Review: Talking Mysteries: A Conversation With Tony Hillerman

Talking Mysteries: A Conversation With Tony Hillerman by Tony Hillerman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was more a hardback fanzine than a book. There are a number of articles, most not by Hillerman. Interesting only to those who have run out of Hillerman mysteries to read.

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Review: The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found the suspense in the story very well managed by Atwood. It was a very compelling read, once you got into the setting. I read her MaddAdamm books before this, and really enjoyed them. In comparison, this felt more like the less technical 1970s. I am looking forward to reading this one's recent sequel to see if the difference in when it was written makes a difference to the story.

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Review: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV

Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV by Francis Parkman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another in Parkman's series of old Canada and America histories. Parkman writes with details and imbues the stories in the history with adventure and with hardship you can see and feel. Nice reading.

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Review: The Art of Living

The Art of Living by André Maurois
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found this little book with a neatly penned gift inscription for a young man just starting out in the world. It was in a Christian organization's thrift store. While this copy was 60 years old, it looked to be like new, but had been read. I thought I'd take it for a spin, and found the writing to be about what you'd expect, very reflective, mostly common sense, with some odd suggestions here and there. I enjoyed the feel of the book - it felt antique in the thoughts, though not in the writing.

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Review: Regicide's Widow

Regicide's Widow by Antony Whitaker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So a couple of years ago I was zooming a genealogy web site, and by zooming I mean picking a random n-great grandparent and drilling backwards through public trees to find new-to-me ancestors, and I happened across Lady Alice Lisle, last person to be beheaded in Britain, and according to the website, my 10th great grandmother. Also interesting was the last name Lisle, as that is the name of the town I live in. i found this book about Lady Lisle's life and mostly about her court case. Her husband was a judge who crossed a king and was murdered by his agents after fleeing to Switzerland. Lady Lisle stayed behind, but let an opponent of the king stay the night in her manor. The case is in great detail, although the author states that much of that detail seems to have appeared decades after the events, so no telling how true it is. Quite interesting. Did Lady Lisle get railroaded? Seems likely.

A coda to this review, in looking at a different genealogy website, I was surprised to see major dissent on the relationship with Lady Lisle. It seems more likely that my ancestor worked for Lisle, and was not her daughter. While it would have paid to have done this research first, I'm glad i read this book, as I had no knowledge of the times in Britain, and found this interesting background with a number of stories I'd like to follow up on.

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Review: Trying to Save Piggy Sneed

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed by John Irving
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Most of this was forgettable, as are most books of short stories when I don't write a review for 10 months. But i do remember "The Imaginary Girlfriend", not by name, but because it was an ode to wresting. I read Pat Conroy's "My Losing Season", about his basketball playing days in college, mostly, and could imagine Irving, having finished reading the Conroy book, saying to a friend "Hold my beer." Conroy's passion for wresting lasts beyond his youth, such that he's coaching and wrestling decades beyond his college days. Irving writes dedication well, and it is oddly inspiring to read about that dedication to an unmonetized sport.

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Review: Nine Inches: Stories

Nine Inches: Stories by Tom Perrotta
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Unease in suburbia. People in Perrotta's stories just aren't that happy. And the stories all seem a bit off kilter, which made them more readable but not so identifiable. Still, i enjoyed these, and though the situations were odd, the settings were very familiar.

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