Rounding Up: Seeds, Christie Mysteries, and the Brennans

Time for another roundup of books I've been reading...

Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton, by Richard Horan - I cannot remember where I heard about this one, from a fellow blogger or from one of the many gardening sites that I follow? Anyway, I wanted to love it and did...sporadically, which means it was a 3-star read for me. The idea is that English teacher and novelist, Horan got the idea to make pilgrimages to the homes of literary luminaries and other noteworthy people who have inspired him and collect seeds from the trees in their yards and then plant and nurture them. A cool idea, a great notion that naturally leads to a book about the pilgrimages and the trees and the challenges with gathering seeds. 

Among my favorites is the first featured in the book when Horan and his family visit Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL and he recognizes the tree in the front yard from a photograph of Lincoln. Turns out, the tree from 1860 is still alive and gracing the property. Cool, right? My other favorites were his visit to Gettysburg where he shows off his writing chops and writes a beautiful tribute to this hallowed ground, his visit to several of Robert Frost's homes, and the trip to Herman Melville's farm. I got a bit bored towards the end and will confess to skimming a bit. I like visiting favorite author's homes and seeing landscapes that inspired or influenced their work, and with my interest in gardening and trees this was a natural. I learned a lot, gained some interesting factoids, and got itchy feet that long to be on the road. Speaking of which, his bit about Kerouac has made me think maybe I should reread On the Road, which I read as teen in the 1970s and loathed, but maybe I might appreciate it as an adult. Maybe.

We Are the Brennans, by Tracey Lange - Unlike Seeds, I know exactly from whom I heard about this novel, JoAnn of Gulfside Musing. She raved about a reread of it, and JoAnn has not steered me wrong yet. This is a wonderful story about an Irish-American family in New York that is navigating the troubled waters stirred up by secrets from the past. I enjoyed getting to know each of the family members, from only daughter Sunday to her various brothers, her senile father, and the larger extended family. I would like to read more by this author.

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie - a chilling study in psychological warfare in which a sociopathic killer systematically accomplishes ten murders, following the recipe of an old nursery rhyme. The racism of the original version has been cleaned up. Not a fun read but a good look at why Christie is still the queen of the mystery.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie - Audible offers members freebies and when I saw that Richard Armitage was the reader of this first Hercule Poirot mystery and it wouldn't cost me a credit, I jumped at the chance to listen to Richard and fill in my backlist of Christie mysteries. It was actually more fun than the other Christie I read at the same time, although I must say that Hercule Poirot gets on my nerves a bit and his foil, Hastings, must be the stupidest man on the planet. Published in 1920, it is a between-the-wars story with a good cast and lots of admirable red herrings and a clever ending.

Playing Catchup - December Books

It's that time again, when I provide a quickie overview of the books I read recently but didn't find time to post about. They were all great and deserve to be remembered, recommended, and maybe even reread.

Code Name Helene, by Ariel Lawhon - I read a few reviews from other bloggers and felt this would be good. WWII, set in Marseille and the Dordogne region of France, French resistance - premise great! To be honest, during the first half I was not sure I would love it--the main character, Nancy, was a bit too perfect (beautiful, brilliant, brave, etc) but I was totally engrossed in the second half and couldn't put it down. Then, I read the afterword and learned that it was based on a real person who did all these extraordinary things.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson - this was a audio book for me, and given the amount of dialect, I was glad to listen instead of read. It was another fascinating story--learned about two major things--the WPA's Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and the rare blue-skinned people of which the main character, Cussy Carter, is one of the last. At times, I wished that the story was about one of these fascinating things instead of both as they seemed to compete with each for theme, but still a good book.

The Secret Adversary, by Agatha Christie - last year was the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first Agatha Christie mystery, so I decided to read them all in order. This was the second book and the first featuring Tommy and Tuppence. I hadn't met Tommy Beresford and Prudence (aka Tuppence) Cowley before, but I fell in love with them and look forward to spending more time with them. It was a great mystery with a bit of WWI thrown in, some wonderful red herrings, and a great deal of fun.

All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny - the latest in the Armand Gamache series. Mostly set in Paris, which I completely loved, and a first rate story. Actually I think this is one of the best in the series. Much as I like visiting Three Pines, Quebec, visiting Paris with the Gamache family was wonderful. I especially liked the opening scene at the Rodin Museum garden, which was one of my absolutely favorite spots when we visited Paris in 2018. 

Late Summer and Early Fall Potpourri

Here's what I've been reading this season.

Mysteries, of course, it's the R.I.P. season

Death and Judgement, #4 in my reread of Donna Leon's fabulous Guido Brunetti series set in Venice. Oh, Guido, how I love spending time with you and your family!

Track of the Cat, #1 in my reread of Nevada Barr's fabulous Anna Pigeon series set in National Parks. I first read this about 30 years ago, so it was great to start over with Anna. Always makes me want to go for a hike.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by the queen of the genre, Agatha Christie. When I heard that this first of Christie's mysteries was published 100 years ago this year, I knew I had to read it. It introduces the world to the incomparable Hercule Poirot, and was a classic locked room, country house mystery. Very enjoyable.

The Dry, by Jane Harper - #1 in her Aaron Falk series set in Australia. Absolutely great - I intend to read the rest in the series. I don't read too much set in Australia, but I should as I love the setting. This was an intricate small town mystery--love those small town mysteries. Well written with interesting characters.

Broken Harbor, by Tana French - it is #4 in the Dublin Squad series, but I am reading them slightly out of order, so it was #3 for me. I'm not sure why I skipped Faithful Place, but that's the next one for me. I am blown away by French's writing. This was a really powerful story and the ambience is so gritty.

And now for something completely different...

The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo - I learned about this book from JoAnn at Gulfside Musing, and listened to it. Middle-class family drama based in the Chicago suburbs. I can't really even call them a dysfunctional family--their issues weren't horrific, but I was swept along by the great writing and interesting characters. I really wanted to find out what happened next.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg - I love reading Fannie Flagg novels and it was such a pleasure to listen to Flagg read her latest novel herself. The premise is simple--a very nice Southern lady discovers she was adopted. It's a gentle story about self-confidence, love, loyalty, and family. It's also a wonderful history lesson about the WASPs, the female aviators who were contracted by the Army during WWII to ferry planes from the manufacturing plants to the bases where they were deployed for use in the war. Again, great writing, great characters, and a feel-good story during a time when I really needed to feel good.

Hope you are all healthy and finding the solace, joy, connection, and comfort that books provide.

 

Murder on the Orient Express

Finally, I got around to reading Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie. It was a treat to read a genre classic by the genre leading lady.

My first thought, as the plot unfolded was, this sounds like the Lindberg baby kidnapping. I searched and lo, I was right. Dame Christie said she was inspired by that horrible crime. I thought she did a magnificent job in assembling a cast of characters, none of whom seemed to have a motive or opportunity and all who ended up having both.

The mystery is a claustrophobic variation on the isolated country manor, in which a train from Istanbul to Paris is stalled in a snowstorm. No one can leave, no one can communicate with the outside world. The murder happens in a locked room.

I watched the latest movie version after finishing the book--the one with Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, Judy Dench as Princess Drogomiroff, Michelle Pfeiffer as Mrs. Hubbard, and Johnny Depp as Ratchett. I liked it. I know it's gotten some mixed reviews but it was dazzling. One huge difference between the movie and the book was all the time the characters spent outside the train car. Branagh, who was also the director, chose to make an avalanche stop the train in its tracks rather than a snowstorm. That meant that once the train was stopped, the characters could get out and walk around a bit. It would have been a less visually impressive film had all the shots been confined to a train car's interior. Very cramped, dark versus brilliant.

See what I mean? 

I thought the book was first rate, Christie at the top of her game. I thought the film was a fine adaptation--true to the book, with some modern issues thrown in to make it feel less dated. 

This book is part of my 2018 Back to the Classics challenge, classic crime story category.

Agatha Christie = Mary Westmacott

I've always enjoyed Agatha Christie mysteries, so when I discovered that she also wrote non-mysteries under the name Mary Westmacott, I thought I would give one a try.

I found a copy of The Rose and the Yew Tree and it made perfect airplane reading just after Christmas.  It was a fun, interesting little novel, with shades of psychological drama that kept me engaged.  Overall, the premise is pretty implausible but the writing is solid and the structure of the story interesting.

The basic idea is that the narrator, Hugh Norreys is an invalid, paralyzed due to a traffic accident, and so is an observer.  He is convalescing during the close of WWII with his artist brother and political neophyte sister-in-law in Cornwall, where the local election brings a new man, John Gabriel, into the sphere of the resident fading gentry, a couple of elderly sisters and their young ward, Isabella.

The book is a study in class structure, prejudice, and opportunism as well as sexual freedom and limitations, free will, love, and sacrifice.  From a historical perspective, it was interesting to read about the 1945 election in Britain that gave the Labour party victory over Churchill's Conservative party.  Having just finishing watching The Crown, I appreciated the author's take on how that happened.

Sadly, none of the characters are particularly likable, and Isabella is more a symbol than a real person, but I enjoyed the story and didn't guess the way it worked until just before the author revealed all.  At her heart, Christie was a mystery storyteller and this was structured much as her mysteries were with the reader guessing at the outcome right to the end.