Spring Reading Roundup

 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.

Winter Reading and Watching Notes

Apart from holiday-themed books, I do have a number of other books recently read that desire their place in the sun, low in the sky though it is!

The Briar Club, by Kate Quinn - absolutely fabulous. It was such a good 5-star read that I am listening to it again with my husband. I love the setting--a boarding house in the early 1950s in Washington, DC. I love the cast of characters, from smooth-as-silk, mysterious Grace March who transforms a motley set of female boarders into friends and family (the kind that gets under your skin but you fight to protect!), to Bea (a former player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) who finds new ways to live the dream, to Pete and Lena (the crotchety landlady's two children), to the rest of the women and their boyfriends, husbands, and lovers. It was a great look at life in the 1950s--the Red Scare and McCarthy, Pillsbury Bakeoffs, working women trying to keep afloat and safe in a man's world, racism, and food--each character provides a recipe for a dish that seems so 1950s. I hope she writes a sequel. I would love to stay in touch with all of these characters!

Ancestors: A History of Britain in Seven Burials, by Alice Roberts - I listened to the author read the first in a three-volume set of books that explore the archeological record in Britain and how recent technological advances are changing theories about when and how and by whom the area was populated. Roberts has a long list of credentials, has participated on many digs, and has access to leading archeologists and anthropologists--in addition, she is witty, articulate, and easy to listen to and understand. First rate all the way.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, by Helen Simonson - another fabulous book. This one is set in a resort hotel in coastal town in southern England just after WWII. Once again, women are struggling to support themselves after the war in which they were asked to do men's work and then asked to give up their jobs after the war ended. A good mix of upstairs/downstairs characters trying to figure out what's what in a rapidly changing world. 

A Good Life, by Virginie Grimaldi - a recommendation from Joann of Gulfside Musing, and a terrific story about two sisters who are spending a week in their beloved grandmother's house after she passed away. We learn their backstory as they reminisce and deal with the issues that have plagued their relatiionship over the years. Translated from French. Very good.

Jane and the Final Mystery, by Stephanie Barron - the final book in Barron's 15-book Jane Austen mystery series. It takes place mostly in Winchester in the months before Austen's death in August 1817, and it was lovely to see our heroine helping solve a murder mystery that involved one of her oldest and dearest friends. Jane was clearly declining rapidly at this point, and I appreciated how Barron was able to capture the spark and wit of Austen despite her physical limitations, fatigue, and knowledge that she didn't have long to live. This was a great close to a fabulous mystery series. I will miss the further adventures of Jane Austen, sleuth, but I am a devout rereader and I have all fifteen books at my disposal.

The It Girl, by Ruth Ware - I ended up really liking this mystery--endings can be tricky, but this one was particularly good in that it kept me guessing and the tension was great--but I was so frustrated with how dim the Oxford University protagonist was. I'm not sure if this is a weakness on the part of the author, but I found her self-doubt, naivete, and gullibility unbelievable. The titular "It Girl," April was so well-drawn that it was easy to see how most of her peers would want to murder her. This is the second book by this author I have read--I really liked her The Woman in Cabin 10--and I plan to read more. She does write good thrillers.

Nostalgic TV

There are so many TV options these days--countless streaming services, all offering new stuff...for a price. However, my husband and I decided to skip the latest trends and revisit old favorites. 

We just started season 4 of MASH--Col Blake and Trapper John are gone, BJ has replaced Trapper, and Col Potter has replaced Henry Blake. Margaret Hoolihan and Frank Burns are still steamy, and Hawkeye, Radar, Klinger, and Father Mulcahey are all in good form. I haven't watched MASH all the way through for over 20 years, maybe more, but since we have all the DVDs, why not? It is really some of the best TV ever. It was airing live when I was in Junior High, and my husband and I watched the final episode together shortly after we met and started dating.

And, last night we finished season 2 of Northern Exposure. Again. we have all the DVDs, and it's been at least a decade since we watched the whole thing. I love this show so much--back in 2001, we drove to Seattle for the JASNA AGM in October and happened to see a sign for Roslyn, WA. So we, of course, took the exit and walked around the town, taking pictures, buying t-shirts in the store that was the Joel's office, and having a beer at the Brick. We also stopped in 2010, which I included in a travelogue post.

I know there is a lot of great new TV out there, but just like rereading, rewatching can be immensely satisfying.

I'm curious--do any of you rewatch favorite TV shows too? 

Travelogue: Tacoma and points south

Last Thursday I flew up to Seattle to meet my daughter and husband, who had driven up from Colorado earlier in the week. She moved into her freshman dorm on Friday, we did the parents part of orientation, took her out to dinner on Saturday, and then drove back to Colorado on Sunday and Monday.

Before I left on Thursday, I had been feeling pretty poorly--stressed, depressed, and generally battling the blues. When we left Tacoma on Sunday morning, I was riding an emotional high--she was happy, the school was great, and our second encounter with the Puget Sound area convinced us that it really is a wonderful part of the world.

On our first visit we stayed in the downtown area and I fell in love with the cool, gorgeous swirly glass art of Dale Chihuly which adorns the area, both in museums and in public places and spaces.



This time we stayed further north and spent a lot of time walking in the parks along Commencement Bay--the weather was absolutely perfect (mild, slight breeze, sunny).

We continued to find wonderful little restaurants that had great food, great service, and were interesting, unique, and not outrageously expensive. Pacific Grill did not disappoint--we tried to go here last time, but couldn't fit it in--this time it was top priority, foodwise. We also made a return visit to our favorite from our previous trip, Primo Grill, where we pretty much ordered what we did last time--a variety of appetizers followed by the prosciutto/fig marmalade/rosemary/goat cheese pizza.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed home...making the all-important pilgrimage to Rosalyn, WA, which plays the part of Cicely, AK in one of our favorite TV shows, Northern Exposure. It was too early to hit the gift shop so I'll have to wait until next visit for my t-shirt and coffee mug. As it turns out, we're rewatching the series and are currently in the midst of season four.



We then proceeded to follow the Oregon Trail in the reverse direction, stopping occasionally at the historic sites. I am newly inspired to find a diary from someone who migrated west along the Oregon Trail. It's a topic of great interest and yet I still haven't read much about it...yet.

We stopped for the night in Twin Falls, ID, where we discovered that the Snake River had carved a magnificent gorge. It was absolutely breathtaking, and we found a restaurant with a terrific gorge view where we could relax and unwind after a long day of driving.

The second day of driving took us across Wyoming, where we must have encountered roughly 100,000 orange road construction barrels. I think there might have been 10 miles of highway that wasn't under construction along I-80, but I doubt it was that high a number.

Now we're home, and I'm ready to get serious about getting some posts up on all the great reading I've been doing, but first I have to go on another business trip tomorrow, and then I can write this weekend...I hope!