"The Muppets" (2011).

Took my wife to see the film "The Muppets" for her birthday, and we found it an entertaining and fun movie. A good way to spend a couple of hours, and especially good if you are a Muppets fan from way back. It has all your favorite characters: Gonzo, Rowlf, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, the Chef, etc. They are all involved in a story in which the Muppets are trying to make a comeback before their old theater is bought and torn down by an evil millionaire (Chris Cooper in a fun bad role) to get at the oil that is underneath. Intertwined with this is the coming of age story of Walter, a puppet, and his brother Gary (Jason Segel). Gary has been in love with Mary (Amy Adams) for ten years, but can't seem to let go of Walter, claiming Walter needs him; the need is actually mutual. When Gary and Mary decide to go on a trip to California, they end up taking Walter along and the three visit the old Muppet studio. Walter actually overhears the plans for it, and he instigates a reunion of the Muppets to save it. So they travel around, discovering the old Muppets cast members in various and sundry locations and jobs and convincing them to reunite and throw a big fundraiser to save the theater. Meanwhile, tempers flare and egos rise, and Chris Cooper is in a bad mood after hearing about the coming event and tries to sabotage it. Mary feels neglected and leaves; Walter and Gary decide whether they are man or muppet? and Miss Piggy and Kermit come to an agreement. Full of celebrity cameos, slapstick, song and dance numbers, jokey humor, and good ol' Muppet acts, we found it silly and fun and nostalgic. Brought back wonderful memories of the old "Muppet Show" and how entertaining it really was and how happy it made us feel. Good fun.

OUT OF OZ by Gregory Maguire, 2011.

   This latest by Maguire concerns mainly the coming of age of Elphaba's granddaughter, a little green girl named Rain, and her coming into her own during a dreadful time of chaos in Oz. The Free State of Munchkinland is in revolt, Rain's great-uncle Shell Thropp has declared himself the divine Emperor of the Emerald City and Loyal Oz, Glinda has been put under house arrest at Mockbeggar Hall, and the witch Mombey rules in Munchkinland with a young man named Tip in her clutches. War has begun, involving troops (later including Animals), dragon attacks, refugees, political intrigues, and magic. Elphaba's Grimmerie is being hunted by the desperate power seekers, and the witch's broom is still in the picture. But alas, no Elphaba, and how I wished for her to make an appearance in this mostly dire, gloomy and dismal sort of tale that has some spots of brightness.

The novel seemed uneven to me, parts of it read really well and were quite enjoyable, others not so much. The author is possessed of a wonderful imagination and when it shines it is like gold. His clever references to things from Baum's stories and the movie--"what a world, what a world," one character says, are fun for the Oz fan; when multiple pairs of the ruby slippers that Dorothy wore were found and thrown away as useless, that made for a good inside reference. However, for the most part, I was disappointed and unsatisfied by this whole story. Bringing Dorothy Gale back to Oz was a master stroke, and I was thoroughly entertained every time she was on the page--she's 16 by this time, although decades had passed in Oz--but he should have used her more than he did. To bring her back for a huge courtroom drama in which she convicted of murdering Elphaba and Nessarose and then escapes to do--what? Not a whole lot. I personally think he made a miscalculation by not reuniting her at some point with Glinda. How could you not have them meet again? The parts covering Glinda were well done: Glinda under house arrest by order of General Cherrystone and having to make do with fewer servants and doing her own cooking seemed on the mark, as well as her scenes with Rain; her meeting Rain after some years was very fitting. Glinda is still beautiful and rather clueless, but a great character nonetheless. The Cowardly Lion (Brr) was majestic, funny, and at times stole the show as far as interest goes. I found it quite appropriate that he who formerly lacked courage was put in charge of the Emerald City and did a bang up job of it. The whole Tip episode was interesting, but as I was familiar with Tip's story from Baum's books and realized its outcome, it felt rather anti-climactic to the story. And Mombey--enjoyed his portrayal of that character--but what happened to Mombey? The reader doesn't really know.

Maguire's characters took way too many journeys around the country for too many pages for my taste, I became weary reading so much of that. Enjoyed his cameos of characters like General Jinjur (Jinjuria), Jellia Jamb, and others (like Miss Pfanee and Shenshen) from Baum's and his own stories. Liked the spots with Nanny (who knows more than she tells about what happened to Elphaba) and Chistery, the flying monkey. Liir and Candle? Nor? Wish I could have cared more about them. Disappointed in the novel's conclusion--the ending just seemed so rambling and meandering and left me feeling unsettled and unsatisfied. He answered some questions but left other things unresolved, which I didn't like. Even though I'm done with the book and have thought about it for a few days, I still feel conflicted over it. Parts of it I liked and parts I didn't. I wanted so much to like the entire book, but I didn't. I had really hoped for a more fitting entry for the conclusion of the series, and I don't feel it provided that.

This is purported to be the last volume of Maguire's Wicked Years series, and I hope that is true. While I'm not sorry to have read all of the novels, I still think that Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, is still the best of the lot, and that with this story, the series has run its course.

ELIZABETH'S WOMEN by Tracy Borman, 2009.

An easily digested treatment of Elizabeth I's life through her relationships with the women around her. As Elizabeth's life and reign are often looked at through the prominent male figures in her orbit, this work provides a different focus on Elizabeth's dazzingly successful reign as England's queen. A large number of women influenced, antagonized, opposed or befriended Elizabeth, from the time of her birth through the end of her days. Borman divides her book into chapters with themes of relationships: "Stepmothers," "Governess," "Cousins," etc. Not only does Borman include most of the well-known females, e.g., her mother, Anne Boleyn; her half-sister Mary; her last stepmother Katherine Parr; and her governess, Kat Ashley (here called Astely), but she also gives space to other shining stars of the Elizabethan Court and even lesser known figures--the faithful Elizabeth FitzGerald, Lady Clinton; downtrodden and pathetic Lady Mary Grey; the well organized and protective Lady Blanche Parry; lovely Helena Snakenborg, a Swedish girl who arrived on a visit with Princess Cecilia and decided to stay; Lady Douglas Sheffield, a rival for Robert Dudley; Mary Sidney, who unselfishly nursed Elizabeth through smallpox and then caught it herself. From her earliest childhood, Elizabeth was cared for by Lady Margaret Bryan at Hatfield, who became almost a second mother to the very young Elizabeth. She suffered the loss of this mother figure when her half brother Edward came along, but being the child she was, she regrouped and moved forward. Resilient and determined, the young girl survived disease and the stain of being labelled a bastard. She watched as each of her father Henry VIII's wives played out their various roles; she barely lived through the horror of her cousin Lady Jane Grey's brief reign and execution, and she managed a shaky existence in a somewhat love-hate relationship with her half sister Mary. By the time she became Queen of England, her survival skills were well honed, but her reign was plagued continuously by scandals, intrigues, and plots, many of which involved the ladies in her circle. Somewhat ironically, the most troublesome women seemed to be her own cousins and assorted relatives and especially those with claims to the throne: the famous Mary, Queen of Scots; the grasping and ambitious Lady Margaret Douglas; beautiful rival Lettice Knollys, who became the wife of Elizabeth's true love Robert Dudley and was the mother of Elizabeth's last favorite, Robert Devereux; Lady Catherine Grey and her sister Mary, who enraged Elizabeth with their clandestine romances; Lady Arbella Stuart, put forward by her formidable grandmother Bess of Hardwick, as Elizabeth's heir-in-waiting. As far as her ladies in waiting, Elizabeth had high expectations of them in terms of service--often keeping them from husbands and families--and kept a court governed by a strict moral code. She only wanted attractive women serving her, but then could be jealous and spiteful of them, often verbally and physically abusing them if they displeased her (usually by their secret romances and pregnancies), and she often felt betrayed by the likes of Lady Mary Howard, Mary Fitton, Elizabeth Vernon, Bess Throckmorton. As she neared her declining years, her most faithful women were her Boleyn cousins, Katherine Carey Howard and Philadelphia Carey Scrope, as well as Anne Dudley, Countess of Warwick, but even these ladies had hidden agendas and favorites they begged favors for. Her relationships with all these ladies were complex and complicated, with lots of baggage, issues, lies, subterfuge, favoritism, and intrigue galore. Perhaps saddest is the the last section, "The Sun Now Ready to Set," as Elizabeth outlived so many of her closest ladies, and the younger ones showed her very little respect toward the end of her life.Well researched and very readable, Borman makes use of an excellent number of sources, both primary and secondary, and includes some good illustrations. If you're a big Tudor fan, there's not much new here, but this would be a good diversion for those with just a basic knowledge of Elizabeth's life. It's a good distillation of material from various sources presented in a pleasant narrative.

MARY BOLEYN: THE MISTRESS OF KINGS by Alison Weir, 2011.

Historian Weir has deftly sifted through available material to create this very readable biographical treatment of the "other Boleyn girl":  Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Not much is truly known about Mary--not even a documented portrait or a good description of what she looked like--there's even disagreement over her birth year and whether she was the elder or younger sister of the more famous Anne. Called "a great and infamous whore" by some writers (but not until years later), because of her brief relationships with Francis I and Henry VIII, Weir disputes that reputation, and does a credible job of putting together bits and pieces to give a better picture of the course of Mary's life. Unfortunately, because there is so little written documentation, Weir's narrative is full of speculation and what ifs and maybes. Sources disagree as to events and personalities and dates, and Weir is forced to make decisions based on actual proof and logic, drawing her own conclusions, disregarding sources that are considered unreliable or prejudiced. One longs for a contemporary's diary or journal to turn up and shed some light here! Advertised as the first full biography of Mary, it is a worthy achievement: the author has done much research on the Tudors and her times and is able to place Mary firmly within that context; she adds new information concerning both of Mary's husbands, William Carey and William Stafford; she clears up several misconceptions about Mary's life at the courts of the Netherlands and France; she gives plausible theories as to Mary's life during undocumented times after she left the English court; and she provides an interesting theory concerning the parentage of Mary's two surviving children, Henry and Katherine. Her appendixes concerning Mary's descendants and the portrait identification issues are fascinating and thought-provoking. It is somehow gratifying to know that the oft-maligned and misunderstood Mary's notable descendants include Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Prince William of Wales. I have enjoyed other works by this author, and overall, this was a good read, and the family charts, illustrations and notes that were included in this volume were much appreciated, even by this Tudor fan. Weir gets high marks for her effort here, but in the end, Mary Boleyn as a historical figure is still very much in shadow.

DOUBLE DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay, 2011.

Dexter Morgan is back and in fine form in this sixth novel in the series. Dexter, the professional blood spatter specialist who's always been so careful with arranging his playdates with bad guys to send them into oblivion has been seen in action, but he hasn't a clue who the witness is. And what's worse, someone is pounding cops in the Miami Police Dept. into pudding, and the heat's on his sister, Sergeant Deborah, to find the beast behind the murders ASAP. Dexter, meanwhile, is also having to deal with family matters: his wife Rita is having issues concerning finding a new house for their family and suspiciously imbibing too much wine, Astor is rebelling against braces, and Cody is beginning to need Dex's guiding hand. And then when Dexter realizes that his Witness has become a monster, mirroring himself, and not only that, he has decided to expose Dexter for what he is and kill him, he knows he's in up to his neck in trouble. Dexter is stalked, manipulated, and tormented, knowing all the while that his double is out to do him in. A trip to Key West with his family to attend a home foreclosure auction (at Rita's insistence) leads to a riveting climax that involves not just Dex and the killer, but the kids as well. Lindsay writes with a fast pace and keeps the pages turning--it's dark and witty and wickedly entertaining, if gruesome. Even though Dexter is a horrendous psychopath who murders all these people (but only evilly bad people), he is just so damn likeable, you can't help but root for him. I totally enjoy his banter with his sister (not as much of it in this book, though), his smart comebacks are great, and the whole Cub Scout camping trip episode with Cody was so funny (poison ivy and mosquito bites, anyone?). Some readers have not liked this book as much because Lindsay has made Dexter more human here, but I think this novel adds layers and dimensions to Dexter, Rita, and several other characters, which made it more enjoyable for me. If you haven't given these novels a try, by all means do so, but be warned, Lindsay's powerful mix of black humor and enormously grisly descriptions are not for everyone. I give this one kudos for being a fast read, keeping me totally interested, and for continuing to make Dexter an intriguing character.

DEATH AND THE VIRGIN QUEEN: ELIZABETH I AND THE DARK SCANDAL THAT ROCKED THE THRONE by Chris Skidmore, 2010.

Skidmore's nonfiction work provides a somewhat startling new look at the mystery surrounding the sensational death of Amy Robsart, wife of Lord Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth's well loved favorite, as well as a readable recounting of the matrimonial games of the Virgin Queen. One of the earliest and most troublesome issues after Elizabeth's accession to the throne was finding her an appropriate husband: candidates were sought far and wide and at home, too, and ranged from Edward Courtenay (a Plantagent claimant to the throne) to Prince Eric of Sweden and Archduke Charles of Austria. Elizabeth's deeply personal relationship with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, is discussed in great detail, and Skidmore carefully outlines how much Dudley cared for the queen and how high his ambition was in terms of wanting to be her husband. However, Dudley was already married: to Amy Robsart, a well connected Norfolk squire's daughter, whom he saw very seldom and mostly kept buried in the country.They had married young (they were each 17), and Skidmore posits that they were a love match. Well connected but with little wealth, the couple spent more time apart as Dudley's star began to rise with his appointment as Master of the Horse; Amy receded more into the background. With Dudley's huge involvement in Elizabeth's marriage business, rumors began circulating in 1559 that Amy was ill, that she had breast cancer. Skidmore notes that it was also quite openly stated in correspondence and in conversations that Amy was fearful of being poisoned and that the queen was aware of it. It was even discussed that once his wife was disposed of, Dudley and the queen would then marry.When Amy, who was staying at Cumnor Place for an extended period, was found dead at the bottom of a staircase with her neck broken on Sept. 8, 1560, foul play was immediately suspected, and Dudley and Elizabeth scrambled to save their reputations. And although it was all highly suspicious, Dudley was cleared and Amy's death declared an accident by the inquest, but Elizabeth's relationship with Dudley was forever changed by the event. Skidmore, having access to the recently discovered forensic report, provides an explanation of what it revealed: that Amy not only had a broken neck, but gashes (dyntes) in her head as well, which further fuels speculation. For those unfamiliar with the case, this book reads well and Skidmore does a fine job covering all the points and providing context; for those who know the story, it still will be of interest. While not solving the mystery of Amy Robsart's death, Skidmore's work gives a good account of the facts and opens new avenues of exploration concerning an event that certainly affected Elizabeth I's life profoundly and has intrigued historians and Tudor fans for over 450 years.

DARK PASSAGES by Kathryn Leigh Scott, 2011.

Scott's sly send-up of her days as a Bunny at the Playboy Club and actress on the popular daytime spook-opera, "Dark Shadows" is a quick and fun read. Young, attractive, just-in-from-Minnesota Meg Harrison wants an acting career in 1960s New York. She finds a job as a cocktail Bunny at the infamous Playboy Club, goes on auditions, hoping to get cast on a new soap called "Dark Passages." Unbeknownst to anyone, Meg is a vampire, but of a different sort--she was born to a vampire mother/human father, sunlight doesn't bother her, she can shape shift, and she doesn't have to drink blood, well, not much anyway. She also has a guardian spirit, Haddie, one of the Club's late clients, watching out for her. Trying to make it without using her vampire powers, she's thrilled when she's cast as Margie, the waitress, on "Dark Passages," gets a small apartment, hangs out with friends, loves exploring New York (both in her human and vampiric forms), and enjoys her co-workers (especially Ian, who's playing the soap's new vampire character, Sebastian Stanhope). But all is not peaceful: her life is complicated by booze, drugs, her back home boyfriend, Eric (who ships out to Vietnam), an unexpected pregnancy, and a beautiful blond witch from Memphis named Camilla Nesbitt. For some reason, Camilla has had a grudge against Meg's family for a long time, and now she's gunning for Meg. When the show becomes a smash TV hit and the cast excitedly begins filming a movie based on it, the pressure intensifies in the continuing drama of Camilla's and Meg's battle. Will Meg's powers be strong enough to vanquish the lethal Camilla? Tune in and see! This is at once silly and nostalgic, filled with insider info and humor. Just plain fun!

SARUM by Edward Rutherfurd, 1987.

Sprawling, compelling and entertaining saga of the area of England famous for Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. I'd read another couple of Rutherfurd's novels before this one. His books remind me a lot of James A. Michener's in the way they are constructed: he generally takes an area and begins his story with prehistoric times and moves forward, providing episodes of the area's history, usually involving multiple families and characters. In this case, Rutherfurd draws on the splendid history of Salisbury Plain, and intertwines the lives of five families through several thousand years. I found it a dense read, but very involving, and for the most part, quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about how Stonehenge was likely created and the likelihood of human sacrifices being held there; the early burial sites of the tribes (called barrows); about sheep herding and breeding; the rise and development of fulling mills; the effect of the Black Death on the area; how the English Civil War divided area families; the occupations the families took up, like stonemasons, farmers, and fullers, etc. At 900 pages, it's a huge investment of a reader's time, but it honestly is totally worth the effort. The best and worst of humanity shows up in these pages: dishonor, betrayal, murder, acceptance, love, witchcraft, heresy, lust, double-dealing, wars, piracy, religious persecution, social activism, political upheaval, greed, outright manipulation, etc. It was interesting to see the Shockley, Mason, Godfrey, Porteus/Porter and Wilson family fortunes rise and fall, based on cunning, laziness, greed, misperceptions and misinformation, as well as secrets and lies. Some episodes were better than others: I particularly liked the section in which the cathedral was built; the period of Roman rule of the various tribes was informative; the time of the brutal Viking raids on the land was quite thrilling; Bloody Mary's reign saw Abigail Mason and her husband Peter caught up in the terror of heretic burnings; the Civil War era had Margaret Shockley and her brothers divided into Cavalier and Puritan sympathies; the Industrial Revolution brought about huge changes in the fortunes of the Shockleys, and the Wilsons morphed into the Forests and gained a baronetcy. Filled with hundreds of characters, thank goodness the author included a family chart by time period to help keep them straight. Plenty of period details and historical events provide ample background and opportunity for his characters to come to life. An enormously rich and detailed narrative of a massively important area of Britain. Recommended.

Watched "Gettysburg" over the past weekend, based on Michael Shaara's prize-winning novel, Killer Angels. Odd when I realize that it came out on the big screen in 1993, and I had never seen it; couldn't believe it had been that long a time. It's an enormously LONG movie (over 4 hours), but well worth the investment of time. I actually watched it in two parts, which I think it was a good idea to have a break in there. An extensive rendering of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, this was filmed entirely in Gettysburg and Adams County, Pa., which greatly added to the authentic feel of the movie. Several storylines intertwine among both the Federal and Confederate troops, and the viewer comes to know Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of Maine and his brother Thomas, General James Longstreet, Major General George E. Pickett, and General Robert E. Lee, among others. Primarily, though, the movie is about the great battle, which was truly a turning point of the war. Much screen time was expended on the horrors of Devil's Den and the various issues that existed in Chamberlain's troops--a lack of men, lack of ammunition, lack of supplies, and the knowledge that they were the very end of the line and could not under any circumstances, retreat, or all would be lost. So many men died on that battlefield, and that loss was clearly portrayed with shots of dead and dying men, some blood shown, but definitely restrained in terms of gore (when cannons are fired, you don't see someone's head get blown off--I know it happened, but I don't really need it to be that graphic). The film is fairly well cast, with many familiar faces: Jeff Daniels and C. Thomas Howell are entertaining as the Chamberlain brothers, Tom Berenger is good as Longstreet. Daniels' portrayal of Chamberlain is outstanding and sympathetic and one of the better characters in the movie. I was not impressed by Martin Sheen's portrayal of Lee--it just didn't sit right for some reason, not sure why. Perhaps my idea of Lee's personality just isn't the same as the screenwriter's. Stephen Lang as Pickett was awesome, if a little over the top, but definitely entertaining whenever he was on screen--his huge shock and fury at losing most of his men in the famous charge is totally compelling, and Richard Jordan as Brigadier General Armistead gave a rather touching portrait of a man definitely in conflict over a friendship with a colleague fighting on the opposite side. I enjoyed seeing Billy Campbell, Patrick James Stuart, George Lazenby, Sam Elliott, and Buck Taylor in good supporting roles. And Kevin Conway was excellent in the role of the Irish sergeant fighting alongside Col. Chamberlain. The accuracy of the costumes, the care taken with the battle depiction, the shifting points of view, the depth of characterization, the powerful emotional struggles, were all evident in this film. All in all, a very well done picture, accurately depicting a pivotal battle during the tumultuous era of the Civil War, well worth the time. Best of all, the viewer really doesn't have to be a Civil War authority/nut in order to enjoy it and maybe learn something from it.

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton, 2009.

A sprawling story spanning three generations, involving an abandoned child in 1913 Australia, a talented writer of fairy tales, and a granddaughter who discovers a new life for herself on the coast of Cornwall. When a little girl arrives at Brisbane all alone and unable to even say her name, the dockmaster and his wife adopt her, name her Nell and raise her as their own. On her 21st birthday, she's told the truth about her adoption and given a little suitcase with a few clothes and a lovely old book of fairy tales that had been in her possession when she arrived in Australia.The knowledge changes her very life, and she begins a search to find out about her past. Following slender clues, her quest leads her to the Cornish coast in England, to Blackhurst Manor, the Mountrachet family, and a dark web of secrets and lies and false hopes. As she learns more concerning the "Authoress," Eliza Makepeace, who wrote the beautiful fairy tales; the handsome artist Alexander Walker; the maidservant Mary, the overbearing, unkind Adeline and her daughter Rose, Nell realizes that her story is more tangled than she could have realized. She manages to piece together much of her past and comes close to solving the mystery of her identity, but it's left to her granddaughter, Cassandra, to discover the dark secret of the forgotten garden at Cliff Cottage on the estate and at long last put all the pieces together and solve the puzzle. Beautifully written (if a bit overlong), with an involving narrative, rich with interesting and almost Dickensian characters (Mansell and the Swindells most definitely), the reader gets sucked into the mystery almost immediately.The relationship between the cousins--the talented, determined and loyal Eliza Makepeace and the lovely but doomed Rose Mountrachet--is excellently portrayed. This is a book stuffed with characters and events, and if at times the shifting of the time periods was a bit confusing, the story clicks with an almost Gothic atmosphere in the Cornish setting, the characters are well drawn and the storyline intriguing. I found it an entertaining, at times comforting sort of read, much like the old fashioned sagas of Dorothy Eden or Susan Howatch.

THE RESERVOIR by John Milliken Thompson, 2011.

Based on a real murder case that occurred in Richmond, Virginia, in 1885, this novel quite ingeniously puts the reader right there, involving them in the events and the characters' lives from the very beginning of the narrative. On a chilly March morning in 1885, young Fannie Lillian Madison's body is found drowned in a reservoir near Hollywood Cemetery. It is soon revealed that the victim was also bruised on the head and pregnant. Investigation soon brings to light Lillie's somewhat checkered past, including her unsavory family life, and leads to the main suspect, Thomas Judson Cluverius, a young, ambitious lawyer from King William County. It was common knowledge Tommie was involved with Lillie, as well as with pretty Nola Bray. And furthermore, Tommie's older brother Willie, a quiet farmer, had been in a relationship with Lillie before Tommie. As clues are uncovered concerning that cold night's events, Tommie is charged with the murder, and the city is in the throes of excitement over the trial. But is Tommie guilty? Was Lillie's death a murder or was it suicide? Was someone else involved? Of what importance is the little watch key? And the torn letter? Tommie keeps changing his version of events, so much so that it's questioned by those around him as to just what is truth and what is not.Thompson, with straightforward storytelling, moves the narrative along, doing a credible job of presenting the known facts, as well as filling in gaps with creative imaginings, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions. Using available documentation, including contemporary newspapers and court records,Thompson provides riveting courtroom scenes, with numerous witnesses and lawyers taking stage. His characters, like Aunt Jane Tunstall, Howard Madison, William Crump and Colonel Aylett, are all real people, and imaginatively brought to life in the course of the story. Set against the backdrop of rural, peaceful King William County and the prosperous city of Richmond, just twenty years after the Civil War, Thompson's story is an excellent rendering of a case that captured the public's imagination during those post-war days. Well done, as both an historical novel and a crime suspense story. It would make a for a good book discussion.

The Book is Always Better than the Movie: "The Help"

After some deliberation, I went to a matinee showing of the movie version of "The Help" on Labor Day with my wife and daughter. Having read Kathryn Stockett's book, I fully expected that the movie wouldn't be as involving or moving. However, it came pretty close.The casting was very good, perfect shooting locations, and the script was literate with some great dialogue and well done set pieces, some wonderful humor, and for the most part it stuck to the story and kept its heart intact.Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were well cast as the two main black characters, Aibilene and Minny. Emma Stone was competent as the third lead, Skeeter; Bryce Dallas Howard was fine if a little over-the-top as Hilly. I enjoyed seeing other actors in minor roles: Brian Kerwin as Skeeter's father, Sissy Spacek as Miz Walters, Leslie Jordan as the newspaper's editor, Mary Steenburgen as Skeeter's New York book editor, etc. My quibbles with the film, as with any book made into film, always concern why certain changes were made, and that's just my nature. I felt the story had been softened somewhat, just didn't have as much of an edge to it as the book; the huge sense of fear these women had of being discovered was only hinted at; another concerned the character change in Skeeter's mother, and another was the way the relationship between Skeeter and Stuart was handled. However, I only question these because I only recently read the novel, those who have not read it or read it ages ago may not have problems with these things. I would still recommend the film as an interesting depiction of the South on the cusp of far-reaching changes, with characters either struggling to resist those changes or to embrace them and grow. Definitely I will remember the hilarious chocolate pie incident in both the book and movie!

THE ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA by Isabel Allende, 2010.

Spanning the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Haiti and New Orleans, Allende's novel follows the life of Zarite, called Tete, born on the island of Saint-Dominigue, a slave and concubine who wishes to take control of her own life and destiny no matter what the cost.
  In 1770, young and foppish Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island and begins running his father's plantation, Saint-Lazare, a sugarcane plantation of lush natural beauty and terrible brutality. When Valmorain, with little hope of ever returning to live in France, decides to marry the lovely Spaniard Eugenia del Solar, sister of his best friend and business partner Sancho, he asks his current mistress, Violette Boisier, to purchase a maid for his bride. Thus, the endearing and smart nine year old Tete, enters Violette's home and is trained as a domestic for Eugenia. Tete, an eager sort who comforts herself by dancing to African drums and learning about voodoo loa, becomes an indispensable part of Valmorain's life. As the years pass, Tete becomes far more important to her master than he does to her. Their lives fatally intertwine and involve others: the gorgeous and knowledgeable Violette, headstrong Gambo, guardian-like Loula, the vindictive Hortense Guizot, the kindly Dr. Parmentier, the witchlike Tante Rose, and Capt. Etienne Relais, who loves and tries to protect his family unto death. When the French Revolution rocks their world, creating a stunning and bloody revolution on their island with the rise of Toussaint L'ouverture and necessitating several characters' escape to New Orleans, Tete sees a chance for having her enduring wish for freedom granted. There, amidst the raucous multicultural city, with its slave markets, smuggling, governmental chaos, and famous quadroon balls, she renews her acquaintance with the free Zacharie. And at long last, after years of violence, childbirth, love, lies and betrayal, lust, slavery, cruelty, and loss, she finally finds peace and joy with the Zacharie and achieves a destiny greater than she had dreamed. 
  An interesting read, definitely of a literary bent, at times not easy to follow, with a huge cast of characters, and enough drama for several books. Allende's portrayal of the determined Tete is creative and sympathetic, she is a vigorous survivor with a heart and unquenchable spirit, able to rise above unimaginable suffering. Allende's depictions of New Orleans and Haiti are accurate and lively, and setting Tete's riveting story against these backdrops added much to the novel. For those who enjoy a lengthy saga about courage and hope against all odds. My only quibble: some of Allende's writing didn't seem well translated and made for awkward reading. Otherwise, a literate and engrossing (if sometimes slow) read.

THE GIRL WHO CHASED THE MOON by Sarah Addison Allen, 2010.

Picked this off a shelf knowing it would be a light summer read. Having read Allen's first two novels, I figured this would be similar: small town filled with quirky, odd characters, old secrets, food, long lost love, and a hint of magical realism. The main story revolves around two characters: Emily Benedict, who comes to Mullaby, NC to stay with her grandfather Vance Shelby(known as the "Giant of Mullaby" because of his extreme height), and Julia Winterson, who returned home over a year before to run her dead father's restaurant for a while with intent to sell it and move back to Baltimore, leaving behind all her memories of the place. Emily, who arrives with many questions about her mother's life in Mullaby and why she left, has strange experiences (including ethereal lights glowing in the woods) that create more mysteries and attract a local boy, Win Coffey, who has big secret of his own. Julia, who bakes cakes every day because of hunky blond Sawyer Alexander, and tries to resist re-igniting a long ago relationship with him. In the end, secrets are revealed, relationships change, and everyone's on the way to happiness. It's clever and fun and a nice read, a good break from heavier reading. Allen has found her little niche with these books and she doesn't disappoint. Good choice for the beach or backyard or a porch swing.

KNIFE MUSIC by David Carnoy, 2008.

A decent medical/legal thriller that kept me turning the pages. In sunny California, successful doctor saves a young girl's life in the OR after she has a car accident, and then some months later, she commits suicide.Why? Kristen Kroiter was only 17 when she killed herself. Police detectives, including the handicapped Hank Madden, question Dr. Ted Cogan about Kristen, asking some very personal questions about their relationship. It seems Kristen left a journal with some very intimate passages in it concerning him. What? The doctor, who has a reputation as a womanizer, is in a lot of trouble. But just who is the victim here? Broken relationships, trust, frat parties, drunkenness, jealousy, and fantasizing all play a part in this twisting story. At times somewhat intense and certainly suspenseful, with several plot twists, I found this a good and entertaining read.

AWAIT YOUR REPLY by Dan Chaon, 2009.

A book I thought I was going to enjoy more than I did. Three seemingly unrelated stories become bound together in this story of identity theft, trust, and loyalty. Miles Cheshire is searching for his twin brother, whom he hasn't seen in twenty years; Lucy Lattimore leaves town with her teacher; and Ryan Schuyler, after receiving some shocking news decides to remake himself. This was intriguing and totally chilling in terms of the ease with which someone can disappear and steal identities and become other people, but at times I found it very confusing and meandering. Lots of references to Internet and Facebook, etc., the characters were interesting, and I wanted to know more, but by the end I was past caring what happened to them--I think because I got lost somewhere within the multiple storylines. Maybe I just didn't quite get it. Anyway, not a very satisfying read for me, but someone else might enjoy this type of story--part thriller, part drama, part mystery.

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S. J. Watson, 2011.

One of those thrillers that just takes hold and won't let you go! Fifty-something Christine Lucas goes to sleep every night, and the next morning discovers all her memories are gone. Totally. She has to begin again each day to piece together her past. She's been told she's an amnesiac due to an accident years before when she was in her twenties. Unknown to her husband, Ben, she's seeing a doctor, who advises her to keep a journal, but recommends hiding it. Writing in it and then re-reading it every day, spurs more feelings and memories--of a child, of having a loyal girlfriend, of publishing a novel. And as more memories come back in dreams and sudden flashes, Chris becomes more aware that everything is not as it seems, that Ben is not telling her the whole truth. Compelled to find out her past, she becomes more determined to discover the truth about her life, but realizes there's an element of danger involved as well, as someone doesn't want her to remember everything--at least not in the way it actually happened. Watson keeps the pages turning with intense writing, high suspense, and an unexpected conclusion. Totally absorbing and riveting.

DARK ANGELS by Karleen Koen, 2006.

Set in the seventeenth century courts of King Charles II and Louis XIV, the story concerns Alice Verney, a determined and controlling Restoration lovely who wants to make a successful marriage. The attractive and spoiled Alice tends to manipulate everyone around her: her father, Sir Thomas, her friends Barbara Bragge and Gracen Howard, even Queen Catherine. When she doesn't get her own way, she sulks or completely writes you off. Stubborn, foolish, scheming, and shallow is pretty much how Alice comes across in Koen's huge novel. Will she or won't she marry the much older Duke of Balmoral? is the question running through the book. Or will she become sensible and marry the fellow she's truly in love with, Captain Richard Saylor, who thinks he's actually in love with King Charles' French mistress until he comes to the shocking realization that it's Alice he really wants? Will poor Catherine of Braganza be poisoned--or worse--divorced for her lack a child by the king? Will the evil poisoner who murdered the king's precious sister Henriette of France strike again? Does the reader care?  Court intrigue, manipulations, poisonings, pregnancies, brothels, infidelity, fabulous wealth, terrible poverty, love, loyalty, treachery and betrayal, maliciousness, secret romances, and so many characters that one tires of it. I really wanted to like this book, as I'm a huge fan of the Stuarts and their times. However, I found most of the characters unsympathetic and shallow or cartoonishly drawn, couldn't really get involved with any of them. I found the whole thing bloated, overblown, and uninvolving, and yet I kept reading because I hoped it would get better. I ended up being disappointed that I had wasted so much time on this. Maybe if I'd read her earlier books first, it would have made a difference. But as this is considered a prequel to those, it should stand alone, and yet there were times when I felt there were things I was missing because I hadn't read Koen's other novels. Not something I'd recommend, or maybe I would for those who like those long romantic sagas that are essentially costume pieces with myriad characters and very little depth.

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks, 2008.

Brooks takes on the challenge of writing about a beautifully wrought book (a Jewish haggadah) that moves through various characters' hands over the years from 1480s Spain to war-torn Bosnia in 1996. Her major character, Hanna Heath, is a rare books conservator who develops a special connection with this manuscript, known for its exquisite workmanship and curious history. Hanna is called in to perform some conservation work on this book and in the process, discovers artifacts within the book's pages--a hair, a stain, grains of salt, part of an insect wing, etc. Brooks takes us on a journey, piecing together the book's history from these various items. The overarching story of the conservator is interwoven with tales of the book. Each of these tales answers the question of how each of the tiny artifacts came to be found within the book. One episode describes how a Muslim in Sarajevo during World War II risks his life to save the book; another is about the last golden days of 1890s Vienna; still another contains the horrors of the Inquisition, and the last of the book's stories is set in Seville and describes the life of the young artist living in a Moorish house who created the luminous and unusual drawings for the book. Hanna's own research and investigation into the mysteries of the book lead her to questions of forgery and betrayal and cause dramatic changes in her own life. Based on a true event, Brooks has done an excellent job with this one. I found it entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking reading.

WENCH by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, 2010.

An interesting and often disturbing novel set at a summer resort, Tawawa House, in Ohio during the 1850s, a place where Southern white men could bring their enslaved black concubines. Near Xenia, Ohio, the resort is an idyllic retreat, and provides privacy to these men and their mistresses. Three women become acquainted there: Lizzie, Sweet, and Reenie, and remain friends through several years of visits, reuniting and sharing news and information about each others' lives at each visit. Even though they are aware that Tawawa is in free territory, they don't think much about it until a new visitor arrives--Mawu--and starts talking of escaping to freedom. It's a huge thing to consider for them all, as running away would mean leaving behind everything they know--families, children, friends, as well as breaking the emotional ties to the men who enslave them. The author has done an excellent job with the details of the period, her characters, black and white, are well drawn and full blooded, and I was totally engaged by the story of the trials and tribulations of these women. It's a story of great courage, strength, psychological as well as physical bondage, loyalty, and love. At times shocking and brutal, the narrative moves swiftly, and the reader is carried right along to the end. Very worthwhile read about a little known episode (Tawawa House really did exist--it later became a college for blacks).

MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS by Bridget Asher, 2008.

Silly but somewhat diverting piece of chick-lit that reads very quickly and is not that memorable. A woman discovers her husband Artie has cheated on her, leaves him, then finds out he is on his deathbed, returns to take care of him. She discovers his black book, and on a lark, calls all of his old girlfriends and tells them to come and take a turn at his deathbed. Somewhat shockingly, they do, and in the process of their visits, Lucy (the wife) becomes close to two of them, Eleanor and Elspa, as well as with Artie's long lost illegitimate son John (who has some secrets as well). Alliances are formed, secrets shared, there's forgiveness, blah, blah, blah. Some clever dialogue and witty remarks, but mostly it's kind of a drippy relationship story and not that convincing. Quick and forgettable.

THE REAL WIZARD OF OZ: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF L. FRANK BAUM by Rebecca Loncraine, 2009.

An articulate account of a quite fascinating and lively American writer, the creator of the Wizard of Oz stories. Born and raised in New York State, but resided in such far flung areas as South Dakota, Chicago, and Hollywood, Lyman Frank Baum was one of a large and somewhat unconventional family. This biography, by an English scholar, pulls together the varied facets of Baum's life as an actor, playwright, storekeeper, oilman, salesman, and author--a life of failures and successes, fortunes and bankruptcy--and presents them in an easy to follow narrative. She has taken available research and made use of several special collections of Baum material in writing this account, and manages to show how different pieces of Baum's life truly affected his writing of the Oz stories as well as other works--he wrote other series and novels under at least half a dozen other names in the course of his career. His marriage to Maud Gage, daughter of a prominent feminist, and the raising of the four sons is covered in depth. The author is very good with her descriptions of  major influences on Baum--the bleak Dakota prairies, the Native American troubles of the West (Wounded Knee took place during Baum's residence in Dakota), family issues with various siblings and relatives, the Civil War veterans, and how he incorporated many of these things into his stories. Loncraine also dispels several of the myths concerning Baum--for instance, the name "Oz" was not taken from his filing cabinet as has been told before, but actually sprang from his own imagination during the writing of the original story.
  I would recommend this for anyone who's a fan of the Oz series or movie, or as simply a good popular biography of a fascinating individual who in fact created the first wholly American fairy tale.

THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake, 2010.

I found this to be a rather ho-hum novel. I enjoyed the writer's depictions of the bombings of London during 1940-41 and her descriptions of small town life on Cape Cod, Massachusetts during the pre-World War II era, but I found a lot of her writing to be just so-so, and the characters not all that compelling.The plot centers around three women: the postmistress of Franklin, Mass., Iris; Emma Fitch, the young and fragile wife of that small town's doctor, and Frankie Bard, a woman reporter in Europe who is trying to make Americans aware of what is happening overseas.These three had definite issues in their lives that they struggled to deal with, including pregnancy, midlife, workplace acceptance, loss, and emotional heartache. Parts of this were very good: the accident that befalls Emma's husband, the awfulness of the trainloads of refugees out of Germany and France, the horrific bombings at night in London, sirens blaring. But the story as a whole just didn't leave me feeling much for any of it. In the end, I don't think this book was worthy of all the hype it received.

"Green Lantern"(2011): my son took me to see this movie on Father's Day. Remembering that I had enjoyed the old comics and had read about the movie, I was curious enough to go. Ryan Reynolds was much better in the role of Hal Jordan than I expected, and there was good chemistry between him and Blake Lively, who played Hal's love interest, Carol Ferris. The story is quite simple really-- after tangling with the accidently released dreaded Parallax, a dying alien, one of many Green Lanterns, heads to Earth to find the next Green Lantern. His ring chooses none other than Hal Jordan, a brash, irresponsible pilot. Hal, after understandably initial reluctance, is taken for training on planet Oa, discovers the powers of the ring and the responsibility of being a Green Lantern, and when others fail, must save Earth from the menacing fear-fed creature that is Parallax.There's the added subplot of a loser scientist who becomes connected to Parallax and creates further problems for Jordan. Things all work out for our hero, and there's a set up for a sequel, too.  Overall it's a smashing good time--lots of great effects, chases, crashes, explosions and fights, super fun and excitement, all moving at a rapid pace. I went into it not expecting anything, but came out of it impressed and having enjoyed it. A surprisingly good summertime adventure flick that not only has lots of adventure and action but also decent acting and an actual story. It was worth my visit to the theater.

NOAH'S COMPASS by Anne Tyler, 2009.

Never read an Anne Tyler novel until this one. Read several reviews and thought it might be a good novel to discuss in my book discussion groups.Tyler is a popular author, and now I see why. She has a winning writing style, it almost seems effortless, and she has a knack for writing about everyday things in a believable way. Liam Pennywell, the main character in this contemporary novel, lives in Baltimore and is forced to take early retirement at age 61 from his teaching job in a private school. Not particularly upset by it, he decides to shed most of his possessions and moves to a small apartment in a different part of the city. He goes to bed one night and wakes up the next day in the hospital, with no idea why he is there or how he got there. Disturbed by his difficulties in remembering what happened, he goes on a quest to find out and ends up making other discoveries about himself and others along the way that are quite unexpected.Tyler's characters are wonderfully drawn: Liam is likeable, memorable, so true to life and easy to relate to. All of Tyler's characters are interesting: Liam's ex-wife Barbara, his daughters Xanthe, Louise, and Kitty (who wants to live with him), his friend Bundy, Kitty's somewhat deadbeat boyfriend Damian, his young grandson Jonah, and Liam's sort of girlfriend, Eunice.They are flawed and human and funny--Tyler uses humor to great advantage. Her portrait of Liam is sympathetic and interesting and seems very true to life in terms of someone who is facing and attempting to cope with the final phase of his own life. Totally enjoyable.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger, 2001.

Set in 1962-63, this is a coming of age story about an asthmatic 11 year old boy. Reuben Land lives with his somewhat unconventional father, his older brother Davy, and younger sister Swede in a small town in Minnesota. His father, a school janitor and deeply religious man, has kept the family together after the mom walked out years before. Davy, a tough and tender 16 year old, protects the younger siblings. Rube's sister is enthralled and fascinated by Western novels and stories, and spend much time writing her own, as well as poetry. When Davy shoots two teenage bullies who have invaded their home and threatened the family, he is arrested and jailed, but escapes and flees to parts unknown during the harsh winter. The rest of the family decides to leave town after the dad loses his job, towing a new Airstream, to search for Davy. They have unusual adventures and meet some interesting people as they ride off into the Bad Lands of the Dakotas. They are eventually taken in by a lone woman, Roxanna, who has personal issues of her own and becomes attached to the family. As the search for Davy intensifies, Rube learns some very hard lessons concerning love and forgiveness.
I found this novel a bit difficult to read, I think mainly because I didn't care for the writing style. Too choppy, abrupt, didn't have a good flow to it for my taste. Enger's descriptions of the winters in that part of the country made me feel cold all the time, and the interactions between Rube and Swede were interesting and often funny. But I just wasn't as involved with any of them as I could have wished. I was interested enough in the story and in the characters enough to read to the end, but it was not a totally satisfying reading experience. It was okay, but I was glad when I was done with it.

ELIZABETH I by Margaret George, 2011.

A huge, sprawling saga spanning the later part of Elizabeth Tudor's reign from 1588-1603. I have always been a fan of long and involving historical novels of this nature, and of Margaret George's in particular, and this one did not disappoint me. Ms. George knows her history and she knows how to weave and spin out her stories, involving the reader and keeping their attention throughout.  In this novel, Elizabeth herself narrates the bulk of the story, but interwoven with her narrative is that of her most famous cousin and rival, Lettice Knollys. These two make a good counterpoint to each other: Elizabeth's and Lettice's lives became forever intertwined when young Lettice came to Elizabeth's court and became involved with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth's love. After the Queen refuses to marry him, and Lettice's first husband dies, Dudley and Lettice secretly marry. Once their marriage is revealed,  Elizabeth, hurt and enraged, banished them both from court; she forgave Dudley and recalled him, but Elizabeth swore she'd never forgive Lettice for what she considered her betrayal. When this novel opens, the Spanish Armada has left Spain and is threatening England's future. By the end of the novel, Lettice, still alive and residing quietly in the country in 1634, is reminiscing to her grandchildren about her life and that of her glittering and powerful cousin.

George quite simply brings the entire Elizabethan era to life in her writing. Her use of period detail is wonderful and adds so much to the novel's meaning, and she writes so elegantly and vibrantly about the many colorful characters of that glorious era. The story is filled with enthralling people and events: the Armadas (there were four); the continuing problems in Ireland with the O'Neill; Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins and their piracy against Spain; Sir Walter Raleigh and his attempts to found a colony in the New World of Virginia; the Irish heroine Grace O'Malley; the Cecils, father and son, who ran the English government between them; Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, John Donne and other literary lights; the mystical Dr. John Dee; Sir Francis Walsingham, who managed the Queen's elaborate spy network; Robert Devereux, Lettice's son and Elizabeth's last, and most tragic, favorite, and so many others. This is a rich, dense, and juicy book--it contains among its pages enough court scandals, gossip, political intrigue, executions, religious strife, and financial dealings to fill several books. At the center of everything is Elizabeth, always in the thick of it, always thinking and puzzling and scheming and attempting to maintain her power and control at all costs. And in the background was Lettice, the one woman she could not control.

George creates some wonderful scenes within this story, fictional and otherwise: Elizabeth at Tilbury speaking to the troops gathered against the Armada; Elizabeth's meeting with the wild and unruly Grace O'Malley; Elizabeth spontaneously attending a goose fair while on a Progress; Lettice juggling relationships with three different men, but only truly in love with one of them; Lettice and Shakespeare discussing several of his plays as he writes them, and Lettice's attempts to help her son, Robert, and slowly coming to the dreadful realization that he is doomed. One of the most moving sections is near the end of Elizabeth's life, when the aging queen and her cousins Catherine Carey and Lettice Knollys arrange to meet at Hever Castle, the ancestral Boleyn home, never visited by any of the three before. Here, amidst a secret bower once used by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Lettice and Elizabeth come to an understanding, lay to rest old rivalries and ghosts, and finally find forgiveness in each other.

In this book, Margaret George definitely used all her writing skills to bring these larger than life figures to life in these pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the witty dialogue, clever exchanges and asides, and humor that she injected into the lives of her characters. The scene in which Elizabeth's godson John Harington installs the newly invented water closet in Elizabeth's chamber is quite funny in its description. In every detail, George has created a believable world long gone and made these real historical people human in every way. She has outdone herself totally and written a meticulously researched and powerful novel about two women who were alike in so many ways--looks, intelligence, wit, strength of character, charm, courage, craftiness--and manages to give an entertaining and complex portrait of how they lived--the choices they made (or were made for them), the different paths they followed, and how their lives intertwined and played out across the broad and richly woven tapestry of their world. Enjoyable for historical fiction fans, especially those of the Elizabethan period. Highly recommended.

CALEB'S CROSSING by Geraldine Brooks, 2011.

Beautifully written and carefully researched, Brooks has penned an eloquent story concerning the little known Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a Waupanaug Indian from Martha's Vineyard, and the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Told from the point of view of the spirited Bethia Mayfield, daughter of a Calvinist missionary preacher, life on Martha's Vineyard during the seventeenth century was often harsh and hard, even though the island itself held wonderful natural beauty. Bethia meets Caleb, the son of a chieftain, unexpectedly one day when they are both children, and because of the strictness of the times, continue meeting in secret as they become young adults. Bethia learns much from Caleb about the wonders of the island, and Caleb, offered the opportunity of tutoring with Reverend Mayfield along with Mayfield's son Makepeace and another native boy, Joel, sees a chance to become a missionary to his people through education. This opportunity, as well as the minister's mission work, disturbs the island's medicine men, and a struggle over the old and new ways ensues in which Caleb becomes the prize...Caleb eventually finds himself at Harvard, studying Latin and Greek alongside scions of colonial leaders, and Bethia, who longs for an education herself, is summoned to go to Cambridge along with her brother and support his efforts at Harvard. As Caleb undergoes the struggle of trying to find his place in this new arena, Bethia tries desperately to find her own destiny in a rigid society in which few women have a voice. Brooks writes wonderfully well, providing excellent period details of the two cultures, using language of the time period, and keeps her storylines seamlessly interwoven. My only complaint is that because so little facts are known about Caleb and Brooks chooses to have Bethia tell the story, I never felt truly involved with Caleb or that I knew him as a person. Perhaps if Caleb had been the narrator it would have been more meaningful. Even so, overall, I found this a thoughtful, interesting, and provocative story of one Native American's hope of living peacefully with the colonists and his own people through education and faith in God.

NIGHT SEASON by Chelsea Cain, 2011.

Another pulse-pounding, page-turning thriller featuring Det. Archie Sheridan and reporter Susan Ward. This time around, the Willamette River is flooding Portland and several drowning victims have been found. Yeah, well, what's unusual about these flood victims that they were poisoned and died before they were put into the river. So another serial killer is stalking people in the city, and first Archie's detective colleague Henry becomes a target, and then Susan unwittingly places herself in the killer's path. Thrown into the mix is the discovery of a missing boy, kidnapped several years earlier and who seems to have a connection to the killer, and a skeleton is unearthed that is sixty years old, dating to an earlier catastrophic flood that wiped out an entire town. So many questions: what kind of poison is being used? Why was Henry targeted? Who is the boy that keeps slipping away from custody? What do the tiny keys that are found on each victim mean? And most of all, who is committing these murders and why? Cain keeps the suspense high, weaves her several storylines together admirably and really kept this reader interested. I didn't even miss the fact that Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell from the previous books is only mentioned in this novel. If you're a fan of crime thrillers, Cain's books (this one is the fourth in the series) are really fast paced and suspenseful. I find them highly entertaining and great reads in between other types of books.

Took my wife to see the new film version of "Jane Eyre" for Mother's Day. Although she enjoyed it immensely, something about it bothered me, but I can't quite figure out what. Maybe it was the leads, they just didn't seem to click. The actress playing the adult Jane was very good, but didn't think much of the actor playing Rochester. The film was quite beautifully filmed, the scenes of the moors were stunning, the sets and costumes were well done, the script was intelligently adapted. Judi Dench was wonderful as Mrs. Fairfax (although the role was definitely beefed up for Dench), and Jamie Bell was quite good as St. John Rivers. There were, of course, things left out that were in other filmed versions of the book, but hey, you can't leave everything in or the length would be ridiculous. I'd say that although I think my favorite version is still the Susannah York/George C. Scott one with Joan Fontaine/Orson Welles a close second, this one is worth viewing. Overall, this is a fine film adaptation of an enduring classic novel.

THE OTHER QUEEN by Philippa Gregory, 2008.

Boring and dull and totally disappointing. How any author could make Mary Queen of Scots so boring is beyond me. Gregory sets this novel during the years 1568-1572, when Mary has fled Scotland into England and becomes Elizabeth I's guest under the charge of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his formidable countess, Bess of Hardwick, who are still newlyweds. Pleased to be chosen for such an honor, they soon realize that no sooner is Mary established at Tutbury than plots and intrigues begin swirling around her. Broken promises, threats of rebellion in the North and a Spanish invasion, attempted rescues, secrets and codes and spies at every turn quickly become part of the household's daily life. Shallow characterizations, monotonous dialogue, and far too much repetition by having three narrators go over the same events make this a sluggish and unsatisfying story. Too much focus on Mary's beauty and Shrewsbury's weakness and Bess' penny-pinching--none of the characters were sympathetic. It became tedious to keep reading how the Shrewburys were bankrupting themselves by supporting this other queen and her court and they were getting no reimbursement from Elizabeth. Historical details abound, Gregory is good with description, but the pace is just too slow and the whole thing just so uninvolving. If I had not been recuperating from a recent illness, homebound, with plenty of time to read, I would have dropped this one after about fifty pages and moved on. I can't recommend it.

GRAVE GOODS by Ariana Franklin, 2009.

This novel is Adelia Aguilar's third (and last, as the author has died) outing. Set in England in 1176, Adelia, who is traveling with her companions Mansur and Gyltha and her daughter Allie in the cavalcade of Emma of Wolvercote, who is out to claim her infant son's inheritance. She is called to come to Glastonbury Abbey by King Henry II, to investigate two skeletons (a man's and a woman's) that have been discovered in the grounds of the recently burned abbey. It is thought by the locals that the skeletons are those of the fabled Arthur and Guinevere, but Henry wants proof, in the hopes that it will help him put down a Welsh rebellion. As the king's "mistress of the art of death", Adelia is to examine the bones and provide the proof Henry needs. Investigating the abbey fire is Rowley, the Bishop of St. Albans, the father of Adelia's daughter, who Adelia still has strong feelings for, even though she denies them at every turn. Complicating matters even further are: monks with various secrets; an innkeeper and his strange wife; hidden caves and tunnels; a secret colony of lepers; the seemingly complete disappearance of Emma and her entire party after arriving at Wolvercote Manor, and the fact that there is a dangerous and violent evil lurking in the woods around Glastonbury... Franklin does an excellent job of creating suspense amid everyday life, the historical details are accurate, her characters are involving, the story is always compelling, and she manages to infuse enough humor to relieve the tension at the right times. Her portrayal of Henry II is intriguing and genuine, and the novel on the whole is entertaining and well done. Highly recommended, whether you have read the first two in the series or not.

I went to see "Water for Elephants" the other day, and I have to say, it was really an enjoyable film. Based on the wonderfully readable book by Sara Gruen, it is elegantly filmed, with great period costumes and sets, a faithful-to-the-book script, and certainly well cast: Hal Holbrook playing Jacob as an old man, Robert Pattinson as the young Jacob, Reese Witherspoon as Marlena, and Christoph Waltz as August. The main story involves Jacob, a 1931 Cornell veterinary student, who at the end of his senior year undergoes a family tragedy that changes his entire outlook on life. He boards a circus train and manages to talk his way into a job. Honest and hardworking, he hates seeing the ringmaster's cruel treatment of the animals and does his best to avert such incidents; plus when he meets Marlena, the circus performer who is married to August, the ringmaster, he is totally smitten. Eventually, the two recognize what exists between them, but work to keep it under wraps. The alternately charming and dangerously violent August, trying desperately to keep his circus together and profitable, continues to throw workers off the train ("redlighting") without paying them, and buys Rosie, a performing elephant from a failed circus, determined she will be his moneymaker. Jacob is assigned to be Rosie's trainer and caregiver, and Marlena is to create a new act around Rosie.Training is difficult, and the act is begun too soon; Rosie bolts in the circus tent, which leads to a brutal and humiliating punishment by August, with consolation given by Jacob and Marlena. Later, it is Jacob who discovers that the elephant recognizes commands if they are given in Polish and gets the elephant on track to be a star. Rosie, smart and feisty, shows off her various stunts and tricks and becomes a huge hit and moneymaker for August. As the circus flourishes, the relationship between Marlena and Jacob grows cautiously...until the day August discovers their relationship and wreaks terrible and tragic vengeance on all concerned, leading to a thrilling climax wherein it falls to the grateful Rosie to save everyone involved... This is a gorgeous movie, beautiful, dramatic, and at times heart-wrenching in its emotion, a portrait of another time filled with hardships and hopes and dreams, with well crafted characters and a good solid story and performances. Even if you have not read the book, this engrossing film is definitely worth watching.

THE SULTAN'S HAREM by Colin Falconer, 2006.
This had been on my list quite a while, and I'm glad I got around to it at last.

Spanning the years from 1522 to 1561, the age of Suleyman the Magnificent, and set mainly in the ancient city of Constantinople (Stamboul), Falconer quickly introduces most of his large cast during the early chapters. The Sultan is all-powerful in this world of the Ottomans, called Lord of the Lords of this World, Possessor of Men's Necks, Allah's Deputy, etc. He holds the power of life and death over all his subjects, no questions asked. At the heart of the sultan's palace, though, is the Harem, a vast domain of women of various types and nationalities, beautiful and pampered and sheltered from the world and who always await the sultan's pleasure. Guarded by eunuchs, the Harem may not be entered by any man but the sultan himself. The women, some of whom are his wives, some concubines, some slaves, all live together under this roof and all compete for the sultan's notice. Falconer's story concerns three of Suleyman's women: Gulbehar, the mother of his heir; Julia Gonzaga, the daughter of an Italian lord who is kidnapped while on a journey from Venice to Cyprus to meet her husband; and Hurrem, a young Tartar from the Russian steppes who is sold into slavery and winds up in the Harem. These three characters form the main threads of the story as their lives intertwine along with Suleyman's and several other characters: Ibrahim, Suleyman's most trusted friend and adviser and right hand man who is cruelly betrayed in one of Hurrem's plots; Abbas, the eunuch who loves Julia and is destroyed by that love but first is able to redeem himself by saving her; Ludovici, who loves Julia but can never truly possess her heart, and Mustapha, Suleyman's eldest and dearest son and heir, who is forced to pay the ultimate penalty through no fault of his own. The main force of the novel is Hurrem, the manipulative and vicious Russian beauty who endlessly plots and schemes her way into Suleyman's bed at all costs, and once there, continuously hatches intrigues to remove anyone standing in the way of what she most desires: REVENGE. Falconer's narrative races along filled with fascinating historical details, lush descriptions, horrendous violence and cruelty, family strife, love and hate, forbidden desire and obsession, huge battle scenes, mistaken identity, missed opportunities, and eventual triumph. I found this a hugely entertaining and involving novel, and I enjoyed learning about the Ottomans and this time in their history. I thought Hurrem an especially interesting heroine of sorts: even though over the course of the novel the reader may come to despise her (as I did) for her wicked nastiness, Falconer's excellent characterization of her enables you to understand her motivations and almost admire her perseverance, utter determination, and courage in such a situation as she found herself. On the other hand, Suleyman, whom Falconer shows as a very dominating, powerful potentate, changes over time into a somewhat pitiable figure, one that the reader has sympathy for, but at the same time realizes that so much of his misery was caused by his own stubborn refusal to recognize people for what they truly are. A very worthwhile read, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in stories of palace intrigue or an interest in historicals set during Ottoman Empire.

Finished reading on 4/23/11:
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI by C. W. Gortner, 2010.
Intriguingly written, well researched, and beautifully realized portrait of one of history's most hated queens. Gortner's Catherine springs to life from these pages, beginning with a violent and uncertain childhood in Florence, Italy, as one of the last of the powerful Medici family. Married off to the French king Francois I's son Henri as a teenager, she is kept relatively in the background for years, looking on and observing the machinations and intrigues of the powerful figures of the dazzling and decadent French court. She is humiliated by her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, but is able to hold her own through her own willpower and her gift as a seer. As queen, she sponsors the famous and enigmatic Nostradamus, whose prophecies give her much trouble and lead to horrendous conclusions in lives of all whom she holds dear. When she is widowed at forty, with young children to care for and a kingdom wracked by religious strife, class struggles and poverty, she manages to take control and drive for peace, even though the course she steers is dangerous and unpopular. Ultimately, Catherine must make terrible decisions and sacrifices in order to save the throne of France for posterity. Gortner does a wonderful job of portraying Catherine as a passionate, conflicted woman, torn between her love for her family and what is best for France. He provides a somewhat different view on Catherine's interest in prophecy and poisons, as well as her relationship with Gaspard Coligny, the Huguenot leader. His descriptions of the fabulous Court of France, with all its luminous notables, gorgeous palaces, plots, intrigues and scandals is brilliantly done, with lots of spice and bite, enjoyable writing all around. He shows more of Catherine's education at court, her relationships with other members of the royal family, her relationship with Francois' mistress Anne de Heilly, and her tangled and often dysfunctional relations with her children. I found this novel enlightening and fascinating because Gortner chose to portray Catherine as a more mult-layered character, rather than simply as the wicked and desperate horror she has generally been shown as, and provides examples trhoughout as to how that reputation began and endured. Gortner's novel and Jeanne Kalogridis' novel The Devil's Queen, have similarities, but Gortner's is probably the more sympathetic of the two and the better written. A very worthwhile piece of historical fiction about an infamous woman.

Finished reading on 4/15/11:

MARGARET MITCHELL'S "GONE WITH THE WIND": A BESTSELLER'S ODYSSEY FROM ATLANTA TO HOLLYWOOD by Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley, Jr., 2011.

A wonderfully written, informative, and entertaining look at the phenomenon of the most popular American novel in history. This is a "biography" of the book itself, from its conception to the present time. The authors used various and numerous sources, including archives and interviews, in their research, and have done an excellent job of distilling so much available information into a very readable narrative, providing not only necessary factual information, but intriguing stories as well. In the course of 18 chapters, they write of how Mitchell started writing the novel, its discovery by Lois Cole of Macmillan, the problems of getting the manuscript ready for publication, the unwanted celebrity that followed for the author, the issues with overseas copyrights, legal hassles, the crazy business and pressures of filming the movie, and how the book turned into an entity in itself, becoming a trust handled by attorneys. They tackle well known rumors and mysteries and issues concerning the book and actually provide answers to some of the most frequently asked questions and clearing up some misconceptions.The volume is illustrated with great photographs, some from Wiley's own enormous personal collection of GWTW material. An enjoyable read and a handy reference, this is well worth adding to your shelf next to your copy of "Gone with the Wind."

THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley, 2009.
Eleven year old Flavia de Luce stumbles over a dying man in the cucumber patch. As he expires, he whispers one word, "vale." An investigation shows the man was murdered, and Flavia, who listens and keyholes and picks locks with ease, had earlier heard the fellow in an angry confrontation with her father. Who is this person? What does "vale" mean? And how did he come to die at Buckshaw, the de Luce mansion in rural England? Was he poisoned by the piece of pie he ate? And what's the significance of the dead snipe bird found on their doorstep with a stamp stuck on his beak? Flavia, definitely a precocious girl who loves chemistry and has her own working lab, is intrigued by the mystery, and decides to do her own investigation instead of leaving it to the local police. With her bicycle, Agnes, Flavia is able to travel around the countryside and nearby villages, searching out clues with most people being none the wiser. Her snooping leads her into a past that involves a private boys school, valuable postage stamps, and a shocking suicide that is connected to her beloved father. When her father is arrested for this latest death, Flavia ramps up her investigation, little knowing that she has attracted the attention of someone else who has a great stake in how the case turns out and could be extremely dangerous... Excellent descriptions of rural 1950s England, enough wacky village characters to fill several books, dollops of humor (especially between Flavia and her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne), clever dialogue, and an intriguing mystery make for a good relaxing read. If you don't mind a rather plucky and know-it-all sort of kid solving crimes, this is fine entertainment. The first in a series.

Robert Redford Double Feature

 Don't know how we ended up watching two Robert Redford movies on two consecutive nights, but it happened. I had brought home a DVD library copy of "The Great Gatsby"(1974), screenplay written by Francis Ford Coppola, which I remember when it was released, but at the time had no interest in it. Something brought it to my attention recently, and I decided maybe I should watch it. As it turned out, the whole family sat and watched. I had never read the book, either, but knew the story vaguely. I think everyone else in the family had at least read the book.

The story is narrated by young and somewhat naive Nick Carraway, cousin to the wealthy and married Daisy Buchanan, who resides in the wealthy enclave at East Egg, NY. Nick has recently moved across the bay to West Egg, and lives next door to the somewhat mysterious and self made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who throws huge parties and never attends them. Nick discovers that Jay has a secret: he was previously acquainted with Daisy, and he wants Nick to help him renew that acquaintance. Events take their course, with Daisy and Jay having an affair. Eventually, Daisy's husband the somewhat overbearing Tom (who all the while is having an affair with local woman Myrtle Wilson) discovers their relationship and sets in motion a chain of events that lead to tragedy, with only Nick knowing the truth of what actually happened. I was mostly very impressed with the movie version. It is a beautifully filmed, opulent and richly detailed film, done with great care and direction. The sets, costumes, automobiles, etc. were appropriate and really conveyed a feel for the 1920's during that era of the Jazz Age, with the charleston, bouncy music, and enormous wealth so prominent. The casualness of the wealthy set, the constant houseparties, the luxuriousness of their lifestyle, all came through on film. It was well-cast: Robert Redford as Gatsby is the true golden boy millionaire; Mia Farrow as the social butterfly and clueless Daisy irritated me; Sam Waterston as Nick was an excellent narrator and gave a much needed outsider's viewpoint; the lovely Lois Chiles was chic and classy; and Karen Black as Myrtle had an excellent chance to show some teeth. It was fun to see Kathryn Leigh Scott (of "Dark Shadows" fame) playing Myrtle's sister. Bruce Dern as the antagonistic Tom Buchanan was well cast, he played his character with some passion, his relationship with Myrtle was especially well played. My only criticism is that perhaps the script could have been tightened up just a little, there were times when not much happened on screen and it was a bit slow and just overlong at 144 minutes. But on the whole, a good classic movie. Just an little side note: Dern and Karen Black would later be reunited for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Family Plot", Lois Chiles and Mia Farrow would act again together later in "Death on the Nile", and this was Redford's and Chiles' second movie together, as they had done "The Way We Were" the previous year.

"The Way We Were" (1973) was the second Redford film we viewed over the weekend, by way of TCM. It is a nice romantic film that has actually held up well over time. I remember seeing it many years ago (probably on a college date) and liking it well enough then. Its story is simple really: loud mouthed social activist Katie (Barbra Streisand) meets golden college boy Hubbell (Robert Redford) on a New York campus in the 1930's and they have a brief relationship and then go their separate ways. During wartime, they run into each other again, and fall into a real affair that eventually leads to marriage. Along the way, he becomes a noted author and scriptwriter ending up in Hollywood and she supports him while trying to work for causes she believes in, and their efforts eventually cause too many problems for them to overcome; they split; when they meet up years later in New York in the 60's, it's a very bittersweet reunion.

It's a nicely filmed movie, with great sets and provides a good impression of the times, with World War II and Hollywood and the whole Joe McCarthy Blacklist era, very well done. Streisand and Redford do quite well in their roles, and they have decent support from Bradford Dillman as his best college friend and fellow in the business, Patrick O'Neal as a Hollywood director, and Lois Chiles as Redford's college girlfriend who marries Dillman and later leaves him. A young Susan Blakely appears in this film, and James Woods has a good role as Katie's co-worker on campus causes. An excellent movie to view with your spouse or date, even though the ending is somewhat bittersweet and sad. It's still an enjoyable and well done picture with a pleasant cast and good story.

Both pictures were good breaks during the weekend of March Madness.