Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury

My daughter, Megan, is in 10th grade this year and her English class is reading this classic. When Megan asked if I would read it too, I readily agreed. It’s been fun to have regular conversations in the car on the way to school about the latest reading assignment. I’m glad her teacher assigns this book about a “fireman” (ironic because the fire department burns books rather than putting out fires) and his growing discomfort with his job, wife (whose reality is her family from TV programs), and society in general. While we discuss the plot, we’re also thinking/talking about issues of censorship. Here's a trailer about the book.

Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng on libro.fm

Believe it or not, I haven’t read Celeste Ng before and I’m quickly learning why she’s a favorite among readers! In Little Fires Everywhere, single mother/nomad artist Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl move to Shaker Heights (a suburb of Cleveland) and rent a house from the Richardson family. Pearl is excited that for the first time in her life, her mother Mia has promised to settle and stay in a community. The Richardsons warmly welcome Pearl into their house, especially Elena Richardson, the mother/wife of the household. Friends of the Richardsons decide to adopt a Chinese-American baby and a custody battle divides the community, putting Elena and Mia on opposite sides of the battle. I’m loving Ng’s writing and can’t wait to see where this tale goes!

My Name is Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout

This story, told in the main character’s voice, ties together Lucy’s past, present, and future. It is a distilled and compelling read.

Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer Is Much Faster): Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry
Dave Barry

So this Dave Barry book showed up on my desk with a note that said, “you may like this.” Well, I like Dave Barry and had read a couple of his early books. When I opened up the front cover, I learned he has now written 40 books. It’s been longer than I thought, so I guess I owed Dave a read. Turns out this is a book of essays about all the wisdom he’s gained over the years. Well that’s all right. The things I’ve found with a collection of essays is: 1. You can put them down for a day or two months and there’s no trying to remember the plot and 2. If you don’t like the essay you’re reading you can skip to the next one and start fresh. I did have an ulterior motive in that I’m interested in writing my own “Life Lesson Essays” and thought I might pick up a pointer or two, or find things to avoid.

What I found was Dave Barry hates the way he looks and this book is more of a series of couch interviews with talk-show hosts than essays (unless that’s what essays are and if so you can quit reading right now.) I’ve been around a few years and have seen a lot of guys, including 3 years in the Army where there were nothing but guys. And out of all of them, there were only 2, maybe 3, that I would say were ugly and they didn’t look like Dave Barry so I don’t know what that’s about (although his haircut is a Beatles throwback.) Maybe skip that essay? There’s one essay where he had a chart (essays have charts?) with intelligence vs age. As you can guess, the teenager section is very low but it does rise with age. Interestingly it doesn’t rise to the end (Oh yeah. Pick up Sally at the store).

For the most part, the essays are interesting and humorous, although you may want to read the Russian one with some wine or a couple beers (it “lingers.”)

Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
Alan Bradley

Flavia de Luce delivers a letter to Mr. Sambridge only to find him hanging upside down and dead. Thus begins another English mystery in a series with protagonist, Flavia de Luce. She is a most unusual heroine as she is only 12 years old! I enjoyed the first book in the series, Sweetness at the bottom of the Pie, so I knew I would like this one, too. Flavia has a following of avid readers. These stories are filled with humor and quotes from Shakespeare and other classic writers.

Note: the paperback of the book will be released on October 3.

Glass Houses
Louise Penny

I had the most marvelous month! I re-read all of the Inspector Gamache books. Like Harry Potter, the series builds from one book to the next so it’s all one tale. Book nine, like Potter book seven, is climatic and settles most plot lines. I got behind on my work while I was reading nine. But there was one loose end, which brings us into book ten. I found myself trying to assess whether one character’s life had enough meaning to make up for his pain, and I had to remind myself that he is not a real person, that I don’t have to pity him. (On the other hand, there are real people who do deserve my empathy, and novels can remind us of this.)

So all of the major plot lines had been resolved, and yet Penny persisted. The next three books take up aspects of the characters’ lives that were always there but not previously emphasized. As in the real world, there are tales within tales. And I’ve learned so much about Quebec! 

Book 12 almost made me late to the class I teach. I got bends when I reached the end of Glass Houses and had no more of Penny's books to read... until next year.

Louse Penny has an extensive website in which she shares a lot about her inspirations for the village of Three Pines.

A Spool of Blue Thread
Anne Tyler

Nobody writes about families as well as Tyler. There are no villains and no angels, and every relationship demands and rewards the participants. Tyler's starting point on this novel was a thought she had about why some family stories are made into legends while others are never told. She starts in the present but takes us back to learn the real history, then allows us to consider how selective story telling helps shape lives. I recommend you spend some time with these people. 

The Swans of Fifth Avenue
Melanie Benjamin  

Recently I read a biography of Truman Capote. One of the most interesting, and maybe least developed events, was the scandal that burst after an article by Capote was published in Esquire’s October 1975 issue. Ever since the early 50’s he had been the ‘darling’ of New York society, especially of a small group of women who set the tone for fashion, elegance and style. In the article, Capote exposed nearly all of these women’s deepest darkest secrets. Secrets collectively known, but which no one mentioned, until they were blazoned for all the world to read. The Swans is an odd combination of fiction and history about Capote’s relationship with these women. It gives, I think, a good look into the events as they happened. Uncomfortable, and in many ways sad, but nonetheless a good read.

Mary Ann in Autumn
Armstead Maupin

This is the eighth of Maupin’s Tales of the City novels. I was living in San Francisco at the time his first, Tales of the City, being published weekly in the San Francisco Chronicle. I remember being in one of the coffee shops, Café Flora, mentioned in this story, which was just around the corner from where I used to live. One of the patrons in the shop stood up on a chair to read the latest installment. The room grew quiet and everyone listened intently. So, it’s with a fair amount of homesickness that I began this latest of the series. It takes place twenty years after the last book. Mary Ann, has come back to the city to discover how she’s changed, how the city has changed and how her friends too have changed. It’s Maupin’s gift to tear at your heart in the unexpected ways he reveals the ways you too, the reader, have aged and changed. He has the rare talent of conjuring the atmosphere of ‘place.’