Kate’s 2¢: “Hold Fast” by J. H. Gelernter

“Hold Fast” by J. H. Gelernter

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 listening to this story about another era of swash buckling ocean battles of three-masted sailing vessels and intrigue on the land,  in tunnels and very old buildings.

From the WEB:

J. H. Gelernter lives in Connecticut. He is the author of the Captain Grey novels, HOLD FAST and CAPTAIN GREY’S GAMBIT.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Hold fast: a novel DB105052

Gelernter, J. H Reading time: 7 hours, 3 minutes.

John Lee

Historical Fiction

Spy Stories

1803. Depressed by his wife’s untimely death, Thomas Grey resigns from British naval intelligence service and accepts an offer to join a lumber firm in Boston. But when a sea battle with a privateer forces the ship carrying him to make port in neutral Portugal, Grey is approached by French intelligence. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Download Hold fast: a novel DB105052

Kate’s 2¢: “We Are Satellites” by Sarah Pinsker

“We Are Satellites” by Sarah Pinsker

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 this futuristic story, the new blended family consists of Ma/Val, Mom/Julie, David conceived via sperm donor and Julie, and Sophie adopted with epilepsy. The major controversy is the brain enhancing implants that everyone is getting. Julie and David get the little blue LED light implanted but Val and Sophie don’t want the ”Pilot” implant.

   The family disintegrates as each keeps bigger and bigger secrets from the others. The turning point comes when David, strung out on too many “Quiet” pills, gets his foot stuck on the train track and his foot is amputated. True confessions abound and the family starts to re-connect as a unit and a force for action to be reckoned with.

From her WEB:

Sarah Pinsker  is the author of over fifty works of short fiction, two novels, and one collection. Her work has won three Nebula Awards (Best Novel, A Song For A New Day; Best Novelette, “Our Lady of the Open Road,” Best Novelette, “Two Truths And A Lie”), a Hugo Award, the Philip K Dick Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and been nominated for numerous Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her fiction has been published in magazines including Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Uncanny and in numerous anthologies and year’s bests. 

   Sarah’s first collection, the Philip K Dick Award winning Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories, was published by Small Beer Press in March 2019, and her first novel, A Song For A New Day, was published by Penguin/Random House/Berkley in September 2019. Her latest book is We Are Satellites, published in May 2021. 

   She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels (the third with her rock band, the Stalking Horses). She lives in Baltimore, Maryland and can be found online at sarahpinsker.com and twitter.com/sarahpinsker. 

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

We are satellites DB106191

Pinsker, Sarah Reading time: 12 hours, 37 minutes.

Bernadette Dunne

Science Fiction

When their son, David, asks for a Pilot brain implant to help with school, Val and Julie reluctantly agree. Soon Julie too faces mounting pressure at work to get the ubiquitous technology. As a societal divide grows around the implants, an anti-Pilot movement rises up. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Download We are satellites DB106191

Kate’s 2¢: “The Amish quiltmaker’s unexpected baby” by Jennifer Beckstrand

“The Amish quiltmaker’s unexpected baby” by Jennifer Beckstrand

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 this story, however, it seems to be more Mennonite than Amish or can there be lapsed Amish?

From her web: About Me:

   I grew up with a steady diet of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen. After all that literary immersion, I naturally decided to get a degree in mathematics, which came in handy when one of my six children needed help with homework. After my fourth daughter was born, I started writing. By juggling diaper changes, soccer games, music lessons, laundry, and two more children, I finished my first manuscript—a Western—in just under fourteen years.

   She and her husband have been married for thirty-five year. Jennifer Beckstrand is the two-time RITA-nominated, #1 Amazon bestselling Amish romance author of The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series, The Honeybee Sisters series, and The Petersheim Brothers series for Kensington Books.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The Amish quiltmaker’s unexpected baby DB106075

Beckstrand, Jennifer Reading time: 11 hours, 8 minutes.

Rebecca Mitchell

Religious Fiction

Romance

Quiltmaker Esther Zook is considered an old maid in her Amish community, at the age of thirty. She is starting over after her father’s death, but when her wayward sister abandons her baby, it throws all those plans for a fresh start asunder. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Download The Amish quiltmaker’s unexpected baby DB106075

Kate’s 2¢: “The Swimmers” by Julie Otsuka

“The Swimmers” by Julie Otsuka

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…

   My first impression of this book was that it was a stream of consciousness.  As I listened to Traci Kato-Kiriyama fread the story for NLS, I wondered if each repetition was written on a different line.

   Eventually, as the sections unfolded, it became clear that Alice was to become the main character in the group of swimmers that frequented the indoor pool.

   I thought it was a melancholy story, but, through my research of the author, it made sense. The depth of feelings penetrate the readers soul to experience the burden of Alice’s mental decline and death.

From the WEB:

Julie Otsuka, author of the novels “The Buddha In The Attic,” “When The Emperor Was Divine” and the new novel “The Swimmers.”

   With the 2022 publication of The Swimmers (Knopf), Julie Otsuka has moved into more personal territory, drawing on her experience as a daughter watching her mother move further into dementia. Her previous two novels focused on the experience of Japanese Americans: When the Emperor Was Divine (Knopf, 2002), based on her family’s history.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The swimmers: a novel DB107007

Otsuka, Julie. Reading time: 4 hours, 8 minutes.

Read by Traci Kato-Kiriyama.

Family

Medical Fiction

The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2022.

Downloaded: April 15, 2022

Download The swimmers: a novel

Kate’s 2¢: ” Tunnel 29: the true story of an extraordinary escape beneath the Berlin Wall By Helena Merriman

” Tunnel 29: the true story of an extraordinary escape beneath the Berlin Wall

By Helena Merriman

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…

Merriman did extensive research in the Stasi files  when they became available, conducted various interviews, and seems to have thoroughly researched this topic. She provides details leading up-to the building of the hated cement wall in one fell swoop  in the middle of the night, profiles the Russians on the East side of the wall and the Russians on the West side of the wall. Highlighting their sorrows and triumphs.  In her end papers, she tells what happened to several of the key people in her narrative.

   I enjoyed this story, as it filled-in some of the holes in my memory of living through that period of time; details that weren’t available to the general public.

   A few take-aways:

   — People talk about the fall of the Berlin wall as the end of an era and, in one way, it was. It marked the end of the Cold War, but a new era soon began: the Age of Walls.

— Perhaps, if you lose someone in an escape that went wrong, the only thing that will heal you, is an escape that goes right.

— Cradling the baby’s shoes in his hands: Where-ever ther’s a wall, people will try to get over it…or under it.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

helenamerriman.com

Merriman is married with two children. She lives in London.[7]

In 2018, Merriman was diagnosed with otosclerosis, a genetic condition that causes loss of hearing. The condition, affecting the hearing in her right ear, was brought on after the birth of her second child. After an operation to restore her hearing, she is able to hear again but suffers with extreme tinnitus. The problem was the genesis of an idea for Room 5, a podcast.[8]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Tunnel 29: the true story of an extraordinary escape beneath the Berlin Wall DB107136

Merriman, Helena. Reading time: 9 hours, 36 minutes.

Read by Helena Merriman.

Biography

World History and Affairs

The true story of an escape tunnel under the Berlin Wall–the people who built it, the NBC documentary crew that filmed it, the spy who betrayed it, the American government’s attempts to block the film from public viewing, and more. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: April 30, 2022

Download Tunnel 29: the true story of an extraordinary escape beneath the Berlin Wall

Kate’s 2¢: “Death of a green-eyed monster: a Hamish Macbeth murder mystery”

by M. C Beaton ; R. W. Green,

“Death of a green-eyed monster: a Hamish Macbeth murder mystery”

by M. C Beaton ; R. W. Green,

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 think the big, loveable red-head Sergeant Hamish Macbeth’s is a sweet-heart, not to mention a shrewd detective.  I’ve enjoyed the series throughout the years.

Hamish Macbeth – Wikipedia

Hamish Macbeth is the lackadaisical police constable of the fictional Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney).

https://us.macmillan.com/author/rodgreenActions for this site

A long-time friend of M. C. Beaton, R.W. GREEN has written numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. He lives in Surrey with his family and a black Labrador called Flynn. Books by

            From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Death of a green-eyed monster: a Hamish Macbeth murder mystery DB106838

Beaton, M. C; Green, R. W. Reading time: 6 hours, 11 minutes.

Read by Graeme Malcolm.

Mystery and Detective Stories

When Sergeant Hamish Macbeth’s new constable–Dorothy McIver–reports for her first day of work, Hamish finds himself completely smitten by her. As they work together and get to know each other better, Hamish finally asks Dorothy to marry him. She says yes, but Hamish soon has another murder to solve. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2022.

Downloaded: April 15, 2022

Download Death of a green-eyed monster: a Hamish Macbeth murder mystery

Kate’s 2¢: “The violin conspiracy” by Brendan Slocumb

“The violin conspiracy” by Brendan Slocumb

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…

   This is a wonderful Horatio Alger type of story. It is well written with an interesting narrative full of history, love, and personal anecdotes. I especially like hearing the various orchestra backed violin music. Awesome. Thank you Penguin Random House Audio  and the NLS reader J.D. Jackson .

A few take aways:

— Stand up for yourself, but, always respectfully.

— Ray’s life changed, because someone reached out across the gulf and touched him.

— “We’re here for a reason….It is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.” Goldberg

— Work twice as hard as everyone else, stand tall and treat others with respect, and stay his own sweet self.

— I just encouraged what was already there.

— Slocumb: “ as a teacher of young kids…for many of my students, I would be the first black man they’d actually meet in person. The impression I leave them with, hopefully, will stay with them for years to come.”

— Alone, we are a solitary violin, a lonely flute, a trumpet singing in the dark, together, we are a symphony.

From his website:

Meet Brendan Slocumb

   Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was born in Yuba City, California and was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in music education, concentrations on Violin and Viola. While at UNCG, Brendan was the concertmaster for the University Symphony orchestra and served as the principal violist. He performed with numerous small chamber ensembles, including flute and clarinet choirs, and in the BESK string quartet.

   For the past twenty-three years, he has been a public and private school music educator from kindergarten through twelfth grade, teaching general music, orchestra and guitar ensembles. His students were often chosen for district and regional orchestras. In 2005, Brendan was named Teacher of the Year for Robert E. Lee High School; has been named to Who’s Who of American teachers, and is a Nobel Teacher of distinction. Brendan also serves as an educational consultant for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.   Music has always played a major part of Brendan’s life. He believes that it’s a life-saving force, and a gift we should always offer our children. When he was nine, he started playing violin through a public school music program. It actually saved his life. Friends he grew up with are today sitting in jail; when they were out running the streets, he was in rehearsals. When they were breaking into people’s houses, he was practicing Dvorak and Mozart. His violin opened the door to opportunity, and he ran through it. 

   Through music, Brendan developed a work ethic that he now tries to instill in his students so that they too can experience the joys of what music can do for us all. Each student is unique. No two kids learn the same way. Not everyone will go on to become world famous musicians, but everyone can learn to appreciate and love music, and to find new ways of communicating. Meeting each student where he or she is, and taking them farther than they thought possible, is what Brendan has always strived to do.  

   As a musician, Brendan has performed on violin with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony, the McLean Symphony, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. He currently serves as the concertmaster for the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra. Brendan has been a frequent adjudicator and guest conductor for several district and regional orchestras throughout North Carolina and Virginia. He also performs chamber music with members of the Annandale symphony. He maintains a private music studio teaching lessons to students on violin, guitar and piano. 

   He is the founder of the nonprofit organization, Hands Across the Sea, based in the Philippines. After touring the Philippines with the Northern Virginia Chamber Ensemble and witnessing firsthand the conditions that many of the young music students and their families endure, Brendan founded the Hands Across the Sea to offer support to the Berea School of the Arts in Manila, by providing instruments, lessons, and monetary support. The organization also supplements school supplies and dental and medical assistance. 

   In his spare time, Brendan enjoys writing, exercising, collecting comic books and action figures, and performing with his rock band, Geppetto’s Wüd.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The violin conspiracy DB106851

Slocumb, Brendan. Reading time: 12 hours, 6 minutes.

Read by J.D. Jackson.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Ray McMillian has always known his dream of being a world-class violinist is a long shot due to his being Black and from North Carolina. But when his great-great-grandfather’s fiddle turns out to be a Stradivarius, he reaches for the stars. When it’s stolen on the eve of a competition, Ray must find his beloved Strad. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2022.

Downloaded: April 15, 2022

Download The violin conspiracy

Kate’s 2¢: “America’s hidden history: untold tales of the first pilgrims, fighting women, and forgotten founders who shaped a nation” by Kenneth Davis

“America’s hidden history: untold tales of the first pilgrims, fighting women, and forgotten founders who shaped a nation” by Kenneth Davis

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…

   Davis inserts humor and little known facts into the history of our country.

–Shakespeare:  The past is prologue.

–Isabella’s Pigs recounts the time before and after Christopher Columbus’ epic journey, where she insisted, he take pigs to eat and to populate the new world the pigs might be the reason the devastating diseases spread so quickly among the indigenous people.  

— Hannah’s Escape  Hannah Emerson Dustin gave birth to eight children. Candlemas massacre related to, the connection between witches, magic and Native Americans was not coincidental.   She was captured by Indians and given to a family as a servant. Rather than be forced to run the Canadian Indian village’s gauntlet, she with another Puritan woman and young boy, massacred the Indian family, ten their scalps, and stole a cnoe to sail 60 miles south toward home. She re-united with her husband and other seven children, providing Rev. Cotton Mather fodder for his sermons.  

   Anne Hutchinson was another influential woman, who preached God could speak to the individual personally, not just through the Puritan elders.  She was banished from Boston, charged with heresy; however, among her descendants would be three United States Presidents.

–George Washington, age 22,  unknowingly instigated the Isbella War, when his survey team of whites and Indians, slaughtered a French peace seeking troop.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born in Mount Vernon, New York City, he attendedConcordia College, Bronxville in New York, and Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York though has never gradated from there. He lives in New York City and Dorset, Vermont accompanied by his wife and two children.

   This book has a more serious tone than the earlier books, is more expansive, and focuses not only on well-known names but also on forgotten figures such as Hannah Duston.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

America’s hidden history: untold tales of the first pilgrims, fighting women, and forgotten founders who shaped a nation DB66907

Davis, Kenneth C Reading time: 7 hours, 53 minutes.

Robert Sams A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

U.S. History

Author of the Don’t Know Much About series describes overlooked episodes in early American history. Includes Queen Isabella’s advice to Columbus to bring pigs to the New World–animals that introduced diseases to the natives–and George Washington’s attack on French soldiers who were on a diplomatic mission. Violence. 2008.

Download America’s hidden history: untold tales of the first pilgrims, fighting women, and forgotten founders who shaped a nation DB66907

Kate’s 2¢: “Silver Ties” by Ann Parker

“Silver Ties” by Ann Parker

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 promised mystery, dective, and western flavor are all present in this novel about a beautiful, intelligent, and determined woman in a semi-wild town. She is a saloon owner, partnered with a gentle giant of a black man and her missing husband.

   The handsome new Pastor is established illicitly in Inez’s bed, but sightings of her errant husband begin to surface, along with Inez’s friends’ insistence that she witnessed two men being murdered.  Inez doesn’t know if she can trust her lover and eyes another, who happens to be a railroad man.

From the web:

Ann Parker was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her younger years were spent in Carrizozo, New Mexico, trying to keep up with her two older siblings, Carrie and Wayland. They told her she could only tag along “if she could keep up.”. Her fear of being left out created a strong determination in her formative years.

   Ann Parker is a science writer by day and fiction writer at night. Her award-winning Silver Rush mystery series, published by Poisoned Pen Press (a Sourcebooks imprint), is set primarily in 1880s Colorado, and more recently in San Fransisco.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Iron ties: a silver rush mystery DB106104

Parker, Ann. Reading time: 10 hours, 32 minutes.

Read by Dolly Lewis.

Historical Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Western Stories

The railroad is coming to Leadville. Despite the townspeople’s excitement, Inez worries that the lawlessness of Leadville will turn to murder once more. Then her friend, photographer Susan Carothers, gets caught in the deadly crossfire of competing railroad lines. Sequel to Silver Lies (DB 106103). Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2006.

Download Iron ties: a silver rush mystery

Kate’s 2¢: “Silver Lies” by Ann Parker

“Silver Lies” by Ann Parker

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 promised mystery, dective, and western flavor are all present in this novel about a beautiful, intelligent, and determined woman in a semi-wild town. She is a saloon owner, partnered with a gentle giant of a black man and her missing husband.

   Enters the new pastor of the church, thus the mystery and deception begins, not to mention the romance.

   I enjoyed this story, so I also down-loaded the sequel.

From the web:

Ann Parker was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her younger years were spent in Carrizozo, New Mexico, trying to keep up with her two older siblings, Carrie and Wayland. They told her she could only tag along “if she could keep up.”. Her fear of being left out created a strong determination in her formative years.

   Ann Parker is a science writer by day and fiction writer at night. Her award-winning Silver Rush mystery series, published by Poisoned Pen Press (a Sourcebooks imprint), is set primarily in 1880s Colorado, and more recently in San Fransisco.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Silver lies: a Silver Rush mystery DB106103

Parker, Ann. Reading time: 14 hours, 14 minutes.

Read by Emily Pike Stewart.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Western Stories

In the Rocky Mountain boomtown of Leadville, the body of precious-metals assayer Joe Rose is found behind Inez’s saloon. Most of the town dismisses the death as an accident, but when Joe’s widow asks Inez to settle Joe’s affairs, Inez uncovers more than she bargained for. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2003.

Download Silver lies: a Silver Rush mystery