The Man in the Wooden Hat / Jane Gardam 233 pp.

This is the second in the Old Filth (failed in London, try Hong Kong) trilogy, giving the reader the story of Elizabeth, Filth's wife.  Like Filth, she is a child of the Empire's Far East, and is also marked by youthful suffering: in her case, she and her parents were interned and nearly starved in a Japanese camp during World War II.  Betty and Filth have a strong marriage if a somewhat incomplete one; we learn here about Betty's long connection to Veneering, Filth's archenemy at the Hong Kong Bar, and to Veneering's beloved son Harry.  A bit slower to get rolling than Old Filth, but ultimately just as satisfying.  I am halfway through the third volume and will be sorry to finish.

Old Filth / Jane Gardam 290 pp.

The first in a trilogy, this is the story, told largely through reminiscences, of Sir Edward Feathers, better known as Old Filth. (Failed in London, try Hong Kong)  Filth has ended an eminent career as a barrister in Hong Kong and returned to Dorset with his wife Betty.  But before his seemingly tranquil life of comfort and privilege,. he had a tumultuous childhood as a 'Raj orphan.'  Told in dry, witty, and observant language, what stands out here is Filth's individuality.  The events of his life aren't symbolic and don't fit into neat boxes, but the delicately sketched experience reads like the truth.

The Question of the Missing Head

The Question of the Missing Head by E.J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen, 324 pages

Samuel Hoenig is not your average detective. He runs a one-man business called Questions Answered, in which he answers everything everything from "Where is my missing pet?" to "Will it be possible for a player to hit a home run that completely exits the new Yankee Stadium?" He's also got Asperger's Syndrome, which throws a wrench into the typical procedure of detecting but, as he sees it, gives him a special set of abilities that assist in his profession. This book, the first of a series, sees Samuel attempting to answer the question, "Where is Rita Masters-Powell's frozen head?", which has gone missing from the cryonics facility that was storing it. When the missing head question leads to a murder case, Samuel finds himself attempting to answer a question much harder than any other ever set before him.

Samuel is a great character, as is his accidental sidekick Janet Washburn, and the mystery is certainly a good one, filled with red herrings and plot twists. I particularly like how Samuel's Asperger's plays into his crime-solving abilities. That said, there are times that Copperman and Cohen are a bit heavy-handed in their descriptions of Asperger's, perhaps in an attempt to make sure that any reader fully understands the disorder. I suppose that's all well and good for someone who is completely unfamiliar with autism spectrum disorders, but for fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or The Rosie Project, it can seem a bit patronizing. I hope that the teaching element peters out as the series continues, because the authors have created a great character with a lot of potential. Fans of cozy mysteries, Monk, and/or the aforementioned Curious Incident and Rosie Project will enjoy this one.

Twerp

Twerp by Mark Goldblatt  275 pp.

I didn't blog this one when I first read it because I was zipping through choices for my 4th-6th grade book club. I just reread it in preparation of our book discussion and found I liked it even better the second time around. Julian "Twerp" Twerski is essentially a good kid, doing the things that sixth graders did for fun in the late 1960s: silly and sometimes dangerous stunts involving firecrackers and high places, made up games, running races, first crushes on girls, etc. However, one incident that went horribly wrong gets Julian and his buddies suspended from school for a week. The nature of the incident is not revealed until the end. The book is in the format of a journaling assignment made by Julian's English teacher in exchange for getting out of a writing a paper on Shakespeare. Julian hates Shakespeare. The teacher's ultimate goal is getting Julian to look at the incident that got him suspended and another kid injured. Eventually the journal writing becomes less of a homework assignment and more of an obsession. It takes until after the school year ends before Julian writes about the incident and urges his buddies to go with him to make an apology to the victim. It's a good story but some of the philosophical ideas Julian discusses in his journal are quite a bit beyond what sixth graders, even gifted ones, would think about (but is great fodder for book club discussions). And I didn't know any 6th graders in 1969 (including me) that studied Shakespeare. 

Abraham: the World's First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer / Alan M. Dershowitz 188 pp.

I was surprised by the readability and fresh tone of this somewhat unfocused overview.  Dershowitz looks at the faceted nature of the Abraham of scripture and how these different Abrahams can all be found throughout Jewish legal history.  Specifically, there is the Abraham who smashes his father's idols, the Abraham willing to obey God's demand to sacrifice his son, Isaac, or Dershowitz' preferred Abraham, the one who argued with God about the fate of the residents of Sodom.  Specific profiles of Jewish lawyers throughout history were interesting; Felix Frankfurter, for example, refused to use his power in the FDR administration to apply pressure to raise the numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism.

Our Souls at Night

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf  179 pp.

Spoilers ahead. This slim book chronicles the gentle relationship between two lonely septuagenarians. In a small Colorado town, widowed Addie Moore calls her neighbor, the widower Louis Waters to invite him to spend the night just as a comfort to each other. They spend their nights together lying in bed, holding hands, and talking, nothing more. When the town begins to talk about them, they go public with their slightly more than friendship. Addie's and Louis' children protest the relationship because of their age--unmarried old people sleeping together, the horrors!--even though at that point no sex had occurred. And Addie's son, an emotionally damaged man, is convinced Louis wants to marry her and take her money. Louis and Addie have a nice summer and Louis becomes friends with Addie's young grandson. In the end Addie succumbs to her son's emotional blackmail and breaks off her relationship with Louis. That whole situation sparked a lot of emotion in me, mostly anger that Addie's son is treating his mother the way he does and that she does not stand up to him. I know if one of my kids pulled that on me I wouldn't go down without a fight, but I think they know that. :-)

Mr Smith goes to prison

Mr. Smith goes to prison: What my year behind bars taught me about America's prison crisis 272 pgs.

Jeff Smith was a Missouri political wonder kid right up until he was sentences to prison for filing a false affidavit to an Federal Election Commission complaint.  Smith served a year and a day for this infraction at the Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester in Kentucky. Needless to say, prison was quite an education for Smith, whose education includes and Phd.  The observations and experience in the system really do illuminate the prison crisis.  Despite years of teaching experience, Smith was not allowed to work in the educational area but instead, was assigned to the warehouse where he unloaded trucks all day.

Smith isn't the first one to point out that our corrections system is broken but his interesting perspective should be considered when lawmakers attempt to fix the system.

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October totals

Aren't you thankful for Muggle candy
this Halloween?

Amy  2/961

Christa  13/4032

Kara  10/3452

Karen  10/2375

Kathleen  8/2229

Linda  2/1036

Patrick  15/5093

Total: 60/19,178

This is your life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

In the mid-fifties, Ralph Edwards hosted a popular TV show that foreshadowed reality TV – guests on the show, often well-known, but not always, were surprised on camera with a recounting of their lives complete with appearances from long-lost childhood friends, family, old colleagues, etc.  Using this device, the author recounts, back and forth in time, the life of Harriet Chance, nee Nathan.  The only child of a doting father and demanding mother, she is now 78.  Bernard, her husband of over fifty years has recently died after precipitously declining into Alzheimer’s, but somehow he keeps popping up and engaging her in conversation.  Her adult children are worried, and their worry increases when she decides to go an Alaskan cruise that she recently learned Bernard had purchased at a charity auction the year before.  The framing device fails to make the book much more interesting than Harriet’s rather conventional life.  The surprises that are revealed to her in her 79^th year are primarily unhappy ones.  The book is billed as a “lovely, forgiving character study,” but I actually thought it a bit cruel to the main character.  Not my cup of tea.  296 pp.

After you, by Jojo Mayes

Mayes earlier book, Me before you, was an unexpected delight – what could have been formulaic “chick lit” enlivened by believable characters, a healthy dose of humor, and with a serious issue at its core.  It’s always risky to follow up such a well-loved novel with a sequel so I approached After you with caution.  Although I won’t say that it rises to the level of the earlier book, the quirky characters that were introduced there take on new dimensions.  Louisa is trying to move on with her life, as Will would have wanted, nay, demanded in his way.  But it is hard.  She attends a grief support group called the Moving On Circle. After she runs through the money Will left her, she’s found work at an airport bar with a grumpy manager and an Irish theme that requires her to wear a scanty green dress and Irish dancer’s wig of bouncing curls.  She’s drinking a bit too much and while not totally sober manages to fall off the roof of her apartment building and seriously injures herself.  Then an unexpected connection to Will appears and her life becomes even more complicated.  This book is a bit more like chick lit but still worth reading on its own merits.  You’ll particularly enjoy the feminist awakening of Lou’s conventional mother, her befuddled dad, and the two teens, Lily and Jake, who connect Louisa to her past and her future.  352 pp.