detail how to make evening primrose oil from the blossoms, but I think I have enough on my plate right now before I even think about going down that path!
Isn't she a beauty?
I am growing it to support the local ecosystem, and its beauty is my reward.
Book Notes
Flight of Dreams, by Ariel Lawhon - this is a 2016 novel by one of my favorite authors. I loved her The Frozen River and Code Name Hélèneand was completely enthralled with Flight of Dreams. Here's the GoodReads blurb:
On the evening of May 3rd, 1937, ninety-seven people board the Hindenburg for its final, doomed flight to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Among them are a frightened stewardess who is not what she seems; the steadfast navigator determined to win her heart; a naive cabin boy eager to earn a permanent spot on the world’s largest airship; an impetuous journalist who has been blacklisted in her native Germany; and an enigmatic American businessman with a score to settle. Over the course of three hazy, champagne-soaked days their lies, fears, agendas, and hopes for the future are revealed.
The novel takes place from the moment of takeoff to the aftermath when the survivors are still struggling to deal with the fact that they did survive. Yes, there were survivors--62 out of the 97 did survive the explosion and resulting fireball that consumed the German airship.
Interesting Fact: The Hindenburg survival rate was 64% while that of the Titanic was only 32%.
It took everything I had not to read about the Hindenburg disaster until after I finished the book because virtually all of the characters were actual passengers or crew aboard the airship, and I didn't want any spoilers. The author did say that she invented the various story threads that connect the various characters, making for a rich, interesting, realistic, and compelling (i.e., nail-biting) fictional account of the final voyage of the airship.
What I found super interesting is that the term airship is totally appropriate--everything was nautical except they were going through air instead of water. I would love to see even a scale model of the interior. Flying on the Hindenburg, or on other airships, was really the height of luxury travel in the day. Unlike the Titanic, there was no steerage or 2nd class--every passenger ticket was a first-class ticket.
This is one of those books I practically couldn't put down--Lawhon is an exceptionally good histoirical novelist, using real events and real people to catapult her into a marvelous story that really could've happened. Another 5-star novel from Lawhon.
Now, I am wondering about her novel I Was Anastasia. I don't buy into conspiracy theories and have never embraced the idea that Anastasia Romanov escaped the fate of the rest of her family, but I trust Lawhon to tell a good story based on known facts...so maybe?
The June-gloom that started the month meant lots of rain for the emerging garden. Here are two views of the native garden I put in last year--almost eveything came back with just a few bare spots that a trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens annual plant sale enabled me to fill in. The pollinators have been working hard in the garden already, and today I saw two Swallowtail butterflies stop by for a drink.
I grew just about all my flowers from seed this year, with a few pots with Mother's Day offerings. I have a blue garden that I am slowly filling in, and the raised bed veggie garden is looking promising.
Books, Books, Books
What I Ate in One Year, by Stanley Tucci - after months on the library wait list, I finally got to listen to Stanley Tucci read his latest memoir. I loved his earlier book, Taste, which was about his early life, family, acting career, and, of course, food. I also loved the CNN show, Searching for Italy, and was so disappointed when it was cancelled. This book, as the title screams, is a year in the life and chronicles not only what he ate and where and what he cooked and why and who for, but is the year leading up to the taping of his current food travelogue on National Geographic, Tucci in Italy. I've watched the first three episodes (new ones drop on Sunday nights), and it is wonderful. I love Italian food, I love Italian history, I love visiting Italy, and Stanley Tucci is passionate about what he loves. A fun read!
The Third Gilmore Girl, by Kelly Bishop - Gilmore Girls is such a favorite. I've watched it multiple times over the years, and it never gets stale. Kelly Bishop was the perfect Emily Gilmore, so it was a no-brainer to get on the library waitlist to listen to her talk about her life and career.
Coincidently, Kelly was born in Colorado Springs, my hometown, and was the same age as my sister, although my parents didn't move there until she was in first grade. She moved to Denver with her family and studied ballet. At nineteen, she headed for NYC--rejected by the American Ballet Theatre, she worked as a dancer on Broadway for years and was the original Sheila Bryant in A Chorus Line, for which she won a Tony in 1976. She transitioned to acting as dancers' careers have an expiration date. Her first major-ish role was as Baby's mother in Dirty Dancing, and she had lots of roles in TV, movies, and plays on Broadway until she hit the jackpot with Gilmore Girls. The show's creator, Amy Sherman Palladino, did the intro to the book, and they were and remain fast friends.
I loved hearing about Kelly's career and the life of an entertainer. Definitely a fun book to listen to.
The Shell House Detectives, by Emylia Hall - Kathy at Reading Matters recently posted about this book, and since it sounded like something I would definitely enjoy, I promptly got it from my library and devoured it. Set in Cornwall in a small town, two unlikely people find themselves working together to solve the case of the disappearing trophy wife. Jayden is a former Leeds cop who has relocated to his wife's hometown after the death of his partner, and Ally is a widow grieving for her police sergeant husband who died about a year earlier. The other townfolk include Saffron, the cafe owner, Tim, the bumbling local cop and his boss, as well as the nasty rich newcomer and his boorish brother. I loved every minute I spent reading this book--first in what promises to be a good series. The characters and setting were marvelous, the writing decent, and the plot interesting. Thanks, Kathy, for a great recommendation.
The London House, by Katherine Reay - I really wanted to love this one, and I did in parts, but I also had some issues. The basic idea is that Caroline, an American with a rich English father, goes to London to discover the truth about her great aunt. An old boyfriend of Caroline's who is now a historian is writing a story about how Caroline's aunt defected to the Nazis while living in Paris during WWII, and Caroline and her father are distraught at the thought of the world knowing this. The London House is Caroline's father's ancestral home (one of two actually) -- Caroline's mother, now divorced from her father, is living there and gives Caroline stacks of letters and diaries that the disgraced aunt's twin sister saved.
If this sounds like a soap opera, hang on...there's more. There's a love triangle between the twin sisters (i.e., Caroline's great aunts), there's misplaced pride and guilt that wreaked generations of marriages and parent/child relationships, and there's the mystery of why the old boyfriend and Caroline stopped being friends.
I really enjoyed the history part of this book, and the multiple timelines, and the research that the contemporary characters did. I really enjoyed visiting London and Paris with the modern characters. And, I enjoyed the fashion angle during World War II in Paris, especially since I watched The New Look about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel so hearing about Schiaparelli's fashion house was super interesting, especially that Wallis Simpson's Lobster Dress from the 1937 collection.
I think this novel would have worked much better if the author hadn't succumbed to the idea that every story needs to be a love story. And, families that are as damaged as Caroline's can't heal as fast as this one did. Finding out the truth about Caroline's great-aunt fixed everything--the coldness that had presumably destroyed her parents' marriage and that shrouded her in a cloak of self-doubt and anxiety was suddenly gone and everything was rosy and happy. I don't mind happy endings, but a little reality check seemed to be called for here.
I just finished two books that deal directly with slavery--both were gut wrenching, powerful, and left me angry that we are still fighting the racism, ignorance, self-righteousness, and greed associated with this most heinous thing. Sometimes if feels as if the Civil War will never end.
The Eulogist, by Terry Gamble, was the May selection for the GoodReads True Book Talk group. I wanted to provide the GoodReads blurb, but it contains way to many spoilers...glad I didn't read it before I read the book! So basically, the story is about an Irish family that emigrates to the U.S. in the early part of the nineteenth century.
The three children of the family--two sons and a daughter--make their way in Ohio, mainly Cincinnati. The main character is really the daughter, Olivia (aka Livvie), with older brother James marrying well and becoming a successful businessman, and the second brother, Erasmus, charming the socks and everything else off every female he encounters while trying his hand at revival preaching, ferrying people across the Ohio River, and sundry other things.
Livvie is a wonderful heroine--strong willed, plain, intelligent, and interested in how things work. She is a woman of science and a woman of conscience. Being a woman of conscience, she is compelled to try to help slaves to freedom, putting her own life and that of her family in danger. Being a woman of conscience requires being a woman of courage as well.
I will definitely be checking out other books by this author.
And then there's James, by Percival Everett. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in May, and it is clear why. Definitely the best book I've read this year and the best in a long time.
James is the story of the slave Jim, Huck's companion in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Everett begins pretty much where Twain did, but the story of James--he rechristens himself--is so much more than Huck's sidekick. I don't want to provide a synopsis but suffice it to say that James's journey is convoluted--full of forward motion, backtracking, false starts, near escapes, heartbreaking and soul-wrenching loss, and the absolute certainty that he is a man of integrity, dignity, intelligence, and heart. James's journey is America's journey. Just as James's story didn't end with the last page of the novel, America's journey is ongoing as well, convoluted, full of false starts and stuttering steps.
I absolutely loved what the author did with language in this book. I'm not the biggest fan of dialect in books, but dialect in this book is essential to both the plot and the themes explored. Brilliant.
I just finished H.W. Brands' wonderful bio of U.S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, the top general of the Union Army, and the soldier that Lincoln finally found who would and could fight and win.
I started this 643-page whopper in mid-March--I didn't read it straight through but took a few breaks along the way. Still, it was a two-month book, densely packed, superbly written, and a fitting monument to a truly great American.
While I chose it because of my interest in the Civil War, it covered Grant's time as president as well as the four years following the war while Andrew Johnson was still president and reconstruction was just getting underway, and Lincoln's vision of reconstruction was being systematically dismantled. I confess that my knowledge of the last half of the nineteenth century is weak, so this was a good survey of the key people, issues, politics, and global relationships that shaped that time period and led to the turmoil of the twentieth century.
What do I like about Grant? Mostly that he was self-effacing, quiet, calm, and incredibly good at his job. When put in a position of leadership, he was decisive and confident. He didn't second-guess himself but wasn't arrogant about it. He was loyal to his friends, family, and those who served under him. Despite the scandals that rocked his administration, he was a man of integrity and truly tried to do what was best for the country. He battled the Ku Klux Klan, worked hard to try to carve out lasting treaties and land for the Native Americans, helped resolve the economic panic that hit when unscrupulous financiers tried to corner the gold market, and tried to implement Lincoln's vision for reunification. He made mistakes, but he did believe in the 14th and 15th amendments and tried to make them a reality for all Americans.
I found it interesting that after his second term as president, he and wife Julia traveled for about two years, all through Europe, and then the Middle East, and then Asia. He was absolutely beloved and revered not only in the U.S. but all over the world. Newspapers reported on his travels, his speeches (which he hated giving), and his life in general
I really did enjoy the Civil War section the best--I am still wrapping my brain around the geography, topography, strategy, and timelines--and Brands did an excellent job of explaining it all from Grant's involvement and perspective. Now, I am eager to read Grant's memoir, which he wrote while dying of cancer so that his wife would be able to live off the proceeds of the book. I've heard that it is well-written, detailed, and accurate, according to those who fought for him and subsequently read his accounts of their campaigns.
Fun Fact: Did you know that Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) published Grant's memoir? They had met a few times and shared the stage on at least one occasion. When Clemens learned the paltry amount that Grant's original publisher was going to pay for his memoir, Clemens basically bulldozed everything, offered to publish it himself, gave Julia Grant the lion's share of the sales revenue and turned a decent profit himself.
Here are the opening paragraphs of Chapter 87, which covers the response to his death in July 1885 at age 63.
The country had been bracing for the news, but no one expected the flood of emotion that followed. In cities and towns all across America, memorials and resolutions were read extolling the accomplishments of the great man. The South joined the North in commemorating his virtues; New Orleans and Richmond matched New York and Chicago in celebrating the life well lived. Condolences came from most countries of Europe and serval in Asia and Latin America. London's Westminster Abbey held a special service in his honor.
The African American community mourned particularly. "In General Grant's death, the colored people of this and all countries, and the oppressed everywhere, irrespective of complexion, have lost a preeminently true and faithful defender," a group of black veterans resolved in New York City.
In closing, Brands says:
One thing all Americans could agree on was Grant's central role in saving the Union. As commanding general in the Civil War, he had defeated secession and destroyed slavery, secession's cause. As president during Reconstruction, he had guided the South back into the Union. By the end of his public life the Union was more secure than at any previous time in the history of the nation. And no one had done more to produce that result than he.
Nothing like a couple of flights to get some great books read. Here's what I've been reading.
Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver - this is the sequel to the marvelous The Bean Trees and follows the story of Taylor and her adopted daughter, Turtle, three years after the end of the first book.
I loved everything about Pigs in Heaven--Taylor's ferocious spirit and ethical core shines through and makes the book sing. I also really enjoyed spending more time with Taylor's mother, Alice, who figures much more prominently in this story.
The gist of the story is that the Cherokee Nation discovers the anomalies in Turtle's adoption; when Taylor finds out that the adoption is being investigated, she literally freaks out and hits the road with Turtle. There is a lot of story and great characters along the way--from a real, live Barbie doll who does not share Taylor's ethical core, to the community of Heaven, Oklahoma that is practically one extended family, to Taylor's boyfriend, Jax, and Alice's cousin Sugar.
I love small-town stories and this eventually becomes one.
Fun Fact: the title comes from a Cherokee story about the Pigs in Heaven, aka the Pleiades, a constellation that consists of six wayward Cherokee boys and their mother.
Work Song, by Ivan Doig - another sequel to a wonderful novel, The Whistling Season. This story is all about charming Morrie Morgan and takes place ten years after the first book (i.e., 1919) and is set in Butte, Montana during its heyday as the "copper-capital of the world."
Morrie lives in a boarding house with a widowed landlady and a couple of ex-miners. He finds work first as an official mourner at wakes and then as a jack-of-all trades at the local library, which is run by a bigwig cattleman and ardent bibliophile. He gets involved in the local miners union, and true to form, comes up with wild and crazy solutions to the problems he and the union face--namely, how to create a stirring work song that will rally the miners and help them stand up to the copper company.
As with The Whistling Season, Work Song, is exuberant, energetic, and a whole lot of fun. While the issues, political and social, are real and sobering--WWI just ended and the Spanish Flu ravaged populations worldwide, unions were fighting for safer conditions and better, more equitable pay--the story itself is wonderful as Morrie deals with the union-busting goons who discover his Chicago past, which he is still trying to outrun. Rabrab (aka Barbara) from Whistling Season is now a 5th grade teacher in Butte and brings her children into his orbit with delightful results, especially Famine, fastest boy in the west.
Next in the trilogy about Morrie is Sweet Thunder. Can't wait to read it.
Kate & Frida, by Kim Fay - not a sequel but another book by a wonderful author. I read Fay's first book, Love and Saffron, a few years ago and so was eager to read this one. Like Love and Saffron, Kate & Frida is an epistolary novel--letters between two women who strike up a long-distance friendship and become truly best friends.
Kate works in a bookstore in Seattle, and Frida is living in Paris "enroute" to a life as a war correspondent. The novel is set in the 1990s, which was sort of nostalgic in that there are lots of references to 1990s TV, movies, celebrities, politics, etc., but life is not all that different now than then. Of course, now the letters would be emails and not delivered by snails. In the afterword, Fay says that many of the characters and situations were based on real people and events in her life, so I guess she needed to set the novel when she did.
In the course of the three years that the letters span, both Kate and Frida evolve from wanna-be writers to young women with a sense of who they are, what they want, and how they want to live. Not really a coming-of-age story--more of a coming-to-maturity story. My favorite bits, apart from the food descriptions, were when Frida was helping a group of refugee women from war-torn Sarajevo deal with the trauma they faced and the friends/family left behind during the Bosnian War.
Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn - I discovered this book on Lark Writes. The premise is that four sixty-something female assassins (targeting only the worst of the worst) come out of retirement when they are targeted for assassination. Most of the time reading this, I was reminded of The Golden Girls, with Billie and Mary Alice doubling as Dorothy, Helen was clearly naive Rose, and sexy Natalie was definitely Blanche. No real Sophia, but you can only stretch a parallel so far!
This was great fun to read, but I doubt I will read the second book in the series as I had a bit of a hard time with the whole assassination/killing aspect. I don't believe in vigilante justice, and the story points out that those with the power to name targets can be corrupted. I'd rather see us Gray Panthers sleuthing rather than killing. It is refreshing to see lots of books and TV/films featuring aging boomers who are still active and alert.
Garden Notes
Following age-old guidance, I planted a lot during the past few days of the Flower Moon (what the May full moon is called). The tomatoes and peppers were hardened off and now are in the ground, along with marigolds to keep the bugs at bay. A naturalist friend reminds me that a plant that is not being eaten is not part of the ecosystem, but I planted a whole native flower garden for them to feast upon so that leaving my tomato plants alone is not to much to ask.
Front planter box with coleus and impatiens.
Dining table on deck becomes garden bench!
The petunias are stretching out in their hanging baskets, gearing up for a season of blooms. I've been making pots of coleus and impatiens, which I think look stunning together. And my son and I planted carrots, beets, zucchini, and beans today. This weekend I'll be planting sunflowers as well as a bed of corn/beans/pumpkin (the Three Sisters).
TV Notes
We finally watched the final episode of Northern Exposure earlier this week. I cried. Here's a link to the gorgeous song that ended the series. This isn't footage from the show, but it is the same version of the song, Our Town, by Iris DeMent:
I just started watching Miss Austen--first episode was quite good, with Cassandra's flashbacks to when she and Jane where young. I didn't know that Mary Lloyd, James Austen's second wife, was also related to Cassandra's fiancé, who died before they could marry. Every story needs a villain, and Mary is shaping up to be the villain of this one.
Even though Spring has sprung in Colorado, a week-long trip to central California was an absolute horticultural extravaganza. I've been to both northern and southern California many times, but never really to the central coast. A good friend lives just south of San Luis Obispo (SLO to the locals), and her pictures over the years of her year-round garden, hikes on the beach, and drives through the vineyards finally convinced me to visit her!
Nancy never has to buy flowers from the market!
We stayed four nights in SLO--a friendly college town (Cal Poly) filled with great restaurants, too many coffee shops to count, a few bookstores, and an awesome Thursday night Farmer's Market, which is held year-round, every Thursday that isn't a major holiday. We're talking music, food vendors, and the most amazing produce--gorgeous strawberries, as well as artichokes, asparagus, onions, etc., and tons of flowers, succulents, and jars of honey, preserves, and pickled everything. It was amazing...and in early May!
We visited the beach towns of Morro Bay and Pismo Beach and then took a day drip north to Paso Robles to walk around their lovely town plaza.
Pride of Maderia - my new favorite flower
After a great visit in the SLO area, we headed south to Santa Barbara, stopping for lunch in the Danish-inspired town of Solvang. Really enjoyed driving through the Hans Christian Anderson park, filled with enticing hiking trails and shady picnic spots.
Typical building in Solvang
I absolutely fell in love with Santa Barbara. Right on the beach, the city must have a super-strict building code because everything works together beautifully--the white stucco with red roofs, the vibrant street art, flowers everywhere. Even the airport is decorated with painted tiles--one of the prettiest airports I've ever seen, actually. And the Santa Ynez mountains form a perfect backdrop to this pretty little city.
We stayed at the funkiest hotel ever in SB. The decor was eclectic, ranging from Regency to Renaissance to Art Deco to Ancient Rome--there were pictures, bric-a-brac, statues, busts, vases, you name it, covering every inch of space, but it was so comfortable and only half a block from the beach.
Guard lions at the Villa Rosa pool.
Fun Fact: my husband and I are big fans of the show Psych, which is set in Santa Barbara. However, it was actually taped in Vancouver, which is more set up for TV show taping than is SB. I read that the show's creator visited SB on his honeymoon, and the whole show is practically a love song to SB. I get that. The show captured the SB vibe perfectly.
Recently, a childhood friend and neighbor reached across cyberspace to reconnect with me. She is older than me and was friends with one of my brothers (Stewart M. Green), who sadly passed away last June, and she sent me condolences over Facebook and voila, a new old friend.
I had posted a few weeks ago about feeling such despair over the state of our country and our slip-sliding into the 19th century, with all its racism, sexism, jingoism, etc. She recommended The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, which is a series of conversations between Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams. I promptly got on the wait list for an audio copy from my library and spent last week listening to it.
I am happy to report that listening to Jane talk about her life and work and why, despite the state of the world when the book was written (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic), she remains hopeful for the future of our species and our planet did, in fact, help me to feel more hopeful myself. I am naturally a glass half-full person, but sometimes it's hard to tell where optimism ends and naivety begins.
Here are excerpts from the GoodReads blurb:
Jane focuses on her “Four Reasons for Hope”: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.
Told through stories from a remarkable career and fascinating research, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children?
Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope: from living through World War II, to her years in Gombe, to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. She details the forces that shaped her hopeful worldview, her thoughts on her past, and her revelations about her next--and perhaps final--adventure.
Goodall says that in her lectures she focuses on telling stories instead of listing facts because people can relate to stories, making the message they deliver more memorable and hence more powerful.
This is probably why I love fiction so much. While non-fiction books have a place on my library shelf and in my reading life, the stories in the novels I have read and reread and reread have shaped me so much.
I would definitely recommend this book whether you are in need of an injection of hope or not. Goodall has lived a remarkable life worth reading about, and she continues to preach a message worth listening to and heeding.
Here's a trio of books that I recently read and enjoyed as the fickle Colorado weather played havoc with my need for sunshine and vitamin D. We had three inches of snow a few days ago, but now it is all melted and the tulips, daffodils, and crabapple trees are doing their thing.
Mother of Rome, by Lauren J.A. Bear - another wonderful novel by the author of Medusa's Sisters, which I read and loved last year. This time Bear tells the story of Rhea Sylvia, princess of Alba Longa, who becomes a wolf after giving birth to twin sons, Romulus and Remus--who were fathered by Mars, Roman god of war.
Alba Longa was the city on the Italian peninsula founded by Aeneas, who fled there with the survivors after Troy fell to the Greeks, back in the mists of time.
This was a wonderful imagining of how Rome was founded, weaving the myths of the she-wolf suckling the infant boy twins, with the Aeneas myth, and throwing in Vestal Virgins as well a hunky river god of the Tiber River. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Rhea as she grew from entitled princess to super mom in wolf's clothing. Her cousin Antho was equally interesting--bartered into a loveless marriage after her father usurped the crown from Rhea's father, but strong and capable in her own right. Like with Medusa's Sisters, the theme of sisterhood runs strong in this novel.
The Crossing Places, by Elly Griffiths - This is the first in Griffith's Ruth Galloway series, which I heard about last year and finally got a copy from my used bookstore, after putting in a request for a copy. Ruth is an archeologist at a university in Norfolk, England, which was the hook that pulled me in. Ruth is brought into a missing child investigation when the local police unearth human bones near the site of an ancient sacred site that is in a salt marsh near where Ruth lives.
The setting, the story, the main characters (Ruth, her neighbors, the local police, and her university colleagues), and the archeology were all fantastic. I am definitely going to be reading more in this series.
The Darkest Evening, by Ann Cleeves - another blue-covered mystery set in England, this is #9 in Cleeves's Vera Stanhope series. I just love reading about Vera and how she goes about her work. This time she discovers a car abandoned in a snowstorm, complete with an infant inside but the door wide open. Vera and her colleagues solve the mystery of the murdered mother, but not without needing to delve into the farming community's deepest secrets as well as poking around in the skeletons in Vera's own extended family closet.
Gardening Update
The onions, peas, lettuce, spinach, and strawberries are all thrilled with all the moisture over the past week and are healthy and growing rapidly. I've been repotting the seedlings under grow lights, and my guest room is starting to look like a jungle. I cannot plant most things outside until mid-May, but the violas are now in pots on the back deck.
I really enjoy Barbara Kingsolver's books, but I didn't start reading her until I fell in love withProdigal Summer, published in 2000. I've read most of what she's published since then, which means I have all her early stuff to read. I started on the backlist with The Bean Trees, published in 1988, and it was fantastic!
Here's the GoodReads synopsis:
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.
As with most synopses, you get the plot but not the heart and the heart (and writing) are what makes this novel sing. Taylor is a very young woman, but she shoulders the responsibility of caring for an abused baby that is literally thrust upon her. She figures out how to feed, clothe, soothe, and protect this child, and in the process gains a supportive network of friends and allies who become family.
In some ways, the story is dated--of course, there are no cell phones, Amazon, smart watches, and all the other trappings of life in the 21st century--but the themes and stories are timeless. The subplot of Estevan and Esperanza, refugees from Guatemala who fled for their lives, leaving behind their kidnapped and probably murdered daughter, is particularly relevant these days.
The bean trees of the title are wisteria trees--their seed pods look like green beans. Turtle, Taylor's adopted daughter, has a mania for plants, especially vegetables, and she renamed the wisteria "bean trees." Cute, right?!
Fun Fact (and speaking of cute): I found Turtle's favorite book, Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House. Urban gardening without a rooftop garden plot. I may just have to get a copy for my gardening bookshelf!
