Review 544: The Rest of Life: Three Novellas

The Rest of Life: Three Novellas by Mary Gordon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Lately, I’ve been making an effort to read some of those books that have lingered way too long on my bookshelves. This was one of them. At one point I thought maybe I had read one of the novellas, but nothing seemed familiar.

The first novella, Immaculate Man, was enjoyable in the beginning. But it quickly became a bit tedious. There was repetition of the same material, nothing much happened in the story, it was all very introspective, thoughts of present and past, and the story went on for a very long time. Unfortunately, this became a pattern for each novella.

The brief story line for this one was told from a divorced woman with two kids who is a social worker for abused women. She meets a priest as part of the job and they end up having a relationship together. He is an innocent in sexual relations and relationships. Most of the story is her describing his life, and some of his mentor, an older priest who she became very good friends with but is dying.

The second novella, Living at Home, was awful in that it was so boring. The repetition became too much. I wanted to quit reading so many times, but I persevered and kept going.

It's also from a woman’s point of view, divorced with two boys but they are grown now. The story is mostly about her Italian boyfriend. She is living in London, her parents from Germany, but she grew up mostly in America. So she feels like she doesn’t fit in with the British, nor America, nor anywhere really and her boyfriend travels so much that they have that similarity. Again, most of the story is told about him, or their relationship, and not much happens.

The last novella, The Rest of Life, was the better of the three, but I still did not enjoy it very much. Another story from the point of view of a woman, but this time she is older and she is a widow. Her son and his finance are taking her back to Italy, to her home town after being sent away as a teenager. Her thoughts about what happened, why she was sent away, and how she could never tell this story to her son is repeated several times.


Every novella was introspective, without much action and very little plot, with the exception of the last novella, that one had something of a plot. All of them seemed to go on way too long. This book is probably something I would have enjoyed more back when I bought the book, too bad I waited so long.

Review 543: Babylonia

Babylonia by Costanza Casati
My rating: 4.25 of 5 stars

This book takes place in the ancient world of Assyria and nearby (Mesopotamia) from 823 to 813 BCE. It begins with the orphan Semiramis who lives in a village, beaten by her adopted father, yet yearning to know everything. She was a unique child, especially for being a girl. The boys did not like how she was faster than them when climbing the cliffs or running. Now she is told she must marry. Instead, Semiramis changes her destiny by going with the new governor back to the city capital as his wife.

This ancient world comes to life in this historical fiction book. There is such empowerment in this book, from the strength of this orphan, of this woman, doing what other say only men could do. Learning how to defeat her fear, how to treat others that would otherwise be ignored, she taught many.

As with historical fiction, the author’s note is always something I look for and here it included an ancient Babylonian calendar. She did thorough research and for what is known that happened that long ago is accurate in the book.


This term fantasy has been applied to this book, but I find that incorrect. This is historical, maybe mythological, a retelling of what was found in an ancient scroll. The people back then believed in many gods, they interpreted the world differently than we do now. But there was no magic, no one had special powers, people were just people with different ways of living.

Book rating: 4.25 stars


Thanks to the Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy prior to publication.

However, I read 80% of the book via audio from my local library.

Review 542: Eleanore of Avignon

Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Didn’t know what to expect with this historical fiction, and was pleasantly surprised by it

The location is in the title, Avignon, taking place during 1347-1348. The main character is Elanore, so the title describes the basics. What it doesn’t describe is she is a twin, and although they are identical they are vastly different people.

Eleanore takes after their mother, who was a healer, herbalist and midwife. The twins are still morning her passing. It wasn’t entirely clear how long ago that was, but probably not too long ago.

Eleanore meets the most famous doctor in Avignon, who is interested in learning more about her herbal remedies. When the plague hits Avignon their world is turned upside down. An absorbing book with good pacing. Excellent debut novel.

I listened to the audiobook which was well narrated. Perhaps that’s why I found the book so absorbing, enjoyed listening to it.

Review 541: On A Mission

On A Mission: Selected Poems and a History of the Last Poets by Abiodun Oyewole
My rating: 4.25 of 5 stars

This is mostly a book of poetry, but it is also a book of history of two of the seven men who called themselves The Last Poets. These two are the authors Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole.

They formed their group in New York City on May 19, 1968, at Mount Morris Park during a birthday celebration for Malcom X. The group had a purpose, a call to African Americans to revolutionize, to see the truth of themselves, to love themselves, and to have power.

The beginning of the book has several essays, including an introduction written by Kim Green. Each of the authors wrote a long essay about themselves and how they came to form the group. The rest of the book contains their poems, with an introduction to each poem about why they wrote it, or what situation or feelings formed it. I’ve never encountered this format in a book of poetry before.

Poetry itself is always hard to rate, does it speak to you? These poems are more non-fiction than most poetry. I read these poems printed on the page, but suspect hearing these out loud would be more powerful.

Review 540: At Hawthorn Time

At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars

A somewhat slow meandering book focused on several people in a small village in Great Britain. The book starts with something yet to come, a bad car accident.

We follow several people for a main point of view, starting with a homeless man who is walking the old roads. He’s very connected to nature and disconnecting to people. He shouldn’t leave London after being released from jail, but he can’t be in a big city and the jail nearly broke him entirely. Now, he is heading to the farming village of Lodeshill to help with the harvest cutting asparagus.

Next is Kitty and Howard. They moved about a year ago to Lodeshill and living in the country was Kitty’s dream, not Howard’s who would rather have stayed in London. The kids are out on their own now and it’s just the two of them and their marriage is in a bit of a shamble.

Then there’s Jamie. He’s a young man working two jobs now and is working on his car dreaming of how that will be when it’s done and he can show it off. Jamie is an interesting character, often thinking about his past with his next door neighbor friend he no longer knows since the suddenly left some years ago.

Nature and the outdoors are prominent, as is how things are changing, nothing is the same. It is village life here with these people and a few others. It all comes to culmination to what came at the start of the book. It was an okay book. I liked the writing style.

Review 539: The Lost Family

The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is primarily about genealogy research, but it goes way beyond that, and is completely focused on the DNA aspect.

The author notes near the end that the technology is rapidly changing and she was worried that just while researching and writing that it would be outdated by the time of publication. Maybe. And here it is now several years later. I would point out that even so, the story contained within was fascinating enough even if some of the tech becomes outdated.

The frame of the book follows a woman, Alice Collins, that discovered a strange family mystery when she took her first DNA test. It revolved around her father who turns out not to be Irish but Jewish. It takes Alice several years to resolve some of the family mysteries. Along the way she gives DNA kits to people that possibly are relatives, finds people who are thought to be cousins, turn out not to be genetically, yet still feel like family. There are several other stories like this, discovering mysteries, such as your father is not your biological father, or your family comes from a different part of the world that family lore has said.

DNA has also helped adopted children find their birth parents, or half-siblings. Sperm donor children find out who their father is. These types of stories are expanding and changing who is family.

DNA also has a way of tracking down people that other police methods had been unable, with one of the bigger cold case being solved, finding the serial killer nicknamed The Golden State Killer. Yet these police investigations also raise questions about of privacy and consent.

There is much more in this book than these notes here. I quite enjoyed the book, which I listened to an audio copy from my library. I’m considering purchasing a print copy for future rereading or referencing for my own genealogy research.

Review 538: Flower Diary

Flower Diary: In Which Mary Hiester Reid Paints, Travels, Marries & Opens a Door by Molly Peacock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first heard about this book, a cursory description from the publisher, I thought it sounded interesting. Later, after receiving a print copy of the book I wasn’t so sure. What do I know about art and painting? Nothing.

I started reading just the beginning to see if I actually wanted to read the book, and I just kept going. The author started her writing career as a poet and it shows in this book’s writing style. Without knowing who these people are, nor anything about art, the writer drew me in and had me keep reading.

This book describes the life of an American-Canadian woman painter, Mary Hiester Reid (1854-1921). The author does a thorough job of researching her life and finding what little there is her through letters or from the biography of her perhaps more well known husband George Reid (1860-1947). (Knowing nothing about the art world, maybe both are equally well known?) She was a force for her time, breaking through the art world when it was male dominated.

The book includes images of Mary’s paintings, and a few from George. The print copy I have they are all in black and white, unfortunately. I did look a few up on the internet, but the author actually describes the paintings somewhat well, such as discussing the color and brush strokes. The paintings are analyzed, meaning is found and placed upon Mary (or George) and emotion, quite a lot of emotion. And it is using these paintings that give significant meaning to Mary’s life and this biography.

Between each chapter is an “Interlude”. The paper here is not white, but a light gray. Many times the interlude is about the author’s life, Molly Peacock, but sometimes it is tangential to the lives of the Reids. With this interlude we get a bit of autobiography, without this I would say the book tended towards the academic, even though it is fairly readable.

This turned out to be quite an enjoyable and interesting book, and just maybe I learned a tiny bit about art.