The Liar's Dictionary

 

The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a sucker for trivia about words, new words--clowder is a grouping of cats-- and the history of words and this book has plenty of that sort of trivia. This is also a quirky book with surprising plot twists and some transcendent passages (also plenty of passages where nothing happens and it plods along). Its a book that illustrates both the power and powerlessness of words and how transitory language can be. Its a fun book.

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jungftak (n.), a Persian bird, the male of which had only one wing, on the right side, and the female only one wing, on the left side; instead of the missing wings, the male had a hook of bone, and the female an eyelet of bone, and it was by uniting hook and eye that they were enabled to fly—each, when alone, had to remain on the ground from Webster’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (1943)

If you put your eyes far too close to an engraving all is little dots and dashes, like a fingerprint unspooled.

In many ways David Swansby looked like his handwriting: ludicrously tall, neat, squared off at the edges.

David meant apricity (n.), the warmness of the sun in winter.

Apricide (n.) means the ceremonial slaughter of pigs.

Weasel words are empty, hollow, meaningless claims.

curriebuction 1. A confused gathering attended with quarrelling or panic

When a cartoon character is represented swearing or cursing, there is a word for the series of hashtags and exclamation marks and toxicity symbols in their speech bubbles: grawlix. @# $%&!

The Unpassing

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Devastatingly beautiful. "The unpassing" could refer to so many things here, but mainly about the inability of this immigrant family to let go of their youngest daughter, when she dies of an illness. Their grief is held inside each of them, separating themselves from each other. The Alaskan wilderness, with its dense forests and silty mud becomes a manifestation of their angst. It is so perfectly written and told. The main character is the 10-year-old brother who doesn't understand everything, and Lin is so good at holding back, trusting her readers to infer when needed and keeping some details forever murky. I don't think I have been affected by a book this much in a long time. Must read.

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you had to keep your gaze close, lest you catch a glimpse of something bigger than you could accept.

we woke to the anxious bleeps of the alarm clock, and with that small and sudden violence, school began. 

Exit West

 

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although there are magic doors, everything else about this novel seems to mirror the refugee experience in the present. Without focusing on how the refugees get to new places, Hamid can zero in on feelings and relationships: why do they leave (or not); who do they go with; the feeling of not knowing where they land or what this new place will mean for them; the reaction of the nativists that already live there; how tribalism in new lands can result; the strains that these forces have on established relationships; the list goes on. Saeed and Nadia stand in for so many refugees, and their journey both informs and evokes compassion.

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Everybody's Fool

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Continuing with the lives of the characters of North Bath 15 years after the first book (Nobody's Fool). Sully is now comfortably well off due to good luck, while his nemesis Carl has had bad luck and is bankrupt, alone, and impotent. Both of these characters play only minor roles here though. This one focuses on Raymer, the cop, now chief of police and Roy Purdy who just got out of jail and can't stop making bad choices. I think I might have liked it better had it been a stand-alone novel. There was no real integral plot lines from the former book that played in this one. And the changes to the existing characters (Sully is more cautious, Rub now has a stutter?, no Peter or William to speak of ) was disappointing. Plus the retelling of plot lines while maybe necessary (the book was written 20 years or so apart from each other ) was annoying for those of us who just read the previous book (especially as I said they were just back stories). There is more growth in the characters this time around, and a general theme about secrets, mental and physical health, and loyalty. It is also slightly zanier with lightening strikes, escaped poisonous snakes, and split personalities.

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"Full" as if emptiness were the prevailing condition of their lives, from which eating provided a temporary respite.

They needed to believe that luck ruled the world and their was bad and would remain so forever and ever, amen, a credo that let them off the hook and excused them from truly engaging in the present, much less the future. 

Upstairs at the White House

Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

More of a story about the White House, how it was decorated, repaired, used. Yes, there are some insights into the people who lived there, but I felt West was very careful to couch all his observations with positivity. I admit I skimmed more than I read, and I would have enjoyed a bit more candor, but still gleaned some interesting facts.

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Not a Sound

 

Not a Sound by Heather Gudenkauf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fast read--a mystery with an interesting protagonist who is deaf which allows another level of terror and manipulation into the plot. There aren't many twists but the plot tracks and it is a satisfying read.

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Camp Followers, On the Strength of the Army

For them it is the reassurance of knowing things as they are

For us it the restoration, an absolution

Those flocks of petticoats trailing after cannon

Priestesses disguised as laundresses

And we do offer up our filthy garments

Heedlessly stripped off, rumpled, thrust aside

Dumped in barrels of river water

They unfurl, water seeking out its wounds

Blood snakes away in ghost smoke

Until the women begin their endless work

A fury of scrubbing with brimstone--

Piss and lye of ash--

Tendrils of hair whipped free

Mutter of prayer or incantation

Boiling baptism of water and fire

Bubbling like excitement

Trembling like terror

Jumble of pathos fighting with itself on the brink

Then an exorcism, a cathartic flogging

Forcing a weeping of anger, of fear, of shame

Swallowed back by pride

Now expelled with violent chastisement

Spent at last they lie them

Out like soulless shells on hushing grass

We open the packages tied with string

An immaculate shirt to incarnate as before

Smelling of sun and boyhood

A traveling to the time before.

Atomic Habits

 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a hard time knowing what to rate this book, since through my own trial and error in life, I have come across these same truths, and so there was only a bit that actually enlightened me--namely, how to keep habits motiving and keep improving. But since these are the same truths I've realized in my life I can attest that they work, and wish I had read this book in my teens or early twenties, so maybe wouldn't have had to do so much trial and error on my own. Also, I think Clear does a good job of laying out the premise of his methods clearly, with interesting stories, and enough examples to help illustrate without being tediously repetitive.

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The Ninth Hour

 

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautifully observed story about saving and losing your soul. What sins are unpardonable? And believing there are things you can do are beyond forgiveness, why or for whom would you commit them? If love is laying down one's life for someone, what does it mean when they lose their soul for you? McDermott writes so subtly you never see the twist coming that ties all the pieces together into a whole. One of my favorite authors, for sure.

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There was still the smell of smoke but the smell of cleaning ammonia was now cut into it--the smell of the day going on.

"Down here, we do our best to transform what is ugly, soiled, stained, don't we?  We send it back into the world like a resurrected soul."

A woman's life is a blood sacrifice.

"If we could live without suffering," Sister Lucy said, "we'd find no peace in heaven."

Truth reveals itself.  It's really quite amazing.  God wants us to know the truth of all things, she said, big or small, because that's how we'll know Him.

Nobody's Fool

 

Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I heard of a study that showed that people dropped off in the woods will walk in circles while thinking they are walking straight. This applies particularly to Sully and many of the inhabitants of Bath, NY, a tiny town prone to lots of bad luck. Sully is an enjoyable character, one that doesn't take himself too seriously, or anything else. He has nothing to lose, and so doesn't think twice about following through on impulses that mean trouble for him (or others). And, like most of the other characters in this book, Sully moves forward, making the same mistakes in new situations, and doesn't end up much different from where we met him, but it was a fun ride. And with the addition of an estranged grandson moving into town, we get the feeling that Sully may just finally care about something besides himself enough to slightly change his course.

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If you were going to be reckless in this life, you needed total commitment to the principle.