Kate’s 2¢: “What Rose Forgot” by Nevada Barr

“What Rose Forgot” by Nevada Barr

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 read with horror the first several chapters of “What Rose Forgot”. It was so like what happened to my friend, Ally. Her daughter put her in a lock-down facility and I was never able to speak to her again. I don’t even know if she’s dead or alive and there is no way I can find out. It’s devastating.

I cheered when Rose connived to get herself out of the Longwood facility’s Memory Care Unit and made her way to her granddaughter’s home. That’s when the real dilemma becomes evident.

I enjoyed this fast paced story. The old gal sure is agile and adventurous, and clever, not to mention gutsy.

From her website:

NEVADA BARR is an award-winning novelist and New York Times best-selling author.  She has a growing number of Anna Pigeon mysteries to her credit as well as numerous other books, short stories, and articles.  She currently resides in New Orleans with her husband, four magical cats, and two adorable dogs.

Nevada was born in the small western town of Yerington, Nevada and raised on a mountain airport in the Sierras. Both her parents were pilots and mechanics and her sister, Molly, continued the tradition by becoming a pilot for USAir.

Pushed out of the nest, Nevada fell into the theatre, receiving her BA in speech and drama and her MFA in Acting before making the pilgrimage to New York City, then Minneapolis, MN. For eighteen years she worked on stage, in commercials, industrial training films and did voice-overs for radio. During this time she became interested in the environmental movement and began working in the National Parks during the summers — Isle Royale in Michigan, Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and then on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

Woven throughout these seemingly disparate careers was the written word. Nevada wrote and presented campfire stories, taught storytelling and was a travel writer and restaurant critic. Her first novel, Bittersweet was published in 1983. The Anna Pigeon series, featuring a female park ranger as the protagonist, started when she married her love of writing with her love of the wilderness, the summer she worked in west Texas. The first book, Track of the Cat, was brought to light in 1993 and won both the Agatha and Anthony awards for best first mystery. The series was well received and A Superior Death, loosely based on Nevada’s experiences as a boat patrol ranger on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, was published in 1994. In 1995 Ill Wind came out. It was set in Mesa Verde, Colorado where Nevada worked as a law enforcement ranger for two seasons.

Engaging and down-to-earth, Ms. Barr entwines the cycle of nature throughout her mystery books with her character, Anna Pigeon, a National Park Ranger.

From NLS/BARD/LOC”

What Rose forgot DB96483

Barr, Nevada. Reading time: 8 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Kate Burton.

Suspense Fiction; Mystery and Detective Stories

Rose Dennis wakes up only to discover that she’s been committed to an Alzheimer’s unit in a nursing home. Sure that something is very wrong, she escapes. When a would-be killer shows up in her house, Rose knows that someone is determined to get rid of her. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Kate’s 2¢: “In the Full Light of the Sun” by Clare Clark

“In the Full Light of the Sun” by Clare Clark

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…

There actually was a scandal about van Gogh  paintings being fake or original. Clark weaves threads of fact and fiction to bring about an intricate narrative arc  to connect the four factions.

I like reading about the factual events at the end of the fictional story.

I suppose it is inevitable that most of the  stories published these days are reflective of the LGBTQ movement.  This one sure is.

From her website:

Clare read History at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she was a Senior Scholar. She graduated with a Double First.

Her first novel, The Great Stink, was published by Viking in 2005 after a five-way auction: critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic, The Great Stink was long-listed for the Orange Prize, won the Pendleton May First Novel award in the UK and the Quality Paperback Book Club New Voices award in the USA. It was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Since then The Great Stink has been translated into five languages.

She has since published three more books: The Nature of Monsters; Savage Lands, which was long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2010; and Beautiful Lies. Her most recent two novels were published by Harvill Secker, part of the Random House Group, in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the US.

Her fifth novel, We That Are Left, will be published in the UK in March 2015 and in the US in the fall. Only weeks after completion, it has already been snapped up by publishers in Germany and France.

She is a regular contributor to the Guardian’s literary pages, reviewing both fiction and non-fiction, and writes for several other broadsheet newspapers, both in the UK and the USA. She works as a tutor on the Creative Writing MA at City University. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

Hilary Mantel: Clark is one of those writers who can see

into the past and help us feel its texture.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

In the full light of the sun DB97406

Clark, Clare. Reading time: 13 hours, 18 minutes.

Read by Mark Ashby.

Historical Fiction

In 1920s Berlin, the lives of four people converge. Artist Emmeline searched for meaning. Art connoisseur Julius prefers paintings over people. Jewish lawyer Frank recognizes the dangers of the rising Nazi party. And art dealer Matthias provokes scandal with a new van Gogh. Strong language and descriptions of sex. 2019.