Ransom

David Malouf's Ransom takes a segment of the Trojan War saga and creates an elegy about grief and loss. The focus of the story is the relationship between Achilles, the Greek hero, and Priam, the Trojan king, and their grief at the deaths of their most beloved ones. Patroclus, Achilles' life long friend and soul mate, is killed by Hector, Priam's son, on the battlefield. In his rage Achilles slays Hector and then proceeds to deface Hector's corpse, which is an extreme insult to Priam. Achilles and Priam are tethered to each other in their pain. The story, as told by Malouf, shows that mental and emotional anguish will drive the most heroic and most lauded individuals to acts that, in their right minds, would never have happened. Malouf, considered to be one of the great Australian writers, writes with lyricism and a mystical quality that takes the reader into another world. The author takes the reader into the minds of Achilles and Priam - two vastly different individuals experiencing the same devastating loss. In some ways the writing is cinematic - the visual descriptions color the language and put the reader on the beach where the Greeks are besieging the Trojans. It is beautifully written. It seems that each word is chosen carefully to evoke the emotional depth of each character. It is a short novel, but one well worth an afternoon/evening of contemplation. I recommend it highly.

The Bedside, Bathtub, & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen

The Bedside... compiles just about everything you want to know about Jane Austen and then some. There are detailed summaries of all of her novels, her incomplete works, and her juvenilia. It also includes some peculiarities of Regency England (such as a ha-ha, which is a ditch to keep livestock off the lawn and gardens of a manor house. I got to see a ha-ha when I went to Wales.). Need to know the difference between a curricle and a barouche? This book gives an entire rundown of all the types of carriages in Jane's world. [Note: a curricle is a sporty 2 seater carriage that is driven with 2 horses - sort of a Regency version of a Miata (all the wealthier single young men - Mr. Darcy, Henry Tilney, etc. - drive this). A barouche is like a Rolls Royce - luxurious, roomy, and very expensive (Lady Catherine de Bourgh's favorite means of travel).] If you have a curiosity about the food (white soup, for example, is made of veal stock with almonds and cream - very expensive ingredients) of Jane's day, it's here. This includes the "meals" - breakfast and dinner (no lunch until after Jane's death) - and what and how the food was served (2 courses). There is a splendid essay on the clothing of the Regency period with JASNA's costuming expert Baronda Bradley (someone I know! We're both members of the JASNA - North Texas chapter).

The book is partitioned into several chapters and subsections of related material of short(ish) essays and analyses. It is very well written - lots of information with lots of humor. These editors know their Jane, definitely. What's nice about this compilation is that you don't have to read the whole thing at once. I dipped into sections of interest every so often - and read leisurely. It took a couple of months to read the entire thing. It was a joy.

This book is a MUST for Janites.

Madeleine Albright, as the secretary of state for President Clinton, made a name for herself using her brooches as diplomatic statements. This new book features those pins in connection with an exhibit of her pieces at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. I heard her interviewed on NPR about the exhibit and the book so I had to check it out. The book is a beautifully photographed coffee table book of a number of her pins, though not all. Intermixed are the stories of those pins and how she came to collect them. Her collection started with inherited jewelry and then expanded as her career developed. Soon her pins began to be interpreted in diplomatic circles, though she didn't wear them to send messages initially. But soon she would wear them to send non-verbal and sometimes not-so-subtle communications to various world leaders.

As I said, this is a coffee table book. Her pins are quite spectacular and quite funny. She has all kinds - expensive gemstones, costume (mostly), and really inexpensive handmade pieces that she's picked up on her travels. I wanted every one of them! While the pins and the photographs are quite glorious, if you want more information about the effectiveness of those pins in diplomacy, then I would suggest another book. This is Madeleine-lite. There are a few charming and anecdotal stories about her life, but not much detail. I wanted more. Maybe I picked the wrong book to read about her. But if you're interested in her exhibition pieces, then this is the book for you. If you're looking for more meat, try something else.

Teaberry Strangler

Teaberry Strangler is the 11th Indigo Tea Shop mystery from Laura Childs. I've read every one of her tea shop novels. I'm sorry to say it isn't one of my favorites. It's so-so. I mean, it's okay but not something I would want to read again nor buy. Theo, the owner of the Charleston-based tea shop and our heroine, witnesses a brutal murder of her friend and neighboring shop owner, Daria. It's up to Theo and her fellow tea shop cohorts, Drayton and Hayley, to figure out if the attack was directed to Daria or to Theo herself. As usual there are lots of extraneous asides like a walking tour of old Charleston homes and gardens, a variety of tea parties (including a children's tea), new teas, new products for her shop, daily menu changes, etc. In fact there are so many that the plot and the action are pushed to the side. Do we really need to delve into Theo's ex-boyfriend's ex-fiance and her nuttiness? How does this move the story along? I just wanted to scream, "Get on with it!" The killer isn't all that hard to figure out - I got it about half way through the novel. Theo doesn't figure it out. At all. Weird for Theo - she usually solves the mystery pretty efficiently. It seems to me that Childs spent so much time on the environment of the story that the story itself was forgotten or at best an afterthought. It was a disappointment.

From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords

Being a crossword puzzle solver (most of the time, though not always - the New York Times Saturday crossword puts me in a tizzy) I'm always on the lookout for crossword puzzle books and web sites. I read about this little gem in the New York Times and had to check it out. I'm glad I did. From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords by Dean Olsher is a delightful read into the minds of crossword puzzlers in general and into his mind in particular. People who don't work on crosswords think puzzlers are wasting their time on such escapist distractions. But Olsen is not one of them - he's been solving crosswords, particularly cryptic crosswords, for decades. Olsen, who was the host of the now defunk The Next Big Thing on NPR, says people who say that just don't get it. Crosswords aren't distractions to kill time; they are vital to our well-being. They are anti-anxiety agents as well as loyal friends (it shows up in the newspaper everyday no matter what). And if one works crosswords one is obsessed with them. "You won't need an fMRI to know that crosswords are dangerously addictive." No kidding!

Not all of the essays are specific about crosswords, though all the essays have crosswords and puzzles involved. He talks about his divorce and he is still distressed about The Next Big Thing being axed by NPR. He talks to homeless people, crossword addicts, and Will Shortz, the crossword editor for the New York Times. He discusses the differences between American puzzles and British puzzles (which are more along the line of cryptic crosswords), cryptic crosswords versus your basic crossword puzzle, the movie Wordplay, etc. He also observes how a friend creates a crossword, which is fascinating in and of itself (at least to a crossword solver).

The book reads very quickly - I read it in an afternoon. If you are a crossword puzzle fanatic (and you know who you are) or just a person who likes to read essays, I recommend this book.

Blackwork

Blackwork by Monica Ferris is the latest in her needlecraft series. It's Halloween and Betsy Devonshire, the owner of Crewel World needlework store in Excelsior, MN, is up to her amateur detective best. One of her long time customers is a Wiccan, a very gentle soul, who is well known for brewing the best beer in the area and owns a microbrewery pub where she serves her brews. When one of her concoctions, called Don't be Afraid of the Dark Ale, apparently causes the death of one of the more obnoxious residents of Excelsior, the witchhunt is on. The Wiccan is accused of causing all kinds of accidents in the town. Betsy is incensed that one of her best customers is being persecuted and takes a hand in finding out who did kill this man. Turns out the dead man has made quite a few enemies in the town, any number of whom would want him dead for any number of reasons. This is an entertaining cozy mystery as Ferris' novels usually are. This isn't one of her best - she gets too involved in town politics rather than the actual mystery. Plus the needlework part, which is the lynchpin of all her novels, gets short shrift. The title alludes to blackwork, a type of linear embroidery. I'm not quite sure how blackwork embroidery fits in with this murder. But still, I like the novel and the series, and appreciate the connection with needlecrafts (I'm a stitcher myself). Monica Ferris is a member of the American Needlepoint Guild and the Embroiderer's Guild of America so she knows her needlework. It's a good quick read for a Sunday afternoon.

Death without Tenure

Death without Tenure by Joanne Dobson is the latest in her mystery series that takes place in academia. The series focuses on Kate Pelletier, an English professor at the elite Enfield College. She's solved many a murder on campus. The themes of these novels usually involve the works of literary figures such as Poe, Dickinson, Hammett ,etc. This time it's not so much about literature as it is about tenure. Kate is up for tenure and has all the necessary materials to be awarded tenure - articles in major journals, a book, and so on. However, the English department can only award one tenure position this year and she's up against a colleague John Lone Wolf, a Native American. The big push by the department chair is to give tenure to Lone Wolf, even though he hasn't finished his disseration, authored or co-authored any article in any journal, nor presented papers at conferences. This is the climate that Kate faces in her battle for tenure. Then Lone Wolf is murdered. Kate's the primary suspect because of the tenure issue. The novel gives an up front and personal view of the terror of tenure track. It's a brutal exercise and entirely political. As usual in a mystery novel there are a plethora of red herrings and misdirections. Lone Wolf is not as he seems, which may or may not be a factor in his murder. Kate is strung out because of being a suspect, trying to get tenure, dealing with a mother who has dementia, and a boyfriend who is in Iraq fighting the war. But she gets to the bottom of the murder and the near destruction of the English department. The novel is quite enjoyable, especially if you've had experience in academia. Joanne Dobson is a professor herself (Fordham University) and knows how the academic world works. It's still a murder mystery and that is its main draw. It's written well even though Dobson tends to go off on tangents when Kate teaches a class. It's entertaining and I recommend it.

Note: I was reading this when that professor at Alabama killed three of her colleagues and injured three others, the reasons which may involve her not being awarded tenure. This made for some uncomfortable reading in light of what happened. The issues around tenure are volatile and the process can be quite ugly. Dobson sheds some light on this in this novel.