Kate’s 2¢: “Wild life: dispatches from a childhood of baboons and button-downs” by Keena Roberts

“Wild life: dispatches from a childhood of baboons and button-downs” by Keena Roberts

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

In the prologue, it was unfortunate that the little girl’s second grade teacher wasn’t more proactive in helping her student acclimate to life in the States. When I taught Third Grade, a girl moved in during the middle of the year. All she could talk about was her old school and friends. Her current classmates were tired of hearing about how much better her old school was and rejecting her.  I privately talked with her and shared my experience of moving many times with my family while in grade school. When my mini-lecture ended, I asked her if she’d like to erase the chalkboard. Then, I went over to one of my gregarious girls and privately asked her to go erase the chalkboard, too.  Then, I told them in a normal voice that I could still see the ‘ghost writing’ on the chalkboard. They looked at each other, started to giggle, and as they rubbed harder, their little fannies wiggled and waggled, causing the whole class to laugh with them. It broke the ice and the new girl was accepted.  It wouldn’t have taken much for Keena’s teacher to facilitate a smoother transition for her.

Once I got over my peek at Roberts’ second grade teacher, I settled into enjoy Keena’s wonder and curiosity of the African flora and fauna. Her perceptions are  mature for a young child, or has it been enhanced with hind-sight?

Roberts’ writing style flows with humor, insight, and the thrill of daring adventures, both real and imagined. It is witty and complex, just like her mother had her practice writing college application essays. I like the way Roberts often compares the snarky, private school students behaviors to the wild animals she knew from Baboon Camp, her parents’   research camp in Botswana.

Chloe Cannon  did an excellent job of narrating the NLS version I listened to. She emoted enough for each character  to be identified, but, not so much as to detract from the flow of the story.

From her website:

Keena Roberts is the author of Wild Life: Dispatches From a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs, a memoir about growing up in a research camp in Botswana and the transition back to the life of an American high school student in a wealthy suburb of Philadelphia.

A born adventurer, Keena is drawn to stories featuring strong female protagonists and survival in incredible worlds full of danger, animals, and natural beauty. Her current work in progress is an epic fantasy novel, also set in the Okavango Delta, featuring baboon protagonists based on actual monkeys from the troop she grew up observing with her parents.

The daughter of two prominent primatologists, she is a graduate of Harvard University and holds two Masters degrees from Johns Hopkins University in international development as well as global disease epidemiology and control. She has worked in the world of global health for more than ten years, mostly in the field of HIV/AIDS, and credits her time in Botswana for developing her interest in this field.

From NLS/BARD/LOC”

Wild life: dispatches from a childhood of baboons and button-downs DB98131

Roberts, Keena. Reading time: 9 hours, 44 minutes.

Read by Chloe Cannon.

Biography

U.S. History

The author describes her experiences growing up while splitting her time between an island camp in Botswana with her primatologist parents and an elite private school in the United States. Reflects on the challenges faced in both settings. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Kate’s 2¢: “The Starter Wife” by Nina Laurin

“The Starter Wife” by Nina Laurin

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   The LS summary doesn’t do “The Starter Wife” justice. This is quite the psychological thriller.

   It always amazes me how an author can convolute so many plot twists, time changes, pov directions and still come up with all the puzzle pieces fitting together to make a satisfying ending.

From her website:

Nina Laurin is the author of two bestselling psychological thrillers, both out with Grand Central Publishing.

Arriving in Montreal when she was just twelve years old, she speaks and reads in Russian, French, and English, but writes her novels in English.

She wrote her first novel while getting her creative writing degree from Concordia University, and “Girl Last Seen” was published a year later in 2017. The follow-up, “What My Sister Knew”, came out on June 19th 2018 to critical acclaim.

Her next psychological thriller, “The Starter Wife”, comes out on June 11th, 2019.

Nina is fascinated by the darker side of mundane things, and she’s always on the lookout for her next twisted book idea.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The starter wife DB98334

Laurin, Nina. Reading time: 7 hours, 57 minutes.

Read by Molly Parker Myers.

Suspense Fiction

Psychological Fiction

Claire is frustrated by the lack of closure surrounding the suspected drowning death of her husband’s first wife. Thirty-seven-year-old painter Colleen Westcott’s car was parked by the Cleveland waterfront but her body has never been found. Then Claire gets a shocking phone call. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Downloaded: April 12, 2020

Cornucopia: The Leviathan’s Gift

The Leviathan’s Gift

By Kate Chamberlin

I stood in the attic window of my great-grandmother’s weather-beaten saltbox home over-looking Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. The calm ferry ride through the Puget Sound from Anacortes, WA, USA bode well for my visit. During the short voyage, I marveled at how graceful the pod of Harbor Porpoise was, playfully gliding alongside with the confidence of creatures who knew they were blessed and cherished, secure in the lineage dating back Millenia. Even a curious little otter popped his head up to watch us pass.

From this third-story window, I could look out to the dull grey-green ocean with frothy lace ebbing and flowing, teasing the sand and pebble strewn beach. When I put my eye to the large free-standing telescope, that had kept vigil from this window for possibly, decades of decades, and turned the knurled knob, I spied a lone whale spouting farther out from shore. How magnificent the leviathan appeared. I recalled a variety of the tales handed down by generations of whalers in my family and could feel the emotion they must have felt as I watched in awe as the whale slid below the surface. It’s huge fluke seemed to wave to me: hasta luego, Chica.

Bookshelves flanked the small alcove that housed the “widow’s window” and telescope. I perused a few of the many titles that helped my ancestors while away the long hours waiting for the whalers to return. There was a mixture of old and not so old tomes. I noted “A New Voyage Around the World” by William Dampier (1697); “A Romance of Perfume Lands or the Search for Capt. Jacob Cole”, F. S. Clifford(1881); and stacks of magazines about oceans, fishing, and whaling.

Perhaps, some of the family tales were blends of facts and fiction. I would have a lot of time to parse the stories as I rehabilitate this old family home.

For more than three weeks, from the dusty attic to the dank stone foundation, I sorted through old cobweb ensnarled wooden boxes, spidery new cardboard boxes, cleaned a plethora of fly specked relics and artifacts collected throughout the generations, and sunk deeper and deeper into despair. It would take more time and resources than I have to renovate this old house.

I wanted to establish a Whale Museum where the mission is to promote stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education and research.

That night, the wind freshened. A fierce storm tossed a 4200 ton, 300-feet long ferry boat around like a child’s plastic, toy boat. I felt like that ferry boat, tossed around, battered, and at the mercy of the elements.

To distract myself, I passed the night ensconced in one of the comfy, over-stuffed lounge chairs in front of the bookshelves. I immersed myself in Melville’s “Moby Dick” (1851). One passage recounted how Stubb, one of the mates of the Pequod, fools the captain of the French whaler Rose-bud into abandoning the corpse of a sperm whale found floating in the sea. His plan was to recover the corpse himself in hopes that it contains ambergris. His hope proves well founded, and the Pequod’s crew recovers a valuable quantity of the liquid gold that was essential in making expensive perfumes.

I had to chuckle when I read how ironic it was that “fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale.

The next afternoon I took a break and wandered down to the beach to cool my tired feet in the salt water and wiggle my toes into the cool, grainy sand. The high winds had strewn flotsam and jetsam onto the normally pristine beach. Two dogs along the debris line caught my attention. They were very interested in something left by the receding tide. Among the odd flit-flop, plastic six-pack rings, algae, and foam, I saw several solid, waxy, blobs of dull grey. I wondered if these were the amber gist I’d read about in “Moby Dick”, that would have been produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.  It had a marine, fecal odor, but, if this was what I thought it might be, it would acquire a sweet, earthy scent as it aged.

I gathered all the blobs up, knowing the price I’d get for them would more than finance my dream of a Whale Museum.

Later, looking through the telescope in the attic, I spied a leviathan breach, spout a taller than usual plume of water, and slip beneath the surface. I have no doubt its fluke waved to me: Buena Suerta, Chica!

I whispered my thanks and vowed that the first floor of my museum would have a souvenir shop, an educational movie loop about whales, and many hands-on bones and relics for visitors to touch. The second floor would have the intact, ancient skeleton of a whale suspended from the ceiling, ancient mariners’ journals, sailor’s genealogy trees, maps, and explanations   galore. Visitors would be invited to the third floor library to do research, listen to audible loops of whale songs,  and stand at the widow’s window to view the ocean through the telescope. If they were lucky, they’d catch a glimpse of my venerable benefactor, the leviathan.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Definition of Salish. 1 : a group of American Indian peoples of British Columbia and the northwestern U.S. 2 : the family of languages spoken by the Salish peoples.

I have taken the liberty of embellishing the Whale Museum that is already located at Friday Harbor.

The End

***

Ambergris from the North Sea

Ambergris (/ˈæmbərɡriːs/ or /ˈæmbərɡrɪs/, Latin: ambra grisea, Old French: ambre gris), ambergrease, or grey amber, is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.[1] Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. However, it acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages, commonly likened to the fragrance of rubbing alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency.[2]

Ambergris has been very highly valued by perfumers as a fixative that allows the scent to last much longer, although it has been mostly replaced by synthetic ambroxan.[3] Dogs are known to be attracted to the smell of ambergris and are therefore sometimes used by ambergris searchers.[4]

Ambergris has been mostly known for its use in creating perfume and fragrance much like musk. Perfumes can still be found with ambergris around the world.[16] It is collected from remains found at sea and on beaches, although its precursor originates from the sperm whale, which is a vulnerable species.[17]

Ambergris has historically been used in food and drink. A serving of eggs and ambergris was reportedly King Charles II of England’s favorite dish.[18] A recipe for Rum Shrub liqueur from the mid 19th century called for ambergris to be added to rum, almonds, cloves, cassia, and the peel of oranges in making a cocktail from The English and Australian Cookery Book.[19] It has been used as a flavoring agent in Turkish coffee[20] and in hot chocolate in 18th century Europe.[21] The substance is considered an aphrodisiac in some cultures.[7]

Ancient Egyptians burned ambergris as incense, while in modern Egypt ambergris is used for scenting cigarettes.[22] The ancient Chinese called the substance “dragon’s spittle fragrance”.[23] During the Black Death in Europe, people believed that carrying a ball of ambergris could help prevent them from getting the plague. This was because the fragrance covered the smell of the air which was believed to be a cause of plague.

During the Middle Ages, Europeans used ambergris as a medication for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments.[23]

In literature[edit]

In chapter 91 of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick 32]

In “A Romance of Perfume Lands or the Search for Capt. Jacob Cole”, F. S. Clifford, October 1881, the last chapter concerns one of the novel’s characters discovering an area of a remote island which contains large amounts of ambergris. He hopes to use this knowledge to help make his fortune in the manufacture of perfumes.[33]

In Chapter 17 of William Dampier’s “A New Voyage Around the World” (1697), Dampier escapes to Nicobar Island for “a prospect of advancing a profitable trade for ambergris…and of gaining a considerable fortune…”

In “The Case of Smelly Nellie” from Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down (1971), the case revolves around Bugs Meany and the Tigers stealing fifty pounds of ambergris from Smelly Nellie by claiming they found it on the ocean floor and rolling it onto the beach.

In film and TV[edit]

In the 1956 episode “Whale Gold” of the British television series The Buccaneers, a crew of eighteenth-century pirates led by Captain Dan Tempest (actor Robert Shaw) find large pieces of ambergris at sea and on a beach, discoveries that lead to quarrels and death due to “whale gold fever.”

The plot of The Avengers 1963 episode “Killer Whale” revolves around an ambergris smuggling operation.[34]

The 1969 book The Lost Ones by Ian Cameron, later made into Disney’s 1974 film The Island at the Top of the World depicts a dirigible trip to the ‘Whale Graveyard’ where they find so much ambergris that it becomes a point of contention.

In the Batman episode “Louie’s Lethal Lilac Time” (11 January 1968), Louie the Lilac steals a large piece of ambergris from Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, to use in his illegal perfume factory.

In “The Sixth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor” in “The Arabian Nights” by Sir Richard Burton, Sinbad finds vast quantities of Ambergris after being shipwrecked on an unknown island after setting sail from Bassorāh.

Season 5, Episode 10 of Tales from the Crypt is entitled “Forever Ambergris,” starring Roger Daltrey and Steve Buscemi.

In the 2001 film Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter sends Clarice Starling a letter which he writes while intentionally wearing a hand lotion containing ambergris, correctly assuming that this would lead her to discover his location in Florence, Italy, due to lotion utilizing ambergris being legal in only a few countries.

In the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, an adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey Maturin Series, Carpenter’s Mate Joseph Nagle notes that the French privateer The Acheron would be “…loaded with gold and ambergris and all the gems of Araby”, indicating the relative rarity and considerable value of ambergris during the Age of Sail.

Ambergris plays a prominent role in the plot of the 2003 Futurama episode “Three Hundred Big Boys.”[35] The episode guest-stars Roseanne Barr, who appears as a hologram of herself, reading the dictionary definition of “ambergris.”[36]

In The 2007 film adaption of “Sweeney Todd”, Beadle Bamford claims he uses ambergris as a cologne.

In the 2014 episode “Ambergris” of the animated television program Bob’s Burgers, a lump of ambergris found on the beach plays an important role, as Louise, Tina, and Gene attempt to sell the ambergris illegally for $30,000.

The 2018 episode “Quartet” of Endeavour featured ambergris (“worth more than its weight in gold”) being used as a way to pay enemy agents during the Cold War.

The 2018 episode “Ambergris” of Parfum featured ambergris (“costs 50,000 euros per kilo”) being used as fragrance enhancer.

Salish | Definition of Salish by Merriam-Webster

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/SalishActions for this site

Definition of Salish. 1 : a group of American Indian peoples of British Columbia and the northwestern U.S. 2 : the family of languages spoken by the Salish peoples.

Salish | Definition of Salish at Dictionary.com

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/salishActions for this site

Salish definition, a member of any of various North American Indian peoples speaking a Salishan language. See more.

Kate’s 2¢: “Genesis” by Robin Cook

“Genesis” by Robin Cook

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

The first book I read by Robin Cook was “Coma”. I have never forgotten it. In “Genesis”, Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. jack Stapleton continue their medical careers, as well as, keep up with their marriage, and son, JJ, and autistic daughter, Emma.

I was especially interested in Laurie’s confrontation with breast cancer, as I have begun the journey for my life, having been diagnosed with breast cancer.

From the website:

Robin Cook is an American physician and writer of novels about medical issues united with thriller genre. He was born in Queens, New York. Cook was graduated from the Wesleyan University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His post graduate studies were from Harvard University. His books are a fusion of medicine and fantasy.

In his childhood Cook wanted to become an archaeologist and then later on his aspiration turned to medicine. He was a class valedictorian and graduated with Chemistry as his major and gaining a distinction in Government. He was in charge of the Blood/Gas chemistry lab at the Columbian Presbyterian Hospital.

After he was fully trained, Dr. Robin Cook went to the Navy where went to the submarine school and navy diving school. After his service ended in the Navy, he worked in the Ophthalmology department in Harvard. His career as an author started with his novel ‘The Year of the Intern’. This novel was written underwater while he was in the Kamehameha in 1972. In 1977, a second novel followed called ‘Coma’. This went on to become an instant hit and eventually a bestseller. Cook wrote this novel while at job as a senior ophthalmologist at the Kennedy School of Government. Cook has written more than twenty five best sellers till date and has sold over one million books all of which are about medicine and biotechnology related ethical issues. His goal was to enlighten the public of issues such as organ transplantation which he did in his book ‘Coma’. The issue of stem cells and egg donation was dealt in his book ‘Shock’. Bio terrorism and xeno transplantation was looked into in the books ‘Vector’ and ‘Chromosome 6’. His recent books are ‘Critical’ and ‘Foreign Body’. The later is concerned with the recently growing problem of medical terrorism.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Genesis DB97623

Cook, Robin. Reading time: 11 hours, 4 minutes.

Read by George Guidall.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Medical Fiction

When a twenty-eight-year-old pregnant social worker’s corpse shows up on Chief NYC Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery’s autopsy table, it appears she had a drug overdose, but everyone swears she never touched drugs. As they begin tracing the fetus’s DNA to identify the mystery father, a related murder occurs. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Downloaded: April 12, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Secrets of Bella Terra: a Scarlet deception novel” by Christina Dodd

“Secrets of Bella Terra: a Scarlet deception novel” by Christina Dodd

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

I down-loaded this story, because the narrator was Martha Harmon Pardee and I enjoy her many voices. Once I started the story, I realized I’d read this a long time ago. The NLS had sent it to me on a tape cassette.

I’d forgotten some of the details, so I relaxed and enjoyed Martha’s narration and rediscovering the Secrets of Bella Terra. It was kind of like revisiting old friends.

From https://www.christinadodd.com

Christina Dodd is a New York Times bestselling author of romantic suspense, historical romance and paranormal fiction. Dodd was raised by a hard-working single mother who took the time to read to her children every day. Christina went to college in Boise, Idaho where she met Scott, her husband.

Readers become writers, and Christina Dodd has always been a reader. She reads everything, but because she loves humor, she likes romance best. A woman wants things like world peace, a clean house.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Secrets of Bella Terra: a Scarlet deception novel DB74259

Dodd, Christina; Pardee, Martha Harmon. Reading time: 10 hours, 2 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Romantic suspense fiction

After California vineyard and resort owner Sarah Di Luca is attacked, her three grandsons Rafe, Eli, and Noah search for the culprit. Security expert Rafe and his former girlfriend Brooke reignite their love while exposing a family vendetta. Some violence, some strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2011.

Downloaded: March 21, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Teachers Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired” by Deborah Kendrick

“Teachers Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired” by Deborah Kendrick

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

I enjoyed reading about the varied situations, schools, equipment, and anecdotal episodes reported in this book.  I, too, have been there; done that!

As I view my life with 20/20 hindsight, I often think of my first 3^rd grade students. How the very intelligent David Mann had such terrible handwriting. I know now that I should have brought in a typewriter. Back in the day, there were no computers! How Rhonda Weinstein’s beautiful handwriting could amaze and astonish me with its maturity and gracefulness. Now-a-days, Palmer Penmanship isn’t included in the curriculum. I wonder if Anthony Palazzo fulfilled the potential he tried to hide. And of course, sweet Desaree, whose mother wrote at the end of the year,”Desaree may have a fish for the summer, but, please, don’t send home any white mice.”

I still grin thinking about when one of the nursery children asked why the long, white cane had a red tip? My young neighbor said that it was so, when I fell in a snow drift,  I could stick it up for them to find me. Throughout the decades, I’ve never heard a better explanation.

Our original three children and the two grandsons we raised have all flown the coop, leaving my husband and me as empty nest great-grandparents; yet, my passion for teaching continues as strong as ever.

Each morning, I open windows10 feeling contentment and confidence as I survey my folders of organizations and committees; peruse the files of public speaking engagements, meeting agendas, and free-lance manuscripts. My teaching career hasn’t been deleted. Instead of 27 students in one room, the world is my classroom.

Down-loaded From Bookshare:

“Teachers Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired” by Deborah Kendrick

Also: “Navigating Healthcare When All They Can See Is That You Can’t.” by Deborah Kendrick

Cornucopia: Nonet count down and up

Nonet: 9-syllabel count-down story with count-up story

by Kate Chamberlin

My new guide dog is young and friskey.

She likes to chase birds, leaves, and cats.

I do not like to chase them.

She behaves in harness,

Calmly walks with me.

Forward, Good Dog.

Uh! Oh!  Cat!

Slow down!

Sit!

Come

Good dog!

Hup, let’s go

Find the white line

Hup. Find the mailbox

Good dog. Here’s a kibble.

Hup. Tulip find the shoreline

This is a good pace for walking

My black lab is a happy guide dog.

What picture do you get when you put a nonet 9-line count up poem after a nonet 9-line count down poem?

My new guide dog is young and friskey.

She likes to chase birds, leaves, and cats.

I do not like to chase them.

She behaves in harness,

Calmly walks with me.

Forward, Good Dog.

Uh! Oh!  Cat!

Slow down!

Sit!

Come

Good dog!

Hup, let’s go

Find the white line

Hup. Find the mailbox

Good dog. Here’s a kibble.

Hup. Tulip find the shoreline

This is a good pace for walking

My black lab is a happy guide dog.

Do you know what an hour-glass is?

Kate’s 2¢: “Maggie Brown & others” by Peter Orner

“Maggie Brown & others” by Peter Orner

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

The short story that snapped up my attention, out of so many short stories that began to blur together,  was the time he was a stringer for the Chicago Sun Times and used his press pass to report on former President Reagan’s visit to Deerfield High School.  I attended Deerfield High School the first two years it was open, albeit, years before this anecdote.

The anthology of short stories, eventually,  lead up to Walter getting a reprieve from his botched suicide attempt. Then, they coalesce into the story of Walter’s life prior to his fatal massive heart attack…at least, I think that is what happens.

from NLS/BARD/LOC:

Orner was born in Chicago.[3] He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1990. He later earned a law degree from Northeastern University, and an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

Career[edit]

In 2001 Orner published his first book, Esther Stories,.[3] It won a prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction, and was a finalist for the Pen Hemingway Prize, the Young Lion’s Award from the New York Public Library, and was named a Notable Book of the Year by ‘The New York Times. Of Esther Stories, The New York Times wrote, “Orner doesn’t just bring his characters to life, he gives them souls.”[4]

In 2006, Orner published his first novel, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, which was set in Namibia, where Orner worked as an English teacher in the 1990s; it won the Bard Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Orner was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006, as well as the two-year Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship in 2007 and 2008.

Orner served as editor of two non-fiction books, Underground America (2008) and Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives (2010), both published by McSweeney’s / Voice of Witness. His 2011 novel, Love and Shame and Love received positive reviews[3] and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice Book, and California Book Award winner.

In 2013, Little Brown released two books: a new edition of Esther Stories (with an introduction by Marilynne Robinson) and a new collection of stories, Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge.

Orner’s stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic monthly, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, The Believer, and the Southern Review. His work has been anthologized in Best American Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and twice won a Pushcart Prize.

Orner is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He has taught at San Francisco State University, The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, The Warren Wilson MFA Program, The University of Montana, Washington University, Miami University, Bard College, and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Maggie Brown & others DB97376

Orner, Peter. Reading time: 8 hours, 42 minutes.

Read by Gregory Maupin.

Short Stories

Interlocking short stories that cover a series of defining moments, revealing how fleeting decisions chase individuals across time. The collection is anchored by a novella about a forty-year marriage. Strong language and descriptions of sex. 2019.

Downloaded: March 21, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Forever Amber” by Kathleen Winsor

“Forever Amber” by Kathleen Winsor

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

Before I wrote my auto-biography  “Memoir Of A Silver Girl”, I researched what was happening the year I was born, I found historically significant events, the cost of living for daily items, newly released books that became popular, and the new movies that were  hot hits at the time, some of which became classics.

My mother was an avid reader, so I thought she might have read “Forever Amber” by Kathleen Winsor. Having read it, I doubt Mom would have read it around the time of my birth, but, it might have been in her library as one of the books Book of the Month sent. I remember looking on the title page of her many books, trying to find the ‘ng’ books. By today’s standards, “Forever Amber” is rather tame, but, I can understand how way back then, it caused a scandal and was banned. Of a similar genre were “Tom Jones” and “Moll Flanders”.

I can appreciate the many hours of research Winsor did to bring so much authenticity to this story. Of course, the ending was poetic justice, but, I wonder, if Amber and Bruce Carleton had known Amber was born of the manor (although on the wrong side of the sheets), would they have married.  But, duh, then that would be a whole other story!

It raises the question of should adopted children be told they are adopted or try to keep it a secret. Aunt Sara and Uncle Matt were not blood relatives. Should they have told Amber of her birth parents?

It was difficult to find a narrated copy of “Forever Amber”, but eventually, Project Gutenberg and BookShare had copies available. I’m still looking for other books by Winsor.

From Wikipedia,

Kathleen Winsor (October 16, 1919 – May 26, 2003) was an American author. She is best known for her first work, the 1944 historical novel Forever Amber. The novel, racy for its time, became a runaway bestseller even as it drew criticism from some authorities for its depictions of sexuality. She wrote seven other novels, none of which matched the success of her debut.

Winsor became interested in the Restoration period through her husband. Herwig was writing a paper for school on Charles II, and, out of boredom, Winsor read one of his research books.[1]

Her husband joined the military at the outbreak of World War II and spent five years with the United States Marines fighting in the Pacific theatre.[2] During that time, Winsor studied the Restoration period, claiming to have read 356 books on the subject. She began writing a novel based on her research. Her fifth draft of the novel was accepted for publication. The publishers promptly edited the book down to one-fifth of its original size. The resulting novel, Forever Amber, was 972 pages long.[1] The novel took readers on a frolic through Restoration England and offered vivid images of fashion, politics, affairs and public disasters of the time, including the plague and the Great Fire of London.

The book appeared in 1944. It attracted criticism for its blatant sexual references.[3] Fourteen U.S. states banned it as pornography and the Hays Office also condemned it, but within a month the movie rights had been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox.[3] The film, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde, was released in 1947.[1]

Made a celebrity by the success of her novel, Winsor found it unthinkable to return to the married life she had known with Herwig and, in 1946, they divorced. Ten days later, she became the sixth wife of the big-band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, despite the fact that two years previously Shaw had castigated his then-wife, Ava Gardner, for reading such a “trashy novel” as Forever Amber.[1][4] The marriage to Shaw ended in 1948, and Winsor soon married her divorce attorney, Arnold Krakower. That marriage likewise ended in divorce, in 1953.[1][4] In 1956 Winsor married for the fourth time, to Paul A. Porter, a former head of the Federal Communications Commission. They remained married until Porter’s death in 1975.[2]

Winsor’s next commercially successful novel, Star Money, appeared in 1950, and was a portrait closely drawn from her experience of becoming a bestselling author. But in five subsequent novels, the last appearing in 1986 – The Lovers, Calais, Robert and Arabella, Jacintha, and Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West – she failed to make as much of an impact. In 2000 a new edition of Forever Amber was published with a foreword by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Chronicles of Mexico 1962April 8

Chronicles of Mexico 1962

Excerpts from a teenager’s diary/scrapbook

(The full names of locations have been added to the Transcript of the scrapbook for clarification.)

Sunday, April 8, 1962

This morning, Carol and I slept right through church, as Patti had forgotten to wake us up. We all left the Hotel Genevieve with so many tears that it was raining in Chicago when we landed, but, I’ll always remember Mexico  and our guide Roberto.