Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie

This is one of the books from my list of books first published the year I was born. It is Agatha Christies 29th Hercule Poirot story. In this book Hercule Poirot is somewhat retired only acting as a consultant. In fact the whole scenario plays out and he comes in about midway through the book. 

The cast of characters include, a headmistress at Meadowbank, an all girls school. She has a friend who helped develop the school and make it a high rated school, they are Miss Bulstrode and Miss Chadwick. Remember woman teachers are not to be married. Then there are the other mistresses of the school teaching various subjects and the girls themselves. Each their own precocious selves. 

But that is not the only place, we travel to another place called Ramat, where there is about to be an overthrow of the government. A british escort to the Prince of Ramat is about to receive a package from Prince Ali Yusuf to secret away from the country. Our escort, Bob Rawlison just happens to have family in the area and he hides it discretely away in their things. 

So with the revolution about to start British people are asked to leave, others are sabatoged and the whole mess lands in Meadowbank unbeknowst to any of the mistresses. Two deaths later and in comes Hercule Poirot, having been asked by an unlikely person to intervene.

Lovely twists and turns, felt like I could not put the book down and I figured out the culprit or culprits pretty easily. Especially, when the phrase "cat among the pigeons" was said on multiple occasions.

Good book, to while away the hours.

I have read over a hundred books since my last blog, a long time ago- it seems like at least 5 years. I have never finished my reading challenge of 100 books that you need to read in a facebook challenge. I only have two to go and for reasons unknown to me I just can't get them done. One is the Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing and the other is Marcel Proust- Swann's Way.

I vow to get them read but have started a new challenge for myself. This year I am going to read at least ten books written (published) in 1959.

This is the list- not in any particular order

1. Cat Among Pigeons-Agatha Christie

2. Goldfinger- Ian Fleming

3.The Sirens of Titan- Kurt Vonnegut

4. Endurance -Alfred Lansing

5. Echo in the Skull-John Brunner

6. Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

7-10 are still being debated. 

I am also doing reviews of books on Goodreads.

My Name is Lucy Barton- review

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, published by Penguin Random House LLC in 2016. This is a work of fiction but if you think about how the mind work it is right on point , which makes it almost seem like non-fiction. How many times does something cause you to reflect on something in the past and that is what happens in this book. You find out about her home life by her reflections after talks with her mother or talks with her friends or family. But the most reflections comes from her talks with her mother in a hospital setting where Lucy is basically captive.

It took me a bit to warm up to it, so I may have to go back and reread the initial chapters. Her stream of thought is like most peoples. It jumps around according to what is happening in their lives. The other day my husband was your have an interesting stream of consciousness, we were driving and things along the route just jumped out at me and of course I just blurted out what ever came to mind. Nothing hurtful, sometimes songs, poems, something someone said to me in the past. That is the feeling I get from this book.

Her husband is somewhat neglectful, his wife is in the hospital for 2 months and he decides to have an affair with the babysitter of her two children, which she finds out much later. he brings he mother in, so that he doesn't have to sit with his wife in the hospital, because he does not like them.

In her past, is abuse, but you don't get the whole story, we see snippets and then have to infer as to what really was going on. She tells her story of her life in the hospital and what happens surrounding that, before, during and after. But she does not delve into this info because she says that's another story. She is given a quote form another author " You only have one story to tell" and we hear this particular story, making you want to find out more about her life.

Very interesting way to set up a story. I wonder as with Elizabeth Strout's Olive books will we see a sequel about Lucy, so she can tell us another story.

The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah

THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah, published by St. Martins Press in 2018. 
I haven't reviewed a book in a bit, but after reading travel manuals for my travel blog, I felt that I needed to start writing the things I have been reading. Last month I read the book EDUCATED by Tara Westover and was surprised by the cruelty that happened in this book, the extremes presented and the men who think they are protecting you but in reality are hurting you. Tara's was based on her life and her family.

THE GREAT ALONE is a work of fiction but holds true to the concepts above, a man broken by circumstances tries to protect his family from the horrors of the world after Vietnam, and finds the last frontier in Alaska. Hoping to get away from the rules of society. In tow are his wife Cora and daughter Leni. They have inherited a cabin in the woods on the Kenai pennisula, when it was mostly, dirt road, no electricity and no running water. They move when it is summer and full of light, but winter comes and the darkness that lies within the father Ernt comes pouring out , usually in the form of abuse to Cora. In a typical "I love him, and it's not his fault he is like this excuse," she stays, never press charges and gives her daughter a very unrealistic look about what love is.

Leni still finds someone in the only boy her age in this wilderness, who she likes, but the wilderness can be cruel and this young man experiencing tragedy leaves to him leaving for awhile to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Fairbanks. They write and their feelings change, but the obstacle is his father Mr. Walker. Ernt, Leni's father hates the family because he thinks Mr. Walker is flirting with his wife and trying to change Alaska. 

The Walker family had been the first people to homestead this land and had built a small city and opened it up to people who wanted to live on the land , but as time changes so do thoughts about what this area could look like in the future. This is a thorn in Ernt's side, he wants to live off the grid and not have electricity, running water or a bathroom. Many clashes of will occur, which usually ends with Cora battered and bruised.

Ms. Hannah brings to light the harshness and beauty of Alaska in this book. The dangers that you can encounter and the reality to people who think they can live in Alaska because they went in the summer when it was beautiful. Having been to Alaska in the summer I saw the beauty of the place the long hours of sunlight, the great flowers and rivers. I even played golf at midnight. My husband who lived in Alaska for a few years when he was a child, knows the harsh reality of Alaska. The long nights, the expense of buying things to stay alive, the hunting in the wilderness with his dad and the knowing that you always have to be prepared. When we visited in the summer, he had us bring winter coats, gloves hats, flashlights, water and food, no matter where we went. He was always prepared, he learned this from Alaska. 

This book made me understand more about Alaska and how it can either bring a family together or tear it apart. Great book. Great title. 

Ambassadors by Henry James Finished

It has been a long time since I sat down and wrote on this site, the reason is that I just could not finish reading the last three books. But I have managed to complete THE AMBASSADORS, by Henry James. I am still working on the other two books but had decided to finish one at a time instead of reading all three at the same time. I have read this one a little at a time and feel like I did not quite get the reason this was so popular or included in the 100 books you should read in your lifetime.

I will say that it may have been a new concept for the time writing about someone willing to give up their inheritance in order to spend time with an older woman, a somewhat married older woman. That may have been the departure from the norm in the days in the time period with which it is written. so what is the basic outline of the book.

1. Strether is sent to Paris to find the son of Mrs. Newcomb, she is his fiance, or not. Maybe she is just saying she is so that he will do her bidding.
2. In Paris he finds he is not the only one sent to get Chad to come home. 
3. He meets Chad and finds he is the company of an older woman and her daughter
4. Finds out Older woman is the love interest not the younger girl.
5. Chad seem very much in control of his life, or is he.
6. Mrs. Newcomb is not happy with the alliance Strether has with a Ms. Godfrey and the fact he has not sent her son home yet. She sends her daughter and the girl she wishes her son to marry.
7. This girl is not really interested in Chad.
8. Strether seems kind of out in left field half the time missing little clues about the situation.
9. Finally figures it out and possibly his relationship with Mrs. Newcomb is over as well as a potential relationship with Ms. Godfrey.
10 And no one knows what Chad will actually do.

The End. 

Not a very satisfying ending, nothing gets fixed.

Books not quite complete

I have been remiss in writing as I am trying to finish reading the last three books of the list of 100 books that Facebook put out as a challenge what seems like eons ago. 100 books and some of them, well not my cup of tea. However, I am almost finished the Ambassadors , partly finished the Golden Notebooks and barely scratched the surface of Proust. But I have been reading lots of other books and when I finally finish the three, hopefully before I have to start work again , I have decided to start a new reading list. This reading list will be based on the year I was born or close to the year for I have decided to add the three most popular books of that time period. I will not tell you the year for it is a mystery. So I will not put the copyright date on the publishing date of the book. This group of books has a lot more science fiction in it than the previous 100. I may even start a different blog as to reflect my new reading list. As soon as I finish the three I will write a brief blog.  I feel like I have taken too long with this enterprise. For that I am sorry to been not as diligent in my reading or writing.

Rules of Civility: Review

RULES OF CIVILITY: by Amor Towles, published by Penquin Books in 2012.  A great book, but I had to go back a couple of times to remember the front of the beginning of the book. This is why, it starts off in the 1966 New York where Katey, our narrator for the most part, and her husband are at a gallery looking at portraits taken by Walker Evans in the 1930's. As they are walking along, Eve notices a man she knew in the 1930's Tinker Grey. He is in the photo's twice. Once looking dapper and once looking disheveled. This starts Eve to remember that time and when she met Tinker.

We are zoomed back to New Years Eve 1937, Katey Kontent and her friend Eve have sneaked out of the boarding house to enjoy New Years Eve. Lovely name for our narrator, throughout the book I wondered was she ever really content. This is where they meet Tinker Grey and so the tale begins. We are taken From Winter through Fall as the main section headers, with titles throughout. There are several twists and turns in the life of Katey, Eve and Tinker. Many things I would never have thought to do, but I have never lived in New York of in the 1930's.

So where does the title come from? There is a book that the young George Washington wrote called "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." This is wonderfully placed in the back of the book, but it is also the motivation behind Tinker Grey, who has a copy in his drawer. I loved the list and wonder what George Washington would say today, especially when it comes to clothing and grooming. My favorite of the 110 is number 2: "When in company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body,  not usually discovered." What would he think of the crotch hold?

Good book, I like all the photo's of the 1930's.