Pandemic Reading
Thank the heavens for books. Besides gardening, I spent my time going nowhere, seeing no one, and reading, reading, reading. Here are a few titles I enjoyed.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I enjoyed this book with its sharp plot and interesting characters. True, it is another dysfunctional family book of the kind American writers seem to churn out year after year but this is a well-done dysfunctional family book. Two siblings who grew up with wealth find themselves disinherited. Their lives are overshadowed by this fact and by the memories of growing up in a fancy house called the Dutch House.
Obsidian by Thomas King. Another in his mystery series with retired cop Thumps Dreadfulwater. Dreadfulwater is haunted by the unsolved case of a serial killer who murdered his lover and her child. In spite of the dark background, this is a funny book full of sharp dialogue and wacky small-town characters. I think I have read everything King has written and this is one of his best.
Testaments by Robbie Robertson A brilliant book about a brilliant musician. The Band was made up of talented musicians but fame brought problems such as drug use and alcohol. Roberson and four band members were Canadian although he now lives in Los Angles. Robertson played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. The band did tours, concerts, backups for Bob Dylan, records, backups for records, movies and so on. At Big Pink, near Woodstock, they practiced every day, in many cases tinkering around looking for the best sound. Robertson had the ear: he added various motifs, brought in outside musicians. He had the ability to tell good from bad. To try to aim higher. He watched other musicians, went to plays, read film scripts and so on. A great artist. They did the concert for the movie, The Last Waltz, and then broke up. One of the greatest rock bands.
Truth be Told: My Journey Through Life and the Law by Beverley McLachlin. One of the few women to study law in the 1950’s, McLachlin, a farmer’s daughter from Pincher Creek, Alberta, graduated first in her class and began a long career in law, ending up as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In clear language she describes her personal struggles and some of the court’s key cases: same sex marriage, abortion rights, euthanasia, and the Charter to name a few. Her sense of justice and fairness shines through.
The Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Esprit Radisson by Mark Bourrie. The history of the 1600 fur trade in Canada made my head spin, but in a good way. Various First Nations were at war with each other. The new weapons, guns from the colonizers, made the wars more deadly. France, England and Holland competed to control the trade routes and so did the Iroquois and other aboriginal groups. Traders like Radisson determined to get their beaver pelts to market, no matter what chicanery and bloodshed was used. But in Quebec, they had to deal with corrupt authorities who stole their hard-won pelts.
Radisson tried to get powerful European patrons to start a company to trade into Hudson’s Bay but even when he managed to get the HBC set up, he was ripped off by them. His life, full of hope and defeat, seems almost unreal from this vantage.
Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport. Accounts written by mostly non-Russians – businessmen, embassy families, spies, various foreign government people, and so on. The wealthy binged on extravagant living and yet many of them set up charities for the poor and hospitals to help the wounded during the war. Some of them sympathize with the rebels but as Petrograd falls into the hands of a rampaging mob, their sympathy disappears and most try to flee. Emeline Pankhurt’s visit to Petrograd is covered as is the Women’s Battalion of Death.
A Very Dangerous Woman:The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia's Most Seductive Spy by Deborah McDonald and Jeremy Dronfield. Purple Prose ruins this book which takes place during the Russian Revolution. Also Baroness Moira Budberg was not really dangerous. She was a social person who passed on bits of information to whoever she had to – the Germans, the Bolsheviks and later the Brits. She was smart, politically astute, well read and spoke several languages. She craved society and people. She was imprisoned a couple of times for trying to cross borders. She was separated from her children for years, looked after a sick mother during the revolution in Petrograd, took lovers who would help her, etc. She was a shrewd survivor but in no way dangerous. The femme fatale thing that clings to her is often invoked in historical accounts when a woman takes a lover or two. The men are not so labelled or labeled in any such way.
During the past Covid weeks I revisited a lot of short stories, rereading Chekhov and the local NOWW magazines which publish winning stories by local writers. I also listened to the New Yorker podcasts of short fiction or rather relistened to some of my favourites. Many years ago, I read a book of Japanese short stories. They struck me as being unusual, creative and in many cases, weird. So I sent for the new The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. As expected, strange plots abound but they carry us along nevertheless. A woman turns to sugar, another becomes a cow, a loyal soldier commits suicide. The basic facts are laid down quickly at the start of each story, but you have no idea where the plot will take you. Often the tale ends with a jolt and a clue to a meaning behind the meaning. Exhilarating stuff.
I also read and enjoyed The M train by Patty Smith, The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble, and a classic, A Month in the Country by J.L.Carr. A young man returns from WW1 and spends a summer in an English village restoring a painting in the church. He is healed mentally and physically by the experience. Short and rather sweet. Set up like a memoir with the narrator an elderly man. I skimmed bits of Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project. I whistled through a couple of mysteries and left some poor choices unfinished.
I read Apple Books on my iPad. I ignore the fatuous lists of “books that might interest you.” I use the search feature to bring up books from my library lists and lament that the libraries are closed. I read the free sample that comes with each title and decide whether to buy or not. I spend a fortune I know but aside from groceries I am not buying anything at all. My hair looks like the shaggy dog, my physio is unavailable, my necessary ( because of arthritis) house cleaner quit. I cannot go out for lunch with family or friends. So where does the money go? Books of course. So thank heavens for books.
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