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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: ”Apartment in Athens” by Glenway Wescott
Kate’s 2¢: ”Apartment in Athens” by Glenway Wescott
”Apartment in Athens” by Glenway Wescott
Here’s proof that war is a lose/lose situation.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glenway Wescott (April 11, 1901 – February 22, 1987) was an American poet, novelist and essayist. A figure of the American expatriate literary community in Paris during the 1920s, Wescott was openly gay.[1] His relationship with longtime companion Monroe Wheeler lasted from 1919 until Wescott’s death.
Early life[edit]
Wescott was born on a farm in Kewaskum, Wisconsin in 1901.[3] His younger brother, Lloyd Wescott, was born in Wisconsin in 1907. He studied at the University of Chicago,[3] where he was a member of a literary circle including Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Yvor Winters, and Janet Lewis, but left after contracting Spanish flu.
Wescott travelled to Santa Fe to recover from Spanish flu, where he wrote his first published poetry collection, titled The Bitterns.[4] Although, he began his writing career as a poet, he is best known for his short stories and novels, notably The Grandmothers (1927), which received the Harper Novel prize,[3] and The Pilgrim Hawk (1940).
Career[edit]
Wescott lived in Germany (1921–1922), and in France (c. 1925–1933),[3] where he mixed with Gertrude Stein and other members of the American expatriate community. Wescott was the model for the character Robert Prentiss in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. After meeting Prentiss, Hemingway’s narrator, Jake Barnes, confesses, “I just thought perhaps I was going to throw up.”[1] In the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), Gertrude Stein wrote about him, “There was also Glenway Wescott but Glenway Wescott at no time interested Gertrude Stein. He has a certain syrup but it does not pour.”
Wescott and Wheeler returned to the United States and maintained an apartment in Manhattan with photographer George Platt Lynes, whom they had met in France in 1926. When his brother Lloyd moved to a dairy farm in Union Township, near Clinton in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in 1936, Wescott along with Wheeler and Lynes took over one of the farmhand houses and named it Stone-Blossom.[5] Lynes ended his relationship with Wescott and Wheeler in 1943 to be with his studio assistant, Jonathan Tichenor. Nevertheless, Wescott was at Lynes’ bedside when he died of lung cancer in December 1955.[4]
His novel, The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story (1940), was praised by the critics. Apartment in Athens (1945), the story of a Greek couple in Nazi-occupied Athens who must share their living quarters with a German officer, was a popular success. From then on he ceased to write fiction, although he published essays and edited the works of others. In her essay on The Pilgrim Hawk, Ingrid Norton writes, “After…Apartment in Athens, Wescott lived until 1987 without writing another novel: journals (published posthumously as Continual Lessons) and the occasional article, yes, but no more fiction. The Midwest-born author seems to slide into the golden handcuffs of expatriate decadence: supported by the heiress his brother married [Barbara Harrison Wescott], surrounded by literate friends, given to social drinking and letter-writing.”[6]
Later life[edit]
In 1959, when his brother Lloyd acquired a farm near the village of Rosemont in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Wescott moved into a two-story stone house on the property, dubbed Haymeadows.[5] In 1987, Wescott died of a stroke at his home in Rosemont and was buried in the small farmer’s graveyard hidden behind a rock wall and trees at Haymeadows. Monroe Wheeler was buried alongside him following his death a year later.[7]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Apartment in Athens DB11297
Wescott, Glenway. Reading time: 7 hours, 36 minutes.
Read by Guy Sorel.
Psychological Fiction
War Stories
Story of the inhumanity of Germans in occupation of defeated countries describes the influence of a German officer on a simple, middle-class Greek family.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Murder in the grave: a Redmond and Haze mystery” by Irina Shapiro
Kate’s 2¢: “Murder in the grave: a Redmond and Haze mystery” by Irina Shapiro
“Murder in the grave: a Redmond and Haze mystery” by Irina Shapiro
I read this book a while ago, but it is still on my mind. I think it was the shocking findings that I can’t shake off. Andrew Randall did a good job of varrating this story.
About – Irina Shapiro Author Page:
To write a novel was a dream of mine since I was a child. Life, my practical nature, and self-doubt got in the way, so it was decades later that an opportunity to write finally presented itself. I honestly didn’t think I had what it takes to write a full-length novel, but once I faced the blank screen and my fingers touched the keyboard, everything disappeared except my characters and their surroundings, and suddenly I knew that this was what I was born to do.
Since then, I’ve written many books and have enjoyed some positive reviews, but sometimes, when I stop to reflect, I’m still amazed that I’m living my dream.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Murder in the grave: a Redmond and Haze mystery DB113405
Shapiro, Irina. Reading time: 7 hours, 26 minutes.
Read by Andrew Randall.
Historical Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
“When the body of a newly appointed curate is found in a freshly dug grave, Inspector Haze and Lord Redmond are called to investigate. According to friends and family, the unfortunate man was a veritable saint who’d wanted nothing more than to dedicate his life to God and good works, but the savagery of his murder and the attempt to hide his corpse tell a different story. Facing increasing pressure to solve the case of the “Cleaved Curate,” Daniel and Jason must delve deeper into the life of Sebastian Slade, only to discover that even men of God have their secrets and that the reckoning can be biblical in its scope.” — Provided by publisher. Some violence and some strong language.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Any Bitter Thing: A Novel” by Monica Wood
Kate’s 2¢: “Any Bitter Thing: A Novel” by Monica Wood
“Any Bitter Thing: A Novel” by Monica Wood a
I downloaded this book because it is read by my favorite narrator, Martha Harmon Pardee. She did an excellent job of reading this story and kept me listening almost without stopping until the end. I liked having the prayers of the traditional Catholic Breviary begin many chapters.
A few take-aways:
–The human craving is for story, not truth.
–Memory embraces its errors, until what is and what is remembered become one.
–The velvety between place…That cushiony , neither here nor there, where my senses both blurred and sharpened
From www.monicawood.com
Monica Wood is an author of several novels, including ANY BITTER THING, a national bestseller1. Her writing has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, the New York Times and many other publications1. She was born on August 16, 1953, in Mexico, ME2. She graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in 1975 and from the University of Southern Maine with an M.S. in 19812. She is married to Daniel Abbott, a teacher2. She lives in Portland, Maine with their cat, Susie.
Monica’s newest novel will appear in 2023 from Mariner Books. Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been translated into 20 languages in over 30 countries. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes Ernie’s Ark, which has been excerpted on NPR’s “Selected Shorts” and selected by several towns and cities as their “One Book, One Community” read; My Only Story, a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award; and Secret Language, her first novel.
Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio. She also writes books for writers and teachers. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, and many other publications.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Any bitter thing: a novel DB62828
Wood, Monica. Reading time: 9 hours, 44 minutes.
Read by Martha Harmon Pardee.
Family
Psychological Fiction
Recovering from a near-fatal car accident, guidance counselor Lizzy Mitchell thinks she hears the voice of her uncle, Father Mike–her childhood guardian who died shortly after he was falsely accused of molesting Lizzy twenty-one years before. Lizzy investigates the charges while trying to save her marriage. Some strong language. 2005.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Another Country” by James Baldwin
Kate’s 2¢: “Another Country” by James Baldwin
“Another Country” by James Baldwin a
This book was published in 1962. I can imagine the up-roar it must have caused, as it exposes all of the social taboos of the time, except maybe one.
I did not enjoy the story, although Earle Hyman did an excellent job of narrating the book with his authentic voice.
A few take-aways:
–He was controlled by laws he did not understand. Nor did he understand what force within this body had driven him to such a desolate place.
–A thin tired girl. Unwitting heiress of generations of bitterness.
–His recollections in no way freed him form the things recalled.
–The world is already bitter enough. We’ve got to try to understand.
–Most people have not lived.
He’d merely been taken in the outward adventure of life, in order to avoid the clash and attention of the adventure proceed within.
–Love was a country he know nothing about.Now they were all equal in misery, confusion, and dispare.
From the web:
I gave up trying to find out more about this author. There were only books to purchase.
The book jacket tells us he was born in NY and raised in Harlem. “Go Tell It On The Mountain”, Notes Of A Native Son”, and “Geovani’s Room””Nobody Knows My Name””The Fire Next Time” and three plays.
Why wouldn’t the weg have more information about this prolific author?
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Another country DB16421
Baldwin, James. Reading time: 14 hours, 43 minutes.
Read by Earle Hyman.
Psychological Fiction
A talented black musician, his beautiful sister, and his white friend strike out against the conventions of sex, race, and society. Violence and explicit descriptions of sex.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The Almost Moon: a Novel” by Alice Sebold a
Kate’s 2¢: “The Almost Moon: a Novel” by Alice Sebold a
“The Almost Moon: a Novel” by Alice Sebold a
Joan Allen did a good job of narrating this story, but some where in the book, the author should have included the national mental health hotline.
A few take-aways:
–The thing about dementia is that sometimes you feel like the afflicted person has a tripwire to the truth.
–Morality was just a security blanket that didn’t exist.
–The moon is whole all of the time, but we can’t always see it. What we see is an almost moon.
–I was raised by a solitary woman to become a solitary child.
–I was a shadow girl, trying to be what they wanted me to be.
–With each leave taking, those left behind were safe from me.
–Mental illness has the unique ability to metastasize across generations
From: World Biography / 2005 Pu-Z / Alice Sebold Biography
Alice Sebold Biography
Born c. 1963, in Madison, WI; daughter of a Spanish professor and a journalist; married Glen David Gold (an author), November, 2001. Education: Earned degree from Syracuse University, 1984; attended the University of Houston, c. 1984-85; University of California—Irvine, M.F.A., 1998.
Addresses: Office —c/o Author Mail, Little, Brown & Company/Warner Books, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Career
Adjunct instructor in English at Hunter College, and research analyst in New York City, c. 1985-93; published a memoir, Lucky, 1999; debut novel The Lovely Bones published, 2002; film rights to The Lovely Bones sold for a film project set to be released in 2007.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
The almost moon: a novel DB66820
Sebold, Alice. Reading time: 8 hours, 51 minutes.
Read by Joan Allen. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Psychological Fiction
While attempting to bathe her mentally ill elderly mother, Helen suddenly smothers her with a towel. As Helen spends the following hours awaiting her fate, she ponders her troubled youth and her own stint at motherhood. Commercial audiobook. Explicit descriptions of sex, strong language, and some violence. 2007.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “All That Glitters” by Virginia C. Andrews
Kate’s 2¢: “All That Glitters” by Virginia C. Andrews
“All That Glitters ” by Virginia C. Andrews
Being a romance novel, you know who the heroine will end up with, but the psychological trauma of identical twins switching spouses is fascinating and runs the gamut of emotions.
I enjoyed listening to Mary Woods read this story.
Afew take-aways:
–Money and riches won’t buy you happiness if you don’t have love.
–Dependability is the soil in which a long and lasting love is planted.
–When there is a real live infant, you can’t live in a fantasy world.
–Deceit was a garden in which only the blackest weeds grew. And those who sow their seeds in it, reap disaster.
–The only real antidote for grief and sadness was busy hands.
From: FAMOUS AUTHORS
V. C. Andrews (Cleo Virginia Andrews) was a twentieth century American novelist. Her forte was gothic horror fiction blended with family saga. She is famous for her notoriously bestselling work Flowers in the Attic (1979).
Andrews was born on June 6, 1923 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was the only daughter and youngest child in the Andrews household. As a child she had a falling accident and she suffered from crippling arthritis in the aftermath of her surgery. However, she had not lost hope as she completed her studies from home. She then started her career as an illustrator and an artist. She made an attempt at writing with a science fiction novel, named Gods of Green Mountain but failed to have it published. Then she penned a novel, titled The Obsessed for which the publishers suggested her to develop the plot and make it more electrifying. Overnight she edited her work and resubmitted it with the title Flowers in the Attic. Its publication in 1979 brought her huge praise and success as a fiction writer as it instantly became bestselling debut novel of hers.
Subsequently, Flowers in the Attic became the Dollanganger Series owing to its raging success. The first book is a psychodrama centers on the Dollanger family whose head of the family dies in an accident which leaves the mother and her four children financially helpless. The mother, Corrine, ask her mother to provide them shelter which she does only on the condition that her children were to stay hidden in an attic away from their grandfather who did not approve her marriage with her distant uncle. The story revolves around the four children who spend year after year stuck in attic waiting for their mother to free them but only to meet deceit and tragic fate in the end. The book was adapted into a film in 1987.
The book was adapted into a film in 1987.
The sequels, Petals on the Wind (1980) in the Dollanger series, continue the story subsequent to the escape of the children. The third book, If There Be Thorns (1981) centers on Cathy’s life and her married life and children become focus of Seeds of Yesterday (1984). The last novel in the series, Garden of Shadows (1986), is a prequel which explores lives of Cathy’s grandparents. The Dollanger series, although successful, earned the status of highly controversial books for its disturbing sexual themes. The theme of consensual incest had it banned from many libraries.
Andrews’ idea of a good novel was that it be fast-paced. She was of the view that she only finishes those books that hold her interesting long enough and kept her guessing till the end. Therefore, while writing a book she minded the fact that her readers do not felt lost in the details but it incited the urge in them to find out what was about to happen.
V. C. Andrews’s other famous works include, The Casteel series (1985), The Cutler series (1990), The Landry series (1994), The Logan series (1996), The Orphans series (1998), The Wildflowers series (1999) and many more. Her works have been translated into many other languages. She suffered from breast cancer in her last days and died on December 19, 1986 at the age of 63. The success of her career had her estate hire a ghost writer after her death. Andrew Neiderman ghostwritten numerous stories under her name.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
All that glitters DB43328
Andrews, V. C, (Virginia C.). Reading time: 10 hours, 6 minutes.
Read by Mary Woods. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Psychological Fiction
In the sequel to Pearl in the Mist (DB 39864), Ruby is living in her late grandmother’s bayou shack with her baby, Pearl. Wealthy Paul Tate wants to marry Ruby even though they now know they are half-siblings. She agrees to a celibate marriage for Pearl’s sake, but cannot forget her love for Pearl’s father, Beau. Meanwhile, Ruby’s twin, Gisselle, continues to be a thorn in her side. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢:” All that’s left to tell: a novel” by Daniel Lowe
Kate’s 2¢:” All that’s left to tell: a novel” by Daniel Lowe
”All that’s left to tell: a novel” by Daniel Lowe
I’m stunned. I’m still thinking of this story. It is a story nested within other stories. I’m not sure what the timeline is, nor which story is fact and which fiction. I wish I could remember which early character was described as having huge, grey eyes.
George Newbern did a good job of narrating this book. It is short enough, maybe I’ll listen to it again to get things straight.
A few take-aways:
–It’s strange, isn’t it? The mundane things that wrack your heart when you’re away from everything you’ve known?
–It’s like waking to a life someone dreamed for you.
–I’m in that space between sleeping and waking where images of a dream collide with the coming demands of the day, and I want to go on dreaming.
Daniel Lowe author information – BookBrowse
Daniel Lowe lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he has taught writing at the Community College of Allegheny County for twenty-five years. For more than that, he has been writing in relative obscurity, though his poetry and fiction have appeared in literary magazines, including West Branch, The Bridge, The Paterson Literary Review, Ellipsis, Blue Stem, Midway Journal, and The Madison Review. He enjoys hours spent with his children, days spent with his wife, extended afternoons, and watching birds at feeders outside the window while he idly sits at his computer waiting for another sentence to take shape. He runs slowly in the park.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
All that’s left to tell: a novel DB87044
Lowe, Daniel. Reading time: 6 hours, 51 minutes.
Read by George Newbern. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Psychological Fiction
While in Pakistan on business, Marc Laurent is kidnapped by terrorists and held for ransom. Every night, a woman called Josephine comes to Marc’s cell and asks him to tell her a story about his daughter, who was murdered a month before his capture. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “The amateur marriage: a novel” by Anne Tyler
Kate’s 2¢: “The amateur marriage: a novel” by Anne Tyler
“The amateur marriage: a novel” by Anne Tyler
Many of these events and issues resonated with me. They brought back a lot of memories from my own experiences of raising children. The big differences in my marriage were that we never were violent nor out-and-out yelled at each other and we are still married.
I agree with Michael, who said: Show some charity here. We did the best we could. We did our darndest. We were just unskilled…It wasn’t from lack of trying.
From www.annetyler.com
ANNE TYLER was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of more than twenty novels. Her twentieth novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2015. Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
From NLS/BARD/LOCC:
The amateur marriage: a novel DB57373
Tyler, Anne. Reading time: 12 hours, 47 minutes.
Read by Margaret Strom. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
Family
Psychological Fiction
Bestsellers
Baltimore residents Michael Anton and Pauline Barclay fall in love at first sight at the start of World War II and marry impulsively. Remaining completely incompatible despite increasing prosperity, they spend the next five decades making themselves, and their three children, miserable. Bestseller. 2004.
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Comments Off on Kate’s 2¢: “Observations by gaslight: stories from the world of Sherlock Holmes” by Lyndsay Faye
Kate’s 2¢: “Observations by gaslight: stories from the world of Sherlock Holmes” by Lyndsay Faye
“Observations by gaslight: stories from the world of Sherlock Holmes” by Lyndsay Faye
NOTE: 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 her thoughts about what she reads. Inho…
This was a book included on the 7-book cartridge the NLS sent to me. I enjoyed reading one or two stories each evening. In-depth personalities of Holmes and Watson emerged that I’d not known of before.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lyndsay Faye is an American author. Her first novel was the Sherlockian pastiche Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson[1] and she has been nominated for the Edgar Award for The Gods of Gotham[2] and Jane Steele.[3] The Gods of Gotham was named “the year’s best mystery novel” by the American Library Association.[4]
Life[edit]
Having discovered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation Sherlock Holmes when she was 10,[5] her interest in the famous sleuth continues to be part of her life as a member of both The Baker Street Irregulars and Baker Street Babes.[5] Faye described the debt all mystery authors owe to Conan Doyle saying “You can’t escape Sherlock Holmes as a mystery writer. You simply cannot. It would be like trying to deal with astrophysics without Newton or modern art without Picasso.”[6]
Faye attended R. A. Long High School[2] as did her future spouse, Gabriel Lehner.[2]
Career[edit]
2016 brought Faye’s re-imagining of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre titled Jane Steele.[7]
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Observations by gaslight: stories from the world of Sherlock Holmes DB114521
Faye, Lyndsay Reading time: 10 hours, 34 minutes.
Polly Lee; Dan Calley
Short Stories
Mystery and Detective Stories
“Lyndsay Faye-international bestseller, translated into fifteen languages, and a two-time Edgar Award nominee-first appeared on the literary scene with Dust and Shadow, her now-classic novel pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, and later produced The Whole Art of Detection, her widely acclaimed collection of traditional Watsonian tales. Now Faye is back with Observations by Gaslight, a thrilling volume of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective. Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a near-deadly inquiry into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. Learn of the case that cemented the lasting friendship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime which haunted the Yarder into joining the police force. And witness Stanley Hopkins’s first meeting with the remote logician he idolizes, who will one day become his devoted mentor. From familiar faces like landlady Mrs. Hudson to minor characters like Lomax the sub-librarian, Observations by Gaslight-entirely epistolary, told through diaries, telegrams, and even grocery lists-paints a masterful portrait of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as you have never seen them before.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
Kate’s 2¢: “Tahoe Moon” by Todd Borg
This story dispels some of the stereotypes people have about deaf children as Owen strives to solve the mystery of who wants to kill her. A tale well woven with twists and turns as the separate threads eventually come together.
From the web:
As an accomplished author Borg has ma total of 13 mystery novels, which feature the San Francisco ex-homicide inspector, Owen McKenna who practices his investigative trade in Tahoe. Apart from being an accomplished author, many of Todd’s Borg books have received multiple accolades with several outstanding magazine and newspaper reviews.
As an author Borg is not only funny but erudite and has an excellent observation of both art and life.
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Tahoe moon DBC13399
Borg, Todd. Reading time: 10 hours, 57 minutes.
Read by Shawn Anderson. A production of Nevada Talking Book Services, Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records,.
Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories
When Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna finds a lost girl, 8-year-old Camille Dexter, he does not realize that her grandfather and only guardian has been murdered and a killer hired to dump Camille’s body in the lake. McKenna also does not know that Camille has no relatives or friends. Complicating the situation is that Camille is deaf. Brilliant but deaf. Violence.
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