The Last Flight

The Last Flight by Julie Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An above average thriller featuring a strong women supporting each other and making courageous decisions to move forward from bad circumstances and past poor decisions. Many times I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns.

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That sometimes, the death of a dream can finally set you free.

A Life of My Own

A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think memoirs all interesting in their own way. Everyone has interesting stories, tragedies they've overcome, loss and regret in different shades. This may have been one of the most politically correct memoirs I've read. Tomalin refers to many people she went to school with, lived near, worked with--almost in lists as if she didn't want to leave anyone else, but that don't mean much to the common reader. She also has almost nothing mean to say about anyone, excusing her late husband's cheating and calling almost everyone else delightful. I am sure this comes with hindsight and age--it's great that she is able to find the good in everyone. But it also robs us of the fight she might have had to reach that point. She alludes to the difficulty of being a woman in a field full of men, but aside from acquiring a gay pin-up calendar, doesn't dwell on it too much. She does go a bit further in her grief when her daughter dies, but on the whole this memoir seems to be more of a skimming of her life. (She doesn't even go into much of her courtship and romance with her second husband). I wish we could go deeper into what motivated her to make her decisions. I hoped it might shed light on how she balanced work and motherhood, especially with a special needs son, but on the whole she leaves her children out --to respect their privacy, she says. Her discussion of her biographical works are the most interesting, and that is what she is most passionate about. It is still a worthy read, even if it doesn't fulfill all my curiosities.


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I decided that trees were like mothers, and this one was to be mine.

We took turns to lead or follow; it was unexpectedly enjoyable to lead, to make decisions, to exact submission.

Living with incompatibilities is exhausting.

Conspiracy in Belgravia

 

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It might be my fault that I can't quite bump this up to 4 stars. It has been quite awhile since I read the first installment and though Thomas tries to fill in the gaps, there was plenty I felt I was missing. But also, there are 3 mysteries going on here, as well as her sister's book, so that I often had to ask myself--who is Mrs. Morris again? who is impersonating whom?, etc. Also, the pacing could drag at times. Codes can be exciting but whenever there was a description about them, it ground the book to a halt. (Also, how does a dying man glue rice in Braille on his coat as he is dying?). That being said, I find most retellings of Sherlock to be entertaining, and once I got the characters straightened out, this one was as entertaining as any of them. Thomas' premise is a bit more convoluted than most--Charlotte stands in as sister to a non-existent bed-ridden Sherlock because women won't be taken seriously. Indeed, much of the plotlines revolve around preconceived notions of what women should and should not do and how men react to those roles. Also, I love that Charlotte loves food and indulges as much as possible--she is not stick-thin, physically adept, or even all that fashionable. It's nice to have an "imperfect" heroine, who plays to her strengths and doesn't mind her weaknesses.

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She was invisible enough as it was without placing herself in the shadow of such luminosity.

Deadliest Enemy

Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs by Michael T. Osterholm
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are some very (obviously)pertinent information here, and the stories of epidemiological sleuthing is fascinating. I am glad I read it because I can speak more intelligently about the pandemic. Also, luckily, this time, the pandemic is not as horrific as Osterholm predicts it could be (it was written before Covid)--(not that Covid is not horrible, just that his scenarios are terrifying). I could not get over Osterholm's ego though. He clearly thinks he is one of the only ones who knows what we should be doing, and often speaks down to the reader--at one time literally telling us not to worry about the details but to trust the experts (i.e. him) to figure it out. Not that his facts or ideas aren't good--just maybe presented with a bit less condescension would be more effective.

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What gets counted get acted upon

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to Flavia de Luce. Flavia is a precocious and not terribly sweet 11-year-old and I thought she was perfect. She lives in a small town, without a mother, at the end of the second world war, which makes it the prime conditions for this clever sleuth to clear her father of murder and solve a decades old mystery to boot. More than a simple mystery, Bradley also contemplates silence. What it means, or doesn't and how silence can be as damning as action. Loved it.

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Autonomous

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The overarching theme in this novel is the definition of freedom--what is it and how it can be taken away: By becoming indentured (slavery), addicted, bought (corporate greed) or even defined (labeled by society). There are sentient robots, reckless bootleggers, indentured humans. It makes for a pretty exciting ride though I feel despite stealth technology, implanted networks, brains in robots, that I've read all of it before, and slightly better done. The Nexus series by Ramez Naam explores similar themes in a similar world but with better action and characters and has the added advantage of a postface by the author explaining the viability of his creations. The Imperial Rach series by Ann Leckie explores sentient technology/human relationships and gender issues in a completely unique and thoughtful way.

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The Wide Circumference of Love

The Wide Circumference of Love by Marita Golden
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful title. And the book cover is gorgeous. Perhaps it set me up to expect more than I should have. It is a story about Alzheimer's and the effect on different members of the family, especially the matriarch and wife who must watch her beloved slowly disappear and commit him to a home, where he finds himself thinking he is married to someone else. Lots of different "loves" are explored in this novel: loves that need forgiveness and understanding, loves that need time and patience, loves that discover new ways of connecting, old loves, new loves, etc. However, the narrative did not work for me. Not only were there jumps in time, but jumps in narrators and perspectives. Some storylines started and never really resolved themselves (the daughter). Other storylines hinted at some deep realizations but were not fully expressed (the son). I think this might have been much better had it been written in the trendy linked short-story format. That way each perspective could be in a tidy bundle rather than constantly skipping tracks. In my opinion, We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas is a better choice to read about this subject.

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