Review 596: The Risen

The Risen by Ron Rash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two timelines and two brothers. A fateful summer of love. Short enough book to listen entirely during a day of travel across the country. Kept me entertained while I watched the land and clouds roll by through the plane window.

Read this book while traveling across the country yesterday.  I listened to the audiobook, narration was done well. Perhaps more notes on this when I've returned from my travels.

Review 595: Fire

Fire by George R. Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is all about a fiction fire that blows up in California. The location is fictionalized using real place names, but they aren’t near each other as stated in the book. The location is generally in the Sierra Nevada Mountains somewhere between Reno and Sacramento.

The characters are not fully fleshed out characters in the book, they are mere placeholders really for the jobs they do. A few characters do get some motivations and an extremely small amount of their life outside of the fire, but generally even then not more than a couple of sentences. Instead the main character that is fully explained and detailed is the fire. The Spitcat.

The book is broken up in “days” as the first day is the lightning strike that will create the fire. This first two chapters/days are more involved with the people, such as the Supervisor of the forest district and the fire lookout, which is a young woman. This is the only woman taking a “man’s” job during the firefighting operation. The only other women are not even named, but are secretary timekeepers or cooks.

The book was written in the 1940s, and the date does show. Not only with the sexism but also with the techniques of fighting fires and the approach to it.

I liked how the book described all the ways they pulled men in to help fight the fire. There were first the young boys, high school age doing summer work in the mountains. Then they had the smoke jumpers come in. By the time the fire blew-up they needed an army of men, they came in from other districts. They went and recruited from the streets of skid-rows in Stockton, Reno and Sacramento. They called these men pogies. They also brought in soldiers and convicts.

The book has two viewpoints, one that the forest is there to be used by man and the other to be remain pristine as a natural park for beauty. While the animals are of concern, there isn’t any concern about ecology or natural systems in how everything is connected.

In any case, this is a through telling of a fire burning through a forest.

Previously Read George R. Stewart books:

• Storm
• (3.75 stars) December.2023
• Earth Abides
• (5 stars) October.2017

Review 594: The Wedding

The Wedding by Dorothy West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Oval is a rich enclave of African American residents. Many own summer homes here, they all know one another. This season is the upcoming wedding of Shelby Coles, marrying a white man, a musician no less with no regular income. Shelby was expected to marry someone that has a profession, well to-do as she was brought up. And someone of her own race.

There are many character in this story. Shelby’s parents, her sister, Gram, and several other generations of ancestors. Also, a neighbor man who has his sights on Shelby. The story is not linear, and often goes in the past. It is somewhat confusing. I had a hard time getting hold of who was who and related and what was going on. The family tree in the beginning of the book helped.

I nearly gave up on the book half-way through out of sheer confusion of these mass of varied stories. But I found and watched half of the tv-mini series made near around when the book came out. Things clicked in from there, but there are major differences from the film version and the book (isn’t that always?).

The major theme for this book is race and racism. It shows many sides of this and not just from the whites but within black families as well. The question is also was Shelby’s decision to marry a white man because of race?

When the book takes a closer look at marriages and why people married who they did, there is something else. Shelby may be trying to change that dynamic and he just happens to be white. But Shelby has been beginning to question her choice even up to the day before the wedding. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me, hastily finished.

Review 593: Notes to Myself

Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hugh Prather decided to be a writer, while his wife supported them on her teaching salary. Back in the late 60’s this may have been an usual set-up. After a few years he wasn’t getting very far, so he gleaned statements from his journal and the result was this book

They are mostly notes of helping him become a better person. They can be philosophical, or help you think about ways to approach life. It's not quite self-help. I feel like my description here is faulty.

The book has a lot of white space. The notes can be a sentence or two, often longer to a paragraph or more. In-between there is a small graphic of two leaves, at least in my copy of the book.
This book did well for him and these notes became very popular in the 1970s. It started him on a series of a similar theme.

I bought a used copy of the book when I was in my early-twenties and read about half of the book. I liked it at the time, thought it was profound. Not sure why I didn’t finish, but I always wanted to return to it.

Now many years later, I’m trying to get to some of these older books. Started over and read through in a couple of days, and, well it was okay. Didn’t find it amazing or anything. Perhaps the book was more profound while young or the intervening years I’ve lived more. Not sure.

I expect this may be one of those books that when it finds you at the right time it very good, but if not it’s just okay.

Review 592: Buffalo Justice

Buffalo Justice: A Contemporary Western Mystery by W. Michael Gear
My rating: 3.25 of 5 stars

The Gear’s (husband and wife writing team) have a long list of books under their names, most written together, some separately. This is a new genre for the Gears, from their long series of Native Peoples called: North America's Forgotten Past. Instead of focusing on the historical past we have “A Contemporary Western Mystery” based in Montana and Wyoming, buffalo country.

The book starts with the murder of a very rich man and conservation lawyer Ryman Banks. Ryman runs an organization based on saving the purity of the buffalo. Along the way he’s made several enemies, including his soon to be ex-wife, who gains his estate with his death which she was not getting in the divorce.

This becomes a high-profile case for the state of Montana and the DOJ assigns a new agent Jillian Masterson. What follows is trying to piece out who and why Ryman was killed.

It’s a fast-paced book, as many of the Gear’s books can be. I read this based on my enjoyment of their historic series, but this type of book is not really my usual fare. While it was well written, and I learned about genetics and buffalo, I'm not a fan of police procedurals. For those who do enjoy this genre they will find much to enjoy here.

Thanks to Wolfpack Publishing /BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 591: The Strange Case of Jane O.

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This is a psychological case of Jane O. The book uses the view point of the psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Bryd, and Jane, as letters to her baby son. Jane has perfect memory, except in a couple of cases and lost time.

Jane goes to Dr. Bryd because she had a day of lost memory, she didn’t know where she was or what happened and this was very unusual for her. The book tries to piece together what's going on as she has more of these "fugue states".

This does become an interesting case.

I had a strong interest in psychology when I was younger, which was why this book appealed to me for reading. It’s interesting how reading tastes or interests change through the years. In any case, this book is set up like a psychological case, which added to the appeal.

Thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.

Review 590: Nellie Taft

Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era by Carl Sferrazza Anthony
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very much enjoyed this biography of Nellie Taft, named Helen Louise Heron, but always went by Nellie. I liked the writing style and how the information was presented, linear, and perfect for this type of biography.

While young she decided she wanted to marry a man who would be president and in William Taft she found her man, even though his ambition was to be on the Supreme Court. Well, he managed both.

Nellie was quite the woman, her own mind and did a lot of "firsts" as a president's wife. If alive today she likely would have run for president instead of her husband.

I would like to say more, but this is all I can manage at this moment. Oh, except to add she is responsible for all the Japanese Cherry Trees in Washington, D.C.

Review 589: River of the Gods

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is somewhat a biography of Richard Burton, with John Hanning Speke being a companion on several expeditions into Africa being backed by the Royal Geographic Society.

Richard Burton is quite the character. The book begins with Burton attempting to complete the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca completely disguised as a Muslim. Being found out he faced certain death. However, he pulled it off and later wrote about it.

Burton was a polyglot and was easily able to understand new languages. While in the 18th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry he learned 12 languages in 7 years, often placing first in the exams over other officers who studied for years. He was aiming to rise in the ranks quickly by being an interpreter.

Burton was able to get commissions from the Royal Geographic Society to lead an expedition into the interior of Africa to find the source of the Nile, or White Nile as they often called it. Ended up being several. One ended before it really began being attacked by 350 Somalis. Burton took a javelin through his face, which left a permanent scar across his checks.

Speke was there as well and barely escaped with his life, but readily joined Burton when he set out on the next expedition. This time the men battled many illness. Speke was blinded for a while from one illness, then a beetle ended up inside his ear. This left him partially deaf but somehow helped heal his vision issues.

Amazingly, these men were still willing and excited to go back to Africa again, even after all the illnesses they suffered and being attacked.

Without making this too much longer, I did enjoy this book. However, it felt like the expeditions were not as detailed and drawn out as one would think. Perhaps many details were left out in order to keep the book a shorter length? The book is not long, just over 300 pages, but easily could have added 100 more.

A good portion of the book was about other biographical aspects of Burton, which often included Speke. He betrayed Burton in reporting to the Royal Geographic Society. People tended to side with Speke over Burton, who’s reputation was not all that good. The book was quite compelling.