Booklist June 2022

 Eleven books this month!

I got off to a slow start, about a book a week, but then my reading picked up. Maybe because I had a hard time sleeping this month! I keep having naps in the evening, then going to bed late and waking up at about 3:30, and then either staying awake or having a really short cat nap before I am up around seven. Fun times!

So here are the books--I know that I will not read another book by the end of tomorrow, because I will make sure that I don't! Would be kind of hard to accidentally finish a book!

1. The walker on the cape by Mike Martin. I decided I was homesick for Newfoundland--which is a place I have never been, so how can I be homesick for it? I just really like Newfoundland. It is a new found like! (As of a couple of years ago.) So I googled to find books set in Newfoundland. Mike Martin writes the Sergeant Windflower Mysteries, and while they are not the best written books on the planet, I really like the setting and I really like Sergeant Windflower, who is a Cree from Alberta. I like this description of the book: "...Windflower also discovers two more things; a love of living in a small Newfoundland community that is completely different from his up-bringing in a Northern Alberta reserve and maybe the love of his life. He gets a taste of Newfoundland food and hospitality as well as a sense of how crime and corruption can linger beneath the surface or hide in the thick blanket of fog that sometimes creeps in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean."

2. A house full of females: Plural marriage and women's rights in early Mormonism, 1835-1870 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. This nonfiction book took me awhile to get through, but was so interesting to me. There was so much here that I did not know. I thought I had a pretty decent understanding of polygamy because my great-grandparents--my paternal grandma's parents--were polygamists. And I think they had a pretty awesome family with really good relationships all around. But such was not always the case. A surprising thing I learned was that built into polygamy as practiced by the Mormons at that early date was easy-peasy divorce!! That is so interesting to me, because divorce was so frowned upon within the church when I was young. It was like such a shocking thing. But those early polygamists didn't really need to make much of a case for a divorce. Another thing that surprised me was that for the men, at least some of the ones featured in the book, they honestly were trying to have as many children as possible. Like, they were growing the church by having a bajillion babies. I just didn't think of it that way--like, I knew that my gg M's wives each had nine children, so he had 18 children without totally wearing out one woman. I dont' think that was gg M's plan, though. But that really was an objective, apparently, for some men, and it worked. The population grew because of it. I always thought it had more to do with protecting women because at the time, they had no rights to money or property, so if they were married they had a bit more stability. I think that happened in some cases, but not all. Anyways, a very interesting and surprising read by a noted historian. (Professor at Harvard.)

3. The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz was our book club book for the month. It is written in the style of Canterbury Tales and is subtitled Three magical children and their holy dog. There is the French peasant Jeanne and the greyhound Gwenforte, a boy named William who is the child of a French hero of the crusades and a black woman, left at a monastery where he is in training to be a monk, and a very small boy named Jacob who is Jewish. We help the children to solve the mystery by listening to the tales various characters tell to the narrator, who turns out to be the inquisitor--as in the Spanish Inquisition--he is not what he seems. The story takes the children traveling through France and ends up at Mont St. Michel, which is a place I have wanted to visit for a very long time. The quicksand, the island that isn't always an island. I loved this story, which got better as it went along.

4. Politically Homeless by Matt Forde. The author was once heavily involved in the Labour Party in Great Britain, but has become very disenchanted with both Labour and the Tories. The right is too far right; the left is too far left; the crazies on the fringes have too much sway in public discourse, and he doesn't know what to do. So instead, he is a stand up comic. So, his book is funny as well as a bit disheartening. I feel the same way in this country, which my friend Christine describes as a dystopian hell hole. That might be a bit of a strong description, but some days I feel that way, too.

5. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arden. I somehow found this old book -- 100 years old -- and requested it through interlibrary loan. Which is interesting after the fact because I think our library has a reprint from 1970ish, and I know that Project Gutenberg has digitized this book so it is freely available online. So I feel a little bit bad about the expense of ILL to the university, but also I am very glad to have been able to handle the 100 year old book. Because it doesn't say that it is by Elizabeth von Arden--it says it is "by the author of Elizabeth and her German Garden." Which is kind of cute and mysterious. Four women rent an Italian house for a month of self-actualization, and it is utterly charming and hopeful. This book that I had never heard of before is extremely popular, having been made into a Broadway play twice, a film twice, a musical once, and a BBC radio serial. 

6. Breaking into song: Why you shouldn't hate musicals by Adam Lenson. This was a new book at work, and I decided to give it a read. It is not a scholarly book--no citations--it is just Adam Lenson's opinion backed up by years of working in musical theatre in London. He says that musicals should be considered a medium--that musicals can be expressions of all sorts of emotions, with all sorts of characters. He says you would never say you hate books, although you might hate this book or that book; but there will be books you like, too. And so it should be with musicals. They have been too narrowly constricted, and in his work, he aims to try to change that. Also he explained the difference between replica theatre and revival theatre. We are stuck in a rut of replica theatre right now--each musical is told the same way. Wicked always is staged the same. Hamilton is always staged the same. Etc. Etc. Etc. Where is the creativity in that? (The producers are more interested in money than creativity.) Very interesting points to ponder!

7. John Held Jr's Fiction by Glen Nelson. Even though I was prepared for book group, having read #3 on this list, instead of going there on the night I went to Writ & Vision with Janet to listen to our friend Glen talk about his new book. Since Glen was there from New York, and also he feels guilty whenever he sees/talks to me because I wrote so many articles for his encyclopedia and it is not there on the internet like it is supposed to be. (They have been troubleshooting with their ISP since February, and here we are and still no solution in sight.) Anyways--John Held Jr. was quite the celebrity in his day (the 1920s) with cartoons and illustrations everywhere. His illustrations of flappers drove the fashion of the day so much that it is more likely that he created flappers, than that his art illustrates flappers, if you know what I mean. But Glen wanted to examine his fiction, because nobody has really done that. He is thought of as an artist. So, this was very interesting, and so of course the next book I read was...

8. Dog Stories by John Held Jr. We have this in our library. John Held wrote several short story collections and a handful of novels. I am waiting for another of his books through ILL. Dog Stories is a collection of stories narrated by dogs. And dogs have a much different point of view when compared to their humans! Eight stories. The one I keep thinking about is this hunting dog who is waiting for his master so she can go home and feed her puppies, and she wonders why he is lying down, but she lies down when she is tired, so why shouldn't he? But it is unusual for him--and of course she then reveals that she knocked into the gun and it went off, and so you know that she unwittingly shot him and that is why he is not getting up. She has no clue. So. Kind of sad and all. 

9. No excuses: the story of the elite gymnast Aimee Walker Pond by Adam U. Kimple. So, if you read my last post then you know that I have been researching the Clinger Sisters for almost a year. More than a year, I guess. So Aimee is Patsy's daughter. Also Patsy's husband Cam is from Raymond and is my friend Eleanor Johansen's cousin, and first cousins also with the husbands of several of my friends, including Linda Fairbanks who set me up to meet with Patsy long ago last year. I thought there might be something useful to my research about the sisters in this book, but instead I am just in awe at the Walker family. Aimee's birth was difficult and she had the cord wrapped around her neck three times, so oxygen was cut off for too long which resulted in damage. Aimee was born deaf (in both ears) and blind (in one eye)--almost a Helen Keller, but saved by that one good eye. (It took them about 10 months to figure it out, though.) I knew that Aimee was deaf already; Patsy told me that a long time ago. We talked about that in connection with sign language. But I had no idea that Aimee became an elite gymnast, who competed for UCLA and then for BYU. (She got married and moved to Utah, otherwise, she would have kept on competing for UCLA.) Anyways--amazing. To be deaf and then to have impaired vision and yet doing gymnastics, often to music that she couldn't even hear!

10. Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray. I do like Jeanne Ray a lot, though I have not read a book of hers for years. She churns them out slowly, but they are guaranteed to be interesting and funny. The mother of author Ann Patchett, Jeanne wrote her first novel at age 60, 22 years ago. Calling Invisible Women was written in 2012, when Jeanne was 72. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

About high school kids, but honestly, some older people as well, maybe?: "Kids don't want to be bad, they just have no idea how to stop themselves. They're so wrapped up in their image they can't make the right choices." - p.93-94 (on the page turn)

"The truth, we realize as we get older, is a very complicated pastiche of feelings and facts, of what can and cannot be said. It's different for everyone." - p.156

"They were both over twenty-one. Weren't they free to do what they wanted to do with their own bodies? No. The answer was certainly no. I had made one of those bodies myself and I wasn't about to let a temporary moment of stupidity mar it for the rest of its days on this earth. I was still the mother, after all. That counted for something." - p.161

This quote rang true over the abortion debate! And it is a historical fact that similar words were actually said when the AMA voted to allow the IUD. About women: "We're nothing to them. We're a reasonable loss. We're a margin of error. It's one thing to be invisible but it's another thing to know that somebody did it to you and it didn't even matter to them because the profits were too high." - p. 221

About people being disappointing, spoken by a Russian mail-order bride, "That is because people cannot see. What you cannot see you do not care about." - p.231

11. American Panda by Gloria Chao. I didn't think when I started this book that I would finish it in June, but thanks to a pretty sleepless night last night, I did. Chinese-American Mei Lu has been pushed to excel. She is a freshman at MIT on the premed track. Only she hates germs. Not to mention blood and pretty much any liquids or solids or parts associated with bodies. Medicine is not a good fit for her. But how to tell her parents? They have already formally disowned her brother Xing (9 years older) because his gf/fiancee/wife Esther has fertility problems. Even though she is a dentist, and Taiwanese which should make her a good choice, Xing is the only son of an only son, and there must be an heir! (Spoiler alert: by the end of the book, there is one.) Also, Mei likes a Japanese-American boy (his ancestors killed your ancestors!) and Mei really wants to be a dancer (there is no future in that!)

Friends Meet

 I have been doing Clinger Sisters research for almost a year now. I can't remember how I learned about Peggy Clinger as a composer--that was what started it. I was writing an encyclopedia entry about her for the Latter-day Saints Arts Encyclopedia (which is down now, and has been since February, so all my articles are kind of dead, which is sad) and there were some questions I could not answer. Like, some sources said that she and Johnny Cymbal were married, and some said they were not. So, I internet stalked her surviving sisters from the Clinger Sisters group, and figured out that Patsy had married a Walker from Raymond. So I asked my friend Linda (who also married a Walker from Raymond, and who was Facebook friends with Patsy) if she could facilitate a virtual meeting, which she did. 

My first conversation with Patsy via telephone was just a few days before Millie was born, and she was so good to ask about Millie later (and continues to ask about Millie--she is very good at remembering things) and since then we have communicated frequently via messenger, email, phone and Zoom. Yesterday, I got to meet Patsy and her sister Melody in person. And they are both so warm and friendly. When we all spoke together on Zoom on May 18 (also their sister Debra, who lives in Tennessee) Debra and I both had eye trouble that day, and both of us made emergency opthalmologist appointments and both were given gel for our eyes--Patsy thought to ask about my eyes. She is a very good rememberer--and in fact her sisters both say, "Ask Patsy. She remembers everything."

So, Patsy and Melody came to the library to see the exhibit that they are in. And here we are--they had a friend with them, who took the picture:

Patsy, Melody, Me. To my right in the picture (which was my actual left) you can see the little Lilac Rockflowers doll that is Debra's persona--it is as if she were there!) and above her, the poster with the four sisters on it: Melody, Peggy, Patsy and Debra.

We have a great visit! It was very fun to meet them.

Bring your child to work day

 This year, our library HR people planned some great activities for this day. Well--they delegated the planning! Since Kellie, our department assistant, would be at ALA on the day, she assigned the students to resurrect the activities we did for our library event earlier in the year--teaching a dance and helping the children to write a haiku. Our students Crozier, Lillian, and Rosie did it all themselves--well, I took pictures and also turned the music on. Not hard tasks!

Lillian starting things off for parents, children, and group leaders:

Here they are in action:

The second group. Rosie on the back row wearing the lanyard, the back of Crozier teaching the dance.

Dr. Dalton is planning his funeral these days, and emailed me to ask for a couple of pieces: Bach's "Come sweet death" as arranged for viola by Lionel Tertis, and a Handel trio sonata that made no sense. It was supposed to be the adagio movement, but the one he asked for has no adagio movement. So, the hunt was on!

I stopped at his house, and he showed me the Primrose CD the piece was on. I took a picture of the CD because I knew we would have a copy of the CD in the library (because viola!) and I listened to the music, compared what I heard to each movement in the score of the music it was titled to be, but it wasn't any of them. (In case the "adagio" part was incorrect on the CD.)

This is what I sent to Dr. D:

I have found it. It is not straight forward. In Grove, it stands alone, not listed as part of an opus:

394 — E  2 vn, bc  HG, op.2 no.9; Dl; authenticity doubtful  xxvii, 148  iv/10/1, 99

(I should explain that the blank line  — is in the opus column in the Grove. While op.2 no.9 is there, that is in the explanation column, so it is sometimes called that, but it isn't a part of the actual op.2)  

I found it by listening to all the Youtube videos that said they were Handel adagios, and then one of them that clearly had the same melody we hear on the recording listed HWV 394, so I was able to find it that way. In the actual book I am looking at in the collected works, it is listed as Sonata IX in a set that includes opus 2, but opus 2 only has no.1-6 , and then the extra three are tacked on at the end as no.7, 8 and 9, but lacking the opus number.

Kind of confusing! But it is the right music. And very lovely music it is.

Detective work is always fun!

Better Library News

 I will start this post by saving a picture here of most of my department, the people who I work with and evaluate as department chair. I am very lucky to work with such nice people. I actually was not at this brunch/meeting--I had a department chairs meeting that conflicted. But you can pretend that I was there taking the picture! (I wonder who really took the picture?)

L-R around the table: Kellie, Mary, Chris, Matt, Robert, Elizabeth, Bob, Richard. Tim is missing because his wife had chemo that day. They are certainly a nice bunch of people to work with.

I have been working with Janet B, Trevor A, And Andy S, and with Eric H. and his crew of designers on an exhibit, which opened on Thursday, June 16. Kellie and I made a video, which is highly unprofessional, and the narrator is very, very choppy. But it was intended to share the exhibit with my family and to send to a few people who helped with the exhibit, intending to let them know about it, and to encourage those close by to come and see the exhibit.

Kellie put it on Youtube where nobody can see it unless they have a link. In case the video fails, the URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON97r6M_jKk

Library News

 Those offices I have been following the destruction of looked like this earlier this week:

I just have two comments: Noise!!! Dust!! They were killing my eyes last week. And people need to be wearing a mask, honestly. Breathing all that dust is nasty. Why, oh why, the cinderblock walls? Bruce says it was because the building was built during the Cold War, and I guess they thought cinderblock would keep out the death rays better than a normal thin wall.  It will be drywall for any replacement walls, but mostly they are tearing down and not building much. It will be more open.

This news is only from the library because Janet works in the library, but her step-daughter Sarah, Daron's oldest daughter, just graduated from medical school. And because she is rather unique, as the mother of nine children, she was featured on Good Morning, America. Go Sarah!

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/mom-graduates-medical-school-plans-neurosurgeon-85072588

Books for May

 In spite of having two eye surgeries (May 2 and May 23) and therefore not being able to read for a number of days, I managed to read eight books in May!

1. My friend Gemma in the UK recommended The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, who is a UK television personality. And I must say, I have not enjoyed a good murder mystery quite so much since I was immersing myself in Agatha Christies many years ago. What a delightful cast of characters Osman has created in the members of the Thursday Murder Club. How fun to have four senior citizens chasing bad guys and figuring out clues. Highly recommended!

2. So of course, I had to read the next in the series by Richard Osman: The man who died twice. A little bit of pathos in this one--old age is not all fun and games and solving mysteries, after all. But still such a good story! I can't wait for book three. This is what happens when you read a current author--you have to wait for more books! Whereas, when I was reading Agatha Christie back in the day, I was discovering an older author, and I didn't have to wait for her to write more. (Which she couldn't have done because she had died.)

3. I decided to try something by Elly Griffiths that was not a Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery, so I tried The Postscript Murders, which featured a detective called Harbinder Kaur. I really liked the characters, including an old man, a neighbor and friend of the murdered woman. (I seem to have been finding books featuring people who are old. Now that I am getting to be old myself.)

4. My first nonfiction of the month was Rabbi Ron Isaacs's Chords of Comfort: Unlocking Life's Lessons of Healing Through Music, which came across my desk as a part of my work, and it looked interesting, so I gave it a read. It was interesting, but not quite as compelling a read as I had hoped it would be. It was not as well-written as I had hoped, either, so I was surprised to discover that Rabbi Ron has written hundreds of books. Huh. Guys, there is hope for all of us budding authors. 

5. A man named Bela Petsco (Hungarian American) died recently, and many of my writer friends were friends with him, and so they posted things about him, and linked to his obituary and told stories about him, and posted about his one and only published book, and that made me want to read his book. (His obituary leaves out details, like that he was married once upon a time for a few short years, and his wife died in childbirth along with the child. His life was hard.) The book is called Nothing Very Important and Other Stories, and it is a series of stories about a fictional LDS missionary (who happens to be from New York City and Hungarian American, so this is a fictionalized account of Bela's own mission) serving in Arizona and California in the late 1960s. It was actually super good. I was so sad because this is his only book, so I could not look forward to reading something else he wrote.

6. Feeding my addiction to Elly Griffith's Dr. Ruth Galloway books, I read The Nighthawks. These were a group of men who are kind of like metal detectorists, who go out at night on their searches. As usual, Elly bases the book about things that really are a thing in Norfolk, this time using the legend of the Black Shuck, the kind of dog that makes fear of dogs seem pretty sensible, as an important concept in solving the mystery.

7. The Color of Water by James McBride. Can I say enough about how much I liked this beautiful biography? Probably not. What a wonderful tribute this man has written to his mother. James McBride is a black musician, composer and writer (pretty prolific writer), one of the 12 children of a Hasidic Jewish woman (white) who converted to Christianity and founded a church with her first husband, Dennis (black). Dennis died of cancer leaving her a widow with seven children and pregnant with the baby who would be James. She remarried a very kind man, who was always James' Daddy, and had four more children. What color is God? her children would ask, and she would say "The color of water." Beautiful book. Interesting look at race over this woman's long lifetime.

8. I have been working on Love Lies & Hocus Pocus 6: Identity for two months, and finally finished it. I do like this series by Lydia Sherrer, but books five and six had a bit too much of battles between wizards and witches and demons for me. So I had to take it slow. I do not like battles and bloodshed and gore in fact or in fiction. But--they rescued Lily, so that was good. Although--the ending was still not resolved, so maybe there will be a book seven? I don't know. 

And that was my reading for the month of May!