Finished ANGEL TIME

A story of redemption (or at least the beginning of redemption) which bears Anne Rice's mark of lush environments and interesting characters.  There was shades of Violin in the descriptions of music (as well as Cry to Heaven) while the journey into the past with its detailed descriptions reminded me of Servant of the Bones.  This new series should give Anne Rice a great showcase for the latter.  The reader feels like she really is walking down a street in the past with all senses in play.  And the stories (two of them really) are wonderful as well.

And now I have started another Phryne Fisher Mystery.  This promises to be as busy and charming as the rest as Phryne and Dot have traveled to Sidney, met some fun new characters, and have to figure out who robbed the safe at the college as well as to find Dot's sister who seems to have been missing for a week.

Finished A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM

Two people are trapped by their social class in Scotland in the era leading up to the American Revolution:  Mack is a serf trapped to work in a coal mine for his lifetime enslaved to the land and mineowner; Lizzie, born into the owner class, but to a man who mismanaged his estate and then died.  Her mother has no idea how to manage it and is about to lose it.  Lizzie is expected to marry the son of a nearby landowner who she detests.  The story follows the action to London and then to Virginia.

The thing I found really frustrating about The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End exists here also, albeit in shorter form:  a villain so evil as to make me start wondering how to go back in time and assascinate him.  This is a page-turner.

I have now started Angel Time by Anne Rice.  Told in the first person, our narrator confides in us his love of missions and peace, somewhat ironic for a hit man.

Finished ISAAC'S STORM

This may be my favorite of the books Larson has written.  By gathering everything written by or about the main principles in this disaster and putting them together in close to chronological order, he has again written an extremely compelling story.  And it is case in point of the disaster that can be, if not caused by, certainly exacerbated by a combination of arrogance and ignorance.

I have now begun A Place Called Freedom, by Ken Follett.  Mack McAshe, a Scottish serf working in the coal mine belonging to the lord of the land her lives on, longs for freedom.  Which is about as far as I have gotten...😊😂.

Finished CHARLATANS

Saturday morning I woke up because of a nightmare in which I was the protagonist in this story and was in a situation that was quite possible when I left it.  It was early, but I knew I wasn't going to sleep well until I finished the book.  Luckily, I was close.  The theme of the book has to do with the effect of the internet on our lives in general and medicine in particular.  The author leaves it up to us to decide if that effect is to our benefit or our detriment.

I have now started Isaac's Storm, A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, a non-fiction account by Erik Larson.  The title may not be entirely accurate since it is about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane of September 8.  This was the deadliest in American history (killed 6000 people) but maybe not in world history.  Part of the problem was the United States Weather Bureau was in it's infancy.  Isaac Cline had come to Galveston only two years before to set up the first weather station there.  It looks to be pretty exciting.

Finished LITTLE MEN

The protagonist in this book (Jo March Bhaer) and that of The Number 1 Women's Detective Agency (Precious Ramotswe) both have a gentle wisdom that creates a gentle world around them.  It is lovely to visit these worlds every so often.

I have now gone from the sublime to the scary: Charlatans by Robin Cook.  So far it seems to be about the entitled attitude of some doctors...we will see.  A patient has died in the operating room.  The cause is a famous doctor who is trying to do three operations at once, demands that the anesthesia is started before he gets there, gets there 40 minutes after the anesthesia is started, and has obviously not prepared his patient we since the patient ate breakfast and then lied about it.  He also obviously didn't examine him well before the operation because the problem was worse than he was prepared for.  All of which it appears he is going to blame the anesthesiologist for.

Finished DWARFS

Another of the beautiful books of this series, Dwarfs starts us out with their protrayal in Norse legend, and then walks us through the great kingdoms of magical and highly skilled miners and metal crafters, to leprechans, house and farm elves, dangerously alienated dwarfs, and finally their leaving us because of their disillusionment.  Beautifully illustrated and told.

I have now started Dragons in this series.  It begins with a tale that reads very much like Bilbo's trek through the tunnel into Smaug's lair and ends much the same as well.  But, instead of Bard the hero, the hero here is a very much aged Beowulf.  How great!  This book promises to be as delightful as the others in this series.

Finished THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS and THE WITCHES

By following three people through their migration from the South to Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, Isabel Wilkerson writes very readably in this well researched non-fiction piece.  We here stories of other people as we move through the narrative.  Though I certainly knew of this migration, my knowledge and understanding of it is much clearer now.  These struggles are probably not much different from those of modern day migrants, escaping persecution and death.

Then I went back to The Witches, Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem.  Unusual, I know, for me to read two non-fiction books in a row.  They just kind of fell that way.  This last section of the book mostly told what happened to the principles after "spectral evidence" lost favor and was outlawed in the courts of Massachusetts.  The time became a euphemism ("the time of tragedy and confusion,"  "the recent unfortunate time," etc.)  The judges were never blamed by the populace, who believed them above reproach.  But even they seemed not to fair well.  I hadn't expected this section to be as interesting as the rest of the book, but it certainly was.  However, the book suffers from being dry, and often prodigious, which explains why I took so long to read it.



I have now started Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.  Again, I don't know how I escaped reading this at a much earlier age, but I find I am enjoying at at 73, so I guess that can prove these books are timeless.  Jo and the Professor have now settled into their boys' home and are enjoying raising and educating 12 boys, when another arrives, dirty and hungry and forlorn.  We see the Bhaers, the other boys, and staff take him in, make him feel welcome, clean him up, feed him, and then discover his wonderful talent that will enrich their lives.