Let's Bust a Recap : Present Concerns

And speaking of our favourite 20th century Brits (which we were on Tuesday, in case you missed it) let's talk about our C.S. Lewis selection for 2022. 

C.S. Lewis gets an automatic slot on my book list every single year. Last year, I didn't really make much of a list and decided to let my whims guide my reading. And horror of horrors, I didn't end up reading anything by C.S. Lewis. And his literary presence was sorely missed. 

But this year, we're back on track and I read this collection of essays that was published posthumously in 1986. 

(Sidebar: I've gotten in the habit of photographing my C.S. Lewis books with a hot beverage because it just seems appropriate, and I thought it was very clever—and aesthetically pleasing in this particular instance—to photograph Present Concerns with a cuppa from Starbucks. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)

Anyway, moving on. Present Concerns includes nineteen essays that reveal his thoughts about democratic values, threats to educational and spiritual fulfillment, literary censorship, and more, demonstrating Lewis' wide range of interests and his absolute mastery in conveying his thoughts through the written word. These essays were originally published in various newspapers, magazines, and books between the years 1940 and 1962, and were compiled and introduced in this book by Walter Hooper. I couldn't have chosen a more fitting title for this collection. Though the topics Lewis discusses in these essays were obviously timely for their original audience, they were just as relevant in 1986 when this slim volume was published and continue in their applicability today. 

As is always the case, I was once again impressed with Lewis' ability to communicate his thoughts in the simplest language even while articulating some of the most profound ideas I've ever read. The man was just so dang smart and I always feel like such a dunce when I'm recapping his books because my sentences seem so lame in comparison. Of the nineteen essays included in Present Concerns, there were only two that I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend: "The Empty Universe" (while I had a vague grasp on his main point, this one was just a bit over my head) and "Interim Report" (which was an article for The Cambridge Review comparing Oxford and Cambridge, neither of which I have much firsthand knowledge of). Two of the essays that particularly stood out to me were "Three Kinds of Men" (in which I felt like old Jack proceeded to kick me in the gut, but then followed up with a pat on the back and a, "No worries, chap, I'm in the same boat as you.") and "Talking About Bicycles" (mind blown; just read it). 

All in all, another triumph from one of my all-time favorite authors. I really appreciate the people like Walter Hooper who took it upon themselves to compile these essays into books because they're turning out to be some of my favorite of Lewis' work. I saved a few quotes from this one that I'm sure I'll share on here someday. In the meantime, what C.S. Lewis book should go on next year's book list?

Let's Bust a Recap : The Inimitable Jeeves

Ah, yes, I've finally been properly introduced to Bertie and Jeeves—two of P.G. Wodehouse's most popular characters—and it was a hoot. Due to the fact that Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century and I pride myself on being a bookworm, I was aware of his work. But I'd be lying if I didn't credit Rory Gilmore with being one of the motivating factors for adding Wodehouse to my LIFE LIST. Now, I'm not one of these Gilmore Girls diehards that have decided to read every single book mentioned or seen on the show (lists have been compiled), but I watch the show often enough that every time I hear Rory telling Richard during her sophomore year at Yale that she's "very into Wodehouse right now", I mentally remind myself that I really need to get around to Wodehouse myself sooner or later.

Well, 2022 was the year I finally got around to him, and now he'll be popping up on my book lists for the next twelve years, because I have added ALL the Wooster and Jeeves books to my library and this first foray into his work provided a side-splitting good time. This first installment—well, I guess technically the second installment, but I don't want to get into all that right now—was published in full in 1923, but it pulls together short stories that were published between 1918 and 1922 so all things considered, I ended up reading this barrel of laughs right as it's coming up on its 100th anniversary of entertaining readers. 

In The Inimitable Jeeves we are introduced to our fashionable young Londoner and indolently wealthy Bertie Wooster and his all-knowing valet Jeeves. Throughout the course of the novel which is actually just a series of short stories strung together, Bertie gets roped into helping his hopelessly romantic friend Bingo Little who can't help falling in love with every girl he sees. And when I say Bertie gets roped into helping Bingo, I ultimately mean Jeeves gets roped into helping them both, because Bertie cannot possibly function without Jeeves' always correct advice, and when he attempts to solve a problem on his own, he inevitably makes the situation worse and needs Jeeves to fix it anyway. 

And it's hilarious. I literally laughed out loud at some point during every single episode Bertie found himself in, and my very favorite bits were Jeeves' insistence about Bertie's proper attire and Bertie's equal stubbornness over wanting to wear the most ridiculous things. Which always resulted in the inescapable result of Jeeves being right and Bertie getting rid of the article in question. They're a riot.

As my sister-in-law Caroline would say (and once again, she has endorsed an absolute winner), Wodehouse's books are the perfect literary palate cleanser, and you can be sure the next volume in my collection—Carry On, Jeeves—will be on next year's book list.  Definitely would recommend a Wodehouse for anyone who needs a laugh. 

Have you read anything by P.G. Wodehouse?

Let's Bust a Recap : Dear Emmie Blue

Okay, so on Monday we talked about A Man Called Ove which was my book club's book of the month for August. Today, we're talking about Dear Emmie Blue which was my book club's book of the month for last August. Oy vey. We're getting caught up around here, but it's a process.

Dear Emmie Blue by UK author Lia Louis was published just a couple summers ago in 2020. It was generally well-received, but for some reason it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

At the outset, we meet Emmie who is meeting up with her best friend Lucas because he has something important to ask her. Emmie, who has been secretly in love with Lucas for six years, thinks he's finally going to admit he has feelings for her as well and ask her out. The bombshell: he's proposed to his ex-girlfriend and wants Emmie to be his "best woman" at their wedding. Obvious devastation ensues. Of course, Emmie says yes—she can never say no to Lucas—but that means a lot of painful involvement in getting her unrequited love ready to walk down the aisle to share his life with another woman. It also means she has to spend quite a bit of time with Eliot, Lucas' older brother, with whom she had a serious falling out eleven years prior over a devastating betrayal of trust. All of this comes together in a sweet package of what it means to navigate relationships—not just romantic ones!—in a healthy way in life.

All the elements were there to make for a great book, but they somehow didn't add up for me. I liked Louis' ability to seamlessly tease Emmie's past circumstances in a way that felt slightly mysterious and kept you reading while still moving the story forward. I thought her writing style was funny and easy to read. And her insertion of text conversations and mixed CD playlists served the story well instead of being clunky as they sometimes have a tendency to be in other things I've read.

But, the actual development of relationships was sorely lacking. Hurtful choices made my different characters—particularly Lucas—seemed to just magically work themselves out with no real consequences or communication. While I could go with Louis' setup of different conflicts throughout the novel, very few were resolved realistically. I was left at the end of the book with a lot more questions than answers. 

On top of that, Emmie's friend Rosie, who is most certainly written for a bit of comic relief, was over-the-top crass which was the final nail in the coffin for keeping me from recommending this book. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading Dear Emmie Blue and it's staying on my shelf for now, but it ultimately fell flat for me and I wouldn't recommend it. 

Let's Bust a Recap : A Man Called Ove

This charming novel celebrated its 10th birthday over the weekend! And even though I'm probably one of the last reading people in the world to pick it up, we're going to celebrate it here anyway. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman was originally published in Swedish on August 27, 2012. After being inspired by an article about a man named Ove having a fit while buying tickets at an art museum, Backman began writing blog posts under the heading "I am a Man Called Ove" wherein he detailed his own pet peeves and annoyances. At some point (I think in response to fan encouragement), Backman realized the potential to develop his posts into a full novel. It was a hit. The English translation by Henning Koch was published a couple years later in 2014 and went on to spend a whopping forty-two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.

If you like books, you could not possibly have avoided seeing this one, and I picked up a copy at The Book Shelter the summer of 2018. I even put it on my 2019 book list, but for one reason or another, I didn't get around to it. It was on my shortlist of books to read last year, but once again, I didn't ever pick it up. I pulled it off the shelf again this year, but it didn't make the cut. Then, just a few days after I published my 2022 list, my bookish comrade Sheree over at Keeping Up With The Penguins published a list of books with significant birthdays happening this year and wouldn't you know, Ove would be turning 10! So I unofficially slated it for August and when book club time came around, I leaned on my friend Amy to choose it (since August was her month) and she did. 

And we're all grateful. 

Because A Man Called Ove is now on my list of All-Time Favorites and will very probably hold as my favorite book of 2022. 

But what makes the book so great? Good question. On the surface, A Man Called Ove is just about a cantankerous old soul who, after losing his wife and being pushed out of his job into early retirement, has decided there's nothing left to live for so he's going to end it all. But each time he attempts to end his life, people just keep getting in the way.

Doesn't sound like the ingredients for one of my new All-Time Favs, does it? But Backman somehow manages to infuse this pretty heavy material with so much humor and heart that you can't help but fall in love with Ove and the colorful cast Backman creates. I was literally shouting with laughter from the very start, and by page forty I was actually crying my eyes out. And so the rest of the book went: alternately laughing and sobbing the whole way through. 

This is a book I would recommend to nearly anybody. While there is a bit of less-than-polite language sprinkled throughout, and I wouldn't personally endorse some of the life choices made by different characters—Ove included—overall this was a fantastic book; and much like you can disagree with someone while still loving them, I found myself thoroughly loving Ove and his neighborhood even while not agreeing with all their choices. Ultimately, this book is a brilliant snapshot of the human need for connection. God said from the very beginning that it's not good for man to be alone, and A Man Called Ove conveys the truth of that in such a funny, heartwarming, real way I'm so glad I didn't miss out on. 

Happy Birthday to A Man Called Ove! I'm excited for more of Backman's work. I've already got Britt-Marie Was Here and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry sitting on my shelf. Which should I read next?

Let's Bust a Recap : Maisie Dobbs

Today's recap is actually a double feature of the next two books in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. I read the first Maisie Dobbs book during the global COVID-19 lockdown in April of 2020. My mom had borrowed it earlier that year, and she and my dad both loved it so naturally, I had to read it, too. That Christmas, I ended up getting my parents the next five books in the series, and my dad proceeded to read all five of them before my mom and I even got home from our Christmas trip to Germany. Since then, both my parents have acquired and read all seventeen Maisie Dobbs books, the most recent one having just come out earlier this year, and now my Gramma is ten or eleven books in as well. I'm obviously chugging along at a much slower pace, opting to read one each year. But at least now I know I have access to all seventeen whenever I get around to reading the next one because they are all sitting proudly numbered on my parents' shelf. 

Birds of a Feather, the second book in the series, was my Maisie Dobbs novel for 2021, and I managed to squeeze it in right at the tail end of the year. Literally. I ignored my family for most of the day on New Year's Eve finishing it up. This second installment was published in 2004, one year after Winspear's debut of the character in 2003, and in this one it's the spring of 1930 and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress. When three of the young woman's friends turn up dead, Maisie finds herself in a race to find the murderer before it's too late. 

I plucked this copy out of a Little Free Library in 2020 before I bought the books for my parents for Christmas that year, and subsequently used it to fill that slot on The Unread Shelf's book bingo card last year. The conclusion of this one broke my heart as Maisie discovers that the answers to the mystery are tied up in the unforgettable agony of the Great War, but it ultimately ended on a slightly lighter note by introducing a couple of potential love interests for our savvy protagonist that I was keen to watch develop in the coming books. 

Pardonable Lies was published in 2005, and in this complex novel, we see Maisie tackling three cases at once. A 13 year old girl has been accused of murder, but Maisie isn't so sure she's guilty. A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton, KC to seek the aid of our intrepid investigator in confirming the death of his son. And Maisie's friend Priscilla also begs Maisie to find out what happened to her brother Peter during the Great War. But that's not all. Someone is trying to kill Maisie, too. Who would want her dead? 

While the first book of the series is still probably my favorite, this third installment was fantastic. The way Winspear intricately wove Maisie's investigation of these three separate cases together and also continued to bring us along on Maisie's journey of grief over the loss of her own mother at such a young age and all the trauma she endured during the war was really masterful and absorbing. From the very beginning, I've really enjoyed Winspear's pacing in these books, and the quality has remained high through these first three novels. I wasn't planning to read Pardonable Lies so early in the year, but I found myself up at my parents' house one day without my current book in progress and I ended up picking up their copy of the next Maisie Dobbs book and was soon caught up in the mystery.

Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, and Pardonable Lies have all raked in several awards and nominations, and I would unreservedly recommend any of them. Each can stand on its own, so you don't necessarily have to read the whole series or read the books in publication order to be able to enjoy them. Although my personal recommendation would be to start at the beginning and go in order, if you're just looking for a good mystery to cozy up with, any one will do. Next up for me is Messenger of Truth, and I'm looking forward to it.

Have you read any Maisie Dobbs? Do you like mysteries? Who is your favorite fictional sleuth?

Let's Bust a Recap : President Without a Party

And we march on through the United States presidents. John Tyler was our nation's tenth president (so we've finally hit the double digits—yay!) and the first vice president to assume the presidency after the death of the elected president, in this case William Henry Harrison who served as president a mere thirty-one days after his inauguration before succumbing to illness.

So, let's get into it, shall we? Despite being considered by most historians as a largely ineffectual president, I found Tyler fascinating and enjoyed learning more about him. 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog or not, but before choosing what presidential biographies to read, I always consult Stephen Floyd's excellent blog in which he has chronicled his own (much more intensive) venture of reading through the American presidents. If you have even the smallest interest in reading a presidential biography of any of our nation's presidents, I cannot recommend his site enough in helping you choose what to read. And in the case of John Tyler, Stephen says Christopher J. Leahy's 2020 offering stands alone so Leahy's book is what I read.   

John Tyler was born in 1790 into one of the prominent First Families of Virginia and grew up under a father who was heavily involved in state politics. Owing in large part to the early death of his mother who died when he was only seven years old, he was profoundly influenced by his father and followed in his footsteps to become a lawyer and enter politics at a very young age. 

Throughout the course of his career, Tyler served in the Virginia legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, the governorship of Virginia (like his father), the office of vice president (briefly), and finally as president of the United States. Between posts he practiced law, and after his term as president ended he settled down on his plantation and took his role as planter very seriously. During the War of 1812, he organized a militia company which he commanded with the rank of captain, but they never saw any action and he dissolved the company after two months. For the rest of his career, his political enemies mockingly called him "Captain Tyler" any time they wanted to insult him. 

Because Harrison was the first president to die in office and because the Constitution was maddeningly vague on the point of presidential succession, Tyler set pretty much all the precedents for assuming the presidency after the death of the elected president, and he did it decisively and aggressively. His precedent was finally confirmed in the form of the 25th Amendment in 1967—over 100 years after Tyler's death! I found this bit of history endlessly fascinating so indulge me for a moment while I hash it out with you guys. Tyler was kindof a throwaway choice by the Whig party to fill the slot as vice president on William Henry Harrison's ticket. While "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" is probably the most popular and memorable campaign slogan in history, no one expected Tyler to do anything as vice president or to go any further in politics after Harrison's time as president ended. From what I can tell, Tyler himself had no grand aspirations to become president. He didn't have the support to win that office on his own. Why the Whigs chose him is really a mystery to me, especially given the fact that Harrison was the oldest man elected president at a time when personal health and longevity weren't great given what was known in medicine. I have to wonder if Henry Clay didn't think he could somehow get himself into the role of president if William Henry Harrison died in office. 

Obviously, it didn't work out for Henry Clay, and because of Tyler's somewhat tenuous connection to the Whig party in the first place, his ascension to the presidency immediately after Harrison's death was pretty much the worst-case scenario for all involved. And because Harrison died so shortly after being sworn in himself, Tyler practically served an entire presidential term. Unfortunately, just about everything at the federal level turned into a political gridlock as Clay and Tyler duked it out in an epic power struggle for nearly all of Tyler's presidency, resulting in Tyler being formally read out of the Whig party a mere five months into his presidency. So Tyler ended up with the double ignominy of being an "accidental president" and being the only president without a party. Crazy, right?

But let's not end it there. He's actually a triple threat in infamy as he was also the only "traitor president"—the only man who served in our nation's highest office to actually renounce the Union at the onset of the Civil War. 

Despite all this, I kinda liked John Tyler. He was a strong states' rights advocate and a man of principle, and he stuck to his guns no matter what. The reason he got kicked out of the Whig party is because, ultimately, he wouldn't let Clay and the rest of the Whigs bully him into signing their pet proposals into law. He was a friend to the executive prerogative of veto, and you know what? I'm here for him. He considered the annexation of Texas the crowning achievement of his presidency, even though he signed it into law mere days before Polk took office. And let's just give it to him, because he worked on it for years, okay? 

On the personal front, buckle up because he was also our nation's most fertile president fathering fifteen children. He and his first wife Letitia had eight (possibly nine) children together, and seven of their children grew to adulthood. Letitia died while he was serving as president, and he got married only two years later—while still serving as president—to the beautiful young Julia Gardiner, thirty years his junior and, age-wise, smack dab in the middle of the lineup of his own children. Which is a little gross if you ask me, but they really seemed to love each other. They wasted no time and had seven children together. Tragically, in the midst of his second fatherhood, he lost three of his adult daughters in a pretty short span of time, two dying due to complications in childbirth and the third from an infection. While he was a devoted father, he was largely absent in all of his children's lives: the first time around owing to his political career; the second time because of his death. At the time of his death, Julia's oldest child was only fifteen and her youngest, not even two. 

One other fun fact about Tyler that I just have to include because hello! this whole blog is about books and reading is that in the middle of his presidency in 1842, he hosted a massive party at the White House to honor two famous guests: celebrated American author Washington Irving, and none other than Charles Dickens himself. What?! 

As for the biography itself, President Without a Party: The Life of John Tyler by Christopher J. Leahy is well-written and (I think) extremely interesting. While at times I did feel like Leahy got a little long-winded and could've been a little more concise, overall I thought he did an exceptional job. I appreciated how he took the time to sum up large sections of his writing with a simple question to boil down the topic he covered to his main point. It's not the best presidential biography I've read to date, but it's a long way from the worst. I would definitely recommend it if you have any interest in the life of John Tyler. 

I've still got two more presidential biographies on my list for 2022, and while it may be a bit of a stretch at this point in the year, I'm still hopeful of getting through them both before the year is through. If you had to choose one president to read a biography about, who would it be?

Let's Bust a Recap : The Lady's Mine

Finally. A new release from one of my all-time favorite authors. Francine Rivers is an auto-buy author for me. And if we're being honest, the only other author that has that honor is Robin Jones Gunn. It's an exclusive club. And when one of these two women announces a new release, it's preordered in two shakes and then there's a lot of impatience on the part of yours truly until Release Day. Thankfully, between finding out about The Lady's Mine and when it actually arrived in my mailbox, I had my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, a blizzard, and a full-time job to occupy my time. So we survived. But y'all. It has been four solid years since Rivers' last book The Masterpiece was published, and the fatalist in me always believes that the last book Francine Rivers or Robin Jones Gunn wrote will be the last book they ever will write again so I had all but given up hope that I'd ever get a new novel from Rivers. 

But I was wrong! Hooray!

The Lady's Mine is Francine Rivers' self-described "pandemic book" and for that reason, it is intentionally a lot lighter than the rest of her body of work. Set in the late 1800s, this book chronicles the adventures of Kathryn Walsh as she is disinherited from her posh Bostonian family for being a troublemaking suffragette and sent West to claim a paltry inheritance left her by her recently deceased uncle. She shows up in Calvada, a border mining town in the middle of Nowhere, USA determined to make her own way in the world. 

Now, let's not kid ourselves: Francine Rivers is a romance writer and the majority of her books do center around a romantic relationship of one type or another. And don't get me wrong: I'm here for a good love story. But in The Lady's Mine she really leaned into the romance. In most of her other books, there is a Main Issue the plot deals with that the romance is written to serve. However in this newest offering, it definitely felt like we were reading a Romance with a side of women's rights thrown in. And it was good. But it wasn't my favorite book by her for that reason. You could definitely tell that Rivers had fun writing it, and I did appreciate how light it was in comparison with her other books. Like, when I usually sit down with a Francine Rivers novel, I don't move again until I've finished it because I'm literally holding my breath till the end. With The Lady's Mine, I could breathe, you know? According to Goodreads, I took a whole week to read it. That's not to say we never dealt with any tough circumstances or tense situations, but in contrast with the rest of her work, this one was just fun. Rivers has described it as The Taming of the Shrew meets Oklahoma! and it was a rip-roaring good time. 

All in all, my favorite author once again delivered a novel I thoroughly enjoyed, and I'd definitely recommend The Lady's Mine if you're looking for a fun romantic romp. But if you've never read anything else by Francine Rivers, for the love of silver start with The Atonement Child or the Mark of the Lion trilogy. 

Do you have any auto-buy authors?